Furen walked leisurely through the streets of Winston District, reflecting on what he had done today and what he had yet to accomplish, while planning his next actions.
"First of all, I need to subscribe to the Trier Business Evening News. That means I have to stop by the post office. But it's not urgent; after all, I haven't even fully digested the 'Apprentice' potion yet. That said, finding out how the post office works in this world might be an interesting experience. Yes, I can take care of that when I get home."
"Wait, when I crossed over, there was a subscription newspaper in the office. I remember it was… oh, yes, it was the Trier Daily, one of the most influential newspapers in Trier. But why didn't I see this newspaper in my mailbox yesterday or today?" Fren simply remembered the subscription, but immediately realized something was wrong. It turned out his subconscious had always had a strange feeling.
Furen, recalling the story of the diary, suddenly felt that something was wrong: from the beginning he had had a strange feeling of incoherence without understanding the reason.
He began to think more carefully, but found nothing concrete. He therefore ruled out any hypothesis of supernatural origin. After all, the only one capable of causing such coincidences, the famous artifact "0-08," was still locked away in the Church of the Goddess of the Night, waiting for Adam to carry out his plan with the Goddess's consent before reappearing in the world. Moreover, the influence of "0-08" remained limited. In the end, Furen concluded that it was just a coincidence.
He calmly resumed his train of thought:
"Next, I must discover the true nature of this beyonder organization. My father's journal only mentioned the most agitated supernatural organizations, including certain Churches. The rest concerned groups dating from the Fourth or early Fifth Century: the Witch Cult, Ascetic Order of Moses, Mystic Order, Blood Worshippers, Hermits of Destiny, Brotherhood of Pure Light, Gnosis, Soul Cult, School of Life, and School of the Rose.
And then, Sam is an "Arsonist", which probably corresponds to the path of the "Red Priest" or the "Witch"... Could he be linked to Gnosis? Or to the Witch Cult?
In a flash, Furen thought of other possibilities:
"Both the Sauron and Einhorn families have mastered the way of the "Red Priest." Could it be that two angelic families are fishing in troubled waters? No… the Sauron family… what if it's the Iron Cross? The fall of the Sauron family and the rise of the Iron Cross happened almost at the same time. And then, how is it that this gathering of transcendents has still not been wiped out?"
Is it possible that the leader of the Iron Cross, during the decline of the Sauron family, took possession of the supernatural characteristics of Sequence 2 "Meteorologist", or even of Sequence 1 "Conqueror"? It's plausible... I'll have to be careful; the more attention we attract, the greater the danger.
Thinking back to the cross-shaped symbol, Furen couldn't help but give some credence to his own hypothesis. Then he continued:
"Okay, let's get down to business. The family reunion and the philosophy meeting are coming up. I have to get ready. I need to borrow some philosophy books from the library, while still following the planned study schedule. It's the only way to quickly digest the potion… Phew, what a headache!"
Without realizing it, Furen arrived in front of the National Library of Trier. He wasn't surprised: the building was located in the Hopton district, right between those of Hearnk and Winston. He simply realized that he had allowed himself to be absorbed in his thoughts for a little too long.
Since his priority at the time was to acquire a solid foundation in philosophy, he entered the library without hesitation in search of the works he needed.
He quickly arrived on the second floor, in the theology section, and was lucky enough to find, on the right side, a book entitled Abridged History of Ancient and Modern Philosophy, written by Gekayi Allen.
Despite the word "abridged" in the title, the book's thickness made Furen shudder: the volume was as massive as one and a half volumes of Five Years of Exams, Three Years of Exercises.
Naively hoping that the print would at least be large, he went to sit in the reading area. But to his dismay, or resignation, he discovered that the font was even smaller than that of the other books.
He massaged his temples on both sides to calm the headache that was beginning to appear, then read the author's prefatory note:
"…I am fortunate to live in an age of philosophical explosion, and I have the privilege of introducing my readers to the great works and concepts of philosophy. I will try to use the simplest language possible for anyone who wishes to learn this discipline…"
Furen could not help but doubt the "number sense" of this so-called master philosopher.
Then he read a sentence:
"…This is without a doubt the most comprehensive and concise philosophy textbook you will ever read…"
At this point, Furen no longer had the strength to mock; he felt only one thing: the difficulty and tortuous detours of the process of digesting the "Apprentice's" potion.
"I must have made a mistake... This is not at all how you play an "Apprentice"... What a mistake, what a mistake..."
But despite his lamentations, his body betrayed his thoughts: he placed the heavy volume back on the table and resumed reading attentively.
•
•
•
Soon he let out an admiring sigh:
"Well! I didn't expect it, but this Gekayi Allen is really talented. His style is both lively and clear. Impressive!"
Then he slapped his forehead, dejected:
"Ah, what stupidity! I knew I was coming to study, and I forgot my notebook, pen, and rough paper... Too bad, I'll skim read today, and tomorrow I'll come back for some real work."
As he progressed through The Abridged History of Ancient and Modern Philosophy, Furen gained a deeper understanding of the history of this world.
Here, since the Fifth Century, the first of which we have traces, philosophy had first been influenced and dominated by theology, before a few great thinkers came to advocate doctrines still strongly tinged with religion.
But because of the struggles between the many gods, this world had not experienced a thousand-year "dark age" like that of the Western Middle Ages, and had very quickly moved beyond this phase.
Thanks to a tacit agreement between several Churches, philosophy, although subordinate to theology, had developed in parallel, following a path totally different from that which the world of Furen had known.
She advocated reason and experimentation, thus demonstrating the existence of gods and the necessity of theology; it was through this path that she was able to acquire semi-independence.
As for the major figures in this history, Gekayi approached them chronologically, citing among others Kon Siso, Mareid and Patterson the founders of pragmatism, Lumiel, defender of the innate freedom of man, and even Roselle, the great thinker who had forged concepts such as metaphysics, mechanism and dialectics.
Furen, for his part, admitted that he did not understand how this "Son of Steam" had managed to achieve all this.
(End of chapter)