Azure Stirring

Ever since the Lost Era, the sea has never stopped devouring the land.

The old lands sink into the deep sea, becoming ruins overrun with ghost algae. Water Woes of all shapes and sizes wander through them, letting out indescribable low moans. Human ships sail through the sea, while deep-sea explorers risk their lives to salvage treasure, resources, and remnants of civilization.

Gui Lu, the youngest captain in Core City, an everlasting, unyielding lighthouse, a blade that always presses forward.

Before he came down with lovesickness, he was the perfect man in the eyes of countless people, and the fanatical object of faith for every deep-sea explorer.

Then one day, he brought back some mentally unstable madman from who-knows-where. From then on, he spent every day hovering around him, personally taking care of him at every turn. If the man so much as bumped into a table corner, Gui Lu would get so worked up his eyes turned red.

According to people in the know, the madman was pale and stupid, thin as a rake. When his madness struck, he babbled nonsense, and at best smashed things, at worst hurt people. Apart from a face as beautiful as a porcelain doll's, he had no redeeming qualities.

Gui Lu didn't care. His behavior grew more and more outrageous, until he actually carried the man aboard a deep-sea exploration ship and kept him in his own cabin.

People once believed without a doubt that Gui Lu was humanity's savior.

Now they are starting to believe that whoever can cure Gui Lu of his lovesickness will be the true savior.

.

The voyage went badly, and the ship was stranded in uncharted waters. Lightning flashed and thunder roared, while the shadows of Water Woes appeared amid the storm-tossed waves.

As if things weren't bad enough, the captain's precious madman had an episode at that very moment. With his hair loose and bare feet, he walked onto the deck at the very top of the giant ship.

Captain Gui, who had always been unshakable, charged up with a grim expression and slowly stretched out both hands. His voice was clearly stiff. "Lan Jin, come down."

The madman turned his head in the gale. His blue-gray eyes were clouded with a scattered, chaotic light. He was clearly not in his right mind.

He stared at Gui Lu for a few seconds, then suddenly laughed hoarsely and chillingly. "...Coward. You're afraid of Water Woes, and you still dare say you want to explore the sea with me?"

"That's enough." His voice was weak, yet cold.

"Get behind me."

As the waves were cleaved toward the dark sky and the Water Woes fell shrieking, the dumbstruck crew would suddenly remember something.

Before Gui Lu rose to prominence, humanity had briefly possessed another legend.

He was the most dazzling genius of deep-sea exploration. He went to sea at thirteen, captained a ship at eighteen, and killed more Water Woes than anyone could count. He was also Core City's most autocratic adjudicator and the unbridled commander-in-chief of its fleet. His methods were ruthless, his reputation was notorious, and in the end he was expelled from Core City and met a wretched end.

His name was Lan Jin.

He should have died five years ago, on the day Gui Lu first set sail as a captain.

.

I will press forward without hesitation: crossing the gray-blue waves or treading across crimson earth; wandering through an endless fog or hiding in a lightless valley.

No treasure shall cloud my eyes, no foreign race shall intimidate me, and no tainted bloodline shall stain my will. I swear to seek answers. I swear to press on, until the end of the horizon, until

truth and freedom are brought back to our distant home.

Quoted from: The Deep-Sea Explorers' Manifesto.

Author: Lan Jin, Fifteenth Commander-in-Chief of the Human Core City Fleet.

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CP: Gui Lu x Lan Jin

★ Medium-to-long novel, happy ending, start date undecided.

★ The title and blurb may still be changed.

★ Stop asking: "quickening" in the title is an image! This is not a pregnancy story! Nobody gets pregnant!

Theme: Bring truth and freedom back to our distant home.