Chapter 360

Chapter 360: Docking.

Captains who sailed on the Boundless Sea, especially those who used modern technology for navigation, were of course no strangers to the “stars”. The vast Starry Sky that hung between the Abyssal Deep Sea, and the Spirit Realm could give ships extremely precise guidance. Even when a ship entered waters twisted by an Anomaly, the stars could still point out the correct course. They could even lead those who lost their way inside certain “Visions” out of danger and back to the Mortal Realm.

Of course, other professions also dealt with the Starry Sky. Scholars studied it, hoping to break the mysteries of the world’s deep layers. Diviners watched it to guess at the paths of fate for all things in the mortal world. Some secret societies even treated the Starry Sky as a source of knowledge and revelation. They used dangerous methods that walked on the edge of sanity to pry into it, hoping to grasp secrets about Demons without falling into the Abyssal Deep.

Those dangerous societies often ended as food for Abyssal demons, or became potential “allies” of cultists of annihilation. Because of this, such secret cabals were always key targets for the Churches of the city-states and for the authority.

But no matter what, the profession that had the closest tie to the Starry Sky, and used all kinds of Spirit Realm lenses most often, was still the captains who sailed on the Boundless Sea.

Lawrence had drifted on this vast and hostile sea for half his life. He knew many things about the Starry Sky, including both the methods of observing it and the dangers that came with it.

He lowered his head and pressed his face deep into the hollow of the Spirit Realm lens – everyone knew you had to bow your head to look at the stars, that was common sense. Then he began to softly recite the name of the God he believed in, letting that name resonate with the blessing the priest had just placed upon him.

As the mysterious power slowly spread, his Spiritual Insight and faith both rose. First he heard a faint sound, as if water was gathering in a basin and drawing near him. He smelled the salty, fishy scent of sea water, and in the next second, he felt that his whole face was already submerged.

New Navigators who observed the Starry Sky for the first time often panicked at this point. The illusion of “drowning in water” could shake their minds, and that would let unnecessary Shadows slip into their heads. That was why a new recruit’s first round of Stargazing always needed someone by their side to help. The main task of this helper was to drag the new Navigator away from the Spirit Realm lens before they mutated into a pile of writhing meat. This “adaptation” process often took several weeks.

But for Lawrence, this was no problem at all.

He knew the “sea water” that flooded over him was the power of the storm Goddess Gamona. A god would not harm a Believer. Now, he could open his eyes.

Lawrence slowly opened his eyes.

The sky full of stars and the endless darkness filled his vision at the same time.

He looked down. Below him the darkness was boundless. The deep gloom of the Abyssal Deep stretched out without end. At the edge of that space, chaotic ripples of light moved and rolled. That was the faint projection of the Spirit Realm in the deep layers of the world.

Between that darkness, countless fixed and dense points of light floated. They gathered into clumps or wisps of light of all sizes. Some looked like clouds, some like whirlpools, some like rivers. These endless points of light covered the old captain’s sight in a spectacular way, outlining some mysterious pattern that Mortals had not yet understood.

And in the depths of that grand, veil-like Starry Sky, in the gaps between some of the “clusters” of light, he could faintly see some chaotic Shadows that were different from the darkness around them. They looked like shattered islands, spread in a radial pattern and floating deep inside the starlight. Dim, pale “rivers” stretched between them. Just one glance could make a person dizzy and trembling with fear.

That was a “depth” even deeper than the Spirit Realm, the terrifying homeland of Abyssal demons – the Abyssal Deep Sea.

The Starry Sky was a layer of Veil that floated between the Abyssal Deep Sea, and the Spirit Realm.

Lawrence kept strict control over his gaze. He did not let himself gaze too far down toward the Abyssal Deep, so he would not attract the attention of those chaotic, dull-minded Demons. At the same time he focused his mind and began to search for his own position within the Starry Sky.

He found it – a dim projection, like a lost and wandering soul, floating somewhere among the stars.

Lawrence fixed his gaze on that projection and studied it for a long time, then could not help but frown.

His own position… was already in the coastal waters near Frostholm?

The old captain’s heart tightened. He started to move his hands by feel and found the control lever on the side of the lens array device. He carefully adjusted the machine. At once the many small lenses set into the side of the cylinder began to work, changing the angle at which Lawrence observed the Starry Sky.

After checking again and again, he confirmed that he really was in the waters near Frostholm – close enough that he should already be able to see Frostholm’s main island with the naked eye.

At that moment, Lawrence felt a sudden blur before his eyes.

The Starry Sky image full of countless points of light flickered once and suddenly turned pitch black, then returned to normal in the next instant.

Lawrence was startled. His first instinct was to adjust the control lever again to reset his view, but long years of experience stopped that instinct. He jerked his head up instead.

A flicker in the Starry Sky image might be a fault in the Spirit Realm lens. No matter what the reason was, once any Anomaly happened in the middle of Stargazing, you had to leave the gaze at once.

This was a safety rule countless predecessors had paid for with their lives.

Lawrence rubbed his brow and raised his wrist to look at his watch. Only a few minutes had passed.

He began to check the whole lens array device. He planned to do another round of observation only after he ruled out any fault and confirmed it was safe.

But just as he was about to open the outer shell of the machine, a knock on the door suddenly cut him off.

“Captain!” The voice of the First Mate came from outside the door. “Captain, have you finished your observation? We received a signal!”

Lawrence frowned a little. After a short pause, he put down what he was doing, walked quickly to the door, and opened it. The First Mate was standing there.

“We received Frostholm’s reply,” the First Mate said. He first glanced into the Stargazing room, roughly made sure there was no sign of an Anomaly, then looked back at Lawrence. “The clearance for near-coast passage and permission to enter the harbor have both been granted.”

Lawrence still frowned slightly. For some reason a faint sense of strangeness rose in his heart. Thinking of the discordant feeling in the Stargazing room just now, he asked in a serious tone: “Can you see Frostholm’s main island?”

“We can already confirm it by sight,” the First Mate nodded. “The fog on the sea has cleared. Our course drifted a little, but it was a very small deviation – and we already corrected it.”

Lawrence glanced back into the Stargazing room, his expression heavy.

“Captain?” The First Mate finally noticed the odd look on the old captain’s face and grew nervous. “Did you find something?”

“There was something wrong with the Stargazing room just now. And according to my observation, we should have been in the waters near Frostholm quite a while ago. There should be no situation where fog or route drift stops us from seeing Frostholm,” Lawrence said in a low voice. “Have an artificer check the Spirit Realm lens array. See if the equipment has a problem. I will go up and take a look.”

“Yes, Captain.”

Lawrence quickly left the bottom deck, went up the stairs and along the corridors, and passed through layer after layer of compartments on the White Oak. Soon he reached the upper deck.

He did not return to the bridge. Instead, he stood directly on the forecastle deck and looked into the distance.

A large city-state lay straight ahead of the White Oak. The coastal buildings and harbor facilities of the city were clearly visible. The fog had scattered. Gentle waves rose and fell over the sea. Thick and thin clouds mixed in the sky. Light spilled down through them, brightening the distant water and the city.

It really did look like Frostholm. There was no sign of any Anomaly.

Lawrence frowned and looked up at the sky.

Aside from somewhat heavy clouds, there was no Anomaly there either.

After a moment, he left the deck and returned to the bridge. At the same time, the sailor at the telegraph machine happened to receive another welcome message from Frostholm’s harbor.

Lawrence looked at the note the sailor wrote down.

“The harbor is open. Welcome to Frostholm.”

Lawrence blinked and suddenly felt he might be a bit too tense. A minor fault in the Spirit Realm lenses plus the fog that had lingered over the sea earlier had probably just magnified his anxiety. In truth, everything here clearly looked normal.

“We dock.”

“Yes, Captain.”

…

Duncan and his group left the “Second Waterway” and said farewell to Nemo in the secret passage that connected to it.

Before that, they had searched for a long time in that collapsed and blocked corridor. In the end they still found no clues. They did not find more of the “mud”, nor did they find any cracks or marks where the “mud” might have seeped into the hallway.

Of course, they did not find the mysterious place where Crow had once lost his way.

It seemed the trail had broken off.

“Old Ghost and I will give Crow a proper burial. Please tell Captain Tyrian that Crow died like a true warrior – he was a member of the Sea Mist Fleet we can be proud of.”

In the secret passage, Nemo took off his hat and bowed slightly to Duncan.

“I will tell him,” Duncan said. He looked at the “informant” before him with special solemnity. “And this investigation is not over.”

Nemo raised his head and met Duncan’s eyes.

“Crow left very important information. He definitely went to some place, and that replica could not have just appeared in the Second Waterway out of thin air,” Duncan said slowly. “I will keep digging. If I have to, I will search this whole city-state, brick by brick, grass by grass, clod by clod.”