Chapter 504

Chapter 504: Unstable Tendency.

Most of the time, Nina did not really understand how powerful she was, or how much her power scared ordinary supernatural people. This did help her keep the mindset that she still belonged to humans, but it also definitely had bad effects.

After all, no matter where you slapped down a six-thousand-degree “pancake”, it would always be an earth-shattering event.

Fortunately, Duncan had paid attention to this problem from the very beginning. He often gave Nina mental guidance and reminders. He helped this young lady understand the danger of her own power, and he found ways to help her take hold of the might of the Sun step by step. At the very least, Nina had now slowly grown used to and accepted one fact:

For the Nina of today, this world was a delicate yet fragile paper house. If she was not careful, it would burst into raging flames. She had to control her breathing and her gaze with great care, so that everything would not turn to ash.

Now, it seemed that Nina’s understanding and control of her power had been successful. Except for a few extremely rare and not very harmful runaway state incidents, she had never burned anything by mistake. On the other hand, she still kept her “understanding” of herself as an ordinary person. Even after realizing how strong she was, her mindset had not turned arrogant or dangerous.

In Duncan’s view, this was very good.

The pitch-black sea slowly rose and fell in his sight. There was no clear line between the chaotic sky and the water. The ghost fire that surrounded the Vanished lit up the nearby waves. In the shifting light and shadow, strange and suspicious shapes sometimes flashed through the air or the sea and vanished again—

They were the “natives” of the Spirit Realm. These dim, chaotic beings were drawn to the intruder that was the Vanished. But whenever they gathered even a little, the spirit form flames burned them, and they scattered and fled in all directions.

Nina ran to the edge of the aft deck. She sat directly on the deck, letting her legs dangle and swing outside the railing, and watched this “sea” that looked strange and interesting in her eyes with great curiosity.

Duncan reminded Nina to be careful and not fall off the deck. Then he turned his attention back to the helm. After a while, a question suddenly came to his mind.

He turned his head and called: “Vanna.”

He glanced at Vanna, the Inquisitor, who was standing at the edge of the raised platform, looking out over the sea. “I suddenly have a question,” he said, “about the storm Goddess.”

Vanna turned at once, her face serious: “Please, ask.”

“The storm Goddess Gamona is the guardian of the sea, right?” Duncan said. “The entire Boundless Sea is under her protection. Then what about the sea of the Spirit Realm?”

The serious look on Vanna’s face instantly turned into shock. Then came more than ten seconds of awkwardness and deep thought. After a long time, she hesitated and shook her head, and spoke with some guilt: “I am sorry. I have never thought about that question…”

After she spoke, she began to reflect on herself: “It seems my study of the path of faith is still too shallow. I spend all day in prayer, yet I never really think about the details behind the scriptures…”

“It is normal that the scriptures do not mention such details,” Morris said casually from the side. “From the founding of the Deep Sea Church until now, there has simply never been a case of mortals moving freely deep inside the Spirit Realm. Doctrine is a tool used to explain the gods’ Truth to mortals. It only represents the known parts of that Truth, not all of it…”

“Then where did the very first ‘doctrines’ come from?” Duncan asked again. “In the early days when the city-states were first built and the faith in the Four Gods had just appeared, who wrote the first doctrine and used it to explain how the world worked? Was it the first mortal preachers, or those four deities themselves?”

This time, Morris fell into thought.

Duncan went on: “According to how the Four Gods Church now explains the scriptures, doctrine can only come from the gods, right?”

“Yes…” Morris nodded. He seemed to have quickly ordered his thoughts and answered Duncan’s question. “Doctrine is a partial expression of the Truth. Its source lies with the gods. According to the more accepted view, the earliest prophets of the Critt dynasty received ‘enlightenment’ from the gods. The gods’ thoughts entered their minds, and they naturally wrote down the first teachings during their awakening.

“After that came several hundred years of the ‘Age of Truth’s Self-revelation’ and the ‘Age of Recorded revelations’. Generation after generation of prophets received enlightenment and wrote down what they learned. In the end, this formed the current doctrines and scriptures of the Four Gods…”

Duncan did not speak for a while. He only thought very seriously. After a long time, he broke the silence again: “Do such enlightened prophets, who can now write new doctrine and Truth, still appear?”

Morris and Vanna looked at each other.

“As far as I know, no,” Morris said, shaking his head. “Saints can use the Listening rite to hear the gods’ voices, but it is usually only vague hints or warnings. As for those ‘prophets’ in the histories who could talk with God at length… there has not been one since the end of the Dark Age.

“As for the cultists who follow the Black Sun or the Abyssal Lord, they often claim prophets appear among them. But as you know, the ‘prophets’ in their mouths are usually just madmen whose minds have been corrupted…”

“So that means that at least in the period from the Critt dynasty to the Dark Age, the gods could often contact the mortal world,” Duncan said thoughtfully. “They could even hold long conversations with certain mortals who met the conditions. But starting from the Age of City-States, their contact with the mortal world has sunk down to nothing more than vague hints?”

Hearing the captain’s words, which sounded full of hidden meaning, Vanna’s expression grew a bit strange. She could not help asking: “I… have never thought about it from that angle. Why are you suddenly asking about this?”

[Why am I suddenly asking about this…]

Duncan stayed silent for a moment, and in that silence, what rose in his mind was the picture he had seen not long ago in Tyrian’s office—

The Moon.

In the world he knew that had a Moon, there were no Four Gods. There was no Boundless Sea under the protection of the storm Goddess. There was no World’s Wound hanging high in the sky, and no Starry Sky and demons hidden in the Deep Sea beneath the Abyssal Deep.

Ever since he saw that picture of the Moon, his heart had not been at peace. Countless guesses about this world almost filled his entire mind.

“I just suddenly became interested in the oldest secrets of this world,” he said slowly. Then he let out a soft breath and nodded to Vanna and Morris. “I have already seen the warning you prepared for the Deep Sea Church and the Truth Academy. There is no problem with it. Go and contact your Church headquarters at sea.”

Although they still had doubts in their hearts, and still felt some worry over the captain’s heavy mood during these past two days, Morris and Vanna did not ask more. They lowered their heads at the same time: “Yes, Captain.”

…

Lucretia woke from a series of chaotic, strange, and terrifying nightmares.

She looked toward the window.

The thick curtains blocked the light from outside. Only a little golden glow slipped through the gaps in the fabric, falling into the room and making everything look shadowy. The familiar furniture took on a faintly eerie air in the dim corners, as if the remains of the nightmare had seeped into the Mortal Realm and now crouched and hid between the light and shadow.

A soft rustling sound came from beside her.

“Mistress?”

The oddly shaped and creepy stuffed rabbit sat up next to her. It tilted its head and looked at Lucretia with the button eyes sewn onto its face. A young girl’s voice came from its cotton-filled body.

Lucretia reached out and grabbed the stuffed rabbit doll, pulled it into her arms, and rubbed it hard. Then she raised her head and looked toward the window: “What time is it now?”

“There is still an hour before your usual waking time,” the stuffed rabbit doll answered honestly, letting its Mistress knead and squeeze it while it seemed to study Lucretia’s face. “You do not look very well. You were sleeping very restlessly just now… Did you have a nightmare again?”

“I dreamed about some strange things…” Lucretia rubbed her forehead and let go of the stuffed rabbit doll. “Pour me a drink.”

“All right.” The doll answered obediently. It hopped off the bed, jumped down to the floor, and took a wineglass from the small cabinet nearby. It poured half a glass for its Mistress. At the same time, it asked curiously: “What did you dream about? Is it because… the Old Master is coming, so you feel uneasy?”

The young girl’s voice carried a hint of nervousness. It was clear that just saying the words “Old Master” put it under great pressure.

Lucretia took the glass from the doll and drained it in one go. Then she let out a long breath: “I dreamed of the time when the Radiant Star almost ‘fell’ because it sailed too close to the border fog. But it was different from my real memory. In the dream, our ship fell out of the fog and then kept flying upward, ‘falling’ straight toward the World’s Wound.

“And there were many, many other ships, twisted into all sorts of shapes, falling from the whole world up into the sky… It was absurd and strange.”

As she spoke, she tossed the glass back to the stuffed rabbit doll beside her: “He is about to arrive. Of course that makes me a little nervous. But I am not so nervous that I will start having nightmares because of it—Rabby, he is still my Father.”

“Yes, Mistress.” The stuffed rabbit doll bowed its head at once, very obedient. Then it could not help but remind her: “But you still should be careful. Having nightmares on a ship is not a good sign. The Old Master… is linked to Subspace, after all. And right now, he is drawing closer to you.”

“I understand.” Lucretia spoke casually. Then she got out of bed, walked barefoot to the window, and yanked open the heavy curtains.

Warm and bright “sunlight” instantly flooded the room.

The Sun had not fully risen yet. However, over the nearby sea, that huge floating glowing geometric body had already kept the entire waters in “eternal day” for a long time.

Lucretia narrowed her eyes and bathed in that endless “sunlight”.

The voice of the stuffed rabbit doll sounded from behind her: “Mistress, are you still going to the ‘stone sphere’ today?”

“No.” Lucretia shook her head and turned to walk toward the dressing table. “Today I am going into the city to say hello to some old friends in the Explorer Association.”