Chapter 1 When the Storm Arrives

When the storm arrives, mortals scatter in fear at the roar of thunder, but the thunder itself does not care about the attitudes of mortals. Its rumbling is merely a result of its own existence, just as the existence of the *Vanishing Sail* is enough to interfere with the order of the entire Boundless Sea. Considering whether that "Captain Duncan" would care about being regarded as a heretic by a mortal church is meaningless—it overestimates the influence of mortal beings on that subspace shadow.

Besides, thinking about it from another perspective, the image of the *Vanishing Sail* in the eyes of the civilized world doesn't seem to be much better than that of a "heretic"...

"I will discuss this matter with the three popes, Hailinna, Banster, and Frem," Rune said to Morris. "There will certainly be voices of doubt and panic among the main body, but the four of us should quickly reach a consensus. Regardless of the source of the information, at least the warning itself needs to be taken seriously."

"I knew you would look at this matter rationally," Morris's voice carried a hint of relief. "You're still the same as you were back then."

"But you are very different from those days, Morris."

Rune's tone was filled with emotion. "I was saddened when I heard that you had fallen into a state of depression. I didn't expect you to recover so quickly, and I certainly didn't expect that your recovery would lead you to become a member of the *Vanishing Sail*. Honestly, very few things have shocked me in the past thousand years, but this is one of the most shocking."

"Life on the ship is actually not bad, even better than in the city-state," Morris said. "Although life at sea brings some trouble, I am seeing new things and dealing with things I had never heard of before almost every day here."

"You sound like a sailor who is proud of his ship," Rune couldn't help but say. "I'm really curious, what exactly are you doing on that ship?"

Morris was silent for half a minute. Many things flashed through his mind: giving lessons to the Abyss Demons, the Cursed Dolls, and the Demon Contractors; racing boats in the spirit world; eating Deep Sea Spawn; accompanying the Sun Fragment in reading books, and watching the latter braise all kinds of heretical filth that ran out of the books every day!

"Positive and healthy academic research," Morris said seriously.

"Oh, that sounds good," Rune nodded but couldn't help but remind him, "But I still want to say that you should be vigilant. Perhaps, as you said, that Captain Duncan has really regained his humanity, but as a mortal, living on the *Vanishing Sail* and being with a subspace shadow day and night is inherently dangerous. You should cautiously approach all unknown things and avoid your spirit and cognition from being affected."

"Thank you for your reminder, teacher, but please rest assured. You know that I have always been a cautious student. Even when I was conducting those most dangerous studies in the academy, I would always be fully prepared and never had an accident."

Having already returned to his desk and sat down, Rune fell silent upon hearing this. The elven elder couldn't help but recall the scene of Morris studying at the Academy of Truth many years ago. Cautious!

There were indeed many cautious students in the academy, but everyone's understanding of the word was not the same. There was a kind of student who would try to isolate and seal dangerous books as soon as they saw them, staying far away from them—that was called cautious. There was also a kind of student who, when encountering forbidden knowledge, would immediately down half a catty of mixed magic potions, hang a body full of amulets, and then prepare three large-caliber pistols—they also called that cautious!

The probability of the second type of student dying violently was very high, but as long as they survived, they would often achieve great success. The most outstanding legendary scholars of the Academy of Truth were often of this type, but even among the most legendary, none of them had reached the height of running to the *Vanishing Sail* to chat and laugh with a subspace evil god.

After a long silence, the elven elder behind the desk finally broke the silence softly, "Morris..."

"Teacher, please speak..."

"You are destined to do great things."

"Thank you for your expectations."

"No, what I mean is, if one day you stir up too much trouble, be sure to tell me in advance. I'll help if I can, and if I can't, I'll have to run away in advance."

The connection established by the psychic communication was broken, and the resonance at the level of thought and perception also receded like the tide. Rune narrowed his eyes slightly, sensing the departure of his former excellent apprentice. Only after confirming that Morris's consciousness had safely left the psychic channel did he completely relax. However, a faint, strange noise, as if countless people were whispering, still lingered in his mind, gradually dissipating after a long time.

Feeling the impact of the noise on his mind, Rune couldn't help but sigh softly. Permanent madness on the verge, yet still maintaining sanity and clarity—this was truly an incredible situation. Was this also the influence exerted by that 'Captain'?

Muttering to himself, the elven elder, perhaps the most knowledgeable among mortals, shook his head, then sat quietly at his desk, as if waiting for someone to come and visit.

He didn't wait long. The illusory and blurry sound of waves suddenly appeared in his mind and gradually converged into clear and continuous waves, followed by the call of flames and death. Rune sighed in these calls, then glanced at the alchemical container on the nearby table that was still reacting, confirmed that the remaining substance in the container was sufficient, and gradually calmed his mind. This study was where he held the psychic communication ceremony—the 'ritual site'.

All the ancient and solemn bookshelves, books, and alchemical devices on the desk were items needed to perform the ritual. Darkness surged, then scattered like mist. At the end of the deep and dim passage, the figures of the three popes of the Deep Sea, Death, and the Fire-Keepers emerged.

Rune walked through the passage, came to his three old friends, nodded slightly to greet them, and took the initiative to say before they could speak, "It seems you have also received the message."

"Banster and I each received messages from our saints," the Deep Sea Pope Hailinna said, while pointing to the silent and tall figure opposite her.

"Frem just arrived; we just had time to tell him the general situation." The tall figure called Frem nodded slightly. He was the leader of the Fire-Keepers, the earthly representative of the Eternal Sacred Flame "Tarijin." In terms of appearance, he was perhaps the most conspicuous of the four popes—an unusually tall body, skin as gray and tough as rock, and metal-textured patterns on the skin indicated his race. He was a strong Senjin, wearing a dark gold robe representing the Fire-Keeper pope.

His hair was short and gray, his face was angular, and he looked taciturn and particularly serious. Over the past period, this Fire-Keeper pope had been patrolling the borders of the civilized world with his patrol fleet.

He rarely attended the gatherings of the four, and this was his first appearance recently.

"I haven't fully figured out the situation yet," Frem said, his voice as deep as if it came from stone.

"None of my saints have been abducted onto that ship."

Hearing this, Hailinna next to him frowned strangely, and said in a low voice, "Our saints were not abducted onto the ship either...they contacted Captain Duncan, they were wary of Captain Duncan, they recognized Captain Duncan, and they joined Captain Duncan."

Frem glanced at Hailinna, his expression still like a stone. "I think they were abducted."

Hailinna: "..."

Banster, the tall and thin Death Pope with a pale face, coughed softly twice when he saw this. "Isn't this the first day you've known Frem? He's always like this."

"Okay."

Hailinna was speechless for a moment, then slowly nodded. "We are not here today to discuss 'saints being abducted onto the ship.' We are here to discuss the warning from the *Vanishing Sail*."

Rune raised his head, "Do you have any questions you want to ask?"

"Yes."

Hailinna said immediately, her eyes falling on Rune. "I want to know, what exactly are those huge biological organizations under the city-state? From the description, that thing is very similar to the Leviathans supporting the Cathedral Arks. Are they the same thing?"

"All four Cathedral Arks were built by the Academy of Truth, including the technology to revive and control the Leviathans, which you also developed," Banster also looked at Rune and opened his mouth.

"But you have never revealed where you found the corpses of those Leviathans, let alone the connection between those Leviathan beasts and the structure at the bottom of the city-state... We have reason to believe that the Academy of Truth holds some special truths."

Frem did not speak, but simply maintained his stone-like face, calmly watching Rune's eyes.

However, faced with these three rather pressured gazes, Rune simply spread his hands frankly, "I don't know what's under the city-state."

"You don't know?"

Hailinna widened her eyes slightly, "The Academy of Truth revived four Leviathans, but you say you don't know what's going on with the Leviathans at the bottom of the city-state?"

Rune simply asked calmly, "The Storm Goddess Germona is the Leviathan Queen—as a follower of the Storm Goddess, do you know more than I do?"

Hailinna frowned and did not speak. "I believe that you should have tried to ask the Leviathan beast carrying the Storm Cathedral, but it probably couldn't give you any answers, because even they themselves are not clear about their own race."

Rune sighed and shook his head gently, "The history of our world has been shattered. Even ancient beasts cannot clearly recall the events before the Great Annihilation. Do you know, that Captain Duncan even gave this phenomenon a name.

He called it the 'event horizon' in the time dimension!"