The name of the Storm Goddess Gomona appeared on the permit—and Duncan was familiar with those characters.

Because he had seen it before, back when he was in Prand, when the suspected Storm Goddess had left a message of thanks to him—he still had an impression of that "god's" handwriting.

However, Vanna said that the permit was signed by Pope Helena.

She wouldn't mistake such an obvious thing, and there was no need to tell such a meaningless lie, so there was only one explanation—in her eyes, the name on the permit was indeed Helena.

Who was seeing the truth? What did this "presentation," which was completely different in the eyes of the two, mean? What information did that Storm Goddess want to convey to him in this way? Or rather... what was her purpose in doing this?

Duncan controlled the expression on his face, restrained the shock in his heart. He didn't feel any obvious discordant aura from those pages of paper, so he could only try to get some information from Vanna.

He looked up at the Inquisitor across from him: "What did Helena say when she gave you the permit?"

"The Pope didn't say anything, just that what you wanted was ready," Vanna still cared about Duncan's strange attitude, but still answered immediately. Then she told him verbatim the exchange between herself and the Pope at the assembly about the permit, to explain why the certificate was signed by Helena. After she finished speaking, she cautiously observed Duncan's reaction and asked, "Is there... something wrong with these things?"

Duncan was silent for two seconds, then suddenly said, "...No, there's nothing wrong, these are fine."

Vanna's performance didn't seem fake, she obviously didn't know anything, and what was even more concerning was... if the details Vanna described were correct, then that "Pope Helena"... didn't seem to know about the change in the permit's signature either.

Unless that Pope was acting—but why would she do that?

Vanna had been paying attention to Duncan's reaction. Although she had many doubts in her heart, she finally didn't ask anything, but immediately mentioned another very important thing:

"Also, I was still the Listener who entered that mausoleum this time—the parchment I brought out has information about the new visions..."

"New visions?" Duncan raised his eyebrows upon hearing this, and was also a little surprised. "Isn't this a secret of your internal gathering? Is it okay to tell me directly?"

"The changes in the list of visions will be announced to the world sooner or later. Telling you now is just a little earlier, and... the new visions are related to you."

"Oh?"

Vanna steadied herself: "Vision—Frost, Vision—Lost Country, Vision—Lost Country Fleet. As with the situation in Prand, all are unnumbered."

The empty deck was quiet for a moment, with only the sound of the wind blowing past the ears and the sound of broken waves hitting the hull. After a long time, Duncan broke the silence: "...Oh, that's quite a lot."

"Yes, indeed... quite a lot," Vanna said hesitantly. "Under normal circumstances, even the appearance of a new vision is a major event enough to attract the attention of the Four Gods Church. This time, three visions have been updated directly, and one of them is the original No. 005, the Lost Country..."

"So the various churches and research organizations will be quite busy next?"

"Probably countless scholars will lose countless hairs, and the Popes will probably have a hard time sleeping peacefully for a while... Even if the new visions don't show any danger, the subsequent divination rituals and data sorting are a huge project."

Duncan thought for a while: "...Oh, good luck to them."

Even Vanna, who had always been calm and steady, barely managed to control the expression she almost couldn't hold back. An unspeakable strange emotion spread in her heart, and she held back for a long time before finally uttering a sentence: "You, as the 'person involved'... don't you have any thoughts?"

Duncan seriously pondered for a moment and looked at Vanna with a serious face: "Next time I'll try to make less noise? Or you can go back and persuade your Pope to think things through..."

Vanna: "..."

The Inquisitor seemed to be in chaos for a while. Duncan didn't care about her reaction, but raised his head, thoughtfully looking at the familiar decks, masts, and transparent, bulging spiritual sails in his view.

The Lost Country sailed on the boundless sea as always, silently and reliably. As the owner of this ship, Duncan did not feel any changes in it at all—but in the list of Vision 004, "Nameless King's Mausoleum," this ship was no longer "Vision 005."

It lost its number.

What does this change mean?

Duncan lowered his head, thoughtfully looking at his palm, then his eyes fell on the permit. The name "Gomona" exuded a strong sense of presence, attracting his attention.

He thought of the brief connection established between Ah-Gou and the God of Wisdom, and also thought of the strange dark space, and the records of what seemed to be a conversation between the gods that he saw in the dark space.

"Vanna," he suddenly turned his head, looking into Vanna's eyes very seriously, "How can one establish communication with the gods?"

Vanna woke up from her daze in an instant, and then was startled by Duncan's words, looking a little at a loss: "Ah?! You said... establish communication with the gods?!"

"That's right," Duncan nodded, "Establish communication with the gods."

He had just thought of one thing: if there really was some kind of "communication platform" between the gods hidden in that strange dark space, and the "Book of Blasphemy" that had been burned before was just a "key" to open that dark space, then this kind of "key" was likely not only in the hands of a few cult sects, or in other words—

Since even the "blasphemous relics" in the hands of cultists can open the gods' "communication platform," then what about the orthodox churches that are already closely connected with the Four Gods? Wouldn't the things or technologies in their hands be more effective? This is very logical.

Duncan hadn't thought in this direction before, partly because he was influenced by inertia of thought. After all, the previous golden mask and this time's Book of Blasphemy were both obtained from cultists, so he instinctively had the simple idea of finding cultists and "killing them on the spot." On the other hand... he was subconsciously avoiding this direction.

Because he had indeed seen the role of the Four Gods Church in the city-states, he had a certain natural goodwill towards the forces behind Vanna and Morris—peeking into that dark space was risky, and the destroyed golden mask and Book of Blasphemy proved this. The power of truth is beyond what ordinary things can bear. Once the operation is improper, the "relic" acting as a medium will be destroyed at best, and the person assisting from the side will be in danger of life at worst. It is more appropriate for cultists to bear this risk.

But now Duncan suddenly had a new idea.

This idea originated from the Storm Goddess's signature on the permit.

This may be a signal of goodwill, or it may be a reminder.

Of course, he couldn't explain it to Vanna in too much detail—after all, the latter was still a devout saint. If he directly told her "I think the cultists' relics are too difficult to find, so I want to try the relics of your Deep Sea Church," it would definitely be inappropriate. If she wasn't careful, she would smash over with a jumping chop...

Vanna didn't expect the reason behind Duncan's casual question. She was just surprised that the captain was suddenly interested in the gods, but she soon remembered that the other party seemed to have unique insights and research in the field of theology, so she thought seriously and replied: "It depends on what kind of communication you are referring to—usually, we call all acts of reverence for the gods 'communication with the gods'. Even an ordinary believer's evening prayer is a dialogue with the gods.

"Above this, formal priests understand the 'knowledge' of the gods through years of training and study, plus the assistance of specific rituals and objects, and draw power from this knowledge and truth, or listen to the revelations of the gods. This is a further step of 'communication'.

"And above this is the level of saints like me. Saints do not need complicated ritual preparations. They only need their own spiritual resonance to communicate with the will of God relatively easily, because our spirituality is connected with the spirituality of God..."

Vanna's tone was a little proud when she said the last sentence, but she found that Duncan frowned slightly—these answers were obviously not what the captain wanted.

"It's not this kind of communication," Duncan shook his head, slowly organizing his words, wanting to make Vanna understand his intention, "I mean... more direct, closer, more efficient... connection, do you understand? Not getting some vague revelations in prayer, but being able to talk directly to the Four Gods."

Vanna slowly opened her mouth wide, and didn't come back to her senses for a long time.

So Duncan knew that he probably couldn't get an answer from her—an expected situation.

"Forget it, this is a bit unrealistic," he waved his hand and took a light breath, "The ritual techniques you use are useless to me. Maybe it would be more effective if I just found a few sacred books of the Four Gods Church to read."

Vanna blinked her eyes. As usual, she felt a little unable to keep up with the captain's thoughts again. But fortunately, the captain didn't dwell on this strange topic.

"Go to the White Oak later and give the permit to Lawrence, I won't go there," Duncan ordered, "If he asks about the follow-up arrangements, let him act with the Lost Country for the time being. After the Frost's matter is completely settled, we will discuss it again."

Vanna lowered her head: "Yes, Captain."

Duncan nodded, but then, as if he heard something, his brow furrowed slightly: "Huh? Vanna asked curiously, "What's wrong?"

"...Agatha is looking for me," Duncan said slowly, his expression gradually becoming serious, "She said she found a way to dive into the deep sea.