Chapter 1 The Cautious Captain

Since discovering the eerie Shalos, sailing in endless darkness and mist, Duncan had been careful not to try and take over its helm.

Because he couldn't be sure what the nature of this ship was, nor did he know how the ship would react to his "takeover."

But now, he knew that this ship was the Shalos's shadow, that Goathead's unconscious "dreaming" had caused this change, which dispelled many of his concerns.

It was time to let this dream-sailing ship know who the real captain was.

Duncan slowly walked onto the quarterdeck, his footsteps crossing the iron hooks and ropes near the bridge – the ropes were silent, quietly dormant in the darkness, and the dark-colored helm was gently swaying left and right in the center of the platform, as if even in this dream world, it was still fine-tuning the rudder, as if Goathead was still dutifully controlling the course.

Duncan came to the helm, took a light breath, and couldn't help but recall the scene when he first stood on the bridge and placed his hand on the helm.

Temporarily throwing the unimportant thoughts out of his mind, he reached out and slowly grasped the wooden handle on the edge of the helm – a smooth, cold touch came, along with a slight resistance.

Duncan ignored the resistance that came along the dream, mobilized the "safe fire seeds" that he had sent to the ship before, ordered them to converge towards the bridge, and tightly gripped the helm.

In the next second, wisps of flame appeared out of thin air in the darkness, and the spirit flames ignited the bridge at the stern in the blink of an eye. Vanna's body transformed into a translucent spirit in the flames, and the entire bridge, including the helm, was instantly shrouded in flames!

In that instant, Vanna felt the ship changing in her hands, feeling it present a turbid and distinct structure in her mind like the Shalos in the real world—I perceive its deck, its masts, every sail and every rope, and the cabins and corridors above the deck, shrouded in darkness and secrecy…

The feeling was as if the ship had suddenly "flown" into a "tunnel" woven from some huge plant structure, with vines intertwined to form the walls and vaults of the tunnel. A huge sense of oppression also followed, and at the same time, countless flickers of light emerged along these vines and gathered like water.

After a brief moment of astonishment, Duncan received a message from the captain—

Then, the light penetrated her arm, and the temperature it brought also dissipated, as if located in another dimension, the light flowed towards the stern.

The giant smiled and bent down to pick up the strangely shaped staff.

The entire ship creaked and groaned. The Shalos, made of shadows as "raw material" and shaped by the power of dreams, seemed to suddenly wake up. It finally recognized its captain, and every part of the ship seemed to cheer. The ropes, wooden barrels, and other objects that were still in a state of silence the second before also began to shake in the darkness.

The orderly wind that suddenly rolled up in the desert awakened Duncan from his thoughts. She suddenly stood up from the wind-sheltered pile of stones and looked in the direction of the wind and sand.

Duncan was stunned: "Why?"

These were a few letters, with a strange… vaguely familiar strangeness. For a moment, she even felt that she was about to be able to understand them, but in the next second, the meaning of these words disappeared from her mind like flowing water.

Vanna looked at these wandering streams of light, listening to the voices that seemed to ring directly in her mind. When the light approached, she could even feel a slight chill, and the words that were constantly repeated seemed to convey a lot of crucial information—she frowned, and after a brief moment of firmness, she finally reached out, one hand continuing to hold the helm, and the other reaching towards one of the streams of light.

In the next second, the collapsing world reorganized itself, turning into an unfamiliar living room, an unfamiliar dining table, and an unfamiliar roof.

The light called out again and again, wandering and gathering around the bridge, and constantly gathering into blind and chaotic streams of light. Several times, the light even flowed to the edge of the helm, even touching Vanna's hem and cuffs.

But it was only in that instant of contact that Vanna knew, or rather "confirmed" the name of the light and sound—she was Lucresias, the World Tree of the Elves.

The giant pointed to the staff: "Because there's a sentence here that I haven't finished engraving yet."

"I" can't see anything, as if… the owner of this voice is separated from Lucresias by different dimensions, located in different time and space.

Duncan noticed that several more symbols had appeared on the surface of the huge "staff," which was taller than the giant's body.

However, "I" didn't seem to perceive Vanna's existence.

These unfamiliar faces reappeared in front of her.

"Have you returned? Saszloka… are you home? You've been gone for so long…"

This name was directly imprinted into Vanna's mind in the form of information, as if presenting… the contagiousness of knowledge.

The light touched her palm, conveying a dreamlike temperature.

In the next second, the tremor appeared throughout the ship. The "Shalos" sailing in the dark mist began to shake violently. The spirit sails quickly extinguished in the darkness, and countless cracked lines appeared on the deck. Everything that made up the ship was disappearing and disintegrating. Even the helm in Vanna's hands began to gradually lose its solid touch.

……

Vanna was surprised to feel the changes in the ship, especially its sudden acceleration in the darkness. However, before she could perceive anything ahead of the course, a voice suddenly came from nowhere, directly entering her mind: "...Who's there?"

Duncan blinked, just about to ask something, but the wind and sand had already rushed from behind her—in the suddenly rising dust, the world in her vision quickly shook and collapsed.

"Traveler, it looks like it's time to say goodbye."

Vanna stared intently at the light, watching it come to her and wander aimlessly around the bridge, listening to the voice in her mind constantly ringing.

These "lights" eventually came into contact with the Shalos and began to constantly approach the quarterdeck where Vanna was located along the deck and ship's side. There seemed to be something gathering in the light, but it was never able to appear as it was. They were just constantly gathering, constantly approaching, as if searching for something.

Duncan was stunned for a moment, and suddenly realized: "How… would you know…"

The stability of the Dream of the Renowned was decreasing, and this time the dream was about to end.

"Who is it? Who's there?"

These were words she didn't recognize.

"I… I can't open my eyes, Saszloka, I'm a little scared, I can't see anything… but something's coming…"

This sounded like a somewhat childish female voice, with a kind of dazed vagueness, as if half-dreaming, half-awake. The voice was everywhere in the darkness, and in the next second after hearing the voice, Vanna suddenly felt light and shadow emerge in front of her eyes. Then, a huge structure suddenly appeared from the darkness in front of her, and a hazy phantom light appeared in front of the course!

"Traveler, perhaps we will meet again," the giant's voice came from below, interrupting Duncan's trance. "And maybe very soon."

The stability of the Dream of the Renowned was decreasing, and this time the dream was coming to an end.

That looked like a huge vortex, but in the vortex, countless structures resembling vines or branches could be seen. Endless vines and branches surged from the front of the Shalos and instantly enveloped almost every inch of space outside the ship's side. In Lucresias's eyes, the huge plant structure occupied all of her vision and continued to extend and move forward with the Shalos's voyage.

The flying sand and the constantly distorted and illusory distant scenery were the dream boundaries slowly approaching.

Vanna froze for a moment, and then she felt a tremor suddenly come from the deck under her feet.

Lucresias was stunned for a moment, and then realized what was happening—

Duncan suddenly turned his head and looked at the opposite side of the still-smoldering campfire.

Duncan opened his mouth, but didn't know what to say—in this brief moment when the dream was about to wake up, it seemed that only farewell was left to her.

The wind and sand rose in the distance like a wall, and everything in the dust and mist quickly became hazy. The jagged rocks became illusory and distorted, as if they would disappear from this world at any moment.

Vanna gripped the helm tightly in the face of the overwhelming visual pressure and mysterious brilliance. She controlled herself and didn't intend to leave the bridge a single step no matter what happened. She watched the dark vines and branches move outside the ship's side, feeling the Shalos's speed decreasing little by little, as if an invisible resistance was slowing the ship down. Then, these wandering lights finally converged to her, and she heard the childish, child-like voice again—

"I protected us all, I built a wall, you can see us when you come back… but I can't see you, are you there? Are you back?"