Chapter 1 Something Emerges

Something was emerging from that uniform gray-white background, like a long tunnel reaching its end, and the scene at the exit suddenly entering view.

Shirley nimbly climbed up the mast, excitedly widening her eyes to gaze into the distance, and shouted loudly towards the deck, "There's something ahead! Not a mirage, it looks like something real!"

The scene emerging at the end of the "route" gradually became clear, and the uniform gray-white background around it began to rapidly dissolve like morning mist in the sunlight. Duncan was the first to distinguish the shimmering water from the rapidly clarifying scene—followed by the thin mist floating on the water surface, and the many shadows, large and small, in the distance.

Those shadows, large and small, floated on the water, gradually becoming a clear archipelago.

That was the mysterious "archipelago" mentioned by Captain Kalaani in her log!

Everyone on the *Vanishing Sea* came to the deck, gazing at the sea and archipelago that seemed to suddenly emerge from nothingness with a strange mix of excitement and faint nervousness. They saw the shimmering sea surface rapidly spread to the near distance, spreading around the *Vanishing Sea*'s hull. The sound of rushing water suddenly rose, followed by a shock and vibration throughout the ship—the *Vanishing Sea* had entered this sea, and after experiencing that long and bizarre "journey through the crack in space-time," the sound of waves hitting the hull sounded so beautiful.

The sailor tightly gripped the helm in his hands, watching from the high platform at the stern the sea and archipelago that quickly filled his entire field of vision. Fragmented memories seemed to be awakened, and countless coherent or incoherent images rolled through his mind. An indescribable sense of temporal dislocation surged up—

He remembered this place, he remembered the chaotic sounds on the *Sea Song* when it finally reached an island after a long drift, the zombie-like sailors awakening from a long nightmare, the self-less priest suddenly regaining clarity, people prostrating on the ground, kissing the rusted and collapsing deck, and then turning into spirits and ashes in the sea breeze...

He remembered this place—he even felt like he had never left, like he had always been standing on the bridge of the *Sea Song*.

It wasn't until the hands tightly gripping the helm suddenly felt a slight tingling that he suddenly awoke from the illusion of temporal dislocation.

He lowered his head and saw a thin layer of flame floating on the dark surface of the helm, and then the flame dissipated, and the tingling also disappeared.

"I still have a mission...yes, there's still a mission to complete...thank you for waking me up..." The sailor muttered to himself, thanking the *Vanishing Sea* for awakening him when he was about to get lost. Then he raised his head again, carefully calibrating his course among those familiar islands while murmuring, "Captain Kalaani, I'm back..."

The massive sailing exploration ship carefully navigated the misty sea, passing between the dark "islands," searching for openings in the fog. The *Bright Star* also slowed down, carefully following behind the *Vanishing Sea*.

After a while, many white shadows flew out from the deck of the *Bright Star*. They were countless paper-folded seabirds—they flapped their wings through the mist, first circling around the *Vanishing Sea* and *Bright Star*, and then carefully expanding their circling range little by little, flying over the surrounding islands.

Duncan looked up, watching those "scouts" released and controlled by Lucretia, and found that they were not being attacked or corrupted, mutated—it seemed safer here than expected.

"There are many slender shadows around these 'islands,' hidden underwater, like some kind of spreading limbs," Lucretia's voice sounded in Duncan's mind. "Also, when viewed from the air, it can be seen that the shapes of these 'islands' are very similar. The surface layer of some islands can even distinguish biological structures...just like what was mentioned in that log, they are all Leviathan corpses."

"Yeah." Duncan responded softly, his eyes also scanning the "sea islands" floating in the mist. In some shallower waters, he also noticed the shadows spreading out from under the islands—those shadows seemed "slender" relative to the islands, but in reality, each one was still larger than the *Vanishing Sea*'s hull. They stretched stiffly in the sea, showing no reaction to the approach of outsiders, appearing long dead.

Duncan recalled the huge tentacles he had seen beneath the frost and that pale giant eye.

He knew that those "Leviathan beasts" that carried the city-states were actually "fakes" created by the Lord of the Depths, and that the real Leviathans were here.

"Her children are circling in death, resting at the world's end..."

Maurice's voice came from the side, with a slight metallic tremor. Duncan turned his head and saw that Maurice had once again transformed into that "forged form" at some point. The depths of the brass-shelled body still occasionally transmitted the sound of gears turning and valves opening and closing.

Maurice turned his head, his chest making a reed-trembling sound: "Imagining it in your mind is one thing, seeing it with your own eyes is another, right?"

Then he paused, and then pointed to his body: "It's always good to be cautious. Flesh and blood are very fragile in this place."

"If your flesh and blood are damaged, Vanna can at least help heal you. If your copper shell is damaged, you'll probably have to find a fitter—there's no fitter on board."

"Nina can help," Maurice said casually, "I gave her the design drawings for my body. Her skills are okay now."

Duncan thought about it and felt that it made sense.

It was just a little weird.

At the same time, Vanna was standing on the edge of the front deck, staring at the distant sea with some absent-mindedness, and a hazy shadow was standing in the mist beside her.

"I can hear his voice, never been this close," she said softly, as if talking to herself. "It's everywhere, as if the entire sea is his whisper...he's talking in my ear, but I can't hear him clearly."

"Perhaps it's because we're too close, or maybe it's really just meaningless babbling," Agatha's voice came from the shadows. "In any case, you need to be more cautious than others here—you are 's saint, your listening and perception of are more sensitive than others, and you are more likely to be affected by it. Even with the captain's protection, you must be careful that your mind deviates from humanity."

"I know," Vanna nodded gently. "Thanks for the reminder."

Agatha didn't say anything more, just stood thoughtfully in the mist. After a long time, she said softly, "What do you think Bartok's kingdom will be like?"

Vanna blinked, but didn't know how to answer the question.

"Her children are circling in death here, the dead Leviathans have turned into this archipelago, and the Storm Goddess slumbers surrounded by them, which suddenly makes me a little curious about where other gods slumber," Agatha said slowly in thought. "My doctrine tells me that the souls of the dead will pass through that gate and find eternal peace in Bartok's kingdom, while my memory tells me that those 'messengers of death' are real, they will pass through the spirit world and respond to the gatekeeper's call...

"But where is that gate? Does it also stand somewhere at the end of this world? Are those messengers there too? Will the soul wilderness that those dead people finally reach be in the center of such a sea?

"I feel like these are all hard to imagine."

Vanna widened her eyes slightly, looking at the figure standing in the mist with some astonishment—these doubts shouldn't have come from the mouth of a saint, a former gatekeeper, but she couldn't help but be stirred by Agatha's series of questions, and even began to feel the same curiosity.

She turned her head and looked into the depths of the distant mist.

What would the temple described in the *Storm Codex* that "commands all storms and anchors the foundation of the sea" look like?

"There's a very large island ahead," Lucretia's voice sounded in Duncan's mind, with a hint of excitement. "There seem to be large buildings on the island!"

The mist seemed to recede around the *Vanishing Sea*. An opening appeared ahead of the bow, and at the end of the sea that suddenly became clear, illuminated by the mysterious chaotic glow from the sky, a huge island appeared in everyone's eyes.

That was an "island" that seemed to be "piled up" by countless huge black rocks. Rather than being a natural product, it looked more like a "miraculous building" artificially built by some ancient civilization.

Rectangular stone blocks of various sizes, precisely cut and intricately arranged, rose from the sea, piling up into undulating structures that stretched as far as the eye could see.

And that huge "palace" stood above countless rectangular stone blocks—it was also built from "materials" that looked like stone blocks, with a black or dark green color on the surface, and crystal-like green substances inlaid between the stones, constructing a gloomy, complex, and mysterious exterior wall. The "palace" as a whole presented a layered and towering structure, with huge, somewhat amazing pillars supporting its heavy lower outer edge, and its upper part had many strange hollows, as if they were deliberately left for some huge creatures to enter and exit.

"Amazing structure," Maurice stared blankly at the huge palace standing in the faint light, his jaw almost dislocating, and after a long daze, he blurted out, "How was it built?!"

"Anyway, it's definitely not something that the current city-state civilization can build." Duncan said casually, and then, the corner of his eye noticed the "things" spreading out from the side of the lower part of the palace...

Those were huge limbs, like the tentacles of a sea beast, extending from the openings on the side of the palace into the sea.

Gamora was there.

"We'll go over there," Duncan said in a deep voice. "We've found her."