Chapter 1 What a Descendant Really Is

In the end, Duncan never figured out what a "descendant" really was.

The Goat Head was vague on the subject, seemingly because it didn't even know the details of these ancient things that roamed the edge of the civilized world. As for Duncan, he could only piece together a concept from limited clues:

Descendants are products of ancient times and harbor a hatred for the modern world. They possess bizarre and dangerous powers and are hidden in the shadows, keeping a low profile. Except for the Descendants of the Sun, other "descendants" almost never appear in the civilized world but threaten the safety of explorers in the borderlands.

And among all this information, there was one particularly noteworthy point:

The Descendants of the Sun seem to be able to disguise themselves as humans – only the church's transcendents can distinguish the disguised Descendants of the Sun from ordinary people.

Duncan thought of the recent changes in the Prand City-State and those "Sun Worshippers" who had suddenly become high-profile after years of being low-key.

Behind the high-profile activities of the cultists… was it the order of the "descendants"? What were those ancient and bizarre beings plotting in the Prand City-State?

Duncan stood at the edge of the *Vanishing Sail's* deck, gazing for a long time at the undulating sea beneath his feet.

There are also descendants in the deep sea, ancient beings different from the Descendants of the Sun. "They" threaten the safety of long-distance fleets between various city-states.

Duncan was wary of and curious about these deep-sea creatures.

He believed that although he had never dealt with these things, as long as the *Vanishing Sail* was still wandering at sea, he would encounter these bizarre things sooner or later. There was no harm in making some preparations beforehand.

Whether it was collecting information, further mastering his own power, or exploring the potential of the *Vanishing Sail*, it was all planning for the future.

Of course, he wasn't afraid of the dangers lurking in the deep sea—after all, he had been drifting at sea with this ship for so long, he could more or less guess how many bizarre things were in the deep sea. Descendants were just one of the countless bizarre threats. As the captain of the *Vanishing Sail*, there were many things he had to be wary of.

He pondered for a long time on the deck and realized that his biggest concern was whether his hard-earned "supply channel" would be affected—would those deep-sea descendants affect his fishing?

Although the pigeon Ai Yi had the ability to transport supplies, it was still uncertain what its carrying capacity and reliability were. Moreover, the Prand City-State was an orderly place, and the supplies transported to the ship had to be bought with money, so it was uncertain when this supply line would be useful.

In addition, the rich harvest from the last fishing trip was still vivid in his mind. Duncan knew very well that the improvement of the *Vanishing Sail's* living conditions ultimately depended on the gifts of nature.

And those "descendants" had now become a hidden danger—they might affect the gifts of nature.

Duncan was a little worried. He only hoped that the evil things in the sea wouldn't affect his fishing.

…

Bright gas lamps emitted light, dispelling the darkness in the underground facilities of the church. Deep-sea runes engraved in the long corridor exuded a reassuring power. The lines contained in those runes, symbolizing waves and coasts, were connected to each other, as if outlining an invisible giant net, enveloping the underground structure of the entire building in a sacred and tranquil atmosphere.

Vanna walked in the underground sanctuary of the church. This sacred and quiet place gradually calmed her somewhat impetuous mood.

The Storm Goddess, who held the most powerful force on the boundless sea, did not only symbolize the violent side of "storms." This ancient god also held the power of tranquility and sealing.

Just as the sea has two sides, calm and storm always accompany each other, so too does the goddess's authority—the underground of the cathedral symbolizes the "mirror image of the storm."

Many gods in this world have two sides, or possess the characteristics of two sides. The God of Death also holds the power of life, and the God of Wisdom also has the power to deprive reason, causing foolishness and madness. Ordinary people may not know much about this, but as a high-ranking clergy member, Vanna is very knowledgeable in this area.

She also knew that it was precisely because of the two-sided nature of many gods that certain controversial and even heretical ideas had emerged. Some scholars even believed that the entire world was two-sided—that in some dimension, there even existed a "Withered Land" where the sea and land were completely mirrored. It was a boundless, dry land, with extremely rare rivers and oases dotting the aridity. That Withered Land even had intelligent civilizations that were similar to but not the same as those in the real world, mirroring all things in reality…

These outrageous speculations, based entirely on conjecture, were of course not recognized. Even Bishop Valentine of the Prand City-State, who was known for his open-mindedness, sneered when he heard about them—

In the old man's own words, the sub-space at the bottom of this world is already headache-inducing enough, could some folk theologians please stop hanging things below the sub-space?

Vanna suddenly shook her head, drawing her uncontrolled thoughts back in.

In the quiet underground of the cathedral, people's thoughts can easily wander out of control. This is because the "mirror image of the storm" brings an overly peaceful psychological suggestion. The sense of security brought by the goddess's sanctuary can weaken mortals' psychological barriers to the greatest extent. This effect is invisible and powerful, and even an inquisitor as rigorously trained as she is cannot be immune.

But on the other hand, this special environment has special uses.

For example, to make certain fanatical and crazy cultists talk.

Vanna stopped at the end of the corridor in the underground sanctuary. There were several doors here, leading to various "interrogation rooms," and a statue of the Storm Goddess stood quietly in the lobby between the doors.

This statue was different from the goddess statue on the ground floor of the church—the statue on the ground floor had its hands open, as if accepting the worship of all people, surrounded by infinite majesty, while in the underground, the goddess's statue had its hands folded in front of its chest, quiet and gentle, as if it were a young girl listening attentively.

However, both statues had their faces covered with light纱, symbolizing the unknowability of the gods.

This statue with folded hands, listening, was the other posture of the Storm Goddess: the Serene Sea Maiden.

She suppresses the water body below sea level, protecting the peace of the underground world of the city-state.

Vanna bowed in front of the statue of the Serene Sea Maiden, then turned and opened the door of a nearby interrogation room.

The sound of the door shaft turning broke the silence in the underground facility. After the door opened, a spacious but dimly lit room appeared in front of Vanna.

In the center of the room was a large table. Ms. Heidi, dressed in a long black dress, was getting up from the table. Opposite the table was a chair with restraint chains, and a Sun Heretic was sitting quietly in the chair.

The heretic's eyes were dull, leaning crookedly against the nearby armrest, as if reason and strength had been drawn from his body, leaving only chaotic remnants.

The room still retained a strong smell of incense. Ms. Heidi's medical kit was still on the table, and inside, one could see empty large syringes, wriggling刺藤, and golden pointed锥that seemed to still retain traces of blood.

"Oh, Lord Vanna, you've come at the right time," Ms. Heidi said, turning her head in greeting when she heard the door open. "I just finished a 'course of treatment.'"

Vanna's eyes swept over Heidi's medical kit, her expression as always: "Seriously, I still find it hard to associate your set of things with 'course of treatment'..."

"These are all standard tools for mental physicians… Okay, I admit that I may use them more frequently than ordinary doctors," Ms. Heidi said, shrugging her shoulders. "But who told me that I am a 'hypnotist' hired by the city hall and often helping the church? The 'patients' I come into contact with are not normal patients, especially heretics like this. Shaking crystals and low-frequency pendulums are not as effective as a shot of three times the dose of 'Midnight Mixture.'"

"...I strongly suspect that the reason you inject heretics with three times the dose every time is that your big syringe can only hold three times the dose," Vanna complained to the acquaintance in front of her, but then shook her head. "But that's not important. You just need to be able to pry open these guys' mouths… Tell me, what have you gained?"

"Yes, and the gains are not small, the situation is strange," Ms. Heidi replied immediately. "I have conducted deep hypnosis on several heretics, and also used some special means. Now I can basically confirm… these heretics who participated in the sacrificial ritual are very likely not to have gone crazy after the ritual got out of control…"

"Not crazy after the ritual got out of control?" Vanna immediately frowned. Although she knew that the complexity of this matter would exceed expectations after talking with Bishop Valentine, Heidi's words still exceeded her expectations. "What does this mean?"

"I searched their memories and found that these people's thinking… or rather, cognitive logic, had problems before the last failed sacrificial ritual began. Strictly speaking, these heretics seem to have been affected by some kind of… cognitive filter, before the ritual began, so that in their memories… um? Lord Vanna, you don't seem too surprised?"