Ashes Of Deep Sea Chapter 503

Chapter 503: 504 Chapter 503: 504 At many times, Nina actually couldn't realize the formidable power she possessed and the deterrent effect this power had among ordinary transcendents–this certainly helped her maintain her “human” mindset, but it surely also had its drawbacks.

After all, a 6000degC big pot, no matter where smeared, was an earth-shattering event.

Fortunately, Duncan had been paying attention to this issue from the start and often guided and reminded Nina. He timely made the girl understand the dangerous nature of her own power and figured out ways for her to gradually control the Sun's might. At least now, Nina had slowly become familiar with and accepted one fact:
This world, to today's her, was a delicately fragile paper house that could easily burst into flames if not careful; she needed to cautiously control her breath and gaze to prevent everything from turning to ash.

Now it seemed that Nina's understanding and control over her own power was successful, apart from very rare and harmless “out of control” incidents, she had never burned anything else. On the other hand, she always maintained the “recognition” of being an ordinary human and had not developed an arrogant or dangerous change in mindset upon realizing her power.

To Duncan, this was very good.

The pitch-black surface of the sea undulated slowly in the sightline, the chaotic sky and the sea lacked a clear boundary, and the spectral flames surrounding Homeloss lit up the nearby waters. In those intersecting lights and shadows, one could occasionally spot weird and suspicious shadows flashing through the air or water–
Those were the “natives” of the Spirit Realm, these chaotic, dim-witted beings attracted by the intruder Homeloss, but as soon as they gathered slightly, they would be scorched by the spectral flame, and then scatter fleeing.

Nina ran to the edge of the stern deck, sitting directly on the deck, her legs dangling and swinging outside the railing, curiously observing this “sea area” that seemed strange and interesting to her.

Duncan then reminded Nina to watch her safety and not to fall off the deck, and afterward, he continued focusing on steering. After a while, he suddenly thought of a question.

“Fenna,” he turned his head and glanced at Miss Judge, who was standing on the high platform looking out at the sea, “I just had a question about the Storm Goddess.”

Fenna immediately turned around, her face serious, “Please ask.”

“The Storm Goddess Gomona is the guardian of the sea, right?” Duncan said, “The entire Endless Sea falls under the Storm Goddess's protection–but what about the Spirit Realm's sea?”

Fenna's serious expression instantly turned to astonishment, followed by a long awkward silence of over ten seconds, and after a long while, she hesitatedly shook her head, speaking with an apologetic tone, “I'm sorry, I have never thought about this question…”
After saying this, she began to reflect, “It seems my study in the way of faith is still too superficial, praying all day without seriously contemplating the details behind these scriptures…”
“It's quite normal that there are no such details behind the scriptures because since the Deep Sea Church was established, there has never been a situation where ordinary people freely moved in depth in the Spirit Realm,” Morris casually said from the side, “Doctrines are tools used to explain the divine truth to mortals; they represent only the known parts of divine truth, not everything…”
“Then where did the original 'doctrines' come from?” Duncan asked again, “In the era when the City-States were just established, when the four-god faith was first born, who wrote the initial doctrines and used them to explain the logic of the world's operation–was it the first missionaries who were mortals, or those four deities?”

This time, Morris fell into thought.

Duncan continued speaking, “According to the current four-god church's interpretation of the scriptures, doctrines can only come from the gods, right?”

“…Yes,” Morris nodded, his words seemingly quickly organized in response to Duncan's questions, “Doctrines are a partial reflection of the truth, their source comes from the gods–according to the more recognized view, the original prophets like Crite received 'enlightenment' from the gods, divine thoughts entered their minds, and they naturally wrote down the initial teachings in their enlightenment. After that, there were hundreds of years of the 'Era ofApparent Truths' and 'Era of Revelations', generation after generation of prophets received enlightenment and recorded the knowledge, eventually forming the current four-god doctrines and scriptures…”
Duncan didn't speak for a while, deeply contemplating. After a long time, he once again broke the silence, “Are there still such prophets who receive enlightenment and are able to write new doctrines and truths today?”

Morris and Fenna looked at each other.

“…Not that I know of,” Morris shook his head, “The saints can hear the voice of the gods, but usually, it is just vague hints and reminders, and prophets like those recorded in history who could directly converse with the gods for a long time… have not appeared since the end of the Dark Age. However, the Heretics who follow the Black Sun or the Mysterious Divine Master often claim that prophets have appeared among them, but as you know, the 'prophets' in their mouths are often just lunatics suffering mental contamination…”
“That is to say, at least during the time from the Crite dynasty to the Dark Age, the gods could frequently contact the mundane world,” Duncan said thoughtfully, “They could even converse with qualified mortals for extended periods, but from the City-State era onward, their contact with the mundane world has been reduced to merely vague 'hints'?”

Hearing the captain's words, which seemed deeply meaningful, Fenna's expression became somewhat odd, and she couldn't help but speak up, “I… have never thought from this perspective. Why do you suddenly ask these questions?”

Why suddenly ask these questions…
Duncan fell silent for a moment, and in the silence, what emerged in his mind was the picture he had seen not long ago in Tyrion's office–
The moon.

In the world he knew that contained the moon, there were no Four Divine–no Endless Sea sheltered by the Storm Goddess, no Creation of the World suspended in the sky, and no stars and demons hidden in the Mysterious Deep Sea.

Since seeing that picture of the moon, his heart had always been restless, and countless speculations about this world… nearly filled his mind.

“I just suddenly became very interested in the oldest secrets of this world,” he said slowly, then took a gentle breath and nodded to Fenna and Morris, “I have reviewed the 'warnings' you plan to convey to the Deep Sea Church and the Academy of Truth, there are no problems. Go and contact your Maritime Church headquarters.”

Despite still having some doubts and feeling slightly worried about the captain's troubled state over the past few days, Morris and Fenna did not ask further but simultaneously bowed their heads: “Yes, captain.”

Lucresia awoke from a series of chaotic, bizarre, and terrifying nightmares.

She looked out the window.

Thick curtains blocked the light from outside, letting only a sliver of golden afterglow seep through the gaps, casting dim and shifting shadows in the room. The familiar furnishings in the dark corners seemed imbued with a strange air, as if the remnants of her nightmares had leaked into the real world, lurking in the interplay of light and shadow.

A rustling noise came from beside her.

“Mistress?”

A bizarrely terrifying stuffed rabbit sat up beside her, tilting its head and watching Lucresia with its button eyes, a little girl's voice emanating from its cotton-stuffed body.

Lucresia casually pulled the rabbit into her arms and rubbed it vigorously, then lifted her head to look out the window: “What time is it now?”

“There is still an hour left before your usual time to rise,” the stuffed rabbit was rubbed back and forth by its mistress and seemed to be observing Lucresia's expression, “You don't look very well, you were sleeping quite restlessly just now… Did you have another nightmare?”

“I dreamt of some odd things…” Lucresia massaged her forehead, letting go of the rabbit doll, “Get me a drink.”

“Alright,” the doll obediently agreed, hopping from the bed to the floor, and from a small cabinet next to it, it poured half a glass for its mistress while curiously asking, “What did you dream about? Is it because… the Old Master is coming, so you feel uneasy?”

The little girl's voice carried a hint of nervousness, clearly feeling immense pressure at the mention of “Old Master.”

Lucresia took the glass handed by the doll and drank it down in one gulp, then exhaled deeply: “I dreamt about the Brilliant Starship almost 'falling' due to getting too close to the border fog, but unlike my memory, our ship fell out of the fog, then flew straight up, directly 'falling' toward the Creation of the World, with many, many ships twisted into various shapes, plummeting from the entire world toward the sky… It was bizarrely absurd.”

She said this as she casually tossed the glass to the rabbit doll: “'He' is coming soon, it does make me a bit nervous, but this nervousness isn't enough to turn into nightmares–Rabi, he is still my father, after all.”

“Yes, mistress,” the rabbit doll immediately nodded obediently but couldn't help but warn, “But you should still be careful. Having nightmares on the ship isn't a good sign, especially since the Old Master… has connections to Subspace, and he is now drawing near to you.”

“I understand.” Lucresia said offhandedly, then got out of bed and walked barefoot to the window, where she pulled open the heavy curtains.

The warm, bright “sunlight” instantly filled the room.

The sun had not fully risen yet–at this moment, however, on the nearby sea surface, that floating massive luminous geometric body had already maintained a long-lasting “eternal daylight” across the whole sea area.

Lucresia squinted, basking in the endless “sunlight.”

The voice of the rabbit doll came from behind her: “Mistress, are you going to the 'spherical stone' today?”

“No,” Lucresia shook her head and turned to walk toward the dressing table, “I'm going to the city today to say hello to some old friends at the Explorers' Association.”

Chapter end

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