The name of the storm goddess Gemona appeared on the pass—and Duncan was familiar with the handwriting.
Because he had seen it before, when he was in Plande, a being resembling the goddess of storm left him a message of thanks - he still had an impression of the handwriting of that "god".
However, Vanna said that the pass was signed by Pope Helena.
She would not make such a mistake about something so obvious, let alone tell such a meaningless lie, so there was only one explanation - in her eyes, the name on the pass was indeed Helena.
Who is seeing the truth? What does this "presentation" that is completely different in the eyes of the two people mean? What message does the storm goddess want to convey to herself in this way? Or...what is her purpose in doing this
Duncan controlled the expression on his face and suppressed his surprise. He didn't sense any obvious incongruity from those pages of paper, so he could only try to get some information from Vanna.
He raised his head and looked at the judge opposite him: "What did Helena say when she handed you the pass?"
"The Pope didn't say anything, she just said that what you want is ready," Vanna was still a little concerned about Duncan's strange attitude, but she answered immediately. Then she told the whole process of the communication between herself and the Pope about the pass at the assembly to explain why the certificate was signed by Helena. After she finished speaking, she carefully observed Duncan's reaction and asked, "These things...are there any problems?"
Duncan was silent for two seconds, and suddenly said: "······No, no problem, these are good."
Vanna's behavior did not seem to be false, she obviously knew nothing, and what was more worrying was... if there was nothing wrong with the details described by Vanna, then that "Pope Helena"... did not seem to be aware of the changes in the signature on the pass.
Unless the Pope used some acting skills—but why would he
Vanna had been paying attention to Duncan's reaction. Although she had many doubts in her heart, she did not ask any further questions in the end. Instead, she mentioned another very important thing:
"In addition, this time I was still the one who entered the tomb as a listener—the parchment I brought out contained information about the new vision..."
"A new vision?" Duncan raised his eyebrows when he heard this, and was a little surprised. "Isn't this considered a secret of your internal meetings? Is it okay for you to just tell me this?"
"The changes in the vision list will be announced to the world sooner or later. Telling you now is just a little advance. Besides... the new vision is related to you."
"oh?"
Vanna calmed down and said, "Vision-Frost, Vision-Lost Homeland, Vision-Lost Homeland Fleet. Just like Pland, none of them have numbers."
The empty deck was quiet for a while, with only the sound of wind blowing past ears and waves hitting the hull. After a long time, Duncan spoke to break the silence: "...Oh, there are quite a lot."
"Well, indeed... quite a lot," Fanna said hesitantly, "Under normal circumstances, even the appearance of a new vision is a major event that is enough to attract the attention of the Four Gods Church. This time, three visions were directly updated, and one of them is the Lost Homeland, which was originally numbered 005..."
"So the churches and research organizations will be quite busy in the future?"
"There will probably be countless scholars who will lose a lot of hair, and several popes will probably have a hard time sleeping well for some time... Even if the new vision does not show any danger, the subsequent divination rituals and data compilation will also be a huge project."
Duncan thought for a moment and said, "...Oh, come on, they do their best."
Even Vanna, who was always calm and composed, had a hard time controlling her expression. An indescribable strange emotion spread in her heart. She held it in for a long time before finally saying, "As the "party"
······Don’t you have any ideas?”
Duncan thought about it carefully and looked at Vanna seriously: "I will try to make less noise next time? Or you can go back and persuade your Pope to be more open-minded..."
Vanna: “… .
The judge seemed to be in confusion for a moment, but Duncan did not pay attention to her reaction. Instead, he raised his head and looked thoughtfully at the familiar decks, masts and transparent fluttering spirit sails in the air.
The Homeless continued to sail silently and reliably on the boundless sea as always. As the owner of the ship, Duncan did not feel any changes in it - but in the list of Anomaly 004 "Tomb of the Unknown King", this ship was no longer "Anomaly 005".
It lost its numbering.
What exactly does this change mean
Duncan lowered his head and looked at his palm thoughtfully, then his eyes fell on the pass. The name "Gemona" exuded a strong presence, attracting his attention.
He thought of the brief connection between Agou and the God of Wisdom, and also of that strange dark space, as well as the records of what appeared to be conversations between the gods that he had seen in the dark space.
"Vanna," he suddenly turned his head and looked into her eyes seriously, "How can we establish communication with the gods?"
Vanna was instantly awakened from her daze, and then she was frightened by Duncan's words. She looked a little at a loss: "Ah?! You said... to establish communication with the gods?!"
"Yes," Duncan nodded, "Establish communication with the gods."
He just thought of something: if there really was some kind of "communication platform" between the gods hidden in that strange dark space, and the previously burned "blasphemous book" was just the "key" to open that dark space, then this "key" might be in the hands of more than a few cults, or to put it another way -
Since even the "blasphemous relics" in the hands of cultists can open up the "communication platform" of the gods, what about the orthodox religions that are already closely connected with the four gods? Will the things or technologies in their hands be more effective? This is very logical.
Duncan had not thought in this direction before. On the one hand, he was influenced by the inertia of thinking. After all, the previous golden mask and this time the book of blasphemy were both obtained from the cultists. He instinctively came up with the simple idea of finding the 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 Sect in the city-state, he had a natural liking for the forces behind Vanna and Morris - it was risky to spy on that dark space, as evidenced by the destroyed golden mask and the blasphemous book. The power of truth was beyond the ability of ordinary things to withstand, and once handled improperly, the "holy objects" acting as the medium would be destroyed at best, and the lives of those assisting would be in danger at worst. This risk... was more appropriate for the cultists to bear.
But now Duncan suddenly had a new idea.
The idea came from the signature of the Storm Goddess that appears on the pass.
This may be a signal of goodwill, or perhaps a reminder of some kind.
Of course, he couldn't explain it in too much detail to Vanna - after all, she was still a devout saint. If he directly told her, "I think the holy relics of the cultists are too hard to find, so I want to try using the holy relics of your Deep Sea Church", it would definitely not be appropriate. If he wasn't careful, she might jump and hit him...
Vanna didn't think about the reason behind Duncan's casual question. She was just surprised that the captain suddenly became interested in the gods, but soon she remembered that he seemed to have unique insights and research in the field of theology, so she thought about it seriously and replied: "It depends on what kind of communication you mean - generally speaking, we call all acts of worship "communication with God", even an ordinary believer's evening prayer is a dialogue with God.
"On top of this, the official priests, through years of training and practice, coupled with the assistance of specific rituals and items, have come to understand the "knowledge" of God, and have drawn power from this knowledge and truth, or have listened to God's revelations, which is a further step of "communication."
"And at a higher level than this are saints like me. Saints do not need complicated ritual preparations. They only need their own spiritual resonance to communicate with God's will relatively easily, because our spirituality is connected with God's spirituality..."
There was a hint of pride in Vanna's tone when she finished speaking, but she noticed that Duncan frowned slightly - these answers were obviously not what the captain wanted.
"It's not this kind of communication," Duncan shook his head and slowly organized his words, hoping to make Vanna understand his intentions. "I mean... a more direct, closer, more efficient... connection, do you understand? Not some vague revelations obtained through prayer, but the kind that can directly communicate with the Four Gods."
Vanna slowly opened her mouth and didn't come back to her senses for a long time.
Duncan knew then that he probably wouldn't be able to get an answer from her—as expected.
"Forget it, this is a bit unrealistic." He waved his hand and exhaled softly, "The ritual techniques you used are useless to me. Perhaps it would be more effective if I just read some sacred books of the Four Gods Sect."
Vanna blinked. As usual, she felt that she couldn't keep up with the captain's thoughts. But fortunately, the captain didn't dwell on this weird topic.
"Go to the White Oak later and give the pass to Lawrence. I won't go there," Duncan instructed. "If he asks about the follow-up arrangements, let him go with the Lost Homeland for the time being. Once the matter on the Frost side is completely settled, we can make long-term plans."
Vanna lowered her head: "Yes, Captain."
Duncan nodded, but then he seemed to hear something and frowned slightly: "Hmm?" Vanna asked curiously: "What happened?"
"Agatha came to me," Duncan said slowly, his expression becoming increasingly serious, "She said she found a way to dive into the deep sea.