As the shadows from the spiritual world quickly receded from the vicinity of the Lost Homeland, the originally pitch-black sea gradually returned to its normal blue color. The skylight from the real world and the mist floating around the ship enveloped the entire sea.
Nina ran from the room to the deck and soon found the strange ship not far in front of the Lost Homeland, which was wrapped in dark green flames and almost torn into pieces.
The ship that was destroyed by the explosion and is now completely powered by spiritual fire is slowly slowing down, but is still sailing forward. The direction its bow is pointing in is the "border" that once appeared in textbooks but was actually seen for the first time today.
The magnificent wall of thick fog stretched from the sky to the sea. Clouds and fog poured down from the top of the giant wall like a waterfall, turning into a thin mist that filled the entire sea. In front of it, everything seemed small. Even though Nina had seen many incredible things on the Lost Homeland, she still couldn't help but open her eyes wide and let out a long exclamation: "Wow—"
Shirley also ran out at this time, leaning on the railing on the side of the boat and looking into the distance, and exclaimed with Nina: "Wow--"
As soon as she finished speaking, she heard Ah Gou's voice coming from the shadows: "That's why I asked you to read more books. If you had a wider vocabulary, you wouldn't just say 'wow' after seeing such a magnificent curtain at the border..."
Shirley's eyes widened when she heard this: "Didn't Nina also say 'Wow'? Why don't you say anything about her?"
Agou jumped out from the shadows, shaking his head and muttering: "Nina said 'Wow' because she thought the word was appropriate here, and you said 'Wow' because you only know this one word. You two are different..."
Listening to Ah Gou's mumbling, Shirley puffed up her face in indignation and argued confidently: "I... I have a wide vocabulary. I have so many interjections, but the captain and Mr. Morris don't allow me to use them! If you let me speak freely, I..."
But Agou no longer paid attention to her. This fierce-looking Deep Hound became more cautious after arriving at the border. It looked around, as if sensing the breath coming from other dimensions. After a moment, it muttered: "... This place is not the same as the safe sea area... There is an unstable breath everywhere. Although I am in the real dimension, I can vaguely smell the smell of the spirit world..."
"This is the border, and it is only the smallest part of the border's countless strange and dangerous features," Lucrecia's voice came along with a swirling stream of colorful paper. "Here, the boundaries of 'reality' will become blurred, and all those 'things' that are suppressed in the safe sea... will become active. The probability of machines being possessed by evil spirits will be high, and books will attract more and more dangerous voyeurs. Many things on the ship will become easily activated, and at certain times, especially when the ship accidentally overlaps with some invisible 'fields', these dangers will multiply."
She strolled to the edge of the deck, looked toward the thick fog in the distance, and continued softly in thought and recollection—
"So, there are hardly any sane explorers who come to the border to 'try their luck'... There is no honor or wealth here, only a cold and strange environment, and a dangerous and terrifying fate. The very few 'madmen' who dare to set foot here have summed up some 'codes of conduct' unique to the border, such as not carrying any idols or portraits with human characteristics on the ship, not shouting loudly in the fog, not staying in front of the mirror for too long, etc., etc....
"But these rules and taboos can only reduce the risk to a certain extent. There will still be experienced explorers who disappear in the fog near the border. They will forget where they are when the fog comes, and they will push open a non-existent door in the cabin. They will even think in a trance that they have completed a thrilling and long border exploration and successfully returned to the city-state where they settled. Their tense nerves relax, and they finally breathe a sigh of relief and step onto the solid ground of the dock - just like that, they walk into the thick fog of the border, leaving only the empty ghost ship floating on the sea."
Shirley listened to the strange and terrifying things described by the "Sea Witch" and her eyes widened. Finally, she shuddered subconsciously: "I... Shit... This sounds a bit scary..."
"Yes, it's scary. So under normal circumstances, people like you who have no experience in border exploration should not approach this sea area at all - but you still don't have to worry, because this is the Lost Homeland, and you are part of the Lost Homeland Fleet."
Lucrecia smiled faintly, looked out at the sea, and spoke slowly.
"Father and this ship... are no longer what I remember. If it were the Lost Homeland now, I believe that even if something really got on board and opened your door, they would apologize politely and close the door before leaving..."
As soon as she finished speaking, a voice suddenly came from the side: "Usually, they don't have the chance to close the door and apologize."
Lucrecia turned around and saw that Duncan had come onto the deck without her noticing.
"Fanna just received a psychic communication that the Deep Sea Church's Tide has arrived in the nearby waters and will appear soon. The two main battleships of the Death Church are also nearby. They are sending out a small reconnaissance boat to confirm the situation in the surrounding waters first."
Lucrecia nodded. "That's good. We need to find out the situation around here. The church fleet that patrols the border all year round is more professional than us in this regard."
Duncan hummed, and said nothing more. He just controlled the Lost Homeland to gradually move closer to the large ship "leading the way" in front. Next to the Lost Homeland, the Brilliant Star had also left the spiritual world and was sailing slowly along with it.
Ten minutes later, the Lost Homeland and the Brilliant Star arrived near the shattered ship and cruised slowly at a constant speed.
Perhaps because they were closer to the "curtain", the fog on the sea seemed a little thicker than before. The layers of fog floated in all directions like a flowing veil. Even the dark green flames emanating from around the Lost Homeland could not completely dispel the fog.
At Duncan's command, the three ships stopped before the fog became thicker.
"Let's wait until we meet up before moving forward," Duncan said from the bow deck of the Lost Hometown, glancing at the foggy sea in the distance, "light up the lights first."
As he spoke, he raised his hand and pointed to the "guide boat" in the front.
With a snap of fingers, the dark green flame burning on the big ship suddenly intensified. The blazing spiritual fire expanded and rose up like an explosion in an instant, releasing a light that was enough to penetrate the fog!
A "lighthouse" made entirely of spiritual fire rose up in the foggy border sea area. The light from the flames illuminated the entire sea area fiercely. In the place covered by the light, on the sea surface near the three ships, the fog finally showed signs of dissipating slightly, and visibility recovered a little.
Vanna and Morris also came to the deck. The latter was curiously observing the sea near the side of the ship. He saw that the color of the sea seemed to be a little richer than outside the thick fog. The dark blue water looked quite calm, with only a few ups and downs with the breeze - and that ups and downs looked quite strange. It seemed slow and sticky, as if... the whole sea was a layer of sticky and smooth grease lacking surface details.
Fanna frowned as she stared at the sea surface that gave her a strong sense of weirdness and suspicion. After hesitating for a moment, she took out a small wooden amulet from her body - it was a wave amulet carved from sea-breath wood - and threw it into the sea.
The amulet, which symbolized the faith and blessing power of the Storm Goddess, fell on the sticky and sluggish sea surface and bounced once as if it had fallen on solid ground. It did not stir up any ripples, nor did it sink in the sea water.
It just stayed quietly on the sticky and slow "water surface". After several seconds, it was suddenly dyed dark blue by the surrounding sea water and "melted" silently into the water.
Vanna looked at this scene which was inconsistent with her experience in some surprise.
But in her ears, the gentle sound of the waves still emerged as always.
Although the process looked strange, the power of the goddess Gemona still descended as usual - in this abnormal sea area, the blessing of the goddess of storms could still take effect.
Even... it seems to be taking effect a little faster
At this moment, Vanna seemed to suddenly feel something and looked up at the foggy sea in the distance.
Almost at the same time as she looked up, a melodious and loud whistle suddenly broke the tranquility of the border waters, followed by a hazy light appearing in the depths of the thick fog - behind the light, a huge ship gradually emerged from the fog.
The gentle sound of waves rang out, and in the psychic resonance, she confirmed the news from her fellow church members. At the same time, the huge ship silhouette in the distance began to slow down at a certain distance, and several smaller escort ships appeared around the outline one after another.
Through the drifting fog, the ships that came to rendezvous with the Lost Homeland and Brilliant Star that arrived here earlier were confirming each other's identities - this is a very important link in the border waters.
Moreover, this kind of "confirmation" of identity will accompany the entire action process and will need to be carried out again at regular intervals.
After all, in the thick fog at the border, you can't always be sure that the figure next to you at this second is still the person you were familiar with the previous second.
"It's the Deep Sea Church's Tide and its escort fleet," Vanna walked quickly to Duncan's side and reported with her head down, "It has been confirmed through psychic resonance."
Duncan nodded: "Okay, allow them to get closer, let them enter the range illuminated by the spiritual fire."
(End of this chapter)