Ashes Of Deep Sea
Chapter 455 - Chapter 455 Chapter 456 The Blessed One ()

Chapter 455: Chapter 456: The Blessed One (?) Chapter 455: Chapter 456: The Blessed One (?) Notice Duncan’s serious tone, Fenna’s mind involuntarily produced many associations and guesses– but the next second, she abruptly controlled her thoughts and, along with Morris, solemnly nodded her head.

Controlling one’s curiosity was a basic rule for surviving in this world.

Having confirmed that Morris and Fenna were aware of the gravity of the matter, Duncan took a breath and then nodded at Alice, “Clean up this mess on the table–don’t dump it into the sea, just burn it straight away.”

“Okay!”

Watching Alice efficiently tidy up the chaos on the table, Duncan sat back down in his chair. Yet, his mind was still replaying the scenes he had witnessed in that eerie dark space, pondering the intelligence revealed in those “conversations.”

Simultaneously, he was considering how to re-establish contact with that dark space.

Manuscripts cannot bear the impact of the “truth”… So where would the original “Book of Desecration” be? If he got the original, could he establish a stable connection with that cryptic dark space? Or… might there be other transcendent items that could achieve a similar effect?

Duncan remembered dreaming aboard the Homeloss and then accidentally entering a different Homeloss in subspace–the captain’s quarters behind that door led to the bizarre dark space.

So he boldly hypothesized: the “dark space” itself must be an actual location within subspace, and establishing contact with it required certain mediums and techniques. Morris’s “manuscript” helped him forge this connection, but… it might not be the only viable “medium.” If he found a way to return to “the other Homeloss,” maybe that would work as well.

A solution… Subspace?

Duncan furrowed his brow and immediately reined in his thoughts drifting in that direction.

Because he could not be certain whether these thoughts were his own, or “released” by subspace.

One thing, however, was quite clear.

He needed more “samples”–whether it be the Sun Cultist’s golden masks, Heretics’ copies of the Book of Desecration, or whatever item the Doomsday Preacher possessed–they would all help him understand the true nature of this world.

Thinking this, Duncan immediately looked up at Morris and Fenna across from him: “Do you know where we can get more items like this? I mean items like the ‘Book of Desecration,’ the ones used by Heretics for significant rituals and preaching.”

“You want more?” Morris was surprised, then pondered seriously before shaking his head, “That… might be difficult. Although the Church of the True Gods and the City-State authorities occasionally seize some Heretic items, usually, after necessary identification and research, these items are destroyed, regardless of their unique properties and value.”

Duncan raised his eyebrows, “Destroyed outright? Without keeping samples?”

“No samples, just documents,” answered Fenna. In this field, the lady Judge was obviously more proficient than Morris, “Some particularly dangerous items don’t even leave records, only descriptions that have been ‘translated’ and ‘safely modified’ are kept in special archives, or just in the memories of certain ‘Keepers of Secrets.'”

She paused there, going on to explain: “Because truly powerful Heretic items generally possess equal danger and corruptibility, and directly point to heretical deities, their danger and corruptibility grow over time. We often can’t predict how much harm they could cause, so the safest solution is to not keep samples. And…”

“And the human heart is unpredictable, not to mention that even the strongest guardians can show weakness,” Morris took over when he saw Fenna hesitate, “Guardians of Desecrated items can be seduced, subtly changing over time, sometimes without even realizing they’ve fallen–In 1666, a saint in Moco City-State conversed with a forbidden book he was guarding in a hallucination, causing the book to animate, leading to a tragedy where dozens died. Since then, City-States no longer keep samples of Heretic items.”

Fenna sighed, “In some ways, Heretic items are more dangerous than ‘anomalies’–because no matter how high-ranked an anomaly is, as long as we grasp the sealing patterns, it can be controlled or even utilized. But with Heretic items…sometimes even they don’t know what might emerge.”

“Alright,” Duncan rubbed his forehead, “it looks like we can’t count on getting samples from the City-States…looks like we’ll have to find some wild Heretics ourselves.”

Listening to the captain’s words, Fenna’s lips twitched involuntarily, then she hesitated before saying, “If…you’re really interested, I could try to borrow some documents from the cathedral. Even though the corresponding items have been destroyed, there are still safe research documents available.”

“…If you can, then get me some documents,” Duncan nodded.

However, he felt these documents wouldn’t be much help to him–because he wasn’t looking for documents; he was looking for the suitable “medium” from those Heretic items.

The Book of Desecration just now had proven one thing: the same transcendent item might present a different “stance” to him compared to ordinary people. The knowledge recorded by the scholars of the Church of the True Gods would mostly be of no use to him.

“`

But regardless, gaining more knowledge in the transcendental realms is never a bad thing.

Just then, a clamor from outside the captain’s room abruptly interrupted the exchange between Duncan and Fenna.

It sounded like Sherry and A-dog making a racket all the way.

Duncan frowned, “Open the door.”

Alice immediately ran over and opened the door to the captain’s room, only to see Sherry and A-dog running up to the entrance: “Hey, stop making such a fuss on the ship…”

“Hey, I know, I know, but this is important!” Sherry clamored at the doorway, her petite form squeezing past Alice, “Captain, Captain! A-dog is possessed! It says it saw something really freaky!”

“A-dog… is possessed?” Duncan’s face twitched with confusion, looking at the Abyssal Hound being dragged in by Sherry, “A Profound Demon can get possessed?”

Beside him, both Morris and Fenna shared a look that said ‘how can a demonic thing like you be possessed,’ but the dragged-in A-dog scrambled up and actually looked truly panicked and horrified: “Really, I’ve seen that thing twice! It suddenly popped into my mind while I was reading, just staring at me… directly on the level of consciousness…”

“Reading?” Duncan’s brows furrowed at hearing this, “What’s so startling about that? Isn’t it normal on this ship, Nina frantically doing homework, stewing several in a day…”

“It’s not my fellow countrymen!” A-dog immediately shook its enormous head, looking quite anxious, “Nor a Shadow from the Spirit Realm or some other malevolent spirit, but something I’ve never seen before–it appeared right in my ‘consciousness,’ like a bunch of bizarre lights, with a big one in the middle, glowing red, and a bunch of smaller ones around it, just like the ‘starry sky’ between the Spirit Realm and the Abyss, dots of light surrounding the central red light source…”

Before A-dog could finish rambling, Morris suddenly stepped forward, “What did you say? What did you see?!”

For the first time, A-dog was scared by the usually erudite and composed scholar’s reaction, instinctively shrinking back, “Uhm… a large red luminary surrounded by a cluster of twinkling spots…”

Morris listened agape, confirming the details with A-dog several times before finally lifting his head.

The old scholar’s face was filled with astonishment and confusion, as if someone had smashed a hole into the worldview he had built over half his lifetime, leaving him speechless for a long moment.

Fenna, on the other hand, had already caught on, her facial muscles twitching as she hesitantly turned to Morris, “That sounds a bit like…”

“The gaze of the God of Wisdom Rahm…” Morris muttered to himself, then looked down at A-dog again, his eyes treating it like a rare antique just unearthed, “You’ve been viewed by the God of Wisdom?”

The captain’s room suddenly fell silent.

After what felt like an eternity, A-dog finally raised its head in confusion, “…What did you say?”

Duncan wasn’t paying attention to A-dog’s reaction but rather was frowning at Morris, “Are you sure?”

“Unless A-dog is lying, there’s no other explanation,” Morris replied at once, “What it described is the vision formed in the minds of the ‘blessed ones’ when they are under the watchful eye of the God of Wisdom; I’ve seen it myself–every follower of Rahm is familiar with this.”

Duncan fell silent.

After a while, he looked at the befuddled Profound Demon lying on the floor.

“When did you see that scene?”

“While doing problems,” A-dog confessed honestly, “Once during geometry, and once during algebra.”

Duncan: “…”

He said nothing, just continued to quietly watch A-dog, looking at that ugly and enormous… dog head.

“`