Deep Sea Embers

Looking at the keel that continued to extend forward in the darkness, Duncan seemed to be able to determine its origin and the "transaction" that took place deep in the subspace a century ago.

But he always felt that he seemed to have overlooked something, and he always felt that this was not the message that the Lost Home wanted to convey to him - at least not all the information.

He raised the lantern in his hand, and the flame lit by the spiritual fire became a little brighter. The long radiance illuminated the surroundings, making the details on the surface of the keel more obvious. The firelight also reflected the void areas outside the keel, and Spreading out in the dark mist.

The shadows in the fog seemed to hide many things.

Agatha's shadow followed. She stood up in the fog and stood beside her dimly: "Could this... spine come from the great demon in elven legend, Saslokar?"

"The possibility is very high," Duncan nodded slightly, "and I am afraid that only gods-level beings can have such a spine."

"Goat heads..." Agatha hesitated. She seemed to be in a state of confusion. It took her a long time to find the right words. "I mean all the goat heads, including those on the Lost Home, in this dream world." , as well as the 'goat heads' in the hands of the cultists who may still be unknown, what do you think is the relationship between them and Saslokar?"

She paused and then continued: "The confused goat-head said that Sasloka died a long time ago, and it was not Sasloka, but now it seems that 'they' and the elves' original dream 'They are all inseparably connected, and now we have discovered this 'keel' at the bottom of the Lost Home... You don't remember the process of getting this keel in the subspace, do you?"

Of course Agatha didn't know that the current Duncan was not the original "captain" of the Lost Home. She naturally thought that it was Duncan who reached an agreement and signed the contract with the Goat Head in subspace a hundred years ago, and the latter often mentioned it. , she lost a lot of memories in the process of regaining her humanity, so she naturally believed that this dragon bone was also one of Duncan's lost memories.

Duncan did not answer directly, but nodded slightly, and then pondered for a few seconds before speaking thoughtfully: "Perhaps, all goat heads are part of Sasloka."

Agatha was stunned for a moment, but quickly reacted: "So, Miss Lucretia is right to call the 'goat heads' in the hands of the Annihilation cultists 'Fragments of the Ancient God'... And these fragments of the Ancient God They are in different states and unable to recognize themselves... Some of them still remember things related to Sasloka or Silantis, while others seem to have completely lost their thinking and reason..."

Duncan remained silent, but looked at the staggering scale of the spine in his field of vision and fell into thinking. After a long time, he suddenly said: "To make the guess more bold, the 'goat head' may just be a manifestation of the fragment of the ancient god. The spine in front of us is obviously another form of the 'Fragment of the Ancient God', and it cannot be ruled out that there are other forms of fragments of the Ancient God: a tree, a person, a stone, a corpse... they may all be What's left of Saslokar.

"After all, according to the descriptions of the elves in ancient myths, Sasloka has countless forms - this can also explain why the goat head suspected of being a fragment of the ancient god is small enough to be placed on the navigation table, but it is also a 'fragment' , but this spine can support the entire Lost Home."

Duncan said the possibility that he thought of in a calm tone, and the picture described by this possibility was horrifying - even the former "gatekeeper" Agatha was trying to imagine the great devil I also felt shuddering when I was in this state.

She couldn't help but say: "What kind of power... would make a 'god' look like this? In this... state of being torn apart?"

She just spoke subconsciously, not expecting any answer from the captain.

However, after a moment of silence, Duncan spoke, as if talking to himself, he slowly said——

"...But the second blueprint also failed, so the King of Dreams was torn apart on the second long night of creation, and part of Him floated at the border of the real world..."

Agatha was stunned for a moment. Her shadow swayed slightly in the light, and the edges of the shadow seemed a little blurry. Soon, she recalled the origin of these sentences: "This is what was recorded in the 'Book of Blasphemy' …”

Duncan nodded slightly: "Yes, the 'creation myth' of the Annihilation Cult, the story before the start of the Deep Sea Age. The King of Dreams used his authority to create the world, but it fell apart in the long night."

"Saslokar is one of the Forgotten Kings!" Agatha reacted. "This 'Great Demon' in the ancient elven legend is the 'King of Dreams' who tried to reshape the world during the second long night. ?!”

"I have actually made this association for a long time, after all, their powers are so similar," Duncan said, "It's just that for a long time, the ancient legends of elves have lacked empirical support, and Sasloka, as a unique belief element of the elven race, Many of His legends and miracles are contrary to the records and facts of other city-states on the Infinite Sea.

"Besides this, there is another very important point - the elves have the most complete mythological system and historical records of all races, but in their own records, there has never been any attempt by the King of Dreams to repeat the second long night. The records of "Shaping the World" never mentioned the description of the great demon being torn apart at the end of the night - not even the specious unofficial history.

"These contradictions have made me afraid to confirm that the 'Great Demon God Saslokar' in the elven legend and the 'King of Dreams' in the Second Long Night are the same god. Until now... I have seen it with my own eyes. The fragments left behind from this torn apart ancient god.”

Perhaps out of shock and thought, Agatha was silent for a long time, while Duncan slowly walked forward. Holding a lantern in his hand, he carefully stepped on a connection point of the "Spine of the Ancient God", then bent down, Touching its rough and vicissitudes of life with your hands, it seems that it has been hammered and worn away by countless years, but it is still tough and reliable.

This spine brought the Lost Home back to the real world after being sunk deep into the Warp and almost completely obliterated by the Warp, reshaping the ship's entity and then carrying it for a full century.

His movements suddenly stopped.

A question that he had never thought of before and that had been ignored for a long time came into his mind uncontrollably - after seeing the "keel" made of the ancient god's spine in front of him, he understood a giant ship more clearly and intuitively. After seeing the amazing structure on the ground floor, Duncan finally thought of this question——

What was the keel of the original Homeless Ship made of? !

He stood up suddenly and looked up at the dark and vast space.

The bottom frame of the ship supported by the keel and ribs is immersed in the boundless fog, and the broken hull plates and upper support structures can be vaguely seen in the distance.

This structure built on the spine of an ancient god is massive, complex, and awe-inspiring.

But this isn't the original Homeless Home, not really.

The original Lost Home had long since been swallowed up by the warp, and by the time Goathead saw it, all that was left of the ship was a faint phantom, and the obsession of Duncan Abnomar himself.

The "Homeless Ship" that Duncan is familiar with now is the result of the re-materialization of that phantom. Its original keel was replaced with the spine of the ancient god, which allowed it to achieve the "miracle" of returning from the subspace. .

So where is the original keel of the ship?

Duncan is not an expert in the field of shipbuilding, but after living in this world for such a long time, he also understands a lot of common sense related to ships. He knows how sailing warships were built a hundred years ago. He knows that there is only one Only strictly selected, extremely tough intact wood can support the heavy burden of the "keel", and the strength and size of this wood limit the maximum size of each sail warship.

But Homeless was far beyond that size—not just a little, but twice as big.

The Lost Home is the largest sailing ship that has ever appeared in this world. After that, there has been no sailing ship larger than it. Judging from the current structure of the bilge, the keel of the Lost Home is Some processes such as riveting and splicing are not used.

Duncan frowned slowly.

The keel is the most basic part of a ship. Its construction method directly determines the subsequent structure of the entire ship. Therefore, the "ancient god spine" in front of you should only replace the original keel of the Lost Home, rather than replace it. Extensive changes were made to the infrastructure, so that the Lost Home would have had a single, complete keel like other sailing ships of the era.

But there cannot be such a big tree in the city-state.

Even if there is, there is an upper limit to the strength of the wood itself - at the scale of the Lost Home, it has far exceeded the load-bearing limit of traditional wooden keels.

Unless, from the beginning, the keel of this ship was not just ordinary wood, but something... even more incredible.

Over the past century, the Lost Home has been one of the biggest taboos on the Infinite Sea, and many things related to it have become a closely guarded topic. Although the ship was built in the city-state of Pland, Few people discuss its construction in public.

But now Duncan can imagine what an event it must have been more than a hundred years ago, when construction of this amazing expedition ship first began.

The mist flows slowly in all directions, and the green light emitted by the lantern is softly immersed in the mist, as if outlining many shadowy outlines.

Duncan looked at the lingering fog around him, and his brows gradually relaxed.

"It seems that this is what you want to tell me..."