Chapter 632 – Invitations and contacts

Chapter 632 Invitation and Contact
The two sides stopped at a very close distance – to the extent that a landing skiff could be used to make a quick round trip for a large ship.

Duncan observed the massive parade ark with curiosity, looking at its collegiate facilities that were built in the upper zones as well as its forest of towering structures, and he saw a number of figures moving around the enclosure, some of them probably guards and sailors of the collegiate ark, but others looked like ordinary scholars or apprentices from the way they were dressed, and he saw steam walkers – -These large spider robots were climbing on the parapets at the edge of the ark, and looked far more agile than the walking machines he had seen in other city-states, which obviously had a higher level of technology.

Duncan knew that the people on that parade ark must be watching the Lost Country as well.

The sea was shimmering, the breeze was wrinkling the sea, the sinking sunset gilded the undulating waves with a light gold, but those light gold shimmers were interspersed with wisps of ghostly green, and the water that glowed with this ghostly green fire spread outward, centering on the Lost Country, and didn’t stop until it was at the edge of the Ark of the Parade – -There was a clear “border”, where Duncan could feel a clear “resistance”.

The phantom ship and the church ship faced each other across the sea in silence.

After a long time of confrontation, Duncan suddenly looked at a shadow beside him with some doubts: “What are they waiting for?”

“Perhaps still watching for movement from the Lost Country?” Agatha’s voice came from the shadows, sounding a little hesitant, “But they should have at least sent a contact ……”

There was a sudden silence on the bridge, and Duncan thought for a moment before finally speaking with a little less certainty, “Do you think it’s possible that they’re trying to radio the Lost Country?”

Agatha: “Is there a radio on the …… ship?”

“No, but I’ve been meaning to install a set, and that was the plan for this trip to Lightwind Harbor ……”

Agatha: “……”

Just then, a sudden flash of light from the upper deck of the Parade Ark interrupted the exchange between Duncan and Agatha – and along with the regular light signals, Duncan noticed the flag waving near that light again.

In the end, it was the traditional yet reliable lights and flags that did the trick.

“They’re inviting the Lost Country to tour the Ark’s docking?” Duncan discerned the meaning of the signals and a look of surprise crossed his face, “They’re serious?”

“Captain, this could be a trap,” Goathead’s voice immediately came over the mental connection with the usual conspiracy theories and natural caution on the part of the Church, “You need to be careful.”

“I understand your caution, but it’s unlikely at a time like this,” Duncan shook his head, “And whether it was a trap or not, my original plan was to meet with the people on that ark as well – and now they’ve offered an invitation, that’s just as well.”

As he spoke, he slowly maneuvered the Lost Country and began to draw closer to the massive ark not too far away, while at the same time he paid increasingly careful attention to the movements of the Parade Ark and those battleships around it, and used the power of the flames to spread his perceptions even further out into the surrounding sea.

He certainly wouldn’t lose his most basic vigilance – even though logically, he didn’t think this was a trap, but this was after all a direct contact with one of the top forces of the Church of the Four Gods, and who knew what thoughts that Pope serving the God of Wisdom, Rahm, was turning to at the moment.

And Duncan believed that the people on that ark were afraid of doing the same worry – they had extended an invitation to the Lost Country, but were they panicking?

They panicked too.

From their point of view – who knows what the Ghost Captain on the Lost Country is up to.

After the Lost Country returned to the real world, it had made contact with many city-states and church forces, and Duncan knew that these “contacts” were effective. The Church of the Four Gods was trying to understand the ghost ship that had returned from subspace, and Vanna, who had been sent to the ship, was proof of this, and this was indeed a friendly signal, but Duncan also knew very well that –The Lost Country is still an elusive, enigmatic, and dangerous symbol to the world.

The same goes for the Church of the Four Gods in Duncan’s eyes.

Wary, scrutinizing, testing, contacting, even after establishing a certain degree of communication, even establishing a certain degree of tacit understanding, both sides still have to take cautious steps towards each other again and again, little by little, to confirm “safety”, they want to confirm that the Ghost Captain who returned to reality possesses real human nature, and they want to confirm that the recent series of actions of the ship is truly well-intentioned, and they want to make sure that they have the best interests of the world. They had to make sure that the Ghost Captain returning to reality was truly human, that the Lost Country’s recent actions were genuine goodwill or a disguise driven by subspace chaos – and Duncan had to make sure that the other side was delivering the right amount of understanding and trust.

And at the same time, he was communicating with his followers.

Maurice had studied at the Academy of Truth – his mentor at the time was even the “Pope” who ruled the Academy’s Ark.

This was the “tradition” of the Academy of Truth that was different from the other three divine churches – the followers of the God of Wisdom had “knowledge transmission” as their core doctrine, and their “magi” were the most important of the three divine churches. The “Magisterium” system is maintained in the form of teachers and students, and even the Pope is no exception to this.

Almost all of the world’s outstanding scholars had studied at the Academy of Truth, and the most fortunate among them had the honor of boarding the Academy’s ark and becoming Pope Lune’s students.

“…… I think you can rest assured that I have exchanged many things about the Lost Country with my mentor, and among the popes of the Four Gods, his attitude when facing the Lost Country should be one of the most calm, rational and objective …… ” “I’m not really worried about the ‘attitude’ of that mentor of yours, I’m just a bit curious as to why the Academy of Truth’s Parade Ark would come to Lightwind Harbor in person, and come so quickly,” Duncan said mentally, “You know that Before, when Prand moved so much, the Storm Cathedral only arrived in a hurry after the event, and on the Frost side, the Ark of the Church of Death didn’t even show up.”

“Lightwind Harbor is close to the border, the Church’s patrol ark would have been patrolling near the border most of the time, it’s normal for it to come quickly,” Morris explained, “Lightwind Harbor might have already sent out a call for help to the academy’s headquarters many days ago, in addition… …”

He suddenly paused when he said this, and only after a few seconds did he slowly continue, “In addition, more than half of the people on the academy’s ark are elves.”

Duncan narrowed his eyes slightly.

The Parade Ark approached, the amazing creation floating like a small city-state in front of the Lost Country, part of its “ship’s side” zooming in Duncan’s field of vision, and in the end it even took on the appearance of a structure that could almost be called a “coastline”.

Afterwards, guiding lights and flags appeared on the “coastline”, accompanied by a low rumble and the low roar of large steam valves releasing pressure, Duncan saw a part of the edge of this very special “church ship” suddenly deformed, and a large structure came out of its parapet. A large structure extended from its bulwarks and reached out into the sea.

There was a dock, a dock where the Lost Country could temporarily dock.

Duncan let go of the tiller.

The Lost Country began to adjust its position and angle on its own, carefully “observing” near the mechanical dock that extended from the Academy Ark, and then finally slowly approached the trestle.

For some reason, Duncan felt that the Lost Country’s “behavior” even conveyed an …… emotion of dislike.

However, Duncan’s attention was quickly focused elsewhere.

He raised his head and looked at the sky above the Academy Ark.

He once again “saw” the hazy, as if with tentacles strange structure, as if out of the body of the soul, a huge and unnamable spirit of nothingness from the ark ship extended, like a cloud floating in the air above the ship, the edge of the extension of countless feet and the shape of the shadow of the changing!
Duncan stared at those “phantoms” extending out from the academy’s ark.

He had seen something similar when the Storm Cathedral visited the city-state of Prand before!

At that time, he thought that it was some kind of “power” of the Storm Goddess Gemona, the deity worshipped by the Church of the Deep Sea, and a symbol of the power of the Deep Sea, but now it seems that …… the Academy of Truth’s ark also has this thing? The Ark ship of the Truth Academy also has this thing?
Is it possible that other churches also have it on their ark ships?
Is this something that comes with the four-seater ark ships? What the hell is it contraption!

Duncan’s heart was instantly flooded with huge questions, and at that moment, out of the corner of his eye, he saw figures appearing on the “trestle bridge” connecting the Lost Country and the Academy Ark.

He quickly collected his thoughts and focused on the “visitors” coming down from the Academy Ark.

There were four steam walkers – they escorted a small group of people up the trestle, and then stopped in the middle of the Lost Country and the ark ship, crouching down on both sides of the trestle to stand by, while the small group of people continued to walk towards the Lost Country, among them were guards dressed in the uniform of the Academy’s Knowledge Guards, apprentices dressed as attendants, and in the forefront of the people, there was a man who was wearing the uniform of the Academy Knowledge Guards, but also a man who was wearing the uniform of the Academy Knowledge Guards. people at the forefront was a short, stout old man in scholar’s robes.

Duncan recalled Maurice’s earlier description of his mentor.

That should be Lune, the leader of the Academy of Truth, the earthly voice of Rahm, the God of Wisdom, and Maurice’s mentor.

That “Pope” even came out in person – with only a small entourage, and walked straight to the Lost Country?
Duncan’s mind moved, the next second, his figure had already turned into a stream of fire – this stream of fire swept through the deck, and finally fell straight down at the end of the trestle, and regrouped his figure.

That group of personnel walking down from the Academy Ark were obviously startled by the sudden appearance of flames in front of their eyes, and they instinctively moved forward to guard Lune’s side, but the latter simply waved his hand bashfully, then showed a hint of a smile towards Duncan, who had stepped out of the flames.

“It is a pleasure to meet you, Captain Duncan Ebnomar,” the elderly elf nodded politely and gently, “This is the first time we have met.”

“It is a pleasure to meet you as well.” Duncan nodded equally politely to the other man.

But just as he was about to say something else, he suddenly noticed a hint of abnormality on the other party.

The body of this “Pope” …… looked vaguely transparent!

(End of chapter)