After listening to Vana's story, Tirian fell into a short silence.

Without seeing it with his own eyes, he could not analyze from these fragments what exactly the ghost who had returned from the warp was planning at the moment, and how he had undergone these changes, but one thing was certain - the "Captain Duncan" described by Vanna was definitely not the crazy monster that the Sea Mist encountered on the cold sea half a century ago.

But he also didn't look like the great explorer father he remembered from a century ago.

"Captain Tirian," after a long silence in the reception room, Vana's voice suddenly sounded, interrupting Tirian's thoughts, "What do you think?"

"I...can't believe this is really happening, but since it has already happened, I can only admit this fact for the time being," Tirian frowned slowly, thinking while speaking, "From your description, he seems to be in a state of clear thinking, rationality and humanity, but his power...that cursed fire has also become more powerful."

Vanna nodded: "I don't know if that green flame is a curse, but it is indeed very powerful."

"That fire is connected to the Warp," said Tyrian. "He gained this strange power after falling into the Warp, so it is right to call it a curse."

"…So, the flame is more powerful than what you saw half a century ago, which means that Captain Duncan's connection with the Warp is deeper than before," said the old bishop Valentine thoughtfully. "So he did not break free from the influence of the Warp, but fell deeper - but correspondingly, he recovered in the process?"

"...This doesn't fit with what we know about the Warp." Tirian shook his head.

"Lahem's followers often say one thing," Valentine said, "The only thing we know about the Warp is that we will never know enough about it. For thousands of years, except for the Lost Homeland, no one or anything from the real dimension has been able to return to this world after entering the Warp. And apart from some indirect observation records and the few words written by those crazy scholars of the ancient Crete Kingdom in their madness, no one knows what is in the Warp... Our 'summary of the laws' of that place is actually meaningless in itself."

At this point, the learned old man paused and sighed, "We can't even be sure whether the subspace is a 'place' -

"Sixteen hundred years ago, the mad scholar Baiermin was swallowed by an invisible thing in public because he was reading an ancient scroll. Before he disappeared, he shouted, 'The Warp is the shadow on the back of the world.' At that time, his words drove 142 witnesses crazy. But with the madness of the 142 witnesses as a 'sacrifice', this information has become the biggest step forward in our understanding of the Warp in thousands of years.

"Until now, scholars are still trying to construct a theoretical model of the subspace based on Baiermin's dying cry...yet your father not only really went into that place, but has even returned to our world conscious and clear-headed."

"Yes, they study every year, and people die every year. The dead are quickly replaced and the research continues... So I admire those scholars in the Academy of Truth who are willing to sacrifice their lives. This is a completely positive admiration." Tirian sighed and shook his head, then his voice was a little low, "So, now my 'father' may have become a valuable specimen? A specimen that has really been to the warp and can communicate rationally?"

"This is just wishful thinking," Valentine spread his hands. "We can't expect Captain Duncan to cooperate with mortals' research. Moreover, although he is rational now, we can't hastily assume that his rationality is on the side of humans. If he is a rational warp invader, he will be much more terrifying than those Chaos projections that cannot think."

Tirian was silent for a while, as if he was lost in deep memories and thoughts. After an unknown amount of time, he suddenly spoke: "Before the last expedition, he was anxious for a while... No, strictly speaking, he seemed to have been anxious about something since an unknown time, and made many... chilling preparations for it."

Valentine immediately looked at Vanna, and both of their expressions became serious at the same time.

This may be the first time in a century that someone has heard these crucial secrets from Captain Duncan's descendants!

Vanna couldn't help but ask, "What is he anxious about? What is he preparing for?"

"The end of the world." Tirian looked up and said calmly.

Valentine frowned slightly: "Doomsday?"

"I know this sounds a bit cheesy, like the crazy talk of doomsday theorists that pop up every year, but this is indeed what the world's greatest explorer was thinking about day and night a hundred years ago."

Tirian sighed softly and continued.

"He has occasionally mentioned this matter since the day Lucretia and I took over the command of the Sea Mist and the Brilliant Star.

"He seems to think that our world has some kind of... countdown, or some kind of time limit. Although the world looks stable and peaceful on the surface, this countdown is actually approaching the end. Once the time comes, it will quickly collapse and end. No one can reverse or stop this process. He believes that... our era is the last frame of the countdown."

Valentine frowned: "To be honest, I don't think our world can be considered 'stable'..."

"But my father called this world 'the last pastoral age'."

Vanna thought for a moment and asked, "So, he fell into the subspace in order to find a way to stop this 'countdown'?"

"No, he wanted to find Anomaly 000 - he believed that Anomaly 000 could end the distortion of the world and stop the countdown, so he passed through the 'Eternal Curtain' at the end of the world."

Valentine was shocked: "He passed through the Eternal Curtain?!"

"Yes... but I can only confirm that he did enter the fog, but I don't know if he really succeeded in 'penetrating' it," said Tirian. "He refused to follow any escort ships at that time. What I can be sure of is that he did return from there alive - in a state of madness. As for falling into the warp... that happened after that."

Valentine and Vanna fell silent at the same time. After a while, Vanna broke the silence: "Did he find the so-called anomaly 000? You know, in theory..."

"I know that there is no anomaly or phenomenon numbered zero, and he did return empty-handed," Tirian said calmly, "so I always thought that he might not be normal when he decided to look for anomaly 000."

Fanna thought for a moment and asked, "Then do you know why your father initially believed that there was a 'countdown' in the world? When did he come to this realization? Was he exposed to some trigger, or... discovered something?"

Tirian thought carefully for a moment and said uncertainly, "I... am not sure. It was too long ago, but I vaguely remember that he once received several people on the Lost Homeland and talked with them all night long. It was after that day that he first mentioned the end of the world to us."

"How many people did you receive?" Valentine immediately became serious. "What kind of people were they? What was the situation at that time?"

"They all wore gray and white coarse robes and were barefoot. From what I remember... they were very thin, the kind of thinness that seemed to come from a life of hard training, as if they had been through a very long journey. They suddenly appeared on the ship during the voyage of the Lost Homeland, as if they had made an appointment with my father to come aboard as guests," Tirian said slowly. "After a long conversation all night, my father said that the guests had left, but I did not see them leave the ship. It was as if they had disappeared out of thin air."

Valentine had a strange expression on his face: "The Preacher of the End? That sounds a lot like..."

"Your Excellency, do you think that I have lived for a hundred years and would not know the End Preachers?" Tirian shook his head gently. "I have doubted this before, but those people are definitely not the End Preachers you and I are familiar with - they are rational and friendly, and they do not have any crazy aura."

"Rational and friendly?" Valentine blinked and said thoughtfully, "I have indeed never heard of rational end-of-life preachers... What other characteristics do those people have?"

This time, Tirian recalled for a longer time. After several minutes, he suddenly raised his head and said, "One of them said a few words to me at that time. I can't remember the specific content. It was just a very common greeting, but I remember that they called themselves 'humble seekers', and..."

Tirian paused and looked around: "Do you have a pen?"

"Yes," Vanna immediately took a pen and paper from the side, "Here you go."

Tirian took the paper and pen, lowered his head and drew a pattern on the coffee table. Valentine and Vanna both came over curiously.

They saw a hexagonal emblem with a fragmented, cross-like pattern in the center. When Tirian was drawing the cross, the lines were obviously hesitant, as if his memory had become blurred.

"It's roughly this pattern - one of the people was wearing an amulet like this. The amulet seemed very important. He didn't allow me to touch it. He only said that it was for their guidance and protection on the road."

Vanna frowned and looked at the pattern for a long time, then turned back to look at Valentine: "You have more experience, do you recognize this thing?"

"...I've never seen it before." Valentine looked at it carefully for a long time, then shook his head hesitantly. "It doesn't look like any known religious symbol, nor does it look like something used by ancient city-states."

"Is that so..."

Vanna mumbled softly, her eyes still fixed on the paper.

The strange pattern on the paper was reflected in her eyes.

Also reflected in her eyes was a cluster of faint green sparks that were almost imperceptible to the naked eye.