When the storm comes, mortals will flee in all directions due to the roar of thunder - however, the thunder itself does not care about the attitude of mortals. Its roar comes only from its own existence, just like the existence of the Lost Homeland, which itself is enough to interfere with the order of the entire Infinite Sea.

Under this premise, it is meaningless to consider whether Captain Duncan would mind being considered a heretic by the mortal church. This overestimates the influence of the mortal world on the shadow of the warp - and think about it from another perspective, the image of the Lost Homeland itself in the eyes of the civilized world does not seem to be much better than that of a "heretic"...

"I will discuss this matter with Pope Helena, Pope Banster, and Pope Frame," Rune said to Morris. "There will definitely be voices of doubt and panic among the bishops, but the four of us should be able to reach a consensus on our attitudes soon. Regardless of the source of the news, at least the 'warning' itself needs to be taken seriously."

"I knew you would look at this rationally," Morris said with a hint of relief in his voice. "You are still the same as you were back then."

"You are very different now, Morris," Rune said with a sigh, "When I heard that you had fallen into a low ebb, many people sighed and lamented. I didn't expect you to bounce back so quickly, and I didn't expect that your bounce back... was to become a member of the Lost Homeland. To be honest, there are very few things that shock me in the past thousands of years. This is the most shocking thing to me."

"Life on the ship is actually not bad - it can even be said to be better than in the city-state. Although life on the sea brings some troubles, here I see new things almost every day and deal with all kinds of things I have never heard of before..."

"You sound like a crew member who is proud of your ship," Rune couldn't help but ask, "I'm really curious, what exactly are you doing on that ship?"

Morris was silent for half a minute.

Many things came to his mind - teaching the Deep Demon, the Cursed Dolls, and the Demon Contractors, sailing in the spirit world, eating the offspring of the deep sea, reading with the Sun Fragment, watching the latter braise all kinds of heretical filth that escaped from the book every day...

"…positive and healthy academic research." Morris said seriously.

"Oh, that sounds good," Rune nodded, but couldn't help but remind him, "But I still want to say that you should be vigilant. Perhaps, as you said, the 'Captain Duncan' has really regained his humanity, but as a mortal, living on the Lost Homeland and living with a warp shadow day and night is a dangerous thing in itself. You should be cautious in contact with all unknown things to avoid affecting your spirit and cognition..."

"Thank you for your reminder, teacher. But don't worry. You know that I have always been a cautious student. Even when I was doing the most dangerous research in the academy, I was always fully prepared and never had any accidents."

Rune, who had already returned to his seat at the desk, fell silent upon hearing this.

The old elf couldn't help but recall the time when Morris was studying at the Academy of Truth many years ago.

Prudent... There are indeed many cautious students in the college, but everyone has a different understanding of this word.

There is a type of student who, when seeing a dangerous book, will immediately try to isolate and seal the book and stay away from it without touching it. This is called caution.

There is another type of student who, when exposed to forbidden knowledge, will immediately drink half a pound of mixed magic potion, wear amulets all over their body, and then prepare three pistols of the largest caliber - they also call this being cautious.

The second type of students have a high chance of dying suddenly, but as long as they survive, they will often achieve great success. The most outstanding legendary scholars in the Academy of Truth are often of this type.

But even among the most legendary group of people, none of them could reach the level of running to the Lost Homeland and chatting and laughing with an evil god of the subspace.

After a long silence, the old elf behind the desk finally broke the silence with a soft voice: "Maurice..."

"Teacher, please tell me."

“…You are doing great things.”

“Thank you for your expectations.”

"No, what I mean is that if one day you make a big mess, you must tell me in advance. I will help you if I can, but if I can't, I can run away in advance."

“…”

The connection established by psychic communication was broken, and the resonance at the level of thinking and perception also receded like a tide. Rune narrowed his eyes slightly, feeling the departure of his former apprentice. He did not completely relax until he was sure that Morris' consciousness was safely out of the psychic channel.

However, a faint, strange noise, as if countless people whispered, still lingered in his mind and took a long time to gradually dissipate.

Feeling the impact of the noise on his mind, Rune couldn't help but sigh softly.

"...Permanently on the brink of madness, yet still maintaining a clear mind... This is truly incredible. Is this also the influence of the 'Captain'?"

Muttering softly to himself, this old elf who might be the most knowledgeable mortal shook his head, and then sat quietly at the desk, as if waiting for someone to visit him.

He didn't have to wait long.

The vague sound of waves suddenly appeared in his mind, and gradually merged into clear waves, followed by the call of fire and death. Rune sighed at these calls, then glanced at the alchemical container on the table next to him that was still reacting, confirmed that there was enough remaining material in the container, and gradually calmed his mind -

This study is the "ritual field" where he holds the psychic communication ceremony. All the quaint and solemn bookshelves, classics and alchemical devices on the desk here are items needed to perform the ceremony.

Darkness surged up, and then dissipated like fog. At the end of the deep and dim passage, the figures of the three Popes of the Deep Sea, Death and Firebringer emerged.

Rune walked through the passage and came to the three old friends. He nodded slightly and greeted them. Before they could speak, he took the initiative to say, "It seems that you have also received the news."

"Banster and I each received a message from our saints," said Deep Sea Pope Helena, pointing at the silent and tall figure opposite her. "Frem just arrived, and we just had time to tell him the general situation."

The tall figure called Frame nodded slightly.

He is the leader of the Firebringers, the earthly representative of the eternally burning flame "Tarekin". In terms of appearance, he is perhaps the most striking of the four popes - his unusually tall body, gray and tough skin like rock, and metallic patterns on the surface of his skin indicate his race.

He is a strong Sen'jin, wearing a dark gold robe representing the Firebearer Pope's identity. He has short gray hair and an angular face. He looks taciturn and extremely serious.

Over the past period of time, the Firebringer Pope has been patrolling the border of the civilized world with his own patrol fleet and rarely attends gatherings of the four. This is his first appearance in recent times.

"I don't quite understand the situation yet," Frame began, his voice so deep it seemed as if it came from stone. "I don't have any saints kidnapped to that ship yet."

Helena, who was standing next to him, frowned strangely and whispered, "Our saint was not abducted..."

"They contacted Captain Duncan, they were wary of Captain Duncan, they identified with Captain Duncan, and they joined Captain Duncan." Frame glanced at Helena, his expression still as hard as stone. "I think they got there by deception."

Helena: "..."

Seeing this, the tall, thin, and old Death Pope Banster coughed twice and said, "This is not the first day you have known Frame. He has always been like this."

"...Okay," Helena was silent for a moment, then nodded slowly, "We are not here to discuss the matter of 'saints being kidnapped on board' today. We are here to discuss the warning from the Lost Homeland."

Lu En raised his head: "Do you have any questions?"

"Yes," Helena said immediately, her eyes falling on Rune, "I want to know what those huge biological organizations under the city-state are all about? From the description, that thing is very similar to the 'Leviathan' monster that supports the church ark... Are they the same thing?"

"The four church arks were all built by the Academy of Truth, and the technology to 'resurrect' and control the Leviathan was also invented by you," Banster immediately looked at Rune and said, "But you have never revealed where you found the 'corpses' of the 'Leviathans', nor the connection between the Leviathan monsters and the bottom structure of the city-state... We have reason to believe that the Academy of Truth holds some special 'truth'."

Frame did not speak, but maintained his stone-like face and stared calmly into Rune's eyes.

However, facing these three pressured gazes, Rune simply spread his hands calmly.

"I don't know what's underneath the city-state either."

"You don't know?" Helena's eyes widened slightly. "The Academy of Truth has 'resurrected' four Leviathans, but you said you don't know what the 'Leviathan' at the bottom of the city-state is?"

Rune simply asked back calmly: "The Storm Goddess Gemona is the Queen of Leviathan - as the Storm Goddess's follower, do you know more than me?"

Helena frowned and said nothing.

"I believe you should have tried to ask the Leviathan that hosts the Cathedral of Storms, but it probably can't give you any answer - because even they themselves don't know the affairs of their own species."

Rune sighed and shook his head slightly.

"The history of our world has been shattered. Even the ancient behemoths cannot clearly recall what happened before the Great Annihilation. Did you know that Captain Duncan even gave this phenomenon a name...

"He called it the 'event limit' in the time dimension."