Lucrecia fully agreed with Duncan's idea of ​​"playing the long game to catch the big fish" - or rather, she did not support the simple and crude method that her father and Vanna came up with from the beginning.

It's not that she has any prejudice against athletes - mainly because she feels that with Ah Gou's sensitive fear of "spiritual fire" and the speed at which the Deep Demon commits suicide, if she really uses such a simple and crude method, she might not be able to catch a single one alive...

"Those cultists will hold a meeting before nightfall. I will ask the rabbi to find a way to get some intelligence," Lucrecia said as she pondered. "The most troublesome thing now is that there is a so-called 'saint' on that ship. This means that the rabbi can do nothing but 'observe'. Any proactive action may be detected by the saint."

"Saints?" Duncan was curious. "I know about the saints of the Four Gods, and I recognize Vanna's fighting ability, but what about the saints of the Church of Annihilation?"

His doubts were well-founded - the saints of the Four Gods were people favored by the gods. Their greatest characteristic was not their powerful fighting ability (although most of the saints were indeed good at fighting), but their ability to communicate with the gods. Ordinary priests needed to go through extremely complicated rituals and pay a certain price to hear the gods' whispers, while the saints hardly needed any preparation. Sometimes they could communicate with their gods just by praying in their hearts. In more extreme cases, if the saints were in danger, their gods would even find ways to take the initiative to contact them, issue warnings and reminders.

In short, they are spoiled like their own children.

However, the "saints" of the Annihilation Cult would definitely not be like this - Duncan knew the state of the Lord of the Abyss, and His attitude towards his so-called "followers" was even more clear. Just based on the words "catch a few Annihilation Cultists and try", Duncan was sure that if there really was a saint who could communicate with "God's will" among the cultists, he would probably be summoned by the Lord on the day of his promotion - and then dragged into the deep sea by their "Lord" and beaten repeatedly.

"The Annihilation Cultists regard the Deep Demons as the purest creatures closest to the 'original blueprint', so they will constantly use the power of the demons to transform themselves in order to make themselves as close to this 'original blueprint' as possible. In the process, they will gain even more powerful power," Lucrecia explained. "I heard from Vanna that she once saw a high-level Annihilation Priest who had almost merged with the Deep Demon in Frost, and the so-called 'Saints'... will go a step further than that.

"They don't have many human characteristics left. They are more like demons than humans. They act like Abyssal Demons and can draw power directly from the Abyssal Deep Sea. In addition to retaining human thinking ability, they are basically a kind of 'Abyssal Creatures' - these Oblivion 'Saints' can even enter the Abyssal Deep Sea freely like demons, which is the so-called 'Eternal Paradise'. Perhaps only the little bit of human elements left in them still binds them to the real dimension.

"The Annihilation Cultists don't have the blessing of true gods, but through the contract with the devil, they can still gain powerful strength. The same is true for their 'saints' - those freaks are powerful, strong-willed, and know countless contaminated taboo knowledge. If they confront them head-on... Rabbi is no match for those saints."

Duncan listened to these "little-known facts" narrated by Lucrecia with great interest, and suddenly asked, "How do they compare to Vanna?"

Lucrecia was stunned for a moment, and began to think with a subtle expression.

After a long while, she finally spoke: "...Ms. Vanna's fighting ability is relatively...'special' even among the saints. I think it is difficult to compare."

Duncan nodded in understanding: "Okay, I understand."

Lucrecia thought for a moment and then said, "There are some other things."

Duncan's voice came from the mirror: "Speak."

Lucrecia sorted out her words: "There is news from Tirian that three cases of 'sleeping sickness' have appeared in the Frost City-State. The patients are elves, and the symptoms are similar to..."

She was just halfway through her words when the voice from the mirror interrupted her: "The symptoms of the coma are similar to those of the elf girl named 'Floti' in Plande and Taran El before, right? But this time, the psychiatrist's hypnosis and dream treatment were ineffective. Their dreams seemed to have become a void, and their consciousness was lost in the void."

Lucrecia looked at the mirror in surprise: "How did you...the news from Pland?!"

She suddenly reacted later.

"Just before I contacted you," Duncan in the mirror nodded, "Heidi reported four such patients, all elves, all in a coma. And if the situation is as I expected, there may be more than just these two city-states in trouble. Perhaps tomorrow, or even today, the news will reach Breeze Harbor from other city-states."

Lucrecia frowned as she listened, and blinked after a long while. She recalled the ancient legends Taran El had told her, and spoke softly as if she was talking to herself: "All elves... are the fruits and seeds of Silantis..."

"Legends are projections of reality, and some of the descriptions are true. The power of Silantis binds the elves together, allowing them to form a hive-like relationship. On a spiritual level, perhaps all elves are a whole," Duncan said slowly. "This quality has long been dormant, but now it seems... the dream of the nameless has awakened the connection between them."

"The swarm... the spiritual whole..." Lucrecia subconsciously repeated the words Duncan used in his description. These descriptions made her frown slightly, but she couldn't find a more accurate description than them. "The Dream of the Nameless is spreading among the elves, and Light Wind Port is just the first place where it broke out..."

"I call it 'ground zero', the initial explosion point," Duncan said calmly, "and the question now is - why did this place become the ground zero? What caused the outbreak of the Nameless Man's Dream?"

Why?

Lucrecia was startled, and while she was stunned, Duncan's voice continued to come from the mirror:

"Before the outbreak of the Nameless Man's Dream, two things happened. The first was the extinction of the sun, and the entire Infinite Sea fell into darkness. Except for Pland, Frost, and Breeze Harbor, the time of all other city-states disappeared for twelve hours. The second thing... was that the Lost Homeland crossed the 'Disappearing Sea' and arrived near Breeze Harbor."

Lucrecia instantly understood what her father meant.

She spoke subconsciously: "So, the extinction of the sun caused the dream of the nameless hidden in the elves to be 'activated', and the approach of the Lost Homeland... caused Light Wind Port to become the 'ground zero'..."

"The first point is my guess from the beginning," Duncan nodded, "The second point is a possibility that I just thought of now."

Lucrecia thought about it and suddenly came up with a guess: "If the Lost Homeland is far away from Breeze Harbor now, will it temporarily control the development of the Nameless Man's Dream?"

"The Lost Homeland is moving away."

In the captain's room of the Lost Homeland, Duncan turned his head and glanced at the scene outside the window.

Chaotic, dark clouds covered the sky, the pitch-black sea rose and fell silently in the distance, a thin mist enveloped everything, and the entire world was left with only black and white. Countless twisted and bizarre, seemingly real or illusory shadows appeared and disappeared in the mist, keeping a distance in the distance.

"The Lost Homeland is currently sailing at full speed in the depths of the spirit world, heading north away from Breeze Harbor. Next, I will conduct a series of tests, including moving the Lost Homeland's location, sinking further in the spirit world, and spiritualizing the entire ship, etc., to observe the impact of these changes on the Nameless One's dream."

As he spoke, Duncan withdrew his gaze from the window and looked at the mirror next to him.

"But I suspect that these actions will not be able to stop the Nameless One's dream from continuing to grow. Judging from the news coming from various city-states, this 'dream' will ignore spatial barriers and directly affect every elf. Whether it is the extinguishing of the sun or the activities of the Lost Homeland, they are only an initial 'inducement', not the 'driving force' to maintain the dream. What truly maintains this dream is the elves themselves.

"But I will still try to make some experiments on the 'Goat Head' to see if the influence I exert on it can work on the dream of the nameless person. After all, there are many clues pointing to this possibility - my current 'first mate' is the ancient creator god in the elf legend."

Lucrecia in the mirror was a little surprised: "But didn't you say that the goat head on the Reflection Lost Homeland told you that Sasloka had long ago..."

"Is the 'life' and 'death' of gods really that simple?" Duncan shook his head slightly. "Even without considering gods, I have no shortage of 'dead people' here on the Lost Homeland."

Lucrecia opened her mouth, but found that she couldn't judge her father's followers, so she could only change the subject a little awkwardly: "What about Breeze Harbor..."

"My real body will temporarily leave the city-state with the Lost Homeland," Duncan said, "This is also to meet some of my subsequent 'test' plans, but Vanna and Morris will stay in the city. They will continue to observe the dream of the nameless one. Although they can't come back for the time being, my power can still be transmitted to the city through the mirror. If you encounter any trouble, you can call me at any time."

Lucrecia nodded, then she was silent for a few seconds, and then she spoke hesitantly: "When the distance is far, you must use your own 'avatar' to establish a beacon in order for Ai to 'teleport', right?"

Duncan glanced at Lucrecia in the mirror and nodded: "...Yes, is there any problem?"

"This... seems a bit inconvenient," Lucrecia said carefully. "It was fine when the Lost Homeland was near Breeze Harbor. You and your followers could travel back and forth between the city-state and the ship at any time. But now that you are temporarily away from the city-state, you can only transfer power through the mirror. Have you ever considered... arranging an 'avatar' in Breeze Harbor?"

Duncan was silent for two or three seconds, then shook his head with a serious expression. "I don't have that idea for now. You should know what kind of 'raw materials' my avatar needs. Unless I happen to encounter the right situation, I don't plan to add any more avatars."

Although the suggestion was rejected, Lucrecia in the mirror seemed relieved: "Okay, Dad."