Frame's eyes were instantly attracted by the huge "cane". He stared at it for a long time, and after a long time, he squeezed out some words from his lips: "...Eternally burning fire..."

After a few seconds of silence, he raised his head and looked at Vanna and Duncan: "Take it out, it's..."

"That's what Vanna meant," Duncan shook his head and took a step back. "She thinks the cane should be given to the Firebringer Church."

Frame widened his eyes slightly and looked at the judge in surprise.

"Tarrekin left this staff to me as a parting souvenir, but at that time, He didn't know about the existence of the Deep Sea Age," Vanna sighed softly and said calmly, "Perhaps the Tarrekin I saw was just a shadow, and perhaps the Sen'jin of the Deep Sea Age were just 'replicas' recreated after the Third Long Night, but some things... belong to whoever they belong to. The legacy of civilization should not become a personal collection. It should be more meaningful to hand it over to the Firebringer Church than to leave it in my hands."

There was silence at the table for a moment. Helena, Rune, and Banster exchanged glances and then wisely shut their mouths. Frame slowly reached out his hand, and his rock-like fingers carefully stroked the rough surface of the cane.

The densely packed marks on the walking stick seem to be engraved with frozen time, silently telling a period of civilization forgotten by all living beings. In the long-faded and disappeared memory, a race staggered from the wilderness, moved towards glory, and then towards its end.

But Frame couldn't even recognize any of the words on it - he just felt that every mark on it was extremely familiar, so familiar that it seemed to be engraved in his own soul, but also extremely strange, so strange that it seemed like words from another dimension.

A complex emotion surged up from the bottom of my heart.

"The elves felt the same way as you when they first unearthed those scrolls from the Dark Islands," Rune suddenly broke the silence beside him. The old elf looked at the change in expression on Frame's face and said quietly, "We've been through it before. I understand."

"…There is a complete text evolution on it. We can always decipher its meaning," Frame said softly. "The Firebringer is an expert in this area."

He suddenly raised his head and looked into Vanna's eyes with an extremely serious expression.

"I will make rubbings of all the traces on it and use them to study the Sen'jin's writing and history. We only need to take these away."

Vanna was stunned for a moment, confused and surprised: "Of course...but you mean, the cane..."

"This is a gift from the Lord. Leaving it in your hands is the Lord's will," Frame shook his head slowly. "Also, Miss Vanna, the legacy of civilization is not this cane brought out from the dream. The real legacy is here. It is the history recorded in these scratches."

The Firebringer Pope's fingers gently brushed across the surface of the cane. In the indentations of varying depths, his fingertips seemed to have touched those ancient lost years.

"Today, whether we are willing to admit it or not, the contents recorded in the 'blasphemous book' of the cultists are undeniable. The true history of our world began in the Third Long Night. Everything in the mortal world is a 'replica' born from the ashes. For a world copied from the ashes... excavating 'memory' and 'history' is far more meaningful than pursuing the 'relic' itself. Miss Vanna, we just need to take the text on it."

Vanna blinked. This situation seemed a little unexpected to her. She subconsciously looked up at Duncan, who nodded slightly to her.

"...I understand," Vanna exhaled softly, "Then I will keep it well and regard it as something equal to glory and life."

"Very good, then this problem is solved," Duncan broke the silence. He took a half step forward with a smile on his face, but soon he seemed to remember something and couldn't help but speak, "...But then again, after Vanna brought this 'Chronicle' to the real world, did your Firebringer Church not receive any 'feedback' or 'revelation' from Tarek?"

"No," Fram shook his head and admitted frankly, "As we mentioned in the meeting just now, the connection between the mortal world and the gods has become extremely difficult. Not only is the 'voice' itself getting weaker, but even the information that is barely transmitted... is mixed with more and more interference and noise. The only good news now is that the 'power' bestowed by the gods can still take effect on the vast ocean, but other than that, even the four of us haven't heard the clear voice of 'Them' for many years."

"I can only receive vague revelations and occasional guidance from the goddess," Vanna added immediately after hearing this. "Although the goddess will still respond to my calls quickly, the 'response' is indeed always vague."

"The decline and death of gods is a process that is completely different from that of mortals," Rune also said, "We still cannot crack the secret, but it is obvious that they are still rational - it's just that this 'rationality' can no longer be accurately transmitted to the minds of mortals, as if there is some kind of 'cognitive deviation' between the two. This 'deviation' makes our minds increasingly unable to understand their 'voices'..."

Rune paused for a moment, and after a moment's thought, he continued with a hint of hesitation: "To be honest, this reminds me of the story of 'Crazy Bird' again."

Helena's expression changed slightly in an instant. She seemed to understand Rune's meaning at the first time: "You mean... the essence of the gods' current 'death state' is that they are gradually deviating from our world from the 'cognition' level? The increasingly strong interference and noise we have received from the Ark over the years... is it some kind of ever-increasing 'mad bird effect'?"

"This is a conjecture I came up with recently - after the Breeze Harbor incident," Rune nodded gently, "and it is the only conjecture that can explain the increasingly intense 'noise' so far."

Duncan silently listened to the discussion between the popes. When their discussion was almost over, he suddenly spoke: "In fact... I wanted to say it just now. I can occasionally 'hear' their voices or see the messages they convey."

Helena, Frame and the others instantly fell silent.

The four popes slowly turned their heads, and several of them looked at Duncan. The expressions on their faces were as if they had seen a ghost.

To be fair, with their abilities, if they really saw a ghost they would probably be much calmer than they are now.

"Are you telling the truth?!" Helena was the first to speak. "You said you can clearly hear the voices of the gods? They even... convey messages to you?!"

Even the calm and composed Frame couldn't hold back. The giant-like Sen'jin Pope walked around the table and came to Duncan. "You have a direct connection with the gods? How did you get in touch with them?!"

“Stop, stop, stop. I just said ‘occasionally’. Only occasionally can I hear or see messages from ‘Them’,” Duncan waved his hands quickly. He knew that the four people in front of him had obviously misunderstood. “This can’t be considered a ‘direct contact’, but it is indeed… quite clear. In fact, I have no idea what the ‘noise’ and ‘interference’ you keep mentioning are. I have never encountered them.”

The popes looked at each other.

Duncan did not hide the fact that he had heard or seen the gods convey messages by coincidence several times - including the messages he had seen, or the traces of communication left by the gods that he had seen in that strange dark space.

Of course, he concealed the specific content of these exchanges.

Then, the hall was quiet for a long time.

After a long time, the first person to break the silence was Frame. This calm Sen'jin cast his eyes on Rune: "...This seems to at least prove that 'they' are still sane."

"Yes, stay rational," Rune woke up from his brief daze and immediately began to think, "If this is true... if my guess just now is not too wrong..."

He paused, and quickly sorted out his thoughts.

"Then the whole thing can be interpreted like this: the gods still have reason, but their 'reason' has deviated from the minds of mortals, and even from the entire world. Therefore, it is difficult for us to contact them, and even the world has begun to be polluted by them. On the other hand, Captain Duncan is completely unaffected by this 'deviation' due to his own special characteristics..."

Rune suddenly stopped again, as if he felt that there was some vague or unexplainable contradiction in his "speculation". He fell into deep thought, and at this moment, Duncan suddenly thought of another thing.

"I remember... According to the conclusion currently recognized by scholars and churches around the world, the 'Lord of the Deep' in the Deep Sea is an ancient god who is completely crazy and out of control?"

"Of course," Rune responded without hesitation, "The Lord of the Deep is as irrational as the Black Sun. We have direct evidence of this. Although humans cannot enter the Deep Sea alive, through complex and dangerous rituals, we can 'observe' the situation at that depth..."

"I've also talked to the Lord of the Deep," Duncan shrugged. "To be honest, I think His mental state is actually okay - although He said that He's been having a hard time lately."

Rune: “……?”

Duncan looked at the ghostly expressions on the faces of the popes, hesitated for a moment, and decided to continue speaking - after all, the atmosphere had reached this point.

"Also, regarding the 'Black Sun' mentioned earlier, actually... I have also seen it, although we only exchanged a few words - He really couldn't stand it anymore."

Rune, Helena, Banster, and Frame all had the same expression: "......?!"