The name of the Storm Goddess, Gomona, appeared on the permit – and Duncan was familiar with the handwriting.

Because he had seen it before, back in Pland, when a being suspected to be the Storm Goddess had left a message of thanks – he still had an impression of that "god's" handwriting.

However, Vanna said that the permit was signed by Pope Helena.

She wouldn't mistake such an obvious thing, and there was no need to tell such a meaningless lie, so there was only one explanation – in her eyes, the name on the permit was indeed Helena.

Who was seeing the truth? What did this completely different "presentation" in the eyes of the two people mean? What information did that Storm Goddess want to convey to him in this way? Or rather... what was her purpose in doing this?

Duncan controlled the expression on his face, restrained the shock in his heart, and he didn't feel any obvious sense of disharmony from those pages of paper, so he could only try to find out some information from Vanna.

He looked up at the Inquisitor across from him: "What did Helena say when she gave you the permit?"

"The Pope didn't say anything, just that the things you wanted were ready," Vanna still cared about Duncan's strange attitude, but she answered immediately, and then she explained the whole process of her communication with the Pope about the permit at the assembly, to explain why this certificate was signed by Helena. After she finished speaking, she carefully observed Duncan's reaction and asked, "Is there anything wrong with these things?"

Duncan was silent for two seconds, then suddenly said: "...No, there's nothing wrong, these are good."

Vanna's performance didn't seem fake, she obviously didn't know anything, and what was even more concerning was... if there were no problems with the details Vanna described, then that "Pope Helena"... didn't seem to know about the changes in the permit's signature.

Unless that Pope was acting – but why would she do that?

Vanna had been paying attention to Duncan's reaction. Although she had many doubts in her heart, she finally didn't ask anything, but immediately mentioned another very important thing:

"Also, I was still the Listener who entered that tomb this time – the parchment I brought out contains information about the new anomalies..."

"New anomalies?" Duncan raised his eyebrows upon hearing this, and was also a little surprised. "Isn't this a secret of your internal assembly? Is it okay to tell me directly?"

"The changes in the anomaly list will be announced to the world sooner or later, telling you now is just a little earlier, and... the new anomaly is related to you."

"Oh?"

Vanna steadied her mind: "Anomaly – Frost, Anomaly – the Lost Ship, Anomaly – the Lost Fleet. Like the situation in Pland, none of them have numbers."

The empty deck was quiet for a while, with only the sound of wind blowing past the ears and the sound of broken waves hitting the hull of the ship. After a long time, Duncan opened his mouth to break the silence: "...Oh, that's quite a lot."

"Yeah, it's really... quite a lot," Vanna said hesitantly. "Under normal circumstances, even the appearance of a new anomaly is a major event that would attract the attention of the Four Gods Church. This time, three anomalies have been updated directly, and one of them is the original number 005, the Lost Ship..."

"So the various churches and research organizations will be quite busy next?"

"Probably countless scholars will lose countless hairs, and the Popes will probably have a hard time sleeping peacefully for a while... Even if the new anomalies don't show any danger, the subsequent divination rituals and data sorting are a big project."

Duncan thought for a while: "...Oh, good luck to them."

Even Vanna, who was always calm and composed, barely managed to control her expression at this time, and an unspeakable strange emotion spread in her heart. She held back for a long time before finally uttering a sentence: "As the 'person involved'... don't you have any thoughts?"

Duncan pondered seriously for a moment and looked at Vanna with a serious face: "Next time I'll try to make the commotion smaller? Or you can go back and persuade your Pope to think it through..."

Vanna: "..."

The Inquisitor seemed to be in a state of confusion for a while. Duncan didn't care about her reaction, but raised his head and looked thoughtfully at the familiar deck, masts, and the transparent, bulging spirit sails in mid-air.

The Lost Ship was sailing on this boundless sea as always, silently and reliably. As the owner of this ship, Duncan didn't feel that anything had changed – but in the list of anomaly 004, the "Tomb of the Nameless King", this ship was no longer "anomaly 005".

It lost its number.

What did this change mean?

Duncan lowered his head, looking thoughtfully at his palm, and then his eyes fell on the permit. The name "Gomona" exuded a strong presence, attracting his attention.

He thought of the brief connection established between Ah-Gou and the God of Wisdom, and also of the strange dark space, and the records of conversations between the gods that he saw in the dark space.

"Vanna," he suddenly turned his head and looked at Vanna's eyes very seriously, "How can I establish communication with the gods?"

Vanna woke up from her daze in an instant, and then was startled by Duncan's words, looking a little at a loss: "Ah?! You said... establish communication with the gods?!"

"That's right," Duncan nodded, "Establish communication with the gods."

He had just thought of one thing: if there was indeed some kind of "communication platform" between the gods hidden in that strange dark space, and the "Blasphemous Book" that was burned before was just a "key" to open that dark space, then there were probably more than just a few cult sects holding such "keys", or in other words –

Since even the "blasphemous relics" in the hands of cultists can open the "communication platform" of the gods, what about the orthodox churches that are already closely connected with the Four Gods? Wouldn't the things or technologies in their hands be more effective? This is very logical.

Duncan hadn't thought in this direction before. On the one hand, he was influenced by the inertia of thinking. After all, the golden mask before and the Blasphemous Book this time were obtained from the hands of cultists, so he instinctively had the simple idea of finding cultists to "kill on the spot". On the other hand... he was subconsciously avoiding this direction.

Because he had indeed seen the role of the Four Gods Church in the city-states, he had a certain natural goodwill towards the forces behind Vanna and Morris – peeking into that dark space was risky, and the destroyed golden mask and Blasphemous Book proved this. The power of truth is beyond what ordinary things can bear. Once the operation is improper, the "relics" acting as the medium will be destroyed, and the people assisting from the side will be in danger of life. This risk... it's better to let the cultists bear it.

But now Duncan suddenly had a new idea.

This idea originated from the Storm Goddess's signature on the permit.

This may be a signal of goodwill, or it may be some kind of reminder.

Of course, he couldn't explain it too much to Vanna – after all, the latter was still a devout saint. If he directly told her, "I think the relics of the cultists are too difficult to find, so I want to try using the relics of your Deep Sea Church," it would definitely be inappropriate. If he wasn't careful, she would smash over with a jumping chop...

Vanna didn't expect the reason behind Duncan's casual question. She was just surprised that the captain was suddenly interested in the gods, but she quickly remembered that the other party seemed to have unique insights and research in the field of theology, so she thought seriously for a moment and replied: "It depends on what kind of communication you are referring to – generally speaking, we call all acts of worshiping God 'communication with God', even an ordinary believer's evening prayer is a conversation with God.

"Above this, the official priests, through years of training and study, coupled with specific rituals and the assistance of items, understand the 'knowledge' of God, and draw power from this knowledge and truth, or hear the revelation of God, which is a further step of 'communication'.

"And a higher level than this is a saint like me. Saints don't need too complicated ritual preparations. They can communicate with the will of God relatively easily only with their own spiritual resonance, because our spirituality is connected with the spirituality of God..."

Vanna's tone was a bit proud when she said the last sentence, but she found that Duncan frowned slightly – these answers were obviously not what the captain wanted.

"Not this kind of communication," Duncan shook his head, slowly organizing his words, wanting to make Vanna understand his intention, "I mean... more direct, closer, more efficient... contact, do you understand? Not to get some vague revelations in prayer, but to be able to talk directly to the Four Gods."

Vanna slowly opened her mouth, and didn't come back to her senses for a long time.

So Duncan knew that he probably couldn't get an answer from her – an expected situation.

"Forget it, this is a bit unrealistic." He waved his hand and breathed a sigh of relief. "The ritual techniques you use are useless to me. Maybe it would be more effective if I directly find a few sacred books of the Four Gods Church to read."

Vanna blinked her eyes. As usual, she felt a little unable to keep up with the captain's thinking again. But fortunately, the captain didn't dwell on this strange topic.

"Go to White Oak later and give the permit to Lawrence. I won't go," Duncan instructed, "If he asks about the follow-up arrangements, let him act with the Lost Ship for the time being. After the matter of Frost is completely settled, we will discuss it again."

Vanna lowered her head: "Yes, Captain."

Duncan nodded, but then, as if he heard something, his brow furrowed slightly: "Huh? Vanna curiously asked: "What happened?"

"...Agatha is looking for me," Duncan said slowly, his expression gradually becoming serious, "She said she has found a way to dive into the Deep Sea Embers."