Chapter 1
Lucrezia slid several meters across the deck—the whole thing happened so suddenly that Duncan didn't even realize what had happened.

It wasn't until the "Sea Witch" scrambled to her feet in a fluster that he hastily let go of the piece of paper in his hand.

The colorful paper "whooshed" away, quickly disappearing into Lucrezia's hair, while she still stood there somewhat blankly, with no expression on her face.

She was probably stunned from the fall.

"Luci..." With embarrassment that could dig a hole in the deck and a subtle sense of apology, Duncan cautiously approached the still dazed witch. "Are you alright?"

Lucrezia jolted, seemingly finally awakened from her stunned state, then slowly turned her head, her expression finally changing from bewildered to shocked. She looked at Duncan with an incredulous expression, and after a long silence, she finally spoke, "How did you do that?"

"Huh?" Duncan didn't react for a moment. "What did I do?"

"You caught... the 'shadow'..." Lucrezia hesitated, seemingly trying to find the words to describe this overly abstract matter clearly. Then she raised her arm, and starting from her fingertips, part of her arm rapidly disintegrated into floating colorful paper, which swirled around her. "Could you try again so I can see?"

Duncan reached out with a puzzled expression and casually grabbed a piece of the colorful paper.

The next second, the scattered colored paper suddenly "collapsed," becoming Lucrezia's arm again, and the former's expression was once again astonished.

Lucrezia said "oh," but she hesitated for a long time when turning around, finally sighing, "I'll just walk, then..."

Later on the way here, he told Lucrezia a lot of information related to this "glowing falling object," and also learned that during the sun's extinction, this glowing geometric body had continuously sent irregular "light signals" outwards. There was a lot of this information—yet not a single piece of it could explain the "moon" at the center of the glowing geometric body.

Duncan narrowed his eyes slightly.

Duncan looked down and found that he was still holding the colorful piece of paper that the other party had disintegrated during the previous "experiment."

Duncan lowered his head, looking at the colorful piece of paper in his hand, and couldn't help but ponder in his mind.

It was the research station that Lucrezia had mentioned before, set up by the elves at the center of the glowing geometric body, and next to the station... the mysterious stone sphere.

"Take me to see that stone sphere first."

The Brilliant Star gradually slowed down. Under Lucrezia's control, this ghost ship, like the Vanishing Sea, which was "alive," finally stopped with incredible precision a few meters away from the stone sphere.

Some small shadows appeared in his vision.

Duncan frowned in confusion. "Is there anything else?"

Ever since she became a powerful "Sea Witch," a dreaded curse, and the captain of a ghost ship, she hadn't heard such words anymore.

A simple emotion that was hard to define filled his heart—it wasn't surprise, because Duncan had already been surprised, nor was it bewilderment, because he had been puzzling over it for a long time before today.

Then the little witch walked all the way to the nearby bridge.

He hadn't expected that these dazzling pieces of paper were such ordinary "things." And looking at Lucrezia's reaction, his actions just now were clearly worthy of being called "shocking."

Seeing that this cheap "daughter" seemed to have aroused her enthusiasm as a researcher, Duncan had no idea what was going on. He frowned and looked at the colored paper in his hand with a puzzled expression:

"Is it that hard? They're just some pieces of paper flying in the air..."

She seemed to have not heard anyone care about her in that tone for many, many years.

He guessed at the essence of this sunlight and slightly raised his hands as if to feel its "touch."

Lucrezia heard her father's murmur, but she was completely confused. "What are you talking about? Are you saying you don't know the essence of this ability?"

He caught the phantom—but Duncan knew that he didn't have the ability to catch phantoms.

"I... I'm fine," she shook her head with a strange expression, trying to suppress the embarrassment in her heart while trying to distract herself with thinking. "You can catch phantoms... Is that also one of your current powers? What is its essence? A deep understanding of the world? Or is it due to the influence of the sub-space?"

"They can't be caught, Papa," Lucrezia spread her hands. "If the phantom wind could be interrupted by someone catching a piece of paper, how could I use it as my most common means of transportation—these are all phantoms, theoretically capable of penetrating all obstacles..."

"It really is it..."

Duncan looked at the departing figure with a strange expression, and finally couldn't help but sigh in his heart:

Duncan came back to his senses. He opened his mouth, seemingly wanting to explain something to his "daughter," but after hesitating several times, he shook his head.

Lucrezia hesitated for a moment, then cautiously pointed a finger. "Can... can you give that back to me first?"

Those familiar patterns, those light and dark distributions of plains, depressions, and crater structures, had frequently appeared in his recent memories, and had been seen more than once in books and on the internet—the moon.

Duncan spread his hands with a wry smile. "Of course I won't grab it, I'm not a child."

Thoughts churned in his mind. Some past events and conjectures emerged in his memories, and some "things" appeared in Duncan's mind—not fish.

"That's incredible!" The little witch stared wide-eyed at Duncan. "Such a thing has never happened before. Can you tell me how you did it?"

Lucrezia really fell into thought. The instinct to explore the unknown seemed to make her forget the embarrassment just now in an instant. While thinking, she continued to mutter to herself, "...Could it be that in the sub-space 'layer,' there is actually no distinction between matter and phantoms in the real world? Everything in the mortal world is an equal 'concept' in the face of sub-space... Is Crow Divens' theory correct? Everything is a 'concept' and forms a consistent projection in sub-space..."

Lucrezia nodded, but she didn't leave. Instead, she stood there, looking at her father with a tangled and hesitant gaze.

The research station was a two-story building built on a floating platform, and Lucrezia was less than a few meters away from the floating platform. Temporary bridges and many steel cables connected the two to ensure the platform's stability.

Lucrezia's expression was awkward. "...Of course."

Lucrezia nodded again, turned around, but then turned back worriedly. "If you're curious, we can discuss it next time and do some experiments, but really, don't grab it, okay?"

"I don't know about that," Duncan shrugged. "I just saw those pieces of paper and was a little curious, so I wanted to grab them and take a look. Sorry... Did you hurt yourself falling? Did you bump into anything?"

Duncan listened to the little witch muttering beside him and finally couldn't help but interrupt her. "Luci... you can study this some other time."

He just didn't know those pieces of paper were phantoms.

He turned his head and looked at the magnificent "light wall" that had already arrived at the bow of the Brilliant Star, exuding a grand sense of lightness and oppression.

It made her feel a little awkward.

As the distance gradually shortened, more and more details on the "stone sphere" came into Duncan's view.

In that moment, he merely confirmed and witnessed something that had entangled him for a long time, a bizarre fact that he couldn't understand or deny, coming before him in an unmistakable way.

Duncan stood at the end of the front deck, his gaze calm as he watched the "sunlight" rushing towards him, completely immersing him in it.

The light golden "sunlight," like some kind of tangible crystal, yet without any sense of resistance, filled his vision, gradually swallowing the Brilliant Star.

It seemed that it completely resembled the real "moon," being "compressed" to such a size.

Fortunately, that Talan Eyl, great master, was too lazy and didn't dare to come to the deck with him, and was still lying in his room recuperating. Otherwise, the scene at this time would not only be fatherly love and awkwardness.

"The Witch" woke up instantly, but still stared wide-eyed at Duncan without blinking.

The piece of paper floated up, slowly drilling into Lucrezia's arm, filling in a place that was originally dim and lightless with color.

Now, he had finally confirmed it in the real world.

Thoughts raced through his mind. Some past events and guesses surfaced in his memories, and some "things" appeared in Duncan's mind—not fish.

Duncan came to the edge of the deck. From here, he could even see any subtle texture on Lucrezia's surface.

Silently, for who knew how long, he suddenly spoke softly, as if talking to himself, "Its essence... perhaps is 'I don't know'..."

Lucrezia was stunned for a moment.

The "Sea Witch" looked at this scene with a somewhat subtle expression, then nodded to Duncan, turned into a large piece of flying colored paper, and prepared to fly to the bridge—but she stopped after flying less than half a meter, her figure re-condensed, and she turned her head to look at Duncan worriedly. "Don't grab it this time..."

Duncan looked at the other party's departing figure with a strange expression, and finally couldn't help but sigh in his heart:

Duncan came to his senses. He opened his mouth, seemingly wanting to explain something to this "daughter," but after hesitating several times, he shook his head.

"It's another meaning, but I don't know how to explain it to you—Luci, let's talk about it later when we have the chance. We have other things to do now."

His expression froze instantly, and he apologized as he let go. "Uh, cough, sorry."

He was afraid that the "Sea Witch" would choose to kill him outright—then Talan Eyl would really die on this ship.