Chapter 15 A Glimpse of the Bizarre

"At our current speed, we will reach the vicinity of Light Breeze Harbor in a day—but that's based on the sea charts. As for whether the *Sea of the Lost* is actually in this area, that still needs to be confirmed. After all... this whole thing is too unbelievable."

The tone of the Goat Head was solemn and hesitant, and Duncan had rarely heard him react this way since he'd known the guy.

Without a doubt, what was happening to the *Sea of the Lost* had completely exceeded the first mate's experience.

Duncan propped his hands on the edge of the nautical chart table, looking solemnly at the slowly spreading fog on the chart. Between the phantom image of the *Sea of the Lost* and the northern route, there was now a large expanse of mist floating—the route the *Sea of the Lost* should have sailed, now still shrouded in fog.

"In the two hours before the sun went out, we skipped the entire voyage from the Northern Route to the Southern Sea. And even you don't know how it happened." Duncan raised his eyes to look at the Goat Head on the edge of the table. "But the *White Oak*, which was also on the Endless Sea during the solar eclipse, did not encounter this phenomenon—they still largely maintained their correct course."

"I don't know how to explain this either, Captain," the Goat Head slightly shook his head, appearing embarrassed. "Although both the *Sea of the Lost* and the *White Oak* have been baptized by your flames, the difference between the two ships is too great, and any slight difference could be the cause of this phenomenon."

Duncan didn't speak for a moment, his expression solemn as he pondered for a few more seconds. Then, as if suddenly thinking of something, he broke the silence: "When did the sea chart change?"

"Just now," the Goat Head answered exceptionally quickly.

"When the sun relit, are you sure?" Duncan knew the other party wouldn't lie to him, but he still asked the question subconsciously.

"Sure," the Goat Head nodded his head up and down. "I've been paying attention to everything related to navigation, including the movements of the sea chart. During the solar eclipse, the sea chart didn't change at all, as if we were standing still. But after the sun relit, the sea chart started to show some chaos, like the chaos after each emergence from the Spirit Realm into the real world. I thought it was just self-calibrating, but I didn't expect that when it stabilized again, it would show the *Sea of the Lost* near Light Breeze Harbor."

Duncan listened carefully to the Goat Head's description, suddenly frowning. "In other words, this jump most likely occurred at the moment the sun reignited."

The Goat Head slowly nodded.

The entire captain's room fell into a moment of silence.

Duncan didn't know what the Goat Head was thinking at the moment. He only knew that his mind was now filled with chaotic guesses and countless questions, and all of these questions seemed to revolve around one core: What exactly happened to the Endless Sea during the process of the sun going out and reigniting?

At first, he thought it was just a temporary darkness, like the sun rising a few minutes late before. Except for some people who noticed it and felt nervous and panicked, the whole world seemed completely unaffected.

But soon, he discovered that this solar eclipse had led to many strange things—including the interruption of communications between the city-states, and the *White Oak's* observation of bizarre boundary phenomena.

And now, after the sun reignited, he found that the strange effects of this event were far more than that. The entire *Sea of the Lost* had instantly moved two-thirds of the "distance," directly arriving near Light Breeze Harbor. Tirian reported that the other city-states didn't even know the sun had gone out.

It seemed that, between the switch of the sun going out and lighting up, the entire world briefly presented some kind of bizarre appearance, with various tear-like disharmonies appearing. And the *Sea of the Lost*, this ghost ship wandering on the edge of reality, briefly and clearly crossed this torn rift.

The thought sent a chill down his spine.

Duncan couldn't help but have a terrifying thought—what exactly is the sun's role?

Is it just to provide light and heat, while suppressing the extraordinary and erosion in this world? Is it suppressing the extraordinary erosion on this world?

Or the world itself?

"Captain," the Goat Head's voice suddenly came from the side, interrupting Duncan's thoughts. "What do we do next? If the *Sea of the Lost* has really arrived near Light Breeze Harbor, then shouldn't we contact Miss Lucrezia?"

"Confirm the surrounding situation first, don't approach the city-state rashly." Duncan thought for a moment, and couldn't help but think of his previous experiences in Prand and Frost, subconsciously shaking his head. "Let the *Sea of the Lost* hide in the shadows and fog, and contact Lucrezia when the time is right."

The Goat Head's head immediately drooped. "Yes, Captain."

Duncan hummed in agreement, then stepped over to the corner of the room again.

He stood in front of the oval mirror and gently tapped the surface. Dark shadows floated in the mirror, and in the blink of an eye, Agatha, dressed as a female adventurer, appeared before him.

"I never thought that my first voyage with you would be such an incredible experience," Agatha exclaimed. "It's just as you said, by setting off with the *Sea of the Lost*, I will witness all the incredible things in this world. My imagination before departure was still too conservative."

"Feeling overstimulated?"

"It's okay, thankfully I don't have a heart that jumps around at the drop of a hat anymore," Agatha showed a smile. "Next, you need me to keep an eye on the changes in the Spirit Realm, right? The four Spirit Realms, and those shadows wandering between the Spirit Realm and the real world..."

"If possible, also pay attention to the situation below the sea surface," Duncan said without any politeness. "I always feel that even if the sun has relit, the aftermath of this event has not ended. It's always good to be cautious."

"Understood," Agatha put away her smile and nodded solemnly, before adding, "Ah, according to the rules on the ship, I should say, 'Aye, Captain!'" The figure in the mirror gradually dissipated.

Duncan, however, remained solemn, silently pondering in front of the mirror.

Flying colored paper scraps swirled across the top of the street, passed through the gaps between the staggered roofs and buildings, and finally flew into a building near the City-State University, into the study of the elven scholar Talan Aier.

Lucrezia's figure condensed from the colored paper scraps. The next second, the sea witch frowned in confusion. She couldn't see the figure of the elven scholar in the study. Could he still be trapped on the roof?

Lucrezia couldn't help but mutter, turning her head to look at the still open window not far away. But just as she was about to fly onto the roof to check if the elven scholar was still trapped up there, a slightly flustered sound of footsteps suddenly came from the corridor outside, interrupting her movements.

Listening to the movement on the corridor, Lucrezia casually waved towards the door not far away. With a bang, the door suddenly opened, and then, a shadow rushed towards the corridor in the direction of Lucrezia's finger. There were short screams and the sound of falling outside. After a moment, a scholar who was waving his hands and desperately trying to stand up was invited into the room.

The scholar came in lying down, looking as if he was floating a few centimeters above the ground and sliding into the room. But when he stopped in the room, the things that had sent him into the room swarmed out from under him—countless toy soldiers crawled out from under the scholar, and quickly organized themselves into a formation on the floor next to him. Then, to the music of the drummer and trumpeter, they marched and quickly burrowed back into the shadows beside Lucrezia.

The scholar who had been invited into the room looked at the toy soldiers running on the floor in terror, then his gaze noticed the owner of the soldiers and shadows. He looked up at Lucrezia, who was standing by the window, and finally realized who this vaguely familiar lady was.

"Witch... Ah, Ms. Lucrezia!"

The scholar quickly turned over and got up, greeting this great figure shrouded in many legends and auras.

"Good afternoon, good afternoon." As he spoke, the scholar couldn't help but twist his body—a small toy soldier crawled out of his pocket, fell to the ground, and shattered into pieces. But then the toy soldier reassembled, quickly turned over, ran to his mistress, and burrowed back into the shadows.

Lucrezia didn't care about the young scholar's rudeness in his panic, or the toy soldier who had fallen behind. Instead, she went straight to the point and asked, "I'm here to find your teacher, where did he go?"

"I was just about to go find him," the scholar swallowed and quickly replied to this legendary witch, who was said to be aloof and eccentric, skilled in curses, and as fickle as the sea. "Someone saw him go to the Cloud Tower when the sun went out, from the roof of the university."

Lucrezia raised her eyebrows. "From the roof of the university?"

"Yes... yes, someone saw him. He seemed to be in a great hurry, and he hasn't returned yet. I'm worried something happened to him."

"Something is bound to happen to someone who goes flying over the eaves and walls of the university roof with a hundred years of frozen shoulder and cervical spondylosis—even as an elf, he shouldn't challenge this kind of extreme sport," Lucrezia said casually, then waved her hand to the young scholar. "I'm going to check on his situation—by the way, what's your name?"

The scholar quickly straightened his body. "Joshua Dino."

"Okay, I'll tell your teacher that you'll have three points deducted from your academic conduct assessment."

Joshua was immediately stunned. "Why?"

Lucrezia's figure had already turned into scattered colored paper scraps with a bang, whirling and flying out of the window, leaving only a sentence vaguely transmitted to the young scholar's ears, "No running in the research building."