Chapter 1 Listening to Maurice

Listening to those words recorded by Maurice from some ancient elven epic, Duncan gradually showed a pensive expression.

"Due to the great age and spanning the dark period before the era of city-states, these sentences have been translated through ancient languages and restored and supplemented by later scholars, so they may not perfectly restore the original record, but I believe they are still quite meaningful," Maurice added. "It should be very helpful for us to understand the Dream of Creation and the current 'Nameless Dream' phenomenon."

Duncan stroked his chin, pondering as he said, "Saslohkar creates all things in dreams, but does not know what dreams are... How do you think this sentence should be understood?"

Maurice thought for a moment. "In my understanding, this may refer to the difference between the perspective of the gods observing the world and that of mortals, or the special nature of Saslohkar, the 'First Dreamer,' in elven creation myths—for a god wandering in dreams, perhaps the boundary between dream and reality is meaningless? To Him, perhaps the real world is just a dream that can be modified at any time, and dreams can be used to replace reality at any time, so He 'does not know what dreams are'..."

"That's a... relatively reasonable explanation," Duncan slowly nodded. "Then what about the following sentences?"

"Regarding the following two sentences, elven scholars also have interpretations," Maurice replied. "They believe that these two sentences refer to the Great Demon God Saslohkar one day understanding the cognitive awareness of the 'elves' He created towards the dream world, and thus for the first time questioning the boundary between reality and dreams. That may have been a 'crisis,' in which Saslohkar almost 'awoke,' and in that unstable state, He created the elven 'Dreamers.'"

"Dreamers..." Shirley nodded slightly. "You remember the elves regard that as a congenital defect."

"Yes, that is consistent with the legends—Dreamers were born at a time when Saslohkar's state was unstable. We are the result of the creator's 'trance,' so we are defective and can never enter the 'Dream Paradise,' but..."

Klaesi paused at this point, recalling briefly before continuing: "But precisely because of this, in most legends, there is also the idea that Saslohkar is the patron saint of 'Dreamers'—but this interpretation is not very accepted in elven society. It's a little better now, but in ancient times, it was basically a heretical statement."

"Saslohkar is the patron saint of Dreamers..." Vanna muttered to herself. "If I'm not mistaken, this should have been proposed by Dreamer groups who suffered from social discrimination and oppression—perhaps initially just to find a spiritual support for their group."

"Everything went smoothly. I already looked for Sara Meier, and then went back to the Radiant Star, and mentioned what happened here to Tirian..."

Everyone in the living room immediately subconsciously adjusted their posture, and even Sui Rong, who had been dozing off since just now, immediately perked up.

"Then, with the development of the times and the gradual expansion of the influence of the Seven Gods' faith, as well as the gradual rise of the exile lands themselves, this kind of exile behavior was gradually abolished, and the 'Exile Culture' born in the exile lands also flowed back to the mainstream elven society, but it is obvious that although the mainstream society can accept compatriots who have been exiled, they cannot accept our 'heretical' culture..."

"In those settlements far from the core civilization, the earliest claims about 'Saslohkar being the patron saint of Dreamers' appeared. The exiles used this as a support to get through the long and difficult nights."

"Alice is in the kitchen," Sui Rong couldn't help but laugh. "Go find her if you want."

Luni turned her head and confirmed with her master again. After receiving permission, she happily left the living room.

But he still lacks some more effective references, some more useful information...

"Okay, I basically understand the situation. Now that everyone is here... it's time to tell you what I found here."

Listening to Lumi Morissia recounting her actions today, Shirley nodded slightly, then breathed a long sigh of relief.

Sui Rong: "…?"

However, he did not discuss too many "details" about the current strangeness on the Forsaken—because this part of the content can only increase the unease of others, and at this stage is of no benefit to solving the changes in Deepwater Port.

Several gazes instantly focused on Duncan, but the latter had not yet reacted and was still saying, "The Forsaken is particularly strange, but..."

Shirley's gaze then fell on Lumi Morissia: "Everything go smoothly?"

Because they heard a different meaning in the captain's tone.

"Don't be afraid, Lucy, everything is not out of control," Shirley slowly opened his mouth, his voice calm, as if with a reassuring power, "Hyperspace has too many secrets, even I can't say how much influence it has had on the Forsaken, but one thing is certain: as long as I am still human, this ship will not lose control again, and I am very clear-headed now."

The eerie doll, who was still jumping around in the living room a second ago and announcing that it was going to cause a ruckus, instantly froze. It slowly raised its head, its button-stitched eyes confirming the situation in the living room. After two or three seconds, it finally trembled, then slowly walked to a corner of the wall farthest from Shirley, sat down with a "plop," and began to pretend to be a real rag doll.

Shirley noticed the source of Lumi Morissia's unease.

She is talking about the Forsaken—but all her ease seems to fall on herself.

The crowd looked at each other in astonishment until Nina broke the silence: "That goat head that never shuts up... might be connected to the 'Great Demon God Saslohkar' in elven legends? Isn't that a bit..."

The clockwork doll Luni followed behind Lumi Morissia—this valet-dressed clockwork doll was also holding an unusually large, bizarre, and horrifying cloth rabbit doll.

The sound of servants opening the door and greeting them came from the direction of the foyer, followed by footsteps. After a moment, Lumi Morissia's figure appeared in the living room.

After greeting, the clockwork doll raised her head, seemingly looking for something around her.

"Yes, you are here, Rabbi should be more obedient than ever."

After Shirley finished explaining the general situation, no one spoke for a long time.

Two seconds later, Lumi Suijia's voice finally broke the silence in the living room: "Don't mind it, it's not very honest sometimes, so I rarely bring it into the city."

While thinking, an unfamiliar aura suddenly appeared in his perception.

After exchanging greetings, the clockwork doll then looked up, seemingly searching for something around her.

"Yes, yes, yes," Duncan quickly opened his mouth from the side. He was completely relaxed by the shocking information he had just heard. Hearing Shirley's words at this time, he immediately said as if to strengthen his courage, "We have a captain, so there won't be any problems with this ship. The captain understands human nature..."

"An outrageous guess, but it seems that some clues are pointing in this direction," Shirley said with a serious expression. "The goat head itself is not clear about its origins, and this Forsaken, sailing in the mist with a strange atmosphere, just happens to appear at midnight when the influence of the Dreamers is strongest, and the captain's room door of that ship has words like 'May He Wander in Dreams' written on it—this sentence is clearly related to ancient elven legends, plus the suspicious state of the 'goat head' on the ship and its strange reaction when it mentioned Silantis... All of this cannot be a coincidence."

"Indeed," Klaesi nodded. "This statement first appeared in the Dark Ages and was spread on certain 'exile islands' controlled by elven city-states—at that time, the elves believed that 'Dreamers' were cursed people, and the former's congenital defects would cause 'small voids' to appear in the dream world, thus attracting nightmares and shadows that devour people's hearts, so they exiled their defective compatriots to isolated islands on the edge of the civilized world..."

The doll Luni also came forward and bowed to Shirley: "Good day, old master."

The next second, the bizarre and terrifying rabbit doll suddenly moved. Then it slowly jumped from Luni's arms to the ground, jumping and making a shrill voice: "Finally here, finally here! Rabbi is finally in the city! Rabbi is going to cause a ruckus today..."

Everything happened very quickly. Nina and Duncan, who were sitting opposite Shirley, didn't even understand what was going on.

She stopped, seemingly unable to find the right words to continue. After a few seconds, she continued: "How is the Forsaken related to all of this?"

Shirley listened in silence, and couldn't help but connect this information with the recent I Will incidents in Deepwater Port and the clues. The information was reorganized in his mind, and vaguely, he felt that he was about to touch the most critical chain of logic.

Lumi Morissia's expression slowly changed, and an unusual solemn unease appeared in her eyes. She couldn't help but take a few more glances at her father before tentatively saying: "Goat head... I remember you said it was an existence from hyperspace... and not to mention why the 'God of Creation' in ancient elven legends would become like this, even if the goat head is really related to 'Saslohkar,' how could the Forsaken..."

Shirley did not keep them in suspense. He quickly explained the situation he currently had, especially his speculation about the "goat head."

Sui Rong silently looked at the rabbit doll, and the other gazes in the living room also fell on this bizarre rabbit.

The mere speculation that there might be a connection between the goat head and Saslohkar was enough to plunge the entire living room into silence.

A Gou finally crawled out of the shadows next to the sofa and slapped Duncan on the head with a paw: "Shut up!"