Conquest Sea, aboard the Shimmering Pearl.
In the dark expanse of the ocean, the massive cruise ship continues to cut through the waves. Inside one of the cabins, Dorothy sits on her sofa, summarizing the results of her marionette reconnaissance and pondering a series of questions.
Due to the ship’s incorrect course, Dorothy had dispatched small marionettes to investigate the bridge and the captain’s cabin. Her investigation unexpectedly revealed an abnormal increase in humidity around the captain’s cabin. To test this, she sent a drunk marionette to wander around the suspicious area near the captain’s cabin. As expected, the marionette was taken away by a crew member who emerged from the cabin.
This confirmed that the dense moisture in the air around the captain’s cabin had some kind of surveillance effect. If one were to rashly enter this humid zone, they would likely be detected by the occupants of the cabin. This seemed to be a counter-surveillance measure.
“The moisture around the captain’s cabin is just ordinary water vapor; it doesn’t contain any abnormal spirituality. It’s not something released by a mystical entity as part of itself. It’s not like the relationship between a Face Spider and their webs or the Priest of Fangs and his blood mist. The surveillance mechanism here is different.”
“However... even though it’s just ordinary water vapor, it still has a surveillance effect. This proves that the person in the captain’s cabin can sense this ordinary water vapor, meaning they can detect natural, non-spiritual phenomena... This is a characteristic of an Elementalist.”
“When I simulate Thunder Summoner, I can occasionally sense natural electrical discharges in the clouds during rain. Similarly, other Elementalists can sense their corresponding natural elements. The dense water vapor in the air, when significantly disturbed or when too much of it clings to a person, can likely be detected by a Tide Path Beyonder.”
“This method of using humid air for counter-surveillance is quite ingenious. The level of humidity increase is imperceptible to ordinary people or even most Beyonders. Since the water vapor is just ordinary and doesn’t contain any abnormal spirituality, detection methods like my Spiritual Vision, White Ash’s Spiritual Perception, or even Illuminating Beacon, which focus on detecting abnormal spirituality, can’t pick it up. If it weren’t for my ability to control flying insect marionettes after my recent advancement, and the fact that insects are more sensitive to changes in humidity, I might have sent my marionettes directly into the area and been detected.”
“Captain Costa in the captain’s cabin is very likely a Tide Path Beyonder. Based on the sensitivity to natural water vapor, his rank isn’t low—at least White Ash.”
After realizing that the captain was a Tide Path Beyonder, Dorothy couldn’t help but feel the gravity of the situation.The captain of a cruise ship carrying thousands of passengers is a White Ash-rank Beyonder, and now the ship might be off course. This is hardly reassuring!
Following this, Dorothy became even more determined to gather information from the captain’s cabin. However, with the humid air acting as a barrier, she was hesitant to send her small marionettes directly into the area.
"It seems I’ll need to employ some other methods…”
Sitting on her bed, Dorothy murmurs to herself while focusing her attention on a gecko marionette in a distant ventilation duct. With a thought, the spiritual thread’s conduction ability activates once more, transferring a certain state to the gecko marionette. In an instant, faint, invisible currents of electricity begin to flow across the gecko’s body.
Flowing Current Form—this is an ability of a Black Earth-rank Brontomancer of the Roaring Fury Path. In simple terms, by consuming spirituality, one can adapt to electric shocks while allowing currents to flow across the body’s surface under controlled conditions, electrifying the skin. In this state, the user can deliver electric shocks to enemies or electrify handheld conductors.
Unlike summoning lightning or discharging arcs, Flowing Current Form is a state, a buff similar to Devouring Sigil, and thus can be transferred via spiritual threads. Dorothy is now using a small amount of spirituality to transfer Flowing Current Form to the gecko marionette.
After coating the gecko’s body with a thin layer of electricity, Dorothy commands it to boldly enter the humid zone.
As the gecko moves through the humid area, the tiny water droplets dispersed in the air inevitably cling to its body. Dorothy then uses the faint currents on the gecko’s surface to electrolyze the clinging water droplets.
Using this method, Dorothy avoids disturbing the water vapor or allowing it to cling to the marionette as it slowly advances deeper into the ventilation duct. She also carefully observes the situation around the captain’s cabin door from a distance.
To minimize disturbance to the water vapor, Dorothy moves the gecko marionette very slowly, electrolyzing the water droplets that cling to it as it inches forward.
A Tide Path Beyonder can sense abnormal disturbances in the surrounding water vapor, but if the water vapor disappears, they won’t be able to detect anything. Since these water droplets are just ordinary, unlike the blood mist of the Priest of Fangs, which are part of their body, the slight disappearance of these droplets shouldn’t alert the occupants of the captain’s cabin.
Thus, under Dorothy’s control, the gecko marionette slowly but steadily advances. As it moves forward, no unusual activity is detected in the captain’s cabin. Seeing this, Dorothy can’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.
"Phew... It seems this method works..."
Dorothy continues to guide the gecko marionette through the ventilation duct. After a while, it finally approaches the end of the duct, near the vent leading to the captain’s cabin. As it gets closer, Dorothy begins to feel her Concealment Ring’s spirituality being consumed—the marionette is being subjected to some kind of spiritual detection.
“This is... similar to the detection of an Illuminating Beacon... Since the Tide Path is a Lantern auxiliary, it also possesses some of Lantern’s detection abilities? The water vapor plus this detection makes for a double layer of security…”
“Fortunately, the detection isn’t very strong. It doesn’t take much Shadow to counter it.”
Dorothy thinks to herself as she maintains the dual buffs of Concealment Ring and Flowing Current Form on the gecko, countering both the humid air and the Lantern detection. She slowly guides the gecko forward through the ventilation duct. After advancing a bit further, she finally begins to hear voices from inside the captain’s cabin.
Inside the captain’s cabin, two male voices are conversing. They are not speaking Prittish. After some recognition, Dorothy determines that they are speaking Ivengardian.
To exchange for Dragon Shouts, Dorothy had studied multiple languages at the Royal Crown University library. Besides Falanese, she had also learned some Ivengardian. Previously, she had relied on phonetic symbols to memorize pronunciations. Recently, after encountering many foreigners on the ship, she had her parent marionettes practice speaking with them. Since the ship’s destination was Ivengard, there were many Ivengard people on board, giving Dorothy plenty of opportunities to practice her Ivengardian. Now, she can barely understand the conversation in the captain’s cabin.
"So... how are the preparations on your side going?"
"Almost ready. By tomorrow morning, I’ll have people set up the exhibition venue. The official exhibition will start tomorrow afternoon, and although the Deep Blue Heart has already been pre-installed, its display will be in the evening."
Hearing the voices from the captain’s cabin, Dorothy’s spirits lift. She continues to guide the gecko marionette forward until it finally reaches the vent. Through the vent’s iron grille, Dorothy finally gets a glimpse of the scene inside the captain’s cabin.
Inside the lavishly decorated captain’s cabin, two middle-aged men sit facing each other. One is dressed in a uniform and wears a captain’s hat, with a thick beard. Without needing to guess, Dorothy recognizes him as Captain Costa of the Shimmering Pearl. The other man is dressed in a sharp suit and sports a thin mustache. Dorothy has seen his face on posters—he is Massimo, the jewelry collector holding an exhibition on the cruise ship.
“Costa and Massimo... the captain and the collector, two key figures of this voyage, are both here. There must be something fishy going on…”
Looking at the scene in the captain’s cabin, Dorothy can’t help but think this to herself. She then focuses even more intently on observing the situation inside the cabin, eavesdropping on their conversation.
"The light of the Deep Blue Heart must illuminate the waters ahead of us, so it must be placed at the bow of the ship. Is the display stand you made secure? We can’t have it falling into the sea due to rough waves."
Inside the cabin, Captain Costa speaks to Massimo, who immediately responds.
"Don’t worry. The Angel Stand was custom-made for the Deep Blue Heart. Not only is the stand itself made of steel and very sturdy, but the installation interface was specially designed. Once the gem is placed on it, it will lock in place. Even if you hit it with a hammer, it won’t come off unless someone like you or me, a Chalice Beyonder, uses full strength to break the entire stand, or I personally unlock it."
As he speaks, Massimo takes a sip of a deep red liquid. After hearing this, Costa nods and continues.
"Hmph... From what you’re saying, the Deep Blue Heart is safer on that Angel Stand than in a safe..."
"Well... if we’re comparing it to an ordinary safe, that’s true."
"Alright... As long as it’s secure. The ship will reach the Blood Offering Sea in about a day. To attract the Haimohois from the deep sea, the light of the Deep Blue Heart is essential. Don’t mess this up."
"Don’t worry, I won’t..."
Massimo responds confidently. At this moment, there is a knock on the cabin door. Costa glances at the door and, without asking who it is, simply says.
"Come in."
As Costa speaks, the door opens, and a neatly uniformed crew member enters. He bows deeply to Costa and Massimo before speaking.
"Sir, I’ve checked on the person who was loitering around the captain’s cabin earlier. It was a drunk passenger who got lost and wandered here by mistake."
The young crew member reports respectfully. After hearing this, Costa speaks in a serious tone.
"A drunk? Was he really drunk? Did you verify his identity?"
"Yes, we did. The drunk’s name is Martin, a Falano national. We confirmed that he had been drinking heavily at the bar earlier. His family has also been located, and they’ve taken him back. After initial questioning and investigation, we found nothing unusual about them. They seem to be ordinary people."
The crew member speaks earnestly. After hearing this, Costa ponders for a moment before speaking.
"I see... If that’s the case, we’ll suspend overt investigations for now. But we can’t let our guard down. Assign a few people to keep an eye on them discreetly. If they show any unusual behavior, notify me immediately."
"Understood. I’ll arrange for someone to surveil them right away."
The crew member says, then bows to Costa and Massimo before slowly exiting. After the crew member leaves, Massimo also speaks to Costa.
"It’s getting late. I’ll head back now. Tomorrow marks the official start of the ritual, so I need to get some proper rest."
"Alright, I won’t see you out."
With that, Massimo stands up and leaves the cabin. After Massimo departs, Costa closes the door and paces around the cabin a few times. He then looks at a nautical chart hanging on the wall, staring at a particular area of the sea for a while before murmuring.
"Haimohois... I hope this ritual pleases you..."
…
"Haimohois..."
Back in her cabin, Dorothy, having finished listening to the conversation in the captain’s cabin, sits on her sofa with a furrowed brow, murmuring to herself. She is not unfamiliar with the strange term mentioned by Massimo and Costa.
In the mystical text ’Chart of the Lost Sea’, which she obtained from Misha of the Serenity Bureau, Dorothy had come across a term with a similar pronunciation to Haimohois.
In the ’Chart of the Lost Sea’, there is a record of a sea monster. Its Prittish pronunciation is very similar to Haimohois. According to the text, this sea monster has the body of a whale and three massive serpent heads. It usually dwells in the deep sea and enjoys capsizing ships to feast on human flesh. Due to rumors that it carries the bloodline of the Abyssal Serpent, it is also revered by the Abyssal Church.