Ark of Pilgrimage – Ever since the day he saw these "giant ships" that resembled small city-states, and since he knew of the constant "parade" of these behemoths on the seas, Duncan had questions about these amazing creations.

What exactly does the Ark of Pilgrimage mean, and their special "Pilgrimage" behavior...... Is it just "patrolling"?

People in the city-state often say that the Ark of Pilgrimage represents the power of the four gods, they are the symbol of the highest force of the church, and it is also the "palace" of the four gods in the earthly world, and the church ordered the ark to patrol the boundless sea in order to deter those heresies, in order to protect the city-state from being polluted by some malicious existence in the subspace, Duncan had no doubt about this statement at first, but as he came into contact with the Church of the Four Gods more and more, especially after learning more and more inside stories related to the church from Vanna, Maurice, and Agatha, He found something suspicious.

It is the system of inquisitors and guardians of the city-states that is really responsible for fighting heresies, the regular fleet of the Church of the Four Gods that is really responsible for intercepting heretics and rescuing the navigators at sea, and the church bells, the prayers of the bishops, and the strictly planned church-bell tower system, and the four majestic pilgrimage arks...... In fact, he never got involved in anything earthly related.

They spend three-quarters of the year patrolling secret shipping lanes that are invisible and unpredictable to the earth, seemingly located between the cracks of reality and far from any city, and the rest of the year, they take turns patrolling the "Eternal Veil" of the border, making minimal communication with the Church Frontier Fleet, and not dealing with any of the city-states - and even deliberately avoiding the Border City-States' patrol fleets.

Only on rare occasions do these arks come ashore in the city-state—after something as eventual as the Black Sun of Plande, they appear before the world's eyes.

In addition, these arks will no longer have any connection with the earthly world, and even within the four major churches, they will always be shrouded in a mysterious haze - the vast majority of priests will never have the opportunity to set foot on the ark in their lifetime, and only the chosen ones who are listed as "saints" are eligible to be taken to the ark during their apprenticeship, but they can only operate in designated areas, and after completing the necessary studies and training, they will be sent back to their original cities - these "saints" There will never be a chance to access the true secrets of the Ark.

These clues suggest that the very existence of the "Ark of Pilgrimage" is fraught with great suspicion - their true role has been hidden.

Now, Duncan finally got the answer.

“…… The current four Arks of Pilgrimage were built decades ago, and before these 'giant ships' were put into service, the four major churches actually had the 'Arks' of the previous generation, but they are not at all comparable to the four church ships today......"

Frem's voice was deep, and his voice seemed to flow from the rocks, with a subconsciously relaxing and convincing composure.

"The 'arks' of the previous generation were really just big ships, at that time, they were only part of the Holy See Patrol Fleet, they were part of the armed forces, not as mysterious as they are today, nor as they are today...... Isolation from the world.

"Today's 'church ships' are something else entirely, not so much four 'big ships'...... In fact, strictly speaking, they are more like four 'anchor points', which are used to anchor the sanity of the gods to some 'balance point' outside the earthly world. ”

Duncan didn't speak, just looked at the other side with a serious expression—he knew that Frem's explanations were meant for himself, and that the other popes and bishops who were here were all from the Ark of Pilgrimage, and they were obviously "insiders" of the truth.

“…… Who was the first to perceive the truth...... In fact, it is no longer verifiable, it is a series of 'revelations' and 'inspirations', we hear the whispering of truth in the prayers, we see the darkness and corruption piling up in the illusions brought by incense, the spirits of the four of us feel the 'pull' from outside the world more than once, and the gods lead our minds to a chaotic and vast place, so that we can see their death and gloom...... In the process, however, the connection between the earthly priests and the four gods began to be frequently interrupted...... That was around 1822. ”

There was a brief pause in Frem's words, and Lucrecia, who was sitting not far from Duncan's right, seemed to suddenly think of something: "The ...... 'Cold Harbor Silence' incident in 1822?!" ”

"Yes, the Cold Harbor Silence event – it's famous, but it's really just a microcosm, one that has had the greatest impact in a series of deteriorations, left behind by the inability to fully deal with the aftermath."

It was not Frem who answered, but Banster, who sat beside Frem, the black-robed Pope of Death's hoarse voice and his old face as pale as a dead man.

"All the priests of the entire city-state suddenly lost contact with Bartók, the god of death, and in the 'silence' that lasted for twenty-four hours, they heard a constant stream of terrifying hollow whistling and screaming in their heads, which only they could hear, and then the blood flowed out of the 'sanctuary', and the archbishop of the city-state was martyred, melted in the blood to protect the cathedral—seventeen priests were later counted." Seventy-seven others fell into perpetual madness, mentally broken by witnessing something outside the real world......

"And according to my judgment, in the twenty years since then, the 'Silence' event has still had a lasting after-effect - the temporary disappearance of the power of the gods' protection has led to the weakening of the protection of the reality dimension in the Cold Sea region, and the influence of the subspace, the secluded and spiritual realms have taken advantage of the void, with the Cold Port as the center, the number of 'Innate Psionics' born in the cold sea city-states during that time is almost more than that of all the other city-states in the world combined."

Banst paused, his gaze falling on Rune.

"Yes, as Banster said, the Cold Harbor Silence of 1822 is just a microcosm," Luan nodded, "The real situation is that for quite some time, throughout the Infinite Sea, the connection with the gods has become difficult, even ...... Danger arises, daily prayers often go unanswered, but worse is the undeserved 'response', the protection of the city-state is weakened, and the strange things of the ocean voyage are increased, in the midst of revelations and visions...... We have finally confirmed the terrible 'state' of the gods. ”

The hall fell silent.

The gods were dead—Duncan knew about it, Duncan's followers knew about it, the four popes and the bishops on the Ark of Pilgrimage, but when it came straight to the surface, when all the information and events that had happened were laid out and linked to the Great Annihilation, a strange atmosphere of oppression still inevitably permeated the scene.

“…… So, you have built a huge Ark of Pilgrimage to strengthen your connection with the gods and slow down their 'decay' process......" Duncan opened his mouth to break the silence, "I'm not interested in the specific 'principles' of this process, I just want to know, to what extent have you 'effected' in doing so?" Did it really work? What is it that Frem said that the Ark's 'delay' effect has reached its limit? ”

"It worked, at least at first," Helena nodded, "The Ark is the anchor point of the gods, and the 'death' of the gods is a long and complicated process, strictly speaking, this death process itself cannot be stopped at all - it is as irreversible as the operation of the laws of the world, but the existence of the 'anchor' can at least keep the gods in a relatively stable state until they completely 'disappear', according to our initial estimates...... It should work for at least centuries, if not millennia.

"Our initial thought was that if we had such a long 'buffer time', maybe we would have a chance to find another way to further slow down the decay of the gods, or even find a ...... Find ......"

Helena paused suddenly, as if she was reluctant to admit certain "facts" even though she and several other popes had already taken action about it.

Rune, Banster, and Frem also fell silent with mixed expressions.

Beside Duncan, Lucretia frowned suspiciously, Nina and Shirley couldn't help but look curious, and Maurice opened his mouth thoughtfully, but stopped talking.

The soft, illusory sound of the waves appeared in Duncan's ears, and a faint whisper seemed to whisper to him behind the thick curtain, and he was in a trance, looking down at the table in front of him.

A faint streak of water appeared on the table and quickly dissipated.

He looked at the water mark and looked up at Helena on the other side.

"Find a replacement, right?"

Helena's eyes widened and she looked at Duncan in dismay.

Duncan just shook his head, not explaining anything, and after a few seconds of silence, he whispered thoughtfully, "...... But now only a few decades have passed, and you are more than a little short of the 'centuries' you expected. ”

"Yes, the situation has deteriorated worse than we thought," Banster's voice was hoarse and gloomy, "We thought that the current 'equilibrium' of the gods might last for a thousand years, but the forces of decay and decay have begun to invade the whole world, and the Ark's 'Pilgrimage' was originally to strengthen the connection between the gods and the earth, but now, half of our time is spent trying to 'filter' the pollution they emit in the process of decay......

"It makes us ...... Saddened. ”

Banst ended his words with a sigh.

Duncan broke the silence after a moment of thought: "So, you have taken a new action—the fleets that have been assembled in the border waters?" ”

(End of chapter)