Ashes Of Deep Sea

The pigeon cocked its head, probably feeling that Duncan hadn’t heard clearly, and quickly repeated, its voice even louder than before: “Ai Yi!”

Finally, Duncan understood what the bird meant, “You mean your name is Ai Yi?”

The pigeon nodded proudly and strutted about on the desk: “Coo coo!”

Duncan couldn’t help but rub his temple, feeling that communicating with this bird was even more peculiar than with a goat head, mainly due to the pigeon’s elusive style of language: “Do you know how you came into being? Or… how did you appear here?”

The pigeon pondered for a moment, its misty eyes simultaneously looking in different directions: “Oh no, the page is gone, try refreshing?”

Duncan: “…”

He found he couldn’t understand what went on in the bird’s head at all and couldn’t be sure if its suddenly blurted out sentences were connected to the current topic.

But he was absolutely certain that this bird was thinking and was very… seriously communicating with him.

It just obviously had its own understanding of “communication.”

Duncan had a few more exchanges with the pigeon who claimed to be “Ai Yi,” and the result was that their conversation always maintained a parallel frequency, basically talking past each other. If you said there was a connection, it was hard to see where it intersected. If you said there wasn’t any, well, the pigeon did respond to every question… and occasionally, it appeared to actually answer Duncan’s questions.

After much conversation with little progress, Duncan could only frown mumble, “What kind of bizarre thing is this…”

He felt it would probably take a long time for him to establish normal communication with this bird, and this process might even be more difficult than getting used to the goat head’s noise.

The pigeon, however, squatted on the desk opposite him, blinking its innocent little eyes, occasionally mumbling its demand for V50.

Duncan didn’t pay attention to the bird’s mumbling but curled his fingers and gently rubbed them together, watching the green flames leap at his fingertips, he was at least sure of one thing—the brass Compass, although fused with the pigeon before him, was still essentially an “anomalous item” that he could control.

The spectral green flame rose, and almost simultaneously, green flames sprang up in the gaps of Ai Yi’s feathers, while the brass compass at its chest “snapped” open with a pop. Beneath the transparent glass case, the slightly ethereal needle started to stabilize with Duncan’s will, and the dial marked with many mystical symbols gradually filled with fire.

Ai Yi didn’t react much throughout, just naturally basking in the spectral flame, as if waiting for Duncan’s command.

Before the brass compass was fully activated, Duncan voluntarily dispersed the flame.

In the testing process, Duncan was also silently summing up in his mind,

“The compass still works… It just has a strange ‘medium’ now, and it’s too early to determine what effect this pigeon will have, maybe some kind of assistance…

“I’m not clear about the details of this compass yet. It’s best not to try a second ‘jump’ until I am fully prepared… Next time I test, I should always watch for any changes in the compass and the pigeon.

“There is a connection between the pigeon and me. This connection becomes more apparent when the spectral flame is induced, and I can even control to a certain extent where the pigeon appears… but that’s as far as the control goes…

“‘Ai Yi’ clearly has its own will, moves on its own thoughts, and its commands aren’t always executed, which is different from other ‘items’ on Homeloss.

“It can speak, has some ability to think, and can judge issues independently… Compared with ordinary anomalous items, this pigeon seems more akin to the goat head…”

Duncan concluded some of the information he had discerned, and finally, his gaze landed on the obsidian knife.

The handle was twisted like a dried, contorted finger, the blade gleaming with a dark reflection.

This was exactly what the gold-masked priest, robed in black and presiding over the evil sacrificial ceremony in the sewer gathering, had held. Judging by its use, it should be a “ritualistic knife.”

Duncan reached the gathering, presumably located under the Plunder City-State, via spiritual projection, and his return was also in spirit. He thought this process was entirely on a mental or spiritual level, but now the ritual knife was lying tangibly before him.

After some thought, Duncan reached out and picked up the knife.

The cool, hard sensation was vividly transmitted to him; it was an item that truly existed.

Duncan released a bit more of the spectral flame, letting it coil around the blade of the dagger. From the hollow and void feedback, it was indeed evident that any transcendent power once contained within the ritual dagger had completely dissipated.

As he had surmised at the sacrifice site, this object wasn’t a true “anomalous item,” but seemed more like a byproduct of transcendent force or perhaps a temporary item artificially “imbued” with power.

Although Duncan was not clear about the categorization of “anomalous items” in this world, he guessed that this dagger was likely not a particularly rare item—at least… it appeared to be mass-produced.

“Is this what you brought back?” He looked up at Ai Yi, who was resting on the table, and lifted the obsidian dagger, “And it’s specifically for me?”

The pigeon stared straight at Duncan with its little red eyes, motionless, not reacting to the question at all.

Duncan: “…?”

He asked again, but the pigeon remained still, as if it had suddenly become a lifeless statue.

The sudden change alarmed Duncan, but just as he was about to use the spectral flames to give Ai Yi a stimulant shock to see if he could forcefully wake it up, the bird suddenly “came to life” again. It hopped in place twice, clamoring loudly, “Take up this solar-powered war-axe, take up this solar-powered war-axe, take up this…”

“Okay, okay, I get it, you don’t have to answer every question I asked just now,” Duncan quickly motioned with his hands, trying to silence the pigeon while he reorganized his words, “Then do you know how you managed to bring this dagger over? Or is it that you can carry ‘physical objects’ when shuttling between places, is that so?”

The pigeon pondered for a moment and pecked at Duncan’s fingers, “Full discount, free shipping on every item.”

Duncan: “I… I’ll pretend I understood.”

He sighed, feeling he had reached the limit of communication with this bird.

Then he stood up from the desk and looked toward the sea chart room.

The goat-headed man and Alice were still outside, and their eager and friendly exchange continued.

The doll lady had been silent for a very long time, and the goat-headed man had just started to recount the seventeenth way to cook seaweed stew.

Duncan felt it was necessary to save his only crew member (and surprisingly the most normal one in tone).

On the other hand, he had stayed in the cabin for too long, during which he had caused some abnormal noise, and he thought it was necessary to show his face outside, to set the goat-headed man’s mind at ease.

However, before leaving, he hesitated and glanced at Ai Yi, who was running around on the table.

Should he take this pigeon out with him? If he did, how would he explain it?

Duncan hesitated for only two seconds before decisively grabbing the pigeon and placing it on his shoulder.

He was going to be active on the Homeloss for a long time, and this pigeon would surely be following him for the foreseeable future. He was still unaware of the bird’s life habits, but as an “anomalous item” with the ability to think and communicate, it would hardly be hiding somewhere like an inanimate object.

The addition of another “passenger” on the ship was not something that could be concealed, and hiding it now would damage the image of “Captain Duncan” more if it were to be exposed in the future.

So, he might as well bring the pigeon out openly, claiming it as his new “spoils of victory”—he didn’t need to explain anything to the goat-headed man; a captain need not explain to his first mate.

The first mate would do his own guesswork.

As for the occasional strange utterances of the pigeon (which to the locals of this world would surely be incomprehensible), there was no need for explanations.

Let the goat-headed man and Alice figure it out for themselves.

With the plump pigeon on his shoulder, Duncan stood up and adjusted his appearance before walking towards the sea chart room with composure.

The pigeon proudly puffed up its chest, announcing as if proclaiming, “Authentic good herbal tea, authentic good voice, welcome to watch by…”