The Solomon Empire was a powerful nation on the Northern Continent during the Fourth Epoch.
Ships they built had crossed a thousand years of time and still wandered across the Five Seas.
Silas felt that the "Queen Mystic" might be hiding something from him.
Otherwise, if it were just a ship, it wouldn't be enough to trigger a conflict between two Kings.
It's fine. I'll deal with it when we find the ship...
"Your Majesty, what's so special about this ship? Why can't others find it?"
He asked aloud.
"As I just said, it's a ghost ship from the Solomon Empire era."
Bernadette answered.
"The characteristic of this type of ship is that it can sail through the spirit world."
Sail through the spirit world?
Silas looked astonished.
"Is that true?"
He asked instinctively.
Spirit world traversal was a special ability only available to certain Beyonder pathways after reaching the mid-sequences.
It could achieve rapid movement by utilizing the chaos of spirit world space.
He found it hard to imagine how such a large ship could accomplish that.
"Of course it's true."
The Queen Mystic glanced at him.
"In fact, the flagship of 'King of the Five Seas' Nast, the 'Black Emperor,' is a Solomon Empire ghost ship.
It can achieve spirit world traversal. And my father made many modifications to it during his lifetime.
The capabilities of the 'Black Throne' would only be stronger than the 'Black Emperor.'"
"The flagship of the 'King of the Five Seas'?"
Silas imagined the scene: moonlight shining down, a massive black warship quietly appearing on the sea in the dead of night. It certainly did seem like a ghost.
Speaking of which...
"So according to what you're saying, the flagship of the 'King of the Black Throne' is also a ghost ship?"
After all, that ship had also appeared silently!
Bernadette froze.
"You still remember him?"
She asked in surprise.
Oh... right, other people would quickly forget that name...
Silas grimaced and casually deflected, "My mind is rather special. It can resist certain things.
Otherwise, I would've already become a fanatic believer of the True Creator long ago."
The Queen Mystic glanced at him but didn't press further.
After a brief pause, she began to explain in detail:
"The flagships of the Kings of the Seas each have their own special characteristics."
"You already know about Nast's ship.
As for the 'King of Immortality' Agalito's Death Announcer, it contains the aura of a 'Whisperer.'
My Dawn carries magic that it can perfectly respond to and generate."
"As for Barros's ship, the special region it can sail through isn't the spirit world, but the collective unconscious ocean of humanity."
The collective unconscious ocean?
Silas was slightly stunned.
He had heard this term before.
It was knowledge that Miss [Justice] had shared with them during a Tarot Club gathering.
"This theory seems to come from the Psychology Alchemists."
He said in a deep voice.
This mysterious organization believed that everyone's subconscious was connected, forming what they called the "collective unconscious," while each person's consciousness was a protruding island, with the surrounding waters being their own subconscious.
So this collective unconscious ocean really exists?
"Barros Hopkins is also the president of the Psychology Alchemists."
Bernadette casually dropped this bombshell.
"This..."
Silas felt a headache coming on.
I should remember to warn Miss [Justice] about this when the time comes...
"Alright, let's set these matters aside for now. Don't you have something more important to do?"
The Queen Mystic said, pointing at something in the corner of the cabin.
Leomaster's corpse.
At this moment, the Beyonder characteristics within him had completely precipitated.
Because of the Lamb he had shepherded inside his body, the characteristics Leomaster precipitated were far more numerous than average.
A large pile lay scattered on his corpse, glimmering with an enticing luster.
I almost forgot about this...
Silas quickly walked to the corpse.
Although Leomaster had precipitated many characteristics, he still recognized the "Black Knight's" Beyonder characteristic at a glance.
It was a section of black finger bone, crystalline and translucent.
It didn't look like bone material but more like an artwork carved from semi-transparent obsidian.
The spirituality within his body produced a strong attraction to it, yearning to converge together.
The finger bone rested above the corpse, causing the corpse's shadow to sway automatically like a living thing.
Just by staring at it for a few minutes, it felt as if his own shadow would detach from his body and become a vassal of that finger bone.
Truly worthy of a Sequence 4 characteristic. The material itself has such a unique influence!
Silas cautiously picked up the finger bone.
The moment his skin made contact, his ears immediately rang with crazy, twisted, fragmented whispers.
His shadow swayed restlessly, seemingly trying to drag his body into darkness.
But it was quickly suppressed by the illusory sound of ocean waves Silas summoned.
"Your Majesty, I'll just take this one."
Silas turned back. "As for the other characteristics, consider them payment for purchasing the 'Black Throne.'"
Although Bernadette had already said she didn't mind giving him the ship, he felt he should still provide some compensation to avoid her feeling imbalanced when reflecting on it later.
"...Alright."
The Queen looked at him with slight surprise and nodded slightly.
Silas walked back to the table holding the finger bone, his eyes unable to help revealing a trace of eagerness.
Finally, finally!
After spending so much time and enduring so much suffering, he was finally about to advance to Sequence 4!
All the supplementary materials were already prepared, and the ritual had been performed in advance long ago.
Now he just needed to mix the potion and drink it!
However, his spirituality was currently depleted and his mental state was very unstable.
Forcibly drinking the potion could very likely lead to losing control. To be safe, the correct choice was to rest well before drinking it.
Besides, they were still in the Sea of Ruins, where the harsh environment was also dangerous.
What if it turned dark right after drinking it? Would he sleep with the potion?
The next day.
The Dawn had left the Sea of Ruins and arrived in a sea area with calm weather.
A large pot had already been set up on the table in the ship's dining cabin.
Silas, whose spirituality had recovered and mental state had improved considerably, walked to the table and took out the things he had prepared in advance, one by one.
Shadow Trace of Grigori, black liquid of the Shadow Knight, 10 drops of lemon balm essential oil...
Silas checked the materials once more. After confirming everything was correct, he took a deep breath to steady his emotions.
"I'm about to begin."
He turned to the Queen and said.
With that, he began the preparation.
"Thunk."
The first thing poured into the pot was the black liquid of the Shadow Knight.
The substance was viscous and cohesive. Though called a liquid, it was actually more like a soft ball, rolling around in the pot.
"Swish, swish..."
Next to be thrown in was the Shadow Trace of Grigori.
This was a large, thin, and ethereal thing, like some kind of soft black gauze.
Silas felt no weight at all holding it in his hand, and could vaguely see blood-red light on it.
"Glug, glug..."
After the two supplementary materials made contact, something peculiar happened.
They actually fused rapidly, becoming a pool of black, viscous substance at the bottom of the pot.
More than a potion, this thing looked like tar.