Shrouded Seascape

Everyone was stunned as they stared at the Narwhale slowly entering the outpost.

Five exploration airships had departed for an expedition, but only one of them managed to return. Just what on earth had they experienced up there?

Weren't they supposed to negotiate with a so-called Foundation?

How did things end up like this?

When Charles announced that he had entered preliminary cooperation with the Foundation, everyone's faces lit up with joy, and they immediately forgot about the expedition's casualties.

Although they found it a shame that so many people had ended up dying, the living were always more important than the deceased, so they had no issues setting aside the matter for the meantime.

Soon, the Subterranean Sea Council meeting was convened, and Charles saw the faces of the Subterranean Sea's governors once again. He looked around and discovered that the number of governors had decreased slightly.

There were over a hundred governors during the previous meeting, but now, there were only a little over a hundred governors present.

"This is a map of the darkness. The Foundation is also exploring the darkness as we speak, and they've covered an area much larger than what we've covered so far," Charles said. He pressed on the metal disk, and a three-dimensional map resembling a nebula appeared before him.

The map was in the shape of a spindle—narrow at the bottom and wide at the top. Every dot on the nebula represented not a star nor a planet but perhaps a floating island or something else.

The dots were in a variety of colors, with black and dark purple being the most common colors.

Charles opened his mouth and was about to speak when a hologram of Feuerbach appeared next to the map.

"Good evening, everyone. Let me introduce you to the Subterranean Sea's darkness."

Feuerbach gently tugged at the soccer ball-sized map beside him, and the holographic map enlarged, enveloping everyone. The governors had never seen anything like this, and they were inwardly amazed at the sight.

"Every single color represents a certain level of danger. The color black means that those dots have been thoroughly explored and have been deemed clear of any danger.

"Of course, we can't let our guard down completely. The sky shrouded in the darkness is a bustling place, so we can't say for sure that nothing will reoccupy these dots marked in black."

Feuerbach pointed at the two floating islands that Charles had explored.

"A purple nebula means that the place is dangerous. It might just be a dangerous place, or an active 'entity' has been sighted at that place," Feuerbach explained, his finger landing on where 005-3 was found.

"Yellow means that the place is unknown. Unknown places are ever-changing, and there is little to no information about them."

Just then, Jenny, the temporary representative of the Western Seas, asked, "Do you have any information on the so-called 'dangers' that you've mentioned? We need to know as much information as possible."

Feuerbach cast a contemptuous gaze at Jenny, replying, "A glance at you is enough for me to tell that you're not an explorer. I mean, our esteemed Captain Charles wouldn't ask such a naive question."

"There are 'entities' out there that are capable of affecting you the moment you become aware of their existence, so it is better to remain unaware of some things for your safety. The less you know, the safer you are."

Charles' expression was grave as he stared at the purple nebulas, seemingly pondering over something. Are the Divinities of the surface world living at those places marked in purple?

"Please forgive her bluntness. The people of the Western Seas had never really been enthusiastic about exploration. Anyway, how may I address you, Mr. Foundation?" Jax asked, smiling at Feuerbach's hologram in mid-air.

"It's not my real name, but you may call me Feuerbach."

Jax smiled at the reply, and he sounded humble as he said, "Then, Mr. Feuerbach, can you please tell us in which direction you've been exploring the darkness? If you don't mind, please tell us what we have to do as well."

Instead of answering immediately, Feuerbach cast an inquiring look at the quiet Charles standing next to him.

"Feel free; I'm listening."

Feuerbach bowed slightly and squeezed his hand gently.

The map returned to its original size, and Feuerbach swiped right.

"We've been following an eastward course in our exploration. The darkness of the Subterranean Sea is vast, but it is not boundless. Once we've reached its boundaries, we can use that information to find the center of the darkness, which must be the darkness' anchor point."

Staring at the dotted map, Charles thought, Just how big has the darkness expanded up there? The Foundation has been exploring it for such a long time, but they still haven't seen its boundaries?

"I have a question. Why not go up? What if the anchor point that you've mentioned is situated somewhere above rather than on the east or on the west?" Governor Julio asked, and his voice sounded as domineering as ever as it echoed throughout the tent.

"According to our exploration so far, the darkness can only climb up this high. It can't afford to provoke the existence that is above this point," Feuerbach said, gesturing at the upper limit of the three-dimensional map.

"What existence?" Anna asked. Her eyes shimmering with a sharp light allowed her to stand out from the crowd.

Feuerbach turned to Charles. "Captain, it's a question unrelated to our upcoming collaboration. You don't need the answer to that question, right?"

"Would knowing that piece of information threaten our lives?" Charles asked.

"Not really. I just think that it's irrelevant here. If you really want to know, then give me a moment to ask for permission."

With that, Feuerbach's hologram vanished into thin air. The tent was immediately abuzz with murmurs as the governors gathered in groups of three or five to discuss what had just transpired.

"You made contact with them first, so how much do you know about the Foundation?" Julio asked as he walked up to Charles.

"Not much more than you. According to the intelligence that I've gathered so far, they're an organization that was founded a thousand years ago by the humans of the surface world. Their job is to contain and study various strange events, anomalous phenomena, and mysterious individuals."

"Simply put, you can say that they deal with relics. There were nearly seven billion humans on the surface world at the time, and the world needed an organization to handle relics, or they'd become a huge threat to the people.

"After all, relics possess bizarre and special abilities that can easily interfere with people's daily lives or cause chaos throughout the entire world.

"Thus, the Foundation was created, but its existence was hidden from the rest of society at the time. Unfortunately, they had failed to protect the surface world. If they had succeeded, then this place wouldn't be like this today."

Jax walked over to Charles and asked, "How do you know that they were protecting the surface world from the influence of relics rather than using those relics to influence and take over the world? I don't believe that they're that selfless."

"Well, it's simple. It's all because I'm from the surface world, and I've never heard of them from my time back there. In fact, there aren't even any traces of their existence."

Jax smiled at Charles' remark and quietly adjusted his monocle. He no longer asked any questions.

"Since they're so selfless, do you really believe that they're trustworthy?" Julio asked.

Charles frowned slightly and shook his head. "They're not trustworthy at all. The Foundation was supposed to have been annihilated by the Divinities of the Subterranean Sea, so I'm not even sure whether this Foundation that we're dealing with is the original Foundation from way back a thousand years ago.

"To make matters worse, we don't even know the true background of the Foundation before us. Moreover, it has been a thousand years—more than a dozen generations have passed since the Foundation was founded, so I find it hard to believe that their principles haven't changed at all."