Lady Noble gently raised an eyebrow, her expression more serious than usual.

"That is the flagship of the Fourth Fleet of the Mawei Fleet," Fang Hong suddenly spoke in a weak voice, "they disappeared in Storm Bay, and now they have reappeared!?"

"Mawei Fleet?" Tianlan suddenly realized, "I remember now, isn't that the large fleet that was funded by the Colin-Ishurian royalty and went to the Second World seven years ago?"

"Yes, Sister Fuli."

Gita then quietly added, "Moreover, the fleet was funded by the Colin Royal Household not just to go to the Second World. There are rumors that they set sail to find 'The Stairway of the Sea.' "

Tianlan was slightly surprised, "The Stairway of the Sea? Wait, isn't that the one from the legends..."

Fang Hong gently nodded.

Sir Christian Mawei was one of the most outstanding explorers of the Colin-Ishurian era, and one of only two captains of his time to be granted the title of explorer.

Seven years ago, he left First World on a secret mission for the Colin Royal Household, and then there was no news from him for a long time. Before Fang Hong went to Eteliria, there were indeed messages in the community saying that the man and his fleet had returned to Storm Bay, where the fleet had originally set sail from.

But after he arrived in this world, he gradually pieced together the full story and learned that Mawei's fleet had encountered a black storm when returning through the Gate of the World to the First Continent and their whereabouts are still unknown.

"Yes, that very Second Continental Bridge from the legends, rumored to be the gateway to the Third World—Sir Mawei was funded by the royalty to find the 'New World' described in the legends of Numelin, rumored to be the last place the Ancient Elves travelled to—"

"But but..." Tianlan widened her eyes and asked, "Isn't it just a rumor? The community says that there are no credible records of the Third World, and those seven islands of the staircase have never been discovered."

"That is what some say," the Lion Person smacked his lips and took out his pipe to respond, "I have also heard of this legend. It is said that six centuries ago, a fleet accidentally discovered the chain of islands with the Seven Steps in the Murky Domain, and thus the place got its name."

"What's more far-fetched is that in the records of that maritime journal, those islands share similar Ether characteristics with the chain of islands that serve as the entry to the Second World from Eteliria. Therefore, the captain of that fleet deduced that it was actually the entrance to a new Continental Bridge, what you refer to as 'the Second Continental Bridge.'"

Fang Hong took over, "But after that, related clues completely disappeared, and people who went to that region could never again find those islands recorded in the journal, leading some to believe that the maritime journal was forged."

Princess Briana looked at the young man in surprise and replied, "You are correct, but the truth is far from it; otherwise, why would the previous King of Colin have believed such rumors? In fact, many adventurers, including the famous Dwarf Alchemist Ox Steelbrow, had discovered those islands before. It had been one of the kingdom's biggest secrets until the Black Dragon Turmoil, and the kingdom would have commenced this plan a century ago—"

Tianlan's mouth hung open slightly.

"So... these legends could possibly be true?"

"It's only a possibility," Fang Hong shook his head, "but now, Sir Mawei's whereabouts are unknown, and it's hard to say what he might have found."

He felt very conflicted just thinking about it.

Because at the time he went to Eteliria, it coincided exactly with when the Mawei Fleet arrived at Storm Harbor; at that time, he was completely unaware of everything happening in the Second World at Stargate Port.

Only the subsequent events nearly dragged him in, allowing him to understand the full course of the incident.

There were rumors that Mawei's fleet had actually found the location of the Second Continental Bridge and brought back related clues, but they did not expect to be attacked at the bridge's exit.

And the attackers of his fleet were not any Black Storm but the Pale Pirates.

It was rumored that the Pale Pirates, backed by some mysterious force, ambushed three of the five fleets of the Mawei Fleet at the exit of the first Continental Bridge.

The only fortunate thing was that the Pale Pirates did not successfully complete their mission—capturing Sir Mawei's flagship. It was said that Sir Mawei's flagship and the scattered fleets had disappeared into a storm during the fierce battle and had never been seen since.

But not long after that, news about the Third World began to spread wildly in the First World, and before the Long Summer War, there was quite a long period of chaos in Eteliria.

As for Fang Hong himself—

It was because he had seen the Hailin Crown at the Elf Ruins in Egon Forest that, after leaving the ruins, he had gathered those related rumors along the way and understood why the Rainbow Alliance and the Descendants of Flor would engage in a struggle in such a place.

"You might not yet know one thing," he finally answered slowly, "The rumor that circulated in Colin Ishurian before the Long Summer War is related to this matter."

"What rumor?" Luo Yu suddenly asked.

"The rumor says that the two divine artifacts of Colin Ishurian—the Hailin Crown and the Morning Light Holy Sword, the Hand of Philosophy of the Osh Empire, Rotao's Eternal Emblem, all have something to do with the entrance to the Third World."

The crowd gasped upon hearing this.

Even Reed raised his eyebrows in surprise and scratched his mane, asking, "Wasn't the Holy Sword lost long ago, and so was the Hailin Crown? Among the four artifacts, only the Hand of Philosophy is still intact, right? Is this true?"

"It's very likely," Fang Hong knew there might be some rumors in the community, but such things seldom came from nowhere: "But unexpectedly, Brave Goddess has sent a message at this time; if these messages are true, Golande is probably already becoming the center of this whirlpool—"

"Luckily," Tianlan patted her chest, "Time-wise, we should arrive a bit earlier than it, this matter isn't really related to us, and we might have already left before then without any delay."

But at that moment, Briana suddenly bowed her head as if she were listening intently for a while before raising her head and speaking to everyone, "I'm afraid there's some bad news, everyone, a storm is forming ahead. We might have to stop near the north side of Fenris Isle for some time—assuming the worst case, you might just reach Golande by the end of this month."

"What!?"

Everyone turned their heads, staring at Tianlan.

The frightened French girl shrank her neck, "Why are you all looking at me, I just mentioned it offhandedly."

Princess Briana snapped her fingers, "Also, there's one more thing," she looked at Fang Hong, "the rumor you mentioned earlier omitted one item, actually, the divine artifacts related to the Third World's gate are five, not four."

"One more," she glanced at Atira, and answered, "It's the Numelin Elves Holy Grail."

Elf Miss's face changed at once.

And beside her, Hilveld also slightly frowned.

...

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