"Rough Blank"

The fleet sailed at low speed through the dense, unbroken fog. Dim ship silhouettes gazed at one another, like a cluster of enormous ghosts rising and falling in a sea of mist.

Within the Eternal Veil, the fog was far more powerful than it was beyond the barrier. As the fleet continued deeper, the surrounding mist became increasingly difficult to disperse. Even with the blazing "Spirit Fire Lighthouse" illuminating the entire fleet, thin fog constantly drifted in from the edges of the sea, shrouding every vessel and flowing across their decks—this all-pervasive mist had even begun to seep into the cabins, drifting around the sailors.

Sandra, commander of the Tide, stood at the command station on the bridge. His brow was slightly furrowed as he watched the thin mist slowly flowing around him with a grave expression.

He was a tall, dark-skinned man with conspicuous platinum-blond short hair. The storm tattoo on his left cheek showed that he had once been an ascetic. Having fulfilled all his ascetic vows, he had been promoted, blessed, and become a formidable Border Commander. Yet now, this Border Commander did not look optimistic.

"How far have we gone?"

Sandra turned his head and suddenly asked a Technical Priest beside him.

"We're approaching the six-nautical-mile boundary—one last nautical mile," the Technical Priest replied promptly. His hair was graying, and he wore a robe adorned with the emblem of Thunder and Gears. "We're moving slowly, but even at this pace, we'll soon reach that 'limit.'"

Sandra nodded, but his expression only grew graver.

Six nautical miles... The distant "lighthouse" still showed no sign of stopping. It continued leading the entire fleet slowly deeper into the thick fog, which meant that the so-called "holy land" lay even farther out at sea. But if this continued, the fleet