Chapter 12: The Sea of Spirits

Bella waited quietly for ten seconds—nothing happened.

She opened her eyes and examined the fire basin carefully. Why was there no response from her ancestors? Did she miss a step? Was she supposed to shout some kind of chant?

But… shout what? "For the tribe!"?

The thought felt ridiculous. Her deep desire for supernatural power was making her overthink things and feel uncertain.

There likely wasn't any fixed chant for this. And certainly no universal slogan.

After all, everyone's ancestors were different, with different personalities. There was no one-size-fits-all approach to spirit communication.

According to Billy Black, sincerity was all that mattered. If one ancestor didn't like you, maybe the next would. There were many ancestors—it was a two-way selection process. Eventually, she was bound to find one willing to help.

Did the Swan family have any powerful ancestors? Bella had no idea.

But she understood one basic principle: "wealth doesn't last beyond three generations." And as for poverty—if you're too poor, you can't even get married, and thus have no descendants.

So, logically speaking, there must've been some notable figures in the Swan family line, right?

Nervously, Bella watched her blood burn in the fire basin. Forgetting to bandage her hand, she started recounting the events of the plane crash aloud, hoping that some ancestor would take a liking to her and offer a helping hand.

This time—finally—something changed.

She felt a surge of energy awaken within her blood. Her heart began pounding violently. Every cell in her body seemed to respond, boiling with energy.

When the blood in her body resonated with the blood in the basin, something was triggered. Her bloodline had been heard. Bella's soul, guided by this blood connection, became a vessel—sailing into an ocean made of spirit itself.

Half dream, half reality—Bella had never experienced anything like it. No sails, no oars—just a boat of blood drifting gently through the spirit sea, moving wherever her will desired, deeper into the clusters of glowing orbs.

Her spirit body looked no different from her normal self. She was Bella, and Bella was her. No one else existed here. Once she adjusted to this spiritual state, she focused on her goal.

"Please help me. I'm being targeted by someone… called the Grim Reaper, or something like that…" she repeated her plea over and over. As she traveled deeper into the spirit sea, glowing orbs started to approach.

These were ancestors linked to her by blood. The spirit orbs studied the descendants who had entered their domain with great curiosity.

Bella began to screen them in turn.

The ones that approached were usually direct ancestors—great-grandfathers, great-grandmothers, great-great-grandparents, etc.

The ones that ignored her were probably more distant relatives—like a seventh-great-uncle or ninth-great-aunt.

The orbs varied in brightness. The brighter they were, the more accomplished the ancestor. Dim ones were likely ordinary folks.

But brightness didn't necessarily mean they had supernatural powers—she had to look closer.

A doctor? Not helpful. I'm already dying—next!

Assembly line worker? Worse off than me—pass.

Small-time merchant? Can't take money to the afterlife—irrelevant—bye!

A ship's first mate? Still not useful…

As she drifted deeper into the spirit sea, Bella grew anxious. She began to question her "poverty-can't-last-three-generations" theory. The Swan family wasn't especially poor—but they weren't rich either! Their family history felt incredibly ordinary.

Was there really anyone in my bloodline who could help me face off against the Grim Reaper?

With each generation spanning roughly 20 years, she searched further back.

Five generations—nothing impressive in a hundred years.

Ten generations—still no one extraordinary.

Fifteen… twenty generations. The further back she went, the more she noticed a pattern: many Swan ancestors had ties to the sea.

Sailors, first mates, ship captains, navigators… some were soldiers, and yes—some were pirates.

One witch with minor magical abilities caught her attention briefly, but she didn't like Bella. Plus, they weren't directly related—so after a brief interaction, she drifted away.

Where the hell is my awesome ancestor?!

Bella was growing frustrated. This endless searching was mentally exhausting. According to Billy Black, that was expected—her spiritual energy was draining fast.

The Quileute tribe had plenty of experience with ancestral rituals. Billy's guide had mentioned this too: the first attempt had the highest success rate. The second would only have a third of that. By the third time, the bloodline resonance might fail completely—after all, even spirits are busy. No one has time to respond every few days.

Gritting her teeth, Bella pushed on.

And then—drift, drift, drift!—suddenly she spotted an enormous glowing orb. As her gaze locked onto it, one dim and two bright orbs appeared before her, and two more slowly approached from nearby. It all happened in a flash, almost like they had suddenly materialized.

Do I really have this many amazing ancestors?! she thought. The dim one aside, the other five glowed far brighter than that earlier witch ancestor who ignored her.

Bella looked at the two orbs slowly drifting over.

She couldn't help but exclaim softly, "Huh?!"

Inside the orbs were none other than Henry Turner, the famous adventurer, and Carina Barbossa, the renowned astronomer. *Wait—these are my ancestors? Aren't they from Pirates of the Caribbean?! Bella was thoroughly stunned.

But the pull of kinship through blood didn't lie. Bella's surname, Swan, originated from these two. They had two children—one took the surname Turner, the other Swan. Technically, Turner was safer, but Swan—being the name of a pirate queen—was definitely riskier. Who knew what the original reason was?

Bella tried to connect with them.

Henry Turner's skills were entirely adventure-based—not very helpful.

Carina Barbossa, however, was incredible. As an astronomer, she had briefly come into contact with the Trident of Poseidon—a divine artifact—and had absorbed fragments of divine knowledge. Though she only deciphered a small portion before her death, it was more than enough. That knowledge, even in fragments, could help Bella step onto the path of the supernatural.

If this had happened earlier, Bella might have accepted it right away. The Grim Reaper's attacks during the plane crash were merely coincidences—dangerous to normal people, but probably not to a transcendent being.

But now… she had even better options.

Next to Carina's orb were two others—one bright, one dim. They were likely her parents: Hector Barbossa and Margaret Smith.

Old Barbossa certainly had the ability, vision, and knowledge. As the Pirate King of the Caribbean, he was no less than a warlord. It was highly likely he had access to supernatural power. But Bella felt their personalities wouldn't mesh—not the best fit.

Her eyes finally turned to the central orb—the brightest, most accomplished ancestor of all:

Elizabeth Swan.

The Pirate Queen.

This orb gave her an overwhelmingly warm and familiar feeling.

Without any hesitation, Bella fully immersed her consciousness into it.

(End of Chapter)