Sword of Dawn

……

Mind network, city of dreams, inside the central temple.

In the resplendent conference hall, the archbishops gathered around the round table depicting many mysterious symbols (decorative lighting effects), and Pope Megaul III in the shape of amorphous starlight polymer was suspended in the mid-air in the center of the hall, solemn and solemn. In the atmosphere, a crucial meeting was going on.

"...This is the whole process of this exploration," Archbishop Yuri's voice echoed in the hall. In front of him, memory projections restored with spiritual power are presenting several key passages in the Phantom Town. Image, "There is no need to go into details about the various weird properties and psychological symbolic meanings of Phantom Town. Everyone must have done a lot of research in these fields. This time, what we should mainly focus on is that the priests of the 'upper-level narrators' possess The case of 'magic'.

"At present, we can at least be sure that the 'magic' cast by the projection priest can take effect in Phantom Town, and can actually attack the minds of us 'real people'. This is already the sublimation of the power of the upper storytellers , Proof of being close to the gods.

"The 'God's Arrival' technique released by the projection priest failed, although the most likely reason is that his 'projection essence' prevented him from releasing such a high-level divine technique, or it was due to the relationship between Phantom Town and No. There is isolation in the No. [-] sandbox, but it does not rule out the possibility that the upper-level narrator in No. [-] sandbox has not yet fully formed or unexpected situations occur..."

The starlight aggregate above the hall was shrinking and wriggling, and the voice of Megal III entered the minds of everyone present: "Archbishop Yuri, Archbishop Magnum, you were almost polluted by the upper-level narrator in the process of calibrating your minds. , According to your own experience, do you think that the upper-level narrator has peeked into the situation outside the sandbox during this pollution process? Has it extended part of its body into that small town?"

"...I don't think so, Your Majesty the Pope," Yuri said after thinking for a moment, shaking his head, "Although that kind of pollution is difficult to prevent, its essence is still just a projection, and after the pollution failed, there was no 'active' anymore." Sex', it should not have established a connection with the upper-level Narrator in the No. [-] sandbox."

"Phantom Town has completely disappeared now," Archbishop Magnum also got up and said, "I used Psychic Storm to 'flush' a few times afterwards, and follow-up monitoring can confirm that the data area has been completely emptied. Worry about it no more."

"The phantom town is gone, but the No. [-] sandbox is still there," a deep and hoarse female voice sounded, and a gorgeous and mature woman in a long black dress stood up and looked at the Pope in midair, " Your Majesty, it seems that we have to take some risks. The danger of the 'monsters' bred in the No. [-] sandbox has exceeded the limit. It is not meaningful to continue to maintain the status quo of the sandbox. An 'active disposal'."

Archbishop Magnum glanced at the woman in the black dress. The woman's ears were pointed and longer than those of humans, showing the characteristics of an elf hybrid—at least, her avatar did.

Magnum nodded slightly: "I agree with Archbishop Miyue. Entering the sandbox, facing and solving the problem, this is probably the only solution. His Majesty, Archbishops, we should summon our psionic choir and spiritual Cavaliers."

Yuri frowned, he opened his mouth, and after some deliberation, he opened his mouth and said, "Our number of spirit knights is limited, maybe..."

Before Yuri finished his sentence, a loud siren suddenly interrupted him, and then a slightly nervous young female voice came into the hall: "This is the monitoring team—a large hole appeared outside the West 16th District of Dreamland City! "

The archbishops who were attending the meeting were startled, and then one after another figures disappeared in the hall in an instant. In an instant, the figures of the 23 archbishops came to the sky above the area where a large void appeared outside the City of Dreams.

In the border area of ​​the splendid and majestic dream city, a shocking gap penetrated the outer barrier of the city, connecting a small part of the block with the vast wasteland outside the city. Inexplicable forces are raging in the gap area, and will be swept away The entered neighborhoods and wasteland are torn and squeezed into a huge vortex of chaotic light and shadow. Gorgeous palace vaults, towering towers, and smooth streets are all stirred into this terrifying vortex, and they go crazy in the "big void". Spin, roar endlessly!

The archbishops floated above the "big void", staring at the rotating fragments of light and shadow. The expressions on everyone's faces were extremely ugly.

They could see that there were a large number of bewildered and panicked congregants gathered outside the shredded block, and in the huge whirling vortex, there might also be congregation believers who were involved in it...

This is no longer a problem that can be solved with a memory cleanse or two and a region reset.

Archbishop Magnum's short red hair stood on end, he looked at Yuri, his tone was unusually solemn, and his voice was the same as before: "Archbishop Yuri, we must gather our troops immediately—"

"As you said," Yuri took a deep breath, "we must gather our troops."

Selina Geerfen quietly floated in the bishops, suddenly tilted her head slightly, and muttered with a strange expression: "Assemble the troops..."

……

"At that time, we assembled our troops. As long as there is an order, everyone will come." Gawain sat beside Patty's wheelchair, with a gentle smile on his face, slowly telling the story from memory, " At that time, our food was not as good as it is now. Every time the army assembled, no matter how much the lords emptied their homes, they could only get enough food for a month or two. Therefore, many knights, even knight retinues and apprentices prepared their own food. Dry food. There is no gain in the war against mutants, and everyone paid voluntarily."

Patty's eyes widened. "Like Dad once told me, 'Go for glory'?"

"That's right, that's when the term "Going for Glory" came from. It meant that everyone went to the battlefield not to plunder interests, but to fight for the glory in their hearts. However, this concept was later destroyed by the corrupt nobles and became A term used to glorify predatory behavior."

Patty thought for a while, then nodded: "...I seem to understand."

Gao Wen looked at the girl in the wheelchair quietly, and said slowly, "Is that so... that's good."

Chapter 0787 The Evidence Beside Patty

Patty seemed very happy about the arrival of "Uncle Gawain".

She hadn't seen Uncle Gawain for a long time, and she hadn't heard Uncle Gawain tell herself the stories about the pioneering period, the Gondor period, and all kinds of other fantastic ideas.

Even though she is almost 15 years old this year, even among ordinary noble children, children of her age have even begun to formally appear in social situations and learn to deal with family affairs, but in the eyes of outsiders, she is still a child, even her appearance age They are all younger than her peers, and as for the knowledge she understands, she is far behind the noble children of the same age.

Several years of serious injuries caused her to miss almost the entire childhood stage. Patty only started to study knowledge again this year, and many of the questions she asked were not suitable for her age in Gao Wen's opinion.

But on the other hand, special experiences have made Patty more mature mentally than her peers. Perhaps because she has lost the ability to move freely, her survival is completely dependent on the care of others. She can always be keenly aware of the emotional changes of those around her.

"Uncle Gao Wen, are you a little unhappy?" She noticed a slight emotional change in Gao Wen's speech, and immediately stopped her nagging questions, and asked carefully.

Gao Wen was stunned for a moment, his eyes fell on the little girl in front of him.

The other party could already sit in the wheelchair very well, and his neck could be lifted up by his own strength. His big eyes were looking at this side without blinking, full of curiosity and a little bit of worry.

"No, I'm not unhappy." After a while, Gao Wen shook his head with a smile, "It's just that I suddenly remembered something else, and my mind was distracted for a while."

"It's not good to be distracted," Patty said seriously, "but you are an adult, adults usually have a lot of things to worry about, right?"

"I do have a lot of usual things, but it's okay to spare time to tell you a story." Gao Wen said with a smile on his face, but at the same time, he had already allocated part of his attention, and quietly activated the secret that can connect to the mind network. Port——After such a long time of familiarization, he has long been able to control these powers from the Eternal Sleeper. Even if he does not completely immerse his consciousness in the network, he can use his special authority to call network resources and perform some secret operations .

After connecting his shallow consciousness with the network, he looked at Patty again.

Patty was still Patty, neither Selena Gelfen's face nor an extra figure appeared beside her.

But Gawain was able to confirm that Selena was indeed "here" and was closely connected with Patty in a strange state.

Because next to Patty's little wheelchair, a lantern was quietly hanging in mid-air that ordinary people could not see with naked eyes.

……

Patty needs to get enough sleep every day to restore her depleted spirit and to further develop the effect of the "Limb Regeneration Technique". Before meeting Gawain, she had already watched the phantom drama for more than two hours, and then listened to it again. Gao Wen told many stories, and soon it was time to take a lunch break.

Gawain watched the personal maid bring Patty to the next room, and gently placed the little girl in a special immersion cabin. After confirming that Patty had fallen asleep safely, he left the room and came to the castle. In the reception room, I saw Countess Luo Penny waiting here.

The Viscount got up from the high-back chair and bowed to Gao Wen: "Your Majesty, thank you for taking care of Patty. She will be very happy today."

"Her body has improved a lot, so I'm relieved," Gawain nodded, and sat down on a chair near the window as he spoke, "I saw that Patty was already sleeping in the immersion cabin—— Has she been using the immersion chamber all this time?"

"Yes." Countess Luo Penny nodded, "It has been used for almost a month."

"Is there any adverse reaction? Is she used to it?"

These questions sounded like normal concerns, and the Viscount didn't think there was anything wrong with it: "No, the immersion chamber is very useful, and the technicians you sent are also very conscientious. They stayed here for four days and confirmed that Patty There was no abnormality in the use process before leaving, and before leaving, I handed over the technical information of the immersion chamber to the local magician. As for Patty... she was not used to it at first, but it was only because she was not used to sleeping in a strange bed. Now she's quite used to it."

Have you been using the immersion chamber...

Gao Wen touched his chin, and asked again: "Where is the crown of the Eternal Sleeper before?"

"I put it in the basement of the castle, together with some extraordinary collections," the Viscountes replied, "Because I don't plan to use it again in the future, I'm considering whether to use some means to seal it—— After all, it has something to do with the Sleeper."

For this woman, caution has become a habit.

But that level of caution doesn't seem to be enough when dealing with the Sleeper.

"You don't have to think about any seals anymore, I'm going to take that crown away," Gao Wen said, "for... research."

The Viscount Luo Peini's gaze changed slightly. Although Gawain's tone and demeanor did not show any abnormality, the mother's intuition suddenly jumped, and she stared closely at Gawain's eyes: "Your Majesty... Isn't there something wrong with that tiara? Patty, she..."

"Don't be too nervous," Gawain waved his hand immediately, "It's just technical research. As for Patty, she is in good condition."

Only then did Luo Penny let out a sigh of relief: "That's okay. Sorry, I'm always too nervous when it comes to Patty..."

The Viscountess has left. As Gülen's consul, she still has a lot of official duties to deal with.Gao Wen also returned to the room specially prepared for himself. He closed the door and saw a short winter melon poking out of the shadow near the curtain.

After confirming that there was no one else around, Amber boldly jumped out of the Shadow Realm, and smiled at Gao Wen: "According to the information, that Countess Luo Penny is a person who finds it difficult to trust others easily, but she trusts you very much." —When you say Patty's fine, she's really relieved to go to work."

"I just don't want her to bear unnecessary pressure. After all, things haven't been clarified yet," Gao Wen said casually, "and we also need to avoid making mistakes."

"Shock the snake? It's an interesting word, I've memorized it," Amber's eyes lit up, and she recorded the new word with ease, and then reprinted it in the "Sacred Words of Emperor Gawain Cecil" that she had collected in private. Added a sum, and then looked at Gao Wen curiously, "Again, is there really something wrong with Patty?"

Gao Wen pondered for a while, and said in a low voice: "Under the vision of the mind, there is a lantern beside her."

"...Mom."

"But the situation is still better than I expected," Gao Wen continued, "Selina Geerfen did not invade Patty's soul, and the latter showed no signs of damage. They may be living together peacefully, or even Patty herself doesn't even know there's something abnormal about her..."

Amber stared: "You're still so optimistic after seeing the lantern, so what kind of 'bad situation' did you expect?"

"The worst case scenario... Patty is Selina Gelfen," Gawain glanced at Amber, "before we knew Patty, long before Patty touched the tiara, she was dead For the next few years, that body will be Selena."

Amber imagined that scene for a while, and suddenly trembled: "...Mom!"

Gawain successfully frightened the daring half-elf, and he felt a little happier: "It's really scary, isn't it? When it comes to the horror at the spiritual level, the Eternal Sleeper is obviously better than the end of all things..."

"It's not because of that," Amber waved her hand, "I just think that a woman in her 700s pretends to be a girl in her teens, calls you Uncle Gao Wen when she meets her, and calls a young woman in her twenties Mommy." It has been called for several years, this is really terrifying, it is worthy of being the eternal sleeper..."

Gao Wen: "..."

After realizing that continuing to discuss with this elf shame would be suicidal, he decisively cut off the topic and got back on track: "It is not yet possible to confirm the connection between Patty and Selena, in order to avoid alarming the enemy, and to control Eternal Sleep Given the situation on the latter side, we cannot take any obvious actions on Gülen's side—we can only maintain the outermost monitoring."

Amber patted her chest: "I understand, I'm good at this."

Then she noticed that Gao Wen still had a thoughtful look on his face, so she couldn't help asking, "What's wrong? What else is going on?"

"I'm thinking... How much of us has been exposed to Selina Geer's eyes, and why she has been silent so far," Gawain exhaled softly, and shook his head helplessly, "Pa Tee is now using the immersion chamber produced by Cecil to fall asleep. At the same time, our magic net communication technology is not a secret. The shadow of psychic network technology can be seen in the Internet communication... If Selina Geerfen is really hidden in the depths of Patty's consciousness, then she can see all this through the eyes of the 'host'... Even if these evidences It's not enough to directly prove that 'outside wanderers' can invade the psychic network, and it should be enough to arouse the vigilance and attention of the eternal sleepers... But Selina Geerfen didn't do anything, and Daniel and I made many plans. It's useless now."

"Hiss... the more eerily silent this kind of person, the more vigilant people will be." Amber gritted her teeth, "There are countermeasures and remedies for any damage, and what is afraid of is this kind of non-speaking."

Then she paused and shook her head again: "But then again, as long as we develop the magic net communication technology, it is impossible for the eternal sleepers to fail to notice that things will always surface when they develop to a certain extent. It is inevitable after the expansion of the scale. In this kind of confrontation, 'we hide everything, they can't see anything' can only be regarded as a low-level stage, and 'we disclose everything, they see nothing but can't do anything' is the advanced stage phase — now, it’s time to prepare for the end of phase one.”

Gao Wen stared at Amber, who was talking eloquently, until he felt awkward looking at the other party, and twisted his neck: "Hey, what do you think I am doing?"

"It's nothing, I just think what you said is quite reasonable." Gao Wen smiled and said casually, "Indeed, our own mind network technology is also gradually maturing, and the Eternal Sleeper... will definitely notice it. And Recalling carefully, when I first contacted Patty, I considered that Selena would often be with each other in the City of Dreams, so I didn't disclose any information related to "outside wanderers" in front of Patty. At best, Lina Geer could see our technical development on magic network communication through Patty's eyes.

"I'm curious about one thing now. When Patty used the immersion chamber, she just used it to fall asleep. She no longer has access to the spiritual network of the eternal sleeper. This is to prevent our 'network intrusion' behavior from being exposed, and since Patty no longer has access to the Psychic Network, so Selina who is hiding 'beside' Patty... how does she maintain the connection with the Psychic Network?"

Amber scratched her hair.

She also couldn't understand Gao Wen's question.

……

At the foot of the snow-capped mountains in the east, the shimmering breeze shield isolated the wind and snow from the wilderness. The powered rails covered by the shield stretched across the land, gradually disappearing into the depths of the snow and wind in the distance.

The wheels rolled, the mechanical device played a melody of steel, and a magic train with the emblem of the Cecil Empire whizzed past on the charged rails wrapped in the shield, galloping across the ground like a giant steel python.

The unknown mountain range receded on the side of the train, and the vegetation and railings near the railroad track became blurred due to the rapid retreat.

It is a cold and windy winter outside, but the inside of the train is warm and comfortable. Traveling across the wilderness in the belly of a steel giant is really a wonderful experience.

Matilda Augustus was sitting upright on the spacious and comfortable train seat, looking at the foreign scenery outside through the crystal glass inlaid on the side wall of the carriage beside her, and the corners of her mouth were slightly raised.

strange country...

Chapter 0788 A Foreign Land

It's been a fantastic and interesting journey.

At least for now.

Matilda sat on the comfortable and spacious seat with an impeccable dignified posture, quietly watching the mountains of the Cecil Empire gradually receding outside the car window. The wind and snow had weakened a lot, and the scenery outside began to change. The interior of the carriage is surrounded by soothing music released by some kind of magic device. The beautiful scenery, music, just right temperature environment, and the rich food stored on the train together make this long-distance travel in winter a wonderful experience. exceptionally comfortable.

It is even so comfortable that people will forget that they are sitting in the body of a giant steel beast, and that they are galloping on Cecil's cold winter wilderness at a speed far exceeding that of a galloping horse.

A young man with short blond hair, a youthful face, but an exceptionally mature and calm demeanor was sitting opposite Matilda. He noticed that the foreign princess in front of him seemed to be in a good mood, so he showed a faint smile, with a little pride in his tone : "How is the experience of traveling on the magic train?"

Matilda withdrew her gaze from the window, and looked at the young man opposite.

This young man named Philip has a surprising identity. He is so young, but he is actually one of the military commanders of the Cecil Empire. He commands the most powerful ground army of the Cecil Empire, and this The main force of the army... is now located in the Changfeng line of defense.

For such an important military commander to greet and "escort" the embassy led by Princess Typhon is of equal status and fully complies with the etiquette norms.

Matilda smiled a little.

"It was a great experience," she said with a smile, "and we had the best view."

Philip also laughed.

Under the proper arrangement of the reliable General Maryland, and with the efforts of all levels of units in the Changfeng area, Her Royal Highness in front of her has indeed only seen the scenery since she entered the territory of Cecil until now.

"Frankly speaking, this level of travel experience is not new to me," Matilda continued, "What is novel is that all of this is achieved by relying on magical machines. In the past, relying on the power of a mage, It is not difficult to make such a huge vehicle quickly pass through the wilderness, or maintain a comfortable travel environment in a harsh environment, but magic technology can use lifeless steel to achieve these things, which should be controlled by mages The power of this is something I never imagined.

"In Typhon, most nobles agree with the power of magic machines, and welcome the new magic trains and various factories, but there are still some old-fashioned mages who don't like these things—they always say that machines are The operation lacks a soul."

"This is different from us," Philip laughed. "We feel that there is another kind of soul hidden in the machine, which is hidden in the rotating gears and moving pistons. It only needs lubricating grease and surging magic energy. It is the faithful friend of man."

"...So magic technology first appeared in Cecil, and it also developed the fastest in this land," Matilda said with a touch of emotion, "I have always been interested in magic technology, and I love it Even surpassing traditional spells, unfortunately Typhon still has a long way to go in this regard."

This was a programmed modesty, and Philip knew it very well, so he just smiled lightly and didn't respond positively.

After all, business bragging is not what he is good at...

A black-haired middle-aged male nobleman sitting next to Matilda also joined the topic: "I also pay attention to magic technology. Frankly speaking, I am even investing in it and researching it. It is really a waste of money. From this point of view, I have great admiration for the Cecils—you are people who dare to pay the price to gain benefits, and you are full of adventurer spirit."

Matilda took a look at the male nobleman—Earl Dürer was one of the "progressive noblemen" in Aldernan who were most passionate about the field of magic technology. He owned the largest plantation in the north and invested several A large-scale textile mill and spinning mill, his role in the mission actually represented Aldernan's efforts to pay attention to magic technology and try to find more commercial value from magic technology. noble group.

Thinking of this, the Princess Typhon nodded in agreement: "It is true that building factories and developing machines is costly, but the returns are indeed astonishing - so it can attract more and more nobles and businessmen to become investors. This point, in Is it the same for Cecil?"

"...Of course." Philip smiled and nodded.

The train was speeding across the wilderness. Outside the car window, the undulating ridge line was almost at the end, and it seemed that the front was about to enter the plain.

But Matilda couldn't help thinking about the "of course" that Philip finally answered her. For some reason, she always instinctively felt that this word contained more profound meaning, but she couldn't grasp the root cause for a while.

At this moment, the train finally rushed out of the cover of the mountains. After the huge rock wall flashed past, there was an endless plain ahead, and the scene outside the car window suddenly opened up.