Sword of Dawn

"Nicholas, this is a guest." Gawain finally came to his senses at this time, and hurriedly stopped the strange behavior of the iron ball star. After calling the other party back, he couldn't help but asked curiously, "Do you see that in your eyes?" Did you arrive at an energy body without a fixed form?"

"Correct me, this ball is not seeing with 'eyes', but a kind of... well, it can be used as eyes, which is easy to understand," Nicholas Egg replied casually, "As for the energy body... Strictly speaking , I feel that it is some kind of intertwined 'field', I know these two concepts are easy to confuse, but they are not the same..."

Gawain quickly understood what happened just now, and realized that he had overlooked some key points: Although Nicholas Egg was always an intelligent creature that could communicate normally with humans, and had emotions that humans could understand, he still It is an "alien life form" with a very strange life form. When faced with certain things that human beings are accustomed to, what he observes is likely to be completely different!

This time is the most obvious example—Magnum and Selena have become spirit bodies living in the psychic network. They can appear in front of ordinary people, relying entirely on "psychological projection", which is through disturbing the observer. He used his five senses to create the illusion that he "exists here", but Nicholas Danzong...he doesn't have a nervous system, at least not like a human being.

He can still perceive the existence of Magnum and Selena, but what he "sees" is a large intertwined, turbulent but orderly "field"...

This is a very important phenomenon, maybe it can be used in the field of research in the future, such as... further analysis of magic power?

Gawain shook his head slightly, and temporarily put aside the sudden research idea in his heart. He briefly introduced the eternal sleepers at the scene, and then pointed to Nicholas and said to Yuri and others: "This is the great craftsman of the empire. , Nicholas, you will often deal with this master craftsman in the future."

"If you are not familiar enough, please call me by my full name, Saint Nicholas Eggman," the silver-white metal ball fluttered twice in mid-air, and said in a reserved and proud tone, "And in terms of qualifications, you It takes some respect for me, too—Master Tinker is a great job."

Magnum looked at the metal ball in front of him with lingering fear—he sighed in his heart that this land ruled by wanderers from outside the territory was indeed full of terrible and weird things, but at least he didn't say what he thought directly.

After observing for two seconds, he decided to say hello to the other party, which may help to narrow the relationship between the two parties and reduce some unnecessary dangers in the process of "working together" in the future: "Nice to meet you, Nicholas Mr. Dan...Mr., uh, or Ms.? Sorry, are you a boy or a girl?"

Gawain immediately took a deep look at Magnum.

And Yuri once again failed to stop his old partner from speaking freely.

In fact, he didn't want to stop him that much, including others—the archbishops had a subtle tacit understanding on this point.

We have worked together for many years, and we know each other's temperament and personality well. Many times, they are actually happy to see Magnum take the initiative to speak. This loud and straightforward former God of War priest can always say what everyone wants to say but can't speak directly. Speaking out, this is the case in any occasion. In this way, only Magnum himself is the one who offends others, while others can enjoy the information obtained after Magnum speaks.

There is no doubt that this is a good thing.

"You should call me 'Sir'!" Nicholas Eggman's buzzing voice suddenly became high, and Magnum offended someone again—maybe he offended the ball, and the others got the answer smoothly, "Damn it Yes, don't you have eyes, this ball has such distinct sexual characteristics..."

This time, even Gao Wen fell into silence.

He felt that this topic would be too weird to continue.

"Stop for a while—you have plenty of time to develop your relationship," he said in a deep voice, instantly quieting everyone present, "Let's get back to business. Nicholas, which room is available now?"

"Available room? The computing facilities on the second floor can be used, and the third floor still needs to be adjusted."

Gao Wen nodded (things are finally back on track): "Take us to the second floor, prepare a set of immersion chambers, and activate the No. [-] demonstration sample."

"Hold on."

Nicholas said something briefly, and then stepped back a little. It directly activated a nearby device with an invisible magnetic field. Accompanied by a very slight buzzing sound, Yuri and the others saw a half-moon-shaped The lifting platform descends from near the mental hub.

Gao Wen walked towards the platform first, followed by others.

The pyramid facility has not been completely completed, and many areas inside are still undergoing final finishing, but some rooms have been delivered, and the equipment has been put into operation for debugging. Under the leadership of Nicholas Egg, a group of people entered the facility The second floor, and passed through a not very long corridor, finally, they came to a clean and brightly lit room that had been tidied up.

An alloy column stands in the center of the spacious room, and more than a dozen silver-white immersion cabin devices are neatly arranged around the column. There are rune drag chains and devices that look like artificial nerve cords to connect those immersion cabins to the center of the room. The cylinders were connected, and on that cylinder, Yuri and the others once again felt the magic fluctuation similar to the mental hub in the hall.

As Gao Wen said, every thought connection device in this facility is connected to the huge pillar in the center of the hall.

Gawain came to an immersion cabin whose hatch had been opened, turned his head to look at the archbishops, and smiled: "Anyone want to try Cecil's 'Mind Network'?"

The archbishops looked at each other, and after they exchanged glances, it was Wendy who stood up first.

"Ladies first," the beautiful lady smiled and walked to the immersion chamber, "and I've been interested in Cecil's 'magic technique' since a long time ago. How should I use it? Lie in it ? Do you need to prepare any spells or incantations?"

"You can just lie down in it. This is for ordinary people. Naturally, you don't need any spells or incantations," Gao Wen said casually. "The experience time is only 10 minutes, so you won't feel tired."

Wendy nodded, and lay down in the immersion cabin with the help of Amber. Then, under the watchful eyes of the other archbishops, the immersion cabin closed with a slight crackling sound from the hatch, and the rune drag chain connected to the device And the many runes on the base of the immersion cabin light up one by one instantly.

Magnum watched this scene with wide eyes, and couldn't help muttering while caring about the development of the matter: "At least in terms of comfort, this thing is much better than ours..."

"You don't have to think about this kind of problem now," Yuri glanced at him, "unless you can get back into your body."

Magnum clasped his hands in front of his chest: "What if! What if!"

Except for the two of them, almost everyone at the scene didn't say a word, they just waited intently for Wendy to finish this "experience", and they didn't wait too long.

After 10 minutes, the cover of the immersion chamber was gently opened.

Wendy sat up from the inside with a trace of bewilderment after being disconnected from the Internet, and her compatriots from the church immediately surrounded her. However, facing the curious archbishops, her first reaction was to look at Gao Wen: "I Can we watch it for a while longer? The plot has just begun..."

Yuri couldn't help being curious: "What did you see inside?"

"It's an immersive theater," Gawain said before Wendy could speak, "but because it's something in the testing stage, we can only reproduce some relatively short clips at present——Wendy, what you saw That's all, but don't worry, it will be perfected soon, and there will be more in it in the future, more attractive than immersive theater."

Having said that, he smiled slightly: "Now, do you think ordinary people would be willing to lie here and contribute computing power?"

"Let me make sure first," Wendy said, "this device and the things it presents do not require the caster to maintain it? It is not like the city of dreams that needs to absorb the user's mental power at all times, nor does it need to be maintained by the caster. Will there be hidden dangers of mental pollution?"

Gawain nodded: "Of course."

"Then I don't have any doubts—" Wendy said quickly, "If I were an ordinary person, I would be willing to pay for it!"

Chapter 0845 A Huge Plan

Narrator's neural network - this is the name Gawain gave to the future Cecil's mind network. It will be a very large-scale and far-reaching project, and the fields involved are naturally not as simple as providing scientific research assistance.

According to Gao Wen's plan, the narrator's neural network will cover multiple fields such as scientific research, communication, education, and public entertainment. It can provide computing power support for a large number of scientific research projects, and it can also become an indispensable part of people's daily life. One day in the future, the huge narrator's neural network will also become a... giant wetware host covering the entire Cecil Empire through its tens of thousands of human brain nodes that are always connected.

The distributed devices connected to the narrator's neural network will become the interactive terminals of the wetware host, and the surplus computing power of countless human brains will light up an unprecedented information technology line, and a large number of ordinary people can Contributing computing power to the empire, this process will also enrich the spiritual life of citizens, and all of this will start from this imperial computing center.

This is what Gawain thought of in this world where the physical rules are very different from the earth's, and the way to open the next level of technology tree, and it is also an important part of his harmless transformation of the technology of the eternal sleeper.

Wendy was describing what she saw in the "illusion" with a hint of excitement, and the archbishops next to her were obviously interested in what she described--in all fairness, Cecil's "Neural Network of Narrators" is actually It is still very primitive, and the "entertainment projects" it can present are not much better than these eternal sleepers. They once created a dream city that was false and real, and created a "perfect sanctuary" like a paradise. In Gao Wen's opinion, the attractiveness of the movie is no worse than a few magic movie clips or some "entertainment scenes", and even stronger.

But what the "Neural Network of Narrators" presents is very different from the City of Dreams: it has an upper limit of development that is difficult for the latter, and it can be flexibly adjusted at any time, and countless "new contents" can be customized. After the nerve thorn technology is realized, this "customization" process can even be completed by ordinary people, and the city of dreams...

The Eternal Sleeper created the City of Dreams more just to make it a "spiritual container" that accommodates computing nodes, which is convenient for collecting computing power. The extremely high threshold of divine magic means that only bishops or even higher-level priests have the ability to modify it. Its content, and in fact, bishops and archbishops do not usually bother to modify it at all.

In this way, no matter how perfect the dream city is, it is just a rigid bonsai. From the day it was born, it has been in its final form. The limitations of traditional magic determine that even if it accepts reshaping, it can only It is a new bonsai, and it can only be mastered by a few powerful priests.

The archbishops at the scene are not stupid people, they can see the difference at a glance, and naturally realize the impact once this thing enters the lives of "ordinary people".

Attributing the extraordinary to mortals... It was the first time since they set foot on Cecil's land that they truly realized the meaning of this "slogan" in a field they knew well.

"This thing is basically harmless to ordinary people-of course, being connected for a long time will cause fatigue, and too much immersion in it may cause some psychological problems, but these harms and old neuromods and even 'brain servants' Technology is completely negligible in comparison." Gao Wen patted the cover of the immersion cabin beside him, and said with a slight smile, "Currently, what restricts it is mainly the difficulty in producing the immersion cabin and the craftsmanship required to build a mind hub. It is very strict, and currently only a few factories in the empire can produce qualified components, and the training of workers is also very slow.”

The immersion cabin and the narrator's neural network are undoubtedly cross-age things, and their advantages over traditional communication, entertainment, media, etc. are obvious, but this does not mean that Cecil will enter the information age tomorrow, nor Meaning newspapers and magic web radios across the country will soon be replaced by new technologies - both will take time.

The experts from the Machinery Manufacturing Institute and the Institute of Magical Technology have worked hard for a long time to barely solve the mass production problem of the immersion chamber, so that it can enter the factory for production without having to knock it out one by one in the laboratory, and now they We must also find a way to overcome the mass production difficulties of the mental hub. In addition, skilled workers with assembly capabilities and personnel who can maintain the computing center are even rarer. Here, the narrator's neural network will be in the development stage, and traditional communication, entertainment, media and other things will coexist with it for a long time.

Gao Wen told Yuri and others some knowledge about industrialized production and social promotion. He didn't talk much, he just talked about some concepts in an easy-to-understand way, but it was enough to make them think for a long time.

It's something they haven't considered for many years.

"...We really buried ourselves underground for too long," Magnum laughed self-deprecatingly, shaking his head, "eyes and ears are blocked by mud."

A tall, slender archbishop with a younger appearance glanced at Magnum: "But fortunately, we still have a chance to make amends..."

"You're right. Fortunately, you still have a chance to make amends." Gao Wen took a deep look at the people in front of him, "I am very happy to see that all the archbishops and a considerable number of bishop-level priests have chosen Cecil. Happily, the person in charge at the White Sand Hills side reported to me that you also did your best to bring a large number of brain servants over—during this long escape journey, you ensured the survival of all the brain servants, which Proof of your awareness.

"Those brain servants will be properly cared for, and the Druid Research Association will make every effort to find a way to cure and wake them up, and you will become members of the Empire's technology department and do something that you are good at.

"I've got a project ready for you."

"Project?" Yuri repeated the word subconsciously.

"I hope you won't be intimidated by the name of the project," Gao Wen smiled, "This computing center you are in is a part of it - its name is 'Narrative Neural Network', yes, it is what you are familiar with The 'Upper Narrator' of the..."

As soon as Gao Wen finished speaking, the faces of the archbishops turned pale. Wendy, who was standing at the front, even took half a step back subconsciously, and touched her neck with lingering fear, as if someone would give her a hand in the next second. Like a needle.

"Excuse me, Your Majesty," Semler hesitated, and finally couldn't help but say, "This name...it should be just a name..."

"Unfortunately, of course it has something to do with the 'upper narrator'," Gao Wen slowly retracted his smile, and said in a serious manner, "Be prepared, we still have a long time to deal with the 'God' It's on."

Yuri and Magnum looked at each other, Wendy and Semler looked thoughtful, Gawain exhaled lightly, and slowly opened his hands——

"So, one last time, welcome to Cecil, and welcome... to the Rebel Project."

……

The giant sun gradually approached the western horizon, and the brilliant crown released its last light and heat of the day at the bottom of the clouds. The orange glow spread along the rolling hills and plains, and finally at the Throat of Orandale The mountains with jagged edges turned into jagged, golden borders.

Hadillon Augustus, with short curly black hair and a tall and straight figure, stood on a hill near the Throat of Orendelle, overlooking the huge collapsed rift and the bottom of the rift with a blank expression. There was still a crack in the cracks emitting light smoke and dust, and the wind blowing from the plains stirred his cloak, and the royal coat of arms on the cloak shone brightly in the sun.

The loyal Obsidian Custodians stood behind Hadiron, and several high-ranking knights looked at His Royal Highness in front of them with some concern—as a heir of Augustus, Hadiron lived in the cursed place of the Throat of Orendelle. It's been too long.

This is where the old imperial capital collapsed, and it was also the beginning of the curse of the Augustus family. Some kind of power beyond human understanding may still be entrenched in this land. Randall's Throat is very harmful to the members of the Augustus family, which has a certain chance of rapidly deteriorating their already unstable mental state, or causing the curse to break out in advance. Stay away from this place if possible, and even try not to touch the "information" sent back to the imperial capital from the Throat of Orendelle.

Hadiron Augustus, however, had been in the region for half a day.

"Your Highness," a senior knight officer finally couldn't help taking a step forward, "The wind in the wilderness is harmful to your health, you can go back and rest first..."

"It's not the wind in the wild that is harmful to your health." Hadiron turned his head and glanced at the knight with a smile. "Don't worry, I'm paying attention to my mental state. I'm a person who cherishes life."

The knight opened his mouth, and finally backed away helplessly, while Hadiron turned his head and continued to look in the direction of Orendelle's Throat.

He could vaguely hear some whispers coming from that direction, and he could feel that in the depths of that thick, cold, dark earth and stone, some ancient and indescribable power was still flowing slowly, and it was actually very weak , even so weak that ordinary people can't detect it, but as an Augustus... he can still vaguely perceive its existence.

That power seemed to be luring him forward, but the willpower training he had received since he was a child allowed Hadiron to easily restrain his impulse and keep a safe distance from that power and those whispers.

He is very curious about what that thing is, but he also knows that "curiosity" is often the most deadly and harmful thing when dealing with something indescribable.

After waiting for a while, a squad of knights in full armor and carrying precious amulets finally came out from the direction of Orendelle's Throat Rift.

"The expedition team is back!" The officer on the hill said happily.

Those who set off to investigate the situation quickly joined the knights led by Hadiron. A gray-haired knight was the leader of the exploration team. He came to Hadiron, took off his helmet and saluted, saying: " Your Highness, we found some passages and the ruins of the city below, but the road leading deeper has completely collapsed, and it looks like it has just been blown down. In addition, the structure of the central area of ​​the Rift Valley is very dangerous, and small-scale incidents are still happening. We suspect that there was originally a propped up space underneath, but most of it has collapsed now."

"...the local sheriff said that people heard several consecutive noises louder than thunder on the 45th of last month, all coming from the direction of the Rift Valley, and it sounded like it was coming from underground," said a person standing in Hardy. The knight behind Lun said, "We have found some hidden strongholds near here, and they have all been destroyed."

"It's a pity," Hadiron slowly shook his head, "those 'eternal sleepers'...it seems that their evacuation was very decisive and their purpose was clear. Even if we dug up those collapsed crypts, most of them would still be there. There will be something of value."

"Fortunately, there was news from Aldernan that the eternal sleepers began to contact the royal family to seek asylum one after another. Among them were even some bishop-level powerhouses and specialized technicians. They also brought a lot of technical data," the knight officer said in relief, "they won't be able to take everything away after all."

"There will only be more people falling into the hands of the Cecilians... But there is no way," Hadiron said regretfully, he glanced at the direction of the rift valley for the last time, and sighed softly, "It's time to go back. Get ready, we're leaving - don't forget to pay the few local guides who helped and thank the sheriff."

"Yes, Your Highness."

The knights immediately began to pack their bags and prepare to leave this cursed place. The commander beside Hadiron said, "Her Highness Matilda has returned to Aldernan, and her trip to Cecil should be of great benefit." Harvest less."

"I'm already looking forward to what gift she brings me," Hadiron couldn't help laughing when he heard this, "I hope there won't be any strange special food or magic props that can scare people—as the empire My 'Pearl', she is not smart at all when getting along with her younger brother."

The knights didn't know how to continue this topic, so they could only pretend that they hadn't heard anything and continue to be busy. Hadiron curled his lips in boredom because no one responded to him. He shook his head and walked to stop not far away. The magic car in the open space, but before getting into the car, he looked back in the direction of Orandelle's Throat.

The setting sun was almost completely sinking to the other side of the horizon, and there was only a faint layer of red light left on the horizon. In the sunset glow that was about to disappear, the jagged hills of the Throat of Orendelle also became illusory and hazy.

"Curse..."

Hadillon said softly.

Chapter 0846 My Way Is Not Lonely

Aldernan, Obsidian Palace.

On a rare sunny day, the sun dispelled the mist that shrouded the entire Aldernan area, and the brilliant light sprinkled from the sky, penetrated the thin and light clouds, and sprinkled obliquely in the courtyard of the Obsidian Palace.

In the small flower hall on the first floor of the palace, the attendant opened the window facing the courtyard, and the fresh morning breeze passed through the bushes outside the window, blowing into the small hall unhurriedly. Rosetta Augustus sat by the window On the bench, half of his face was illuminated by the sun, as if covered with a layer of shimmer.

"Hardiron got the news, he jumped at the Throat of Orlandelle." Rosetta raised her head and looked at Matilda who was sitting opposite her, "He just happened to be inspecting near Orlandelle. factory, but still failed to notice when the Sleepers evacuated."

"If a secret organization has been operating in our empire for 700 years, then when they are determined to evacuate secretly, it is a normal result that we are difficult to detect and intercept at the first time," said Matilda sitting with her father On the opposite side, a thin golden chain hung down from her hair, swaying golden light around her cheeks, "I just didn't expect that Gawain Cecil would stand behind all of this..."

Rosetta glanced at Matilda: "Judging from the time, when the Order of the Eternal Sleepers encountered an accident and launched an evacuation plan, it was also the few days you stayed in Cecil City."

Matilda couldn't help frowning, with a look of regret and shame on her face: "Yes... I was near Gawain Cecil those days, but I didn't notice anything..."

Rosetta's expression was very indifferent: "If even a young man like you can easily discover his secrets, then he is not Cecil's emperor, and Typhon can rest easy."

"The secret of Gawain Cecil..." Matilda muttered subconsciously, and then raised her eyes, "Father, the secret of 'Outsider Wanderer' can be used to shake his ruling authority, if he is no longer 'Gavin Cecil', then his support based on the prestige of pioneering heroes must be greatly shaken, and in addition to his connection with the eternal sleeper, can this also..."

Rosetta raised her eyebrows, looked into Matilda's eyes, and seemed to have a slight smile: "I remember you said not long ago that he is a kind and generous elder, and the conversation with him taught you a lot of things."

"...I don't deny that I have a certain respect for him, whether he is really 'Gauvin Cecil' or not," Matilda replied seriously, "but he is our opponent after all, Is not it?"

"...Matilda, you've grown a little bit," Rosetta said slowly, looking at her daughter quietly for a moment, with a smile in her eyes, "It's just that you haven't grown enough. There are some things you can say wrong.

"Our 'opponent' did rely on the support of 'Gawain Cecil' when he rose in the southern border, but he did not rely on 'Gawain Cecil' to take the position of emperor. 'With this identity, he maintained his rule over the empire, not by this name."

Matilda didn't react for a while, and asked subconsciously: "Then what he relies on..."

"Of course it's his army, and the bureaucrats he cultivated vigorously, my child," Rosetta laughed suddenly, "you're not usually so slow to react—you didn't expect this?"

Matilda looked slightly embarrassed: "I..."

"It doesn't matter, you are still young," Rosetta smiled and shook her head, "As I said, letting an emperor sit in that position is not a 'good reputation', of course a good reputation is important, it can make you The crown looks more beautiful, and it can make you feel more comfortable in that position, but military power and political power are the key factors that determine whether you can continue to stay in that position. Unfortunately, Gawain Cecil It has both, and the grip is very solid.

"If he loses control of the army and social order, then without us doing anything, countless remnants of the old Ansu era will jump out and name him a lot of usurpers, and his 'resurrection' will also It will no doubt turn into a conspiracy of the devil.

"If he firmly controls the army and social order, no matter how many people reveal his secrets, it will only be 'malicious slander by vain restorationists and vicious conspirators', and his 'resurrection' will still be a miracle , can even be a miracle when the need arises.