Sword of Dawn

He was indeed tired—the exhaustion deep in his mental world had taken so long to surface, making him realize that his confrontation with the cultist was not as easy as he thought.

Even as a satellite spirit, mobilizing that huge memory to devour another mind is not so easy.

Not long after returning to the tent, he fell asleep on his bed and fell asleep quickly.

He "opened" his eyes in an unfamiliar place, and found himself standing in a long corridor.

This corridor is a typical Ansu style. It has the same interior and support structure as the castle buildings favored by southern aristocrats. The supporting columns on both sides of the corridor are half-buried in the walls, and each supporting column is inlaid with a lamp. Lighted magic spar lamp.

But this was not the old castle of the Cecil family, nor the castle of the Leslie family in Tanzania, nor the interior of any castle that Gawain remembered.

Almost immediately, Gao Wen realized that he might have entered a dream again, and it was a dream that he entered in a lucid state. The experience he had just had with the cultists made him instantly alert and vigilant. I couldn't help but mutter in my heart:

"Why did another wave come so soon? Are these cultists the gourd babies who saved Grandpa?"

But soon, he discovered that the situation this time was not the same as before—he didn't wake up in a completely chaotic space, and no one broke into his dream, and he still had a kind of Willing, the feeling of being able to wake up at any time, is more like a normal dream than being dragged into the imaginary space by the eternal sleeper.

The only difference from falling into a dream is that he remains unusually awake.

No, there are more differences...

Gao Wen looked at his hand with a feeling, and consciously outlined the shape of a certain object. The next second, he found that there was an extra can of Coke in his hand.

In this lucid dream, he seems to be able to create what his heart desires.

Chapter 0170 Breeding in the Shadows

Gao Wen walked in this lucid dream.

He didn't know the reason for this change, but he guessed that the reason for this change was probably related to the unlucky Eternal Sleeper cultist—in the process of devouring the remaining minds of the other party, he came into contact with the sporadic knowledge of the Eternal Sleeper, those Scattered knowledge is not just as simple as memorizing data, as "knowledge" in the extraordinary domain, it is a kind of power in itself.

They brought Gawain this ability to function in lucid dreams.

While walking, Gao Wen shaped some things in his hands from time to time according to his thoughts, and discovered the limitations of this "shaping" in the process.Probably because he has not obtained the real power of the eternal sleeper, so the things he created in the dream still have full "fantasy" characteristics, only have a fake appearance, but have no real effect.

The drink he made had no taste, and the mobile phone he shaped from memory couldn't be turned on.

And those imaginary items that don't exist in the real world at all are even more difficult to maintain their shape for a long time.

But from this incomplete and useless ability, he continued to understand the nature of the special heretical sect of the Eternal Sleepers, as well as their possible purpose.

Immersed in eternal dreams, trying to find relief in a false world-this is probably the pursuit of the eternal sleeper.In Gao Wen's opinion, their ability to create illusions in the dream world has reached the level of completely false ones. In fact, if the truth is not known in advance, anyone who enters the dream of the eternal sleeper will instantly get lost in that false world. People with weak minds, even if they know the truth in advance, can easily indulge in all kinds of beautiful things in the imaginary world.

Although the outside world evaluates the Eternal Sleeper as an "expert in creating nightmares", after Gao Wen devoured the remaining minds of the cultist, he vaguely realized that what the cultists who weaved people's hearts were really pursuing was probably a sweet dream—and Creating nightmares is just a means to their end.

Gawain walked through the long corridor. In this strange place, his mind was as calm as water, but his thoughts were exceptionally quick.

To paraphrase a sentence from the previous life, people who are addicted to the virtual world mostly want to escape from reality, while the eternal sleepers seem to Gao Wen to be some kind of group virtual world fanatics who escape from reality, but what they are escaping is specifically reality What part of the world?

Is it the social collapse and the deterioration of the living environment caused by the magic tide?Is it the changes in the religious structure and the exclusion of other sects?Or... is it the truth that the gods are dead?

At the end of the corridor in front of him, a heavy oak door stood in front of him. Gawain frowned. He saw a somewhat familiar emblem on the oak door, which was the emblem of the Kant family.

Is it because I have been paying attention to the affairs of the Kant family recently, so their family emblem appeared in the scene of my dream?Or... this is really Kant Castle?

Gawain frowned and looked around. He confirmed that he had never been to this place. Under normal circumstances, things beyond his memory or cognition would not appear in human dreams. It is the subconscious distortion of the things seen in ordinary times, but all the scenes in this dream are stable and orderly, even the pattern on the wall and the brilliance emitted by each magic spar lamp are flawless. Gawain suddenly suspected that this scene might be born out of the memory of that cultist.

That cultist was active in Kant Castle?

After hesitating for a moment, Gao Wen stretched out his hand and pushed open the oak door in front of him.

Behind the gate is a cellar-like space, wide, deep, and shrouded in dim light. As an underground structure in the castle, the scale of this "cellar" is far beyond necessary, so that it seems to be a banquet on the surface. The hall was moved underground, and in such a wide and abnormal space, Gao Wen saw that there were upright pillars connecting the ground and the stone ceiling above, and there seemed to be writing on the surface of those upright pillars.

Gao Wen approached one of the pillars, and he saw that there were no words on it, but countless deep dents scratched with his nails!

The moment Gao Wen saw these dents, Gao Wen felt that his vision suddenly blurred, and then a large number of water-like ripples appeared in the dark space in all directions. In the ripples, countless shadowy things separated The "disguise" of the subconscious layer appeared in front of Gao Wen's eyes.

They were human-like phantoms one after another, with translucent, off-white figures, and vague faces showing numb expressions. They stood here in shadows layer upon layer, staring blankly at them with their empty eyes. The center of the entire "cellar".

Gawain was startled when these figures emerged, but the latter immediately realized that these shadows were not aware of his existence at all—or in other words, these shadows probably did not have the ability to think at all.

After calming down, he followed the direction these shadows were staring at, and he suddenly saw a stone platform in the center of this "underground hall". Huge and ornate coffin.

Gao Wen frowned, walked towards the huge coffin through the countless shadowy figures beside him, but just halfway there, he heard an illusory and vague voice, which seemed to be two The individual was talking, but it was difficult to distinguish intermittently. Gao Wen carefully pricked up his ears, and only then heard a few clearer words:

"... How I wish this was just a nightmare, and when I wake up from the nightmare, everything is still good..."

"...Dream and reality, what is the difference..."

"I... don't know what to do, losing them..."

"The Eternal Sleeper will help you, don't be afraid, don't believe the rumors that slander us, we are still committed to saving sentient beings from suffering just like 700 years ago, but 700 years ago we kept sentient beings away from nightmares, And today we save all beings from the nightmare reality...

"You just put it here, feed it well, and believe me, it'll be fine.

"The one that passed away will eventually return, not only in dreams, but also in reality..."

The conversation was low-pitched and vague, with serious distortion, so that Gawain couldn't even judge the gender of the interlocutor, but he was almost certain that one of the speakers was the Eternal Sleeper who was swallowed by him Heretics!

After waking up from the dream, Gawain immediately called Heidi and Pittman.

"Ancestor, we have finished questioning that mercenary mage," Hetty thought that Gawain called him to inquire about the progress of the interrogation of the prisoners, so he said as soon as they met, "They are indeed doing things for the Kant family, but They don't know what their employers asked them to do to capture the refugees. They can only be sure of one thing-they have never seen the refugees captured by them appear in Kant as slaves in the future, nor have they seen any The slave traders took those people from Kant, and the refugees who were captured disappeared on that land as if they had evaporated."

Gao Wen frowned: "Sure enough..."

"Sure enough?" Hetty was taken aback, not understanding what Gawain meant, "Do you know anything?"

"I'm afraid I have to go to Kant immediately." Gao Wen had already made a decision before, and said bluntly at this moment, "The sooner the better."

This time Hetty was really shocked: "Go to Kant Land? What are you going there for? Do you want to go to Viscount Kant to inquire about the refugees? This kind of thing..."

"It's more serious than that," Gao Wen said seriously, "I came into contact with some of the fragments of his consciousness when I was fighting against the cultist of the Eternal Sleeper. Something was handed over to someone in Kant Land—most likely the current Viscount Victor Kant, and that thing was an evil thing, it had been in that land for many years, more than ten years or even For decades, during this period, it has been absorbing the souls of living people and growing!"

"An evil thing that sucks the souls of living people?" Pittman was taken aback. "Could it be that those refugees who were captured into Kant..."

"It's probably been fed," Gao Wen frowned. "That thing has grown to a critical point, but it hasn't completed its final transformation, but once it completes... I'm worried that people including Tanzania, Xinsai, Its power will envelop all regions including Cyr and Carrollland further north."

Gao Wen's words were not alarmist, because when the dream was about to end, he had already clearly felt the existence of a growing "item" supporting the dream world.

He could feel the power emanating from that item, and he could feel its influence on the minds of all human beings in a fairly large range. Perhaps because of devouring the original owner's mind fragments of the item, Gawain had established a subtle relationship with that item. This makes him almost [-]% sure: Once enough energy is absorbed, the cursed thing placed by the cultists in the Kant family castle will explode with terrifying power, and the new Cecil leader And ordinary people in Tanzania Town will be involved in it without exception!

He had already threatened himself, so he couldn't just sit back and watch.

Gao Wen's serious attitude also infected Hetty, who became nervous and worried: "Ancestor, you have already risked your life once in Tanzan Town, this time..."

"No, it won't be so dangerous this time." Gawain shook his head, "As long as I find it in time, then it will pose no threat to me—I have a way to control it."

His answer was quite confident, which reassured Hetty a little bit, but the latter couldn't help but care: "But if Viscount Victor Kant has been completely bewitched and controlled by the cultists, will he be right?" You are disadvantaged?"

"In this whole incident, there is only one person who has the ability to threaten me." Gawain looked at the concerned Heidi and smiled slightly, "but that person has already been destroyed by me in the space of consciousness."

Chapter 0171 The Legend of the Eternal Dark Sea

In any case, Kant Ling had to go there, and Gao Wen had to go in person.

The Ansu Kingdom has a loose system, and the protection of the remote areas by the royal family is as low as the power of rule. Moreover, the southern region has been peaceful for a long time, and no matter how powerful the military family is in this environment, it will gradually decline, so it is in the extreme south. It is almost impossible for Gawain to expect any support from a third party (this environment is probably one of the reasons why the cultists were able to erode this area), and not being able to wait for support is just one of the reasons why Gawain decided to go himself The other reason is that he saw something in that "dream".

He mentioned to Hetty and Pittman that the Eternal Sleeper left an evil thing in Kant Castle, but he did not explain what the "evil thing" was, but in fact, he had seen that thing and recognized it. it.

That thing is located in front of the gorgeous stone pavilion in the center of the underground hall, and it is placed on a small altar like a "holy object" to be enshrined. It is an exquisite magic lantern, and more than 700 years ago, Gawain Cecil gave it as a gift to Selina Gerfen, who was chaplain in the Trail Blazers at the time.

That was once a gentle and quiet lady, a priest of the God of Dreams who was deeply trusted by the pioneers and used dreams to heal the wounds of countless soldiers in the age of darkness and panic. Her devout faith and outstanding Her contribution allowed her to become the Dreamland Bishop in the Northern Frontier Army at the age of less than 30. If fate did not make a bad joke, then she might even become one of the candidates for the Pope of the Dreamland Church, becoming a person like Gawain A well-known pioneering hero like Cecil.

But in the mysterious ceremony that tried to communicate with the gods, she went to the peak of the ancestors with the Pope of the Dream Church at that time. No one knew what happened in that ceremony and the subsequent meeting. Gawain only knew that in the After that fateful day, several sects including the Druid Sect, Dreamland Church, and Storm God Church became enemies of human society.

There was no publicly announced break, no religious debate, and several sects rushed out of the meeting place of the Ancestor Peak as if they went crazy at the same time, and then their believers scattered throughout the continent seemed to have received some kind of order They generally left their respective churches and assembly halls at the same time. A certain invisible huge spiritual net seemed to cover every member of the dark sect from that day on. In just a few days, several major churches fell successively and completely Disappeared before the eyes of the world.

Since the entire Ancestor Peak at that time was blocked by the armed priests of the Holy Light Church and the God of War Church, no one knew what happened that day. The spokespersons of several righteous gods explained afterwards that "a small number of extreme churches cannot accept the terms of peaceful coexistence with other faiths, and therefore choose to defect," but in the mind of Gawain Cecil, and later Gawain, he always had doubts about this explanation.

As for Selina Geerfen, she has never appeared since that day. In the past, she used dreams to soothe the pain of soldiers, and the gentle priestess trusted by the pioneers disappeared. She may be like a part of the fallen Germans. Ruy rushed into the wasteland of Gondor like that, and he may have turned into some kind of more twisted and darker existence. Gawain didn't know what the final outcome of that old friend would be. He only knew that 700 years later , a relic of Selina Gerfen appeared here, and was placed in the old castle of the Kant family as the core of some kind of evil sacrificial ceremony.

He thinks he needs to reclaim that thing, maybe it will help him figure out what happened on the Ancestral Peak 700 years ago, or at least understand what happened to the original priests when they degenerated into cultists kind of change.

The evil power that is growing and transforming in Kant Castle has not yet reached its peak state. According to the progress sensed in the dream, Gawain can slowly prepare to arrange for himself a place that can enter Kant Castle without causing Vic Chance for Viscount Do Conde to be vigilant and skeptical—he's not going to go in with full force, but to find a chance to stop the event before it erupts.

It is very troublesome and noticeable for a duke to visit a viscount, but it is not so complicated for a duke who only has a title and is essentially just a pioneering lord to visit his "neighbor". Gawain knew that Kant A large part of the grain and herbs produced by the leader will be sent to Tanzania Town, and then bought back by Cecil Leader, and not long ago, Cecil Leader also bought a group of slaves from Tanzania Town (regular, by Slaves sold by slave traders), which means that there is actually a lot of trade between the two territories, which is a reason to visit.

He prepared a set of rhetoric and asked Hetty to do it: "Send a messenger over and say that I will visit to discuss the purchase of food and medicinal materials in the coming year-Cecil understands the large-scale purchase of materials, and these things come from Tanzanian Changing hands in the town's market will not only increase the price, but also take a long time. We can build a new trade route between Cecil and Kant. Anyway, we are also planning to develop the north bank of the Baishui River. This matter is worth my time. Talk to him."

Hetty nodded: "I understand."

After arranging this matter, Gao Wen rubbed the space between his brows and focused on another matter.

"Have you two heard of 'Eternal Dark Sea'?"

Hetty and Pittman were taken aback for a moment, and looked at each other.

When Gao Wen saw the expressions of these two people, his heart suddenly sank: It seems that there is not much hope.

Hetty is a mage who has received orthodox aristocratic education and gained a lot of mystic knowledge. He should be regarded as an expert in orthodox history and natural history knowledge. Pittman has received a social education and has learned a lot of cheating knowledge He is also an expert in unofficial anecdotes and bluffing tales. The knowledge of these two people complements each other. Together, they are almost an alien version of Zhihu—if neither of them has ever heard of "Eternal Dark Sea" ", then he probably won't be able to find out about this in the field of knowledge of normal people.

"This sounds like a term that superstitious sailors would make up," Hetty frowned, guessing, "The ocean is shrouded in magical vortexes and storms all year round. Few ships dare to challenge the deep sea. Occasionally, there are bold ones. Adventurers went out to sea to try to find waterways, but few of them came back alive. Over time, sailors made up all kinds of superstitious stories about the ocean, and even inspired all kinds of strange sea areas that the adventurers who came back from madness talked about. All kinds of names... Ancestor, where did you hear this name?"

"It's also from the memory of the Eternal Sleeper cultists," Gawain didn't hide this aspect, and then looked at Pittman, "You seem to have something to say?"

Although the old Druid was at a loss when he first heard the words "Eternal Dark Sea", but when Hetty told the superstitious stories of those sailors, he gradually showed a thoughtful expression, so Gao Wen asked him curiously.

"Yes, my lord, if you are interested in some unofficial tales, I can tell you those stories that have been circulated among the people and cannot be put on the stage," Pittman nodded, "I have indeed heard of the 'Eternal Darkness' Sea Territory', but it is not a word created by humans, in fact, it originated from the silver elves, and it is a story circulated among the elves—so I didn't think of it just now."

"The unofficial tales of the silver elves?" Gawain was suddenly taken aback. He didn't expect that the "sea of ​​eternal darkness" mentioned by a cultist of the Eternal Sleepers turned out to be a word that originated from the silver elves. "Those super-living long-eared Will you still pass on this kind of thing?"

"The silver elves living in the southern part of the continent established the oldest civilization on this land, tens of thousands of years before the rise of human beings in the central part of the continent. Now, although the original elf empire has been lost in history, the newborn silver empire has Inherited many historical documents of the ancient elf empire, but because the age is too old, and various elemental creatures and strange beasts active in ancient times are easily mixed with myths and legends, those historical documents also have a lot of mistakes and omissions. It is normal for them to evolve into unofficial tales, after all, elves are just mortal species," Pittman laughed, "and about the Everdark Sea, it is the most bizarre of all elf legends."

Then he cleared his throat and continued: "Ahem. In the legend about the Eternal Dark Sea, the elves talked about the origin of their own race - it is said that there were no silver elves, gray elves, dark elves, etc. in the world. There are two subspecies of elves, only one kind of 'original elves' who are born with great power and immortality live on another continent far away.

"One day in ancient times, a disaster occurred on that continent, so a group of primitive elves escaped from their ancestral continent in an 'ark' that could hover and gallop over the sea. He was lost at sea, and half a month later, he suddenly broke into a sea that was always in darkness and shrouded in starlight, and in the center of that sea, stood an extremely magnificent and extremely tall giant tower. It has a mountain-like figure, with its top protruding straight into the starry sky.

"The primordial elves who lost their way were touched by the giant tower and the starry sky, so they prayed devoutly under the starlight, hoping to find a new place to live, and their prayers were actually conveyed to the ears of the gods among the stars through the giant tower, so The starlight gave blessings, and the giant tower opened the gate, allowing the original elves to step into it.

"All the original elves walked into the tower, and they saw endless wonderful things in that tower, including projections of the universe and starry sky, and the evolution process of various animals, minerals, and plants in the world. Realizing that the tower contains incredible knowledge, they became greedy—they were no longer satisfied with sheltering from the wind and waves on the outer layer of the tower, but tried to enter the inner and upper layers of the tower to touch the knowledge.

"So the giant tower sent down punishment, and a kind of light filled the whole tower. The original elves who tried to steal knowledge were shrouded in light. According to the degree of their intrusion, they were transformed into life forms in the light, and became people who feared the sun. Dark elves, diminutive gray elves, sea elves who can't stay out of water for long, and silver elves with the least flaws - because the group of silver elves feared the power of the tower and didn't step into the forbidden area too much, so they were punished Also the smallest.

In this way, the immortal and powerful original elves became subspecies elves with various defects, and these subspecies escaped from the giant tower in horror, returned to their ark, and left the area they called The 'Sea of ​​Eternal Darkness' is a mysterious place that is always shrouded in night and starry sky, and where a giant tower stands. It was after that that they drifted to the current Loren Continent. "

Pittman took a breath and stroked his beard: "My lord, this is the legend about the Sea of ​​Eternal Darkness."

Chapter 0172 Kant's Guest

The story told by Pittman aroused great interest in Gao Wen, and at the same time gave him a lot of irrepressible associations.

Many people will regard unofficial tales as absurd stories that are not worth mentioning, but at the same time, many people are willing to admit that no matter how absurd wild tales are, there are always some reflections from reality.

And for those elves with a long lifespan, whose historical records are far more detailed and coherent than humans, Gawain believes that their legends and stories have facts to follow—especially those about the ark floating and galloping above the sea, and the eternal night. In terms of the sea area and the giant tower reaching to the sky, these things beyond the knowledge of ordinary people in the Loren Continent were described in such detail and so conclusively in the legend of the silver elves, which made Gao Wen have to think about it.

Outside of this Loren continent, are there really other continents?

Before the civilization on this continent developed, did civilizations appear on other continents?

The "primitive elves" fled their homeland in an ark that floated and galloped above the sea. What is the body of the ark?From the description... Could it be something like a ground-effect aircraft?Or a large hovercraft?

What about the sea forever shrouded in night?Is it located in the polar night range?Does polar day and polar night also exist at the north and south poles of this planet?

And what is that legendary giant tower?It is obviously not a natural product, but more like man-made. There are projections of the starry sky and image data of animals, plants and minerals in the tower... Could it be related to the ancient super civilization that left a monitoring satellite? !

If the secret voyage carried out by Gawain Cecil back then really found the Sea of ​​Eternal Darkness and the giant tower, then those crystals were brought out by the other party from the giant tower?

Countless pieces of information seemed to be linked together at this moment, and the cause and effect of the incident seemed to reveal some clues, but when Gao Wen searched and analyzed it carefully, he found that there was still no result from the analysis.

The information was too messy and fragmented, mixed with many vague legends, ghost stories, speculations, too many uncertainties, and it was not enough for him to piece together the truth back then!

At this moment, Gawain even had an irresistible urge to build a big ship and go directly to the northern border of the kingdom to explore the sea, to find the place that is always shrouded in night (or at a certain time, it may be in a long-lasting state). In the extreme daylight state of time), go and see what the legendary giant tower is!

This impulse was throbbing in his chest, and he had to take a deep breath, silently thinking about the territory's current resource reserves, technological foundation, industrial production capacity, and the remaining gold and silver in the treasure house in the mountain, going through these things one by one Afterwards, his impulse completely disappeared, and his heart became cold...

"Ancestor, are you alright?" Hetty looked at Gawain with concern, the change of emotion on the latter's face made her worry about the possibility that the old ancestor would die again (and depending on the circumstances, this death is still very unsafe) , but luckily Gao Wen came back to his senses in time, and waved to her: "Don't worry, it's fine."

"Are you interested in the Sea of ​​Eternal Darkness?" Pittman next to him said, and then frowned, "But with all due respect, even in the mighty Silver Empire, the Sea of ​​Eternal Darkness is just a story, as we all know, Storms, fog, and chaotic magic fields block the entire ocean. Even with the technical power of elves, it is impossible to navigate in seas far away from the coastline. It is even more impossible for human countries after the decline of technology. The God of Storm Before the church fell, the storm priests could still guide the captains to sail in certain routes around the mainland, but now the Church of the God of Storms has fallen into the Son of the Storm, and no one can sail on the ocean anymore... "

It was rare for this little old man to persuade himself with such a serious attitude. Gao Wen was quite moved, but he still couldn't help asking: "It has been 700 years, and countries are still trapped on the mainland, unable to go to the far sea. Is it?"

"Occasionally there will be bold explorers who challenge the ocean, but less than a third of them come back alive, and even if they come back, most of them are crazy, and their minds are ruined by the chaotic magic environment in the far sea." Hetty shook her head, "and the challenge What is the use of the sea? Wealth comes from the land, no matter whether minerals or crops can only be obtained on land, it is really unnecessary to challenge the sea. At present, the only one on the mainland that has developed the sea is the Typhon Empire, but they also It's just that I found some magic materials near the sea..."

Gao Wen couldn't help but frowned and glanced at Heidi: "Do you really think there is no wealth in the ocean?"

"Wealth in the ocean?" Hetty was taken aback. "Humans are creatures that live on land. What wealth can be useful to us in the ocean?"

Gawain looked at Hetty, wanting to give an impassioned inspiration and education, but soon he found that these preaching was of no use to Hetty who had limited knowledge and vision, so he could only sigh in the end: "Mr. One day you will understand that this continent is too narrow for humans who have enlightened their minds—not to mention, there is no place to hide when there is a wave of magic.”

There is a wave of magic coming... There is nowhere to hide...

This sentence immediately touched Hetty, but just as she was about to ask something more, Gawain had already mentioned another matter: "Let's not talk about this, Hetty, I want you to help me collect some scrolls material."