Sword of Dawn

Page 478

Soldering, who was sitting on the tree branch, shook his ears, but he didn't pay attention to the idle chatter of his subordinates. He just adjusted his posture slightly, which hardly caused any trembling of the tree branch, and then raised his head with a hint of melancholy Looking sideways at the clear blue sky in winter.

After a long time, he sighed softly: "...Why don't they have hair?

"The ones that have been transformed... can the ones that have been transformed still count..."

……

"This is the latest information from the front line." In the study of Cecil Palace, Hetty put a sorted document in front of Gao Wen's eyes, "The defense line of Winter Wolf Castle has stabilized, although the Typhons counterattack once It was more ferocious than last time, but we dispatched more troops in time, Zero and the giant python also arrived near the Shadow Swamp in time, and the soldiers finally gained a foothold there."

Gawain took the document handed over by Hetty, and while listening to the other party's report, he scanned the paper quickly. Soon, his gaze slowed down, and after Hetty's voice fell, he said to himself He said to himself: "Sure enough...the proportion of 'polluters' in Typhon's army has increased..."

"Theoretically speaking, there is no such 'surge' of spiritual pollution spread through the chain of belief-unbelievers will not be polluted, and believers will be heavily polluted from the beginning. Between these two groups of people, the spiritual pollution of gods There is no 'human-to-human transmission'," Hetty said, "so...the situation really hits your mark."

"Yes, I guessed it right," Gao Wen said with a smile, with a complicated and subtle expression, "Look here, these signs of mobilization, these complex, subtle and rapid reorganizations..."

He sighed, not knowing whether he was crying or laughing.

"These 'new' infected people are gathered and dispatched from the rear. Rosetta Augustus is launching his huge ruling machine and war machine. In a series of personnel adjustments, the soldiers affected by the God of War are constantly Sent to the front lines of Winterwolf Castle—he is using our power to purify this pollution, and maybe...he is also using it to clean up his political enemies."

Hearing Gawain's words, Hetty's expression also became strange.

Chapter 0997 Psionic Singer

In Gao Wen's view, what Rosetta is doing is not even a conspiracy—everything happened aboveboard.

This even gave him a feeling—Rosetta Augustus, who was far away in Aldernan, gave himself a look from the sky, making him look at the…

But Gao Wen thought about it carefully, and felt that this really had to continue, because all of this happened to be what he was looking forward to.

No matter what method is used, it is necessary to reduce the carriers of spiritual pollution as much as possible, weaken the influence of God of War in the material world, and defend the enemy from outside the country. In this regard, Rosetta just fought with Cecil It's just a tacit cooperation...

"Ancestor, is this really all right?" Hetty couldn't help but frowned. Rosetta Augustus's series of operations really exceeded her expectations. In her impression, this kind of boldness And the unreasonable operation seems to be done only by the ancestor who uncovered the coffin in front of him, "The Typhons are using our hands to eliminate those infected with spiritual alienation..."

"The key now is not whether there is a problem with doing this, but that we can only do it - Rosetta threw us a pitch that we must catch, and now we can only accompany him to do this," said Gao Wen But his attitude was very calm, "It's better to say that this is in line with my thinking-we don't have so much energy to deal with those sane Typhons, but if the opposite is an infected person... then it's another matter."

The weird feeling in Hetty's heart was still hard to dissipate. She pursed her lips, with an expression of disbelief on her face: "But he was able to do this openly... Those soldiers and nobles who were polluted by the God of War are already very insane , but was still arbitrarily mobilized by him, and God of War didn't respond at all during the process..."

"Just as we have been analyzing the birth and operation of gods, Rosetta Augustus also has his own research in this area." Having said that, Gawain's expression became serious, "He has obviously found the way According to the law... When the god was in a half-mad state, he accurately took advantage of the loopholes in the field of 'war' - even if those infected believers of the God of War were sent to the front line to die, this was essentially a part of supporting war, as long as this One point is still within the framework, then he will not incur the backlash of the God of War, and those nobles and soldiers who have been mentally polluted will obediently obey the orders from Aldernan."

"The problem is that even a mentally disturbed army has normal intelligence on the battlefield. Even because of the loss of the fear and weakness of ordinary humans, the fighting power of those who have been mentally polluted far exceeds that of normal soldiers," Hetty said seriously, "Rosetta Augustus sent those out-of-control nobles and soldiers to Winter Wolf Castle, which is also constantly consuming our combat power..."

"Of course he will consume our combat power. Our 10,000+ mechanized legion is stationed on the land of Typhon, can he sleep?" Gawain waved his hand, "It's not difficult to guess what he thinks, I can only say... …the planning was very good.”

Rosetta Augustus' plan was clear to Gao Wen - this chaotic and sudden war plunged the two empires into a vortex, and countless people couldn't see the future clearly in a daze, but for the two empires As far as the rulers are concerned, all this is clearly presented in front of their eyes like mountains and rivers in the sun.

This war may be sudden, but in the long run, there will be such a battle between Typhon and Cecil sooner or later, so when it really comes, Rosetta Augustus will definitely be extremely Bring the situation back under his control as much as possible, and look for the greatest benefit point from it-he sends those troops controlled by the God of War to the front line, and uses this method to quickly reduce the hidden dangers of domestic instability, and those who are not afraid of death The out-of-control legion can also be used to weaken Cecil's combat power.At the same time, those out-of-control troops will also buy Rosetta precious time, allowing him to reorganize the order and gradually regain Typhon's disadvantage at the beginning of the war.

This may not give him any advantage, but it can at least bring Typhon and Cecil back to the same starting line gradually.

In addition, Rosetta will take this opportunity to sweep away all kinds of unstable factors in Typhon, and get a chance to completely reorganize the order like Cecil in the past, and his rule will be unprecedentedly strengthened , the upper layers of Typhon will truly condense...

Of course, there is a major premise in all of this-the situation will really develop as he planned.

"Ancestor, do we need to make a plan to attack Aldernan?" Hetty watched Gawain's expression change, and after a little thought, she suddenly broke the silence, "Perhaps, it will come in handy."

Gawain glanced at Hetty in surprise, and then he was silent for a few seconds before slowly saying: "There is always a plan..."

"Yes, I understand." Hetty lowered her head and said, then she raised her head and saw that Gawain's gaze was falling on the mainland map not far away - that map had already been outlined with various lines And marks, in the seemingly messy markings, faintly reveal the order hidden in the depths of this war.

"I've been thinking about one thing," Gao Wen said slowly, "Is there something deeper behind this matter..."

Hetty blinked, with a trace of curiosity: "What do you mean?"

"The out-of-control god of war is only projecting his own power on mortals who believe in him to cause chaos, but is this chaos really the only thing in a divine disaster? Intelligence shows that Rosetta Augustus is Large-scale purges are being carried out in the country, and at the same time, a series of shutdowns, suppressions, and censorship actions are being taken against the Church of God of War. Although this seems to be a normal means of reorganizing order, will this be a problem for God of War who has lost control? A kind of active stimulation?" Gao Wen curled his fingers and said while tapping the armrest of the seat, "Rosetta Augustus' series of bold actions now makes me feel like a gambler...but He couldn't be a gambler, or rather, he couldn't be a 'pure gambler'."

Hetty showed a thoughtful expression: "Not a 'pure gambler'..."

"A pure gambler will gamble everything regardless of the cost, but Rosetta...he will definitely calculate all the costs and the possibility of failure accurately, and carefully bet what he can bet," Gao Wen said in a deep voice Said, "Therefore, when he decides to take a gamble, there is only one possibility - he has indeed grasped a certain degree of 'gambling', and confirmed that there is a possibility of success in it, no matter the gain or loss, as far as he is concerned All acceptable."

When Gawain said this, his expression was very firm. Although from a personal point of view, he and Rosetta August had only met once or twice, but as the ruler of the empire... Cecil and Typhon fought against each other. I don't know how many times we communicated.

Those commercial bills, those circulated intelligence, those records about Typhon's New Deal and the Augustus family... Numerous third-party materials have already pieced together the whole picture of Rosetta Augustus' "portrait".

For Gao Wen, this "portrait" pieced together based on intelligence and data is even more real and reliable than Rosetta herself.

He fell silent, and began to sort out all the information he had so far, thinking about the possible actions Typhon might take next—he was actually not worried about this "war" itself at the beginning, he trusted his army, trusted Philip and the other generals trusted the technology, industry, and people of the empire. What he really worried about was always what stood behind the war.

"The Psionic Singer Project..." He suddenly raised his head, looked at Hetty and said, "Where is the progress?"

Psychic singers are special soldiers who are specially used to fight against all kinds of spiritual pollution (including the spiritual pollution of gods). As a training model, relying on nerve thorns and a series of ancillary equipment in the fields of biochemistry, soul, and magic to achieve "mass production". From the very beginning, this special soldier project was something that Gao Wen paid special attention to.

As a country that has experienced divine disasters and has been studying gods since a long time ago, Cecil already has some technologies that can fight against mental pollution, but these technologies have their own defects-the most basic "mental protection" System" is the crude use of siren runes, which has limited effects and can only provide passive protection; the most advanced "humanity barrier" runs in the neural network, its effect is stronger and it can actively eliminate or even "prey" Spiritual pollution within a certain range can also be connected to mortal minds for effective "treatment", but it must rely on the network to operate, and has high requirements for equipment and basic engineering.

For Cecil today, the neural network cannot even achieve full coverage in the country, and it is obviously more difficult for the army going abroad to maintain a smooth network. After all, there are no communication satellites in this era, and the neural network can only rely on magic. Even the most advanced "Steel Ambassador" multi-purpose combat vehicle, its communication tower can only maintain a limited range of signal transmission.

Originally, these problems were not so urgent. The mental protection system and human barrier were enough for Cecil to protect himself within the country, but this sudden war disrupted Gawain's development rhythm—now he urgently needed a way to protect himself. It is a new unit that can actively resist the spiritual pollution of the gods, move flexibly on the front line, and operate independently from the restrictions of the network. It does not affect the protection effect in complex expeditionary operations.

The "Spiritual Singer" Wendy, the archbishop of the Eternal Sleeper, is training best meets his requirements—however, this project has not progressed for a long time.

"About the psychic singer, Ms. Wendy sent a message yesterday," Hetty said, "the prototype soldiers at this stage are still unable to enter the battlefield... Stability is a problem. But if you have time, you can still Go see the situation."

Sure enough, this kind of thing is not something that can be achieved by thinking about it...

Gao Wen thought for a while: "Is there anything else in my schedule today?"

Hetty recalled: "There will be a consul meeting in the evening, and there are no other arrangements before that."

"Then let's go and have a look," Gawain stood up, "at least see what the prototype soldiers are like at this stage."

……

On the north bank of the Whitewater River, near the pyramid-shaped computing center, in a research facility belonging to the Imperial Military Research Department, testing of the psionic singer prototype soldier is still in progress.

This is a spacious and bright large laboratory, with a large open space in the center of the rectangular room.In the four corners of the room, you can see four alloy square columns with metallic luster and shimmering runes, and around the central open space, you can see many neatly arranged cylindrical devices that are only half a meter high.Technicians in white tunics are busy around the cylindrical devices, and among those technicians, many are familiar faces.

Standing at the front is a young lady with a dignified and beautiful appearance who has her hair pulled up high. She is the former archbishop of the Eternal Sleeper, and now a researcher of the Empire, an expert in the field of brain neurology and spirituality—"Spiritual Song" Wendy, and Yuri and Semler, who were both archbishops, stood beside her.In addition, Pittman, who came to assist in the work as a biochemical expert, was also present.

The test subject was a young man with freckles standing in the middle of the open space.

The young man was wearing a set of special light armor - not so much armor, but also a "body-fitting frame" used to fix various rune inserts. The test runes were installed in various parts of the armor. There is a slight light shining; his hands and forearms are equipped with special "armguards". The armguards look somewhat similar to the second-generation military magic terminal that is now widely used, but the weapon unit cannot be seen. The positions originally used to place ray guns or lightning launchers were replaced by a large number of finely structured metal protrusions, which obviously should have special functions.

While the technicians around were busy, the young man was checking the buckle of his arm guard. He moved his wrist from time to time, showing a little nervousness.

This is what Gawain and Hetty saw when they came to the scene.

He came among the busy technicians, raised his hand to indicate that everyone should not be polite, and nodded with a smile to the young man who bowed to him in a panic on the test field in response, and then looked to the side "Spiritual Song" Wendy: "To be honest, psychic singers are a bit different from what I imagined... I thought that with the word 'singer' in their name, there would be at least one set of 'singing' related songs in the lab." Things, but I only saw the rune armor, the magic terminal and the nerve thorn safe deposit box."

Wendy was not surprised by Gawain's words, she smiled lightly: "The 'singing voice' of a psychic singer cannot be heard with the ears, and naturally there is no need to 'sing' it with the mouth—please Don't be misled by the name, they are called 'singers' only because the power they use comes from the song of the sea monster."

Gawain was startled, and then realized that he seemed to have misunderstood this matter before, and at the same time Wendy continued with a smile: "So, in theory, psionic singers don't even need to be able to 'sing' at all— — It is enough to be able to skillfully manipulate neural thorns and a series of brainwave amplifiers."

Hedi, who came with Gao Wen, couldn't help but glance at Wendy when she heard this: "I've heard the song you recorded on the show, and I thought..."

"It's just a personal hobby." Wendy smiled faintly. "The 'singing' of psychic singers is used to fight against those crazy and chaotic gods and evil spirits. Those things... don't know how to appreciate music."

Chapter 0998 Unstable

In Cecil, priests don’t necessarily know the Holy Light, nuns don’t necessarily know how to heal, stalkers usually use two-handed swords and power saps, and even the peak-looking elves may be bald in nature—to sum up As mentioned above, it is normal for a "singer" not to sing.

But Gao Wen stood there thinking for a long time, and still felt that there was something wrong with this...

But if it’s not right, it’s not right. Anyway, there are not many things in this land with normal painting styles—he’s seen cyberpunk dragon kingdom before, and Gao Wen’s compatibility with painting style issues is unprecedentedly high at this moment.

Regardless of whether the painting style is right or not, it works.

He looked at the young tester in the center of the test site, who was connecting the rune boards and testing the magic terminal with the help of several technicians at the moment, and another technician came to a nearby safe deposit box, quite Wei carefully took out a spine-like device that shone with silver-white metallic luster—nerve thorns from the box.

A technician came to Wendy's side. He first saluted Gao Wen, and then reported to Wendy Hui: "The tester's equipment has been inspected, and the personnel and equipment are in good condition. Experiments can be carried out at any time."

Wendy nodded and glanced at Gawain, who hummed, "Then let's start the test... Let me see your results so far."

"Start connecting the nerve thorns," Wendy immediately turned to the assistants, "Prepare the neural signal amplifier and helmet!"

The technicians began to work one after another. Gao Wen saw that the technician holding the nerve thorns came to the center of the field, and carefully attached the "artificial spine" with silver-white metallic luster to the tester's nape of the neck. , and another technician walked over with a strange looking helmet. The helmet was made of several layers of metal sheets. The most peculiar thing was that it even completely covered the eyes, and then other people started to activate the surrounding Various test equipment and safety devices.

They had apparently done this more than once, and within a few minutes they were ready for the test.

The technicians left the center of the field one after another, leaving only the young tester standing in place. The nerve thorns at the back of his head were hanging quietly behind his back, and the strange-shaped helmet covered his eyes and skull. There is also some kind of soft material on the back that is closely connected with the connection end of the nerve thorns—he is waiting for further instructions, and during this period, Wendy explained the function of these equipment to Gawain: "We specially designed a A kind of nerve thorn, it is more sensitive than the conventional model, and can make the psychic singer keenly perceive abnormal spiritual pollution, but it also causes a certain mental burden, so ordinary people need to be trained to withstand the impact of this extra perception pressure……

"The psychic singer's suit has a series of resonance substrates, which can be used to release specific high-frequency or low-frequency magic vibrations under the control of nerve thorns. The effect of the 'Song of the Deep Sea' spreads out in this way. In order to To further enhance its effect, we also designed a set of three neural signal amplifiers - the amplifiers are not activated now, you will see them later.

"...the helmet contains a large number of nerve contacts, which are used to further enhance the connection efficiency between the psionic singer and the suit, and also have a certain protective effect..."

Gawain listened silently, and finally couldn't help asking: "Why is there an armor plate on the helmet to cover the eyes?"

"...In order to prevent insanity," Wendy said with a serious expression, "During the test, we found that the perception of psionic singers will not only be greatly enhanced, but also produce various 'supersensory phenomena' that are different from human beings. , This involves a very complicated process of nerve-soul interaction. Judging from the results, this kind of super perception has mutated the vision of psionic singers, and they will see many... things that they shouldn't see, and these Things are likely to bypass the mental protection and break through their sanity barrier.

"After all, although psychic singers are soldiers against spiritual pollution, they are still mortals themselves. Once the protection is broken down, they are not much stronger than ordinary people.

"That's why we designed this kind of visual suppression device—those armor pieces not only physically block the user's vision, but also temporarily block the brain's processing of visual signals through the neural contacts built into the helmet, which can maximize Minimize the prevention of mental pollution caused by visual pollution. This is much more effective than 'closing your eyes'."

Hetty on the side couldn't help but interjected: "Then their vision..."

"Please don't worry," Wendy laughed, "Although the eyes are blocked, the psychic singer can actually 'see'."

While talking, she raised her hand to wave to the young man in the center of the test field, and the latter immediately raised his head and waved in response—as if his vision was not affected at all.

"Yes, I can 'see'," said the young tester with a smile, his tension seemed to have completely eased, "and it's more clearly than what I can see with my eyes."

Gao Wen was suddenly curious: "What does the world look like in your eyes?"

"It's... hard to describe. I can see everything in all directions at the same time, including my back and the ground under my feet." The young tester thought for a while and said seriously, "This is direct perception, and all information will be directly sent to you." Presented in the mind. But I see almost no color, just various shades of gray and white, and that takes a while to get used to."

"The only 'color' that a psychic singer can see in this situation is the 'color' of spiritual pollution," Wendy explained next to her, "This is the conclusion that Naritil helped conduct a simulation test— —But the actual effect needs to be tested in actual combat. After all, Naritil no longer has the real "pollution", and the difference between the power of the gods she simulated and the divinity in the real world is still uncertain."

Gao Wen nodded clearly, and then exhaled lightly: "I understand, can we go to the next step now?"

Wendy immediately looked up at the tester in the middle of the field: "Mr. Akers, are you ready?"

The young man named Akers raised his hand and made a gesture of readiness: "You can start anytime."

"Then activate your suit—start by activating the three neural signal amplifiers stored in the room," Wendy said with a nod, "Others get ready, start recording monitoring data, and prepare to provide magical countermeasures at any time!"

After Wendy finished speaking, the tester in the center of the field had already started to move—he moved a certain joint on the magic terminal, and then the surface of the suit all over his body suddenly flowed with halos of magic power, accompanied by the gradually increasing Magical reaction, his whole body seemed to lose the restraint of gravity, and began to slowly float in the center of the field!

After floating for a few seconds, he waved his hands out of the field.

On a table in the corner of the laboratory, three rhombus-shaped metal devices about the length of the forearm flew up immediately. They went straight over the on-site staff and came behind the tester. With a movement, these metal devices unfolded their respective mechanical structures, blooming like some kind of hard-lined flowers, and fine golden sparks jumped and flickered among the "leaves", making crackling sounds.Afterwards, they began to undulate and fly around the tester again, like some kind of flexible creature.

This scene made Gao Wen's eyes widen in surprise, and he immediately understood: this is the effect of nerve thorns.

This is exactly what he had envisioned a long time ago, the last step for ordinary people to break through the limitations of the extraordinary, the last step for ordinary people to truly "release" spells - without the help of buttons and set spell models, directly by the user The ultimate link of controlling the mind and spirit power of the human beings, allowing ordinary humans to truly perceive and manipulate magic power!

Now, this link has been realized.

"Very good, the tester is in a stable state, and the output of each device is normal... The feedback signal of the nerve thorns is clear and stable, and the brain wave readings are normal..." Yuri, who was monitoring the data beside him, directly sensed the magic fluctuations on the scene with his mental power, and said, " Now let's increase the load, Mr. Ax, please try to activate the psionic echo, and let's see the effect of the Song of the Deep."

The tester floating in mid-air nodded, then slightly raised his arms and clenched his fists. A low-frequency noise-like sound immediately came from the three neural signal amplifiers floating behind him, and the noise only lasted for a short time. , it reached a frequency that the human ear cannot receive—it sounded like it had disappeared, but Gawain was sure that the "Song of the Deep Sea" had started to run and was covering the entire room, because he keenly sensed the spread of magic power in the air. There were ripples, and a slightly uplifting and sober force was slowly infiltrating everyone's heart.

"This looks good?" He couldn't help but said to Wendy next to him, "But I heard that the stability of the prototype soldier is problematic?"

"Yes, there is a problem with stability. What you see now is only the lowest load. It can barely resist unconscious and non-directed mental pollution, but as the load increases, the prototype soldier will soon lose control of the nerve thorn... "

While talking, the test project has reached the next stage. After collecting enough data, Yuri signaled the testers on the field to increase the intensity of the psionic echo. Gawain clearly felt a more powerful magic power appearing in the room. , he even had the illusion that his skin was slightly itchy - but all this only lasted for a few seconds.

Accompanied by a burst of high-frequency noise, the suit on the tester suddenly flickered, and the nerve thorns that had floated into the air with the personnel were also instantly extinguished. The young man seemed to be trying hard to regain control of the magic power, but lost the nerve thorns. Assisted, he barely buffered in mid-air before falling back to the ground.

Fortunately, his floating height was only a little bit, and the fall of more than ten centimeters did not cause any damage. He just staggered and stood firm, and then took off his helmet in frustration.

"I lost control," he said apologetically, "I'm sorry, I tried my best to maintain the energy balance, but it seems that part of the magic power is beyond my perception..."

"You have done a good job, Mr. Akers, this is a technical problem at this stage, and we need to solve it next," Wendy sighed softly, "Go and rest first, the next test is coming soon." tomorrow."

"Okay, Ms. Wendy."

Gawain was watching all this, and after the tester left, he frowned slightly and looked at Wendy: "What's the reason?"

"Manipulating magic power is easy for experienced extraordinary people, but it is a completely different concept for ordinary people," Wendy sighed, "Even if the nerve thorns give them the 'physical basis' to perceive and control magic power, they can't control magic power. Their minds, their thinking habits, their neural responses also need a long process of adaptation and adjustment to master this matter."

"...In other words, it is far from enough for ordinary people to perceive and control magic power. Their nervous system...can't understand this thing?"

Wendy nodded: "It's like suddenly installing an extra set of limbs on a person, and this set of limbs is many times more complicated than his original limbs - it takes a very long time for the nervous system to figure out how to control these It takes a long time for the human mind to adapt to the extra 'organs'. Of course, effective training methods may greatly shorten this adaptation process, but it will take time to sum up the training method itself, at least for now we have no clue— —I know how to educate a superhuman, but no one knows how to teach an ordinary person who has never used magic to cast spells."

Hetty frowned slightly: "...I'm afraid we don't have that much time."

"...Is there any 'special talent' who can quickly adapt to nerve thorns without training?" Gao Wen couldn't help asking.

"Yes, senior transcendentals, such as mages and knights, can release the 'song of the deep sea' with the help of the psychic singer's suit without any training," Wendy shrugged, "but it loses its meaning, nervous The purpose of the birth of thorns was to allow ordinary people to master magic, but now ordinary people will be shut out."

"Indeed, this is a bit ironic..." Gawain reluctantly agreed with Wendy's statement, "But if there is no other way, we can only let a group of mages receive temporary training to become psionic singers—we are in urgent need of them now. These special soldiers."

"I understand what you mean, I will make a plan," Wendy sighed, and then she seemed to think of something, "But... I suddenly thought of something."

Gawain and Hetty said in unison: "What did you think of?"