Sword of Dawn

Page 458

After hesitating again and again, he finally failed to say the words "the ultimate stage of capitalism" that he thought in his mind.

After all, although the situation in Tarrond looks very similar to the stage he knows, he knows that the two are still different in essence-the development of Tarrond to the current situation is more complicated reason.

One of the reasons is that you are even sitting in front of yourself at this moment.

The Dragon God was silent for a long time this time, even to the point where Gao Wen began to worry about whether he would throw a cup to call for the five hundred knives and axes to come in, but in the end he spoke, and after a sigh, he seemed relieved The expression: "You can make such an evaluation, you really read it seriously."

"That's why I'm very curious now—" Gao Wen said in a deep voice, "What is the chain between gods and humans? How does it work, and how does it trap mortals and gods? Its power Where does energy manifest itself? If we want to break free from it... where exactly is the 'right' way to start?"

Chapter 0961 Story

Finally, Gawain asked the most important and most important question of his trip to Tarrond.

Of the chain that binds mortals and gods.

If it is said that he only had some one-sided concepts and rough guesses about this "chain" when he was in Loren Continent, then since he came to Tarrond, since he saw more and more people in this dragon kingdom His "true side" of this chain has become clearer.

This is an "intraplanetary civilization" that has developed to the extreme, a stagnant country that seems to have stopped advancing at all. From the social system to the specific technology tree, Tarrond is under heavy shackles, and these shackles seem to be completely shackles. They are all "man-made".Reminiscent of the laws of operation of the gods, it is not difficult for Gao Wen to imagine that the birth of these "civilization locks" is inseparable from the Dragon God.

In the lower city, he saw what a completely locked civilization would look like, at least part of its truth, and he believed that it was the Dragon God who took the initiative to let him see it—it was this "initiative" that made him It makes people feel extraordinarily weird.

Because he could sense from the details of the Dragon God's words and deeds that this god didn't want to lock up his people—but he had to do so, because there was a supreme rule, a rule that was even more irreversible than the gods restraining him.

Gao Wen and his experts and scholars have tried to analyze and demonstrate this rule, and they think they have at least summed up a part of this rule, but there are still some details that need to be added. Now Gao Wen believes that the "god" in front of him ’ is the final piece of the puzzle in those details.

Hearing Gao Wen's question, the Dragon God fell silent for a while, as if even He needed to organize his thoughts and answer carefully before this ultimate question, but Gao Wen continued after a short pause: "I actually know, God also 'Involuntary'. There is a higher rule that binds you, and mortal thoughts are affecting your state. Too drastic changes in thoughts will cause the gods to slip into madness, so I guess you are in order to prevent yourself from falling into madness. I have to impose many restrictions on the Dragon Clan..."

"Wanderer outside the territory, you are only partially right." At this moment, Dragon God suddenly spoke, interrupting Gao Wen's words.

Gao Wen frowned slightly: "Only part of what you said was right?"

"Gods are indeed involuntary...but you underestimated the extent of our 'involuntary'," Dragon God said slowly, with a low voice, "I really don't want myself to fall into madness, and I am indeed the shackles of the Dragon Clan , but all of this... I didn't do it on my own initiative."

Pale golden light descended from the top of the hall of the temple, as if forming a hazy halo around this "god". Without hallucinations, Gao Wen showed a thoughtful expression on his face, but before he opened his mouth to ask, Dragon God took the initiative to continue: "Do you want to hear a story?"

"Story?" Gao Wen was stunned for a moment, but then nodded, "Of course——I'm very interested."

Dragon God smiled, shaking the delicate cup in his hand: "There are three stories.

"The first story is about a mother and her child.

"A long time ago, so long ago that there were no people in this world, a mother and her children lived on the earth. It was the barbaric age of ancient times, all knowledge had not yet been summed up, all wisdom It is still hidden in the immature minds of the children. At that time, the children were ignorant and ignorant, and even their mothers didn't know much.

"The world at that time was very dangerous, and the children were still very fragile. In order to survive in the dangerous world, mothers and children had to live cautiously, be careful in everything, and dare not make mistakes at all. There were biting fish in the river, So the mother forbids the children to go to the river. There are beasts that eat people in the woods, so the mother forbids the children to go to the woods. Fire will burn the body, so the mother forbids the children to play with fire. Instead, the mother uses her own strength to protect Children, help children with many things... In primitive times, this was enough to keep the whole family alive.

"However, as time goes by, the children will gradually grow up, and wisdom will begin to burst out from their minds. They have mastered more and more knowledge and can do more and more things—— The fish can now be caught with a harpoon, and the man-eating beasts can't beat the sticks in the children's hands. The grown-up children need more food, so they start adventures, go to the river, go to the forest, to light a fire...

"But the mother's thinking is slow, and the children in her eyes will always be children. She only feels that those actions are extremely dangerous, so she starts to dissuade the children who are getting more and more courageous. She repeats the teachings many years ago—— Don't go to the river, don't go to the forest, don't touch the fire...

"Her blocking is somewhat useful, occasionally slowing down the children's movements a little bit, but overall it's useless, because the children's mobility is getting stronger and stronger, and they... must survive.

"In the beginning, this dull mother was barely able to keep up. She was gradually able to accept the growth of her child, and she was able to let go of her hands and feet to adapt to the new changes in the family order. But... as the number of children increased, The more she got more and more, she finally couldn't keep up. The changes of the children are passing by day by day. It used to take them many years to master the skills of fishing, but slowly, they only need a few days to tame new beasts and step on the boat. In new lands, they even began to create a variety of languages, and even the communication between brothers and sisters changed rapidly.

"Mother was at a loss - she tried to keep on adapting, but eventually her dull mind just couldn't keep up.

"She can only repeat the old dogma over and over again, continue to restrain the children's various behaviors, forbid them to leave the house too far, forbid them to touch dangerous new things, in her eyes, the children are still far away from growing up. It was very early—but in fact, her restraint could no longer protect the children. Instead, it only made them restless and restless, and even gradually became a shackle that threatened their existence—the children tried to resist, but resisted. In vain, because their mother grew stronger as they grew.

"Now that the mother has built a fence around the house, she finally can't tell what the kids have grown up to, she just fences everything in and keeps out everything she thinks is 'dangerous' , even if those things are actually the food that the children desperately need-the fence is finished, it is full of mother's teachings, it is full of all kinds of things that are not allowed to touch, not allowed to try, and the children... starved to death in the Inside this little fence."

Gao Wen showed a thoughtful expression. He felt that he seemed to be able to easily understand this straightforward story. The meanings of the mother and the child in it were also obvious, but the details revealed in it were worth thinking about.

But when he was about to ask something, the next story had already begun——

"The second story is about a prophet.

"It was also a long, long time ago, when the world was barren, a prophet appeared in an ancient country. This prophet did not have a specific name, and no one knew where he came from. People only knew that the prophet Full of wisdom, as if he knew all the knowledge in the world, he taught the local people many things, so he was loved by everyone.

"In those ancient times, the world was still very dangerous for people, and the power of the world was extremely weak in front of nature-even weak to the extent that the most common diseases could easily kill people. At that time People in the world don't know much, neither how to cure diseases nor how to eliminate dangers, so when the prophet came, he used his wisdom to formulate many rules for people to live safely.

"It is not allowed to eat wild animals that live near swamps, because most of the meat of these animals is poisonous; it is not allowed to drink water from a certain mountain, because it will cause a stomach infection; it is not allowed to cross a certain river, because There are poisonous weeds growing on the other side of the river, and human beings have not been able to make antidote ointment...

"Having left these precepts, the Prophet rested and returned to his hermitage, and the people of the world accepted with gratitude the wise teachings of the Prophet, and began to plan their lives according to these precepts.

"Soon, people benefited from these admonitions. They found that their relatives and friends did not get sick and died easily, and found that these admonitions could really help everyone avoid disasters, so they followed the rules in the admonitions more carefully. And things... gradually changed.

"People pay more and more attention to these admonitions, and even regard them as precepts that are more important than laws. Generation after generation, people have even forgotten the original purpose of these admonitions, but they are still carefully observing them. Therefore, the admonition It became a dogma; people revered more and more the prophets who left admonitions, and even felt that they were the existence of supreme wisdom who spied on the truth of the world, and even began to build statues for the prophets—using their imaginary , The glorious and perfect image of the prophet.

"After so many years, the Prophet returned to this land. He saw that the originally poor and weak kingdom has prospered. The number of people on the land is many times more than that of many years ago. More knowledgeable and stronger, and the land and mountains of the entire country have undergone tremendous changes over the long years.

"Everything has changed, and it has become more prosperous and beautiful than the barren world it once was.

"So the prophet was very happy. He observed people's way of life again, then ran to the street and told everyone loudly that the wild beasts living near the swamp are also edible, as long as they are cooked in a suitable cooking method; The water on a certain mountain is drinkable because it has long been non-toxic; the land on the other side of the river is already safe, and there are fertile fields and fertile soil now..."

Dragon God stopped and looked at Gao Wen with a half-smile: "Guess what happened?"

Gawain took a light breath: "...the prophet is going to be in trouble."

"Yeah, bad luck for the Prophet - angry crowds rushed from all directions, they shouted slogans to crusade against heresy, because someone insulted their holy spring, holy mountain, and tried to persuade civilians to set foot on the 'holy place' on the other side of the river , they surrounded the Prophet and beat him to death with clubs.

"That's the second story."

Gao Wen frowned slightly.

At first, he thought that he had seen through the meaning of these two stories, but now, a trace of doubt suddenly appeared in his heart—he realized that he might have thought too simply.

He raised his head and looked opposite: "Mothers and prophets don't just refer to gods, children and commoners don't necessarily mean mortals... do they?"

"I'm glad you can think so deeply," Dragon God smiled, seemingly very happy, "If many people hear this story, they will probably think this way at the first time: mothers and prophets refer to gods, and children and commoners refer to gods. They are people, but throughout the story, the identities of these characters are far from that simple.

"All people—and all gods, are just insignificant characters in the story, and the real protagonist of the story... is the invisible and intangible rules that are difficult to fight. Mother will definitely build fences, which is not related to her personal wishes. It doesn't matter, the prophet will definitely be beaten to death, and it has nothing to do with his will, and those children and civilians who are victims and perpetrators... They are just part of the rules from beginning to end.

"Perhaps you will think that it is not difficult to get rid of the tragedy in the story. As long as the mother can change her way of thinking in time, as long as the prophet can become a little more tactful, as long as people become a little smarter and more rational, everything can end peacefully. You don't have to go to such an extreme situation ... but unfortunately, things will not be so simple."

Dragon God's voice became ethereal, and his eyes seemed to have settled on a distant and ancient time and space. As he gradually lowered and misty narration, Gao Wen suddenly remembered the scene he saw in the deepest part of the eternal storm.

In that still battlefield, the two warring parties are so relentless and merciless, as if there is deep-seated hatred, as if everything can end only if you die - but think carefully, the two sides on the battlefield are really Did you get to that situation because of "hatred"?

Enya's voice sounded calmly: "...the ideological trend of a group is a powerful and inertial force. When a race has abided by a set of rules for thousands of years, and this set of rules points to religion and gods, then this power It will become... powerful. Many times, you cannot change the concepts accumulated by ten generations in one generation, and this kind of concept hedging will directly act on the tide of thought, causing turbulent waves, which you call "God" madness'—yet God is not mad.

"God is just 'correcting' your 'dangerous behavior' according to the 'tradition' of mortals for thousands of years—even if He doesn't want to do it, He has to do it."

Gawain looked at each other: "God's 'personal will' is separated from the 'law of operation' that God must fulfill. In the eyes of ordinary people, schizophrenia is madness."

"Indeed, from a mortal's point of view... when a god chooses to destroy all living beings, it makes no difference whether the act is 'correction' or 'crazy'."

Gao Wen was silent for a long time, and said in a deep voice: "From the perspective of the development law of civilization, in a healthy and sustainable society, the birth rate of new things and new ideas will always be faster and faster - within a generation It is inevitable to change the concept of ten generations of accumulation, because the productive forces must be developed, unless..."

Gao Wen stopped hesitantly when he said this, although he knew that what he said was the truth, but here, under the current situation, he always felt that he continued to speak with some kind of sophistry, or with " The selfishness of mortals", but Enya went on for him——

"Unless caught in the 'cradle of eternity'."

His expression was flat.

"The Dragon Clan has failed, the gods have merged into one, and the chains on the soul directly trap all members of civilization, so I have to turn Tarrond into such a cradle and let everything stand still, so as to ensure that I do not would kill them all by mistake, and you've seen the result—they're alive, but only alive, and Tarrond is dead, and it's the machines that run the land, on lifeless steel and stone Contaminated with some debris that used to be called 'Dragon'... Keeping these debris is all I can do for them.

"So, extraterrestrial wanderer, do you like this 'eternal cradle'?"

Chapter 0962 Echoes

Do you like this eternal cradle?

Gawain suddenly thought of the baby dragon that had just woken up from the hatching sac, and thought of the joyous cry that the other party made at him; The "inferior citizens" nourished by the gods; I thought of the confused and crazy arena, those dragons fighting in the arena... It was a dozen cold steel machines fighting, and the machines were tied and immersed in synergy. Cranium and ganglia in drug hallucinations.

The dragons are indeed alive - but Tarrond is dead.

"It's terrible," he said suddenly, softly. "Life and death are worthless."

Then he paused, and asked again: "Can the cradle of eternity be broken?"

"That would cost a lot," Dragon God said quietly, "but the chance of success is very slim—in the final analysis, this cradle itself is already the price of failure, and the law of nature never tolerates losers. Any race—even It is a powerful dragon, and it is difficult to have the qualifications to fail twice."

Having said that, He suddenly raised his eyes, and his eyes fell on Gawain's face: "So, you want to help Tarrond break this 'Cradle of Eternity'?"

"Me?" Gao Wen pointed to himself, and couldn't help laughing, "How can I have this ability?"

"You can even destroy it with a command," Dragon God smiled faintly, "Why don't you assume that you also have the ability to break the 'cradle' on this continent?"

This seemed to be a joke, but Gao Wen couldn't help thinking about it seriously. After a few seconds of thinking, he still shook his head: "No, at least I can't now."

"Why?" Dragon God showed a trace of curiosity, "Don't you think this cradle is scary?"

"I am not the savior of the Dragon Clan—there has never been a savior," Gawain said seriously, "and like you said, breaking the cradle of eternity will cost a lot—I can imagine what those costs are, and I can Imagine who will pay for these costs. No one is qualified to sacrifice other people's things to satisfy their own "salvation" drama, so I am not qualified to make decisions for the Dragon Clan, and I am not qualified to choose sacrifice or live for them.

"So, whether it is to sink to death in the cradle of eternity, or to rise up to find the future for the entire race, this is the dragon's own business. They should make their own decisions and choose whether to pay the price.

"Cecil doesn't meddle in the internal affairs of other countries—that's my rule."

After Gao Wen finished speaking his thoughts, the god in front of him looked him up and down with strange eyes for a few seconds, and then he said with a half-smile: "It's really true that these words come from a 'hero' recognized in the human world. Incredible. I thought you'd positioned yourself as the 'savior' of the human world, but that doesn't seem to be the case now."

Gawain spread his hands: "I didn't save anyone, all of us are saving ourselves."

"...You seem to have completely regarded yourself as a member of the human race and as a member of this world, wanderer outside the territory," Dragon God looked at Gawain curiously, "I'm suddenly curious—— In your hometown, will people face the same problems as this world? For example... When you encounter huge social changes, when your social groups also encounter huge ideological changes, when your beliefs encounter When it comes time to test, when you also have to abandon traditions and dogmas and face drastic changes in the environment... how do you deal with all this?

"Ah, or maybe I should make sure first—do you have races, societies, creeds, and nations, too?"

"Of course we also have concepts such as society and country," Gao Wen laughed, but soon there were some complicated emotions in his smile, "Of course we will also face those...'challenges' you mentioned. Said To be honest, when people in my hometown face changes from tradition, reality, beliefs and ideology, they will also have turbulence and uneasiness. The whole process of transformation is often painful and dangerous, but it is different from this world—those traditions It's just tradition, and people's thinking concepts are just thinking concepts. They do have huge constraints, but... they will not become any 'entity' with actual deterrence, nor will they produce 'power' beyond reality .”

Speaking of this, Gao Wen suddenly discovered that these things that are taken for granted by people on earth may be unthinkable in this world, and even a god like Enya finds it difficult to understand, so he had to choose his vocabulary On the other hand, he explained: "To give a simple example - when a race that has lived in the deep mountains for generations and regards the mountains as gods decides to move out of the deep mountains, they only need to face the opposition of the elders in the clan, and don't have to worry about the truth. He was punished by the mountain god."

The Dragon God listened in surprise. Finally, he finally understood the rules of the world that Gao Wen had described. There was a dazed expression on the face of the god. It was not until a few seconds later that he said softly, "It's so beautiful." .”

"It's actually not easy," Gao Wen couldn't help but want to explain a few more words, "Even if the trend of thought doesn't form a real force, and resisting the tradition won't bring direct divine punishment, it's still difficult for people in our place to change a traditional concept." There are still many difficulties, and the ideological resistance created by the old forces is sometimes no more than..."

He only spoke halfway, then stopped hesitantly.

Dragon God sat opposite him, with innumerable black chains wrapped around his body, and the "Dragon of Disorder" at the other end of the chain floated above Tarrond, like an indefinite time bomb that could destroy the entire dragon civilization at any time. The kingdom is locked in this deadly balance, and has been dying cautiously for millions of years.

"Yeah, it's beautiful," he sighed, "compared with here."

Then he suddenly remembered something, and his eyes fell on Dragon God: "By the way, you just said that there are three stories in total, but you only told two——is there another story?"

Dragon God looked at Gawain, and suddenly showed a sly smile—Gao Wen didn't know if he had read it wrongly: "The third story hasn't happened yet."

Gao Wen: "?"

"It's boring to tell all the stories, just take it as an appetite, let's leave a suspense on the third story," the "god" said unhurriedly, "I am also very interested Curious how the third story goes - I'll tell you about it in the future if I get the chance."

The indistinct roar and whistling sound from outside the temple became weaker and weaker. It seemed that a rapid but short-lived storm was gradually subsiding. Gawain glanced in the direction of the distant terrace, but only saw that it was not much bigger than before. Different stars and nights.

"Is there anything else you want to ask?" Dragon God's voice came from the opposite side, "It's still early, we can talk a little more."

Gawain thought for a while, sorting out a few questions he had thought about before coming to Tarrond, and asked, "About the 'rebellion against the tide' in ancient times, and the tower in the northwest of Tarrond?" , can you talk to me?"

"It depends on what you want to hear." Dragon God nodded, "I will try my best to answer."

"As far as I know, the Reverse Tide Empire went astray because of mistaken contact with the knowledge left by the voyagers—according to the clues we have found so far, the main problem at that time was 'attributing knowledge to miracles' Go up. Did the Reverse Tide Empire deify the legacy of the Voyager? The war between the Dragon Clan and the Reverse Tide Empire was also because of this?"

"Generally yes," Dragon God nodded, "The legacy of the voyager...it is too advanced for the races still trapped in the earth, especially millions of years ago, a large number of 'legacy' The era of great power. That mortal civilization suddenly gained knowledge and power far beyond their understanding, and their rulers could not explain the principles behind those things to the people, and their scholars could not reproduce the logic behind those legacy , so it is inevitable to deify it.

"People will attribute things far beyond their own understanding to miracles, which is a trap that many mortal civilizations can easily fall into.

"The war between the Dragon Clan and the Reverse Tide Empire...is because their 'deified' behavior is creating new, uncontrollable ideological products, and this war itself...is actually disgraceful to both parties."

"Disgraceful to both parties?" Gawain instantly smelled gossip, and subconsciously leaned forward, "What does this mean?"

The Dragon God glanced at Gao Wen, and said unhurriedly: "It's very simple, because it was the Dragon Clan themselves who first cultivated the Reverse Tide Empire and guided it to contact the Legacy of the Voyagers."

Gao Wen: "...the Dragon Clan themselves?!"

"That was an unsuccessful attempt, a reckless and daring 'plan to break the game'," Dragon God said lightly, "It happened many, many years ago—at that time, the 'Cradle of Eternity' hadn't been completely stabilized, Tal It hasn't been long since Lund was chained, and many dragons still maintain strong free will and expectations for the future, and driven by this impulse, the dragons began to seek ways to break the situation from the outside."

Gawain frowned: "Support a mortal force independent of Tarrond, let them absorb the power left by the voyager, grow stronger quickly, and then break Tarrond's...'cradle'?"

When he said this, his eyes were a little weird, because both he and Dragon God knew what "breaking the cradle" meant, but the expression on Dragon God's own face was even more indifferent than Gawain's, so this weird topic continued .

"Looking at it now, this is not a mature plan, but they still implemented it with great hope," Dragon God said, shaking his head, "At that time, the Reverse Tide Empire was still very weak, so weak that any adult The dragons can easily guide their development to such an extent that the dragons lose their caution...they think everything can be controlled, at least for a long time, everything can be controlled by the dragons.

"You should be able to easily imagine what happened afterwards - arrogance is the greatest original sin. The Dragons believed that 'everything is under control'. The Reverse Tide Empire was unwilling to become another race's tool from the very beginning, and the Dragons intervened and guided On the contrary, they intensified their resistance and rebellious spirit, and caused the situation to deteriorate far faster than expected. The reverse tide is out of control. They are secretly developing many technologies and sects. They cracked the secret arsenal left by the sailors on the earth. Get stronger by leaps and bounds.

"Before Tarrond reacted, the 'Against the Tide' completed its transformation, and they quickly became an empire that was extremely xenophobic, hated dragons, and powerful in force, and most importantly, they were a 'theocracy empire'.

"The excessive reliance on the legacy of the sailors and the act of deification directly led to the uncontrollable theocraticization of the entire Adverse Tide Empire. Even if a few insightful people among them realized the danger, they could not stop this process. The Adverse Tide Empire started with Sail The believers of the voyagers regard themselves as the dragons of Tarrond as "heretics" who betrayed and stole the inheritance of the voyagers, and all this... is completely contrary to Tarrond's original plan.

"Thus, the battle against the tide broke out."

Gao Wen opened his mouth, and after a few seconds he managed to organize his words: "...All of this is your acquiescence?"

"you can say it this way."

"Why?" Gao Wen couldn't help asking, "Didn't you realize the risks involved?"

Dragon God's voice was low: "The dragons of Tarrond didn't find out, so I didn't find out either—and even if I discovered the risk, as long as the dragons' behavior of cultivating the Reverse Tide Empire did not violate Tarrond's tradition I can't stop this without triggering 'out of bounds'."

Gao Wen thought of the "two stories" that Dragon God had just told himself - at this moment, he had a deeper understanding of the rules behind those two stories.