Sword of Dawn

Page 446

Before he tried to capture the breath, the energy that was focused out of thin air dissipated, and there was nothing left.

Gao Wen shook his head, stretched out his hand and brushed across the table, erasing the handwriting casually, and muttered at the same time: "It's hard to hide it, so let's hide it well."

Chapter 0938 Travel Preparation and Listening Plan

To be honest, when he saw the handwriting that appeared on the desktop, Gao Wen was not as calm as he appeared - although he said a few minutes ago that the goddess of magic should thank him, he really did not expect the other party to really Thank you for one...

Is this the "character" of the goddess of magic?It feels really different from Amon or Naritil Duvalte...

But even if a lot of messy thoughts popped up in his mind, he still controlled the changes in his expression well. After all, there were several people in the room, so he still had to maintain his majestic personality in this situation.

"Ancestor," Hetty noticed Gawain's movements on the desk, and couldn't help asking curiously, "What happened... huh? What happened to the desk?"

Gao Wen lowered his head and glanced at the desk. The newly replaced desk was first engraved with a thank you by the Goddess of Magic, and then he erased a layer casually, leaving a big hole in the middle. It was used as the emperor's desk. It seemed to be a serious matter—this made him feel a little pity: "Just now... there were mosquitoes."

The three grand consuls present were stunned: "..."

It is obviously not easy for people to believe this, but since the ancestors/His Majesty the Emperor said that there are mosquitoes... then there are really mosquitoes.

"Ahem, turn around and change this table..." Gao Wen coughed dryly twice, wanting to end this embarrassing topic as soon as possible, "Well, let's change this table."

"Yes... the ancestor," Hetty nodded, and then hurriedly followed Gawain's expression—and abruptly ended the current topic, "Then about your plan to go to Tarrond..."

"That's exactly what I want to say," Gawain nodded immediately, and followed Hetty's words, "According to the previous agreement with the 'representative' of Tarrond, after the 'divine burial' of the goddess of magic is over, I will It’s almost time to leave—of course not immediately, we can still prepare, but after all, it’s something that has been promised, and I don’t intend to delay too much.”

"You really decided to go to that... mysterious Tarrond?" Although Baldwin knew that this was already decided, he still couldn't help asking.

"Don't be so nervous—Tallond is neither God's Realm nor Hell, it's just another country on this planet," Gawain said unhurriedly, "Dragon Clan is indeed a mysterious race, but They are also a civilization that can communicate, and we can formally establish diplomatic relations with the Holy Dragon Principality, so it is the correct mentality to regard Tarrond as a 'country'."

Standing by the side, Victoria, who had no expression on her face, broke the silence: "In the northern border, there have been many legends about 'dragons' since ancient times. Although most of them are nonsense, the legends themselves can reflect a lot of information— ——Dragon is a mysterious race, but in fact it has always been active in Loren Continent and at the border of human civilization. They have a mysterious purpose, and we know nothing about it... Your visit to Tarrond this time The brigade may help humans understand what those dragons are up to, but be prepared to take risks."

"Of course," Gawain nodded slightly, and then looked at Victoria's ice-clear and indifferent eyes, "About this trip to Tarrond, the empire's internal affairs have basically been arranged. I believe that you will handle the daily state affairs well during my temporary absence, and besides that... I have a special task for you."

Victoria immediately stood up straight, with a trace of solemnity on her face: "Please tell me."

"Don't be so nervous," Gawain waved his hand, "I just want you to ensure that all the magic network hub towers in the northern region are in the best condition, and adjust all the crystal arrays on the northern coast so that they can listen to the direction of the North Pole with the highest sensitivity. signal——At the same time, I will also bring a set of the most advanced Magic Net terminal to keep in touch with the North Coast."

"You plan to maintain the connection with the empire in this way?" Victoria frowned slightly, "...with all due respect, this should not be feasible, it completely exceeds the communication distance of the existing magic net hub, and it is vast There are still high-intensity disturbances on the ocean, not to mention a storm in the middle..."

"Of course I know," Gawain interrupted the other party, "I want to take this opportunity to collect data on the magic network hub and the magic interference in the ocean area, especially the latter. This part of data is very useful, and it is what we are in urgent need of. Yes. The near-sea route leading to Moss Forest from Beigang has started trial operation, but the progress of data collection in the far sea has been slow. It is difficult for our existing technology to collect magic power parameters outside the Violet Strait. A 'free ride'."

"I see...then I understand," Victoria lowered her head, "I will do as you ordered."

"Well. As for my connection with the country, you don't have to worry about it," Gao Wen nodded, and continued, "The Dragon Clan has the technology to maintain communication across the endless sea, and I will leave behind a 'Ring of Mithril' , it will be kept by Hetty when the time comes, and you can use it to contact me if there are special circumstances."

Afterwards, he discussed some preparation details with Hetty and the other three. Let's just confirm the domestic affairs arrangement for the last time before leaving. After the discussion came to an end, Hetty exhaled slightly and shook his head helplessly: "No matter how you arrange it, I always feel that this is a hasty trip for you..."

Gao Wen smiled: "It is indeed hasty, but there are not many things in the world that can develop as we expected."

Hetty nodded helplessly, but soon asked like a housekeeper who was overly worried: "Then the entourage on this trip... Are you sure you only bring Amber and Veronica?"

"Should I still bring the whole Imperial Guards as a 'guest'?" Gawain looked helplessly at Hetty, who was obviously a little too nervous, "I was invited to be a guest in Tarrond, not to attack the Dragon Kingdom In the past, when exploring the Dragon Cave, too many entourages were not useful, so it was enough to bring Amber and Veronica——Amber is smart and good at investigating, and Veronica knows more about God’s affairs. It's just right for me."

Hetty thought for a while, and finally lowered her head and said, "Since that's what you meant..."

"Let's not talk about this for now," Gawain waved his hand, and then his face became serious. "A report came from Solienberg today, and I plan to discuss it with you."

"Solynburg?" Hetty showed puzzled eyes, but she reacted almost instantly, and faintly guessed, "Is it about the mysterious signal that was monitored before?"

"That's right—that mysterious signal," Gao Wen said with a serious face, and reached out to pull out a copy from some sorted documents beside him. The clues were found in the tremors of unknown meaning, but Beltira found another way, she seemed to find some kind of pattern in those tremors..."

As soon as he finished speaking, the three grand consuls at the scene leaned over. Even Victoria, who was almost expressionless, showed a faint look of curiosity. Obviously, there were more than one people who were hooked by the mysterious signal. Those experts and scholars.

Gao Wen didn't intentionally tease people's appetites, he simply unfolded the sorted document, pulled out the most important page from the folder, turned it around, put it on the table, and pushed it to Hetty and the others before.

"What is this...?" Baldwin Franklin looked at the content on the paper in bewilderment. He saw a strange picture in his sight, which looked like a square composed of a series of small dots. Next to the square there is a short diagonal line that seems to be drawn incompletely - that line is also composed of a series of small dots.In the blank space next to the picture, you can see some tremor ripple legends, marking the tremor cycle, tremor category and other descriptions.

Not only Baldwin, Hetty and Victoria were obviously equally confused after seeing this thing.

"This is what Bertila 'restored' from those signals, an incomplete picture," said Gawain, briefly explaining the "technical idea" mentioned in the document, "She directly converted the tremor It becomes a picture, using a 'interpretation rule' that no one has ever thought of, she regards tremors and white noise as dots and blanks, and outlines them according to the clock sequence of the signal itself..."

Bertila's method is actually not complicated, and the people present are all smart people who are good at mathematics and technical derivation (except Amber who is standing next to the window and wandering in the sky), so Gawain just explained a few words, the three big rulers The officer then fully understood the connection between the picture and the mysterious signal.

Hetty couldn't help but widen her eyes, and looked at the picture with an incredible look: "It's... so simple? The essence of this signal is actually a picture?!"

"It's unbelievable, but I'm afraid this is the truth," Baldwin on the side said thoughtfully, "It's impossible to get such a neat picture through random tests, and the perfect shape of this square shows that Bertila's thinking is correct— — there's a picture hidden in that signal, which is really... interesting."

"But what's the meaning of this painting?" Hetty frowned, "And who did this kind of thing?"

"It is obviously not complete, and there are still unfinished lines beside it. Beltira thinks that we have only received a small part of the complete signal, and thinks that the signals we have received several times should be different 'paragraphs'— —It’s a pity that the previous two signals were not clear enough or were not recorded in time, so the samples she can use for analysis are only the ones received on the 32nd of this month,” Gao Wen said casually, “Based on the current records and analysis For these things, Bertila speculates that the complete form of this picture may be some kind of design drawing...Of course, this guess is only for reference, and there are too many subjective elements in it."

"The blueprint...Although it is subjective, this statement is quite attractive," Baldwin shook his head, "In short, no matter what this thing is, it is obviously made by intelligent creatures... Sending such a message The signal, the sender must have a purpose, the other party wants to convey some kind of information to us...or to any unspecified target, a target who has the ability to receive and translate this information..."

"This is also my opinion," Gao Wen said, "I think this signal is very likely to be 'broadcasting' continuously, it continues to publish this 'drawing', and the reason why we can only receive it occasionally Some of the fragments should be because our magic net crystal array is not specially used to receive this thing-everything is just a coincidence.

"What I'm going to tell you is this: we have to find a way to reproduce this 'coincidence' consistently.

"These signals are very unusual, and I believe you can also feel this. Whether it is for academic research or to eliminate the hidden dangers of the Magic Net communication system, it is necessary for us to investigate the secrets behind these signals. For this reason, I am going to List the capture, tracking and research of these signals as a formal and long-term project, and carry out planned continuous listening within the range covered by the magic net.

"This project is called the 'Listen' project.

"So far we don't know where to start, so I asked Bertila to find out all the operating parameters when the Sorin main hub captured the signal, as well as the weather, magnetic field, magic environment and other data at that time. As a result, Sorin There may be many "coincidence factors" for the main hub to receive the signal. It may be related to the orientation or combination mode of the crystal array at that time, it may be related to the working status of the magic net in Solin area at that time, and it may even be related to the weather and wind direction at that time. Since We don't know which data is useful, so we can only record them all and try them all.

"Without affecting the daily operation of the Empire's magic net, let the hubs and nodes with spare capacity in various places adjust to the operating state as close as possible to the 'Sorin standard parameters', and see if we can detect anything, even if there is something at that time. We didn’t find any, we have at least conducted a running test on the entire magic net.”

While talking, Gao Wen looked at Victoria who was listening carefully.

"Victoria, the northern border is the key testing area - because the first abnormal signal was received in Fort Winter. Although you only received it once, and the signal status is extremely poor, we still have reason to suspect that Rin The environment of Winterhold may be suitable for listening to this abnormal signal, so you should pay more attention to this matter."

Victoria immediately took orders: "Yes, Your Majesty."

Gawain nodded, he exhaled, his eyes swept over the three people in front of the desk one by one, then he reached out and took out three identical documents from the drawer under the desk and placed them in front of Hetty and the others .

"This is a copy of Solinburg's report. It also includes more details of the 'Listening Plan' and the 'Standard Parameters' compiled by Bertila. You can call the technical staff to take a good look at it when I leave temporarily. During this period of time, you should start making preparations for this plan.

"Then let's talk about this today, if there is nothing else, let's go to work on our own.

"The main process of 'God's Burial' is over, but there is still a lot of finishing work before the sun sets, and this aspect will be handed over to Hetty."

The three grand consuls took orders one after another and turned to leave, but just as Victoria was about to walk out of the room, Gao Wen suddenly stopped her again.

"Victoria, wait a minute."

Chapter 0939 To Tarrond

After Hetty and Baldwin left, only Gawain and Duchess Victoria were left in the study—Amber was actually there at the beginning, but she disappeared the second after Gawain announced that the business was over. She should have rushed to the nearest bar nearby. If she hadn't stepped on a mousetrap on the way, she would probably have started to stutter with a beer by now.

Victoria returned to Gawain's desk, her eyes seemed curious: "Do you have any other orders?"

"Have you forgotten what I told you before?" Gao Wen smiled, got up and opened a small cabinet next to the desk, and took out a sturdy and delicate wooden box from it, and he handed the wooden box to Victoria, At the same time, he opened the buckle on the cover, "It's returned to its original owner."

Victoria immediately guessed what was inside the box. She took a deep breath and solemnly opened the lid. A thick book with a mottled old cover and yellowed paper was quietly lying on the velvet backing. .

The ink on this book has long since dried, but the moment she opened the cover, Victoria still felt that she could faintly smell a kind of ink—that might be her illusion, or it might be that the book repairer was repairing the book. The smell left by the potion used when writing the ancient book.There seemed to be some fluctuations on her frozen expressionless face, and a complex expression of emotion and joy was revealed in her ice-like eyes.

"This is... the long-lost travel book of our family..." She muttered softly as if talking to herself.

"This is the restored "Modir's Travels," Gawain nodded. "It was originally put together by a poor editor and put together with several other fragments, but it has been restored now. Inside are only those precious notes left by Mordir Wilde."

Having said that, he paused, and added: "However, there is still something missing in this travel book - after all, it is something from 600 years ago, and more than one holder may have been changed in the middle, and some chapters have been lost. , I suspect it is at least a quarter of the length, and it is unlikely that this part will ever be recovered, as I hope you will understand."

"This is already very rare, Your Majesty," Victoria said immediately, with a rare excitement in her eyes, "This book has been lost for a long time, and I didn't even think it would be found in my generation--this is very important to our family. It is of great significance, Your Majesty, the Wilder family will always remember your kindness!"

"Then I will accept your thanks frankly," Gao Wen smiled, and then changed the subject, "But while returning this book to you, I still have something to say—it's also about this travelogue. .”

"About this travel book?" Victoria was a little curious, and after noticing the seriousness in the other person's eyes, she immediately became serious, "Of course, please tell me."

"Some of the contents of this book should not be made public," Gao Wen said, pointing to the travel notes in Victoria's hand at the same time, "You can see that there is a bookmark in it - open the corresponding position, and the 27 pages after that It is the undisclosed part. It records a special adventure of Mordir Wilde, an adventure... near the kingdom of the dragon."

"Dragon Kingdom?!" Rao Yiwei, with Victoria's usual calmness, couldn't help exclaiming a little at this time, "You mean Tarrond?!"

"Yes, Tarrond, that's exactly where I'm planning to go this time," Gawain nodded, "Of course, my trip to Tarrond this time and the adventure of Mordir Wilder 600 years ago Not related."

Victoria nodded, and then couldn't help asking: "Why can't this part of the adventure record be made public?"

"Modir came into contact with some secrets of the northern seas during his adventure. Those secrets are taboo, not only for the dragons, but also for humans. I have discussed this with the representatives sent by the dragons," Gao said. Wen explained patiently, "You should judge the specific content after reading it yourself. All in all, I have reached an agreement with the Dragon Clan, promising that the corresponding chapters in the travel notes will not be disseminated to the public. Of course, you are You are a descendant of Mordir Wilde, so you have the right to know, and you have the right to inherit the knowledge left by Mordir."

"Inherit, but don't spread it to the outside world, right?" Victoria is very smart. From Gao Wen's solemn attitude, she has realized that what her ancestors left behind may not be as simple as a weird adventure record. The legendary hero in front of her is cautiously regarding things as "dangerous and taboo", which are definitely worthy of everyone's careful treatment, so she didn't feel wrong at all because Gawain and the Dragon Clan reached an agreement on "Modir's Travels" in advance, on the contrary, she was very He nodded seriously, "Don't worry, I will take your warning to heart."

"Very good," Gawain nodded slightly, "This trip to Tarrond, although personally speaking, it is only due to the invitation of the Dragon God, but if I have the opportunity, I will also try to investigate what Mordir came into contact with back then. If the investigation yields any results, I will tell you when I get back."

"Thank you very much," Victoria lowered her head and said with a very sincere attitude, "but you still have to pay attention to your own safety - if it is something that is really harmful to human beings, we would rather not touch its secrets."

Gao Wen hummed, expressing that he would judge for himself.He did not explain to Victoria in detail the concept of the voyager, the giant tower of the north, the chaos of the ancient anti-tide, etc., because he himself was not very sure about these things, and rashly throwing out unverified information could only be given to the other party. It caused even greater confusion, as for himself... He went to Tarrond this time to solve these confusions.

……

In the newly expanded cathedral in Cecil City (the headquarters of the new Church of the Holy Light), the main hall with a simple style has not yet opened.

Several thick pillars support the large circular prayer hall. The high dome of the prayer hall is inlaid with the holy light emblem made of magic spar lamps. Between the rows of neat and clean benches, the faint but warm holy light It was slowly surging, and a small, light-cast figure flitted between these benches and pillars, looking very happy.

Veronica, holding a platinum scepter, was standing in front of the pulpit at the front of the hall, with her eyes slightly closed and her head lowered, as if praying silently.

Wright, who was exceptionally tall, was standing on the podium in front of her. The patriarch was wearing a plain everyday white robe, his eyes were gentle and calm, and a faint ray of light was slowly walking beside him, and behind him In the old church period, there was only one crystal screen wall like a lens in the place where the gods and icons were supposed to be placed. The sunlight outside the church was refracted through a series of complex crystals, and finally filled into this crystal screen wall, emitting a A faint light illuminated the entire pulpit.

The New Church of Holy Light no longer needs an exact god as an idol, and the sunlight introduced into the church through the lens represents the philosophy of the new church—sunshine is one of the most fair things in the world, regardless of nobles and commoners, regardless of men and women Young and old, everyone living on this land can receive the sunshine, and no one has the right to deprive this right, just as no one can deprive everyone of the holy light in their hearts.

"It's rare to see you praying here," Wright lowered his head, looking at the "Saint Princess" in front of him, "and even called me here."

In the eyes of outsiders, Veronica is a true "holy and pious person". From the period of the old church to the period of the new church, this saint princess has shown an image of being devout and embracing the holy light. Always praying, always lingering with brilliance, it seems that faith has become a part of her life, but those who know the inside story know that all this is just a "personality" created for herself by this ancient rebel.

She should actually be one of the most irreligious people in the world, she has never followed the God of Light, and in fact has not embraced the Light that much—the light that always lingers around her is just some kind of Gondorian age technical means, and the piety she showed was to avoid the backlash of the spiritual stamp and the God of Light—strictly speaking, it was also a technical means.

Therefore, Veronica would not pray if there was no one else and it was not necessary - only a few people such as Wright and Gawain knew this.

"I will soon follow His Majesty to Tarrond," Veronica finished her prayer, and raised her eyes to look at the Patriarch in front of her. "It's far away from here."

"You don't seem like someone who would seek guidance and comfort for this kind of thing," Wright said slowly, "Is there anything I can help you with?"

Veronica looked at Wright quietly for a few seconds, then nodded slightly, and handed over the platinum scepter that never left her body: "I need you to help me keep it until I return with His Majesty."

"...This scepter?" Wright was obviously a little surprised, and couldn't help raising his eyebrows. "I thought you would take it to Tarrond with you—you never leave this thing."

"...Tallond is too far away," Veronica said, "my control over the Platinum Scepter will be weakened if I am far away from Loren Continent, although theoretically the God of Light will not take the initiative to pay attention to it. Here, but we must be on the safe side. After this period of time, we have reformed the teachings and various parishes, and the divergence of beliefs has begun to show initial results. The "bridge function" between God and man is no longer as dangerous as before, but This scepter is still uncontrollable for ordinary people, only you... can hold it safely for a long period of time without being affected by the spiritual stamp."

Will the control over the Platinum Scepter be weakened when it is far away from Loren Continent?

Wright keenly noticed the key point in the other party's words, but he glanced at Veronica, and in the end he didn't ask any more questions—this ancient rebel hides many secrets, but unless she volunteers to reveal it, no one can do anything about it Let her speak up.In the final analysis, even the relationship between His Majesty and this disobedient person is just a cooperative relationship, and it is even more difficult for others to question this "Her Royal Highness".

The Patriarch shook his head and reached out to take the scepter.

It was just a slightly warm and heavy staff, and Wright didn't feel anything else from it except the power of holy light.

"Is there anything I need to pay attention to?" He asked.

Veronica nodded: "You don't have to hold it all the time, but make sure it is always within 100 meters of you, and no one else can touch it when you let go of the scepter—otherwise the 'bridge' It will immediately point to new contactors, thereby directing the gaze of the God of Holy Light to the human world. There is another very important point..."

Wright looked serious and listened carefully.

"Try not to use it as a weapon when leading the young priests into the mountains for exercise. It's better to have another normal warhammer," Veronica said lightly, "After all, this is an ancient relic."

Wright: "...Frankly speaking, this thing is not easy to use as a weapon, it's a bit light."

Obviously, both of them are discussing this matter very seriously.

Then Wright raised his head, glanced at the sunlight shining into the church through the crystal, and said to Veronica: "It's getting late, the church is only closed for half a day today, and I'm going to prepare for the afternoon sermon. You still have to pray here A while? There is about half an hour before we leave here."

Veronica lowered her head slightly: "Go and get busy, Patriarch, I still have to think about something here."

Wright nodded, turned around and walked towards the exit of the prayer hall, and at the same time waved to the benches opposite the pulpit: "Let's go, Emily!"

A group of human-shaped radiance poked its head out from the benches, responded happily, then got into the slightly undulating holy light behind Wright, and left the prayer hall with the great patriarch.

In the huge hall, only Veronica was left quietly standing in front of the pulpit.

The "Princess of Holy Light" closed her eyes slightly and lowered her head, facing the wooden pulpit like a devout believer, she didn't know what she was thinking, until after ten minutes of silence, she slowly raised her head Come.

The holy light that was always floating in those eyes seemed to be a little dimmer than usual.

The next moment, she whispered as if she was talking to herself in the prayer hall:

"Perform a Type II security split process.

"Memory and Personality Repository begins remote synchronization...

"Preparing to go offline...

"We wish us luck and look forward to the observations we bring from Tarrond.

"The personality data has been backed up, and the Ophelia-Parade unit has entered offline operation."

……

On the third day after the Goddess of Magic's "Divine Burial", everything has been arranged.