Sword of Dawn

Page 444

For a moment, the human-shaped dragon felt a strong sense of trance and dizziness. At a loss, she couldn't even tell if she was having auditory hallucinations—she had only left the human world for such a short time. What happened in this Loren continent? How many crazy changes have been made? !

——As an "ordinary mithril treasury agent", coupled with the fact that she has been recuperating at home recently, she has never paid attention to the news of the human world, and naturally she is not aware of the fall of the goddess of magic.

In the face of Melita's astonishment and inquiries, Gao Wen just maintained an inscrutable smile, neither answering more nor asking new questions.

It's quite interesting to see Miss My little pony, who always shows off her elegant posture, showing such a confused and shocked look.

……

A few minutes later, Melita left from the garden of Cecil Palace.

Walking on the still bustling streets of the city, this humanoid dragon from Tarrond couldn't help but look back at the rather simple "palace" with a strange expression on his face.

Her fingers touched several tubes that she carried close to her body. They were specially customized vacuum syringes, which were filled with concentrated synergists that can effectively stabilize the spirit even in human form. She specially prepared them for today's meeting. of.

Before meeting Gao Wen, she was already mentally prepared (and mentally prepared) to explode her heart again today. Although she felt that just conveying an invitation would not involve too many risk factors, but the experience of multiple injuries I still asked her to make enough plans to deal with "accidental work-related injuries during the conversation", but she didn't expect that the conversation with Gao Wen today would not be in danger. After a tense 10 minutes of conversation, the synergist didn't come in handy. The newly installed safety valves on the side did not come in handy.

But even so, Melita still felt that her heart was pounding at the moment—every one was pounding.

A mortal emperor preparing to hold a funeral for his god...

The agent lady shook her head, and slowly looked away, there seemed to be some weird smiles in her eyes.

Even "ordinary" topics that don't involve "stencils" are really terrible.

She took a step forward and walked towards the depths of this somewhat familiar human city.

It looks like she's going to live here for a while, and it's best to make arrangements for the place to stay in advance. She needs to choose a comfortable place for herself, and go to witness that... mortal's funeral for the god.

Chapter 0934 The Signal Appears Again

"You have already agreed to Tarrond's invitation?!"

In Gawain's study, Hetty, who had just learned of the situation, widened her eyes and looked at the smiling ancestor in front of her in astonishment.

"That's right." Gawain had known Hetty would react in this way, and he nodded with a smile, "Of course not starting now—at least after the incident with the Goddess of Magic has completely subsided and all domestic affairs have been properly arranged. "

The astonished expression on Hetty's face still hasn't completely faded away, but when she saw the ancestor's smiling face and heard his indifferent response, she realized that this was not the other party's whim, the ancestor may have made a deliberate decision, but This decision...was a little too unexpected, and it was too overwhelming.

"Having said that, it seems that I really should discuss it with you guys." Gawain looked at Heidi, suddenly patted his forehead lightly, and said apologetically, "This is no longer my business alone, my decision was a bit hasty .”

"No, that's not what I meant," Hetty shook her head hastily, "I was just too surprised. Since you have made such a decision, you must have your own reasons."

"There are many reasons. The Dragon Race is a powerful and mysterious force. For a mortal country, it is rare to have the opportunity to contact such a force; there are too many mysterious and unknown places in Tarrond. I speculate that their civilization level is probably Far beyond the Loren Continent, this needs to be observed and understood; the Dragon Race is a civilization that has survived many demon tides, and this information is very precious to us," Gawain said clearly, and finally shook his head , "But for me personally, these reasons are not the most important. The most important thing is...they have a god who came down to the world, and this god seems to have something to say to me."

"You mean that 'Dragon God'..." Hetty frowned slightly, "You mentioned this to us. So do you think this god is friendly?"

"I'm not sure, but at least I can be sure that He communicates rationally and intelligently," Gao Wen said. "So far, we haven't had any direct contact with any 'normal' gods who communicate rationally and intelligently. Those are either false gods created by cultists. Either it is a special "new god" like Naritil who is very different from the gods in the world, or it is an "old god" like Amoen who has left the position of a god and has lost most of its divinity...Of course they also have Great reference and communication value, but the communication value of Dragon God is obviously more special and irreplaceable."

Hetty nodded her head lightly, obviously she had to admit Gao Wen's views on this aspect, but the worried look on her brows still did not fade away: "...you are right, but there is still a lot of risk in this, Especially now...you will face too many unpredictable variables when you go to Tarrond in person, and we are still not sure what the purpose of that 'Dragon God' is, but the danger is real."

As she said that, she couldn't help shaking her head: "It would be great if we could communicate with Tarrond at the ambassadorial level according to the normal diplomatic process..."

"Unfortunately, this is not a normal 'diplomatic act'," Gao Wen said. "From the perspective of the other party, this is just an invitation for me personally. It is our unilateral desire to get more from this invitation." It’s just income. Don’t think about sending ambassadors to each other, at least for now—it’s meaningless to that ‘god’, and he’s not interested either.”

Then he looked at Hetty who seemed to be in tangled thinking (the Cecil butler usually seems to be in tangled worries for various reasons), with a smile on his face, and comforted: "I I have considered various contingencies—including the malicious intentions of Tallond and the possibility of the Dragon God setting traps, I agreed to this invitation with great confidence and after weighing the pros and cons.”

"Are you sure?" Hetty said subconsciously. She looked at the ancestor of the family who seemed to be always confident and reliable, and wanted to ask him as a mortal how to approach him with confidence. She faced a god with an unclear attitude, but she swallowed the words again.

She suddenly thought of the various "differentities" that her ancestor showed after being resurrected from the dead, and thought of the strong resistance and even suppressing ability shown by the other party when facing the knowledge of gods and even the remains of gods , Thinking of his forward-looking plans and incredible knowledge... The ancestor once explained that some of the knowledge came from the Gondor era, and some came from the historical fragments he saw when he was in the state of the soul. Even the slightest clue corresponding to that knowledge can be found in the history of mankind.

"I understand," she lowered her head, "I will arrange everything as soon as possible. During the days when you leave temporarily, this place will still run in an orderly manner."

The ancestor who came back from the dead may not be just a "human being". She has been vaguely aware of this since a long time ago, but no matter how many secrets the other party has, the past few years have at least proved one thing: For this land and the people on it, Gawain Cecil is indeed a mountain worthy of reliance and trust.

For Hetty herself, she only knew this ancestor who was revived after 700 years—and that was enough.

"I won't be away for too long, this will be a short 'visit'," Gawain nodded, he couldn't see the expression on Hetty's face after lowering his head, but years of getting along had already made him feel comfortable in this situation. Sensing the ups and downs of the other party's mood, he couldn't help showing a smile, and said softly, "Don't worry, I will come back safely—and as soon as possible."

Then he waved his hand, skipped the topic for the time being, and asked casually, "Let's not talk about this for now. You came here so early, do you have anything to report?"

"Yes." Thinking of her original purpose of coming here early this morning, Hetty quickly organized her thoughts, "I brought the latest monitoring report from the main hub of Sorin... the mysterious signal that appeared before, It appeared again this morning!"

Gao Wen was stunned for a moment, and then he remembered what the "mysterious signal" Hetty mentioned was, and he was taken aback: "It appeared again!?"

"Yes... and it is very similar to the previous situation. It continued to play for several cycles, interspersed with short high-frequency oscillations and repetitive waveforms, and then disappeared mysteriously as if it suddenly appeared-our The source of the signal has still not been captured, and no progress has been made in deciphering it."

Gao Wen frowned, and said in a deep voice, "So... this signal has nothing to do with the goddess of magic..."

What they were discussing was the mysterious signal received by the Sorin main hub and the northern winter hub. Its source was unknown and its meaning was unknown. It appeared abruptly like a ghost at the monitoring boundary of the magic net terminal. , it will mysteriously disappear after bringing noise and ripples for a period of time. This signal confuses all technical personnel. can figure out its source.

This mysterious signal has stirred the nerves of many people.

And after the goddess of magic invaded and escaped through the magic net, many technicians in the empire—even Gawain himself—subconsciously connected the two events together.

Gawain once suspected that the Goddess of Magic was the source of the mysterious signals received by Solinborough and Winter Castle twice, and even suspected that those strange signals were caused by the Goddess of Magic when she tested the magic net before carrying out the escape plan—although there was not enough However, the rationality of this guess is very high, so many people think so.

But now... the Goddess of Magic has been confirmed to have completely escaped and stayed away from the human world, and the traces she left in the magic net have been completely wiped out by Naritil and Duwart, but the strange and mysterious signal has reappeared! !

"Has only the Sorin main hub heard it?" Gao Wen frowned. "Have there been similar reports from the other hubs?"

"Not yet, the signal is not stable, sometimes strong and sometimes weak, it seems that it will only appear and be captured by our magic net crystal in a relatively accidental situation," Heidi shook his head, "But the other main hubs Currently checking all monitoring records from midnight to early morning yesterday to see if there are any missing clues - if the signal they received was too weak and short, it was likely to be ignored by the staff on duty at that time, but the buffer There may be traces left in the crystal array."

"Well..." Gawain nodded slowly, "Let them check carefully, this signal... I am very concerned about it, it is very unusual. The goddess of magic has already messed up our magic net once, and now The reappearance of this signal probably means that the goddess of magic is not the only one who wants to make trouble."

Hetty lowered her head and bowed to accept the order: "Yes, ancestor."

Hetty left, and Gawain was lost in thought behind the desk, then he looked up to his side, watching an amber slowly precipitate in the air beside him.

The half-elf lady blinked her eyes, with an expression of surprise and confusion on her face: "I thought the signal thing was over after the goddess of magic ran away..."

"I thought so too—all of us thought that the signals received by Thorin Castle and Winter Castle were made by the Goddess of Magic," Gawain frowned, "but now it seems that this is probably two an unrelated event..."

"It would have been nice if Naritil had managed to keep the goddess of magic behind," Amber subconsciously said, "In this way we can confirm with the other party directly, even if she didn't make the signal, maybe she knows something—" After all, you are more or less a god, and you should know more than ordinary people."

Hearing Amber's muttering voice, Gao Wen just shook his head and didn't say anything.

……

Two days later.

The cold wind in late autumn blows across the vast Holy Spirit Plain. Looking up at the sky from the Solin area, you can only see the sky is high and the clouds are sparse, and the vision is clear and open.

The season of frequent precipitation and even snowfall is coming, and such sunny days may become less and less in the next few months.

As the autumn wind blows, there is a rattling sound from the huge crown of the Sorin giant tree, and countless branches make noises in the depths of the crown, as if some structures inside are moving and reorganizing, and there is a continuous The sound of rubbing and rolling came, as if something was passing through the depths of the canopy, leaving a sound along the way.

The top of the Sorin giant tree, the uppermost part of the canopy, the extremely dense wooden structure and the heterogeneous leaves overlap to form a steel-like stable plane, which is comparable to the "green ground" of the city square. Man-made facilities—there are fences to prevent people from falling, street lamps for lighting, and small meteorological observation and collection devices, and the largest one is located in the center of all facilities, consisting of a large number of metal frames and intertwined The huge array of crystals fixed and supported by vines together: Sorin main hub array.

This is the highest point of the entire Holy Spirit Plain, and it is also one of the most important facilities in the Solin area. Around the huge crystal array, you can see more than a dozen heavily armed large treants, all of which were split from the giant tree of Solin. The grown-up "guards" are responsible for guarding the giant tree and a large number of precious devices mounted on it. These treants are covered with thick alloy armor, and are fixed on the back and waist of the chariot, which is beyond the reach of human beings. The large magic net energy pack that is only used, and the amazingly powerful Gorgon cannon in his hand, each of them looks majestic and terrifying.

And the defense force of Sorin's main hub is not limited to them——

A little farther away from the crystal array, in the edge area of ​​the top of the tree crown, there are many unusually thick and strong wooden structures growing out of the branches. The ends of those wooden structures that look like giant arms are "clutching" fortress-level rail guns Or large bomb droppers, these amazing defensive firepower is another security guarantee for Thorin's main hub.

The main hub of the magic net is an extremely important strategic facility of the empire. Not only is this the case here at the giant tree of Sorin, but also several other main hubs have similar levels of protection.

In a burst of clattering sound, a crack suddenly opened on the "ground" near the crystal array, and the leaves that were originally used to cover the "ground" opened to both sides, forming a structure like a cluster of petals, a natural growth of vines. The resulting "cage" rose up from the gap.

The cage stopped smoothly, and the vines on the side were opened layer by layer, and Margarita and several technicians walked out from inside.

The shield covering the entire treetop platform cuts off the cold wind at high altitude, and only the magnificent and open scenery at the top of the canopy greets the visitors. Margarita took a light breath and couldn't help sighing: "No matter how many times you come up, here The views are so amazing...”

A rustling sound came from the side, and some of the vines that had been separated from the lifting cage squirmed and gathered together, and changed into the appearance of Beltira in a burst of fusion and deformation. Chang nodded to Margarita: "It is indeed a very unusual feeling to look around from such a high place-if you need, I can also build a taller lookout on the top of the tree canopy."

"No, no need, thank you for your kindness, Ms. Bertila," Margarita said hastily, and then looked at the crystal array not far away, "Your Majesty is very concerned about the reappearance of the signal, what new discovery do you have here? ?"

"The tracking attempt has failed, the signal source has completely disappeared, and I can't find any clues within the range of my perception," Bertila shook his head, "But when I try to analyze the recorded signals, I seem to have something Find."

Chapter 0935: The Clue Discovered by Beltira

The main hub of Sorin should be the most special one among all the main hubs of the magic net in the empire - this is not only because its crystal array is built on the top of the tree, but also because Beltira, the "living hub carrier", utilizes the power of the giant tree of Sorin. The unique biological characteristics have carried out a bold transformation of the entire hub. She subtly blended the original cold steel and crystal into the structure of the giant tree, and on the canopy of this giant tree, her " design".

Under the guidance of Bertila, Margarita arrived at the area where the crystal array was located. The metal devices supporting the crystal array were deeply implanted in the giant tree, and a large number of wooden structures and vine-like "pipes" were layered on top of each other. Extending from the branches, it merged with the base of the crystal array.Accompanied by a rattling sound, Margarita saw a "ground" near the base opened up, and the originally neat and dense leaves trembled to the sides, revealing a slanted downward The stairs seem to lead to a deep place.

Although it is surrounded by layers of leaves and branches, the inside of this passage is not dark. A large number of glowing flowers and leaves and thin vines hang down from the "walls" on both sides of the passage, illuminating this place like lights. A "small world" within the canopy.

"This is my 'research room', I built it in my body, so it's more convenient to use," Bertila said to Margarita, and he took the lead to walk forward, "Please come with me— —Pay attention to your feet, this ladder is a bit steep, and I am currently thinking about how to re-grow this part.”

"It's...ingenious," Margarita followed the other party's "footsteps" and brought several technicians and accompanying soldiers into the "secret space" that belonged exclusively to Beltira. She looked at the leaves on both sides in amazement. The glowing plants on the walls and the cleverly grown stairs and corridors, I couldn't help but sigh, "I didn't expect you to have such creativity, Ms. Bertila."

"...Actually, I almost forgot that I still have such creativity," Bertila seemed to pause slightly, and then continued to walk forward, "Curiosity, creativity, learning new things, observing the world ...I've dropped a lot of things, but lately I'm trying to get them back."

While talking, they had already walked through the slightly steep stairs and entered a rather wide space.

This is a roughly ellipsoidal "world in a tree", and Margarita swears that even in her most imaginative dreams, she has never seen such a strange but wonderful scene——

Sturdy wooden shells and supporting columns prop up the place, countless green leaves and vine walls constitute the walls, floors and roofs of this ellipsoidal space, and countless luminous plants—including flowers and hanging mycelium— — provides lighting for this place, making it look like a brightly lit plant cave.And inside this "cave", Margarita saw many things that are incomprehensible to humans. There are glowing vines distributed along the ground, and there are some kinds of cultivation sacs hanging on the nearby leaf wall. Pockets, some wooden, stacked platforms, and most notably, the very center of the space...some kind of structure.

It was a huge capsule hanging down from the ceiling. About dozens of vines and tubular tissues of various thicknesses extended from the top of the capsule. The entire capsule looked like a brown-red bag, which seemed to be filled with some kind of emitted light. A shimmering liquid, as time goes by, some thinner "membranes" on the capsule are still pulsating slightly, and there are things like blood vessels inside that are changing in light and dark.

It's unsettling, but also has a mysterious appeal. It's clearly drawn in some way with the biotechnology of the death of all things, but it doesn't have the feeling of gore and madness.

"I haven't let anyone else come here," Bertila said to Margarita, "As you can see, this place is built according to my 'survival mode', and the things here are only available to me. Yes Now, it shouldn’t be considered a ‘violation’ for me to do this? I’m not using any public resources, I’m just doing some research here—I’m a druid after all.”

"Um... I don't think this is a violation," Margarita thought for a long time before organizing her words, "Strictly speaking... this belongs to your own 'physiological structure adjustment', and I don't think the laws of the empire can stipulate it." How should you grow..."

Speaking, the female general of the empire seemed to feel that the current topic was a bit too brain-intensive, so she quickly waved her hand before the topic became more weird: "We won't discuss these anymore——Ms. The clues were analyzed, does this have anything to do with this 'secret base'?"

"Oh, of course, because I researched the clues here." Bertila nodded, and led everyone to a flower bud in the ellipsoidal space, and as Margarita and others approached, This flower bud, which is as tall as a person, suddenly unfolded by itself, and the originally curled green leaves stretched out, revealing its pure white inner wall.

"What is this?" Margarita frowned and asked curiously.

"It's just a little trick that can be used to present the picture—for me, it's more convenient to directly manipulate the plants than to manipulate the magic net crystal," Bertila said casually, "This is just an insignificant detail, I want to give you What I'm looking at is... this."

As she spoke, she communicated with the plant structure in front of her. Margarita looked at it curiously, and was surprised to see dark green traces suddenly appear on the inner wall of the pure white leaves.

"Since the last time I received a strange signal, I have been thinking about the meaning of those signals - scholars have used many methods to crack it, including passwords, code words, converted into sounds, converted into 'alphabets'... I also tried many methods, but all of them failed. There seemed to be no logic in those short tremors. They did not correspond to some kind of code book, and there was no digital law. A thought: Maybe these tremors don't involve codes? Maybe they're something... simpler?"

While telling about the various attempts he had made, Bertila adjusted the lines emerging from the leaf, and outlined more details in front of Margarita's eyes.

"...I used a very simple method that no one had tried: just draw the tremor. You see, when a strong tremor occurs, a dot is left - like an ink dot, very small and very small. Small; then the weaker tremors or blank noises will be left blank. If the duration of a tremor is regarded as a 'grid', then as long as the weak tremors and white noise last, how many 'grids' will be left blank... …

"Then here, which is very important, it took me a long time to figure out how to deal with the changes here - in the signal we received, every once in a while there would be a very short, very sharp waveform, and I initially Thought it also meant some kind of 'line', but finally I figured out that it means...a new line.

"Similarly, we have also received several other very short and sharp waveforms, each of which has its own meaning, and is used to position the subsequent 'dot' to a specific relative position in the previous paragraph..."

On the leaves, there are more and more imprints made of magic power. According to the idea mentioned by Bertila, the mysterious signal "monitored" by the Sorin hub is rapidly transforming into a pattern composed of dots and blanks. At this time, Margarita was almost sure—Bertera's thinking was correct!

Because those dots are not arranged randomly, their arrangement is showing a neat and regular shape!

"What is this?" Finally, a technician standing behind Margarita couldn't help but speak. This middle-aged man in a magician's short robe stared at the "circle" that appeared on the blade. Click on the picture", exclaimed in astonishment, "This..."

"A square, the square formed after the dots are connected into a line, is very...regular, and the number of dots on each side is exactly the same." Bertila said, and while she was speaking, the dark green pattern imprinted on the leaf Still stretching.

Those eye-catching dots have been connected to form a square, but obviously this is not all - there are still new dots popping up in the blank area next to the square, and it is very obvious that they are arranged in lines and combined into patterns !

Margarita and several entourages all stared at all this with wide eyes, guessing what it would look like in the end, but after a few seconds, everything suddenly stopped.

Those subsequent dots formed only a short line segment, and then came to an abrupt end.

"What about the follow-up?" Margarita couldn't help but raised her head and asked, "Why is it gone?"

"The signal was interrupted in the back," Beltira spread his hand, "that's all I recorded. You know, the efficiency of using these tremors to record graphics is very, very low, and we may have to record continuously for a long time without interruption." Only the signal can fully describe this thing-but the signal I received was only ten minutes old.

"...Damn..." Margarita couldn't help muttering something not very ladylike, and then she looked thoughtful, "So the nature of these signals..."

"It should be a picture, and what we see is probably only a part of it - the exact scale of it is unknown, and its meaning and sender are also a complete mystery," Beltira spread his hands in a very humane manner, shaking Shaking his head, "I even suspect that this is a blueprint. Of course, this is just a guess - after all, there are too few parts that can be seen."

"All in all, now we can basically confirm that this thing cannot be some kind of 'natural phenomenon'," Margarita took a deep breath, "No matter who is doing this kind of thing, there is a certain existence that has been continuously Sending us a picture indiscriminately—or it may not be sent to us intentionally, but an indiscriminate broadcast, which just happened to be captured by our crystal array. In any case, this matter must be reported to the Imperial Capital immediately."

"Of course," Bertila nodded. "This incident is very unusual. Think about the network whistling incident that happened not long ago... There are more and more disturbing things in this world."

"Well... Speaking of which, when did you discover these patterns?" Margarita suddenly glanced at Bertila with a curious look on her face.

"It was only a few hours ago," Berti pulled the corners of his mouth, and he seemed to show a smile, "Luck is the majority—the idea I thought of did not conform to the normal code-breaking rules, it can only be said that it made me lucky hit the ground."

"That's still a remarkable achievement," Margarita praised sincerely, and then couldn't help turning her head, her eyes fell on the capsule in the center of this ellipsoidal space, "Actually I've been wanting to ask since just now, what is this thing...what is it for?"

There are many strange-looking things in this ellipsoidal space, but most of them at least meet the characteristics of common things such as vines, flowers, branches and leaves. Only the sac hanging in the center of the space is really weird and mysterious It was hard to ignore. Margarita had been attracted by it since she came in just now, but she was too embarrassed to ask because of her official business. At this time, she finally couldn't help but speak.

In front of me, the former Grand Master of the End of Everything... What exactly is she researching in her "private research room"?

Hearing Margarita's inquiry, Bertila didn't have any strange expression on her face (it's mainly because her vegetable face is really not easy to make an expression), but there was a hint of pride in her tone: "That's The optimization and supplement I made to myself, this time I was able to successfully decipher the clues in the signal, thanks to the assistance of this thing. If you want to see it, I can open the outer capsule, but the things inside are not for ordinary people. The speech may have some visual impact...you have to be mentally prepared."

Margarita smiled immediately, and said quite confidently: "Of course - we are all specially trained, and we will not be shocked when we encounter any situation. You can open it now to satisfy our curiosity heart."

Bertila nodded, and with a light wave of his hand, the sac in the center of the "room" suddenly made a wriggling and rustling sound, and then the surface of the maroon sac appeared There are many neatly arranged cracks, and the entire package structure blooms to the surroundings like petals, revealing the transparent oval inner shell, the translucent nutrient solution in the inner shell, and the huge and large body soaked in the nutrient solution. Amazing biological organization.

That turned out to be a brain!A "synthetic brain" that is nearly as tall as a person soaked in nutrient solution!

Margarita, a specially trained imperial officer, widened her eyes the moment she saw that thing, and then felt the hairs on her body stand up slightly: "This...what is this!?"

"I made a brain for myself - try to imitate the human brain, of course there is a problem with the size... I didn't want to make it so big at first." Beltira said without any change in expression, as if it was just an insignificant thing The little things are average.