Sword of Dawn

Page 441

"It's possible," Gao Wen nodded immediately, "I will grant you an expedited permit later."

As he spoke, he couldn't help having some weird imaginations in his mind-what would this product that combines magic technology, dream magic, traditional magic, and siren technology look like?A soldier wearing a special combat uniform, with a flickering artificial nerve cord connected to the back of his head, hums an indescribable psychic melody to his comrades on the battlefield, and communicates with "the power of the deep sea" when he is free...

And it's mass-produced.

Gao Wen shook his head, temporarily throwing some advanced associations out of his mind, and at the same time returned his attention to the previous topic. He looked at the holographic projection not far away, thinking about those runes and the "Song of the Deep Sea" in his mind. Thoughtfully said: "Although we have made a lot of progress, the most critical question is... What is the deeper principle of these things? Why are these things that point to sea monsters able to produce such high resistance to the pollution of gods?" sex?"

Kamel thought for a while, and then broke the silence: "About this... After discussing it with Jenny, I have some guesses."

Gao Wen raised his eyebrows: "Oh?"

"We suspect... this has something to do with the race spirit 'Eva' behind the Krakens."

"Related to 'Eva'?" Gawain repeated curiously, "I remember Tyr described it to me..."

"Yes, she also described it to us when she cooperated with the research," Kamel nodded, "After analyzing the nature of the 'Eva' she mentioned, I suspect that the spirit of the race may be An 'alien god'... that operates in a very different way than the gods we know.

"Of course, this is just a metaphorical statement, because according to our definition of gods, the 'Eva' in the mouth of the sea monster is not a god at all, but should be a larger, conceptual sea monster..."

Chapter 0928 Warning

What Kamel said made Gao Wen couldn't help showing a pensive expression.

He had heard some racial culture and traditions about sea monsters from Tire, so he was no stranger to the concept of "Eva".

Unlike most races on land, sea monsters have not had any concept of "gods" since ancient times. They do not worship any gods, nor do they believe that any absolutely transcendent individual is some kind of creator/savior/guide , in their cultural system, the only "god" similar to the "god" of the land race is "Eva", but they never think that Eva is a god-Tyer spent a long time talking to Gawain Explain what Eva is, because this is a difficult concept for land races, but Gawain summed up one of the most important key points after hearing Tyre's introduction:

Eva is a collection of all sea monsters. They regard their entire race as a whole, just like a large number of cells gathered together. These cells gave themselves a name for this huge and complex cell aggregate, which is called— -people.

This peculiar world view is probably related to their culture of "belonging to the deep sea", that is, all things originate from the deep sea, all things return to the deep sea, and all things converge into one in the deep sea.

Therefore, sea monsters do not have, and will never have, the concept of worshiping gods—the greatest and extraordinary existence in their minds is an extra-large sea monster.

From Gao Wen's point of view, the Krakens are probably a wonderful race that maintains their individual will but recognizes the world like a swarm of insects.

He frowned slightly, and looked at Kamel: "You mean, the reason why the song of the deep sea and the deep sea rune can produce the effect of mental protection is because it essentially mobilized the power of 'Eva', it is 'Eva' Helping us fight against divine pollution?"

"It's very possible." Kamel nodded.

Gao Wen still frowned: "But what is the reason why the 'Eva' of the sea monsters can resist divine pollution?"

"About this point... I just mentioned that for our 'gods', the essence of 'Eva' may be equivalent to an 'foreign god'," Kamel said slowly, considering his words, " You should remember that Miss Till once said that she and her people are not the original inhabitants of our planet, they come from a place that is completely different from our planet's environment."

"I remember," Gawain nodded, "and I heard her describe the tools used by the Kraken to come to this world, which looked like some kind of 'spaceship' that could be used to travel long distances between the stars—like The astrologists and scholars in the ancient Gondor period imagined the same 'starship'. But obviously, the scale of that thing is infinitely larger than the space craft imagined by anthropologists 700 years ago."

Kamel nodded slowly: "Yes, some kind of aircraft used to cross the starry sky, it sounds like the Kraken came from another planet, but I have talked with Miss Till a few times recently, and I heard her describe The situation in her hometown, describing the troubles that sea monsters encountered when they survived in this world... I have a bolder guess."

Gao Wen raised his eyebrows: "An even bolder guess?"

"The sea monsters have gone through a very long 'adaptation period' on our planet. They even lost their shape for a while, and they have been 'reunited' on the seabed in the most primitive form of elements for an unknown number of years before regaining their mobility... This has gone beyond the concept of 'the natural environments of the two planets are different', and considering the impact of the elemental creatures' innate immunity to the magic tide, the problem they encountered should not be some kind of 'sequence of the magic tide', so... I guess They may have come from a place farther 'distant' than we imagined, to the extent that...even the basic laws of the world are different."

Gao Wen's face suddenly became serious: "Continue talking."

"If it is true that the sea monsters are 'incompatible' with our world because of the difference in basic laws, then their 'Eva' must be the same. In their world, I am afraid that there is no so-called 'divine pollution' or 'chain of belief' at all." , and there is no such thing as a "spiritual seal", the "Eva" born under such circumstances may be a god who has "already" broken free from the shackles to us... No, strictly speaking, it should be a 'God-like individuals', because their 'Eva' will not receive prayers at all, will not produce any feedback of faith, and will not be able to establish a substantial connection with believers...

"If the above conjecture is true, then the effect of the song of the deep sea and the rune of the deep sea makes sense: they direct the pollution into a 'regular anomaly'. There was a proverb in the ancient Gondor period, 'the flood of the present world cannot wash away the Hades feathers', because the two are not in the same dimension, and the pollution of our world... obviously cannot affect an alien individual."

"The pollution of our world can't affect individuals in foreign lands..." Gawain thought quickly, and gradually became suspicious, "But there is one thing, the song of the deep sea and those runes can in turn affect people in our world—— Isn't that uplifting effect a real one?"

"We are still analyzing this point, but Ms. Jenny has a guess," Kamel said, "She thinks that the joy and excitement we feel in the song of the deep sea and the runes of the deep sea may not be inspired by 'Eva' psychic effects, that may be a by-product of some sort of 'connection making'..."

"The by-product of establishing a connection?" Gawain looked curiously at Jenny who didn't speak much, "What connection?"

"The 'connection' between the siren," Jenny replied immediately, and then explained her opinion while sorting out the language, "The siren is a kind of elemental creature, although it may be an elemental creature from 'another world', But they also have a characteristic similar to the elemental creatures in our world, that is 'resonance', which is a phenomenon that will inevitably occur after pure elements get close to each other. I also confirmed from Miss Till that the sea monsters can To a certain extent, I feel the emotions of my fellow race, and this emotional resonance will be more obvious when communicating with the song of the deep sea or the "Twist Tentacle Dance"..."

Gao Wen really wanted to remain serious the whole time, but he didn't hold back all of a sudden: "What is the Tentacle Twist Dance..."

"...This is Miss Till's exact words," Jenny said with a strange expression on her face, "It's just turning into a bunch of tentacles and wriggling with the same family..."

"Okay, don't explain, just understand the meaning." Gao Wen interrupted the other party with a wave of his hand, "In short, there is a relatively basic 'telepathy' between sea monsters. Although it can't transmit information directly like the telepathic network, but Allows sirens to share emotions - so, those runes and songs..."

He looked at Jenny while talking, and the latter nodded: "Yes, those runes and singing voices brought us to the 'collective mood' of the siren—the excitement and joy felt by the users did not come from Iran. The baby's 'positive spiritual pollution', but just... felt the good mood of the sea monsters."

Gao Wen was startled, and suddenly pressed his forehead subconsciously: "So those deep-sea salted fish are usually so happy..."

"We can now explain why there are sequelae like 'squid mania' after long-term exposure to deep-sea runes," Kamel said, spreading his hands, "This is also the result of emotional resonance."

Gawain nodded slowly, gradually straightening out Kamel and Jenny's conjectures, and then he suddenly thought of something: "If the ability of those runes and songs to resist pollution comes from the sea monsters and the world's' Out of place', does this mean that if the sea monsters fully adapt and integrate into this world, this resistance will also disappear? Now that Eva has occupied the position of the God of Storms, the sea monsters are obviously gradually adapting this world!"

"To be honest, this possibility cannot be ruled out," Kamel said in a serious tone, "The 'adaptation' of the Krakens may actually cause them to lose a unique 'advantage', which is indeed somewhat contradictory and somewhat ironic." possibility. But I don't think it will be that simple, at least not anytime soon.

"First of all, there is an obvious evidence: the 'race' of the sea monsters has already occupied the god of the storm god, and their 'Eva' has now become the god of the storm in essence, and has a large number of 'Naga' as believers , but neither the ordinary sea monsters nor their 'Eva' showed any divine pollution, which shows that their 'adaptation' and 'pollution' are not a simple exchange relationship.

"Secondly, even if the sea monsters adapt to the rules of our world, it does not mean that they are exactly the same as the original inhabitants of our world. The adaptability of creatures changes according to the environment, and only those that actually affect survival Environmental factors will cause the adaptive evolution of creatures, and whether 'Eva' produces divine pollution obviously does not affect the daily survival of the sea monsters. Therefore, the most likely situation is that the sea monsters will eventually adapt to the environment of our world, But their 'Eva' won't change in any way - because the laws of nature don't affect her."

Gawain nodded slowly while listening. He agreed with Kamel's theory, but in the end he said with a serious expression: "Even so, we have to be prepared."

"Yes, always plan for the worst," Kamel said in a deep voice, "the protection 'borrowed' from the Kraken may fail, and even if there is no possibility of failure, we cannot put all All hope is placed on the Krakens - while they are sure to be reliable and friendly allies, as you say, 'someone else's is another'. Besides, we can't just have a deck of cards in our hands. "

"Therefore, your progress on the mental protection system is very important, which brings us more possibilities," Gawain nodded slightly, and said slowly, "If we understand enough in principle, we can It is possible to develop a completely own mental protection technology, and at the same time avoid the influence of the technical black box... This last point is particularly important."

As he spoke, he sighed softly, his tone full of worry: "Now our mind protection technology is based on deep-sea runes. In the long run, it actually points to an 'unidentified individual'. If we can't If it is explained technically, it is likely to arouse people's awe of the mysterious and unknown power, and then generate some kind of 'cult of thought', although this possibility is very small, but we should avoid any possibility in this regard."

Gawain's reminder obviously gave the biggest warning to Kamel, the former disobedient. The radiance flowing on the latter's body was slightly static for a moment, and then the arcane master lowered his head, with a tinge of awe in his tone: "Yes, we will definitely keep it in mind."

Gawain nodded, and then glanced at the holographic projection floating in the laboratory, as well as the busy technicians everywhere.

"It is necessary for us to share this information with our Siren allies—although they may have already realized that they are 'incompatible' with this world and are also studying the issue of 'adaptation', we must be frank enough manner."

Kamel and Jenny said in unison: "Yes, Your Majesty."

Gawain exhaled, and looked at Kamel: "Next, let's talk about... things related to God. I got a lot of information from Amon."

……

Hetty was sitting in her office, the magic net terminal set aside was running silently, and the printing device connected to the magic net terminal was spitting out text from afar.

The chief druid Pittman of the Empire sat on a chair not far from her.

"Mages have started to report the 'disappearance' of the Goddess of Magic to the Extraordinary Affairs Departments of various government affairs departments one after another," Heidi took the report spit out from the printer, glanced at the general content at the beginning and said slightly He shook his head and said in a low voice, "Although most mages are shallow believers or even general believers in the goddess of magic, and there are no particularly devout and fanatical believers, the 'disconnection' of the gods still makes many people feel uneasy."

"If this state of unknown intelligence continues for a while, they will be even more disturbed," Pittman said casually. "Thinking about it carefully, they are only feeling disturbed now. This is already the best situation."

"We will announce the news soon," Hetty put down his hands and reported, "According to the wishes of our ancestors, we will hold an eye-catching meeting of top-level mages, and then directly announce the news that the 'Goddess of Magic has fallen due to unknown reasons'... …Afterwards, I relied on the guidance of public opinion and a series of official activities to gradually divert everyone’s attention and let the incident transition smoothly…but I am still worried that there will be too much confusion.”

"There will inevitably be a certain degree of chaos and turmoil. Don't think you can avoid it—the goddess of magic is gone. We can't, and we definitely don't want to create one out of thin air to calm people's hearts," said Pete. Man waved his hand, "Announcing the news directly may be the fastest and most effective method. At this time, what we need is speed. Everyone needs an answer, even if the answer is bad. As long as the follow-up official announcement and public opinion guidance can keep up , all of this can be successfully concluded after a chaotic but short process."

As he said that, the old druid smiled and added a few words: "And don't underestimate the ability of human beings to adapt and accept... The fall of the white star 3000 years ago caused a greater impact than today. The Ruis are not shallow believers like the mages, but didn't everything end smoothly?

"In the final analysis, for the vast majority of people who are not so devout, gods are really too distant a concept. When the gods are gone... life will always go on."

Chapter 0929 Darkness

In the afternoon of the second day, Gawain called Hetty, Kamel and other high-level personnel, and officially announced the status of the goddess of magic and various information obtained from the giant deer Amon in a closed-door meeting.

The double-thickened crystal windows cut off the cold wind whistling outside the house, leaving only the cool sunlight slanting into the house. The small meeting room with strict protective measures looks more dignified than ever.

Gawain sat at the top of the long conference table, Hetty sat on his right, the amber melted into the air as always, the magic net terminal was set up on the left side of the conference table, and Victoria Wilder and Bert were emerging above the crystal array. The figures of the two Grand Consuls of Devon Franklin.

"It seems that the goddess of magic will really not come back... Although Mirmina is still there, from the priesthood, the goddess of magic has 'fallen'," Victoria broke the silence, "After the fall of Bai Xing, the world once again personally Experienced the fall of the gods."

"Unlike the one 3000 years ago, the belief in the goddess of magic does not have that much influence on society, and her 'departure' will not impact the existing mage system," Pittman said, "I We have already discussed with His Royal Highness Hetty yesterday, and we should be able to get through this turmoil relatively easily."

"The premise is to take action as soon as possible," Heidi took the topic, and looked up at Gawain who was sitting next to him, "Ancestor, a few hours after the feedback from the goddess of magic disappeared, some mages noticed the abnormality and reported to the local government office Reports have been made, and the reports from all over the country are gradually increasing. They are still waiting patiently for a response from the imperial capital, but the news will soon spread among the people."

For a long time, mages have been the upper class of human society. Their deep-rooted influence in society has not disappeared with the country's drastic social changes. If this part of the group cannot be stabilized, it will become a big problem.

For them, the effect of relying on saturated entertainment media to occupy the public's attention and relying on some public opinion control to control the situation is limited, and may even lead to the opposite effect-after all, the gods they believe in are gone. It's obviously inappropriate for you to play movies all over the place to add to the fun...

"First of all, let's announce the news of the fall of the Goddess of Magic according to the original plan. This matter cannot be concealed, and the more it is concealed, the more it will lead to backlash and confusion." Gawain nodded, and said unhurriedly, "The reason for the fall of the gods There is no need for an official explanation, nor should it be clarified. After this, we will conduct a national, large-scale, and extremely solemn public event."

The higher-ups of the empire in the meeting room and on the communication line may not have reacted for a while, and Baldwin Franklin, who was on the line, couldn't help but asked curiously: "Public activities?"

"The whole country mourns the death of the goddess of magic. I will personally write an article to express my condolences as the ruler of the empire. Then, Victoria, you will take the lead and lead the most prestigious mages to summarize the memory of the goddess of magic. Finally, we will give the ceremony Set up a closing link, get some sacred objects, symbolic relics and other things, burn them into ashes, and then be carried by the imperial dragoons into the air, and sprinkled on the rivers, lakes and seas—may he rest in peace."

After Gao Wen's deep and serious voice fell, everyone in the conference room looked at each other for a moment. Obviously they hadn't caught up with Gao Wen's train of thought until now, especially Hetty showed an unbelievable expression - she was often exposed to rebellious plans, so naturally she knew In the long run, all gods are destined to change from the protectors of civilization to the enemies of civilization, and what her ancestors have been doing all along is to fight against those gods who are gradually falling into madness, so a huge "mourning" project is in her opinion. It seems weird and unreasonable.

Grand Duke Baldwin in the connection said with a little hesitation and thought: "Is it to give the mages all over the country a catharsis and calm their emotions..."

"Not only that," Veronica, who was sitting across from Gawain and holding a platinum scepter, suddenly said at this moment, with a dazed expression on her face, she clearly understood Gawain's intentions, "I I understand what you mean, Your Majesty, you need to bring this matter to a 'conclusion'."

"It's called 'closing the coffin'," Gao Wen saw that almost everyone on the scene showed thoughtful expressions after Veronica spoke, and couldn't help showing a smile on his face, "The goddess of magic is 'dead' , whatever the cause, whether he was a god or whatever, whatever he did and affected, in short he is dead, the god is no more, the source of faith is gone, and we will mourn him deeply ——Mages can grieve and miss, but no matter what, everyone will know clearly—there is no goddess of magic in the world anymore.

"This mourning must be as solemn as possible, and must have a wide enough influence and a large enough scale to form a worldwide consensus and a public opinion, so that those who do not want to accept it must accept it, so that those who want to doubt cannot find the object and reason for their doubts.

"Of course, what Duke Baldwin said is also right. This is also a 'confession' to the mages across the country, so that they can have a chance to vent their emotions. We must guide their emotions to mourning, so that they have no time to go Think about something else."

After Gao Wen's voice fell, everyone felt a sudden realization after being astonished. After all, this idea itself is not too unimaginable. Using funerals and other activities to attract attention and characterize events is a relatively routine operation. The key is The idea of ​​"holding a funeral for God" is so unimaginable that no one even thinks about it in this direction.

After thinking for a while, Heidi couldn't help but raised her head again, and looked at Gawain with a strange expression: "Is it really okay to do this?"

"Believe me, there is no more effective way than this," Gawain nodded with a smile to the always worried "Cecil the Steward", "This will be the first funeral we hold for the gods, If it succeeds in guiding, transitioning, solidifying as I expected, then this funeral will be a reference for the future."

For future reference... As soon as these words came out, the expressions of Hetty and the others in the conference room suddenly became weirder than before. However, as they had witnessed two divine disasters with Gawain, they even saw the "false god skeleton" with their own eyes. A group of people, but they know that behind these few words is probably the inevitable situation in the future.

As long as civilization is advancing, as long as the cruel rules of this world are still operating, other gods will surely fall, and after each god falls...Emperor Gawain Cecil will give them a grand burial .

Even Hu Po, who was watching the meeting in an invisible state, couldn't help showing her figure, looked at Gao Wen twice, and sighed slightly in her heart - the coffin is settled... This is really an appropriate phrase.

It is worthy of being the person who once lifted the coffin.

Gao Wen waited for the people in the meeting room to digest the last topic, and Hetty who was on the side also completed the minutes of the meeting process, and then cleared his throat and said, "Next, we should discuss the issue of Typhon's side. Problem."

"There is a God of War over there who may have gone crazy," Veronica said indifferently, "From an academic point of view, this is a valuable observation sample, and we can intuitively understand what happened after the god went crazy. Gradually revealed characteristics and a series of subsequent influences on the present world."

"But this is not just an academic question," Gawain said, "We should write a letter to Rosetta Augustus—the 'abnormal changes' of the goddess of magic, Mirmina, might be a good starting topic... ..."

……

Mist shrouded the imperial capital of Typhon, and the faint sunlight penetrated through the clouds and mist, creating an artistic conception of dusk in the fog in the city below. In this autumn season, the courtyards and open-air corridors of the Obsidian Palace The increasingly cold wind also began to blow, only the royal garden protected by the greenhouse screen was full of greenery and still warm.

Matilda Augustus stepped into the royal garden located in the atrium of the Obsidian Palace, and a warm breath rushed towards her face, quickly dispelling the cold air brought back from the outside.She walked along the cobblestone path to the depths of the garden. In the dim light of the approaching dusk, she saw her talented father standing under a blue-leaf pine tree, as if looking at the flowerbed below her. .

It was a poorly growing flowerbed.

"Father," Matilda stood a few meters behind Rosetta, lowered her head, "I'm back from the Great Cathedral."

Rosetta didn't look back, but just hummed lightly, and asked casually: "Did Malm Dunit receive you in the inner church?"

"Yes," Matilda nodded, "and still in accordance with etiquette standards and procedures."

"At least everything looks normal on the surface, doesn't it?" Rosetta nodded, her gaze still not moving away from the nursery. "Tell me about your experience. We urgently need to know the situation in the Great Cathedral."

"I directly asked the Pope about the recent rumors about the churches in various places - because these rumors have been spread, it would be abnormal not to ask." Matilda nodded and replied, "Her Majesty Malm did not give a positive answer and explanation, He only said that someone was maliciously attacking the Church of God of War, and that the Great Holy Church had launched an investigation into the parish where the rumors appeared... This was a reply that fit his identity and the situation at the time.

"The Pope himself didn't look any different, and our conversation was in line with a normal situation, but I clearly felt a bit weird...atmosphere in the cathedral.

"There is a tense and depressive atmosphere that hangs over the entire cathedral. Although every priest I have seen seems to be fine, that atmosphere does exist, and it is the same in empty places. Give It feels as if... the tense and oppressive atmosphere is emanating from the Great Cathedral itself.

"I talked with some priests without attracting attention. The ordinary priests in the cathedral obviously know the rumors from all over the place, and their answers are no different from those of His Majesty Malm. But there is one thing that I think is very Strange... Some priests seemed agitated when they answered me, as if they were offended—but I can be sure that there is nothing wrong with my words and deeds, and the questions raised by those rumors were calm and even Biased towards the vocabulary of the Church of God of War."

The latter anomaly mentioned by Matilda sounds like an unimportant detail, but Rosetta turned around with a very serious expression on her face: "Do you think there is... other things'?"

"It's just a vague feeling," Matilda said, "Their emotions came very suddenly, and they all apologized nervously and slightly dazed afterwards. When talking with them, I can always feel Ruoyouwu's eyes move around, and sometimes the voices of those priests will suddenly become hoarse...I think their emotions seem to be affected by some external factors, and that factor makes me very uncomfortable."

"What else did you see?" Rosetta frowned, "Have you found anything about the Cathedral itself?"

"...Some corridors in the Great Cathedral are a bit dark," Matilda thought carefully, and said in an uncertain tone, "I don't know if it's my illusion, but there are countless candles in the Great Cathedral. Fire, and the new magic spar lamp lighting, but I always feel that it is very dark there - it is a kind of 'darkness' that does not affect the line of sight, as if on the psychological level. I checked with the attendants, it seems that only I produced it No one else noticed anything unusual about this feeling.”

Rosetta frowned a little bit, and he stared at his daughter without saying a word for a long time.

Due to the influence of the curse that originated two centuries ago, the members of the Augustus family... are somewhat different from ordinary people in terms of "perception", especially in certain fields involving gods, they can often see and hear There are some things that ordinary people can't detect, and it is precisely because of this that he asked Matilda to check the situation in the Cathedral.

This point, Matilda herself is obviously very clear.

But this young Imperial Pearl is not as "experienced" as her father-she only observes those details, but does not dare to draw dire conclusions like Rosetta Augustus.

"Father," she couldn't help but said, "do you think..."

"The influence of the Church of God of War in Typhon...is deeply rooted," Rosetta broke the silence suddenly, saying something that seemed inexplicable to Matilda, "like an ancient tree that has been rooted for thousands of years, its roots It has become a part of this whole land, and everything that grows on this land is more or less affected by it.”

Matilda opened her mouth, wanting to ask something, but suddenly heard undisguised footsteps coming from the side, the black-haired head maid stepped into the garden at some point, when the footsteps sounded , she has come ten meters away.

"Diana," Rosetta looked at the other party, "what have the wanderers found?"

"Those priests who were involved in the accident may have a very profane and distorted death condition, so the corpses were disposed of secretly and quickly. Many witnesses have been controlled by the local church. The rogue tried to confirm the status of those witnesses. It has been confirmed At least four priests are crazy due to spiritual pollution," the head maid Diana reported in a calm and flat tone, "In addition, it has been confirmed that churches in some areas have reduced the size of their weekly prayer meetings and closed them in the name of church repairs. Some of the church’s facilities—the relevant orders came from the Cathedral, and were ordered by Malm Dunit himself, without going through the College of Cardinals. The Pope himself ordered such a thing, which is an anomaly in itself.”

Matilda was listening to Diana's report, and suddenly couldn't help but widen her eyes——

The Church of the God of War has always operated independently and in a closed manner, and the imperial power has no way to deal with them, but when... the rogue spies belonging to the royal family have been able to investigate the secrets of the church to such an extent?

Chapter 0930 Reminder