Sword of Dawn

Page 404

"Our law does not prohibit this," Sir Golosh said with a serious expression, "but the main reason is that the Holy Dragon Duchy has not officially opened its doors to the outside world before today, just like Azalei What Ms. Na said - even if there are dragon descendants who leave the country to become mercenaries, it is just a personal behavior.

"If you mean that Cecil wants to establish an official foreign legion in the name of the country, and wants to make this a part of the agreement between the Cecil Empire and the Holy Dragon Principality...then we have to conduct a special The meeting, let's discuss it carefully."

The corners of Gao Wen's mouth turned up slightly.

Mr. Ambassador in front of him was very cautious and did not directly admit or endorse anything.

But he said the matter could be discussed — and that would be enough.

All that's left is to bargain.

……

The huge sun has gradually fallen below the horizon, and there is only a light red afterglow left in the sky. This faint brilliance spreads from the direction of the plain on the west side, reflecting on the tall iron towers and construction machinery, and also reflecting on the tall and magnificent buildings. pyramid-shaped building.

Facing the afterglow of the setting sun, the strange building standing on the ground, streams of magic power slowly flowed through some cracks in the walls on its surface, and faint rune imprints emerged from the base of the building, Make it more silent and mysterious.

"It's such a beautiful building," the great architect Gordon stood next to a construction machine in an open field, staring at the pyramid-shaped facility not far away, and praised with pride in his tone, "I can't believe it...in the old days Well, if a craftsman can build such a building in his lifetime, it can be regarded as the glory of the family, and it can even become the capital to show off to future generations, and it only took us one month to build it..."

"Just let the building stand up." Nicholas Dan always floated beside Gordon, and there was a buzzing sound inside the sphere. "The internal equipment still needs a long time to adjust and test."

Hearing the other party's words, Gordon suddenly thought of those "newcomers" who appeared here recently and were busy around this "computing center" all day long. He frowned subconsciously: "You mean those newcomers" Network and wetware technical experts'? They have been busy in there lately... But to be honest, I really can't see the shadow of technical experts in them. Those people can't even use the general-purpose magic terminal. Machines are not as good as my workers..."

"Ah, it seems that they really need 'remedial lessons' in this regard," Nicholas Egg said buzzingly, "so the work of debugging the equipment is mainly handed over to the technicians sent by the Institute of Magic Technology. As for those The 'new guys'...they're mostly in charge of testing the equipment."

Gordon obviously had some doubts about this: "Can they do well?"

"Not to mention, they are surprisingly professional when testing those things, and they seem to be experienced in all kinds of accidents," Nicholas Dan said with admiration, "If there is a connection failure, ordinary people At least half an hour would be dizzy, but I saw with my own eyes that they just crawled out of the immersion chamber, spit out a mouthful, and then went back to continue the test. It seemed that nothing happened, and ordinary people have to come out to rest after testing the immersion chamber for at most six hours After a while, those people seem to be able to stay in it for a lifetime—I really doubt that if the problem of eating, drinking and lazing is solved, they can really stay in it for a lifetime, and I don’t know how to practice it.”

"Who knows," Gordon shrugged, "Anyway, His Majesty has found these people, so they must have their own strengths..."

Chapter 0855 Prototype

Compared with Cecil's existing network technicians, the biggest advantage of the Eternal Sleepers should be that they are very familiar with the process of thinking online and dealing with various unexpected situations-in the past many years, they have used the most dangerous methods Let your brain be directly exposed to a large-scale computing network, the lack of security mechanisms and the congenital defects of "human flesh connection" make the eternal sleepers have to face some dangerous situations from time to time, including but not limited to brain overload, mental damage, etc. Loss, memory streaming, and problems with the soul.

For them, it's all routine.

It is precisely because of this that the "immersion chamber" made by the Cecilians, which has a bunch of safety devices and a layer of physical insurance, seems to these eternal sleepers to be as safe as a fortress made of steel, which can protect the body and the body at the same time. The kind of mind, lying in it will give you a sense of physical and mental relaxation - you don't have to expend energy to maintain the network connection, and you don't have to worry about any mental noise directly shining into your head. Many bishops claim that they can lie in it for a lifetime.

Magnum was very surprised by the safety level of those immersion chambers at the beginning. He could see how much the Cecils spent more research and development costs for these safety measures, but soon he figured out the key-the Eternal Sleeper The psychic network is for extraordinary people. Except for very few exceptions, every person connected to the network has a strong spiritual power. When encountering problems, they can overcome them by themselves. It is a dark sect, and it is part of the traditional custom to hang up one or two occasionally.

But Cecil is different. Their network is for ordinary people, and ordinary people need more protection for their fragile minds and bodies. As a responsible empire, they have an obligation to protect citizens, which means As a result, all the immersion chambers they manufactured have safety as the highest requirement, and even sacrificed part of the connection performance for this...

Which of the two technical ideas is right and which is wrong, the archbishops including Yuri and Magnum believe that there is no doubt about it-Emperor Cecil is a wanderer outside the territory, and the priests in this place carry a warhammer bigger than a human head Big, the locals are keen to use explosives and earthquakes to mine mountains.

The truth rests—and always will—in the hands of the Cecil Empire without a doubt.

Imperial Computing Center, Thinking Hall, in front of the Mind Hub.

The dense brilliance floats on the surface of the silver-white alloy pillars, and the veins formed by the arcane energy flicker like breathing in the gaps of the metal modules. The tall pillars connect the floor and the dome of the hall, and there are complex runes and geometric patterns from time to time. The figure emerges from the surface of the pillar and rises rapidly along its alloy shell. A pleasant low humming sound echoes softly in this bright hall, which seems to contain the waking vitality.

"The third test start, the base magic net has been stably supplied with energy," a technician from the Institute of Magic Technology stood in front of the nearby console and said loudly while looking at the many runes that lit up on it, "The mental hub begins to output sequential signals—all signals confirmed!"

Standing in front of the silver-white alloy pillar, Yuri and Wendy listened to the magician's loud report on the progress. The former nodded slightly: "It seems to have started successfully."

"It's finally time to start..." Wendy seemed to be answering Yuri, and said softly as if she was talking to herself, then she took a step forward, gently placed her hand on the alloy shell of the large pillar, and started Unleash your own spiritual power.

In this era, in the field of research, "a transcendent can manipulate magic power without using additional tools when debugging certain equipment" has probably become their only advantage when facing ordinary researchers.

All eyes in the hall were focused on Wendy for a moment.

Cecil's local technicians are watching her, and they are also watching the mental hub in front of her—countless people have spent a lot of effort on this thing, and only those who often deal with immersion chambers and the Internet will understand this thing What does it mean, they watched this scene, as if they were watching the future of technology.

Several fellow Eternal Sleepers at the scene were also watching her, but they were watching the past of the Eternal Sleeper Order: an old era has come to an end, and a brand new magical technology will be used to take over everything they have created. The cold equipment is overlooking here, and inside it, 700 years of technology accumulation is being revived in an unprecedented way.

Some people look forward to it, some people feel it.

Ripples of magical power appeared in the mental hub, and Wendy breathed a sigh of relief, showing a smile: "Hello, future."

Almost at the same time, a clear holographic projection appeared above the console of the mind hub, Magnum's figure appeared in the holographic projection, his eyes were wide open, and his voice was as loud as ever: "Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo Jump! Have I entered the Mental Nexus?"

The magician in front of the console seemed to have not seen the sudden appearance of Magnum, and still reported the situation meticulously with a straight face: "The mental hub began to output responses... all channels are unblocked, we can 'see' the test group sending Here comes the signal."

Magnum stared, looked around the hall, and then pointed at himself: "Is the 'signal' referring to me?"

Yuri immediately frowned: "That's enough, this is a serious occasion—we shouldn't have agreed to let you enter the Mind Nexus first!"

Magnum, who had been transferred to the Mind Hub, spread his hands when he heard the words: "Ms. Selena is monitoring the upload, and Your Excellency Megall is with His Majesty the Emperor. I am the only mind in the network—do you want to upload yourself? come in with me?"

Yuri pressed his forehead subconsciously: "... I shouldn't have argued with you... Anyway, how do you feel now?"

"...In terms of general perception, it is no different from our own mental space," Magnum finally got serious and began to answer Yuri's question, "It's just that this place is still very...'barren', and I was thrown into a void , there are only some basic 'frames' and 'platforms', which should be the original space built into the mental hub. But I can feel other people - those compatriots who are using the immersion chamber, I can feel their minds in the Around me, but I can't see it for the time being..."

Wendy nodded slightly: "Several test groups are still waiting for the next order. Before all the channels are opened, it's normal that you can't see them."

"Well, I think so," Magnum said casually, "Also, I can still feel that this place is... narrow. But I think this should be caused by the limited number of nodes."

Yuri nodded: "Currently counting the ordinary testers on shift, we can only guarantee a thousand nodes to maintain floating connections, and some of the nodes will be used for some additional test items, and the remaining nodes are of course not It may maintain the same scale as the previous psychic network. But everything will be fine soon-all immersion cabins have passed the test, and the second batch of connection volunteers, testers, and maintenance personnel are also ready. When the computing center is officially opened, The Psychic Network will reappear..."

"It's the 'narrator's neural network'," Magnum immediately corrected with a serious face, "times have changed, my friend—ha, this sentence really feels inexplicably, I began to understand why the Cecilians Love chasing these 'hipster' words."

The corners of Yuri's eyes twitched slightly, and he resolutely ignored Magnum who appeared in the hall in the form of a holographic projection instead of a psychological projection. He turned his head slightly and said to Wendy beside him: "You can notify Semler —let him start the next step."

……

In the upper area of ​​the computing center, in a large connected computer room, immersion cabins are neatly arranged one by one.

The silver-white hatches are being opened, and lying in the cabin are the former priests of the Eternal Sleeper—these people have changed into the white uniforms of Cecil's technicians, and everyone's expressions are calm and slightly dull .

They are currently in a shallow connection state, maintaining the operation of the mental hub in the form of pure computing power nodes. They are waiting for the next instruction, and the person in charge of this room is the former Archbishop of the Eternal Sleeper, Semler.

This middle-aged man with a serious expression stood next to the console in the center of the computer room, watching the column in the center of the room used to connect the mental hub, and seemed to be meditating on something.

Wendy's voice suddenly came from the spiritual connection, interrupting Semler's thoughts.

He raised his head, and a former bishop standing beside him immediately responded: "Shall we start?"

"The mental hub has been stabilized, and Magnum is ready inside," Semler nodded slowly, and said in a deep voice, "Let the compatriots start—close the hatch, connect deeply, sort out your memories and Mind, let us . . . build the earth and the sky first."

The alloy hatches began to sink steadily under the action of the mechanical device, and the slight squeak of the hatches closing came into the ears continuously. Sammler closed his eyes slightly. In his mental perception, he can "see" that there are faint "lines" extending from this room.

The lines connect to form a net, and the streams converge to form a river.

And there is not only one room where the "line" spreads out.

In the entire computing center, in many rooms on the upper floor of the thinking hall, one torrent of thinking is being connected, and one individual brain floating point is being activated.

There are not only the former eternal sleepers, but also Cecil's original network technicians, as well as the "volunteers" recruited to provide computing power support.

Tonight, 1000 people will participate in this work in the computing center. They will build the prototype of the "narrator neural network" and carry out the initial "genesis" in this network.

What they created tonight will be stored in all nodes in the form of floating storage, and will be preserved for a long time with the addition of more nodes and the rotation of old and new nodes, rapid evolution, and gradual improvement...

Among these technicians and volunteers, ordinary people account for the majority—hundreds of ordinary people are forming the initial nodes of this rudimentary network. A starting line.

In the cyberspace formed by the human mind, everyone's thinking will no longer be distinguished from the extraordinary and the ordinary.

……

In the thinking hall, Magnum, who appeared in the hall in the form of a holographic projection, opened his eyes wide, describing what he saw in the online world with a hint of joy:

"Beginning to see the light and the basics of the earth - they're building an open virtual surface... oh! I see the sky! Simple, but beautiful!"

But Yuri no longer cared about Magnum's voice at this time.

Because the wise Cecil technicians thought of adding a volume adjustment function to Magnum's sound generating device in advance - after confirming that a guy with an extremely loud voice is not ready to follow the friendly advice of the on-site staff about the experimental environment After that, the magician in front of the console directly turned the volume of Magnum to the minimum.

In order to complete the work, Magnum must stay in the mental hub at this moment, and the inability to move freely in the network means that he cannot project his consciousness onto other nodes, and he cannot form a "psychological projection" as usual. ", he can only communicate with the outside world through the sound and light equipment in the hall like a broadcast signal - praise the magic technology, now it only takes a few buttons to quiet this guy.

Yuri even felt that the whole world was better.

"Do you know, Ms. Wendy, as an Eternal Sleeper who only joined the order in the Rosetta era, my biggest regret was not being able to witness the scene where the order created a world from scratch in the spiritual network," He turned his head and couldn't help but talk about the emotion in his heart at the moment, "Now I have no regrets—we are witnessing history with our own eyes, and something destined to change the world is being born here."

Wendy showed a slight smile and said softly, "I hope that the wanderers outside the territory will be satisfied with our work."

"He will be satisfied," Yuri said briskly, "He will come to check and accept all this in a few days, and I hope that by then He will tell us what the 'narrator' in this 'narrator neural network' really represents. ..."

Wendy's smile froze for a moment.

She touched the back of her neck subconsciously, and suddenly felt a little pain in the back of her neck...

Chapter 0856

The rising sun shone on the earth, and the sleeping city gradually woke up in the night. The pale gold with a trace of bright red sunlight slanted across the undulating boundaries of the dark mountains, casting a continuous and brilliant sky between the plains and hills. Light and shadow, the boundary line between light and shadow gradually moved to the tallest tower of the Imperial College, and a majestic and solemn bell rang just at this time.

The gears and levers in the tower are driven by the magic mechanism, and the chains made of fine steel are pulled by the rotating bearings. The counterweight swings in the bell tower, and the sound of the bell flutters. The first to wake up is the Imperial College. Then gradually woke up the streets and squares around the college, houses and shops...

Several bell towers in the city rang, and soon, a clearer and more rapid ringing that was different from the bells appeared in the streets and alleys.

Half-grown children and young people wearing felt hats and short jackets set off from post offices and newspaper distribution points everywhere, and rode through the streets on the "two-wheeled bicycles" that have become more and more popular in Cecil recently. The car bell is the second "alarm clock" to wake up the city.

They are the city's newsboys and postmen, and in most of Cecil's modern cities, the citizens' daily lives basically start with the crisp car bells of these newsboys and postmen.

Sir Golosh put on casual clothes, and walked the streets of this foreign city with Azalena, who was also dressed in casual clothes. They watched the whole city wake up from its deep sleep in the morning sun, and the dragon The vastly different buildings and inhabitants of Nearhold surround the two dragonborn.

"I have a book in the room where I live now, which describes the city like this - Cecil City wakes up in the morning with the 'sounds' of modern industry, the bells driven by machinery, the bells of two-wheelers , the whistle of the public magic vehicle..." Sir Golosh said casually, "It seems that only by seeing it with your own eyes can you understand the meaning of these sentences."

"The human world in my memory was not so prosperous and... fast," Azarena shook her head, "Of course, it feels good like this now."

A clear and slightly childish voice came from the side, interrupting the conversation between the two dragonborn: "Sir, ma'am, do you want a newspaper? The latest news, the most interesting news! Just two Els! Three el for two!"

Sir Golosh turned his head and saw a boy wearing a dark blue plaid jacket standing in front of him. The boy had a beaming smile on his face, big and bright eyes, and a large satchel at his waist full of newspaper.

Ah, another "Cecil View" that you can't see anywhere else.

Jazz laughed and couldn't help asking casually, "What's the biggest news?"

"The Empire and the Holy Dragon Principality are about to establish diplomatic relations, sir!" The boy said happily, raising a newspaper in his hand, "The meeting in the big meeting hall has been successfully concluded, and now we have another ally—perhaps soon Soon we can look forward to some special produce from the far north, or a new market - and more! Grab a copy sir, you look like a man of the moment, don't miss more in this paper Big news!"

Surprise flashed across Sir Golosh's eyes, and he was stunned for a moment. Azalena, who was next to him, had already taken out two coins—Cecil's new coins, and she handed them over with a smile: "A newspaper ,handsome boy."

"Thank you, ma'am~"

The boy who sold the newspaper ran away, and Azalena shook the newspaper with the fragrance of ink in front of Gorosh's eyes as if showing off the spoils, with a smile on her face: "Now we are all part of the news , sir."

"...What word did you use just now? Ah, 'quick'," Golosh said with a dumbfounding expression on his face, he spread his hands and glanced at the newspaper, "It's just something that happened yesterday ...now even the kids know."

"...Negotiations lasted for nearly a week. The inclusive and honest attitude allowed the two countries to finally come together. The empire will have new allies in the economic and cultural fields..." Azalena scanned the headlines on the newspaper , read a few sentences casually, showing a hint of emotion, "Twenty years ago, a human lord would hire 20 spies and assassins for such a piece of 'information', and use hundreds of silver coins to buy off the opponent's castle. The cook and maid in the…”

"There will still be rulers who do similar things now, but the things they want to spy on must have changed," Gorosh said casually, and then glanced at Azalena, "But you are very concerned about this aspect back then." The market is quite understandable."

"When I was a mercenary, I did similar jobs - working for the nobles earned me a lot of money, but Byron didn't support his partners in dealing with the nobles. He was more interested in hunting monsters and collecting precious materials for mages. Azalena said, shaking her head, "But no matter what job you do, it's a free time. Dealing with monsters in the mountains is much easier than dealing with those shrewd and cunning Cecil diplomats." gone."

Sir Golosh laughed: "Anyway, it's finally over, we have opened the door, the dragon descendants will enjoy the industrial products of the human world, come into contact with new knowledge and new technologies, and humans will get a piece of land. Northern markets - and more importantly, a strong ally."

……

Hetty walked into the study room covered with blue carpets. The bright sunlight was shining in from the large floor-to-ceiling windows. She saw the burly ancestor standing in front of the window, and the sunlight was shining on his tall figure. A layer of glow.

"Ancestor," the eldest princess of the empire bowed her head, and said respectfully and gently, "the business adjustment plan with the Holy Dragon Principality has been drawn up."

Gawain nodded slightly: "Well, according to the results of the last meeting, I will hand it over to Patrick to implement."

Hetty came to Gawain's side and looked out the window together with him - in the increasingly bright sky background, several black shadows appeared in the southeast sky, two cone-shaped flying machines and the silhouette of a flying dragon were moving along The border of the Dark Mountains flies from east to west.

"Today's flight technology team has a series of test items - Rebecca is leading her team to collect more data on the Steel Wings, accumulating more data for the subsequent mass production version."

"We finally pulled the Dragonborn onto this boat..." Gawain said softly.

"Yeah, it's unimaginable...we will have an army of giant dragons." Even at this time, Hetty's voice could not help but tinge with disbelief, "Frankly speaking, even on the day when the Iron Wings test flight is successful, I would I didn't dare to imagine that this matter would really be successful..."

"Don't take it too seriously, Hetty," Gawain turned his head sideways, "the armed dragonborn may be powerful, but they are not Cecilians, and no part of the empire can rely entirely on foreign mercenaries—let alone It is said that these mercenaries are still very expensive, and there are not many of them. Our own air combat force is the foundation of the empire's sky, and the dragonborn is just a boost."

Hetty immediately lowered her head: "Yes, ancestor, I will remember your teachings."

"Don't be so serious," Gawain couldn't help shaking his head looking at Hetty who was always so serious, "I can't get married because I've been so tense."

"First... ancestor?"

"Don't be so nervous, let me make a joke for you to relax," Gawain laughed, "Oh...it would be great if you could balance with Rebecca. As an extraordinary person, you are actually young, but you are too young. Old, Rebecca has grown up a lot over the years, but her character is always so reckless."

Hetty originally wanted to say that a joke made by her ancestor made her more nervous, but she was afraid of accidentally bringing the topic back to the direction of "you are too old", so she hurriedly pulled the topic in another direction : "You value the relationship with the Holy Dragon Principality so much... Is it because you have considered the Dragon Clan? Are you making some kind of 'preparation'?"

"There is a reason for this," Gawain saw Hetty's careful thinking in changing the subject, but he didn't point it out, "Dragonborn claim to be exiled deformed people, and judging from their superficial status quo, this is indeed the case, even Most of the dragonborn themselves seem to think so, but I think... the relationship between them and the dragon clan behind them may not be so simple.

"From Melita Pernia's attitude towards the Dragonborn, and from what I have observed, the strange state of the Dragonborn themselves, I think there is something hidden behind this 'exile'.

"According to my guess, the ruler at the top of the Dragonborn, the Duke of Dragon Blood, and the group called the 'Dragon Blood Parliament', they should all have a certain understanding of this, but for some reason, This secret is not public.

"At this stage, we don't have the ability to investigate anything, but at least it won't hurt us to have a good relationship with the dragonborn - one day in the future, this may have unexpected effects.

"Of course, there are other reasons besides this that make me pay attention to the Holy Dragon Principality."

Hetty blinked and quickly reacted: "You mean...they rejected a lot of your proposals at the beginning, and then re-adjusted a lot of business cooperation content?"