Sword of Dawn

Page 256

Gao Wen readily agreed: "Of course."

The accompanying personnel on both sides quickly left their respective rooms. Belsetia was the only one left in the command hall where she was, and Gawain was the only one left in the magic net communication room. The line used for the inter-communication itself is the encrypted line of the Elven King Court. In this connection that spans the entire continent, the two started a private conversation.

Belsetia in the holographic projection was still sitting on the throne. She first looked at Gawain quietly for a while, and then exhaled suddenly: "We don't need to be so tense, right?"

Gao Wen was slightly astonished, but he adjusted instantly: "You are the queen now—it can't be helped."

"I was also the Queen back then, Uncle Gawain," Belsetia smiled lightly—in fact, she still maintained the majestic posture of being the Silver Queen, but her smile and tone were obviously much more approachable than before, "But you That's right, I'm the queen, so I still have to maintain my manners in formal occasions, but now it's a private occasion, let's relax."

"I'm very happy," Gawain also laughed. "How about it, Belsetia—how does it feel to sit on the seat of dominion?"

"Actually, it's boring most of the time. This temple doesn't need complex controls to operate automatically," the Silver Queen blinked. "What about you? Are you really...really back?"

"Yeah, I came back to this world, and I came back to face a mess," Gao Wen spread his hands and sighed exaggeratedly, "I really want to talk to you about the experience of being resurrected from the dead, but let me talk about it first. Let’s get down to business. Technical exchange, I’m serious, this matter is beneficial to both Cecil and the Silver Empire.”

"Uncle Gawain, I would like to believe you," the Silver Queen became serious, "That's why I want to talk to you alone—I am no longer the one who didn't understand anything back then, and could leave state affairs to the ruling group, I am a reckless little girl, as the Silver Queen, I must be responsible for my empire, so...whether it is technical exchange or anything else, I have to think carefully before giving an answer, I hope you can understand this."

"Careful thinking is necessary," Gawain nodded, and then a hint of curiosity suddenly appeared, "But you don't seem to have too many doubts about the 'technical exchange' I proposed? Aren't you curious, the magic of elves and humans Skills... have always been incompatible."

"But you found a way for humans to cast elf spells through some kind of device, didn't you?"

Gao Wen was really surprised this time: "How do you know?"

The communication between the north and the south of the mainland was cut off, and the Cecil-Silver Empire special line was established just today, so Sonia should have not had time to transmit this information back to her home country.

"I am not ignorant of what happened in the north of the mainland, your resurrection, the destruction and rebirth of the Cecil Territory, the war in the south of Ansu, the civil war between the two princes of Ansu, the friction between Typhon and Ansu, Francis The death of the second, and... magic technology," Belsetia showed a sly smile, "Yes, I don't know very well, relying on Sonia's description, I can understand what magic is more accurately. guides, but at least I know they exist. After all, I am the Silver Queen."

Gawain suddenly woke up from the "Uncle Gawain" that the other party said one by one. He looked at Belsetia in the holographic image, and re-examined the girl who had a close relationship with "himself" 700 years ago, but now she is sitting in the unified office. The ruler of the empire on the throne.

"Now that you know that our magic technology has realized the translation and control of elf runes, then you must also understand the significance of magic technology," Gao Wen said unhurriedly, "it is an item that can break The technology of the barrier between elves and human magic skills, and I believe that it can also help you analyze those lost ancestor technologies from the side-a brand new perspective, and its significance in the field of technology must not be emphasized by me.”

"Can it really have such an effect?"

"Of course, when did your Uncle Gao Wen lie to you?"

Chapter 0591 Opportunity

The ruler of the Silver Empire sat quietly on the throne made of long-lost ancient technology. The holographic projection in front of the throne had dissipated. Her eyes crossed the air and landed aimlessly in the distance, as if she was immersed in thought middle.

After thinking for a moment, she lightly tapped the golden armrest of the throne, and one of the cables connected to her nervous system behind the throne showed a flash of light.

The metal sliding door on the side of the ruling hall (control hall) opened silently, and a high-ranking maid in a white fringed dress walked in lightly and bowed in the direction of the ruling seat: "Your Majesty , you called me?"

"Master Verania, please come to the Hall of Command," Belsetia nodded slightly, "I want to discuss matters in the technical field with her."

The Temple of the Stars is not only a fortress in the sky that serves as a symbol of the power of the empire, but also an important research facility and a sanctuary of knowledge. There are large-scale laboratories and several archives in this magnificent sky city. One of the organizations, the "Association of Astrologers", set up its headquarters here.

The Silver Empire has a group of top-notch researchers. Its team is composed of the best magisters, the most wise and knowledgeable scholars, and the best engineering masters. They are buried in the infinite knowledge contained in the Star Temple and various ancestral relics. , relying on a large number of research facilities in the Temple of the Stars, tirelessly delved into the mysteries of the magic field.

Because of their outstanding contributions and high academic ability, they have an honorary title independent of their own professional system - astromancer.

One of the most outstanding astrologers, Verania, a great astrologer who has served the empire for nearly 2000 years, was summoned by the queen, temporarily escaped from the vast amount of data and blueprints, and came to the ruling throne.

This wise and knowledgeable lady has a tall figure. Although she is no longer young, she still maintains a beautiful and mature appearance and elegant manners. She is wearing a lavender skirt with silver borders, golden long Her hair was coiled high, and several crystals filled with magic power floated beside her, serving as her spell-casting medium and recording tool. She bowed slightly in front of Belsetia, paying tribute and asking the queen's will: " Your Majesty, what is your order for summoning me?"

"Vilania, you are my best magic advisor," the Silver Queen nodded lightly, "I need to make a decision now, and I need to hear your opinion."

"Please speak, I am listening."

"We have re-established contact with the northern part of the mainland. You should already know this," said the Silver Queen. "I just spoke to the Sonia messenger and met Gawain Cecil—he is indeed resurrected."

"...The resurrection of the dead has happened occasionally in history, but the 'perfect' resurrection of Duke Gawain Cecil is indeed rare. This may be related to the variation of life forms," ​​Verania said after thinking, "Do you want to Shall I study the secret of Duke Cecil's resurrection? But this is not my field of expertise, researchers from the life faction should be able to give you more advice..."

"No, I'm looking for you because Duke Cecil made a suggestion to me - about the technological cooperation between humans and elves."

"Technical cooperation?" Verania was a little surprised, she frowned slightly, "This...is an unexpected suggestion. The magic skills of humans and elves have never been in harmony, even in the era of the Gondor Empire However, the academic exchanges between us and human beings are mostly limited to the fields of culture and art, and occasionally supernatural power is involved, and they are only theoretical and academic discussions, but I think the 'cooperation' requested by Duke Cecil should not refer to these. "

If it's just exchanges in the above-mentioned fields, the queen doesn't need to ask herself to discuss.

"They have found a way to decipher and control the spells of elves," Belsetia said lightly, but the content of the indifferent words made the great astromancer's eyes widen. "Strictly speaking, they have found all the known methods in the world. The mystery of the laws of the runes—they named it: Runic Logic."

Verania's first reaction was "It's impossible", because there are so many kinds of runes in the world, and the possibilities of combinations and arrangements of runes are almost endless, and even the most amazingly gifted mortals cannot perceive all the runes. Wen's magic power fluctuates, it is impossible to control all the magic circles, not to mention sorting out a common law for those rune systems from different races with huge gaps between each other. And in awe of unknown researchers, the great astrologer finally suppressed his instinctive resistance and disbelief, and turned to the Silver Queen for verification: "Is this true? How did they do it?"

"Of course, Duke Cecil will not tell me the specific situation, but they should have really found a way, a way... that is completely different from the traditional way. We have information that confirmed that there was a A magical device with the characteristics of elf spells, this should be evidence," Belsetia said unhurriedly, "and Duke Cecil hopes to cooperate with the Silver Empire on a technical level based on this—he wants us The anti-gravity technology, multi-layer rune stacking technology, and various ancestral knowledge in the fields of machinery and engineering, and in exchange, he is willing to share with us the logic of runes, as well as what they have obtained in the process of analyzing human spells and divine spells. knowledge."

"Our ancestral knowledge..." Verania softly repeated the words mentioned by the queen, her expression gradually becoming serious.

"We have never disclosed the knowledge of our ancestors to other races. Even if we worked together with the human nations to build the Sentinel Tower, what we produced was an 'encapsulated result' that did not include the construction process," Belsetia continued, "The original elves left His legacy is the guarantee for the Silver Empire to stand up to this day, and the proposal made by Duke Cecil... makes me hesitate."

The great astrologer didn't give her answer immediately, she just thought about it quietly, and the magic crystals floating beside her, undulating slightly and changing positions, stopped at some point and began to shine in unison.

This is the performance of the great astrologer in deep thought.

The Silver Queen didn't disturb the chief advisor's thinking, she just sat quietly on the ruling seat, listening to the low growls or whispers of the ancient machines in this city in the sky with her soul and nerves, listening to every engine and every movement of it. The sound of a reactor and every artificial intelligence node slowly going to destruction, the expression is calm and unwavering.

"Your Majesty," the great astrologer finally raised his head and broke the silence, "Did you know that I was the instructor of the Royal Academy 300 years ago, and I was responsible for teaching the advanced skills of arcane magic to those young elites, and teaching them the imperial powers? State-of-the-art knowledge in the arcane realm."

"I've heard of it," Belsetia nodded slightly: "Many members of the Astromancer Association are your apprentices."

"Yes, most of them were taught by me 300 years ago," Verania said, taking a light breath, "and I went back to the Royal Academy to visit a friend six days ago— — On that friend's bookshelf, I saw their textbooks today...still what I taught 300 years ago."

Belsetia's eyes were condensed, and she quietly looked at the great astrologer in front of her.

"Your Majesty, the Silver Empire has been a gigantic beast that has been stagnant for thousands of years. It may still be the largest individual in this forest, but its interior has gradually decayed during these thousands of years of stagnation. We learned from our ancestors Legacy mines the knowledge that we used to build vast empires in the first few millennia, but for many millennia after that we made no progress. All our technological achievements are built on It is a small repair of the existing field, the products we have made with those ancient blueprints are becoming more and more refined, more durable, and even improved some efficiency, but... in the basic field behind these blueprints, we have always been stop moving forward.

"Your Majesty, we have come to the end of the road, and we need a second way—there is little hope of finding it alone, but we may have an opportunity before us.

"Humanity's magical skills may have been hit hard by the fall of the Gondor Empire, but they are an intelligent and changeable race. They are good at absorbing knowledge from various fields and developing rapidly. Their knowledge is of reference significance to us ——What we need is such a 'reference meaning'.

"That is my suggestion, Your Majesty."

Belsetia quietly listened to the suggestion of the great astrologer, and after a few seconds of silence, she spoke: "You are right, we should seize this opportunity.

"Great astromancer, please go back and rest, let the other great astrologers get ready and wait for my call."

Verania bowed her head deeply: "Yes, Your Majesty."

Verania left the hall, and the Silver Queen was silent for a moment, then she tapped on the handrail again and summoned her maid: "Let Sir Valentian come to see me."

A moment later, wearing a mithril crown and a gold-rimmed robe with a red background, the tall, thin and serious Minister of the Empire, Valentian Jingu, entered the hall of dominion. He bowed deeply: "Your Majesty, what are your orders?"

"The Principality of Cecil in the north will carry out high-level technical cooperation with the Silver Empire. In exchange for their technology to control runes, the Empire will open up some of their ancestral knowledge to them," Belsetia said calmly, "I want to call for political participation Discuss this matter with the group and all the great astrologers. There will be many opponents, and unnecessary reserve and pride will make many elves refuse to open their ancestors knowledge to humans."

Valentian, the chief assistant of the empire, maintained a stern face that never changed: "What about your order?"

"I'm asking for the bill to pass within two days."

"Yes."

Soon, the hall fell silent again.

In the empty hall where the attendants were dismissed in advance, Belsetia sat alone on the throne. Only the occasional humming sound from the operation of various instruments and equipment broke the silence in the room. The silence lasted for more than ten seconds before the throne sounded. A sigh.

"Hopefully this is really an opportunity."

……

At the same time, in the northern part of the mainland, in the territory of Ansu.

In the ancient palace deep underground, a room was brightly lit.

Priestess Bertila stood in the room, quietly watching several believers in short black robes inspect the magic device in the center of the room.

Those are two black stone pillars, nearly one person tall, densely packed runes and pale golden arcane lines engraved on the surface, and fine crystals and expensive magic materials are inlaid between those runes and lines, shining slightly Light, two stone pillars stand on the ground, less than two meters apart from each other, and on the ground where they stand, you can also see a large magic circle that is extremely complex and almost covers the entire floor. In the activated state, countless runes and connections are shimmering, and the crystals embedded in the magic circle are also full of energy.

The elf twins stood beside Beltira, looking at the two "stone pillars" in the center of the room with great interest, and sighed in unison: "The Eternal Sleepers really have some very interesting ideas—they can think of putting people's Thoughts can be projected into the distance, and can even directly cross the magnificent wall..."

"Unfortunately, this may be the last cooperation with them," Bertila said lightly, "They finally rejected the path of great evolution and chose the false spiritual world instead."

"They think their way is right, and we think our way is right," the elf twins laughed softly, walking around Bertila, "What about you? Can the world have its own unique insights?"

"I don't like your hobby of talking around others," Bertila bluntly dodged the entanglement of the elf twins, and walked to the center of the room - the believers who checked the magic circle had already stepped back, and the two A constant light is glowing on the surface of the black stone pillar, "If you are unwilling to help, at least don't choose to make trouble."

"Ah, of course we are here to help," the elf twins said in unison, and followed Beltira to the side of the stone pillar. "We have a lot to say with our companions on the other side of the barrier."

The magic circle in the room was activated, and the light floating on the surface of the two black stone pillars suddenly became extraordinarily bright.

Chapter 0592 Stealing Dreams

As the night fell, the seemingly endless wind in the wasteland had stagnated at some point. Prompted by a strange buzzing sound, the sleeping Gawain suddenly opened his eyes.

He saw a piece of undulating and corrupted land stretching before his eyes, the weird aurora and starlight sprinkled on the land together, the cold and dry air was filled with a rust-like smell, and the person who was supposed to be lying on the couch at the peak base At this moment, I am standing between this strange and boundless world.

There was no one around.

Gawain frowned, first took a quick look at the surrounding environment, and then vaguely realized what happened—this might be a dream, or some kind of mental projection effect.

The handwriting of the Eternal Sleeper?

Gawain looked down at himself, and found that he had put on a full set of armor at some point, but the familiar long sword of the pioneer was not in his hand.He clenched his empty fist, and with a thought in the familiar way, a long black sword emerged from the air and placed in his palm.

This is indeed the spiritual world created by the Eternal Sleepers, but it does not seem to be a spiritual network, nor is it somewhere in that "Dream City".

A mixture of curiosity and surprise filled his heart, but Gawain didn't feel panicked. It wasn't the first time he had dealt with the power of the Eternal Sleeper, so he could naturally sense his current situation—he turned his thoughts and found himself His mind is still awake, in a state where he can get out of the dream at any time, and he has not found any malicious or "sight" that is paying attention to him within the range of his mental perception. This seems to indicate that... he was not drawn in, but Is it "wrong entry"?

While paying attention to the scenery in his vision, he was always alert to the changes in this dream, while guessing what might happen.He clearly remembered that he should be sleeping in the room of the peak base at this moment, and he had not connected to the psychic network before falling asleep, so it is very likely that he "accidentally" broke into a psychic channel belonging to the eternal sleeper after falling asleep : He has the spiritual imprint of the Eternal Sleeper, and also masters the other party's secret technique. It is very possible for a similar situation to happen.It's just... this is the front line of the wasteland!

Why is there a spiritual channel built by the Eternal Sleeper so close to the wasteland of Gondor? !Are those cultists who are immersed in dreams also thinking about wasteland?

Such thoughts flashed through Gao Wen's mind, and then he began to carefully expand his perception, trying to find the body of the Eternal Sleeper hidden in this space, hoping to hunt down a mind to torture the situation, but just as he started to do so, At the time, several sudden auras made him stop quickly.

The strange aurora and starlight in the sky suddenly condensed together, and sprinkled several clear rays of light. In this clear beam of light, three figures gradually emerged.

Gao Wen quickly manipulated the power to change the dream, making his figure and breath disappear into the air, but he didn't feel that his hasty disguise could deceive the other party - in the mind network, he had already constructed a dream for himself. With a perfect backdoor permission system, he can naturally do whatever he wants, but this does not mean that his secret technique of eternal sleeper is so powerful. Once he leaves the spiritual network and comes to a new network with invalid permissions, he has no confidence at all. "Technology" beat the real eternal sleeper.

He just wanted to temporarily interfere with the opponent's judgment, and then wait for the opportunity to make a move.

He may not be an opponent of the real eternal sleeper in terms of "skills", but he is very good at "brute force cracking".

But what is a little surprising is that the three figures really didn't respond—they didn't even realize that Gao Wen was lurking not far away, and after coming to this space, they showed quite Symptoms of discomfort, they rubbed their foreheads or muttered in low voices.

It's like three crappy rookies.

Seeing this situation, Gao Wen immediately suppressed the urge to act, and instead carefully observed the situation in front of him.

The three figures are all women, one of them is a human woman who is wearing a green priest's dress, but all religious symbols have been erased from the clothes, she is quite outstanding but alienated and indifferent, the other two are almost identical To the elf sisters.

Their costumes and temperament are very different from those of the eternal sleepers that Gao Wen has seen...

No, they shouldn't be Eternal Sleepers at all!

Gawain did not perceive the mental fluctuations belonging to the eternal sleepers from these three people at all, but found that their connection with this space was fragile and unstable, as if people who had no knowledge of dream secrets used some kind of magic The device forcibly connected in... These are the three "visitors"?

Gao Wen was guessing the identities of these three figures, and at the same time as he was guessing, the human female in the three figures suddenly said: "Why haven't they appeared yet... Are you sure it's this time?"

The moment this voice came to his ears, Gao Wen's heart suddenly moved - he had an impression in his memory!He seems to have heard this voice somewhere!

And in the next second, he realized that this sense of familiarity did not come from himself, but from Gawain Cecil's memory: the woman who spoke was someone Gawain Cecil knew!

However, he took a closer look at the woman, but only saw an unfamiliar face, and in Gawain Cecil's memory, there was no face that he knew that could match her.

He didn't have time to think about who this woman was, because the pair of elves with almost identical appearances said in unison: "Wait a minute—they trek across the wasteland, and they can't arrive at the scheduled place on time every time."

Trek across the wasteland?

Gawain once again caught an interesting word, and almost at the same time as the elf sisters finished speaking, he suddenly sensed a new breath entering this "space".

This time, there was no brilliance falling from the sky, but at the edge of the vast open space, a cloud of smoke and dust suddenly rose up. Between the smoke and dust, several thin figures staggered out.

Gao Wen looked intently, and under the starlight and aurora, he saw the appearance of those new figures clearly: they were a few "people" in black robes, but their appearance was hardly human-like, their skin Dry and wrinkled, the surface is covered with bark-like lines, and there are no eyeballs in the sunken eye sockets, but there are two faint yellow lights inlaid. They also have hands and feet, but they are as stiff and ridiculous as puppets when they walk. Walking in front of the three women, from under the black robes, there was a strange sound like dry and cracked wooden branches rubbing and breaking.

Gao Wen stood not far away, staring at those strange figures intently, full of doubts in his heart: What kind of "thing" is this?Could it be...they were talking about trekking through the wasteland? !

He subconsciously lowered his sense of existence again. Although the other party showed no signs of noticing it, he was still afraid of destroying this coincidental "witness" through carelessness—his intuition told him that what he saw was probably the Part of the truth about the cultists circling the wasteland! !

At this moment, the woman who spoke first spoke again: "I thought you wouldn't be able to come today."

"We are in the wasteland, it is difficult to judge the time and distance," said one of the shriveled "figures" in black robes, "I hope we are not too late."

"It's not too long, I still have this bit of patience," said the woman in the priest's dress, "How is the situation in the wasteland?"

"The wind of the wasteland is the same as before, the only change is that there is a group of outsiders to strengthen those barriers on the border... It is not worth caring about."

"You still have to be cautious. During this period of time, try not to get close to the border—especially the northern border. There is a very tricky person who is strengthening the barrier in the southeast of Ansu."

Gao Wen thought for a while, and felt that the "very troublesome person" mentioned by the other party should refer to himself.

He thought he probably guessed who these people were.

I really didn't expect...after losing the "dark bridge", they are actually using the soul connection technology of the eternal sleepers to maintain contact with the wasteland... and those shriveled figures in black robes... are the people who will die at the end of everything. The "internal response" in the wasteland? !

Who are they... or what are they, living inside the magnificent wall? !

Gawain couldn't help looking at those shriveled men in black robes, and saw the leader speak hoarsely: "We will be careful—how is your progress?"