Sword of Dawn

Page 197

He has almost no doubts, just from the recruitment information released by Emperor Rosetta, he is [-]% sure that the ruler of Typhon has become interested in the "magic net".

This was what he expected.

Because he never hid the information of the magic net - besides, Cecil's rise was so remarkable that he couldn't hide it if he wanted to.

Long before the outbreak of the Southern War, the information of the magic net spread to the Holy Spirit Plain and the Eastern Territory along the trade route, and after the outbreak of the Southern War, Typhon will definitely pay attention to all the news related to Cecil - as a qualification For an ancient and powerful empire, they must have intelligence channels within Ansu.

Daniel carefully observed Gao Wen's face, and asked tentatively, "My lord, what do you think..."

"Very good news. Counting the time, they should also get information about the Ansu Southern War. If Rosetta Augustus is really a talented person, he must be very keen in this regard," Gao Wen nodded, and said calmly, "Do you still remember the knowledge I taught you back then?"

"Yes," Daniel nodded immediately, "and I have already implemented the magic net in the laboratory, as well as several basic mechanisms..."

"You have already made your mark in the Order of the Eternal Sleepers. As a mature magician, it's almost time for you to become a technological star of the Typhon Empire."

Daniel's face was solemn, he seemed to have been waiting for Gao Wen's words, so he nodded immediately: "I will follow your will."

"This matter is settled in this way," Gao Wen continued, "Since you have come this time...by the way, tell me about Typhon's recent changes."

Chapter 0472 The Development of Typhon

For a long time, Daniel was not only the eyeliner set by Gawain in the Eternal Sleeper, but also the eyeliner set in the Typhon Empire.

Although this old mage lived in seclusion in a remote place in Typhon, far away from the center of the empire for many years, he was at least a Typhonian, and as a mage, he must have retained some of his power. Neighboring country intelligence is still very valuable to Gao Wen; on the other hand, Typhon is a country with rapid development and rapid changes, and its remote places are different from Anzu's remote places—even if there is information delay, Every inch of Typhon's land will still be affected by Emperor Rosetta's decree, and there will never be a situation where the entire southern border is almost out of touch with the hinterland of the kingdom like Anzu.

From Daniel, Gawain can learn many things about Typhon, not necessarily timely, but at least more reliable than the stories fabricated by adventurers and bards.

Daniel was somewhat fortunate at this moment—fortunately, his female apprentice just went to the town and brought a lot of news. He didn't dare to hide it right now, and told all the new news he knew: "... Rosetta Augustus is expanding the army. He has previously established a standing army system to replace conscripts. Now more than half of the Typhon Empire’s army is made up of this standing army. train……"

Gao Wen nodded slightly while listening, and asked the old mage to stop and ask if he encountered something unclear.

Although he asked Daniel about a lot of things related to Typhon, he still didn't know enough. The main reason was not that Daniel had concealed something before, but that the old mage himself didn't know anything about Typhon— ——For him, everything about Typhon is natural common sense. Without Gao Wen actively asking, he doesn't know the specific direction of the report, so the information provided will inevitably have gaps.

"...Emperor Rosetta recently ordered the establishment of additional schools, increased the number of teachers in the countryside, and required farmers to learn to read and write in their spare time..."

Gao Wen immediately frowned and tapped on the table lightly, making the old mage stop: "What is the current literacy rate of Tifeng civilians?"

Daniel replied respectfully: "About [-]% of the farmers can spell common words such as grains and farm tools, and can understand the grain harvest list, and [-]% of the farmers can read simple notices or write a clumsy letter. This ratio It's been increasing."

"How long has literacy education been promoted?"

"Six years ago, the emperor issued an order to cancel the ban on literacy for civilians, but at that time, not many people took the initiative to learn to read. It was not until four years ago that the emperor ordered the establishment of schools and dispatched teachers, and the number of people who could read began to increase, but the common people really wanted to read. To read and write, after the promulgation of the "Field Contract Law" - farmers can lease the land of the empire, and can declare and receive grain seeds by themselves. In order to prevent being cheated and cheated by scribes for money, more and more civilians have begun to read and write on their own initiative ..."

Gawain's face was a little gloomy, and the old mage watched his expression change anxiously, but in the end Gawain nodded: "Continue."

"Yes... Now various places are adding burning rock acid chemical workshops. Since last year, similar acid chemical workshops have increased in large numbers. Emperor Rosetta may plan to set up such acid chemical workshops in all grain producing areas..."

Gawain interrupted Daniel again: "Stop—what is Burning Rock Acid Chemical Workshop? Does Burning Rock refer to the white sedimentary rock that is mined offshore?"

Gao Wen had heard of the term "burning stone". As far as he knew, this kind of thing was a specialty of the coastal areas, and it was especially abundant in the Typhon Empire. This gray-white loose ore could be ignited, so it was called "burning stone". ", but its combustion efficiency is extremely poor, and it will emit a large amount of irritating gas, so it is not a qualified heating and lighting material at all. Could it be... Typhon people have found a way to use burning stone? !

"Yes, the Burning Stone is the white stone you mentioned," Daniel didn't know what Gao Wen was thinking, but he still reported seriously, "The Burning Stone Acidification is the chief alchemist of the Typhon Royal Mages Association a few years ago. What was discovered - crushing burning rock and mixing it with acid calcite, putting it in an airtight container and heating it at high temperature, will produce a dark brown powder and a large number of translucent crystals, which are called 'gray crystals', which are slightly Valuable magic material, and those dark brown powders are called 'rich dust'...it can be used to promote the growth of crops."

Gawain subconsciously tapped on the table while listening to Daniel's explanation. At this moment, his tap on the table stopped suddenly.

"Promote the growth of crops?"

"Yes, watering the farmland after dissolving and diluting with a large amount of water is much more effective than plant ash or human and animal manure, and the burning rock is very, very cheap, and the processing is not complicated. It's just that the 'abundance dust' comes into contact with the moisture in the air After that, it will be denatured soon, and transportation is very troublesome, so Emperor Rosetta ordered the construction of burning stone acid chemical workshops in various places, and transported burning stones to various grain producing areas for local processing..."

Speaking of this, Daniel added: "In addition, in order to transport burning rocks, Typhon is widening the road a lot..."

Gao Wen was startled, but he didn't show it. He just continued to ask in a deep voice: "What is the specific operation method of the workshop?"

After Daniel answered, he then asked a series of questions: "How many literate farmers would choose to work in workshops? How many merchants in Typhon participated in the construction of those workshops in the past two years? How many nobles participated in the workshops?" Construction? Did Rosetta Augustus encourage the nobles to do business after restructuring the system? How was Typhon’s road built? What are the specifications? How many people can a mile of good land support now? How many people can it support? How many people does Typhon have?"

Gawain asked one question after another, and while Daniel was trying to answer, fine beads of sweat oozed from his forehead - he didn't know the specific meaning behind these questions, but he was vaguely aware of the hidden connection between these questions, But he couldn't answer all the questions.

Although he does retain some contacts from the royal capital, he is just a mage who is obsessed with research after all. If Gawain asks him about Typhon's current magical achievements, he can certainly answer fluently, but let him answer the questions about the output of the fields, labor The size of the workshop and even the population problem...

If he can answer one-third of the questions, he is already well-informed and knowledgeable.

Gawain's face had unknowingly become extremely gloomy. Although Daniel didn't know what this "outsider wanderer" was really thinking, he could feel a strong pressure coming into his mind along his nerve cords. After answering all the questions that could be answered, the old mage shut his mouth tremblingly, waiting for a new order.

Gao Wen didn't pay attention to Daniel's reaction, and now his mind is full of calculations about Typhon's development process.

From the very beginning, he knew that Typhon was a more developed country than Ansu, and he also knew that Emperor Rosetta Augustus was implementing a series of effective New Deals, and with the increase in productivity, Typhon's society must There will be a series of earth-shaking changes.

But Typhon's development still exceeded his expectations.

The Typhon people did not find a way to industrialize the production of alchemy potions, but they found some cheap substitutes. The Burning Stone Acid Chemical Workshop will greatly increase the grain production of Typhon and release a large number of agricultural population; the professionalization of Emperor Rosetta The army has gradually taken shape, sufficient food supply can allow it to maintain a larger army size, and these professional soldiers will receive more adequate training; due to the liberation of labor, the newly born Burning Rock Acid Chemical Workshop will receive sufficient workers, and the territory of Tifeng The process of building roads will also have enough labor...

And more importantly, Rosetta Augustus realized that literate civilians can produce greater value-from the calculation of time, the Emperor Typhon started almost immediately after the discovery of the burning rock acidification reaction The advancement of education shows that the talented emperor figured out at least two things in a very short period of time:

First, although the burning rock acidification reaction is a product of alchemy, it does not require magic power, which means that a large number of civilians who do not have magic talents can also be engaged in production work, and the abundance dust they produce will be enough to produce in a short time Significantly increase the country's food production.

Second, literate civilians are better at manipulating reactors than illiterate civilians.

Gawain took a deep breath.

None of these things happened recently, but started a few years ago. However, due to the lag of information dissemination and the limitation of productivity, the Burning Stone Acid Chemical Workshop has only now started to be built in the frontier of Typhon, and Anzu... …

Ansu knew nothing about all this.

Daniel saw that Gao Wen hadn't spoken for a long time, and finally couldn't help breaking the silence: "My lord, do you need me to collect the population changes of Typhon in recent years? I can contact my old friends in the imperial capital..."

Only then did Gao Wen wake up from his thoughts. He glanced at Daniel, and the many chaotic thoughts in his mind were quickly sorted out and gradually became clear.

The development of Typhon is an established fact, and for such a huge empire, the pace of development that has already started is difficult to be disturbed or stagnated by external forces, not to mention that with the current situation, the Principality of Cecil has no chance to go hinder Typhon's development.

Amber once said a word: When the opponent is too strong, a poisoned dagger is better than any sword.

Although there is a sentence after Amber, "but oil on the soles of the feet is better than a dagger", but Gawain thinks that only the first half of the sentence is enough.

"Don't worry about anything else, you take the magic net information I gave you to respond to the recruitment of Rosetta Augustus," Gawain looked at the old mage in front of him, and said very seriously, "Remember , don’t take things out at the first time - first look at what step their research has reached, see what they have on hand, and then throw out your research results little by little. When necessary, you can share some of the research credit with Your apprentice. You have to gain a firm foothold in Typhon's Mage Association just like you were promoted in the Order of the Eternal Sleepers, and be careful not to be exposed."

Daniel bowed his head deeply: "Yes, my lord, I will definitely not let you down!"

"Well. After entering the mage team of Emperor Rosetta, you should have more opportunities to get in touch with their technical information. You should report to me in time, and I will give you new orders at any time," Gawain clicked. Nodded, then changed the topic, "But this will increase your risk of exposure - your characteristics of the eternal sleeper are too obvious, although few people know the existence of the Psychic Network, but your frequent access to the network itself is abnormal Phenomenon."

"My lord, you mean..."

"It's time for you to increase your manpower," Gao Wen said unhurriedly, "I asked you to research non-implanted nerve cords and more efficient brain wave amplification devices, do you have any ideas?"

Chapter 0473 Technical Value

In Gao Wen's opinion, the technology of the Eternal Sleeper has always been very valuable, but it just needs to be improved.

At present, part of the Eternal Sleeper technology has been used in the Magic Net communication network established in the territory, but what Gao Wen wants is far more than this.

To him, Eternal Sleeper's achievements in neurosurgery and brain-immersion technology are equally fascinating.

Daniel is the most experienced Eternal Sleeper technician that Gawain can find. He has been a member of the Eternal Sleeper Cultist for more than ten years, and he is familiar with related technologies. What's more valuable is that he was born as a mage. This "former profession" gave him excellent skills. Research skills: Although Gao Wen often said that traditional mages are pedantic and backward, that refers to their group itself. Personally, as long as they can become advanced spellcasters, it is impossible in the fields of mathematics, logic, and pure intelligence. poor.

Sure enough, Daniel showed a proud look: "My lord, the research in this area has made great progress. I referred to the blueprint of the 'crown' device that you gave me before, and designed it while retaining its functions as much as possible. A set of connection devices that can be used by ordinary people, including connectors that simulate nerve cords and brain wave amplification arrays. In theory, it can achieve the same effect as the crown..."

But when it came to the old mage, he paused for a moment, with a hint of apology and nervousness in his tone: "It's just that it's not perfect at the moment. The biggest problem is that it's too big to carry, and the second is that it consumes a lot of energy... "

Gawain listened calmly, feeling slightly relieved: as he expected, it was right to entrust this task to Daniel.

The "crown device" mentioned by the old mage is nothing but the magic item that Patty used when he fell asleep. It is a complicated and expensive magic weapon for the eternal sleeper, which Gawain has seen so far. , The only device that allows ordinary people to connect to the spiritual network, part of the runes in the magic net communicator is designed with reference to that crown.

But Patty's tiara also has a big flaw: like all traditional magic props of this era, it is too complicated, sophisticated and expensive to be mass-produced.

So Gawain gave the information on the crown to Daniel, and asked the old mage to redesign a set of "spiritual network connector" based on his own artificial nerve cord and amplified circle, combined with the runes in the crown.

Now he finally got the result, although it was still an incomplete result.

"Give me your current research materials and blueprint," Gao Wen slightly nodded at the old mage, "I will continue to improve it."

The old mage nodded quickly, and reproduced the information in his memory in this virtual space through shorthand magic. Watching the old mage's movements, some thoughts gradually emerged in Gao Wen's mind:

The time seems to be almost here...

Daniel has undergone long-term observation and testing, and the safety of this hidden virtual space has also been verified. Perhaps... he can consider telling the things here to the trustworthy people around him.

If Daniel's connection device works, then he can connect the technicians in the territory to this virtual space. Using the simulated environment here, many research projects in the territory can be accelerated...

Let Daniel and Kamel contact them, and the researchers in the territory will make it easier to analyze the technology of the eternal sleepers, and the efficiency will also increase.

Gao Wen hadn't told the people around him that he was able to connect to the psychic network before. The main issue he considered was safety. He didn't want the eternal sleepers to know that there was a loophole in their psychic network, and he didn't want them to know that he had infiltrated into their network. However, After Daniel successfully became a bishop of the Eternal Sleepers, Gawain finally used him to establish a set of original IP system and security system in the mind network. Using these things, he has confirmed that at least Cecil Bishop There are no network nodes of the Eternal Sleepers in the city and surrounding areas - so as long as the people who access the network are loyal and reliable, there is no need to worry about information leaking.

While thinking, Daniel had already completed the reproduction of the materials, and the old mage respectfully pushed the drawings full of symbols and words to Gao Wen: "My lord, this is all the materials."

"Very good," Gao Wen took the information and said casually, "You should know the power I have established in Ansu."

The old mage lowered his head: "Yes, your loyal servant has heard about it."

"I'm considering letting you get in touch with my subordinates in Ansu," Gao Wen said while paying attention to the changes in Daniel's expression, "Do you have any objections?"

Daniel was stunned for a moment, and then showed an excited look: "This is my great honor!"

Obviously, the old mage took this as proof that his loyalty had finally been recognized by Gao Wen.

Gawain could guess what the old man was thinking, he didn't say anything, but reminded him seemingly casually: "My identity in Ansu is the founding Duke Gawain Cecil, not some wanderer outside the territory. Keep it in your mind."

Daniel quickly reacted, and quickly bowed his head: "Yes, I will follow your will..."

"Very good," Gao Wen nodded in satisfaction, and then looked up and down at the old mage in front of him, "How effective are the patterns I gave you?"

When mentioning this, Daniel suddenly showed a humble and grateful look: "They have incredible power!"

Then he talked about the power of those miraculous patterns and their effects on himself, especially mentioning the various benefits of his mental stability: "...in the process of slowly recovering the nervous system , I feel that my mind is much clearer than before, and my thinking ability seems to have returned to the peak state when I was young... It is also because of this that I was able to complete the task you gave me so quickly and design a new brainwave connection plan... ..."

Gao Wen hummed: "Is there any adverse reaction?"

"No—although I did encounter the 'blindly happy' state you mentioned, but it seems that as long as you keep resisting, you can break free. This is also the most incredible thing about it: its intoxicating effect is better than any A kind of mental illusion is strong, but it can also keep the person in contact with it to the greatest degree of sobriety. I think that as long as the person is not actively trying to give up the mind, it should not be completely controlled by it..."

Speaking of this, Daniel paused for a moment, and said cautiously: "But I didn't let my apprentices try... I'm not very relieved about their ambitions."

Gao Wen glanced at the old mage indifferently: "It should be because you are worried that once they come into contact with that relaxed and happy state, they will immediately abandon the painful reality without hesitation."

A trace of embarrassment and annoyance suddenly appeared on Daniel's face: "These years...my spirit has often lost control. I have always been fully awake only in the spiritual network. In the real world outside, I am about to become a distorted A monster, and it's normal for my apprentices to be terrified of it."

The old mage in front of him is a mentally disturbed, moody, and tyrannical person in the real world. This is the fact that Gao Wen knew after searching Daniel's shallow memory.

Due to excessive indulging in the sorcery of the Eternal Sleeper, coupled with his own long-term setbacks on the road of magic and the sequelae left by neurosurgery, the spirit of this old mage has been out of control in the past ten years, and in the end it has deteriorated to the point of death. Only in the psychic network can he maintain a relatively rational level. He appears humble and submissive in front of Gao Wen and has quick thinking. How many.

But Daniel's mental state is not hopeless.

Gao Wen once taught him knowledge about the magic net and advanced mathematical materials. During this process, Gao Wen found that the positive emotions generated when learning new knowledge and making progress in research projects greatly relieved Daniel's loss of control. phenomenon, and after confirming the change, he made an attempt:

He rubbed the patterns on the tentacles of the sea monster Tyr in the sea monster form, and gave the patterns to Daniel.

He wanted to see how Daniel's mental state would change after being exposed to those weird patterns.

Tyr's sea monster form once left a deep impression on Gawain. The huge body, the countless tentacles growing in a sinuous manner, and the strange and coquettish form overturned Gawain's understanding of the "lazy and crazy" for the first time. The inherent impression of "salted fish essence", and the few special tentacles possessed by Sea Magic Till are the things that Gawain remembers the most.

The indescribable pattern, the extremely strong ability to infect the mind, directly rewrites the attributes of the mortal mind. It can be said that if the effect of those patterns is not too positive and funny, Gawain would have definitely regarded Tyre's sea demon tentacles as the first time. It is one of the characteristics of evil gods.

And even though Tire didn't look like an evil god at all because of the funny patterns on his body, Gawain couldn't help but associate that thing with a god, because he heard Tire mention it - the original sea monster didn't That kind of sea monster form, their sea monster form imitated the "big squid" in the deep sea.

Although I don't understand why the group of salted fish spirits imitated the evil god of the deep sea, they forcibly imitated themselves as the evil god of the deep sea, but after all, it may be related to the god, so Gao Wen had to be cautious about it. He wanted to test those patterns Whether there are still effects after being separated from the body, I want to test how effective they are, but I can't find a suitable test target on the territory. It wasn't until a certain time when Daniel was assigned a unit test that he thought of this in a flash. The mental state of the old mage.

There is no more suitable tester than Daniel - he is powerful, so there is no need to worry too much about accidents; he is a disciple of the Eternal Sleeper, with high mental resistance; more importantly, his mind is already quite abnormal. There is only a thin line between the disabled and the need for treatment...

However, after all, he is a double-effect spy that he has cultivated with great difficulty. Gao Wen was also worried that the old mage would lose control after coming into contact with the patterns that were suspected to be products of evil gods, so he gave a lot of warnings in advance. He explained the dangers of those patterns and their possible appearance. The abnormal reaction, and told Daniel not to touch the pattern for more than half an hour each time, and once weird and funny thoughts appeared in his mind (such as wanting to dig a big squid), he must stop immediately...

Now it seems that the old mage did strictly follow his orders.

Gawain listened carefully to Daniel's report on the changes that had happened to him, and finally heaved a long sigh of relief——

After being exposed to those crazy patterns, the old mage seemed to be much more energetic.

"Go back and continue testing those patterns. When the conditions are ripe, you can let your apprentices touch them, but be careful. In addition, it is best not to let people other than you and your apprentices discover those patterns, so as to prevent unnecessary troubles "Gao Wen stood up, his figure gradually faded in the virtual space, "I will contact you again."

Daniel also got up, and bent down deeply: "Yes, my lord."

The connection of the mind network was disconnected, and after a brief period of dizziness and the illusion of weightlessness, the scene of the real world reappeared in Gawain's vision.

He saw that Hetty was sitting opposite the desk, but she had already fallen asleep on the desk, and was breathing lightly and evenly.

Gawain didn't wake up his eldest granddaughter who was sleeping peacefully - he knew that Hetty was really tired recently and she needed to rest.

Typhon...

"Everyone is developing," Gawain couldn't help muttering softly, "No one will stop..."

Chapter 0474 Nobody Will Stop

Everyone is developing, no one will stop.

In order not to wake up Hetty who was sleeping peacefully, Gawain got up and left the desk lightly. He put a piece of clothing on Hetty first, and then came to the large French window of the study, looking at the city scenery outside—— In the setting sun, Cecil was still busy and full of vitality.