Sword of Dawn

Page 124

"...Hey, you're saying such weird things that no one can understand!"

Chapter 0300 I caught you

The scene in front of him gradually stabilized, and the magnificent palaces and spiers of the Dream City once again appeared in front of Gao Wen.

Seeing the "incarnation" of the Eternal Sleeper coming and going in front of him, as well as this peacefully running city, Gao Wen couldn't help but heaved a sigh of relief.

It seems that the camouflage he set up in the network is working well, and the backdoors he planted to sneak into the network have not been discovered by the eternal sleepers.

But think about it—before there were such things as computer viruses, who knew what antivirus software was?

He didn't sneak into this world once or twice—this time was the third time, and his direction of action in this psychic network was already very clear.

Steal technology, install backdoors, monitor the actions of the Eternal Sleepers, and if there is a chance, exert some influence on the Eternal Sleepers through this spiritual network-so that this special cult group can continue to develop in the direction he expects.

Gawain bypassed the crowd and arrived at the area where the node crystal was located. After connecting to the main channel, he first confirmed that everything in the "experimental field" he left was as usual, then quietly exited the secret connection, and began to use the node crystal to assist him. Search for technical literature that may exist.

Although the previous attempts failed to find effective information, Gawain did not find nothing in the connection again and again. Through analyzing and learning the knowledge of the eternal sleepers that were devoured, as well as the experience of stealing resources in the mind network, he Having vaguely figured out the principle and structure of this network, he found that he could use the loopholes in this network to do more things than he imagined at first.

This network is directly connected to the spiritual world of each Eternal Sleeper. In other words, it can theoretically directly connect to the thinking and memory space of each Eternal Sleeper. Of course, the Eternal Sleeper himself knows the risks involved. Therefore, when they connect to the Internet, they will protect and isolate their conscious world to prevent someone from reversely invading their thinking through the connection. However, in Gao Wen's view, their protection is obviously not enough.

Maybe it's because the Eternal Sleepers didn't expect that someone in the "own" network would harm fellow church members like this, or maybe Gawain's own soul mutation was too serious, and he had such a strong control over his subconscious world that in From his point of view, all deceitful and concealed shielding measures in this psychic network seem to be non-existent...

The glimmering node crystal floated quietly in front of Gao Wen. He stared at the surface of the crystal, and his spiritual power gradually diffused. He could feel the truth hidden under the deceptive appearance of this crystal—— Massive data are exchanged, distributed, and reconstructed here, and the thoughts of countless eternal sleepers are fluctuating at the bottom of the sea of ​​data. Some of them are strong, some are weak, and those powerful thoughts are closely connected with the structure of the entire network. At the same time, as long as there is a slight touch, there is a risk of triggering an alarm on the entire network, but those weak thoughts...

Like the algae and zooplankton floating between the waves, they lack both protection and vigilance.

That is the lower class of the Eternal Sleepers, the most basic group of cultists. Their greatest value in this network is to contribute computing power and act as a "buffer" to bear data pressure when the network fluctuates violently: for this immature As far as the network is concerned, fluctuations are very common. The Eternal Sleepers have chosen the simplest and crudest method to ensure the overall stability of the network.

Gao Wen carefully let his spirit continue to permeate. Through the jump of node crystals, he figured out the thread of those thoughts little by little, and roughly judged the strength of the master behind them. He also began to try to read those thoughts Superficial memory—this is one of the most basic abilities of the Eternal Sleeper. Although Gawain obtained this part of knowledge through devouring, it is the first time that he has actually applied it.

He has to be very careful - once his sneaking into the network is revealed, God knows how violent the cultists who have already been nervous about the "outer rogue" will react, and they may unplug the server all the time when they get nervous up...

A blurry vision appeared in Gawain's mind. He saw countless light spots flickering and circulating in the hazy outline of the dream city. Most of the light spots were on the outer layer of the city, and few Some are on the inner floor, and there are several exceptionally bright light spots gathered in the large palace area in the center of the city.

He carefully avoided the spots of light that were too powerful or too close to the center, and started to touch the targets that seemed suitable for attack.

He saw some flashing shallow memories - some were gatherings held by strange people, some were dark and desolate daily life in the castle, and in these flashing shallow memories, he suddenly saw a particularly special scene scene.

An old mage living in isolation, a paranoid man who has gone astray, a person who was seduced by the eternal sleeper and was willing to become a slave to dreams...

He slowly leaned over...

Typhon Empire, among the mountains in the southwestern border, the ancient mage's tower stands quietly on the top of a rocky mountain. At dusk, the dim light of the sky shrouds the black roof of the ancient minaret, and follows the mottled outer wall of the minaret. Spreading all the way, a hazy golden border was outlined on the tower - but this light could not dispel the lingering gloomy atmosphere of this mage tower, but could only make this tower seem to be torn from the sky. Inexplicable.

The mountain people living in the village at the foot of the mountain are always afraid of the wizard tower on the top of the mountain. They know that there is a terrible magician living in that black tower. The figure of the terrible mage will be reflected, and the ignorant mountain people always regard the strange wind, lightning, and clouds in the mountain as signs of the mage's anger, and warn the children in the village not to approach the top of the mountain, in case Bewitched by the magician, it becomes a stone statue in the magician's tower or a talking owl raised by the magician - the mountain people's imagination of magic is roughly the same.

In fact, their fear was not completely unreasonable, because there was indeed a terrifying old mage whose mind was not normal living in the black tower. Exiled so far, he lives in isolation, has a weird temper, and never communicates with the people in the village. He has several apprentices who are equally gloomy. He will only send his apprentices down the mountain to purchase food or do other transactions. Villagers could often smell blood on him—and unsettling and frightening rumors of the Black Tower grew.

The black-haired and thin Mary carried the purchased food and left the village under the terrified gaze of the mountain folk. The absurd comments full of uneasiness and speculation seemed to be still circling in her ears. She wrapped her black mage robe tightly around her body. , using a hood to block the cold night wind in the mountains, walking alone on the mountain road.

There is only one road from the village at the foot of the mountain to the mage tower, but there are countless urges to escape from this road. Mary looked up at the gate of the mage tower that had appeared in sight, and couldn't help but look back at the road she came from.

She touched the metal buckle around her neck, looked back with difficulty, and walked slowly towards the mage tower step by step.

The door of the mage tower opened automatically, and the dark door made her subconsciously take half a step back, but the next second, a thin arm stretched out from the darkness and pulled her into the door.

A hoarse and old voice came from the side: "Don't dawdle, the master will be unhappy."

Mary nodded, and quickly handed over the basket in her hand to the servant who was as gloomy and old as the entire Mage Tower, and then walked towards the second floor of the Mage Tower with heavy steps.

The old mage wrapped in a black robe was sitting in the magic laboratory. Weird and inexplicable blood-colored runes were drawn on the walls and ground around him. The light and shade flickered between the runes, and the old mage himself entered the experiment when Mary entered the lab. Slowly raised his head when he was in the room.

His head with thinning white hair was shriveled as if it had been air-dried, and his wrinkled skin was full of marks left by the passage of time. He seemed to die at any moment, but Mary knew that this old mage was far from dead— —she even doubted that this old and terrible man would live forever, even longer than she did.

"You're back... go to work." The old mage glanced at Mary with cloudy eyes. His voice was low and slow, as if talking in sleep, with a strange sense of stagnation. Mary knew that this was because the tutor was in the A special "connection" state, she didn't know what this "connection" meant, because the mentor never let her get in touch with this kind of knowledge, she only knew that it was a "spell" that was completely different from traditional magic, When her mentor Daniel fell into the craziest stage of his life, he suddenly got this "spell", and then began to study it crazily, indulged in it, and even angered the magicians of the imperial capital for this, so he had to come to this The desolate and backward frontier land...

Whenever he is in the "connected" state, the old mage's reaction will be so slow, but the slowness is just an illusion, his thinking is still quick, and his reaction can still be quite fast. If he does not want to be punished, the smartest choice is to obey his orders immediately .

Mary expressed her obedience, and quickly walked to the corner of the laboratory. A dissected sample had been placed on the laboratory table, and was maintained in the best research state by magic. Common monkey.

She began to process the sample according to the instructor's previous instructions. Even though the book was still twitching slightly, she still started her actions mechanically - peeling off flesh and blood, connecting nerve lines, dipping in magic oil...

And in the middle of these mechanical movements, she suddenly heard a strange noise coming from the direction of the mentor.

She looked up in astonishment, and saw that her mentor's eyes had widened, and great fear was quickly covering his old and withered face. This old man who had always only brought fear to others seemed to be able to bring him back to life The indescribable thing that was frightened to death opened its mouth wide and made a weird breathing sound. After being frozen for two seconds, the old mage suddenly straightened his arms, as if trying to block something in front of him, but But he said something inexplicable:

"Stand still, I've got you."

That was not the usual tone of voice for a tutor.

Chapter 0301 A Servant

The magician Daniel watched in horror as the whole world slowly collapsed in front of him—the golden and emerald arcane spire, the incomparable palace of magic, that free and unrestrained world full of light and hope just collapsed silently in front of him. He was relieved, and a terrifying consciousness was quickly coming to him.

Coming to the "front" is just an illusion. Daniel, who has an in-depth understanding of the occult arts, knows exactly what the real truth is—his thinking has been invaded, and the intruder's strength has reached an unimaginable level.Daniel built illusions and baits in his mind that could shield prying eyes and encrypt memories, but the intruder seemed to completely ignore those defenses and directly smashed everything. In that short second, he only felt his brain An incomparably huge torrent of information was forced into him, and he couldn't resist that torrent of information.

Under the impact of such a huge amount of information, all thinking barriers and memory buffers are useless.

In the last sliver of sanity left, Daniel remembered the information released in the mind network not long ago, the information about the "outer-territory wanderer", and the information about the eternal sleeper bishop who died at the hands of the extraterritorial wanderer, He realized what the huge amount of information in his mind could not be processed by the human brain, and after realizing all this, his first reaction was to immediately cut off the network——

His thoughts quickly jumped between the spiritual network and the real world. In a lucky moment, less than a millisecond, he saw his magic laboratory on the border of Typhon, and the clumsy female apprentice was not far away. He raised his hand with all his strength, but in the next moment, he found himself back in the constantly collapsing dream world.

The surrounding palaces and buildings are still slowly collapsing, and the pedestrians in the city dissolve in the air like abstract oil paintings. The old mage squeezed out the last trace of air in his lungs, and uttered a final cry: "He is in the network—— "

However, his shouting was just a fantasy in his own mind. In fact, he just stood there blankly, and a voice exploded in his mind: "Stay there and don't move, I've caught you!"

After this sentence, the surrounding scene was finally completely changed.

The splendid city of dreams disappeared, and there was only an endless expanse of water in the field of vision. One after another, strange metal platforms stood on the surface of the water. A sky without any stars and celestial bodies covered the water area. Countless huge geometric shapes The images are constantly changing and reorganizing on the dome of the sky, forming various incomprehensible scenes, while the master of this world, a man with short pale blond hair, stands quietly in front of him.

That is the face of Charles I, the founder of the Ansu Kingdom. In the "Eternal Dream", many people like to portray themselves as this image, but the old mage knows that the "Charles I" in front of him is more beautiful than any eternal sleeper. All horrible existence.

"Outlander..." he murmured.

"To be honest, I don't really like the name you gave me, it sounds very awkward," Gawain said while looking at the old mage in front of him—before this person was dragged in, his image was a figure Wearing a starry magic robe, holding a gemstone staff, a middle-aged man with a majestic and calm temperament, but in this "cracked world" that only follows the rules set by Gawain, outsiders are forcibly stripped of all disguises, he is just a It's just a skinny old man in a black mage robe, "Your name is Daniel... Interesting, a Typhonian, isn't it?"

"How do you know..." The old mage first widened his eyes in astonishment, but then realized that it was foolish to have doubts on this issue: how much resistance does the human mind have in the face of this wanderer from outside the territory?

But in fact, Gawain doesn't know much - he can use his powerful memory shock to destroy the mind defenses of most of the Eternal Sleeper cultists, or use the trap loopholes he set in the mind network to tie an Eternal Sleeper and Isolating the main network and pulling in the abnormal data space, but reading memory is a more advanced and complicated operation. He has knowledge in this area, but he is far from proficient.

He just read the superficial memory of the old mage—only in that superficial memory, there are already many interesting things.

This old man named Daniel was first a mage before becoming a follower of the Eternal Sleeper, and he was also a member of the Typhon Imperial City Mage Association.

The cultists will absorb new members, which is normal. From the poor commoners to the nobles with empty hearts, they are all their targets. Lilith, the Viscountess of Kant, was bewitched by the cultists before she went astray. The same is true of Bud Wendell, the Doomsday cultist whom he encountered earlier, but as far as Gawain knows, there are very few mages who degenerate into heretics—because mages have a special worldview and belief system, they first They are already users of extraordinary power, so it is difficult to be bewitched by extraordinary power. Secondly, they have a broad belief in the goddess of magic, Mirmina. This goddess is considered to be the source of all magic. If a mage really decides to believe What, isn't it better to believe in a goddess of magic than to believe in a group of dreaming lunatics?

But after reading Daniel's superficial memory, Gawain realized that if an old mage came to the end of the road of magic and came to a desperate situation, and at the same time, he himself still has the will to be used. weak point... Then it seems that it is not impossible for him to indulge in dreams.

In terms of "making up for the regrets caused by the real world", the Eternal Sleeper really has too much advantage.

On the other hand, the old mage Daniel finally regained his composure after the initial panic. He had secretly tried to get out of this place or release some spells, but found that he was completely trapped here, and even his spiritual power seemed to be frozen ——In this realm of the mind, being controlled by the mind means that everything is closed. Even if there is a destructive power outside, he can’t fight against the master of the dream, so he decisively chose to protect himself and tried to lower his posture : "You... what do you want from me..."

Mages are a pragmatic group, and this will not change under any circumstances. Daniel will not insist on anything in this situation, especially when he knows that what he sees in front of him is still an "extraterrestrial wanderer", a person who probably does not have human All the more so after The Inexpressible of Emotion.

Since this "wanderer" has not killed him yet, it means that he has the value of continuing to live, and he must let himself live.

"What did you get..." Gao Wen rubbed his chin and began to think seriously, "To be honest, I really didn't think about it... Pulling you here is actually just an experiment, and I don't see any other value in you. Or Say, what do you think you can give me?"

Just for an experiment...

The old mage's heart sank, and the situation began to develop in a bad direction.

He was treated like a guinea pig—like the animals he threw at apprentice Mary.

Is this the real attitude of the "Outlander Wanderer" when they look at humans?

Gawain didn't let the old mage continue to make up his mind alone - although it seemed interesting to do so, Gawain didn't go online just for fun. After confirming that this Typhon man named Daniel could clearly recognize After the reality, he waved his hand: "Okay, relax, we can sit down and talk slowly."

A small round table and two chairs appeared out of nowhere on the calm water like a mirror. Gawain sat down first, and Daniel sat down cautiously after a short hesitation, but he still did not dare to relax and pay attention Gao Wen's every move.

"How long have you been an Eternal Sleeper?"

Daniel was stunned for a moment, he didn't expect this inhuman existence to actually start chatting with him, but he still quickly replied: "I came into contact with them more than ten years ago."

"Because you encountered problems in your magic research in the real world?" Gawain looked at the old mage in front of him with a half-smile, "Indulging in dreams is not the way to solve problems."

"...A mortal is a creature limited by talent," the old mage shook his head bitterly. "My talent made me come to an end early on the path of exploring the truth."

"Is the Eternal Sleeper a kind of salvation for you?"

"...Maybe it's okay to say that."

"Interesting," Gawain tapped on the table lightly, "Then I really want to know, if another greater salvation is placed in front of you, will you betray the Eternal Sleeper?"

Daniel looked at Gao Wen in a daze, looking a little at a loss.

"I need a servant," Gawain said with a smile, intentionally making himself appear unfathomable—since those Eternal Sleepers who have a lot of inner drama have woven a rather exciting character design for him, he really doesn't mind putting this Use the persona conveniently, "I am not omniscient, and there are many things that I cannot do by myself—so, I chose you."

In fact, it is chosen at random.

"Choose... me?" The old mage said hesitantly, "What do you want me to do?"

"As my eyes and ears, eyes and ears in Typhon, and eyes and ears among the Eternal Sleepers," Gawain said while staring into the eyes of the old mage, "Of course, you will also get an equal reward in the process— —I follow the principle of equivalent exchange."

Although Daniel didn't expect to get more benefits other than "survival" from this contact, he still asked subconsciously: "You mean...remuneration?"

"For you, that may be a greater salvation," Gawain laughed, "it's knowledge, knowledge that allows you to continue on the path of exploring the truth."

Daniel's breath was choked.

……

Mary stared nervously at the movement of her tutor, a position she had held for a long time.

After that strange sentence, the instructor froze there as if petrified, with a terrified expression on her face, she wanted to push forward or call out, but in the end she restrained the urge ——It is very likely that the mentor became like this due to the backlash of magic. It is not a good idea to contact rashly at this time.

However, no matter how she checked the blood-red rune circles around her, she couldn't find any traces of the spells getting out of control.

Do you want to call other apprentices in?Do you want to call the old butler in?Or... Do you want to take this opportunity to release the shackles around your neck?

Countless thoughts—nervous and terrifying—conflicted violently in the heart of this low-ranking female mage. She felt her hands and feet began to tremble, and an urge to risk everything at all was gradually gaining the upper hand, but just as she made Before her worst decision, she saw her mentor's eyes blink suddenly.

It almost made her cry out.

The old magician in black robe finally woke up. His stiff muscles slowly recovered, and his cloudy eyes became clear again. He saw the female student standing in front of him, and the latter looked nervous and frightened.

The old magician didn't know how long he had been unconscious, but the student obviously didn't escape.

Mary spoke tremblingly: "Mentor...you...are you alright?"

"I made a deal with a terrible being," said the old magician in a hoarse voice.

Chapter 0302 Meet Again

Mary looked at her tutor with a nervous expression. As for what the other party's sudden words meant, she actually didn't really want to know.

She is afraid of her mentor—even to the point of fear. If she could, she would rather have never shown any magical talent, nor climbed into this abandoned decades ago because of curiosity. The Tower of No Owner, and saw the mentor who just moved here in the tower-now she is already a second-level official mage, and according to the mentor, "may be able to become an intermediate in her lifetime", but in Mary It seems that being a second-level magician is not honorable at all, and it is even worse than being an ignorant village woman in a mountain village.

At least, the village woman doesn't have to dissect countless animals, cultivate deformed freaks, learn how to connect human brains to monsters, and don't have to bear the pressure of the mentor's deranged mental state.

Daniel is a magician with mental problems. In fact, in the eyes of the few apprentices in the tower, this mentor is completely crazy. He is often immersed in a strange dream state, and even when he is awake, he has no sound emotions. , he is irritable, irritable, gloomy and terrifying, he will let his apprentices eat rats and poisonous snakes, he will release terrible monsters and magic creatures into the tower because of some hallucination, and then drive the apprentices to fight those monsters , not to mention the terrible magical experiments he conducted on himself...

Although Daniel is also occasionally gentle and friendly, his madness is ten times longer than that. Under this kind of madness, his occasional gentleness becomes even more terrifying.

The old mage remained in a sluggish state for more than ten seconds. He finally moved his body, and the young female apprentice suddenly raised her head.

"Mentor..." Mary bent slightly, "As long as you are fine..."

Daniel looked at Mary for a long time, and seemed to realize that this was his student after noticing the buckle on the other's neck. He muttered some vague words in his throat, and then waved his hand: "Clean up the laboratory." Clean, you can rest today."

Mary blinked, feeling genuinely relaxed, and then she watched the old mage in front of her slowly turn around and walk towards the exit of the laboratory. The old mage's mage robe was bulging at the back, like a snake-like artificial nerve cord It protruded from the hem of the mage's robe, twitching convulsively.

Gao Wen didn't stay in the "simulation experiment field" for too long. After confirming that the old mage had been kicked out of the network by himself, he released the data dive state and returned to the surface layer of the mind network.

Putting eyeliner in the Eternal Sleeper and looking for chess pieces that can be controlled, this is his original plan—especially after discovering that the Eternal Sleeper also fabricated a "outside wanderer" character design, his idea became more perfect After all, this cult group is too weird, and it is impossible for him to investigate everything by himself, so it is inevitable to find such a chess piece, but the chess piece happens to be Typhon's magician, which is an unexpected harvest.

After learning about Daniel's general situation, Gawain quickly outlined many temporary plans in his mind. He believed that as long as he used it properly, the old mage would play many unexpected roles.

He is not worried that this will increase his risk of exposure - after successfully destroying Daniel's mind defense, he has already controlled the other party's authority in the mind network, and set the "activation switch" at the same time, as long as the other party mentions any "extraterritorial" If a rogue infiltrates the network", the network connection will be cut off immediately, and even if this security method does not work and the news leaks out, how can the eternal sleeper find Gao Wen?

Their network is riddled with holes. Gao Wen has already found countless loopholes and backdoors. This primitive and crude network firstly does not have a real name system, and secondly does not restrict changing skins. Address mapping and feature queries are even more messy. Gao Wen Thinking about how difficult it is for those cultists to find a person from the spiritual network than to find a spell other than fireball from Rebecca's spell list——

Rebecca doesn't have a spell list.

"Oh, it's the uncle I saw last time!"

A crisp voice suddenly came from the side, and Gao Wen, who was walking on the tree-lined avenue, was awakened by this slightly familiar child's voice.

He followed the sound and saw a little girl with long light brown hair running towards him happily, bouncing on her feet.

Is it the "little girl" you saw last time?