Sword of Daybreaker

Chapter 736 Shadow of the Mind

The frosty moon is coming to an end, and the cold winter has arrived in the northern countries of the mainland.

The cold north wind whistled through the city streets, bringing a sharp whistle between the cracks of the buildings, and the snow on the roof was blown off by the wind, flying into a hazy curtain in the air, as if another new snowfall is coming.

And all of this is blocked by thick walls, laminated crystal glass and heating systems.

Gao Wen was sitting in the study, flipping through a recreational book about the descriptions of the gods and monsters in the Northern Continent. Holding a dipping pen in the other hand, he casually sketched some pictures and inspirations that appeared in his mind on the scratch paper. The sound of the wind was filtered by the glass, and when it entered the room, there was only a faint reverberation. This reverberation mixed with the low-pitched music from the magic device in the corner of the room, which made people feel more and more calm.

Betienne stood quietly at the desk, folded her hands on the apron of the maid's dress, bowed her head and nodded her head, snoring slightly.

Gawain glanced at Betty who was dozing off, couldn't help shaking his head with a smile, and refocused on the sketches he made, but he suddenly felt a strange touch in his hand holding the dipped pen, accompanied by " There was a soft click, and when he looked down, he saw that the tip of the dip pen that had been used for a long time was cracked, and the leaked ink was falling onto the paper along the crack, spreading a smudge.

Gao Wen frowned, put the broken dipping pen aside, and watched the winding line outlined on the paper flowing quietly. There were antique brick houses on the riverbank, and a small stone bridge spanned the river. , the sun sets in the west, and the rays of light are scattered along the eaves of the houses on the water.

The scattered ink spreads on the small stone bridge, as if it is gradually swallowing the picture.

Gawain scrambled the scrap paper into a ball and threw it aside. The door of the study opened almost at the same time, and Amber pushed the door and walked in.

Betty, who was dozing, suddenly woke up and stood up straight, but after seeing who was coming, she yawned again and relaxed.

Gawain raised his head and glanced at the half-elf lady who pushed in the door, and couldn't help turning the corner of his mouth up: "...It's really cold."

"...Ah?" Amber heard such a sentence before he could speak, and suddenly couldn't react, "Why did you say this suddenly?"

Gawain pointed to the window: "This season, even you don't go through the window."

Hearing this, Amber immediately folded his hips and stared, "Nonsense! It's still windy on this cold day, I'll climb your second-floor window against the wind and snow, and risk being locked out by you. I'm not crazy!"

As she spoke, she saw the paper ball on the high desk, as everyone knows,

Amber is a very curious species, so she couldn't help but come up curiously. After judging from Gawain's eyes that this was not a secret, she opened the paper ball at will, only to see that it was just a strange picture. Just pictures.

"What place is this...Is it the Empire of Gondor? Is the sun smaller..." Amber blinked, "It's a strange architectural style, it looks weird... But judging from the shape of the building, it shouldn't be possible. Is it the northern region? Where do you plan to promote it?"

"It's just a random drawing, just take it as my imagination," Gawain flicked the paper in Amber's hand with his fingers, and the drawing depicting the scenery of another world turned into dust silently, "Let's not let it go. Having said that, what's the matter?"

"Hey, don't ruin it, it's such a pity..." Amber first called out subconsciously, and then pouted, "It's not a big deal, but there is news recently that Typhon's border troops have begun to equip magic vehicles. ... faster than we expected."

Hearing Amber's words, Gawain squeezed his chin lightly. After a moment of indifference, he just smiled slightly: "Sooner or later, this will happen. This is the general trend. Just inform Changfeng Fortress and maintain vigilance."

"Understood. In addition, Hetty asked me to remind you when we came here," Amber continued, "Imperial Academy will be put into use next month, and scholars from all over the world are also arriving at the end of this month. , have you set a specific opening time?"

"Imperial College... This matter is finally ready," Gawain said, nodding his head, "The open day will be on the first rest day of next month, and the rest of the timetable will not be changed."

"Okay, I'll take it down."

Gawain hummed, paused for a moment and then asked casually, "By the way, what is that Bud doing now?"

"At the Druid Research Institute in the Thorin Giant Tree, he served as a researcher and special advisor there. Reports from the surveillance personnel said that he was doing well, and actively cooperated with various operations to assist the staff there to transfer from the dungeon to the outside. A large number of dangerous samples," Amber reported, "now that the transfer of those dangerous samples has basically ended, Bard's next work is to cooperate with Druids and scholars to study the photosynthesis of Thorin Giant Tree in winter. They hope that this part of the research can be helpful to Improving crops helps."

"Well, very good," Gawain nodded and asked again, "What is Bertila doing?"

"It's doing photosynthesis."

Gawain: "...Ah?"

Amber couldn't help rolling his eyes: "Otherwise, what else do you expect her to do?"

Gao Wen was stunned for a second, and covered his forehead with his hands: "...It's true, she is a plant after all, usually..."

During the sigh, a peculiar fluctuation from the depths of the spirit suddenly emerged, causing Gawain to stop in the second half of his sentence.

Amber cast a curious gaze across the table: "What's wrong?"

"Wait a minute, Daniel seems to have something for me," Gawain waved his hand, "you watch, I need to meditate. Betty, go to the door and don't let anyone in."

Amber agreed with ease, while the little maid ran to the door, Gawain stopped wasting time, quickly concentrated, and sneaked his consciousness into the level of the spiritual network little by little.

After a short period of vertigo and the illusion of space replacement, the scene in front of him has become the endless and calm blue water and blue sky of the origin space. The huge geometric patterns and gear-like structures are quietly running in the sky, and the vast water surface is windless and waveless. The erection of metal platforms is only different from when this space was first born. Those metal platforms are no longer empty at this moment, but are furnished with various experimental devices, forming an experimental environment that does not interfere with each other. .

There are bright lights flickering on the metal platform in the distance. Obviously, at this moment, a certain group is connecting this cyberspace through the immersion chamber and conducting some experiments.

The open area in the center of the origin space is never disturbed by those experimental environments. There is still a white round table, and there is a circle of empty seats beside the round table. Daniel is standing in front of one of the seats. When Wen appeared, the old mage immediately bowed respectfully: "My lord, I'm sorry to disturb you suddenly."

"No need to be polite," Gawain waved his hand and sat down on his own high-back chair at will, "What happened?"

Daniel immediately replied: "My lord, there is something strange about the spiritual network recently. I think it is necessary to report it to you."

"Oh?" Gawain raised his eyelids, "Tell me in detail."

"That's what happened..."

Daniel talked about the rumors and rumors that appeared in the Eternal Sleeper's spiritual network recently, and talked about the various clues he had investigated through his personal connections and forces. The details were all detailed, and he did not dare to report it without any concealment.

"...Basically, these are the kinds of abnormal phenomena that have appeared in the mind network recently. Although the Supreme Bishops' Conference stated that these are all rumors, and my investigation has not found any real evidence for the above-mentioned abnormal phenomena, but from the 'witnesses' Judging by the frequency and scope of the report's appearance, coupled with the information I have inquired about in the bishop community, the situation is probably not that simple.

"I'm afraid there are indeed some problems with the operation of the mind network. The stability of some virtual spaces is declining. Some Eternal Sleepers who have been connected to the network for a long time should have indeed encountered trouble. I found some hidden in the deep database. , but for some reason, when I found believers who had sent letters for help, they didn't know anything about these things.

"Three areas on the fringes of Dream City have been blocked recently. The Supreme Bishops' Conference's statement to the outside world is to carry out data reconstruction and necessary overhauls... It is a normal operation in itself, and it is not the first time that the temporary blockade of fringe areas has occurred. But at this time, it's hard to avoid suspicion."

Daniel talked about the information he had collected one by one, while Gawain frowned the more he listened.

The anomaly is already very obvious. Perhaps ordinary believers are still blinded by the words of the Supreme Bishops Council and the Pope of the Eternal Sleeper, but as a bishop, Daniel has collected enough information to confirm that there is indeed a problem with the spiritual network.

It's not working, but...why?

Gawain glanced at the surrounding Origin Space subconsciously, and unprovoked associations emerged spontaneously, making the expression on his face unbearable.

This space of origin was opened up by him secretly from the bottom layer of the Mind Network. He used the computing power of the Eternal Sleeper and borrowed the traffic of the Mind Network. Recently, several new project teams have been established at the Magic Technology Research Institute. The frequency of use of the origin space seems to be getting higher and higher...

Mom, I'm afraid it's not because I smashed the wool too badly, I'll kill this sheep soon...

But Daniel couldn't guess what type of train the powerful foreign wanderer was running in his mind at this time. He was just a little nervous because of Gawain's sudden silence: "My lord?"

Gawain woke up from his contemplation and looked at Daniel: "You said... Could the abnormal situation of the mind network be related to the origin space?"

"...My lord, to be honest, I also doubted this direction," Daniel thought for a moment, then lowered his head and replied, "After all, the origin space is closely related to the operation of the mind network, and it has been carrying out several large-scale projects recently, from Huge computing power is drawn from the network, but after careful inspection, I think the probability of origin space causing the mind network to malfunction is low."

"Oh?"

"The computing power that Origin Space draws from the psychic network belongs to the 'redundant' part, in other words, the part of computing power that is outside the backbone of the psychic network and does not affect the overall operation of the network," Daniel explained. " The network resource management method originally designed by the Eternal Sleeper is very simple and crude, and there is a lot of wasted computing power. After I reconstructed their management mechanism, this part of the wasted computing power was hidden by me and used exclusively for maintenance. The origin space, so theoretically, no matter how the origin space expands and develops, it will not affect the backbone network..."

"Well..." Gawain touched his chin and said in a deep voice, "So, the abnormal fluctuations of the mind network will not affect the origin space?"

"Theoretically, this is the case, but we'd better strengthen the monitoring of the origin space in the near future," Daniel nodded and said, "After all, we have not yet found out why the visions of the backbone network arise, in case it is the 'mind network' 'There are hidden dangers in the infrastructure of this thing, so even if the origin space and the backbone network are isolated, there is no guarantee that there will be no problems."

"Will the researchers working in the Origin Lab be in danger?" Gawain said what he was most worried about at the moment.

"It doesn't seem to be at the moment," Daniel apparently had already thought about this issue, and he answered quickly, "Those who are abnormally connected in the psychic network have one thing in common: they maintain a long-term online state and accept With too deep brain neurotransformation, it is almost impossible to completely disconnect the network, and they are often deeply immersed, the connection between the mind and the network is too close, and the researchers in our origin laboratory are connected to the Internet through the immersion cabin, and there is a layer of real world. Protection, and there is no deep immersion, and they also strictly enforce the working hours system you stipulate, and they will not maintain long-term connections, and security can be guaranteed.”

Hearing this, Gao Wen breathed a sigh of relief: "That's okay...but you should still be vigilant. I will remind my researchers to pay special attention to their mental state when they are connected to the Internet recently, and you should continue to pay attention to all abnormalities in the spiritual network."

Daniel immediately bowed his head deeply: "Yes, my lord."

Gawain sighed and looked up at the vast sky above his head.

Huge geometric structures and symbolic numbers are still running in the clear sky. The invisible data wall blocks the connection between this secret space and the main network. Standing between the vast water and sky of the origin space, the people who visit here are fundamentally There is no perception that there is another larger network running synchronously with this space.

But after Gawain enabled more advanced permissions, he was able to see more

He can see that a larger online world exists in parallel with the origin space. A magnificent dream city covers the sky above this space. Countless light spots are flying and drifting in the void, which are nodes of computing power. The Eternal Sleepers, the inhabitants of this online world.

And at his feet, under the vast and boundless "water surface", is a more chaotic and complex light flow, which is the deeper foundation of the spiritual network, the darkest and deepest part of this virtual world built over hundreds of years. Network "abyss".

He frowned.

This sheep doesn't seem to have been killed by himself...

So why did it suddenly become like this?

Chapter 737/1600
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Sword of DaybreakerCh.737/1600 [46.06%]