Sword of Dawn

Page 354

"Well," Gawain responded briefly, then thought for a while, and then ordered, "Also, go and investigate, investigate the abnormal spellcasting signals recorded by magic monitoring towers in various parts of the southern border recently, especially the signals of dream-like divine spells. , In addition, there are monitoring of various types of spiritual communication. In addition, there are records of investigations and arrests of believers of the Eternal Sleepers."

"The Eternal Sleepers...the Eternal Sleepers in the southern region have almost been captured by you." Amber was a little surprised for a while, "There are magic monitoring towers everywhere, and the middle and low-level believers are basically tied up by the regional security team as soon as they go out." The water pipe of the Public Security Bureau is on, and you still have "special means" over there, and the higher-level believers have either been deported or are under surveillance to collect intelligence—why is there a sudden large-scale investigation?"

"Maybe I missed an important target," Gao Wen said with a serious expression, "A soul body, an archbishop who sleeps forever is hiding in the southern border!"

As he spoke, those words that once shocked him appeared in his mind:

Selina Gelfen, archbishop (death), female, spirit body.

Current Location: Ansu/Correction/Cecil Empire·Southern Territory! !

"This goal is no small matter. Ordinary security team operations are very likely to disturb her. Your military intelligence bureau's operations are secretive, which is more suitable." Gao Wen took a deep breath and looked into Amber's eyes. "I'm not sure if you can really find it, but at least Try it—her name is Selina Gerfen..."

……

Somewhere in the Typhon Empire, in an underground ancient facility, the sound of footsteps broke the silence in the dark corridor.

A middle-aged man wearing a white robe with a more refined temperament and a monocle walked in the long corridor covered with stone slabs and carved with reliefs on the walls on both sides. Behind him were several people wearing A priest of the Sleeper in dark robes with an owl mask on his face.

This man is the "Principal Yuri" in the real world.

Compared with the "image" in the psychic network, Yuri's temperament and clothing in the real world have not changed much, but his image in the psychic network is a young man, but in reality, he is already middle-aged, There is a little more white hair on the head.

"Hey... I'm going to rest," Archbishop Yuri couldn't help complaining while walking on the road, "Archbishop Selina, have you forgotten that people in the real world need to rest?"

Flickering lights suddenly appeared in the air, and the figure of Selina Gerfen appeared beside Yuri. The female archbishop in a white dress said calmly: "You have enough sleep time——in the current situation Excessive rest is a waste."

Yuri couldn't help but glanced at the side, and sighed helplessly again.

He knew that Selina Gerfen was not actually in this corridor, not in this facility.

She is not even in this world anymore.

As early as hundreds of years ago, the former saint of the church was martyred. In the chain reaction that led to the collapse of faith, she used her life to protect the minds and souls of thousands of congregants , the body was torn apart by the power of the gods, and the soul was also torn apart.

It was Pope Megaul III who personally took action, collected the broken soul of Selina Geerfen, and kept it in some kind of "container" at the dream level.

To this day, the archbishop's soul is still transferred between containers, and her consciousness is wandering in the spiritual network.

At this moment, the Selena in front of Yuri and the Selena in the eyes of the priests of the Eternal Sleeper behind him are actually just projections in their minds—this projection is so real that even a high-level peak As a transcendent, Yuri also had a hard time distinguishing the illusion of the woman in front of him, the sound, smell, light, shadow and color... everything is so real.

But if a person who is completely unaffected by psychic spells stands here, he will see that there are actually only Yuri and a few masked high-ranking priests in the corridor, and there is no so-called female archbishop at all.

"You're right, there's really no room for rest now," Archbishop Yuri shook his head, looking forward, with a hint of worry in his eyes, "This crisis is no small matter, if the truth is as you and I guess... …then we definitely made an almost irreparable mistake."

At the end of the long corridor, a door depicted with many runes, inlaid with crystals and magic metal appeared in front of it, and as Yuri and others approached, it automatically and silently slid open to both sides.

Behind the gate is a brightly lit and extraordinarily wide hall.

The hall is rectangular, and there are neatly arranged square columns inside. The runes on the surface of those columns are shining, the light is wandering, and there are a lot of "cables" like vines and flesh fibers wrapped around them. Extending into the ceiling, one end spreads out around the column, leading to a neatly arranged wide seat.

Those seats are distributed around the pillars, forming separate areas, and about half of the areas are "full" at the moment, sitting on the chairs are the Eternal Sleepers wearing black robes and star pendants hanging from their collars. , some of those believers leaned on the back of their chairs, as if they had fallen into a deep sleep, while others remained awake, but the nerve cords and runes behind the seats were also shimmering.

In the other half of the area, the nerve cords behind the seats were stripped out and extended to a corner of the hall. In that corner, there were beds lined up with dozens of sleeping cultists lying on them. .

Some personnel in gray robes or brown short robes walked around the sleeping believers, taking care of these compatriots who could not wake up due to pollution.

Seeing this scene, Yuri couldn't help frowning.

He walked towards the area where the bed was placed.

A tall, thin priest with messy blond hair greeted him and bowed respectfully: "Bishop Selina, Bishop Yuri."

Then he turned to Selina Geerfen specifically: "Archbishop, I have increased the number of times of spiritual appeasement according to your instructions, and the state of those people has stabilized."

This is a middle-level priest, and he does not have a high status in the church. Among the believers at this level, many people don't even know the fact that Archbishop Selina is actually dead-they can always see the latter in the church. The stronghold of the religious order appeared, and they could even talk to it occasionally. Under the cover of sensory projections with no dead ends, Archbishop Selena in their eyes has always been a living person.

Selena nodded to the middle-level priest, and said casually as she walked forward slowly: "Be sure to pay attention to the state of those nerve cords, the consciousness of these operators is now torn apart, and the fragments of their minds are deeply trapped in No. Deep in the sandbox, once the connection of the nerve cord fails...they can't come back."

The priest with messy blond hair lowered his head and responded: "Please rest assured, we pay special attention to this."

Yuri glanced over the people lying on the beds.

Their faces were calm and their breathing was steady, as if they had just fallen asleep in a long dream, but they were deeply trapped in it and could not wake up. The artificial nerve cords extended from the back of their heads, connecting to the pillars in the hall, the surface of the nerve cords, the runes The glimmer surged.

Most of the eternal sleepers can actually rely on dream magic to directly connect to the network, but such a connection is not the most efficient, so in this "control hall", the operators connected to the network need to rely on materialized nerve cables to communicate with each other. Connect, join the network.

These nerve cords are from the technology of the Death of All Things Society, which was immature more than ten years ago, but it has been improved a lot in recent years, and the negative effects have been greatly weakened.

When the No. [-] sandbox got out of control and the pollution broke out from the inside out, the operators directly connected to the No. [-] sandbox were impacted in this "physical connection" state. The impact was almost useless, and the pollution almost instantly occupied the minds of these compatriots, and used it as a springboard to enter the spiritual network.

Now, the contaminated ports of these operators have actually been blocked, and the overflow of No. [-] sandbox no longer uses them as a springboard, but the pollution has already spread to the brain servant array and several virtual connection ports, even without these operators as a springboard, The connection between Sandbox No. [-] and the Psychic Network can no longer be closed.

And these operators themselves are still tightly bound by the No. [-] sandbox, and their consciousness has sunk into the depths of the sandbox, unable to wake up.

After a long silence, Yuri suddenly said: "If you go deep into their dreams, you may be able to directly observe the situation in the No. [-] sandbox."

"But it is more likely to face the deepest pollution, and the end will be the same as these people," Selina Geer shook her head, "It is difficult for the human mind to resist the impact of information on that scale. After all, even an extraordinary level The strong are still 'mortals' in essence."

Selena emphasized the word "mortal", which made Yuri frown.

"Bishop Selina, what do you think appeared in the No. [-] sandbox...is really..."

"It's still too early to say this, at least wait until the situation is reported to the Pope." Selina said, and raised her head, "looking" to the other end of the hall.

She does not have a pair of eyes of her own that can be opened in the real world, but here, she can "see" everything here through the senses of a large number of believers on site.

In that direction, there are rows of neatly arranged windows on the wall at the end of the hall, and through the crystal glass covering the windows, it can be clearly seen that there is another hall opposite it.

In that hall, there are more densely arranged square columns, each surrounded by rectangular platforms.

A large number of unconscious "brain servants" lie on those platforms, their brain nerves are connected to the nerve cord network in the hall, and their bodies rely on various biomass channels for nutrient delivery and metabolic circulation.

"We originally wanted to create a beautiful dream..." Selina Geerfen sighed leisurely, "but it is going to turn into a nightmare after all."

Chapter 0767 The Birth of a God

Magic Technology Research Institute, the second basement floor, a confidential meeting room.

Wearing a dark blue coat, Gao Wen walked into the room. In this tightly guarded meeting room that was never opened to the public, he saw that all the participants of the meeting were already waiting here.

Wright and Veronica were talking in a low voice, Pittman was brushing his beard absently, Kamel was floating beside the conference table, the arcane radiance on his body was calm and blue, Hetty saw Gawain appearing, the first Standing up, bowing and saluting: "Ancestor."

The others also stopped their respective business, stood up and saluted one after another.

Gawain looked around the scene, his eyes lingering slightly on an empty seat beside the long table: "There is no need to hide at this time."

Amber's figure appeared immediately: "I'm used to it, I'm used to it..."

Gao Wen shook his head, came to the conference table, and said while sitting down: "There is no need to be formal in the internal meeting. Today is mainly to exchange some information, and... I need some advice from some professionals on site."

Veronica raised her head, looked at the people at the scene, and knew it in her heart: "Is it related to the knowledge of the gods?"

"That's right," Gao Wen nodded and said, "Amber should have told you about the recent anomaly in the Eternal Sleeper's spiritual network before the meeting, right?"

"I just said it half an hour ago," Wright replied, "I didn't even know that our penetration of the Eternal Sleeping Order had reached this level."

"The secrecy of this matter has always been very high, and it has nothing to do with the church. It is normal for you not to know," Gao Wen said with a serious expression on his face, "but now things have changed, and some information has to be made public.

"In short, according to the information I just received, a secret plan executed by the Eternal Sleepers in the mind network is very likely to accidentally touch the realm of the gods, and...they may have come into contact with the secret of the birth of the gods."

Gao Wen got straight to the point, and the meeting room fell silent instantly. Everyone's breathing seemed to be half a beat slow. Even Kamel, who was not breathing, dimmed for a moment. After a few seconds, the corner of Pittman's mouth trembled. , breaking the silence: "I said that something big must happen in this urgent and confidential meeting, but this... is a bit too exciting."

While talking, he lowered his head and looked at the several beards that he accidentally pulled off just now with some distress. After hesitating for a long time, he rubbed the beards on his chin again, and carefully reconnected them with spells.

Gawain didn't care about Pittman's murmurs. After seeing his big news successfully lifted everyone's spirits, he shared his previous experience in the spiritual network and his exploration in the "phantom town" described in detail.

Everyone at the scene listened attentively, even Amber, who often dozes off or wanders away in every meeting, pricked up her ears this time and listened very attentively.

"...This is the whole story," Gao Wen breathed out after nearly 10 minutes of narration, and said in conclusion, "According to my guess, the worship of the 'upper-level narrator' should be the main cause of the out-of-control sandbox, and What is specifically brewed in the dream by this 'Upper Narrator Church', whether this 'thing' is just a conceptual product in the dream world... will be the key to the problem."

As soon as he finished speaking, Veronica, who was sitting in the second seat on the left, broke the silence: "You are suspicious...that the behavior of the so-called 'upper narrator' is in the No. [-] sandbox of the spiritual network. ... really created a god?"

"There is no evidence yet, but I really doubt it," Gawain nodded. "The Eternal Sleeper has not yet found a 'way' for the gods to pollute the No. [-] sandbox. There is no evidence or clues to explain which god it is. In what way, when did they bypass the heavy protection of the No. [-] sandbox and enter the interior of the sandbox—we all know that the three major dark sects are the sects with the deepest understanding of the gods, but even the top researchers among them We can’t find any traces of gods invading the sandbox system...then we might as well make a bolder assumption: pollution is not intruding from the outside at all..."

……

In the spiritual network, the central temple with the highest confidentiality authority, the archbishops sit around a round table depicting various symbols.

All the archbishops who participated in the meeting took off their disguises here, and used the real appearance of the real world-according to the internal regulations of the church, this means that this meeting has a very high level of confidentiality and high standards.

Archbishop Yuri in a white robe stood beside the round table with a serious tone: "...According to Archbishop Selina and I's speculation, the pollution...may come from inside the No. From the sect that worships the 'Upper Storyteller'."

Opposite Yuri, a short man in a black robe, with bristling red hair and a rather sonorous voice stood up and said loudly: "This is really unbelievable. The residents in the dream world suddenly started Doubt the authenticity of their world, and then start worshiping a fictional 'upper narrator', will a god really be born? And this god also caused the No. [-] sandbox to go out of control? It's really impossible to find out the reason Reasons made up under the circumstances?"

Yuri looked helplessly at the red-haired man on the opposite side—that was Archbishop Magnum, with a fiery temper and a famous loud voice, but he also knew that the loud questioning of this gentleman here did not mean anything. There was no malice, nor was it out of opinion of a certain person, it was because of his character—the idea popped into his mind, and he said it naturally.

It's just that this gentleman's voice is so loud that it's hard to get used to, and then again... In such a spiritual space, can't he turn down his "volume" a little?

"Bishop Magnum," Yuri shook his head slightly, "everything I said is indeed just guesswork, and I know it's unbelievable, but don't forget that we are dealing with 'God', and God... is inconceivable in itself."

A group of starlight polymers floated above the gorgeous round table, and the voice it made reached everyone's ears: "Now there is any evidence to prove that the 'upper narrator' believed by the sect born in the dream world already possesses Is it some kind of divine quality?"

"Your Majesty," Archbishop Yuri lowered his head immediately, "There is no evidence for the time being, and we have too little information. At present, we can only confirm that such a sect has indeed appeared in the No. [-] sandbox, and its activities are consistent with a No. sandbox out of control corresponds in time."

The starlight polymer expands and shrinks in mid-air: "Then as long as there is evidence to prove that the 'upper narrator's belief' in No. [-] sandbox really produced a god, or a 'thing' similar to a god, all the answers will be revealed. .”

Yuri frowned: "But...if that thing is really a god, how should we deal with it?"

"We have no way of knowing yet, but isn't this the answer and secret we have been looking for?" Pope Megaul III's voice gently echoed in everyone's mind, "We have been trying to dig out the secrets of the gods." to find out the truth of their birth, and now, we may be infinitely close to this truth..."

……

"The secret of the birth of the gods... may be hidden in the No. [-] sandbox," Gao Wen said in a deep voice, "If there is really a shadow of the power of the gods behind the 'Upper Narrator Church', then the concept of gods... Get the most complete subversion."

"The gods did not create humans, but humans created the gods..." Pittman muttered to himself, his hands suddenly trembled, and several beards were pulled off by him again.

Holding a platinum scepter in her hand, Veronica, who was surrounded by a faint holy light, had been silent since just now, and seemed to have fallen into a long-term thought, and then she suddenly raised her head: "This... is actually the original plan of disobedience. one of the assumptions."

"Have you ever guessed this direction?" Gawain looked at Veronica in surprise, "Have you ever guessed that gods are actually born in the process of human belief?"

"We didn't speculate so deeply and directly, but we guessed that human beliefs—or the thoughts common to a large number of mortals—will affect the activities of gods to a certain extent. But this guess is too shocking, and it can't be proven It cannot be falsified, or the difficulty of proving falsification is so high that it is almost impossible to realize, so until the collapse of the Gondor Empire, this conjecture is still just a conjecture."

"But now the bold attempt of the Eternal Sleeper may prove your conjectures back then..." Wright said with a sigh, "I really can't imagine that the gods that mortals fear and fear are actually created by mortals? "

"Don't draw conclusions because of this, let alone be blindly confident and underestimate the 'god'," Veronica said gently, "The belief projection of hundreds of millions of creatures has become a god in a dimension that we can't understand. The changes during this period are beyond our comprehension. Maybe the gods really came into being because of the beliefs of mortals, but we are not yet qualified and capable to call them our 'creations'... Perhaps, we should regard them as more A horrible, out-of-control, but inevitable 'natural phenomenon'."

"Natural phenomenon..." Gao Wen couldn't help repeating the word in his mind, thinking deeply.

Then he nodded: "Indeed, as Veronica said, it may be some kind of natural phenomenon, and... it is a natural phenomenon that must happen."

Belief and religion can almost be said to be an inevitable stage of social activities.

Civilization will always have a period of weakness. Mortals come from ignorance, facing this mysterious and unknown world full of crises, facing the incomprehensible and unpredictable nature, as a kind of intelligent creature, They will inevitably feel awe of nature, fear or worship those unexplainable natural phenomena.

And in the process of going from the unknown to the known, in the process of trying to recognize everything in the world, mortals will definitely try to explain those things that awe them and frighten them.

In a period when knowledge is insufficient, power is weak, and civilization is still in its infancy, these explanations... will inevitably point to gods, or other similar concepts.

In that closed No. [-] sandbox, in that man-made world that has been running continuously for thousands of years, the residents inside must have also faced such a question: Where did we come from?Who created this world?

Maybe some "prophet" accidentally saw the data flow behind the world, maybe some adventurer accidentally came to the border of the sandbox, they were horrified by the vast and chaotic sea of ​​mind outside the world, and saw The script running behind the world and the records of instructions left by the operators.

Thus, they have an explanation for their world: it is the "upper narrator" who created all this.

Then, there really is the "upper storyteller".

"The Eternal Sleepers are a group of outstanding soul engineers and excellent researchers, but it's a pity that they only pay attention to the technical field, but don't understand how society works." Gao Wen shook his head, and his tone couldn't help sighing, "If they understand Through the mechanism of social operation and understanding of all aspects of civilization development, even if they cannot predict that the No. [-] sandbox will get out of control, at least they can expect that the emergence of "religious activities" in the No. Be vigilant and plan ahead.”

There was a moment of silence in the conference room.

Although everyone here is aware of the rebellious plan, even though everyone here is more or less involved in Gao Wen's plan to challenge the gods and "rebel", the things discussed today still have a great impact on everyone .

Everyone is digesting carefully, and everyone is repeatedly verifying all aspects of those assumptions.

Putting his hand on his chin, Pittman said while carefully repairing his beard: "Then if this is really the case, a 'god' was created in the No. [-] sandbox... I am afraid this matter will not end. Everything We can still use cannon fire or sea monsters to deal with the deer created by the Death Society, but how do we deal with a god that runs in dreams?"

"Don't be so pessimistic," Gao Wen said calmly, "Even if that thing is really a god or a 'god-like', it has just been born and is still trapped in a dream, as long as we can understand its mechanism , it is not difficult to deal with—and the Eternal Sleeper will definitely do his best to solve this crisis for his own survival."

Pittman looked sad, and couldn't help twirling his beard: "Oh... I shouldn't have listened to Amber back then, my old age is not peaceful at all..."

The exclamation fell, and the old Druid looked down at the beard that had been pulled out in his hand, and his face became more sad.

"Just don't pick it up," Wright, who was sitting opposite, said with some concern, "I don't think I can get it."

"……Ugh……"

Chapter 0768 Shaking

All kinds of streamers receded like tides, and in the resplendent and resplendent rotunda, the figures of archbishops disappeared into the air.

Daniel also stood up after attending the meeting of the Supreme Bishops Conference, and bowed slightly to greet Selina Geerfen, who was still in place: "Then, I will check the situation of the pan-consciousness stability barrier first, Selina archbishop."

"Thank you, Archbishop Daniel," Selina nodded slightly. "Your security team is very important to us now."