Sword of Dawn

Page 220

"...I see." Gawain accepted the other party's statement, and from the French windows behind him, there were more and more lively laughter in the courtyard.

He asked, "Does Amber know about your past?"

"She doesn't know, and I don't want her to know," Pittman shook his head. "It's not a glorious experience to join the dark sect twice. The past is isolated from Amber's life—her life should have nothing to do with these darkness, she should be carefree, free from worries, not live a life of fear, and get good training and education..."

"Let's put it this way, she takes door-picking locks as a daily routine, and even goes to other people's ancestral graves to pick coffin boards. I think you and her adoptive father may not have given her a very good education..."

Pittman thought for a while: "...what you said also makes sense."

Chapter 0519 Information

To be honest, Gawain didn't mind that Pittman was once a believer of the death of all things (and a believer of eternal sleep), and from a long time ago, he had a vague feeling that there was a certain connection between this little old man and those fallen druids ——Even if there is no connection, Pittman cannot be an ordinary low-level druid.

He really knows too much about high-level divine arts, and he knows too much about the history of the Druid sect. Although he explained that this is all part of the Druid heritage, Gao Wen never said this. I didn't believe it.And even without considering the knowledge beyond the inheritance of low-level druids, Pittman's creation of the "inverted array" is a very interesting situation: the inverted array needs to use the technology of the ancient Gondor Empire, and its The rune array itself also has many structures beyond the inheritance of orthodox druids. These things... are difficult for ordinary druids to touch. Only senior druids who specialize in ancient secret arts may be proficient in this way.

Theoretically, the senior druids of the Silver Empire would not go to the human kingdom to be deceived, so Gawain preferred the former.

After finally piercing the layer of window paper, Pittman also completely relaxed. He held the teacup that was no longer so hot, and sighed in his tone: "Actually, I hesitated for a long time whether to tell these things or not." — After all, you seem to be a good lord, but I also have to watch my head..."

"Now that the matter is out of the way, you must be more relaxed." Gao Wen showed a smile, "I don't mind what sect you joined in the past, as long as you can work for me now, and to be honest, you joined two sects. The experience of a dark sect is rather valuable to me—from the normal way, it is difficult to grasp the secrets inside the Death of All Things Society."

He only mentioned the end of all things, because there are better insiders among the Eternal Sleepers-Daniel, who has been promoted to the Nightmare Bishop, is a better source of information than Pittman.

"Don't have too high expectations in this regard," Pittman reminded, "The Church of the End of Everything has strict internal controls. Although the Wither Priest belongs to the middle and high levels, the secrets I can access are still limited, and I leave It's been there for decades, and it's hard to say if it's still the way I know it inside."

Gawain looked into Pittman's eyes: "At least you can tell me its general structure, their operation mode, and their general purpose."

Pittman pondered for a while, and then said while recalling: "...wither believers are the most basic members of the Death of All Things Society. Generally speaking, members who have just joined the church are at this level. Wither believers include Drew, who is the lowest level. Yi, merchants and minor nobles who donated their wealth, as well as a large number of ordinary people...

"Above the withered believers are the shepherds. From this level onwards, it is a class composed entirely of extraordinary people. The shepherds are an important force in the death of all things. They are responsible for walking in the world and absorbing New members, spread the doctrine of the end of all things, create havoc, manage the wither believers at the grassroots level, or execute other orders from the upper priests...

"Further up is the withered priest, which is the class after the forest shepherd is promoted. Usually, middle-level extraordinary power is required to be promoted, but there are exceptions. Withered priests are qualified to study those ancient classics, learn and participate in the death of all things. Go to the various taboo research...

"The higher level is the dean, which is equivalent to the bishop. Only at this level can you have access to the real secrets of the church, understand the entire appearance of the church, and have the qualifications to talk to the grand dean...

"The Grand Priest is the supreme leader of the Death of All Things Society. Middle and low-level church members have only heard of him, but they are not qualified to contact him. It is said that the Grand Priest lives in an ancient underground palace and studies the most taboo secrets of flesh and blood. Art...

"The Death of Everything has a very strict organizational structure and strict internal management. Members at all levels have corresponding authority to act. The members at the bottom are not qualified to know the whole picture of the entire organization, nor are they qualified to know the full content of the orders from the upper levels. This is for the sake of Prevent leaks of secrets and damage to the organization by defectors.

"The death of all things will carry out brainwashing preaching to the middle and lower classes. They will cure terminal illnesses, grant strength and even immortality as bait to make the congregants die, and the various secret techniques they master can indeed realize them to a certain extent. Promises such as curing disease and prolonging life. But as far as I know, this superficial feat was never really the purpose of Doom. They have a bigger plan. I don't know the full content of this plan, but Judging from some of their research directions, I think they may be pursuing... some kind of evolution."

Gao Wen couldn't help raising his eyebrows: "Evolution?! What do you mean?"

"I don't know the specifics, but I have come into contact with a female priest named 'Beltera', she is a paranoid and crazy woman about biochemical transformation, she even fused her body with a bloodthirsty plant together, into a half-vegetal, half-human form, and she told me that those transformations were all part of a 'great evolution', and as far as I know, the other patriarchs are more or less present Similar transformations, and their transformations are all in preparation for some kind of 'great evolution'..."

Gao Wen stroked his chin, and thought carefully for a moment—seeking "evolution" through biochemical transformation, this is indeed the path that the lunatics of the end of all things would take, but is their purpose really just to pursue "evolution"? ?

It's a pity that Pittman knows only this - he only reached the level of "withered priest" in the end of all things, and the secrets he can touch are limited to knowing the "great evolution" Concept only.

Gao Wen asked again: "How much do you know about the cooperation between the End of Everything and the Eternal Sleeper?"

"I only know that the three major sects have established cooperation since the beginning of the fall into darkness. The death of all things will provide biochemical transformation technology, the eternal sleepers will provide knowledge and...'thinking assistance', and the children of the storm...they are a very special group , they brought secret forbidden knowledge and various magic materials that could not be found on land from the deep sea, and they hardly established communication with the land, they seemed to have been looking for something in the deep sea, and the other two sects The relationship is not so close. Doom will be regarded as a fixed connection with the son of the storm, but 'we' have no idea what those ocean madmen are up to, and we even think they have too much contact with the dark and twisted creatures in the deep sea. The secret has already been characterized from the spirit to the body, and sooner or later they will become something like sea monsters, and they will completely fall to the other side of the ocean."

"Looking for something..." Gawain mused, "Maybe you can ask Tyre... No, I'm afraid that salted fish can't think of anything, they only care about their big squid..."

After pondering for a while, Gawain knocked on the table: "Let's go back to the issue of the artificial nerve cord."

"The artificial nerve cord does have the hidden dangers you mentioned, and neurosurgery is required, and the risk is extremely high. At least when I left, this technology still has no hope of breakthrough," Pittman nodded, "but If you want to realize the interaction between the human brain and the rune array without resorting to the secret technique of the eternal sleeper, the nerve cord or similar neural transformation body is an unavoidable medium. I don’t know where you got it from. Part of the technology, but you must be able to notice its role: between the human brain and the machine, there must be a biochemical interface. Of course, if you have a special spiritual talent, or are good at the secrets of the eternal sleeper, it is another matter... ..."

"You're right, the biochemical interface must exist, but it doesn't have to be implanted," Gawain interrupted Pittman, "Remember Patty's crown?"

Pittman was startled, and the wrinkles on his face deepened: "You mean..."

"The Eternal Sleeper has done further research in this field. Patty's crown is actually a non-implantable brain-nerve interface. Establish a solid connection between the brain and the rune array."

"But the core part of the crown cannot be simplified, and it uses a lot of materials that cannot be obtained by conventional means..."

"It's true that our technicians didn't find an idea, but some people have made some progress." Gao Wen laughed, pulled out a document from his desk, and pushed it to Pittman, "Let's take a look, you should be able to understand it. "

Pittman took the materials suspiciously. He noticed that the words and pictures on the paper should have been written not long ago, and they still exuded a faint fragrance of ink. After seeing the specific content of the materials, his eyes immediately It can no longer be removed.

These materials were just sent to Gao Wen by Daniel through the mind network, and they were also the second batch of materials about brain wave connection technology.

Pittman raised his head in astonishment: "This is..."

"Non-implanted nerve cords, the ingenious complementary contact structure improves the fault tolerance rate, and adds a layer of runes with filtering and protective functions, which can effectively reduce the user's nerve pressure, reduce hallucinations and phantom pain— — Most importantly, because it is non-implantable, it can be cut off quickly when there is a problem with the connection. Although it may cause certain sequelae, at least there is no need to worry about brain death.”

"It doesn't look like it's finished yet..."

"That's right, there are some key points that cannot be finalized due to the lack of actual tests," Gawain nodded, "The person who designed it...doesn't have the conditions to conduct experiments for the time being."

Daniel has just settled down in Typhon's imperial capital. In order to prevent suspicion, he must keep a low profile now. Before his private laboratory is completed and he is trusted by the Typhon Royal Mages Association, his experimental conditions are very limited.

"The person who designed it..." Pittman heard a deep meaning from Gao Wen's words, and he realized that he still knew too little about this pioneer who had returned from the dead.

Behind this lord, there are still some invisible people or forces working for him.

"We have experimental conditions here, laboratories, personnel, materials, all of them," the old druid raised his head, and the wrinkles on his face stretched out, "now there is another one in the field of death of all things and the technology of the eternal sleeper." Experts with experience—and only double the bonus."

"If you can turn these drawings into real objects, I can give you three times."

"Oh, then everything will be easy."

After Pittman left, Gawain breathed a sigh of relief behind the desk, then stood up and came to the large French window of the study.

Technology is neither good nor bad, the key lies in people.

After today, Pittman should be able to make greater contributions to the territory—a priest of the dark sect who has let go of his burden (and has joined the sect twice), how useful can his knowledge be?

Gao Wen was looking forward to it.

Through the crystal glass of the floor-to-ceiling windows, he looked at the little scuffle between the girls that was still going on in the courtyard.

Tyr was finally unbearable by the snowball and rushed to the courtyard to participate in the battle. Now she turned into a group of sea monsters with a diameter of more than ten meters and entrenched beside the pool, with more than a dozen tentacles extending from her body, extending in all directions. Throwing the endless snow balls, the ferocious, huge and indescribably huge limbs are like the abyss monsters that ravage the world in horror myths, and opposite this huge sea monster, Rebecca is holding up the dharma under the cover of amber. Staff, brewing a fireball bigger than the door panel...

Gao Wen: "??"

Isn't it... How about the warm and everyday girls having a snowball fight?

The window of the study room on the second floor was pushed open: "You guys, come up for me!!!"

The last snowball fight of the three of Rebecca this winter is over.

Chapter 0520 Going South

This is a widespread snowfall.

The fluttering snowflakes stretched from the Dark Mountains to the north of the Rock Fortress. Nearly one-third of the land in the southern border was dyed white by the early winter snow. After crossing the Rock Fortress to the north, on the vast land of Ansu, A few areas in the east and the entire northern border also ushered in heavy snowfall—a snowfall seemed to change the whole world overnight. The active human society quickly hibernated in the cold winter, and the Holy Spirit Plain fell into silence. The army turned into a confrontation, the border trade in the west was suspended, and the grand duke in the north—had come to the nobles closest to the rock fortress.

In the family castle of the Earl of Pompeii, the flames in the fireplace are burning fiercely. The precious golden oak is used as firewood, exuding a tranquil fragrance in the flames. The bright fire of the fireplace illuminates the golden red carpeted meeting In the living room, flickering and flickering light and shadows are cast on the gold and silver utensils and lampstands in the living room. Between the flickering light and shadows, Earl Pompey's round, fat face is filled with flattering and slightly nervous smiles .

The great nobleman on the edge of the plain leaned forward: "Your arrival really made me feel more at ease——I haven't had a good night's sleep since the fortress in the south changed hands. A whole bunch of magical devices have been built on it, and my poor castle is going to collapse one night..."

Duchess Victoria Wilde was wearing a snow-white long dress with light blue patterns, her silver-white hair was pulled up high behind her head, and two strands hung down beside her ears, with golden threads woven into her hair Shining in the firelight of the fireplace, she glanced at the Earl of Pompey in front of her: "As far as I know, Duke Cecil has not expanded outwards or attacked your territory since the rock fortress changed hands. "

"...That's true," Earl Pompey wiped his forehead - he wasn't sweating, but in front of the Duchess Wilde, known as the "Queen of the North", no one would feel nervous. The Duchess is the most powerful nobleman in the kingdom, and she has a harsh and ruthless reputation. More importantly, she still controls the Silver Castle, while the Earl of Pompeii not only lost his nominal fiefdom of the Rock Fortress, but also maintained In the process of supporting the Rock Fortress, he lost a large number of family knights and soldiers. This made him carefully maintain relations with the southern border and at the same time try to win the assistance of the king's capital. At this moment, he was naturally cautious, "The Cecilian army did not set foot on the ground. One step out of Fort Rock, but they've been building on the north wall of the fort, which is disturbing."

"It seems that the founding hero doesn't want us to 'disturb' him..." Beside Victoria, Veronica, who was wearing a white priestess robe and had a calm and quiet demeanor, suddenly broke the silence and said softly.

Victoria nodded slightly, and looked at Count Pompey: "Aside from building fortifications, what are the Cecilians doing?"

The chubby Earl thought for a while: "They tore down the south wall of the Rock Fortress—or blew it up, and then didn't repair it—and built a 'Rock City' on the south side of the fortress. They forbid people to cross the Rock City , but Rock City itself is open to merchants and envoys."

"Have you transformed the Rock Fortress into a fortress city with a trading function..." Victoria mused, "So, have you been to Rock City?"

"I... I'm busy with affairs in my territory, so I didn't go there in person," Earl Pompey wiped his smooth forehead again, and he was embarrassed to say the words "I didn't dare to go", "But I have been paying attention there, and sent Been to the Messenger. Rock City is full of magical devices built by the Cecils, and there is also a huge market. They opened the gate of the Gorgon River and allowed merchant ships from the Holy Spirit Plain to dock at the pier next to the market area. That market attracts a lot of merchants—you know, merchants basically die when they see money..."

Victoria didn't respond, but just glanced at the Earl of Pompey indifferently.

This is also a descendant of a great knight with illustrious military exploits, but after so many generations of being pampered in the peaceful Holy Spirit Plain, the spirit of bravery and courage has long since disappeared in this bloodline—but as the owner of this land Well, this Mr. Earl at least did his part to understand the situation of Rock Fortress as much as possible.

The sound of wind and snow outside the castle has gradually subsided.

Duchess Victoria stood up, and the black-haired maid Maggie who was standing beside her immediately stepped forward to straighten her slightly wrinkled dress. The northern ruler looked at the Earl of Pompey who also stood up, and said lightly: "Do your best to count the trade situation of the southern border with the Holy Spirit Plain in the past year, count how many merchants contacted them, count the merchants they sent, and also the main commodities they purchased after the Rock Fortress changed hands. .”

Earl Pompey's round face really leaked a trace of sweat this time: "This...OK, I will do my best..."

It is not easy to count a few reliable figures from those piles of paper piled up in disorder, and many businessmen who take small roads or bribe soldiers will not appear on the tax collector's list at all. As the ruler of this land, Earl Pompey didn't even know how many merchants came and went in his territory every month-but since the Duchess had given the order, he had to do his best.

It seems that tonight is going to be a sleepless night.

Seeing Count Pompey's embarrassed expression, Victoria sighed again in her heart.

Statistics, registrants, normative laws... At a Silver Castle meeting seven years ago, the Duke of the East had proposed these concepts. He learned these things from the Typhons and tried hard to make the Ansu people I also learned them, but now seven years have passed, the eastern region has become a rebel army, and the demands made by Grand Duke Silas Loren in Silver Castle have not yet spread to the southern part of the Plain of the Holy Spirit...

Silas Loren... Is there no hope for you?

Veronia Wilde left the inner court of the castle, and after passing through the mottled ancient outer wall corridor, she came to the top terrace of Pompeii Castle.

The wind and snow had stopped, but there were still snowflakes falling from time to time in the night sky. It was the snowflakes accumulated on the towers and roofs that fell in the night wind. These snowflakes fluttered around the terrace, automatically avoiding more than ten people around the Duchess Victoria. The range of meters is like awe.

Compared with the Castle of Winter, which was built on the top of the mountains overlooking thousands of miles of ice and snow, the family castle that the Earl of Pompeii is proud of is much smaller and shabby, but it still occupies the best terrain and has an excellent Terrace, standing on the terrace, the front of Victoria's vision is the continuous mountains of the southern border pass, and the rock fortress in the mountains.

In the middle is an almost unobstructed plain.

No wonder the Earl of Pompeii had trouble sleeping and eating.

In the deep night, the Rock Fortress is the brightest light source in the dark mountains. With the keen eyesight of a transcendent, Victoria can see that the light is formed by a large number of lights set on the city walls and towers—those The lights are directed in all directions, they can illuminate all levels, and they can also interfere with the attacker's line of sight when the enemy tries to attack, making it difficult for them to target the shooter or mage on the wall stack and sentry tower.

In addition to those light sources, the entire Rock Fortress is covered with a layer of shimmering shield. That layer of shield makes the details of other areas of the entire fortress shrouded in a hazy tulle, making it difficult to distinguish.

"Is that the big shield of the Rock Fortress..." Veronica's voice came from the side. The "Saint Princess" had arrived beside the Duchess Wilde at some point, and she was looking at the rock fortress. direction, surrounded by the same faint holy light as before, "I heard that on the 58th day of the fire moon, the Cecilians used some powerful magic to destroy the shield... I didn't expect them to repair it so quickly .”

"The big shield is an important barrier of the Rock Fortress, and the Cecils will definitely repair it as soon as possible, and for things like magic barriers, as long as the charging and projection structures are not substantially damaged, it is easy to repair only if the shield is penetrated of."

"Is that so..." Veronica said softly, she raised her head and looked at the south in a daze, "...I don't know much about the magic field..."

Hearing this obviously unintentional response, the Duchess of Wilder just smiled lightly, and then stood on the terrace of the castle together with the "Saint Princess" in the night when the first snow stopped, quietly admiring the on this peaceful winter night.

On the second day, the weather was fine.

In the main hall of the castle, Count Pompey handed over a roll of parchment that still smelled of ink to Duchess Victoria.

This roll of parchment roughly counts the trade situation in the southern border in the past year, as well as the merchant exchanges after the rock fortress changed hands. The content is rough and vague. I am afraid that only [-]% of it is reliable, and the remaining [-]% is probably the Earl of Pompeii. And the results of a group of consultants guessing.

With such information, even with Victoria's ingenuity, it is impossible to estimate how much valuable information can be obtained.

However, looking at Earl Pompey's red eyes and the listless appearance of several advisers present, the Duchess knew that this was already the best result.

At least the Earl of Pompey could still come up with this, instead of asking himself "what is statistics" with a blank face like those real country nobles.

"Go back and rest, Earl," Victoria's words made Earl Pompeii relax, "We will bring good news."

"Your wisdom is Anzu's greatest fortune," the fat earl bent down and said sincerely, "I wish you a smooth trip."

Victoria nodded and turned to leave, while Veronica deliberately lagged a few steps behind. Her Royal Highness said next to the Earl of Pompeii: "Don't use this kind of tone of farewell on the battlefield. As a nobleman of the kingdom, take some Come with courage—these are our ancestors, not man-eating beasts."

Count Pompeii showed an embarrassed and ashamed smile, and lowered his head: "As you said."

The Duchess of the North and Her Royal Highness the Princess favored by the Holy Light all left, while the fat Earl of Pompeii stayed where he was, but he couldn't help but say something unseemly in his heart:

From childhood to adulthood, the one who beat him the hardest was his grandfather...

Even if the grandfather is like this, now an ancestor of another family who has been separated by dozens of generations and has no blood relationship has picked up a weapon... so why don't you hold back and beat people to death?

The convoy of envoys from the royal capital left the castle of the Earl of Pompeii. After the winter snow that was completely unsuitable for going out, the chariots and horses drove onto the snow-covered Kingdom Avenue.

Victoria Wilde, who was sitting in the gorgeous carriage, raised her hand, and an orderly wind blew out of thin air, wrapping around the convoy, blowing away the snow on the road, and keeping the winter cold out.

The knights of the escorting caravan beat their swords on the shields hanging beside the saddles, and praised their mistress loudly, while the soldiers in red and blue livery blew their horns in front of the team, and the military band played Music, in the inspiring beats and tunes, the messengers from San Sunil took steps in the direction of the Rock Fortress.

In Cecil City, in the lord's mansion, a half-body projection of the commander of the Rock and the commander of the Second Legion—Knight Valder Peric was emerging over the magic net communicator in front of Gawain. This venerable old knight stood Straight: "Your Excellency, the envoys of the Royal Capital are approaching the Rock Fortress."

"Get ready and receive them earnestly," Gao Wen nodded slightly. "The convoy sent to meet him has already set off."

Then he paused, smiling. "Don't be slow—they're big business."

Chapter 0521

Rock Fortress.

This heavy fortress once under the direct control of the royal family has completely changed its appearance.

The former Rock Fortress was built to control the southern forces. It had a strong southern wall and a relatively weak northern wall. The Gorgon River ran through the gap on the west side of the fortress, and the two sides of the fortress were continuous and desolate southern borders. The mountains—however, after the Cecilians took it, the whole fortress underwent a radical change.

The southern city wall was blown down, and the Cecilians did not repair it, but directly expanded from the gap to the south, established the Rock City at the foot of the fortress, and built a new city wall outside the Rock City. In contrast, the fortress A series of reinforcement and reconstruction works have been going on at the northern city wall since the end of summer, and the work is still in progress.

When the gorgeous car passed under the gate of the north wall of the Rock Fortress, Victoria opened the cover on one side of the car. She looked up at the wall that was being remodeled, and she was only shocked—on the basis of the original city wall, Sisi All the weak points of the city wall were covered with an extra layer of steel armor, and a large number of skeletons and supporting structures made of steel covered the prismatic outer walls and towers of the city wall, like some kind of hideous monster carapace Together, on the top of the city wall, the metal reinforcement plate reflects the brilliance of the giant sun, and there is a faint flow of magic light flowing between the gaps in the armor. Those magic powers gather on the top of the city wall, where you can I saw magical devices with straight guide rails lined up neatly, and the end of the guide rails pointed far away in the direction of the Holy Spirit Plain.

That's not a city wall, it's a ferocious beast made of steel and rock, with huge magic power flowing in its veins, and the Cecilians are still sharpening its fangs-anyone from the Holy Spirit Plain Anyone who has seen the northern wall project of Rock Fortress will realize this, but as a powerful spellcaster and ruler of the northern border, Victoria thinks more: Where did the Cecils get so much steel?Did they cast all the steel in the entire southern region onto the walls of the Rock Fortress after they occupied the southern border?Where did they get such powerful magic power?Could it be that there is another undiscovered magical focus underground in the Rock Fortress?How did they do all this in such a short period of time?

The convoy arrived at the foot of the north wall, and with the ringing of bells ringing from the top of the city wall, the gate reinforced with a metal frame slowly rose upwards, and there was an obvious sound of mechanical operation coming from the vicinity of the gate, accompanied by the flow of magic power : Many facilities in this fortress seem to be powered by magic.