Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 928 - 927: Spirit Singer

At the invitation of Kamel and Jenni Perot, Gawain arrived at a ”Holographic Analysis Room” in the Rune Research Institute. In this spacious square room, there was a raised platform in the center of the floor, where a high-precision crystal array was fixed. As this rune projector was activated, a far clearer holographic image than ordinary projections emerged before everyone’s eyes, accompanied by a faint buzzing sound.

In the center of the image floated several sea demon Runes with peculiar swirling forms or curved structures.

Upon seeing those runes, Gawain immediately felt a slight mental exhilaration, even finding his thoughts becoming clearer and sharper—of course, this latter feeling was largely a psychological effect. Technicians had tested it; sea demon Runes actually do not enhance the operational efficiency of the human brain, they merely possess powerful mental protection abilities. The so-called ”brain acceleration” effect was a mere illusion caused by the tester’s clear mind.

Moving his gaze away from the runes that could increase SAN value, Gawain turned to Jenni Perot beside him: ”You said you’ve made significant discoveries in the research of sea demon Runes?”

”Strictly speaking, we’ve gained some understanding of the sea demons’ special nature,” Jenni nodded, simultaneously signaling to an assistant beside her, who then operated the projection device, displaying an image of sea demons with continually changing forms on the holographic screen in the center of the room. Jenni Perot added, ”By the way, all our research has received strong support from Miss Tiel.”

Gawain nodded, ”What have you discovered?”

”We’re finding that the ’mental protection’ effect might not be limited to just the sea demons’ runes,” Jenni explained. ”Any information structure that points to the sea demons as a species will generate similar mental protection effects.”

”Hmm?” Gawain was immediately captivated by Jenni’s statement, his tone inadvertently rising a bit. ”Pointing to the sea demon species?”

”For example, their runes, and also... their songs.” Kamel interjected, waving his hand to activate another piece of equipment in the room. After a click, a very soothing and pleasant hum emanated from a recording device in the room, and with the emergence of this hum, Gawain instantly felt a similar mental exhilaration and joy as when viewing the sea demon runes!

”This was recorded with the help of Miss Tiel, and it is different from the tunes she casually hums during leisure. She said this song is the ’Song of the Deep Sea,’ containing the ’truth of wave fluctuations’... We still don’t understand what she meant, but this special melody clearly possesses an effect similar to the Deep Sea Runes. Even after being transcribed with equipment, this effect still exists—though slightly weakened.”

Kamel was explaining on the side, and before Gawain could speak, he added: ”Additionally, I analyzed the melody using resonance crystals and discovered many waveforms beyond the ordinary human ear’s acceptance range. They form very brief and complex fluctuations. Upon extracting and testing these fluctuations, we confirmed two things: First, these tremors can induce magic power resonance undetectable to humans, essentially an extremely complex ’spellcasting’ process. However, the entity that induces resonance and the traces produced post-resonance are invisible to us, with only highly sensitive crystals recording indirect evidence; secondly, these fluctuations beyond human perception produce a ’mental protection’ effect.”

Gawain’s eyes were filled with an undeniable change: this was an unbelievable discovery, a long-awaited progress for everyone!

Since encountering the ”patterns” on Tiel and learning about the various peculiar traits of the sea demon species, Gawain and his technicians have been tirelessly striving to unravel the mysteries within. They have crafted mental protection barriers based on Deep Sea Runes and increasingly efficient ”anti-divine resistance coatings.” However, all these applications were just crude imitations, with no exploration into the principles behind them—a significant regret and chasm in the hearts of all researchers.

But now, Kamel and Jenni have finally taken a crucial step on this path, and in a direction previously unconsidered—the trait of sea demons to resist gods isn’t limited to their ”runes” alone!

”So, if these ’fluctuations’ hidden within the melody were extracted and integrated into the magic web, could they also produce an effect similar to Deep Sea Runes?”

”Theoretically, yes, Your Majesty,” Jenni nodded, ”and they would be more comprehensive than the rune’s effects, covering every inch of space. The main disadvantage of these fluctuations compared to runes is that they require ’sustaining.’ When runes are made into a coating, they can be effective long-term; these fluctuations must rely on specific devices to maintain, and once interrupted, the effect ceases. However, in a magic web that is continuously operational, such a limitation is no longer a limitation.”

Gawain quickly pondered, then a question suddenly popped into his mind: ”Wait, have you tested if this works on deaf people?”

To his surprise, Kamel immediately nodded: ”I thought of that too and conducted tests, resulting in very intriguing conclusions. Despite these fluctuations being beyond human ear perception, theoretically whether they work should not be related to human perception, but, in fact, they showed a noticeable decline in effectiveness on deaf individuals—not completely ineffective, nor fully effective, but a certain percentage of decline. We also found volunteers who were deaf for different reasons to test and discovered that in those with organic damage to auditory organs, the decline was not significant; the ’Song of the Deep Sea’ still had a quite noticeable effect on them, but the situation was entirely different for volunteers who were deaf due to brain lesions...

”In the second group of testers, the ’Song of the Deep Sea’ exerted only a weak effect, making it feel as though not only their bodies were deaf, but even their souls were deaf.”

”...Strange results...” Gawain couldn’t help but mutter.

Kamel nodded, ”Yes, very strange, we will continue research in this area, as it may help us unveil certain secrets in the process of ’human perception of magic power.’”

”Returning to the topic of these melodies,” Gawain raised his head, ”can these ’Songs of the Deep Sea’ now be integrated into the magic web or made into some practical application?”

”Some preparation and testing are still needed,” Kamel immediately responded, ”this is a recent discovery, with many unverified elements; it’s best not to apply it recklessly. Currently, Jenni and I have only integrated those verified runes into the magic web to protect critical junctures.”

”Good, caution should be exercised in these matters,” Gawain nodded, and then couldn’t help but glancing at the ”example sea demon” presented on the holographic projection—even though the image was deliberately processed, he could still instantly recognize its prototype as Tiel, ”Apart from this, what else have you discovered?”

”Still related to the ’Song of the Deep Sea,’” Kamel said, ”as you know, this type of song can only be hummed by sea demons, but in fact... some humans can also do it.”

”Humans?” Gawain was suddenly surprised, ”You mean humans can also produce this ’Song of the Deep Sea’?”

”For humans, it’s not singing, it’s a complex form of spellcasting. Among humans, there’s a special group of spellcasters... who have mastered techniques resembling the Song of the Deep Sea,” Kamel replied solemnly, ”Of course, before contact with sea demons, this group of spellcasters didn’t know the exact melody of the Song of the Deep Sea, they used another melody, but after testing, they can indeed emulate the sea demons’ ’song.’”

Gawain furrowed his brow, seemingly deep in thought, and said, ”This spellcasting group is...”

”It has now been disbanded, but I might find a way to rebuild it,” a voice suddenly came from the entrance of the room, speaking before Kamel and Jenni Perot could, ”It’s the ’Psychic Choir’ of the Church of Dreams and the Eternal Sleepers.”

Gawain turned towards the voice and saw a beautiful lady with an elegant figure, dressed in a white fitted long dress, walking in. He recognized her as Wendy, the former Spiritual Singer and once an Archbishop of the Eternal Sleepers.

”Psychic Choir?” He raised an eyebrow and soon recalled the information related to it, ”Ah, I am familiar with this group...”

”Its predecessor was the Hymn Troupe of the Church of Dreams, responsible for using special ’Spirit Songs’ to calm and unite the minds of believers during important ceremonies. After the formation of the Eternal Sleepers, the Psychic Choir became one of the essential defensive forces of the order, assisting core priests in resisting spiritual corrosion from gods or healing comrades who suffered mental injuries,” Wendy said with a gentle and soothing smile, her voice as melodious as her name ”Spirit Singer” suggests, ”When we withdrew from Typhon, the Psychic Choir was disbanded, and now less than a fifth of its members have come to the Cecil Clan.”

”Can you imitate the Deep Sea Song of the sea demons?” Gawain looked at this former archbishop with some surprise, ”Can your ears perceive those special waves hidden in the melody?”

”...No, we can’t hear it,” Wendy replied, ”But we can perceive it in ways other than with ears. Its essence is actually a spellcasting process, and the Psychic Singers who have received special training are not unfamiliar with this process.”

Then, the Spirit Singer paused slightly, with a hint of sighing, ”Our ’singing techniques’ differ greatly from those of the sea demons. To be frank... humans are far inferior to them in this respect, but if it’s just a matter of imitation, we can still achieve that through diligent training and a certain level of talent.”

”We need to train a batch of Psychic Singers,” Kamel said beside them, ”In defending against divine harassment, more trump cards are always welcomed.”

”Is training Psychic Singers difficult?” Gawain pondered for a moment before looking at Wendy, ”And how long would it take to rebuild the entire Psychic Choir?”

”...To be honest, it’s very difficult,” Wendy thought for a while before responding frankly, ”Psychic Singers are not truly ’singers’. It’s not just about teaching someone with a good voice to sing; essentially, it is a spellcasting profession requiring keen magic perception abilities, special magic power control techniques, and long periods of monotonous study and training. Even if all this is accomplished, one must still learn a series of knowledge from the sea demons that are completely different from human cognition... In fact, I still don’t understand what Miss Tiel repeatedly emphasizes as ’perceiving the deep sea’, so it’s likely even harder for an average person to achieve this.

”With this being the foundation, even I can’t say precisely how long it would take to rebuild a Psychic Choir... possibly many years.”

Gawain frowned: ”This means mass production is immensely difficult, with significant randomness and chance in success...”

But soon he noticed the key points Wendy had mentioned earlier: ”You said becoming a Psychic Singer requires keen magic perception and special magic power control skills?”

”Yes, and those are the two most significant talent restrictions in becoming a Psychic Singer—besides these, most limitations can be overcome through postnatal training and learning.”

Gawain immediately looked at Kamel, who had already caught on before he could speak.

”Your Majesty, perhaps we could try the Neural Thorn,” Kamel nodded slightly with a buzzing voice, ”The practical Neural Thorn is ready for mass production, and our next step is to try using it for mass-producing basic mages. Some of the test allocations could be redirected to training Psychic Singers—if more trained Psychic Singers join our ’divine defense system’, our future will undoubtedly be safer.”

”Feasible,” Gawain immediately nodded, ”I’ll grant you an expedited approval for this afterward.”

As he spoke, some strange imagery involuntarily formed in his mind—a product combining magic guide technology with dream theurgies, traditional spells, and sea demon technologies; a soldier in a specialized combat uniform, with a flickering artificial nerve cord connected at the back of the head, humming unspeakable psychic melodies for comrades on the battlefield, reaching out to communicate with the ’power of the deep sea’ when there’s nothing else to do...

And it would be mass-produced.

Gawain shook his head, temporarily casting aside some forward-thinking associations and refocused attention back on the previous topic. He looked at the distant holographic projection, thinking of those symbols and ”songs of the deep sea,” and said thoughtfully, ”Though we’ve made considerable progress, the most critical issue is... what’s the deeper principle behind these things? Why do elements associated with the sea demons have such high resistance to divine contamination?”

Kamel pondered briefly before breaking the silence: ”On this matter... after discussing with Jenni, we have some speculation.”

Gawain raised an eyebrow: ”Oh?”

”We suspect... it relates to the ’Eva’, the racial spirit behind the sea demons.”

”Related to ’Eva’?” Gawain curiously repeated, ”I remember Tiel describing it to me...”

”Indeed, during the collaborative research, she also described it to us,” Kamel nodded, ”And after analyzing her description of ’Eva’, I suspect this racial spirit might essentially be a kind of... ’external god’ with a manner of operation entirely different from any gods we know.

”Of course, this is just a metaphorical way of saying, because according to our definition of gods, ’Eva’ mentioned by the sea demons isn’t actually a god at all but should be a greater, conceptualized sea demon...”