Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 520 - 519: Intelligence

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Honestly, Gawain does not mind that Pittman was once a member of the Oblivion Association (and the Disciples of Eternal Sleepers), and he has long vaguely felt that this little old man has some connection with those fallen Druids—even if there is no connection, Pittman cannot be just an ordinary low-level Druid.

He knows far too much about powerful Divine Arts and is overly knowledgeable about the history of Druid sects. Even though he explains that this is all part of the Druid inheritance, Gawain has never believed such words. Also, even without considering the knowledge beyond low-level Druid inheritance, Pittman’s creation on the ”Inversion Circle” is a very noteworthy situation: the Inversion Circle requires the use of Gondor Empire’s technology, and its magic symbol array itself has many structures beyond traditional Druid inheritance. These things... ordinary Druids are very difficult to access; only those Oblivion Association believers who are obsessed with extreme technology, and those seasoned Druids who nest in the forests of the Silver Empire, specializing in ancient secret rituals, can excel in this field.

In theory, seasoned Druids from the Silver Empire would not run to human nations to deceive people, so Gawain is more inclined to the former.

After finally piercing the veil of this layer of secrecy, Pittman also completely relaxed, holding a not-so-hot teacup, with a sigh in his tone: ”Honestly, I hesitated for a long time about whether to reveal these things—after all, you seem like a decent leader, but I also must watch my own head...”

”Now that things are clear, you must be much relieved,” Gawain shows a slight smile, ”I don’t mind which church you joined back then, as long as you can work for me now. And honestly, your experience of joining two dark sects is rather valuable to me—from normal means, it’s very hard to grasp the secrets inside the Oblivion Association.”

He only mentioned the Oblivion Association because within the Eternal Sleepers exists a more excellent insider—Daniel, who has already been promoted to the nightmare bishop, is a better source of intelligence than Pittman.

”Don’t hold too high expectations in this regard,” Pittman reminded, ”the Church of Oblivion has strict internal control, although the withered priesthood already belongs to the middle-upper levels, the secrets I could access are still limited, and I’ve been away from there for decades, so it’s hard to say if the internal situation is still what I understand.”

Gawain looked into Pittman’s eyes: ”At least you can tell me its general structure and their operational mode, as well as their rough objectives.”

Pittman hesitated for a moment, then began speaking while recalling: ”...The withered believers are the most basic members of the Oblivion Association. Typically, those who just joined the church are at this level. Withered believers include the lowest-ranked Druids, merchants and small aristocrats who donated their wealth, and a considerable number of ordinary people...

”Above the withered believers are the Shepherds of the Forest, from this level onwards, consists of entirely transcendents. Shepherds of the Forest are an important force of the Oblivion Association. They are responsible for walking the world, using various means to absorb new members, spread the doctrine of Oblivion, create destruction, manage grassroots withered believers, or execute directives from the higher priests...

”Further up are the withered priests, this is the level after the Shepherd of the Forest is promoted, usually requiring middle-ranked transcendental power to achieve promotion, but there are exceptions. Withered priests are qualified to study ancient texts and participate in various forbidden research of the Oblivion Association...

”Higher up is the Archbishop, equivalent to a bishop, at this level, they are qualified to access the true secrets of the church, understand the full appearance of the church, and are eligible to have dialogue with the Archbishop...

”The Archbishop is the highest leader of the Oblivion Association, members of the church at the middle and lower levels have only heard of him, but are not qualified to come into contact. It is said that the Archbishop resides in an ancient underground palace, researching the most forbidden flesh and blood secrets...

”The Oblivion Association has a very tight organizational structure and strict internal management, members at all levels have corresponding operating permissions, grassroots members do not have the authority to understand the entire organization, nor do they have the authority to know the full content of upper-level orders. This is to prevent leaks and prevent defectors from causing damage to the organization.

”The Oblivion Association implements brainwashing-like missionaries to the middle and lower levels, using cures for terminal illnesses, granting power or even immortality as bait, letting the congregation wholeheartedly invest themselves. And the various secret rituals they mastered do indeed achieve their promises to a certain extent, such as curing diseases and extending lifespans. But from what I know, this superficial technique has never been the true purpose of the Oblivion Association. They have a bigger plan, I’m unclear on the full content of this plan, but judging from some of their research directions, I think they might be pursuing...some kind of evolution.”

Gawain raised an eyebrow involuntarily: ”Evolution?! What do you mean?”

”I’m not sure about the specifics, but I once came into contact with a female Archbishop named ’Beltira,’ that is a woman who is obsessed and insane about biological reformation, she even merged her body with a bloodthirsty plant, transforming into a semi-plant, semi-human form. And she once told me, those modifications are part of the ’great evolution,’ and from what I know, other characters at the Archbishop level also or more or less have similar modifications, and their modifications are all in preparation for some kind of ’great evolution’...”

Gawain touched his chin, pondering for a moment—seeking ”evolution” through biological reformation, this indeed seems like a path the crazies from the Oblivion Association would take, but is their purpose really just in pursuit of ”evolution”?

Unfortunately, Pittman knows only these much—within the Oblivion Association, he ultimately only reached the height of a ”withered priest,” the secrets he could access only limited to knowing the concept of ”great evolution.”

Gawain asked again: ”How much do you know about the cooperation between the Oblivion Association and the Eternal Sleepers?”

”I only know the three major sects have established cooperation since falling into darkness, the Oblivion Association provides biological reformation technology, and the Eternal Sleepers provides knowledge and...’mental assistance,’ while the Sons of the Storm...they are a very special group, they bring secret forbidden knowledge from the deep-sea and various magic materials that cannot be found on land. Aside from this, they almost have no established exchange with the land, they seem to be looking for something in the deep-sea, and their relationship with the other two sects is not so close either. The Oblivion Association is considered to have a fixed connection with the Sons of the Storm, but ’we’ cannot understand what those oceanic crazies are up to; we even believe they have excessively exposed themselves to those dark, twisted secrets in the deep-sea, from spirit to physique, they have already become specialized, sooner or later, they will turn into things like Sea Demons, completely siding with the ocean.”

”Looking for something...” Gawain murmured, ”Perhaps it can ask Tiel...no, that salty fish probably can’t think of anything, they only care about their Big squid...”

After pondering for a moment, Gawain knocked on the table: ”Let’s return to the problem of artificial nerve cords.”

”Artificial nerve cords indeed have the hidden dangers you mentioned, and they require neurosurgery, with extremely high risk, at least when I left, this technology still showed no hope of breakthrough,” Pittman nodded, ”But if you want to achieve interaction between the human brain and magic symbol arrays without relying on the secret techniques of the Eternal Sleepers, nerve cords or similar neurological modified organisms are an indispensable medium, I don’t know exactly where you got this part of the technology, but you must also notice its role: between the human brain and machinery, there must be a biochemical interface. Of course, if there are special mental talents to begin with, or if one is adept at Eternal Sleepers secret techniques, that’s another case...”

”You’re right, a biochemical interface must exist, but it doesn’t have to be implantative,” Gawain interrupted Pittman, ”Remember Patty’s Coronet?”

Pittman was taken aback, the wrinkles on his face deepening: ”You mean...”

”The Eternal Sleepers have made further advances in this field. Patty’s coronet is essentially a non-invasive brain nerve interface. It establishes a stable connection between the human brain and the array without the need for openings in the nerves.”

”But the core part of the coronet cannot be simplified, and it uses materials that are impossible to procure through conventional means...”

”Our technicians indeed haven’t found a breakthrough, but someone has made some progress,” Gawain chuckled, casually pulling a document from his desk and handing it to Pittman, ”Take a look, you should be able to understand it.”

Pittman took the document with a puzzled expression, noticing that the words and illustrations on the paper seemed freshly written, still emitting a faint scent of ink. Once he saw the specific content of the documents, he couldn’t take his eyes off them.

These documents were the second batch of materials on brainwave connection technology, just sent to Gawain by Daniel through the mental network.

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

”Non-invasive nerve cords, using a clever complementary contact structure to improve fault tolerance, and adding a layer of runes with filtering and protective functions, effectively reducing neural pressure on the user, minimizing hallucinations and phantom pains—most importantly, since it’s non-invasive, it can quickly disconnect when there is a problem with the connection. Although it may cause certain aftereffects, at least there’s no risk of brain death.”

”It seems like it’s not complete yet...”

”Correct, some critical parts can’t be finalized due to the lack of actual testing,” Gawain nodded, ”The person who designed it doesn’t have the conditions for experiments at the moment.”

Daniel has just settled down in Typhon’s imperial capital. To prevent suspicion, he needs to keep a low profile. Until his private laboratory is completed, and he gains the trust of the Typhon Royal Mage Association, his experimental conditions are very limited.

”The person who designed it...” Pittman picked up a hint of deep meaning from Gawain’s words, realizing he knows far too little about this resurrected pioneer.

Behind this leader, there are unseen people or forces working for him.

”We’ve got experimental conditions here, labs, personnel, materials, everything,” The old Druid looked up, his wrinkles easing, ”Now we even have an expert experienced in both Oblivion and Eternal Sleepers technology—and only for double the pay.”

”If you can turn these blueprints into reality, I can pay you triple.”

”Oh wow, that makes things much easier.”

Pittman left, and Gawain let out a relaxed breath, before standing up and walking to the large floor-to-ceiling window of the study.

Technology has no inherent good or bad, it all depends on the person.

After today, Pittman should be able to make a bigger contribution to the territory—a dark sect priest who has let go of burdens (and joined two religions), how much of his knowledge could be utilized?

Gawain looked forward to it.

His gaze passed through the crystal glass of the window, looking at the ongoing small skirmish between girls in the courtyard.

Tiel finally couldn’t bear the snowballs and rushed into the courtyard to join the battle. Now she transformed into a Sea Demon with a diameter of over ten meters, perched beside the pool, extending dozens of tentacles from her body, throwing a continuous barrage of snowballs in all directions. The grotesque and massive limbs resembled a deep-sea monster from terrifying myths ravaging the mortal world. Opposite the massive Sea Demon, Rebecca, under Amber’s cover, raised her magic wand high, brewing a fireball larger than a door panel...

Gawain: ”??”

Wasn’t it supposed to be a friendly snowball fight between the girls?

The study’s second-floor window was suddenly pushed open: ”You lot, come up here!”

Rebecca’s group had their last snowball fight of the winter this year.