Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 998: Chapter 997: Psychic Singer

In Gawain’s view, the things Emperor Rosetta Augustus is doing don’t even count as a conspiracy—everything is happening openly and righteously.

This even gives him a feeling—far away in Aldernon, Emperor Rosetta Augustus was giving him a knowing look, letting him watch and follow through...

And after thinking it through seriously, Gawain realized he really had no choice but to follow, because all of this was precisely what he was anticipating.

No matter what means are used, reducing the number of spiritual pollutants as much as possible, weakening the War God’s influence in the material world, and defending against enemies at the national gates are necessary actions; in this aspect, Rosetta is merely cooperating tacitly with the Cecil Clan...

”Ancestor, is it really okay to do this?” Aunt Heidi couldn’t help but frown, as Emperor Rosetta Augustus’s series of operations exceeded her expectations. In her impression, such bold and unconventional maneuvers seemed only possible from the old ancestor who had risen from the coffin, ”The Typhon Empire is using our hand to clear out those mentally altered infectees...”

”The key issue right now isn’t whether it’s okay to do this, but that we must do it—Rosetta has thrown us a ball we have to catch, so now we can only accompany him to see this through,” Gawain said calmly. ”Rather, this aligns with my thoughts—we don’t have so much energy to deal with those sane Typhon Empire individuals, but if the opponents are infectees... that’s another story.”

Heidi’s strange feeling still couldn’t dissipate; she pressed her lips together, with a slight expression of disbelief on her face: ”But he can openly do such a thing... those soldiers and aristocrats polluted by the War God have already lost their humanity, yet they are still mobilized by him freely, and the War God shows no reaction during all this...”

”Just as we’ve been analyzing the birth and operation of gods, Emperor Rosetta Augustus has his research in this area as well,” Gawain said, his expression turning serious. ”He has obviously found the patterns within... when the gods are in a semi-mad state, he accurately utilizes the ’war’ domain’s loophole—even if those infected War God followers are sent to the frontlines to die, this essentially supports the war itself. As long as this remains within the framework, he won’t provoke the War God’s backlash, and the spirit-polluted aristocrats and soldiers will obediently follow the orders from Aldernon.”

”The problem is, even a mentally deranged army still possesses normal intelligence on the battlefield, and since they have lost the typical human fears and weaknesses, those spirit-polluted individuals exhibit fighting power far exceeding that of normal soldiers,” Heidi said seriously. ”Emperor Rosetta Augustus sending those out-of-control aristocrats and soldiers to Winterwolf Fortress is constantly draining our combat strength...”

”Of course, he wants to sap our combat power—our tens of thousands of mechanized troops are stationed on Typhon’s land, can he sleep peacefully?” Gawain waved his hand casually. ”His intentions aren’t hard to guess; one can only say... this plan is quite good.”

Emperor Rosetta Augustus’s intentions seemed clear to Gawain—this chaotic and sudden war has plunged both Empires into a vortex, leaving countless people clueless about the future. However, for the rulers of the two Empires, everything was as clear as the mountains and rivers under sunlight.

This war might have erupted suddenly, but from a long-term perspective, a conflict between Typhon and Cecil Empire was bound to happen sooner or later, so when it finally arrived, Emperor Rosetta Augustus would inevitably try to bring the situation back under his control and seek the greatest benefits from it—he plans to rapidly decrease domestic instability by sending those armies controlled by the War God to the frontline, while those fearless, berserk armies can be used to weaken Cecil Empire’s strength. Meanwhile, those uncontrolled troops win Rosetta valuable time, allowing him to reorganize and slowly recover from the initial disadvantage Typhon faced at the start of the war.

This may not give him any advantage, but it can at least bring Typhon and Cecil Empire gradually back to the same starting line.

Apart from this, Rosetta will seize the opportunity to completely sweep away various unstable elements within Typhon, much like how Cecil Empire did in the past, achieving a thorough reshuffle; his rule will strengthen unprecedentedly, and Typhon’s upper echelons will truly unite...

Of course, all of this is based on a major premise—that the situation will indeed unfold as he plans.

”Ancestor, shall we devise a plan to attack Aldernon?” Heidi broke the silence after a brief contemplation, observing Gawain’s change of expression. ”Perhaps it might come in handy.”

Gawain looked at Heidi with slight surprise, then fell into silence for several seconds before slowly saying, ”Plans... are always necessary.”

”Yes, I understand.” Heidi nodded and then lifted her head to see Gawain’s gaze falling on the continental map not far away—a map already outlined with various lines and marks, in which the seemingly chaotic annotations subtly hinted at the hidden order within this war.

”I’ve been pondering about something,” Gawain said slowly, ”if there’s a deeper aspect behind this matter...”

Heidi blinked, with a hint of curiosity: ”What do you mean?”

”That out-of-control War God has so far only caused chaos by projecting power onto mortals who believe in Him, but is that all there is to a divine catastrophe? Intelligence shows that Emperor Rosetta Augustus is conducting widespread purges within the country and simultaneously taking a series of shutdowns, suppressions, and inspections against the Sect of the God of War, even though this seems to be an ordinary means of reorganizing order. But would this be an active stimulus to the now uncontrolled War God?” Gawain tapped the armrest thoughtfully as he spoke. ”The series of daring actions by Rosetta Augustus gives me the impression of a gambler... but he can’t be just a gambler, or rather, he can’t be a ’pure gambler’.”

Heidi showed a thoughtful expression: ”Not a ’pure gambler’...”

”A pure gambler would risk everything regardless of the cost, whereas Rosetta... he would surely precisely calculate all costs and possibilities of failure and gamble cautiously with what he can afford,” Gawain said seriously. ”Therefore, when he decides to take the gamble, there’s only one possibility—he must have secured a certain degree of ’stakes’ and confirms there is a possibility of success that he can accept, whether in terms of gains or losses.”

While saying this, Gawain’s expression was very certain, despite having only seen Rosetta Augustus once or twice personally. However, as the ruler of an empire... Cecil Empire and Typhon Empire have interacted countless times.

Those commercial bills, those circulating information, those records about Typhon’s new policy and the Augustus Clan... countless third-party materials have already pieced together the complete ”portrait” of Emperor Rosetta Augustus.

To Gawain, this ”portrait” pieced together through intelligence and data seems more realistic and reliable than Rosetta Augustus himself.

He fell into silence, beginning to meticulously sort through the various pieces of information he had at hand, pondering over the possible actions Typhon might take next. In truth, from the start he was not worried about this ”war” itself; he trusted his army, trusted Sir Philip and the other generals, trusted the Empire’s technology, industry, and citizens. What he truly feared had always been what stood behind the war.

”The Psychic Singer project...” He suddenly lifted his head and looked at Aunt Heidi, ”How far has it progressed currently?”

The Psychic Singer, a specialized soldier designated to combat various types of psychic contamination (including that from gods), these special soldiers utilized the sea demons’ ”Song of the Deep Sea” as their core technology, using the Eternal Sleepers’ ”Psychic Choir” as their training model, relying on Neural Thorns and a series of biochemical, soul, and mage-related devices to achieve ”mass production.” From the beginning, this special soldier project has been a matter of special concern for Gawain.

As a nation that had once undergone divine disaster and had researched gods since early on, Cecil Clan already possessed some technology capable of combating psychic contamination. However, these technologies have their respective shortcomings — the most basic ”Mind Protection System” is a crude and violent application of sea demons runes, limited in effect and able only to provide passive protection; the most advanced ”Humanity Barrier” operates within neural networks and has stronger effects, capable of actively clearing and even ”devouring” psychic contamination within its range and effectively ”healing” mortals’ minds, yet it must rely on a network to function, requiring highly demanding equipment and basic infrastructure.

For present-day Cecil Clan, the neural network does not yet achieve complete coverage within the nation, and maintaining network continuity for troops abroad is clearly more challenging — after all, this era lacks communication satellites, and presently, neural networks can only rely on the Magic Web nodes for their operation, even the most advanced ”Steel Envoy” Multi-Functional War Vehicle can only maintain limited range signal transmission via its communication towers.

Originally, these problems were not so pressing, as Mind Protection Systems and Humanity Barriers were enough for Cecil Clan to protect itself within its borders, but this sudden war disrupted Gawain’s development pace — now he urgently needed a new unit able to actively resist psychic contamination from gods, flexibly operating at the front lines, and capable of functioning independently, unrestricted by network limitations, without compromising protection amid complex expedition conditions.

Lady Wendy, the former Archbishop of the Eternal Sleepers, currently training ”Psychic Singers” fits his requirements best — yet this project has seen no progress for a long time.

”Regarding the Psychic Singer, Lady Wendy sent a message just yesterday,” Aunt Heidi began, ”the prototype soldiers at this stage are still unready for battlefield deployment... stability is a significant issue. However, if you have time, you might want to check on the situation.”

Indeed, such matters cannot be resolved just by contemplating them...

Gawain considered: ”Do I have any other appointments today?”

Aunt Heidi recollected: ”There is a Governor meeting in the evening, nothing else scheduled before that.”

”Then let’s go have a look,” Gawain stood up, ”At least to see the current status of the prototype soldiers.”

...

On the northern banks of the White River, within a research facility belonging to the Empire’s military research department near the Pyramid Computing Center, testing for the prototype soldiers of the Psychic Singer remains ongoing.

It’s a spacious and bright large laboratory, with extensive open areas in the rectangular room’s center. In the room’s corners are four alloy pillars shimmering with metallic gloss and magic symbol glows, while numerous uniformly arrayed, half-meter-high cylindrical devices surround the central empty area. Technicians in white short robes are bustling around these cylindrical devices, many bearing familiar faces.

At the forefront is a young lady with neatly tied-up hair, graceful yet dignified in appearance, none other than the former Archbishop of Eternal Sleepers and now an Empire researcher, an expert in neuropsychology and psychic fields—Lady Wendy ”Spirit Singer,” with former Archbishops Yuri and Semyr standing beside her. Additionally, Pittman is on site, assisting in his capacity as a biochemical expert.

The test subject is a young man, standing at the center of the open space, his face sprinkled with freckles.

The young man wears a custom lightweight armor — if you could call it armor, it’s more of a ”close-fitting framework” designed to secure various magic symbol plug-ins, testing magic symbol devices glow faintly all over this armor; his wrists and forearms are equipped with special ”armguards,” somewhat resembling the now-common second-generation military Magic Transmission Terminals, yet there are no weapon modules, with the spots typically designated for ray guns or lightning emitters now replaced by many intricately structured metal protrusions, clearly serving a special purpose.

Amidst the busy technicians, the young man checks the buckles of his armguards, occasionally flexing his wrists, appearing slightly nervous.

When Gawain and Aunt Heidi arrived at the site, this was the scene greeting them.

He walked amid the busy technicians, raised a hand to signal them not to stand on ceremony, and responded with a smile and a nod to the awkwardly bowing young man at the testing field, then turned to Lady Wendy ”Spirit Singer”: ”Honestly, the Psychic Singer is a bit different from what I imagined... I thought with the term ’Singer’ in its name, there would be something related to ’singing’ in this laboratory, yet all I see are armor with magic symbols, Magic Transmission Terminals, and Neural Thorn storage boxes.”

Wendy was not surprised by Gawain’s comments, she smiled gently: ”The ’song’ of the Psychic Singers isn’t something audible with the ears, nor is it something sung aloud — don’t be misled by the name, they are called ’Singers’ simply because their power is derived from the sea demons’ Song of the Deep Sea.”

Gawain paused, realizing that he seemed to have misunderstood this all along, while Wendy continued with a smile: ”In theory, Psychic Singers don’t even need to ’sing’— proficiently operating Neural Thorns and a series of brainwave amplifiers is enough.”

Aunt Heidi, who accompanied Gawain, couldn’t help but glance at Wendy: ”I’ve listened to your recorded songs on the program, I thought...”

”Just a personal hobby,” Wendy smiled faintly, ”The ’song’ of the Psychic Singers is meant to combat those frenzied, chaotic gods and evil spirits, those entities... they don’t understand music appreciation.”