Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 1155: Chapter 1154: Reflection

The intricate and mysterious runes scattered throughout the testing grounds operated in unison, and Magic Power vibrated through the vast space, emitting a low resonance that had a certain wind chime-like pleasantness—at least for Windsor Maple, who was completely immersed in magic and knowledge, this resonance between magic and the air was undoubtedly the most melodious sound in the world.

While listening to her assistant’s report, she glanced at the well-functioning steles, crystals, and metal magic symbol nodes. These gathered Typhon Empire’s most advanced magical techniques, and even represented the pinnacle of all mortal races in the Loren Continent in the realm of magic. Naturally, maintaining these things was astoundingly expensive, and the costly structure built with massive manpower and resources had one purpose only: to unveil the veil of divine power.

”Directivity resonance indeed exists... and it shows some degree of controllability in the high-intensity arcane feedback,” the youngest Legendary Mage whispered, as if talking to herself, breaking the silence, ”Therefore, what His Majesty deduced from the Eye of the God was correct... gods and kingdom in essence are the same thing; they are both results shaped by mortal thoughts, and from a certain perspective, they exhibit ’continuity’...”

”Mortals created gods by describing them in their thoughts, and then based on primitive god concepts, they created ’kingdom’ or ’kingdom’, and thus the corresponding kingdom and kingdom came into being. This creation possesses consistency, continuity, and according to our latest theory, the consistency in the creative process of thoughts will evolve into the consistency of gods, which is logical,” the mage assistant in a deep blue robe with gold pattern nodded, speaking seriously, ”Extending this theory further, we might consider that the fragments falling off gods are actually fragments of kingdoms, and these fragments in some ’dimension’ beyond common sense... will maintain a lasting connection.”

”I believe we have already confirmed this ’connection’ through experiments,” Windsor Maple said solemnly, ”The key now is—what is the use of this connection.”

”... Recent research shows that after the fall of the War God, the War God’s kingdom did not disappear directly,” the assistant said solemnly, ”but we observed the connection between those fragments showing signs of decline, which might indicate that the ’kingdom’ they point to is in some kind of slow, ongoing collapse. This process will probably last a long time...”

Windsor glanced at the assistant, and said calmly: ”So, if we want to try something bold, there’s still time, is that what you mean?”

”That question should be judged by yourself,” the assistant lowered his head, ”I am only proposing ideas.”

”No, this question should be judged by higher-ups, by the leaders of the alliance,” Windsor slowly shook her head, ”Summarize the situation here and report it to our King, he will certainly make the most appropriate decision.”

...

In the luxurious study at the top level of the Obsidian Palace, reviewing documents, Emperor Rosetta Augustus suddenly sighed and showed a somewhat helpless expression, which caught the attention of Princess Matilda who was sitting beside him, helping handle official papers—she raised her head and looked at her father with curiosity: ”Have you encountered something troubling?”

”Not really something troubling... just a bit laughable,” the ruler of Typhon pulled at the corner of his mouth and replied, shaking his head, ”The ’mystic texts’ sent from Cecil are now gradually being disclosed to the public, and the number of responses to the ’recruitment’ is extremely, extremely large, although the results are unsatisfactory. According to the Chief Minister’s report, the feedback collected in the first batch is quite diverse; many applicants are beyond being described as ’amateurs’... from ’tavern scholars’ who dared to apply after reading half a book, to ’mystics’ blatantly tricking people with non-magical crystals on street corners, and even villagers who claimed divine inspiration after having a strange dream...”

Speaking to this point, Rosetta sighed again, shaking his head with a smile: ”Chief Minister Mr. Fulton has explained the situation on his side as tactfully and cautiously as possible, but I can fully imagine how chaotic it is. Perhaps we should have foreseen this from the beginning, setting more barriers during the selection process, or arranging several more levels of officials to handle this task...”

Listening to the situation her father described, Matilda’s expression froze for a moment, and she quickly twitched her mouth: ”This is... quite unexpected for us.”

”I reckon Cecil is experiencing similar circumstances—they underestimated the enthusiasm these ’civilian professionals’ would show when faced with a problem they don’t understand,” Rosetta shook his head, ”Our hope to find clues to decipher these symbols through brainstorming has turned into having to exert several times the effort dealing with con artists, mystic charlatans, idlers, and patients with mental disorders...”

Matilda listened, but after a brief thought, she slowly shook her head: ”I hold a different view from yours—these mystic symbols pose a very special challenge. Those ’civilian professionals’ you referred to may indeed know little about them, but actually, the true scholars in the Royal Mage Association and the Constructers’ Guild also know nothing. None of the known languages or patterns we are familiar with apply to those symbols, so in some sense... everyone stands on the same starting line.

”The fanciful and eccentric ideas these ’civilian professionals’ have might appear unreliable, but what if... they really do hit the mark by chance?”

Rosetta’s gaze fell on Matilda, and after several seconds, he sighed: ”You’re more optimistic than I imagined, but I don’t think this kind of academic stuff will unfold as you say.”

Matilda laughed, not immediately answering, but suddenly became very focused on Rosetta’s face, as if she had discovered something, watching very intently. A hint of warmth emerged from her eyes, bringing a slight frown to Rosetta: ”Why are you suddenly staring like that at your father?”

”You smile often now,” Matilda’s tone held some joy, ”Not only do you smile, but you express helplessness and annoyance directly—though you still keep a stern face in formal occasions.”

Rosetta was caught off guard by Matilda’s thoughts, hesitated a bit before his expression began to relax—twenty-plus years of time had made his face stern and cold, but now warmth returned to it. Even though his inherent demeanor still made the face seem somewhat stern and frightening, he knew his keen daughter could see all the details of his changes.

Before Matilda, he was more like a father than a steadily fading symbolic figure.

Rosetta smiled without continuing on this topic and resumed discussing those symbols and Cecil’s ”Listening Plan”: ”Many scholars are now shaken by the discovery of the Cecil Clan, and many flexible thinkers now have similar ideas: there are other beings beyond our planet, which aligns with the information Gawain Cecil shared with us in the last secure communication. In this matter, I would like to hear your thoughts.

”What do you think about the civilization that sent out the signals? What do you believe is their purpose in sending these things? Do you think they are friendly?”

Matilda lowered her eyelids and slowly said, ”The things they sent are all extremely basic ’mathematical language.’ These mathematical languages are not profoundly complex knowledge, rather they are things that any group that has developed a certain level of civilization can understand. So my view aligns with His Majesty Gawain Cecil: The sole purpose of these materials is ’self-introduction,’ meant to indicate that they are an intelligent group with a set of mathematical cognition—and as long as the basic rules of our world are consistent and uniform, this set of ’mathematical cognition’ is a universally applicable standard and calling card.

”As for whether the civilization that sent the signals is friendly or not... actually, I think this question is not important. In a situation where we can’t even touch them and know nothing about their background, we have to prepare mentally from ’extreme evil’ to ’extreme good.’ Compared to this question, I’m more eager to confirm just how far that civilization is from us.”

Emperor Rosetta pondered for a moment and said softly, ”How far indeed... to use the astrologists’ terms, no matter the distance, it is an ’astronomical distance...’”

...

In the Cecil Empire, at the Magic Technology Research Institute, Kamel was quietly floating above a large artificial element pool in a sizable Arcane Torrent Laboratory.

The metal containment rings around the large element pool shimmered with a pale blue glow of magic symbols, and two crystal-constructed energy conduits, each about a meter in diameter, stood beside the element pool. Pure and blinding Ao energy surged forth from the conduits like streams of flame, connecting the floor and ceiling—these powerful energies combined, eventually forming a strong energy field in the air above the element pool, with Kamel floating at its center, his rune armor plates shining brightly. The arcane energy constituting his body flowed gently, and sporadic electric arcs emerged from his body surface, interacting and exchanging with the Ao energy in the air.

The Arcane Master was not conducting any precise magic experiments; he was thinking, using the power of arcane resonance to ”activate” himself and enter a state of ”supercharged thinking.”

According to the peculiar term invented by His Majesty, this is called ”overclocking.”

In the ”overclocking” state, Kamel’s efficiency of thought greatly improved, ideas flashed and connected quickly and sharply. Yet even so, he still felt his thinking speed wasn’t fast enough, or rather... unable to process those overwhelming and stimulating ”shocking news.”

He recalled the conference Gawain held not long ago, which convened all master-level scholars and overturned everyone’s worldview in such a short agenda. He recalled the information disclosed at that conference about the chaotic wave, about the ”closed-loop system” of gods, and the information about those civilizations among the stars whose lights of life and death flicker.

Allegedly, those pieces of information came from the Dragon God’s ancient memories, a god who knows the most secrets in the world and has completely freed himself from restraints, giving them high credibility—Kamel had no doubt about His Majesty’s judgment on this. Precisely because of such firm belief, he was disturbed by those bits of information, even feeling his arcane body simmering due to the overly active thinking process.

The state of ”supercharged thinking” persisted for a while longer, the sparks swirling in the element pool gradually calmed, and the bright flames in the energy conduits returned to dimness. Kamel slowly detached from the active energy field, watching the fine electric lights jumping on his body disconnect one by one from the sparks dancing in the air, and this ancient Arcane Master gently breathed out a sigh.

It was then that he suddenly sensed a nearby presence and heard a familiar voice from the side, ”It’s rare to see you daze for so long.”

”Your Majesty?” Kamel looked with surprise towards where the voice came from and saw Gawain standing at the door of the laboratory, smiling at him. He became a little flustered, ”Ah, sorry, I was too immersed just now and didn’t notice you...”

”No matter, I just came to have a look,” Gawain casually waved his hand and walked toward Kamel. ”You, on the other hand, seem to have yet to recover from the information of those days ago?”

”... I’m sorry,” Kamel sighed with some embarrassment. ”Perhaps due to the limitations of life form, the fluctuations in thinking and emotions affect me far more than ordinary people with flesh and blood. I’ve spent more time adjusting my state, but now it seems my state hasn’t fully returned.”

”I understand, not everyone can easily accept the enormous impact of the ’truth of the world,’ especially when these truths go against our habitual cognition,” Gawain intended to pat Kamel’s shoulder, but upon realizing the other didn’t have a shoulder, just a cluster of sparkling lights, he instead patted the rune armor plate at the location of Kamel’s arm. ”When I learned the essence of chaotic wave, I felt my cognition had been reconstructed entirely once.”

”Observer misalignment... The nature of chaotic wave is indeed shocking and makes us have to restart many previous studies,” Kamel’s body emitted a humming sound, his voice sounding very deep. ”But more than the nature of chaotic wave, what truly makes me uneasy is those signals that once echoed in Star Space, now one by one extinguished...”

”Those signals...” Gawain, rubbing his chin, unconsciously repeated.

”Behind every signal was a civilization as developed as ours, even more so, and each signal extinguishing signified that an intelligent group like ours ultimately fell on the path of ’ascension.’ The Great Filter you mentioned truly exists, as a celestial barrier spanning the starry skies. Who can be calm when thinking of this?”

Gawain did not answer, because at that moment, he suddenly realized something he hadn’t thought through before, even subconsciously neglected for a long time.

In this world, why is the pace of civilization’s evolution and the theoretical distribution density far higher than in the world he used to live in.