Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 1161: Chapter 1160: Retired Gods

The Hatching Room was very quiet, the shell of Enya’s egg was as usual glowing with a peaceful and warm light, yet Gawain just quietly stared at this golden giant egg, and half a minute later, he finally spoke to break the silence: ”Honestly, if we call Melita and Nuoletta back now it might still be in time...”

”No, I can manage everything,” Enya’s voice immediately sounded, carrying an unwavering tone, ”Hatching dragon eggs isn’t complicated, especially since this room has automatic systems, I don’t need to do much, and caring for young dragons is actually quite simple, they are much easier to survive and grow than human babies...”

”But you did mention earlier that you have no practical experience,” Gawain looked at this ”Goddess” with a rather peculiar expression, feeling almost like it was the first day he met her, ”Is your theoretical knowledge really enough?”

”Trust me, Melita and Nuoletta’s situation would be worse than mine—they don’t even have reliable theoretical knowledge,” Enya’s voice finally held a greater confidence, and the given reasons felt much more dependable, ”As the younger generation of Dragonkin, they have no experience or insights of ancient dragons; regarding the care of young dragons it should be Andar or Heragor who taught them, while at least I have personally witnessed a history of dragons spanning hundreds of thousands of years... Although I’ve only devoted minimal effort to ’caring for young dragons’, the accumulation certainly far surpasses those two girls.”

”Alright then, since you’re so confident,” Gawain’s mouth twitched slightly, realizing that this ”Goddess” actually quite values dignity, ”I leave this matter to you—if there’s anything needing help, feel free to ask, I’ll assist as much as I can.”

The brilliance flowing on Enya’s eggshell gradually subsided, she said softly with a smile: ”Thank you very much.”

Gawain simply replied with a ”mm” and said no more, casting his gaze towards the smaller ordinary dragon egg nearby, this little miracle nurturing life stood quietly there, bathed in artificial light... As a hope, a future healthy being, it is now oblivious to the future it’s about to face.

To be personally hatched and cared for by the former Dragon God... Fate is truly a wondrous thing. Anyway, the starting point for this little one is already ’extraordinary.’

...

Deep within the defied Fortress, in the Shadow Realm Courtyard, a round metal ball finally completed the debugging of the last set of components, he floated up, circled twice around the large Neural Coupler, and then turned to the two huge figures staring intently from nearby—they were a white Giant Stag shrouded in holy radiance, and a mysterious lady cloaked in magical mist, her silhouette like towering.

In terms of size, Saint Nicholas Egg seemed as small as a pebble before these figures, yet these massive and immensely powerful presences carried a form of respect, watching with barely a breath the small iron ball completing its dazzling operations, until the neural coupler next to them suddenly hummed to life, the tower-like lady then finally exhaled—a miniature whirl of magic power spun up from her breath in the void, her slightly husky magnetic voice said: ”Grand Artificer, is it fixed yet?”

”Fixed—turned out to be more work than I thought,” Saint Nicholas Egg said, human-like sigh escaping, ”be a bit kinder to these machines, they have ’souls’ too. These poor components... the Neural Coupler over at Lady Enya’s place is in a far better condition.”

”Don’t worry, we’ll be careful, we’ll be careful,” Amoen, the Giant Stag’s voice rose immediately, deep and pleasant with utmost sincerity, ”it’s mostly Mirmina, she gets too caught up in collecting those chaotic bits of entertainment online, whereas I try to remain cautious at least...”

”You had the worst burn, even the neural cord was scorched,” Saint Nicholas Egg shook slightly without waiting for him to finish, ”the activity logs left inside the equipment don’t lie.”

Amoen fell silent at once, while Mirmina turned her head slightly, casting a deep look at this God of Nature with those eyes hidden behind veil-like thin mist.

”The rest is up to you, I’m off,” Nicholas seemed oblivious to the subtle tension between the two former gods, he bid farewell after finishing the work, ”if there’s any issue contact Nariteer directly, and don’t worry if the network completely breaks, technicians will notice and send someone immediately—of course, I do hope no further issues arise...”

The Grand Artificer departed, leaving the courtyard shrouded in chaotic darkness momentarily quiet, after a few seconds of awkward standoff, Mirmina finally spoke: ”Do you wish to say anything more?”

Amoen immediately activated his own set of neural coupling apparatus, the flowing light on his body connected within a second to the magic symbol ring around the base of the device: ”I’ll first check the network to confirm the equipment’s truly fixed...”

The next second, the consciousness of the former God of Nature dove into the depths of the network, leaving Mirmina a bit stunned watching all this, till eventually, she couldn’t help but let out a soft laugh: ”You’re getting quite skilled at using it now.”

...

Light and shadow shifted, consciousness reorganized, after the familiar yet long-missed (twenty-four hours) ”coupling” process, Amoen no longer faced the dark and gloomy defied Courtyard, but a sunny, vibrant world within the neural network. Transformed into an elderly Elven Druid, he couldn’t help but close his eyes and take a deep breath in this unreal realm, savoring the brief relaxation.

Two seconds later, he opened his eyes, a sincere smile spread across his face, then he looked around—this was merely a habitual action, he certainly wouldn’t see Mirmina’s figure, even though in the real world they’re physically close, in this virtual space their distance might’ve spanned an entire city.

With a smile and shake of his head, Amoen relaxed further, then adeptly activated a semi-transparent floating window in the air, with simple mental commands his figure departed from the street, arriving in an instant at a square surrounded by stone pillars, embraced by golden oak trees, the ground scattered with golden leaves.

This is the function of free teleportation within the dream city’s permitted scope, he has now mastered it skillfully, yet it wasn’t Mirmina, always mysterious and secretive, who taught this skill but that guide Miss Patty—compared to the somewhat quirky ”Goddess of Magic,” the young mortal girl named Patty was far more amiable.

Amoen’s mind wandered over some unrelated thoughts while already locating his target using the ”Contact Guide” feature, he headed towards the edge of the square, where a figure with flowing golden hair sat quietly on a bench—she possessed exquisite beauty and a unique and elegant aura, wearing garments unseen in the human world, cascading hair reached the ground, streaming together with equally gold scattered leaves, in the breeze encircling the golden oak tree, this figure seemed isolated from the world, quietly enjoying the present serenity and harmony.

Amoen quickly walked towards that figure, a joyful smile on his face: ”Lady Enya, let’s play cards, let’s play...”

That golden-haired figure was indeed the Dragon God Enya’s persona within the neural network—by now, Amoen had learned that the ”Tea Egg” lady who replied to his message was actually the ”Goddess of the Night” of Talronde, the ancient civilization’s guardian of this world, after initial astonishment, doubt, and caution, including Mirmina, three retired divinities established communication in this mind-built world by mortals, gradually becoming familiar with one another.

Knowing each other’s true identity, Amoen certainly wouldn’t choose to call this venerable guardian whom even gods revere by something as peculiar as ”Tea Egg,” out of respect—and also to avoid being labeled ”Highspeed Stag” by her in return.

”Amoen,” Enya seemingly awakened from contemplation, she raised her head to see the visitor, gave a slight nod and greeting, then shook her head, ”sorry, I’m not up for card games today.”

”Not playing cards anymore? Because the Goddess of Magic didn’t come?” Amon paused for a moment, then quickly reacted, ”No worries, I’ll call Duvalt over; he’s usually idle most of the time anyway...”

”No, let’s pause the ’Gods’ Card Game’ for a day; I’m busy with some things,” Enya interrupted Amon, speaking with a rather serious expression, ”Very important matters.”

Only then did Amon notice the subtle and blurred translucent sparks jumping in the air in front of this former dragon god, indicating that a query window was being opened — due to privacy system restrictions, the involved party cannot directly see the windows others are opening without authorization, which further piqued Amon’s curiosity: ”Are you looking something up?”

”Checking some information,” Enya nodded, casually opening the query interface’s authorization, making those translucent blurry sparks clear before Amon’s eyes, ”But I find the information here is incomplete too — the database of the neural network clearly has a long way to go to be perfect.”

Amon, however, didn’t pay attention to what the other party said at the end; his focus had been drawn by the key words popping up on the interface, the first he saw was a large line of letters: Psychological Preparation Necessary for Initial Child Care, Author — Pittman.

Amon: ”...?”

He was stunned for a long time before finally reacting: ”Why are you looking this up? Do you need to take care of...children?”

As he said the last few words, he almost bit his tongue, because the topic was so bizarre, its development direction had already gone beyond the logical range shared between gods and mortals, and just imagining it slightly felt like a pure destruction of common sense.

Enya’s attitude was quite calm, she shook her head, her expression unchanged as she spoke, ”It’s... entrusted care by a friend. Gawain’s commission.”

She finally added Gawain’s name.

Amon’s eye twitched, he felt the bizarreness of the matter hadn’t decreased at all...

Enya glanced at Amon, quietly closed the query window’s authorized sharing, while casually asking, ”I remember you once held the power of life, which somewhat relates to what I’m querying — do you have any advice on taking care of little ones?”

”This... I’m afraid I can’t offer you any advice,” Amon’s expression became odd instantly, ”Species on the Loren Continent are okay, but young dragons... I haven’t taken care of any...”

”Then you can’t help me,” Enya shook her head, ”I must work hard on my own then.”

Amon: ”...”

After being laid down with an unceremonious dismissal, Amon could only shake his head and leave the plaza sheltered by the golden oak. Not having anything to do for the time being, he didn’t contact the Goddess of Magic, who should have entered the network, but instead walked slowly along a wide, straight path leading to the central area outside the plaza.

Even with nothing to do, as long as he could walk here, look at other minds leisurely strolling on the street as well, and feel the world ”breathing” around him, supported by the hearts of countless mortals, the former God of Nature would relax and feel a genuine joy.

He had walked for who knows how long, when Amon suddenly stopped, in his sight, a girl wearing a white dress with a perpetually happy smile on her face was sitting on a bench not far away, waving to him.

She was one of the guides in the spiritual network, and the first individual he recognized in this world — a girl named Patty.

Amon walked towards the figure seated on the bench, showing a kind smile: ”Patty.”

”Mr. Highspeed Stag!” Patty hopped lightly down from the bench, cheerfully standing in front of Amon and greeting him happily, ”Are you out for a stroll? It’s really rare to see you walk leisurely like this these days — every time I saw you before, you were either playing cards with people or debating current affairs or religious matters with someone.”

”No one is playing cards with me today,” Amon helplessly spread his hands, ”For the time being, I haven’t found a topic to debate with someone.”

He did not refute Patty’s ”Mr. Highspeed Stag” address, rather naturally accepting it as if he had already gotten used to it.

”Not playing cards? That’s quite good,” Patty laughed even more happily, ”You should explore the city more, meet more people, and visit more places — this is an incredible world, so many interesting and meaningful things; just playing cards with friends every day would be such a waste.”

As she spoke, the lively girl reached out her hand to Amon: ”Let me take you to see the newly opened ’Hall of Marks’, it’s the newly opened virtual museum in the city. Grandpa Norris and several Immortal instructors are working there; they’ll impart their knowledge to any visitor of the hall — it’s quite interesting.”

Amon didn’t know the names Patty mentioned, but he was still infected by her enthusiasm, smiling as he reached out his hand, allowing the girl to grab his broad hand, a touch both soft and slightly cool, at the next moment, he suddenly froze.

”Mr. Highspeed Stag?” Patty noticed the change immediately, casting a curious glance, ”Did something happen?”

”Patty,” Amon looked at the young girl in front of him, his gaze fell on the hand she held, ”What about your body?”