High Above

In the old days, everyone had a screaming lamb in their heart.

Thirty-five years ago, Brin was kicked out, or in other words, he voluntarily left his home.

His grandfather was once one of the financial officers of the Cejalrovo family. He survived because he did not have sublimated blood. After he came to Harrison Port, he drank all day long and beat his wife and children. He beat his son until he asked Elder Puder to preside over the division. He died of depression within a few years.

Brin's father is not a good person either. He inherited all his father's flaws and is also a wicked man who frequently beats and scolds his wife and children.

He does not allow Brin to touch anything in the house. Whether he is sitting, sleeping, eating, going to the toilet or going out, everything must be reported to him. As long as Brin forgets or touches Brin accidentally, he will beat him. .

In order to protect her children, Brin's mother was often beaten.

Time and time again, in the reflection of his mother's sad eyes, and in the blood left by the wound at the corner of his eye, Brin saw for the first time his tearful, weak and ugly state.

At that time, Brin rebelled against his father for the first time. He and his mother were kicked out of the house, and all he was given was a shabby warehouse.

After all, they are a family, and Elder Pude let him join the herb collection team. Brin is indeed talented. He has excellent eyesight and can find many herbs that others cannot find. This may be a legacy of the power of the 'Silver Halberd Falcon' in the Silver Peak Messenger.

Relying on his life, greed, courage and ability, Brin became a senior herbalist. He could support himself and his mother, and he could use his own money to bury his mother. He had the prestige that even if he refused the plea of ​​his aging father, it would not affect the perception of others.

He confronted his uncle. The fool thought that Brin's mother was dead and Brin had no wife and children, so he wanted to seize Brin's property.

No... maybe it's not robbery.

At that time, my uncle actually just lamented that Brin's job was too dangerous, and asked what would happen to the family property if Brin died. He asked if Brin should live with him, find someone who matches him quickly, get married and have a child, or leave a will or articles of association.

There may be greed, but there is also goodwill.

But Brin's heart was screaming.

--impossible! Everything he owns is his! No one can take it away!

——You can only take what I want to give! I don't want to give it to you. If you take it, I will never let it go even if I die!

——Relatives? Not even relatives! What is a relative? He only has his mother, and he only recognizes his mother!

In the broken pieces of dishes, in the poured wine, and in the reflection of his uncle's shocked and angry eyes, Brin once again saw his own shadow.

It was a ferocious face that was almost the same as his father and grandfather.

Thirty-five years later.

The general manager of the Silver Peak Chamber of Commerce in the South China Sea, Bryn Silver Peak, woke up from his bed.

The soft sunlight passes through the window and shines on the pillows and quilts. The hot steam rises from the gold-plated tea cup and reflects the light on the bedside table.

His pillow partner had already gotten up and prepared his favorite drink for him. Brin smiled, got up, and sipped the hot tea.

"Master, are you up?"

After Brin finished washing and put on his clothes, his wife asked loudly from the kitchen downstairs: "Do you remember what you are going to do today?"

"Remember, remember." Brin smacked his lips and said, "I will go to Sola's parent-teacher conference and the academy's open classes."

"Hmph~" There was a hint of complaint in the wife's voice: "I will go to the parent-teacher meeting, but in the afternoon I have to prepare a dinner with the Sai Nan family next door, and I can't go to our baby's open class."

"I won't go, I have to go! You haven't been there even once in these years!"

"I know, I know, well, it's not just about making money to support the family... I took annual leave specifically for today. I really don't understand how hard it is to make money."

Brin said disgustedly, with a smile on his lips.

He was choosing the coat he wanted in the closet. He didn't care about appearance that much, but even if it was to make himself dignified and look like a person in front of his daughter's classmates and their parents, he had to choose well.

After choosing a coat, Brin thought for a moment, then chose an alchemist's belt, and pinned on it the official alchemist badge he had recently passed.

Others would not know about the senior leaders of the Chamber of Commerce without asking, but the alchemist was different.

After doing all this, he thought for a moment and made sure he had brought everything he should bring, then he closed the closet and pushed the door open and walked out.

This is a two-story small building located on Silver Peak Avenue (Old Pier Avenue) in Harrison Port. The transparent floor-to-ceiling windows face the blue sea in the south. The bright sunshine warms the entire home, and the dust rises and falls in the light and shadow. You can see the paintings on the wall, the sugar bowl in the cupboard, the cloak and wool on the hangers, and on the sofa in the center of the living room there is a ball of thread and a half-knitted shawl, which is the handiwork of my wife.

Everything about this hotel is good, except that the beach is a bit tidal.

To be honest, it's a bit too trendy, but because their family practices the water element, they have to be so trendy.

Since the implementation of the new city plan three years ago, the entire Port of Harrison has changed its appearance. It was originally just an old fortress city along the coast. Various urban plans were designed to guard against monsters and natives, and to serve as a temporary base for the South Sea Fleet. naval port.

But now, the whole city has a completely new look, with clean streets, flat and wide docks, layer upon layer of residential areas and various public facilities areas built based on the terrain, ubiquitous crystal towers and towering alchemy towers, it’s simply like It's like a development that spans hundreds of years, stepping from the Middle Ages into the future era.

Brin's home is located on the west side of the city center. There is nothing special here, except that the next street is the former residence of the beloved Grand Duke of Nanling, Ian Silver Peak.

Well, it's not quite right to call it a former residence, because Grand Duke Yinfeng would come back to live occasionally. Strictly speaking, it can be regarded as his hometown or his 'former residence and palace'.

To this day, Brin is still afraid and grateful for what he did to Ian and how he risked his life to fight the natives with Ian. But all this has passed. In today's Grand Duchy of Silver Peak, he can be considered a leader. High-level, and all this is because he once fought alongside Ian and provided Ian with herbs during the most difficult times.

However, that's all. Brin is not stupid enough to rely on this relationship to become a real high-level person. He is peacefully serving as the branch manager of the behemoth Silver Peak Chamber of Commerce, which is very important to him. This is a position that is unimaginable.

He is satisfied, so he cares about the present.

"Dad~"

When Brin, who was ready to get dressed, walked down the stairs and came to the dining table, a little white-haired girl who was reading a book and eating bread raised her head and waved to him excitedly.

Of course, little Sophie's idea was good, and she was certainly right to say hello to her father, but she forgot that there was butter in the bread, and her little hands couldn't hold it tightly, causing little bits of butter to splash out, all over the wall behind her.

"Eh……"

Seeing this scene, little Sophie immediately shrank her head, and the black-haired woman who came out of the kitchen after hearing the noise looked at it, and suddenly said angrily and funny: "I don't have the posture to eat, and I don't have the posture to sit down when I'm eating. Close the book." , have a good breakfast, and wipe up the dirty things later!"

"Master, please say a few words!"

"yes--"

Sophie spoke in a long tone, and then looked carefully at the man in front of her with his back to the sun.

Brin approached expressionlessly. When his daughter shrank her head, he suddenly reached out, dug out a little bit of the butter on the table, and then spread it on the little girl's face: "Hey!"

He rubbed his daughter's face and said with a wicked smile: "Haha, my little white bread, I'll give you some butter too!"

"I'm not bread!" The little girl from the White People with a somewhat fat face screamed and waved her hands angrily: "I will lose weight!"

But she looked more like bread when she was bulging with energy.

"How old are you to play with children!" Seeing this, his wife sighed, and Brin laughed, pointing to the solidified butter, which all fell off the wall and threw it into the trash can: "How old are you? What a great thing, Sophie loves reading and said hello to me."

After these years of practice, he has no ability to sublimate like ordinary people.

After doing this, Brin stepped forward, took some more butter from the table, spread it on his wife's lips, and gave her a deep kiss: "You are also my favorite honey bread... You have worked hard all these years. Come on, Fulan!"

"Well... damn it!"

Before little Sophie could react, the men and women separated, and Fulan returned to the kitchen with a bright face: "Take Sophie to wash your face! You should eat quickly, the omelette is getting cold!"

"Let's go!" "Let's go, Mom!" "Be careful."

When Bryn Sophie and her daughter, who had packed up, said goodbye to Fulan and walked out of the house, the summer breeze blew slightly outside, and the golden sunlight penetrated the leaves of the trees planted along the street, casting mottled shadows.

Until there was a roar from the house next door.

"You brat!"

It was a strong male voice, filled with overwhelming anger: "You actually do less homework!"

boom!

The door opened, and a little boy carrying a schoolbag ran out of the house almost in despair. When he saw Sophie and Sophie's father, he immediately became energetic: "Hello, uncle!"

"Sophie, let's go together..."

Before he finished speaking, a white man with slightly dark skin ran out angrily, holding a belt in his hand. Seeing this, the little boy ran away: "Dad, don't use the belt!"

"Alas alas."

When the brown and white people wanted to catch up, Brin stretched out his hand, blocked in front of his old acquaintance Sai Nan, and advised: "Just do less homework. We don't know how to do many of the homework in the academy. Children don't do it." It’s normal to be happy to write.”

"You don't know what this brat has done!"

Sai Nan didn't want to really beat up his kid during the parent-teacher meeting today. He stopped by when Brin gave him a step, but he still said angrily: "Every day, he skipped one copy of the homework assigned by the teacher. Or two!”

"He only wrote on the first, third and fifth days of the exercise book that was assigned every day, and he only wrote on the second and fourth of the overview questions that were given every day. I thought this was the teacher's recurring assignment, and he only wrote half of it out of thin air!"

Speaking of this, Sai Nan couldn't help but gnashed his teeth: "He is not willing to write, he is so obsessed with taking advantage of small loopholes! This kind of cleverness is great for learning, but it is all used to compete with me!"

"There are still teachings about this kind of thing now. If someone finds out about cheating and cheating in the future..."

At this point, he didn't get angry, but sighed.

Sai Nan has been a boat person since he was a child.

In the distant sea fleet, the captain's orders are absolute, and no one will violate the rules he sets. The captain of the distant sea is the king of all crew members, and has the power of life and death.

Sainan still remembers that there was a crew member who wanted to secretly hide the crystal of a mumi clam. After being discovered by the captain, he was thrown directly into the sea infested by giant eels - and he was swallowed up not long after. .

No one has any objection to this, no one thinks there is anything wrong, no one dares to object.

Sainan won't. Because he knows that the profits from the catch will be distributed to everyone, and if one person keeps it privately, it means that everyone else will take less, and everyone will keep it privately. In the end, the cooperative fishing will become a competition ground where everyone uses rogue and shameless methods. The team dispersed and there was no way to continue fishing in the open sea.

But he also knew that the family of the person who died was very miserable. His father was seriously ill, his mother was in poor health, and his wife was not a worry-free person. She often complained that he didn't make much money and was just a waste...

After his death, the family broke up quickly. His father left soon after, and his mother followed him a few months later. The mother did not want the child, and even intended to abandon the child outside the city. She was sentenced by Elder Pude. , and I don’t know what the final result will be.

The child was kept in the ancestral hall, and he didn't know whether he was dead or alive.

The captain did nothing wrong. He did what is right. Those who seek petty gains will eventually pay the price.

In that era, a captain who was not ruthless would never end well in the end, and the same was true for his team.

For the temporary desires in their hearts, people will eventually pay a price that they cannot imagine.

However, Sainan occasionally thinks about it.

He will wonder: Can he do better?

No more.

That is the fault of poverty, the fault of greed, the wave of the times, the breeze of the world.

"I just want to teach Boer this truth..."

Sai Nan looked at his son's evasive eyes hiding behind the railing, and his anger subsided, and he just sighed: "If he continues to be like this when he grows up, thinking that this kind of cleverness can cope with work and 'responsibility', He will regret it eventually."

"We are all blessed by the Grand Duke so we can live the life we ​​have today. He can deal with me, but can he cope with the Grand Duke?"

"Um……"

Brin touched his daughter's little head. He turned his head to look at the little boy and said softly: "But... don't hit the child. Is there anything you can't say?"

"Come on, boy."

He waved to the little boy: "You have to catch up on your homework when you get home today, okay? My uncle and your dad have agreed not to beat you, but you will also be punished!"

When he heard that he would not be whipped, the little boy immediately ran back - as soon as he came back, his father pinched his little face and cried out painfully: "Dad, you didn't say you won't hit me." Yet!"

It’s true that he didn’t fight. Sainan gave Boer a severe scolding, punishing him to complete his homework and water the garden every afternoon.

"You just dote on your children too much!"

When the two childhood sweethearts skipped to the academy, Sai Nan, who was following behind, shook his head and whispered: "Sometimes you have to teach them a lesson... If you don't teach them a lesson when they were young and correct them, they will definitely be better when they grow up." question."

"By then, we... may not be able to protect you!"

"Yes, boys do have to twitch, otherwise they will be in trouble."

Brin also agreed with Sai Nan's statement, but when he saw the children's cheerful pace, he couldn't help but sigh: "It's just that you can't be really cruel, and the reason for the lesson must be explained clearly. Even if you really need to teach a lesson, at least Not in front of peers, not today... Today is a parent-teacher meeting and there are open classes, so think more about your children."

"Yeah." Sai Nan groaned. He also knew that he was overdoing it - mainly because the thought of being caught by the teacher asking about the child's homework today made his blood pressure soar.

But in the end, he just shook his head: "After all, they are different from us."

"They are a generation that can make mistakes..."

"Yes. What a precious treasure..." Brin nodded in recognition. He couldn't help but recall the past. He lowered his head: "This is the best thing we can get."

"Who doesn't want..."

He said this softly, as if in a dream: "What about giving the best to your child?"

Raising his head, Brin's eyes seemed to be twinkling under the sunlight.

——Has the greedy beast in his heart that has been roaring day and night since his ancestors stopped screaming now?

"Hey." Suddenly, Brin frowned: "What is your son doing?"

It turned out that Burr smelled the fragrance on Sophie's cheeks. He got closer and smelled it, and found that it smelled of butter. He laughed at the other party and got the bread on his face. It was really a big loaf. Sophie became angry and dumped him. Face and hair, the two started fighting and chasing each other.

"He's a kid." Now it was Sai Nan's turn to stop Hong Wen's Brin: "It's so normal to have fun, hahaha..."

…

Academy.

A kind of learning institution that once appeared in the Terran Kingdoms and finally gradually declined.

Its decline was due to being out of date, because the truly important technology in this world, the true core of productivity, the ‘power of sublimation’, cannot be taught.

Everyone's bloodline is different, and their adaptability to the true form is also different. Even if they teach relevant knowledge, they can only teach the most basic part, because without the power of the bloodline's true form, humans cannot even have a 'soul'.

Without a soul, how can one climb the technology tree related to the power of sublimation, and how can one create a system?

If the teacher has a soul but the students do not, how should he describe those special visions?

Just like a summer insect cannot speak of ice, an earthworm only knows day and night.

But things are different now.

Because of the existence of meditation, because of the existence of practice, and because of the popular artificial soul, everyone in today’s Terra world has a ‘soul’.

Possess the ‘quality of practice’.

In the open class, the teacher is teaching "simple methods and techniques for carving souls" to children who are under ten years old or at most in their early teens.

This technique was discovered by a psyker named Loren and a psyker named Miles, hence the name 'Loren-Myers Law'.

As long as you learn this technique, breathe and sound in a fixed order, and empty your mind of clearly related images in the order, even a clueless fool can mobilize his soul power to carve his soul.

Of course, there are other methods besides this, such as 'god visualization', 'unlimited emotional promotion', 'preserving the gods and pretending to sleep', 'mind and soul body replacement', etc. There are many ways for children to get started with meditation. , but only Lomay's law is the simplest and has no sequelae.

Essentially, this is a miracle, a transition.

Children don't really need to understand the principles of Lohme's Law, they just need to learn how to use it.

They don't need to know how these breathing sequences work, or how these 'mantras' work, or how those 'visualized images' affect the mind. They don't need to know which steps work, why they work, and Which parts play what role and principle, how to modify certain parts to achieve different functions... they just need to do it.

Understanding the principles is a matter of higher education.

Just like Taylor unfolded, there is no need to think about the principles or know the background, as long as the "rules and spells" are taught, everyone can open the root number as if they have mastered magic.

Black box? Yes. This is how humans use technology. If we cannot create a black box that allows people to use advanced achievements in simple ways, society will never progress.

It took a long time for the ape to understand that two days and two hours were somehow equivalent in the abstract computation of mathematics. This was the leap in abstract thinking and intelligence that allowed the ape to become human.

And when Terran humans understand that under the influence of thinking, the body and the soul are equal in a practical sense, this is also a leap in the soul's thinking and spiritual wisdom.

"So I admire...this set of ideas."

Adlbert was sitting between the parents. He stared at the lectures given by his invited mentor Amber, a senior alchemist from the Silver Peak Alchemy Department. He whispered to himself: "Ian, he really did it. Changing the world, whether it is the academy, society or communication between people, this new education system called the academy... everything has changed."

"today."

Amber on the podium held up a light cyan crystal and said with a smile: "The child who performs best will get a special 'spiritual crystal' from me!"

"Come on, everybody!"

In the open class classroom, children one after another closed their eyes under Amber's guidance and recited fixed words, and their whole bodies dimly lit up.

This is the light of the soul, the beginning of meditation and practice. Anyone can do it. It does not require blood or much wisdom (at least you have to be literate).

Adalbert looked at the spiritual crystal in Amber's hand and nodded slightly.

This is the result of all his research in his life, probably second only to the 'artificial soul'.

Spiritual crystals, physical computing power, man-made gold veins, 'hard currency' and 'consumables' that can never be rich.

In essence, spiritual crystal is a kind of man-made mineral vein and sublimation resource. It can accelerate people's thinking ability and calculation power, allowing people to complete practice better and faster, and condense a sublimation structure in their own body.

No matter how much it is generated, it will be consumed by a steady stream of people. Even if a person cannot use a piece of spiritual crystal for a month, using it forcefully will only burn out his own brain.

It's one thing for computing resources to be provided to you, but it's another thing for you to be able to get close enough to think and receive information at several times the speed.

However, even if it doesn't take long, it will eventually run out. Spirit crystal is not gold. It is a consumable like food and needs to be planted and harvested continuously.

Therefore, spiritual crystal cannot become the gold of the sublime. It will be continuously consumed and needs to be accumulated every year. At most, it can only store a batch of spare food.

But that's exactly what Adlbert and Ian wanted.

Because only this kind of 'food for sublimators' can allow the 'central government' that controls the 'core computing power' to have control over the 'private sublimators'.

The sublimated one does not need the food of ordinary people. He does not even need the resources of ordinary people. The sublimated person and ordinary people are two different worlds.

But as a supercomputer-produced product like the Heart of Terra, spiritual crystals can be created by ordinary people - especially in this era, ordinary people refer to people who have not yet entered the first energy level. Potential ascendant.

Maintenance, assistance, production, regulation... The existence of the Heart of Terra inevitably requires a super government with a huge population and a stable society to continuously and stably produce spiritual crystals.

Sublimated people need spiritual crystals to maintain such a society. They can obtain spiritual crystals through work, and even directly receive spiritual crystal subsidies in the future to concentrate on practice, or they can obtain more spiritual crystals through research.

All in all, spiritual crystals are things that require order to be born.

The source of the spiritual crystal is actually Adebert's harmless reproduction of the "soul bricks" in "The Dead King".

The greatest function of the many souls that make up the Dead Lord is to form the sublimation structure of the Dead Lord, providing powerful computing power to allow the Dead Lord to sublime, achieving an effect similar to the 'blood of the throne'.

Adlbert didn't plan to get it right in one step, so he deleted all the complicated requirements and directly designed the spiritual crystal as an entity computing power that can directly link to the Heart of Terra. High-purity source matter is its material base and foundation. The source of value, and the priceless, cheap and most expensive 'distribution of computing power' is its face value.

But his original true purpose, 'artificial blood of the throne' and 'artificial immortality', has been abandoned.

No, it doesn't count as abandonment.

Adlbert still remembers what Ian said to him.

[Human beings have always been pursuing a perfect society, and we have not been able to achieve it until now. However, our society continues to develop and change, and continues to move towards a better society. Along the way, we have also discovered many problems about the nature of society and human nature, and we have to solve them. After these problems, people’s living environment has indeed become better]

[Artificial Immortality? It is indeed a difficult subject, but Albert, didn’t you realize it? You, like Corizion...are born to be road builders]

[Whether it is the Dead Lord or the arcane path, this artificial soul and artificial immortality, no matter which one, is a road to the sky, which can derive countless branches, allowing millions of people to continue to study and derive Out of a whole city】

[Adlbert, I believe in your ability more than anyone else. As long as we walk in the direction you think is right, we will eventually achieve the desired result]

[At least, we won’t regret this path]

Yes, Ian is right.

What matters is never the result, but the process.

Even though he knew that artificial immortality was not something that could be achieved in this era, Adlbert still tried step by step and created a 'second-order spiritual crystal' on top of the 'first-order spiritual crystal'.

The first-order spiritual crystal is the most traditional collection of computing power, and the second-order spiritual crystal contains some kind of 'algorithm' of computing power.

According to Adlbert's idea, if a second-order spiritual crystal is absorbed by a person independently and used completely for practice, it can allow the person to learn certain 'skills'.

It may be a very common skill, or it may be a 'spell' - completely following the algorithm contained in the spiritual crystal, even the most stupid person will learn something like 'igniting fire with source matter' to strengthen a certain part. Muscle' techniques like this.

The creation of second-level spiritual crystals is very difficult because the Terrans do not have enough research on thinking and souls. Even Adebert, who has been immersed in this way for many years and created the Dead Lord and the Heart of Terra, finds it quite difficult. But he felt challenged.

He even foresaw and predicted the existence of 'third-order' and 'fourth-order' spiritual crystals in the future.

The third-order spiritual crystal contains a complete set of thinking algorithms, which can enlighten people with similar thinking algorithms to try to 'awaken spiritual energy'.

The fourth-level spiritual crystal is similar to a small Heart of Terra. It has independent self-sustainability. It can absorb the free spiritual energy in the world to maintain its own existence and grow. It can also independently possess a kind of spiritual energy, which can be compared with the sublimated person. When combined into one, the Ascended One can have an additional psychic power.

As for the fifth level... that was Adlbert's final and initial idea.

【Artificial Immortality】

This is something that can be done in theory, but is absolutely impossible in practice - in theory, this is because if enough resources are spent to hatch it into an 'artificial psychic creature' based on fourth-order spiritual crystals , a 'Holy Spirit', and moved Him to the fifth level.

In this way, he became immortal, and after his death, a [Fifth-Level Spiritual Crystal] that gave birth to artificial immortality appeared.

This is the theory, and it feels outrageous to say it. With this resource, humans would have already reached the fifth energy level.

But Adelbert was also keenly aware of the fact... The fire of every civilization is essentially a special, independent, more powerful and specialized 'fifth-order spiritual crystal'.

When it comes to 'creation' alone, the third level of spiritual crystal is the limit, but that does not mean that the fourth and fifth levels above do not exist.

Of course, the first-order spiritual crystal alone is enough to change the current world of Terra.

After that, the energy production of the second and third level spiritual crystals represented at least two industrial revolution-level changes.

And even the result of the emergence of first-order spiritual crystals is that all civilizations in the countries of Terra will be wiped out.

Just like after industrialization, whether it is farming or nomadic life, it will eventually become the same... After this, the only thing that can determine the social logic of the 'Arcane Path' will always be the 'Spiritual Crystal'.

"good."

Turning around slightly, Adlbert was about to leave this specially prepared open class and prepare to return to the virtual world to continue his research: "After a complete set of verifications, the Loren-Myers law has actually been proven that as long as the corresponding process is completed, , even ordinary children who are exposed to it for the first time can reproduce it perfectly."

"In this way...as long as the Law of Luomai and related practices are popularized all over the world...even the poorest children and the most ignorant areas, the power of sublimation will not leave them."

Close your eyes, the bastard of poverty, the son of his mother, the gifted, the lover. Albert of Silver Peak suddenly stopped walking for some reason.

"yes.

He whispered to himself softly: "I did it - we really did it... Anyone can practice, even an illegitimate child, a beggar, a disabled person, stupid people and smart people alike... ...Everyone can get it, and it belongs to themselves, instead of using themselves as materials to dedicate themselves to the king's sublimation power..."

"I finally did it...I..."

The undead of Avak Territory...all the sacrifices...

Can I... atone for my sins now?

The breeze blew by and slapped his cheek.

…

It’s so difficult to write, I haven’t finished it yet, there’s still half of it!