Sword of Daybreaker

All the enigmatic unknown signals oscillate in the invisible field. No one knows how far it spans, and no one knows what meaning it carries-it arouses in the ubiquitous magic field. The faint ripples of is so small that even the most powerful and sensitive masters of magic cannot perceive the traces it leaves in the atmosphere. However, it is received and amplified by the more sensitive crystal array, which is a faint ripple that humans cannot perceive. Gradually it becomes clear in the system of the Thorin hub, and after filtering and strengthening again and again, it becomes a clear and powerful "sound".

  Bad and his colleagues have been chasing this voice for a long time, and long before they set up this special monitoring department, the scholars who laid the foundation for the Monet hub followed it for longer.

"The signal density seems to be higher than before..." the colleague on the side muttered to himself-what Bud was listening to has now been shared with everyone in the room. "These shocks seem to be very Dense..."

   "This hasn't happened before..." Bud frowned. "Aren't these signals set in stone?"

   "Who knows?" The colleague shook his head and looked at the holographic projection in the center of the room, "Wait, the picture seems to be transformed."

Almost everyone’s attention fell on the large magic net terminal in the monitoring center. On the projected holographic screen, some lines are emerging and quickly connecting into patterns-this is from Ms. Bertila’s Decoding technology has now been widely used in 18 monitoring stations in the Empire, from the cold North Port to the Imperial Capital in the South, from the Palamel Observatory to the main hub of Shilin City, no matter which monitoring station received the signal , It will be decoded and processed through this special "dot matrix drawing" and transformed into a plane pattern that seems to have a certain meaning.

Since the execution of this large-scale monitoring operation, Bard and his colleagues (including colleagues from all over the empire) have not gained much, but they have successfully captured the signal several times and have drawn more than ten simple "Decoding Graphics".

Without exception, they are the most basic geometric patterns, and even the content is the same every time. There is no deep mystery in the simple points and lines, and even children can easily draw them on paper— —No one knows why these mysterious signals use such complicated methods to convey some simple geometric figures. Bard’s colleagues gave them a very appropriate name: "urchin doodle".

"Today's urchin graffiti seems to be very stable..." The picture in the holographic projection is still continuing, and several geometric patterns have been clearly presented, and the colleague on the side murmured softly, "The signal strength has not been obvious until now. Signs of interruption or attenuation... is it because we replaced the main antenna wafer with a new one?"

"It's very likely," another monitor said casually while paying attention to the parameters of the equipment. "The raw materials for these antenna crystal plates come from the Ogure tribe. The crystal mines and original crystal dust produced by the Ancestral Peak are better than the Huishan Mine. The quality is much better."

  "The crystal mines of the Ancestral Peak? Oh, no wonder-I remember the crystal mines from the Ancestral Peak before the trade line was opened, but they were top-notch casting materials, things that ordinary wizards can't usually buy..."

Colleagues beside him were discussing topics about international trade, crystal mines, spellcasters, and market changes in a low voice, but everyone’s attention was still focused on the lines that were constantly being refreshed. Bud watched the holographic projection intently. He has seen those extremely regular squares, triangles, circles and hexagons. In the past monitoring records, this is the limit of the amount of information recorded by the working group.

  But the signal transmission continues, and more patterns are still being drawn.

  When a spiral curve that continuously spreads outward appeared on the screen, the room became very quiet. Everyone stopped talking meaninglessly, and a dozen pairs of eyes fixed on the screen.

  When a group of dots arranged in a specific grouping method appeared on the screen, Bud heard someone around him whispered to break the silence: "We better... report this matter immediately."

  ……

  The ubiquitous woody fragrance floated into Bersetia's nostrils, and the refreshing breath made the Silver Queen unable to help but relax.

  After arranging for Elaine to go elsewhere to rest, she, Gawain and Bertila stepped into a hall located inside the canopy area of ​​the giant tree.

Here, there are elegantly growing branches supporting the dome made by overlapping green leaves. The light-colored wooden pillars are like a slightly curved skeleton that fits the nearby walls. The flower vines are wrapped between the pillars and the beams of the roof, giving off a shimmering light. Mycelium or vines hang down from it, bringing bright but not dazzling light, further soothing the spirit of every visitor who steps here.

"This is my living room," Bertila's figure moved forward surrounded by a cluster of vines. "General Margarita suggested that I create a place that can be used to treat guests normally, without having to put people in Take it to the deep biochemical laboratory or biomass factory-although I still insist that the split pool and biomass cavity I designed by myself are pretty cute."

Bersetia didn’t care what the other person was saying in the second half of the sentence. She just looked at the place in amazement, which obviously exceeded her initial expectations-she came to an arc-shaped clearing at the end of the hall, some Curiously looked at the layers of green leaves in front of me: "The leaves here seem to be different in color from elsewhere?"

"This is my balcony." Bertila said next to her, and as her voice fell, the layers of leaves suddenly shook and rose up like a curtain-an arc The wide opening of the shape appeared in front of Bersetia, and the bright sunshine instantly poured into the hall, and in the wide view, the small half of Solin Plain and the simple and elegant tower of Solin Castle appeared in front of her.

"Sometimes I will invite General Margarita or others to come here to look at the scenery, but more often I will test the photosynthesis efficiency of different leaves here. This is one of the areas with the best lighting in the canopy." Bertila continued.

"It's beautiful..." Bersetia came to the edge of the open terrace and couldn't help taking a deep breath. Then she turned to look at Bertila, and finally said what she had always wanted to say, "You really changed. Many...No, this can hardly be described as'change'..."

"All of us have changed a lot, good or bad," Bertila quietly looked at the silver queen who had grown up, and after a few seconds of silence, she suddenly asked, "In the sage ring corridor Is there still a portrait of me?"

  The Silver Queen nodded: "It has been hanging there."

   "Take it off," Bertila said softly, "A dark cultist should not continue to occupy that position."

The Silver Queen looked into Bertila's eyes. She was not surprised at all, but she shook her head: "...I guessed you would say that, but there has never been a precedent for the removal of the portrait of a sage— —Perhaps you think you have lost your qualifications to be a member, but your past achievements have not yet been completely denied. For the silver elves, seven hundred years is too short."

   "So long time is not short?"

   "Till this giant tree wither," the Silver Queen said quietly, "At that time we can determine where the saint Berthila's life has gone."

  Bertila stared at the Silver Queen for a while before turning her gaze to the distance: "...Your elves are really a bunch of persistent creatures."

"We are just used to thinking about problems in a larger time span, and if you continue to survive, you will understand our way of thinking sooner or later," Belcetia suddenly chuckled, before talking. Turns, "Compared to this, since we talked about the end of all things, we have some questions to confirm with you."

  Bertila turned his head, his eyes stopped for a moment on Gawain and Bersetia: "Is it about the believers in the wasteland?"

   Gao Wen was a little surprised: "How did you guess?"

  Bertila spread her hand: "It has something to do with the Death of All Things, and it can still show you this kind of headache. I can't think of any other topics."

"It's really related to them," Gao Wen nodded immediately, and then told the other party in detail about the information he had obtained from Veronica, "Recently we confirmed one thing. Not only are the followers still active in the wasteland." , And they seem to be thinking about the residual energy in the Deep Blue Well, even..."

Listening to Gawain’s narration, Berthila’s expression remained the same, but the aura exuding from her body gradually became more dignified. She moved her hand behind her, and the cascading leaves on the balcony closed again, blocking it. The outside sunlight was too bright, and the floor not far away suddenly opened a crack, and a strangely shaped magical device rose from it.

It looks like a magic net terminal, but its base is wrapped with many vines, and some very fine fibrous substances extend from the gap between the projection crystal and the rune frame. These special structures make the entire magic net terminal. It seems strangely parasitized by creatures-but this is not the result of "parasitism", but Bertila's own improvements to the allotted magic net terminal, which helps her directly control this one. The magical device can even connect her mind directly with the machine.

  The next second, the terminal is activated, and the picture outlined in Bertila’s mind is clearly presented in the holographic projection.

A tall, withered and twisted ancient tree-like creature appeared on the screen. Upon closer inspection, the surface of the "old tree" showed a distorted and weird human face, as well as tumors and vascular growth. Things are covered between "his" branches and withered leaves, and the roots of ancient trees squirming and wriggling on the ground, similar to the structure of Bertila's lower body, but more distorted and disturbing.

  The moment he saw these things, Gao Wen's brows frowned subconsciously: "This is..."

   "This is the death-believers who are active inside the magnificent wall. In theory...our former compatriots."

   "Unbelievable mutant limbs..." Bersetia couldn't help but exclaimed, "This seems to be completely out of the scope of human beings! They...how did they survive?"

"It is precisely because of this posture that they can survive in the harsh environment of the Gondor Wasteland," Bertila said lightly. "This posture is to adapt to the terrible environment in the wasteland. At first it was the source. Due to the body mutation caused by the radiation of magic energy, those dark cultists who mutated took the initiative to undergo adaptive mutation, a process they called'ascending evolution', and finally stabilized like this."

"You mentioned'theoretically old compatriots'," Gawain noticed the words Bertila had just used. "It seems that the sect of the End of All Things is not so united-and these are located in the Gondor Wasteland. There is a big disagreement between Christians and you "external believers"?"

"Until the eve of the completion of the pseudo-god's body, those of us who live outside the wall still think that the sect is united within the sect, but now in retrospect, this is just our wishful thinking," Berti pulled the corner of his mouth as if thinking. He gave a mocking smile, "Brother Gao Wen, I remember I once talked to you about the death-believers in the wall-they have been living in the wasteland of Gondor for hundreds of years. Understand the horror environment, and provide us with first-hand data about Chaos Mana, Sentinel Tower, Aberrations, Divine Factors and other things. Our cooperation with them has lasted for so long, and has been maintained. With the'perfect tacit understanding', this directly led us to overlook some things.

"If there is such a group of'people', they no longer have the human body structure, do not have the human social organization, live in an environment where human beings cannot survive and understand, and deal with the relationship with the surrounding environment in a non-human way. This lasted for seven full centuries-how likely is it that they can maintain the essence of'human'?

  "Under such circumstances, how likely is it that they can still identify with their human identity and regard those of us who have always lived in the safe zone outside the wall as their compatriots?"

As Bertila said, he looked down at his body that is no longer a human being, and shook his head slightly: "After I became like this, I confirmed this even more: even I need to use manufacturing to assist thinking about organs. Way to maintain their own personality cognition, then those endemic believers who have lived in the wasteland of Gondor all the year round...they may have ceased to be "human beings" long, long ago."

"So just as I expected, you actually don't know what the'comrades' living in the wasteland are planning," Gawain shook his head. "You think that the sect is working on a great salvation plan. But in fact, for those believers in the wasteland, your plan has nothing to do with them..."

"But if it really doesn't matter, why should they cooperate with us in a seven-hundred-year-old scene?" Bertila looked at Gawain, with a stiff smile on his puppet-like delicate but lifeless face." They live in the wasteland and have successfully adapted to the environment inside. This is an invincible state of security. People outside cannot threaten them, so why do they obediently cooperate with the orders from the Dark Master? Pretending to be always loyal to the sect, pretending to be still devoting energy to a great cause? Are you worried about exposure? Obviously not, they should not care about us."