Chapter 230 - 229: Inhuman
The once-shut eternal dream-realm has been activated once again. This vast psychic network gradually stabilized after a wave, reconstructing the magnificent halls, temples, towers, and floating islands rooted in mental illusions. Meanwhile, countless Eternal Sleepers connected their minds to this networkâthey are both users and builders and maintainers of this network. They opened up their brain computing power to the entire network, allowing this network to dictate and requisition according to its needs. Unlike the "Brain Servants," who lie like the living dead in various hidden royal temples as "providers of computing power," they do not have to suffer damage to their lives and souls in this process.
After all, the Eternal Sleepers are the masters of the eternal dream-realm. They would not sacrifice themselves before their servants all perished.
And in the deep part of the eternal dream-realm, in the "Hall of Dreams" located in the underground city, the bishop team and their Pope were ready.
Twenty-two seats were arranged symmetrically in a circular manner at the center of the room. Eleven white-robed bishops and eleven black-robed bishops occupied half of the seats, like the division between day and night. At the center of the circular seats floated a mass of dim black shadow. The shadow would occasionally condense into a human form, but more often appeared as various indescribable, faintly purple star-lit clumpsâin both the real world and this virtual world, the Eternal Sleepers Pope never showed his true face. In fact, the followers even believed their Pope had long completed a transcendence in life form, becoming an existence equal to the dream power, and this vague, fluctuating light was merely a projection of the Pope in the world. It is only a "interface" set up for communication with followers who are still mortals.
Today, the Pope will lead his bishop team in the eighteenth attempt to crack the memory fragments of Gawain Cecil.
"The eternal dream-realm is stable, the psychic network connects well."
"Lower-level computing nodes ready, âbrain servantâ array ready."
"The guardian team has reached their positions, ready to handle emergencies in the real world."
"We are ready, Your Holiness."
The bishop team reported each of their responsibilities one by one. Once everyone was prepared, the indescribable hazy light mass slightly fluctuated as if expressing approval, while its voice echoed in every bishopâs mind: "Let us beginâletâs see whatâs in the memory of that ancient hero."
The information link to memory fragments was connected, and propelled by the enormous computing power offered by the eternal dream-realm, the dreadful memory that had caused hundreds of casualties finally began to loosenâthough the truth was that Gawain deliberately left a weak point in the memory fragments, yet it was evident that the Eternal Sleepers themselves did not notice these.
They were simply rejoicing to see their long-term efforts finally yield results. A glimmer of hope emerged in the depths of the vast information fog, and gradually, the memory fragments started to be dismantled. The parts that humans could understand and recognize entered the minds of every bishop in the bishop team.
Initially, they saw a scene of starlight.
A deep, solitary universe, vast and empty space, countless tiny stars dotted across the dark abyssal canvas. This scene puzzled the bishop team for a moment, but they soon believed it was Gawain Cecilâs post-death perspective: Do humans really return to the heavens after death?
Before the bishop team could imagine the meaning of the starlight, the scene before their eyes began to change frantically.
They saw starlight retreat, and distorted light and shadow appeared in their vision. They saw the perspectiveâs owner traversing the starfield, rapidly flying over planet after planet with unimaginable speed...
They saw the perspectiveâs owner appear on a burning battlefield, gigantic demons running amok on the battlefield, meteorites burning fiercely falling from the sky, and soldiers wearing various unfamiliar equipment, whose even races were unheard of, continuing to charge and fight on the battlefield...
They saw the perspectiveâs owner lead an army to assault a fortress with incomprehensible architectural style. The fortress seemed to be built using some creatureâs flesh, with terrifyingly huge swarms bursting out from the fortress, fiercely battling with the legion led by the perspectiveâs owner...
They then saw the perspectiveâs owner suddenly arrive at an icy, snowy world. A steel structure billowing thick smoke exploded in the wind and snow...
They saw the perspectiveâs owner shuttle through worlds, sometimes leading an army to sweep across battlefields, sometimes destroying entire nations alone, sometimes trying his best to save something, yet at other times, placing entire planets under annihilative flames. He fought, protected, destroyed, created, and while doing all these things, he kept a calmness akin to a bystander, as if all these were merely objectives to complete or simply entertainment for himself.
This "feeling" was integrated into the depth of the memory, transmitted directly from the perspectiveâs owner to the brain of every Eternal Sleepers bishop present.
And every time this perspective switched worlds, it was accompanied by the same scene: an endless starfield, followed by the illusion of traversing the starfield...
The Eternal Sleepers bishops trembled, allowing the scenes of memory to flood their minds. They dared not think further, yet the memory kept playingâuntil the very end, they saw the starry sky appear one more time. As the starlight shifted, a planet flickering with faint light appeared in the cosmic background, the perspectiveâs owner plunged towards that planetâits terrain rapidly enlarged in the field of vision, and certain details on the land were so familiar, familiar enough to render one hesitant to associate.
And this time, while plunging towards the ground, the perspectiveâs owner seemed to shift direction againâthe Eternal Sleepers bishops again saw the starry sky, in that familiar sky one could see from Loren Continent when looking up, they saw one light point after another shuttle among the stars, while some enormous structure cast in metal hung high above, gradually being covered by an incredible invisibility effect that made it vanish from the sight of mankind.
The memory fragments ended here.
The visions faded like a tide, everyoneâs sight refocused, the consciousness of the bishop team returned to this hall, and they looked at each other in panic, discovering all their colleagues were soaked in sweat.
No one took the initiative to speak because no one knew what to say at this moment. It wasnât until half a minute later that the illusory light in the center of the hall broke the silence: "Let the Nightmare Instructors waiting outside temporarily take over the eternal dream-realm. The bishops will convene an emergency meeting. What happened today must not be disclosed."
The eternal dream-realm quickly completed the shielding and cutting of information. After the entire hall became a secure, enclosed space, a bishop in a white robe couldnât help but say, "The authenticity of that memory fragment..."
"Thereâs no need to doubt its authenticity. Iâve personally verified it," the voice of the Eternal Sleepers Pope rang out. "It is indeed a true memory, not a fabricated illusionâeverything in the fragment is a genuine experience."
"Gawain Cecilâs resurrection is indeed a sham..." Another white-robed bishopâs voice trembled slightly, "What awakened was not an ancient hero at all! In that body resides an external, non-human, indescribable... entity!"
"What is his purpose? What will he do?"
"We canât summarize any pattern... Those chaotic and fragmented memories, those scenes... there is virtually no logic to be found! That ânon-human entityâ seems to be traversing world after world, constantly changing the shells he uses. Sometimes it seems like heâs saving a world; other times, heâs destroying it. Sometimes, he appears to be merely wandering without purposeâhow can we possibly understand the thought process of such a being?"
"Do those worlds truly exist? Those worlds so drastically different from ours, do they truly exist or have they existed?"
"Thatâs not our concern. Our greatest issue now is to understand what the ânon-human entityâ residing in Gawain Cecilâs body intends to do in our worldââThis time,â does he aim to destroy, protect, or is he merely passing through? Or perhaps... heâll do something even more frightening or bizarre than those memories portray?"
"He canât possibly be just passing through!" A black-robed bishop focused on Anzuâs situation suddenly spoke, "He chose the body of a founding duke as âthis timeâsâ vessel and even established a territory near the Dark Mountain Range, engaging in pioneering construction like a mortal. There must be a purpose behind this. Moreover, he even killed an Eternal Sleepersâ bishop..."
"That bishop acted recklessly and brought disaster upon himself," someone next to the black-robed bishop interrupted, "Of course, if it werenât for his recklessness, we wouldnât have gathered this intelligence."
"In any case," the pope suddenly spoke, and the scene immediately quieted down. Everyone listened intently as the popeâs voice echoed in their minds, "Perhaps we should refer to that non-human entity as âHeâ..."
"Your Grace, what actions should we take?" A white-robed bishop cautiously asked, "Regardless of what that non-human entity intends to do, he is a tremendous destabilizing factor. Should we consider..."
"Do not act!" The pope forcefully admonished this thought with unprecedented severity, "The situation could easily spiral out of control!"
"But his current shell is merely mortal. Perhaps if we destroy his âvessel,â we could banish him to wherever he came from... maybe even utterly destroy him!"
A black-robed man standing across from the bishop shook his head, "Too risky. In those memories, we saw him traverse numerous dangerous worlds, those battlefields and desperate situations far worse than anything weâve faced. In some images, we even saw him fallâyet he never died, repeatedly returning to the battlefield, indicating that destroying his vessel wonât effectively harm him. And even if we banish him, he could easily return. As for sealing himâwho can ensure known sealing methods would be effective on such an extra-dimensional non-human entity? If we fail, the consequences are unimaginable. Also, always keep in mind: his shell is merely a âvessel,â and he could likely switch it at any time, so any action against that vessel would be meaningless and only cause us to lose the sole clue."
"And thereâs something even more crucial," the person beside the black-robed bishop added, "Letâs not forget what we saw at the end of those memory fragmentsâthere is more than one traverser in the starry sky, and a hidden steel palace is still suspended among the stars, meaning that non-human entity might not be alone. He has companions and a nest. Should we rashly act and attract more of them..."
The bishop didnât continue, but his meaning was clear enough, and everyone in the hall realized this potential hazard, making the room pin-drop silent.
The bishops suddenly found the situation bizarre, even absurdly so.
A group of evil cult followers, opposed to civilized society... caught up in such a dilemma, in how to deal with a "non-human entity"âif this non-human entity were truly here to destroy the world, they might not be troubled, but the key issue is that they have no idea what this non-human entity is here for!
This has plunged the cultists into a state of tremendous helplessness.
The pope sighedâa sigh perhaps for the first time since transforming his own life form.
There was hope that the deciphering efforts had made great progress, a chance to seize the moment to uncover Gawain Cecilâs secret and unveil some truths about this world. But who could have anticipated that the memory fragment would reveal a lead completely unforeseen by everyone...
Or perhaps... this is part of the worldâs truth?
The popeâs ethereal figure stirred, he vibrated his magical power, and sent his words into everyoneâs mind:
"Remember the lesson of the last âcontact,â do not act rashly, do not test impulsively. First, observe cautiously until we gather more intelligence, then cautiously engage."
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