Chapter 535 - 534: Preparing for Rain Before It Falls
Aunt Heidi and Rebecca soon arrived at Gawainâs study, followed by Kamel and Pittmanâbesides Aunt Heidi who came from the Administrative Office, the other three were brought out from the Magic Guide Technology Research Instituteâs laboratory by Amber.
Upon entering the room, Aunt Heidi noticed the serious atmosphere surrounding Gawain, an atmosphere so severe that even Amber couldnât dilute it, so she immediately asked, "Forefather, what happened?"
"Before we get down to business, there is something I think itâs time to tell you," Gawain said while glancing around the room: these were the people he trusted most, "You should know, I once devoured the soul of an Eternal Sleeper."
Aunt Heidi nodded: "Yes, that was last year."
"I deciphered the secret of their mental network from the memory of the Eternal Sleeper," Gawain said in a low voice, "All along, I have been accessing their network through mental connectionsâand much of their confidential information and technology have actually come to me through this way."
After those words dropped, everyone in the room couldnât help but glance at each other, but their expressions varied: Pittman looked unsurprised, Aunt Heidi had a thoughtful expression mixed with a trace of surprise, Amber eyed Gawain up and down with a look that seemed to say "you old man are indeed quite cunning," while Kamel flashed a four-four time gesture for courtesyâGawain couldnât decipher what it meant.
Rebecca couldnât help but exclaim, "Wow!!"
Obviously, everyone present had at some point entertained such thoughts or suspicions more or less, except for Rebecca, the clueless one... who truly only realized today where her ancestorâs enigmatic knowledge and experience originated from.
"I did suspect you were investigating the Eternal Sleepers through some secret means but didnât expect you actually... connected to their network," Aunt Heidi said with a hint of lament, "So, you havenât been telling us because you were worried about information leaking?"
"The Eternal Sleepers have incredibly tricky abilities in memory peeping and illusion weaving. I didnât want them to know their network was infiltrated, so I had to keep it even from those around me," Gawain nodded, affirming Aunt Heidiâs suspicion, "But now it doesnât matter anymore. Iâve gained partial high-level access to their network and have thus purged the Eternal Sleepersâ followers in the Cecil Main City area."
Then, Gawain succinctly described the Eternal Sleeperâs mental network and the process of his accessing itâhe omitted his special power as a "satellite spirit," instead using the mental anomaly brought by his resurrection to explain his ability,
As expanding his influence within the Eternal Sleeperâs network was inevitable, Gawain had planned early on to inform some trustworthy individuals of his connection to their network, but he had never found the opportunity until Danielâs recent intelligence report made him realize that time was of the essence.
After Gawain revealed this part of the truth, Kamel, who had been engaged with Eternal Sleeper technology, quickly connected all the research he had been conducting. The two arcane lights at his headâs position glowed especially bright as he looked into Gawainâs eyes, "Since you can access the Eternal Sleeperâs mental network with your own power... then the equipment youâve had the Magic Guide Technology Research Institute manufacture is for..."
"Expanding the results, the mental network is a good thing, and we need to use it too," Gawain nodded, then looked at Pittman standing beside Kamel, "So, howâs the test on the non-implantable artificial nerve cord going?"
The artificial nerve cord wasnât developed from scratch; since the Oblivion Associationâs biochemical engineers created it, this bio-mechanical construct has undergone decades of development and refinement in the hands of both the Oblivion Association and the Eternal Sleepers. Pittman, being a former dual evil cult follower, already mastered this technology, and Daniel had been studying the nerve cord implanted in him for over a decade, having already simulated the non-implantable nerve cord structure. Therefore, Gawain essentially had ready-made data, ready-made technical personnel, and a ready-made experimental processing environment. It wouldnât take long to produce a usable product; the only time-consuming part was just the testing of the samples.
"In fact, a sample was trial-produced some time ago," Pittman said with a rather proud smile, then awkwardly glanced at Rebecca, "But during the testing, Miss Rebeccaâs laboratory exploded, and it affected us as well... so the complete testing and adjustment work isnât completed yet."
Rebecca immediately shrank her neck, while Gawain simultaneously recalled the situation at the time, realizing that it indeed happenedâ
Not long ago, Rebeccaâs laboratory for testing the Magic Trainâs power structure exploded, and the experimental accident even resulted in serious personnel injuries. At that time, Pittman and his team of Druids and Alchemist apprentices were the first to arrive at the scene. Pittman mentioned he was testing the nerve cord back then...
It was a regrettable and headache-inducing matter, but since the accident had already occurred, Gawain could only accept the fact: "So what are the results of the current stage tests?"
"The non-implantable nerve cord is indeed feasible, establishing a stable and reliable connection between the human brain and magic devices, and the damage and pressure on the human body have been reduced to an acceptable level, but the disadvantages are quite a few," Pittman said, "First of all, the current anti-interference ability is still too weak. Since thereâs no direct connection between the nerve cord and the brain nerve, the subconsciousness of the human brain canât be effectively controlled, so testers can easily be âawakenedâ by the external environment after âimmersion,â requiring an environment that effectively isolates external disturbances. Secondly, short-term âcognitive disorderâ situations have occurred, with some testers experiencing hallucinations for several minutes after the connection ended. We suspect this is because the nerve cord isnât directly connected to the brain, resulting in the brain, after a prolonged period of connection, being unable to timely perceive the âdisconnection,â hence continuing to be immersed in inertial illusions."
"Regarding this, I have a proposal," no sooner had Pittman finished than Kamel added, "We could design a scenario that serves as a strong reminder before the connection is interruptedâletting the brain know the return to the real world is imminent, which might reduce the duration of subsequent cognitive disorders."
"How do you ensure a one-hundred-percent match between this âinterruption scenarioâ and the nerve cordâs disconnection process?" Pittman posed a question against Kamelâs suggestion, "If the âinterruption scenarioâ occurs, but the nerve cord doesnât disconnect, or the nerve cord disconnects and the interruption scenario has issues, the connective individualâs brain might instead fall into a more severe state of cognitive disorder..."
"We could perform a triple confirmation in this process. The nerve cord controller sends out an imminent disconnection signal to the illusion-generated matrix, indicating itâs ready to disconnect. The illusion matrix, upon receiving the signal, returns to the nerve cord controller, signaling preparedness. The nerve cord controller, receiving the secondary feedback signal, then transmits a final confirmation signal, indicating both sides have synchronized, and the illusion matrix, upon receiving this signal, generates a disconnection prompt to the brain while the nerve cord powers downâthis could minimize synchronization errors."
"Oh? Thatâs a good idea... Right! We could apply this thinking to Magic Web Communication as well. This might solve the current signal misalignment issue in remote areas..."
Once technical personnel enter a technical discussion phase, itâs like they become different people. Even Pittman started an earnest validation of various experimental plans with Kamel. Meanwhile, Amber, watching the spectacle unfold, fell into a state of confusion as the topic suddenly turned technical. She stared blankly as the little old man and Pittman exchanged words back and forth, and finally couldnât help but nudge Rebeccaâs arm, "What are they discussing... can you understand any of it?"
Rebecca thought for a moment and said with a face of complete certainty, "Sure."
Amber: "..."
A massive sense of defeat engulfed the heart of the half-elf Miss AmberâGawain noticed the change in expression of this disgrace to all things and deeply understood it. He guessed that Amberâs current mood was probably akin to suddenly discovering that the student in class who failed math with her was, in fact, a master of eighteen languages...
But this was not a laboratory, and Gawain had to interrupt the discussion between Kamel and Pittman: "Since you already have the next steps planned, please proceed with the subsequent tests as soon as possible. I need you to complete a working connection device in the shortest possible time."
Kamel slightly bent forward, his voice carrying an energy resonance: "As you wish."
Pittman asked curiously, "Is there something happening with the Eternal Sleepers? Why are you suddenly so anxious?"
Gawain shook his head and said in a low voice, "Itâs not the Eternal Sleepers that somethingâs happening with; itâs Typhon."
Even Pittman was confused this time.
How could this be connected to Typhon?
"Iâve set up a secret line over in Typhon," Gawain looked at the confused expressions around him and spoke unhurriedly, "Iâll tell you the specifics of this line later. For now, what I need to tell you is that the Typhon people... are also entering the era of magical industry."
Among everyone, the person who reacted the fastest and had the biggest reaction was Aunt Heidi.
"Magical industry?!" The Great Steward of the Cecil Clan exclaimed, "Theyâve also developed the Magic Web and magical machineries?"
"Itâs not scary that they developed the Magic Web and magical machineries," Gawain glanced at Aunt Heidi, "In fact, their âMagic Webâ technology is already within my plans."
"Within your plans?" Aunt Heidi was shocked again, then noticed Gawainâs enigmatic smile, a thoughtful look appearing on her face, "Do you... have some plan?"
"Indeed I do," Gawain nodded lightly, stating something that shocked everyone present, "I plan to help Typhon... help them enter the era of magical industry, and help them greatly."
The others couldnât tell, but Gawain himself knewâthe magical industry of the southern borders was something he had forcibly initiatedârelying on experience from his previous life, the vast resources of the treasure house in the mountain, the situation forced by post-disaster conditions, and the existing technological accumulation of this world. He bypassed many processes that require time for gradual accumulation, illuminating the technological line of magical industry with a leapfrog developmental pace. His development methods could drastically compress time (because he skipped a large number of trial-and-error processes) but carried the risk of a weak foundation and over-reliance on "strongman politics." The time saved in the early stages would ultimately have to be paid for by addressing these hidden risks.
And Typhon... completed normal accumulation.
Even though Emperor Rosetta might take many detours and the people of Typhon may stumble many times in trial and error, this Empire, which completed normal accumulation, would soon form a crushing force against the Cecil Clan after entering the industrial era.
Thereâs no other reasonâthey have a vast population, abundant land, and rich food resources...
Under the push of a major trend, Typhonâs era of magical industry is unstoppable. They are already aware of Cecilâs Magic Web, and new technological breakthroughs continually occur domestically. They have significantly increased food production, and education and institutions are continuously developing. In this context, even if Gawain hadnât arranged for Daniel, other Typhon Scholars would have figured out the secrets of the Magic Web and developed their own magical machineries. Therefore, if stopping them is impossible, it would be better to give them a push.
"Heidi, do you remember the things I asked you to tally?" Gawain looked at his great-xN granddaughter, "About our factoryâs production history, the operation status of the Production Coordination Committee, the situation with progressive merchants and New Aristocracy investing in industries..."
"Yes," Aunt Heidi responded, "And I tally them every month."
Gawain nodded in satisfaction, "Very good, I need this data and more from other aspects..."
Next, he planned to present Typhon with a grand gift.
A gift sweeter than the "Magic Web."
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