Chapter 845 — Arriving in the Future

Arriving in the future...

It was a brand-new phrase, a way of speaking they had never heard elsewhere.

It was said that in Cecil, fresh words like this "sprang up" almost every day from every conceivable field—words used to describe the ever-changing arcane technology, to narrate the Cecil order as customs and manners transformed; proud Cecil citizens took pride in mastering and using these new terms, and this had even become a kind of label by which many people advertised their own "respectability."

Yuri had once been rather puzzled when he overheard such idle talk, yet now, gazing at this impressive facility before him and picturing in his mind the scene Gao Yang had described, he suddenly found himself beginning to understand.

This was indeed a great creation worthy of anyone's pride—even blind pride—to boast of.

And what made the Sleepers and the Numinous Axis Cultists present feel a touch of irony in their hearts was that the technical foundation of this creation originated with the Longnight Cult—for centuries they had held this technology capable of transforming an age, yet never once had they thought as Gao Yang Cecil did; they had carefully, cautiously hidden the technology away, buried it deep underground together with their "grand plan," regarding it as a "forbidden weapon" for challenging the gods, and a "forbidden weapon"... was naturally scarce, secret, precious, and to be kept well isolated from "ordinary people."

Gao Yang looked at the silent Mystic Axis Cultists and knew in his heart what they were thinking.

Their courage in challenging the gods was certainly praiseworthy, but that lone-hero mentality of saving the world single-handedly had limited their direction; like almost every transcendent being of this age, they had never imagined—and never believed in—collective strength. Naturally, they would not understand what a state machine was, still less what total war meant.

"We spent centuries going in circles, burying ourselves underground until our heads went stuffy from it," Magnum muttered—at a volume everyone could hear—"Centuries..."

"Those centuries were not wasted," Gao Yang shook his head. "You laid the technical foundation—no one can deny that. Pioneering a technology is the hardest part, and fortunately you completed it."

"I have a question," Wendy, who had not spoken all this while, suddenly broke the silence. "Your Majesty, according to your plan, do you intend to blanket the entire Empire with computation centers like this one, and then let ordinary people access the network through those devices called 'immersion pods'?"

Gao Yang nodded. "Of course."

"Will ordinary people be willing to do that? Contributing the computing power of their own brains... even if it is only redundant computing power, there will surely be a majority who harbor doubts. After all, this means connecting oneself to the mysterious and mighty 'magic,' and most people have scarcely any chance to come into contact with magic their whole lives..."

"I am glad to see a Longnight priestess now starting to think from the perspective of ordinary people, but first I want to correct one point—in Cecil, it is not as difficult as you imagine for 'ordinary people' to come into contact with magic," Gao Yang cut Wendy off. "Second, after the initial doubts, the public will soon begin to welcome this thing, and by then we may even have to take certain measures to restrict the public's use of immersion pods, lest it disrupt the production order of the real economy."

As he spoke, Gao Yang beckoned toward somewhere not far off. Yuri and the others were full of questions because of Gao Yang's words and were just about to ask, when a cheerful voice with a metallic tremor suddenly "drifted" over from nearby: "Coming, coming—Your Majesty! I've just finished calibrating the power spine in the western sector!"

As the words fell, a large silver-white metal sphere, its surface painted with a wondrous smiling face, had already floated swiftly before Gao Yang; on its gleaming, polished surface were reflected face after face of stunned astonishment, and Magnum instinctively cried out, "My ancestors above... what in the world is this?!"

Before Gao Yang could speak, Nikishi Egg-Boss had already swiveled his face (his sphere) and flown up to Magnum, a metallic tremor brimming with curiosity coming from within the silver-white orb: "Ah, bearings and gears! What is this thing?"

As he spoke he swiftly circled Magnum twice, and the latter's psychological projection, which had been flickering all along, instantly dimmed as if about to disperse into nothing; even Selina, not far away, was affected. Nikishi Egg-Boss exclaimed as he flew, "Bizarre—immaterial, an interweaving of energy bodies, mingled with a subtle magnetic field capable of interfering with carbon-based life forms' neural signals; it appears to have no fixed form, yet through energy interaction it ceaselessly calibrates its own range and characteristics... somewhat like Kamal, but far more blurred... ah, levers and pistons! This cluster of stuff even has emotional responses!!"

Magnum's eyes nearly bulged round; dodging the invisible anti-magic field around Nikishi Egg-Boss, he cried, "What in the world is this dreadful sphere saying?!"

"Nikishi, these are guests," Gao Yang finally reacted as well, hastily calling a halt to the iron-sphere star-man's bizarre behavior; after calling the other back, he could not resist asking out of curiosity, "What you see is an energy body with no fixed form?"

"A correction: this sphere is not looking with 'eyes,' but with a kind of... well, you may as well treat it as eyes, it makes for easier understanding," Nikishi Egg-Boss replied offhandedly. "As for energy bodies... strictly speaking, what I sense is some kind of interwoven 'field.' I know the two concepts are easily confused, but they are simply not the same..."

Gao Yang quickly understood what had just happened, and realized he had previously overlooked some key points: although Nikishi Egg-Boss was an intelligent being capable of normal communication with humans, and possessed joys and sorrows humans could understand, he was after all an "alien life form" of a very bizarre kind of life; when confronted with certain things that were entirely ordinary to human senses, what he observed might well be something utterly different!

This time was the most obvious example—Magnum and Selina had already become spiritual beings living within the mind network; that they could appear before ordinary people relied entirely on "psychological projection," on perturbing the observer's five senses to create the illusion that they "were present here." But Nikishi Egg-Boss... he had no nervous system, at least not a human one.

He could still perceive the existence of Magnum and Selina, only what he "saw" of them was a vast, interwoven, undulating "field"—turbulent yet orderly...

This was a very important phenomenon, perhaps useful in research one day—for instance... further analysis of magic?

Gao Yang gave a slight shake of his head and set aside the research idea that had suddenly sprung into his mind. He briefly introduced the Sleepers present, then pointed at Nikishi and said to Yuri and the others, "This is the Empire's Grand Artisan, Nikishi. You will be dealing with this Grand Artisan often in the future."

"Until we are better acquainted, please address me by my full name: Saint Nikishi Egg-Boss," the great silver-white metal sphere floated twice in midair and spoke with reserved yet proud tone. "And in terms of seniority, you ought to show me some respect—Grand Artisan is no mean position."

Magnum eyed the metal sphere before him with lingering fear—in his heart he lamented that this land ruled by Outland wanderers was indeed full of dreadful and bizarre things, yet at least he did not say aloud what he was thinking.