Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 762 - 761: Suddenly Looking Back, That Person Was... WTF?

After finally uncovering the truth behind Project Zero of the Eternal Sleepers and understanding what those extreme ”mental manipulators” aimed to achieve, Gawain’s mind was not only filled with surprise but also a plethora of new questions.

”Has this Project Zero...activated?”

”It should have some effect; otherwise, they wouldn’t have continued to push the project until today, which requires an astonishing cost,” Daniel replied. Clearly, even though he had ascended to Archbishop recently, due to the short time since his promotion, he had not yet had the chance to access all the core secrets. His understanding of Project Zero remained limited, and some things could only be speculated, ”During the exchange with other archbishops, I heard them vaguely mention that at least in the sandbox before it went out of control, those dream worlds had indeed achieved a complete ’absence of Gods’ existence.”

”But the sandbox still went out of control...” Gawain frowned, ”How exactly did it go out of control?”

”The reason has yet to be ascertained, but Archbishop Selena Gerfen once mentioned a point—the suspected traces of gods were found within the out-of-control sandbox.”

Gawain slightly raised his eyebrows as he heard a familiar name in Daniel’s report, but he quickly set this matter aside because another issue made his heart skip a beat:

Traces of Gods!!

”So...the sandbox is contaminated by gods?” He stared at Daniel, ”And the method of contamination completely exceeds the Eternal Sleepers’ understanding, beyond the means their technology can pinpoint?”

”Yes, all information associated with the sandbox has been thoroughly inspected; all mental states entered into the sandbox underwent extremely rigorous selection, yet the sandbox was still contaminated by gods,” Daniel said with a solemn expression, ”The out-of-control sandbox is called ’Sandbox One’, the core of the entire Project Zero, and the one among all testing sandboxes with the most complete ’world structure’ and the longest running time.”

The old mage paused for a moment and continued, ”After losing control, that world remained in a state that couldn’t be shut down; it implemented self-sealing, and within it, evolution proceeded rapidly due to the time iteration effect. In the first few hours, its internal historical progression might have completely deviated from the ’script’ devised by the external simulation team, and now nobody knows the exact situation inside.”

Daniel’s report was filled with professional jargon incomprehensible to ordinary people, with some terms giving a feeling that even seemed a bit ahead of the times. However, Gawain himself was already a professional in the technical field of the Eternal Sleepers, and he found understanding it not difficult at all.

He continued to ask, ”How did this incident affect the normal operation of the mental network?”

”The sandbox experienced an ’overflow’,” Daniel promptly answered, ”Although the sandbox is designed to be sealed, you should know its manipulation requires the intervention of the spellcasters’ consciousness, and spells of the Eternal Sleepers are not like the ’Immersion Capsule’ we created—they lack triple insurance pipes and an emergency stop button on the lid, relying entirely on the spellcaster’s own mental barrier to ensure ’safety’...”

Gawain’s understanding of the Eternal Sleepers’ technology was profound, enabling him to instantly guess the truth: ”The operator was contaminated.”

”Yes, the operator responsible for monitoring Sandbox One was contaminated at that time, and the overflowing data used their brains as a springboard, quickly occupying several key ports and starting to spread to the mental network—the spread was exceedingly rapid, by the time the peripheral personnel realized something was amiss, the contamination was already uncontrollable.”

”What measures have the Eternal Sleepers taken so far?” Gawain asked with a frown, ”Are they effective?”

”They have been continuously resetting and clearing the contaminated areas, deleting the short-term memories of some contaminated nodes, but these measures can only temporarily maintain the status quo. They have also used a measure called ’Retarder’, which can produce a reverse time iteration, successfully reducing the time flow speed of Sandbox One to synchronize with the real world, which can be considered the most effective measure currently—otherwise, perhaps it would only take one or two days for the contamination of Sandbox One to evolve to a degree beyond control.”

Listening to Daniel’s response, Gawain couldn’t help but widen his eyes: ”Is that all?”

Daniel nodded: ”These are the current measures taken—because they want to borrow my capabilities in network architecture and information security to solve the problem, they have not concealed anything from me regarding these countermeasures. The intelligence should be real and reliable.”

”Haven’t they attempted to forcibly cut off the connection between the sandbox and the main network?” Gawain was puzzled, ”I mean forcibly in the physical sense, in the real world.”

”That would cause the death of all the ’Brain Servants’ constituting the sandbox world...” Daniel’s expression seemed somewhat delicate while providing the answer, ”At least half of the archbishops oppose doing so...even the Pope expressed opposition.”

At that moment, Gawain even suspected he had misheard, and couldn’t help but confirm again: ”...It’s because those ’Brain Servants’ would die, that they haven’t executed a physical disconnection, and not for some other reason?”

Daniel nodded: ”At least that’s the intelligence I’ve gathered.”

Gawain was somewhat amused: ”You...I mean they, aren’t they supposed to be evil cult followers?”

”...I too find it surprising, however, compared to the Oblivion Association, the Eternal Sleepers indeed seem to be relatively... ’gentle’ among the dark sects,” Daniel’s expression was still delicate, and it became more and more nuanced as he spoke further, ”Of course, the existence of such ’creatures’ as ’Brain Servants’ probably isn’t very gentle in itself.”

”...Perhaps it’s because they determined the loss would be too great, unwilling to incur a huge cost to ’manufacture’ a batch of new ’Brain Servants’, much like cherishing tools,” Gawain couldn’t think of a better explanation for a moment, so he just casually said this to gloss over the topic, ”In any case, it’s evident that the Eternal Sleepers currently do not have a better method to solve the problem, isn’t that right?”

”Yes, my lord.” Daniel replied.

”Then devote yourself to helping them find a solution,” Gawain shook his head, his heart filled with dissonance yet had to say it, ”Prioritize safeguarding the mental network, if it’s finally deemed unsalvageable...promptly retreat, I will find another way to contact you.”

”Yes, my lord...”

Daniel responded respectfully, but as soon as he said halfway, his expression froze slightly.

Gawain noticed the slight anomaly: ”Something happened?”

”I left a ’duplicate’ in Dream City to handle the situation; now the duplicate has received instructions,” Daniel immediately answered, ”Another overflow contamination area has appeared outside Dream City, and this time the contamination area seems rather eccentric. The Supreme Council of Bishops has instructed me and several other archbishops to investigate.”

”Then go,” Gawain nodded, but as Daniel was about to take his leave, he suddenly had some bold ideas, ”Wait.”

Daniel lowered his head: ”Please command.”

Gawain smiled: ”I’ll go with you.”

”My lord?” Daniel was momentarily surprised, but soon he understood Gawain’s intention, ”I understand—I will prepare enough safety jumping points for you.”

Gawain hummed, and Daniel couldn’t help but remind him again, ”Additionally, please be careful. Accompanying me will be an archbishop-level Eternal Sleeper, and there might even be scrutiny from the Pope. They are quick to detect any unusual fluctuations in the psychic network...”

Just as he finished speaking, the old mage himself felt it was inappropriate. He realized he should not have been so audacious as to remind a powerful ’Wanderer from Outer Realm’ to be careful and added, ”I’ve overstepped, my lord. I shouldn’t doubt your...”

”No need to worry,” Gawain interrupted Daniel indifferently. ”Let’s depart, to prevent those archbishops from becoming suspicious of you.”

Daniel said nothing else, merely bowing to Gawain. Then, the light and shadow scenes around them suddenly trembled and silently shattered.

The dazzling sunlight fell upon him, and in the blink of an eye, Gawain found himself standing in the dream city. He stood in a grand and majestic circular plaza, surrounded by hundreds of decorative pillars, with the edges covered in golden leaves.

Only a few people stood not far away in the plaza. Gawain quickly saw a woman in a long white dress, her smile gentle and serene, holding a portable lamp in her hands. She stood facing Gawain, her face resembling the image of Selena Gerfen in his memory.

The portable lamp in her hand was clearly a ”copy” created in the dream realm—after all, the original was now in Gawain’s possession, and Rebecca had already dismantled it into parts with a group.

But in this world sustained by psychic power, there was no difference between the copy and the original.

Beside Selena Gerfen was a taller, slender man with a scholarly air, wearing a scholar-style robe and monocle.

Judging by his demeanor and position, he was likely another archbishop of the Eternal Sleepers.

Daniel stood opposite them, discussing something with them.

Gawain glanced to his side and noticed that the Daniel who had been standing next to him was already gone. Apparently, his ’information’ had seamlessly merged back with the ’avatar’ before Selena. No one could detect this process.

Besides the three archbishops, three figures in standard black robes with owl masks stood beside them. They were likely special agents of the Eternal Sleepers—directly commanded by the Supreme Council of Bishops or the Pope, specialized in handling confidential matters.

High-level operatives, not worth much concern.

Gawain checked his own status and swaggered forward.

Everyone in the plaza remained indifferent, seemingly instinctively ignoring the presence of the unexpected guest.

A slight smile appeared uncontrollably on Gawain’s face.

If he had just infiltrated the psychic network, he wouldn’t have dared to act so boldly today. Back then, he only held the clearance of a powerful follower, his understanding and control of the network limited, even fearing discovery at the sight of Selena Gerfen. But today was not the past.

The psychic network was now equipped with a complete address recognition system—designed by him.

It had a more efficient identity feature expression technology—also designed by him.

And the newest ”stealth” breach, hundreds of camouflage jump boards, hidden data ports... All designed by him.

He confidently arrived next to Daniel, listening to their conversation, casting a casual glance at the unfamiliar, scholarly male archbishop.

Above the latter’s head, a light screen invisible to others appeared, displaying clear letters:

Yuri, Archbishop, Male, Powerful Peak.

Current Location: Typhon - Sutini Province - Harlentan Valley.

So, this person is called ’Yuri’...

Gawain glanced at the archbishop named Yuri, feeling a slight sigh in his heart.

Unfortunately not bald, nor with tubes at the back of his head.

Of course, he might have tubes in the real world—or perhaps he is bald.

Gawain quipped to himself, joking inwardly, but soon gathered his slightly wandering thoughts—these planet Earth references were only for his own amusement in his mind.

While listening to Daniel and Archbishop Yuri discuss action details, he casually turned his gaze to the other Eternal Sleepers priests, whose heads also displayed text, though some had detailed descriptions, others brief.

Finally, his gaze casually swept over Selena Gerfen.

Initially, he didn’t pay much attention because he already knew this ’Church of Dreams Maiden’. Though unsure how she, like Beltira, survived to this day, he was at least aware of Selena Gerfen’s true identity.

However, the moment the text rose above her head, Gawain’s gaze suddenly froze.

Selena Gerfen, Archbishop (Deceased), Female, Soul Entity.

Current Location: Anzu/Correction/Cecil Empire - Southern Borders.