"You have agreed to Tallond's invitation?!"
In Gawain's study, Hetty, who had just learned of the situation, opened her eyes wide with a look of astonishment on her face. Looking at the smiling ancestor in front of him.
“That’s right,” Gawain had known that Hetty would react this way. He nodded with a smile, “Of course we don’t want to set off now—at least we have to wait until the incident of the Magic Goddess has completely subsided. After everything has been arranged."
The shocked expression on Hetty's face still hadn't completely faded away, but when she looked at her ancestor's smile and listened to his indifferent response, she realized that this was not the case. The other party's whim may have been a decision made by the ancestors after careful consideration, but this decision... was a little too unexpected, and it was really confusing.
"Having said that, it seems that I should discuss it with you," Gawain looked at Hetty, suddenly patted his forehead lightly, and said apologetically, "This is no longer my business alone. "No, my decision was a bit hasty."
"No, that's not what I meant," Hetty shook her head quickly, "I'm just too surprised. Since you have made such a decision, you must have your own reasons." "There are many reasons. The dragon clan is a powerful and mysterious force. For mortal countries, it is rare to have the opportunity to contact such a force; there are too many mysteries and unknowns in Tallond. I speculate that their civilization level is likely to be far higher than that of the Loren continent. This needs to be observed and understood; the Dragon Clan is a civilization that has experienced many demonic waves and still exists, and this information is very valuable to us," Gao He spoke clearly and logically, and finally shook his head, "But for me personally, these reasons are not the most important. The most important thing is... they have a god who has descended into the world, and this god seems to have something to say. I said. "
"You mean the 'Dragon God'..." Heti frowned slightly, "You mentioned this to us, so do you think this god is friendly?" /p>
“Not sure, but at least it is certain that He communicates rationally and intelligently,” Gawain said. “So far, we have not had direct contact with any ‘normal’ gods who communicate rationally and intelligently. Those are either cultists. The false gods created are either special 'new gods' like Naretir who are very different from the gods in the world, or 'former gods' like Amorn who have left the divine position and have lost most of their divinity. '...Of course they also have great reference and communication value, but the communication value of Dragon God is obviously more special and irreplaceable."
Hetty nodded slightly, obviously she had to admit it. Gawain's views on this aspect, but the worry in her eyebrows has not faded: "... You are right, but this is still very risky, especially now... You go to Tallond in person to meet Facing too many unpredictable variables, we are still not sure what the purpose of the 'Dragon God' is, but the danger is real."
As she said this, she couldn't help but shake. Xia Tou: "If we can follow the normal appearanceJust communicate with Tallond at the ambassadorial level first..."
"Unfortunately, this is not a normal 'diplomatic behavior'," Gawain said, "In the eyes of the other party, this is It's just an invitation for me personally. It's just our side that wants to get more benefits from this invitation. Don't think about sending ambassadors to each other, at least you don't have to count on it now - it doesn't mean anything to the 'god', and he isn't interested either. ”
Then he looked at Hetty who seemed to be stuck in tangled thoughts (this Cecil housekeeper usually seemed to be tangled and worried for various reasons), with a look on his face. He smiled and comforted himself: "I have considered all kinds of unexpected situations - including the possibility of Tallond being malicious and the dragon god setting a trap. I agreed after I was very sure and weighed the pros and cons. Invited this time. ”
“Are you sure? "Hetty said subconsciously. She looked at the family ancestor in front of her who always seemed to be confident and always gave people a reliable feeling. For a moment, she wanted to ask him, as a mortal, how he could confidently face an unknown person at close range. God, but she swallowed the words again.
She suddenly thought of all the "different things" that her ancestor showed after his resurrection. The strong resistance and even suppression ability shown by the other party when faced with the knowledge of the gods and even the remains of the gods reminded him of his forward-looking plans and incredible knowledge... The ancestors once explained that some of the knowledge came from the Gondor era, and some It came from the historical fragments he saw in his soul state. However, she searched through ancient books and could not find even the slightest clue corresponding to that knowledge in human history.
"I understand. She lowered her head, "I will arrange everything as soon as possible. During your temporary absence, this place will still run in an orderly manner." ”
The ancestor who came back from the dead may no longer be just a "human". She has been vaguely aware of this from a long time ago, but no matter how many secrets the other party has, in the past few years, The time has at least proved one thing: for this land and the people on it, Gawain Cecil is indeed a mountain worth relying on and trusting.
For Hetty herself, She only knows this ancestor who was resurrected seven hundred years later - that's enough.
"I won't be away for too long, this will be a short 'visit'," Gawain nodded. He couldn't see Hetty's expression after she lowered her head, but several years of getting along with him had allowed him to detect the ups and downs of the other person's mood in this situation. He couldn't help but smile and said in a gentle tone, "Don't worry, I will. Come back safely - and as soon as possible. "
Then he waved his hand, ignored the topic for the time being, and asked casually: "Let's not talk about this for now. You came here so early. Do you have anything to report? "
"Yes," thinking of her original purpose of coming here early this morning, Hetty quickly organized her thoughts, "I brought Thorin with me.The latest monitoring report sent by the main hub... The mysterious signal that appeared before appeared again in the early morning of this morning! "
Gawain was startled for a moment, and then he remembered what the "mysterious signal" Hetty mentioned was, and was suddenly surprised: "It happened again! ? "
"Yes... and it is very similar to the previous situation. It continued to play for several cycles, interspersed with short high-frequency oscillations and repetitive waveforms, and then suddenly appeared. Then it mysteriously disappeared - we still haven't been able to capture the source of the signal, and there's been no progress in deciphering it. "
Gawain frowned and said in a deep voice: "So...this signal has nothing to do with the goddess of magic..."
What they were discussing was the former Thorin main hub. The mysterious signal received by both the Northern Winter Hub and the Northern Winter Hub. Its origin and meaning are unknown. It appears suddenly like a ghost at the monitoring boundary of the Magic Network terminal, causing noise and ripples for a period of time before it disappears. The signal disappeared mysteriously, and all the technical staff were confused. In order to investigate its details, Gawain even contacted the dragons, sea monsters and elves, but still could not figure out its source.
< p>This mysterious signal stirred up the nerves of many people.After the invasion of the Magic Goddess and the escape through the magic network, many technicians in the empire - even Gawain himself - subconsciously. Connecting the two things together
Gawain once suspected that the goddess of magic was the source of the two mysterious signals received by Solinburg and Winter Castle, and even suspected that those strange signals were the goddess of magic executing their escape. The phenomenon caused by testing the magic network before the plan - although there is not enough evidence, this speculation is very reasonable, so many people think so.
But now... magic. The goddess has been confirmed to have completely escaped and stayed away from the human world, and the traces she left in the magic network have been completely eliminated by Naritiel and Duarte, but the weird mysterious signal has appeared again!
< p>"Is only Thorin's main hub listening? Gawain frowned, "Are there any similar reports from other hubs?" ""Not yet. The signal is not stable, sometimes strong and sometimes weak. It seems that it only appears occasionally and is captured by our magic net crystal," Hetty shook his head. Shaking his head, "But several other main hubs are currently checking all monitoring records from midnight to early morning yesterday to see if there are any missed clues - if the signal they receive is too weak and short, it is very likely that it will be The personnel on duty ignored it, but there may be some traces left in the buffer crystal array. "
"Well..." Gawain nodded slowly, "Let them check it carefully. This signal... makes me very concerned. It is very unusual. The goddess of magic has already caused trouble in our magic network once, and now that this signal appears again, it probably means that the goddess of magic is not the only one who wants to cause trouble. "
Hetty lowered her head and bowed to accept the order: "Yes, ancestor. ”
Hetty left, and Gawain was lost in thought behind the desk. Then he raised his head and looked to his side, watching an amber slowly precipitate in the air beside him.
The half-elf lady blinked her eyes, with a look of surprise and confusion on her face: "I thought that the signal matter would be over after the Magic Goddess ran away..."
" I thought so too - all of us thought that the signals received by Thorinburg and Winterfell were caused by the goddess of magic." Gawain frowned, "But now it seems that it is probably two things. Irrelevant events..."
"It would have been nice if Naratir had succeeded in keeping the goddess of magic," Amber subconsciously said, "In this way we can confirm with the other party directly, even if the signal She didn't do it, maybe she knows something - after all, he is a god, so he should know more than mortals."
Listening to Amber's muttering, Gawain just shook his head. He shook his head and said nothing.
……
Two days later.
The cold wind in late autumn blew across the vast Holy Spirit Plain. Looking up at the sky from the Solin area, I saw only high sky and sparse clouds, and a clear and open field of vision.
The season of frequent precipitation and even snowfall is coming, and such sunny days may become increasingly rare in the next few months.
In the autumn wind, there was a rustling sound in the huge crown of the Solin giant tree. Countless branches made sounds deep in the crown, as if some structures inside were moving. and regrouping, and there were continuous sounds of friction and rolling, as if something was traveling deep in the canopy, leaving sounds along the way.
At the top of the Thorin giant tree, the uppermost part of the canopy, the extremely dense wooden structure and heterogeneous leaves overlap to form a steel-like stable plane. This scale is comparable to the "green" of a city square. A series of man-made facilities are fixed on the ground - there are fences to prevent people from falling, street lights for lighting, and small weather observation and collection devices. The largest of them is located in the center of all facilities. A huge crystal array fixed and supported by a large number of metal frames and tangled vines: Thorin's main hub array.
This is the highest point in the entire Holy Spirit Plain, and it is also one of the most important facilities in the Thorin area. Around the huge crystal array, you can see a dozen large, fully armed tree men. They are all "guards" that have grown from the giant Thorin tree. They are responsible for guarding the giant tree and the large number of precious devices mounted on the giant tree. These tree men are covered with thick alloy armor, and the basic human body is fixed on their backs and waists. They couldn't afford the large magic network energy packs that were only used on tanks, and they held amazingly powerful Gorgon cannons in their hands. Each of them looked majestic and intimidating.
And the defense power of Thorin's main hub is not limited to them -
A little further away from the crystal array, at the edge of the canopy, there are many unusually thick and solid wooden pieces. Structure from branch to branchGrowing out, the ends of those wooden structures like giant arms "clasp" fortress-level rail guns or large bomb throwers. These astonishingly powerful defensive firepower are another security guarantee for Thorin's main hub.
The main hub of the Magic Network is an extremely important strategic facility for the empire. This is not only the case here at the Thorin Giant Tree, but also at several other main hubs with similar levels of protection.
Amid a crashing sound, a crack suddenly opened on the "ground" near the crystal array. The leaves that were originally used to cover the "ground" opened to both sides, forming a structure that looked like a cluster of petals. The structure, a "cage" made of natural vines, rises up from the crack.
The cage stopped smoothly, the vines on the side opened layer by layer, and Margarita and several technicians walked out of it.
The shield that covers the entire treetop platform isolates the cold wind from high altitude. Visitors are greeted only by the magnificent and open scenery at the top of the tree crown. Margarita took a gentle breath and couldn't help but sigh: "No matter how many times I come up here, the scenery here is always so amazing..."
A rustling sound came from the side, and some of the vines that had been separated from the lifting cage squirmed and gathered together. He stood up and transformed into Bertila in a burst of fusion and transformation. The former leader of the death of all things nodded to Margarita: "Looking around from such a high place is indeed very unusual. Feeling - if you need it, I can build a higher observation tower on the top of the tree canopy."
"No, no need, thank you for your kindness, Ms. Bertila," Ma. Greta said quickly, then looked at the crystal array not far away, "Your Majesty is very concerned about the reappearance of the signal. Do you have any new discoveries here?"
"The tracking attempt has failed, the source of the signal It completely disappeared, and I couldn’t find any clues within my range of perception,” Bertila shook his head, “But when I tried to analyze the recorded signals, I seemed to have made some discoveries.”