Chapter 1109: The Road Ahead

The scene from the last time Gawain met Enya kept replaying in his mind, refusing to fade away. These persistent images soon clashed with the reality before him, making the atmosphere inside the incubation chamber increasingly strange—so strange, in fact, that even Enya fell silent.

Finally, Gawain broke the awkwardness. “So, you don’t know why you ended up in this form? Then what was your original plan?”

“Time was tight. I only managed a rough cut… I had no plan for what came next,” Enya said frankly. It seemed that shedding the heavy mantle of “goddess” had subtly changed her personality—most notably, she now spoke much more directly. “Honestly, I wasn’t even sure if my human side would survive, or if the part that did would still be ‘Enya’ as an individual. I thought I might become some kind of spirit… like a mortal soul, or maybe just an ordinary dragon. This form is quite a surprise.”

Gawain gave the golden egg a strange look and couldn’t help but say, “Honestly, hearing ‘no plan’ from an ancient, patient deity like you is pretty surprising.”

A hint of a smile crept into Enya’s voice. “I’m no longer a god—and I remember saying from the start that gods are neither omniscient nor omnipotent.”

Gawain nodded thoughtfully, then shared a theory. “Could this have symbolic meaning? A dragon egg… it represents the beginning of dragon life. Among many mortal races in Loren, an unborn or newborn infant who hasn’t taken their first breath is considered the ‘purest stage’ of humanity. Maybe the dragon egg corresponds to that: symbolizing the original, purest form of humanity—just like your current state.”

“…The ultimate humanity hidden behind divinity. That’s an interesting and bold theory. As expected of you,” Enya’s tone was pleased, clearly intrigued by Gawain’s idea. “Looks like your ‘research’ just got a lot more interesting.”

Gawain accepted the compliment but felt a bit awkward. Despite the good mood, discussing why someone turned into an egg while talking to an actual egg was starting to feel downright bizarre.

“What are you thinking?” Enya’s voice broke the silence, pulling Gawain out of his thoughts. He cleared his throat and looked curiously at the eggshell. “So, what are your plans going forward?”

“I want to hear your thoughts,” Enya said lazily. “I’ve been planning and scheming for so many years, I don’t want to anymore. You’re a human with endless fresh ideas—I want to hear what you think.”

“My thoughts?” Gawain wasn’t surprised by the answer, but giving one was tricky—mainly because he never expected this egg to be the dragon goddess who should have perished in the Tal’Rond War. That meant all his previous plans about the egg had to be scrapped. “I don’t think I can plan your future for you. I just feel… since you’ve been reborn completely, and Tal’Rond’s age of myths is over, everything should start anew. The dragons will begin a new era in the newly formed alliance, and you should try a new life… a god-life… or rather, an egg-life.”

The topic was getting weirder by the minute, so Gawain awkwardly stopped and studied the patterns on Enya’s shell. “Let me just confirm—this form isn’t permanent, right? Since you’re an egg, there has to be a hatching. Life before and after breaking out must be very different.”

“I’ve been thinking about that too,” Enya’s tone grew serious. “After the shock of realizing I’d become an egg, I’ve been trying to understand my state, but it’s not easy. My power has weakened far beyond what it was as a goddess… but I don’t think I’ll stay like this forever. I can feel my humanity slowly solidifying and changing. As this process continues, I should gradually leave this form behind and have the chance to reshape myself into something else… though how long that will take, I can’t say.”

“As long as you hatch, that’s good.” Gawain smiled sincerely. No matter how long the process took, regaining a more normal form was better than staying an egg. After all, not everyone was like Nicholas Egg—born round by nature.

While Gawain smiled, Enya’s tone suddenly shifted. “But there’s one thing—I’d like you to remove the runes and such from this room. They don’t help with my… ‘incubation’ at all.”

Gawain’s expression turned awkward. He glanced around at the runes scattered everywhere and heard Enya continue, “The dragons must have taught you this method. I appreciate the effort you put into setting up this room.”

“They did teach me,” Gawain coughed lightly. “At first, your condition was unclear, so I thought you needed to be in an energy field. Anyway, I’ll arrange for the room to be restored to a normal guest room as soon as possible. Anything else?”

“Let me think,” Enya said slowly. “I don’t need a bed or typical furnishings right now, but you could bring me a table and some shelves—for organizing newspapers and books—and some chairs for when guests come. Also, I’m somewhat interested in your ‘MageNet Terminal’… If possible, could you install one in this room? I can’t move, but I should be able to control it directly with magic.”

Heddy, who had been silent for a long time, finally nodded. “Tables, chairs, and bookshelves are easy to arrange—we can have them delivered today. But the MageNet Terminal…”

She glanced at Gawain, seeking his opinion.

The MageNet Terminal was a special device connected to the MageNet network, which carried a neural network. Although Enya was no longer a dragon “goddess,” her origins were sensitive. Allowing a former deity access to the MageNet Terminal—and thus to the vast mortal network—was a serious decision. Heddy wasn’t willing to decide on her own.

Gawain’s eyes narrowed slightly. At that moment, he recalled the report from the Imperial Computing Center received on the return trip, along with the joint project proposal from Megal III, Yuri, and Wendy. After careful consideration, his gaze settled on Enya’s eggshell, which stood quietly on its pedestal, looking very patient… well, he couldn’t really tell if an egg was patient or not.

In any case, it seemed the time had come to move to the next phase: letting a “god” actively connect to the neural network and activating the anti-divinity barrier. Since Enya requested it, Gawain was more than willing. When it came to gods, more observation samples were always welcome—especially one so different from the great stag Amorn, a fully “humanized” foreign deity. How much valuable experience could she bring to the Divine Council?

“I can arrange it,” Gawain said, ending his thoughts and addressing the golden egg. “But you’ll have to wait two or three days—your device needs to be custom-made, and we have to consider some ‘security issues.’”

“That’s understandable,” Enya chuckled softly. “I remember you’re a very cautious person… with especially cautious methods.”

The former dragon goddess’s words hinted at something, reminding Gawain of the “orbital drop countdown” tactic he once used to intimidate her. But those were past events now, and mentioning them only brought a knowing smile.

“Heddy, please arrange it,” Gawain turned to the descendant of the ancient line. “Also, send someone to the mechanical workshop—we need a set of custom terminals.”

“Yes, ancestor.” Heddy bowed and left the room.

After Heddy left, Betty stayed by Enya and Gawain. The somewhat clueless maid had been listening to their conversation, feeling like she was hearing something important but realizing she didn’t understand much. Her head was spinning until Enya’s voice suddenly snapped her back to attention. “Betty, could you prepare some tea and snacks? Your master and I need to talk a bit longer.”

“Oh, sure!”

Betty hurried out, and Gawain watched the scene with surprise. After a moment, he couldn’t help but say to Enya, “You two seem to get along really well… that’s unexpected.”

“Why unexpected?”

“I can hardly imagine how that girl usually talks to you. She sometimes seems a bit slow and isn’t good with strangers. And you… honestly, your styles are worlds apart.”

“Betty is a great conversational partner—probably the only suitable one here besides you,” Enya’s voice came from the golden shell. “Not everyone can stay calm and chat after seeing an egg talk, but Betty can. She has a calm and peaceful mindset that ordinary people don’t.”

“Calm and peaceful… so that’s how you see her,” Gawain’s expression flickered oddly but then he smiled. “Well, that’s good. Sometimes being slow to react is a kind of calm. But I’m curious—after all these days talking, why haven’t the other servants or guards nearby noticed anything? It can’t just be Betty keeping quiet and Heddy being too busy.”

Enya was silent for a moment, then spoke apologetically. “Sorry, I admit I used a little trick… I didn’t want to be disturbed and just wanted a few days of rest, so I slightly influenced those around me to divert their attention from the incubation chamber. But it wasn’t perfect—someone still noticed something was off and brought you here, didn’t they?”

Gawain sighed. “Alright, I understand wanting to rest after all you’ve been through. But in the future…”

“Don’t worry, it won’t happen again,” Enya cut him off cheerfully. “Since I’m staying here for a while, I’ll observe basic etiquette.”

The former goddess seemed to take it for granted that she was a long-term tenant here, which was a bit surprising. Gawain said nothing—he was actually pleased. Though the process was strange, the outcome was good.

After this small episode, before Betty returned with tea, Gawain quickly shifted the conversation to something important.

“There’s something I have to discuss with you,” he said seriously, looking at Enya’s eggshell. “Although Tal’Rond’s age of myths is over and you’re no longer their goddess, there’s one thing you probably haven’t forgotten—the tall tower northwest of the Tal’Rond continent. What do you plan to do about it?”

“Is something wrong with that tower?”

The smooth, bare surface of the egg showed no expression, and from Enya’s tone, Gawain found it hard to gauge her emotions. He spoke carefully, weighing his words as he went: “There’s no immediate threat right now, but the danger from that tower is clear. Talrond is nearly destroyed, and the surviving dragons can barely maintain order in the southeastern corner of the continent. They simply don’t have the strength to keep the tower sealed off anymore. There’s only a weak observation outpost left there, and communication between the outpost and the rear is difficult. Our biggest worry is what happens if an uncontrolled dragon approaches the tower and becomes corrupted… The contaminator could easily break through the outpost’s defenses and spread the power of the Tides of Reversal across the continent of Loren.”

Enya’s voice fell silent for a long moment.

After what felt like an eternity, the golden egg finally responded again, calm but tinged with regret: “I’m sorry. I don’t think I can be of much help.”

Gawain said nothing.

“I know it sounds irresponsible, but at this point, the tower is truly beyond control… beyond my control, and beyond Talrond’s,” Enya continued with a sigh. “And you know, even at Talrond’s peak, we couldn’t do anything about that tower—dragons can’t resist the divinity within the Tides of Reversal, and dragon gods can’t stand against the legacy of the Voyagers. So even then, all we could do was blockade the seas around the tower to keep other intelligent beings away. If that was the case at our height, now…”

Gawain looked at the golden egg and finally sighed. “Well, I suppose that was the answer I expected. No need to apologize—I didn’t have high hopes to begin with.”

Silence fell over the room again. After a while, Enya suddenly spoke: “Perhaps, in the end, the one with the power to solve this will have to be you.”

“Me?” Gawain raised an eyebrow. “You want me to deal with that tower?”

“Do you remember what you once used to intimidate me?” Enya said calmly. “The legacy of the Voyagers… it can only be destroyed by an equal force. Consider it a favor to the dragons who survived—use the abandoned protocols against that tower.”

(After traveling so far, I’m really running out of steam for this meeting. I might have to take a day off tomorrow. Sorry, sorry =.=)

(End of chapter)