Chapter 1126: Listen

Beltira stood before Belsethia in a way the latter had never seen before—an image that stirred some faded, yellowed memories in the Silver Queen’s mind. These memories, ancient even by the elves’ long lifespans, recalled a time when this human-born druid saintess always wore the flowing robes of a priestess, her smile as warm and bright as a spring afternoon sun. She moved tirelessly among the wounded of the expeditionary forces, countless lives saved by her presence.

Her deeds had even been recognized by elven society—the very origin of druidic faith—and her sacred image hung in the Hall of Saints within the Elven Royal Court, alongside the revered druidic sages of millennia past.

But those memories had long since faded. Belsethia blinked, and now before her stood a figure of flesh and mutated plants, offering a stiff smile. Behind her, twisting vines writhed like veins, and a sound like wood rubbing against wood emanated from within her form.

“Seven hundred years without a word. No greeting? Belsethia—the Queen?”

The Silver Queen snapped fully back to the present, her gaze settling on the figure before her. After a brief hesitation, she broke the silence.

“Beltira… Lady Beltira.”

“You’ve grown distant in how you address me,” Beltira said flatly. “Seven centuries ago, you called me Sister Beltira.”

Nearby, Gawain frowned slightly, recalling, “I thought it was ‘Auntie’ back then.”

A summer breeze rustled through the towering sorlin trees, leaves whispering softly below. For a moment, the atmosphere felt oddly tense.

“…Honestly, I don’t care much about this,” Beltira finally broke the silence. Her eyes flicked briefly to Gawain before returning to Belsethia. “‘Lady’ suits me well—it sounds dignified.”

“Ahem,” Gawain coughed, breaking the awkwardness. Noticing the welcoming staff still lined up behind Beltira and the pale expression on the maid Eliane’s face as she descended the long staircase, he quickly changed the subject. “Let’s not just stand here foolishly. The Silver Queen is here to inspect the Sorlin Giant Tree. Let’s head to the resting quarters and talk along the way.”

“Of course,” Beltira said, a faint smile touching her lips as she stepped aside. The flowering vines trailing behind her stretched out like guiding fingers. “I was already preparing when I received the news. Your Majesty, I promise you will be pleased with this journey—no one knows this ‘tree’ better than I do.”

Belsethia took a step forward, then said, “Just call me by my name—like before.”

Beltira glanced at Gawain, seeking his opinion. He nodded. “Let’s keep it like old times—there’s no one else here, so dropping formalities will make things easier.”

Walking across the flat expanse atop the Sorlin tree’s canopy was both familiar and strange to Belsethia. Her feet pressed against a vast wooden platform as solid as earth itself. Around her, buildings and fixed installations dotted the landscape. Without knowing the truth, a visitor would hardly realize they were standing high above the ground. The feeling was somewhat like being atop the Star Temple, but unlike the temple, here she could sense the immense life force pulsing deep beneath her feet. This was no mechanical hum, but the vibrant “song of life” that filled the entire Sorlin region and echoed in her keen senses.

For elves close to nature, this place was more sacred than the fading “Ancestral Heritage” far to the continent’s southern reaches.

“This is the magical network hub of the Sorlin region, one of two main hubs on the Holy Spirit Plain,” Beltira said as they paused beneath a towering spire at the platform’s center. She looked up at the massive crystal arrays and mechanical devices above. “These crystal arrays distribute vast amounts of energy to surrounding areas. Lower-level magical network hubs receive and redistribute this energy, powering most of the magical devices throughout Sorlin and its neighboring regions. At the same time, magical network communications are established between these towers, broadcasting to every city and village equipped with magical network terminals.

“We’ve recently installed key nodes of the Narrator Neural Network in several major cities east of the Gorgon River. Through these nodes, the magical network communications of large cities can integrate into the neural network. Of course, this work is still in its infancy, and coverage is limited, but at this rate, ‘network access for rural areas’ is only a matter of time.”

Belsethia looked up, mesmerized by the vast crystal arrays shimmering brilliantly in the sunlight. A low hum emanated from their bases—a different kind of miracle from the Star Temple, one filled with endless possibilities that even the well-informed Silver Queen found captivating.

“I know about your neural network… I read about it in the Theocratic Council’s files,” she said softly. “You’re trying to create a ‘barrier’ to resist divine spiritual pollution, hoping it will cover the entire world…”

“Not trying—we’ve already achieved practical results,” Gawain interjected. “You’ve seen its effects firsthand, haven’t you?”

Belsethia paused, recalling her confrontation with the nature deity in the Shadow Realm’s courtyard. She knew the “anti-divine barrier” had already been applied there. Her expression grew solemn.

“I remember now…”

Gawain watched the Silver Queen’s reaction but didn’t press further. Beltira resumed moving, the vines composing her body shifting as she led them toward the platform’s edge.

“We’ll rest in a facility within the canopy. Unlike surface buildings, every structure here has been ‘grown’ under my direct control. You’ll get to experience the unique ‘giant tree style’ up close,” Beltira said proudly, describing her recent studies in civil engineering—which might as well be called botanical sculpting. “You can also visit my biochemical laboratory, located on the lower level of the resting area. More than half of Cecil’s cutting-edge bioengineering technologies were born or conceptualized there…”

Gawain frowned slightly. “Is your lab really suitable for us ‘normal’ people to visit?”

Beltira glanced at him, her eyes silently saying, “You, an otherworldly devourer of gods, pretending to be normal in front of a plant-being?” Of course, this was likely just Gawain’s imagination.

“Don’t worry. After receiving feedback from other researchers, I’ve carefully adjusted the lab’s layout and decor. Anything unsuitable for display is now sealed in friendly-looking containers. Though my mindset and aesthetics have shifted somewhat with my new life form, I’m aware of it and open to suggestions.”

“Unsuitable for display?” The Silver Queen looked puzzled, glancing between Beltira and Gawain. “Do you mean classified technology? If so, you don’t have to show me…”

“No, while it’s advanced tech, ordinary visits won’t risk leaks,” Gawain shook his head. “In fact, I plan to market some of it internationally. What Beltira means by ‘unsuitable’ isn’t about secrecy—it’s that some of it just doesn’t look very appealing.”

The vines behind Beltira writhed slightly, as if disagreeing with Gawain’s assessment. The Silver Queen’s curiosity about the legendary biochemical lab deepened, but before she could ask more, a sudden mechanical whirring nearby caught her attention.

She turned toward the sound and saw a massive device about a hundred meters from the crystal arrays slowly adjusting its angle. It had a complex metal frame studded with numerous hexagonal crystal panels, each separated by narrow gaps. Countless glowing runes drifted across the crystals, forming illusory magical lenses that continuously fine-tuned their focus.

“What is that?” Belsethia asked, intrigued. She hadn’t seen anything like it in her intelligence reports, nor did it resemble any magical device she’d encountered. It seemed highly technical, but the magical fluctuations it emitted didn’t match any known spell pattern. Even the well-read Silver Queen was puzzled.

“That’s a wide-area listening antenna,” Beltira explained. “Each main hub has one. Essentially, it’s a highly sensitive receiver—we’re using it to search for a mysterious signal.”

“A mysterious signal?” Belsethia’s curiosity deepened. “What kind of signal?”

Gawain thought for a moment, then nodded. “Alright, it’s not a secret. We’re currently working with neighboring countries to establish a series of listening stations. If you’re interested, we can discuss it in detail once we reach the lower resting area.”

…

“Gain rune group two has entered operational mode. Rune group one is cooling down. Main antenna will rotate in three minutes. All listeners, please monitor your assigned channels…”

The clear, authoritative voice of the operator echoed nearby, snapping Bard out of his distracted state as he took his seat. He glanced around the room, noting that the heads of several listening stations were already in place, while the magical technicians assisting the listeners were performing final equipment checks.

Above the large magical network terminal in the center of the room, projections displayed the fluctuations of various listening channels. Each showed meaningless static noise, while the secondary terminals around the room displayed only blank screens.

Bard took a deep breath, ready to begin his shift. A fellow listener tapped his arm and whispered, “Hey, did you know? The Queen and the Silver Queen are at Sorlin Fortress today!”

“I know. It was in the papers two days ago,” Bard replied, glancing at his colleague. “What does that have to do with us?”

“You’re such a bore,” his colleague sighed. “That’s the Silver Queen! Most people never see her in their lifetime. This time, we might get to see her in person! I heard she’ll tour the giant tree’s trunk area and the eastern surface sector. It’s a public event—we’re planning to check it out…”

Bard still wore that indifferent expression. It wasn’t that he lacked curiosity about the big shot from the Silver Empire; rather, as a former Wolf General, he simply couldn’t get worked up over “important people” the way ordinary folks might. But…

The Silver Empress’s visit wasn’t without its effects on him—if all his colleagues really did head over to the East Sector, then the cafeteria would be much emptier at dinner tonight… and that was good news.

His thoughts began to drift again, but as the chief antenna operator’s thirty-second countdown before the antenna’s rotation echoed through the room, Bard’s focus snapped back sharply.

Outside interference was blocked out. Before the former Wolf General’s eyes, only the holographic projections of constantly updating data and curves remained. In his ear, the receiver carried a low, hollow, yet gentle rustling sound.

The antenna completed its rotation, and the monitoring channel, with razor-sharp sensitivity, tracked the “sounds” vibrating through the magical environment from every corner of the world. Mixed into the soft, soothing rustle were some faint, non-irritating noises. Bard’s mind settled even further, as if he were merging with these tender echoes, no longer hearing anything from the outside world.

The monitoring antenna listened to frequencies within the magic field; every subtle fluctuation transformed into oscillating signals emitted by the antenna. These signals quietly coursed through the vast, complex—and at times intimidating—network of the Solin Central Hub, eventually converging here at the monitoring center. Most of the time, these echoes were meaningless. The monitors’ work was tedious and dull, often yielding no results for weeks on end.

But today seemed destined to be different.

After being immersed in the gentle noise for an unknown stretch of time, a sudden, sharp howl abruptly snapped Bard out of his trance.

He sat up straight, eyes wide, and almost immediately, the howl’s trailing echoes were filtered and reorganized by the system. The receiver crackled with a series of rhythmic pulses, like drumbeats punctuated by brief pauses. Above the central magic network terminal, a sharply oscillating line suddenly projected into the air—an incredibly clear and precise pattern the monitors had never seen before!

“Signal received! Type I wave—it’s that signal!” Bard suddenly shouted, then quickly turned to the assistant mage-technician beside him. “Switch my channel to graphical output! Is the recording device online?”

“Recording device is online, converting now—the pattern will be ready soon!”

(End of chapter)