Chapter 1445: A “Grant Gift”

Inside the Empire’s Arcane Technology Research Department building, a comprehensive research lab was brightly lit. At the center of the room, a large holographic projection buzzed softly, displaying a multitude of images, numbers, and annotated text floating clearly in the air above. Arcane technicians and runesmiths, clad in white short robes, gathered around the projection device, their eyes fixed intently on the shifting images. Occasionally, they whispered among themselves, while some scribbled notes and calculations on their clipboards, brows furrowed in concentration.

Among them stood the Empire’s Chief Runesmith, Jenny. Her long gray-white hair was tied up high, and the faint scars near her cheeks no longer seemed to bother her. She too was focused on the holographic display, but unlike the others, she remained silent, lost in thought, her brow deeply furrowed.

Rebecca’s voice broke through Jenny’s reverie from beside her. “Have you spotted any problems?”

Jenny shook her head slowly, her voice low and measured. “This is an incredibly complex system. Even grasping its basic principles in a short time is difficult, let alone identifying any flaws. The only good news is that it doesn’t seem completely beyond our understanding… Although the technology the Noyans use is clearly very different from ours, it looks like, with the annotations, we still have a chance to figure out its inner workings.”

“So, their tech level isn’t necessarily far beyond ours—at least on a fundamental theoretical level, there’s not much gap between us and this ‘alien civilization,’” Rebecca nodded thoughtfully. “What about the other set of devices? The ones they sent at the very beginning?”

“That one’s a bit easier to understand,” Jenny replied quickly. “It appears to be a detection system that indirectly observes ‘background oscillations’ in deep space by monitoring magical energy fluctuations emitted by other stars. It also includes numerous auxiliary observation units to assist with the task. While the basic principles still need analysis, building it shouldn’t be a problem for us.” She gestured toward the holograms. “The Noyans sent very detailed annotations along with the blueprints, which helps a lot. And…”

“And?” Rebecca prompted instinctively.

“And these blueprints might have additional reference value for us,” Jenny said cautiously. “It’s hard to say if we can trust everything outright, but at least in terms of solving specific technical challenges, I feel inspired.”

“I see…” Rebecca’s expression brightened with realization. Just as she was about to say more, the lab’s door suddenly opened, and a low murmur of surprise spread through the room. “His Majesty!” “The Emperor himself has arrived!”

Rebecca quickly looked up and immediately spotted the tall figure striding toward them. She smiled warmly and stepped forward. “Ancestor, you’re here!”

Gawain nodded, rubbing Rebecca’s head affectionately before his gaze landed on the large holographic projection at the room’s center. The blueprints and floating annotations caught his attention, and his brow furrowed slightly. “The Noyans suddenly sent a large amount of ‘technical data’? What’s the situation exactly?”

“Just like you see here,” Jenny stepped forward, bowing slightly before turning to point at the blueprints. “These belong to two systems. One is a deep-space magical tide detection device, and the other… according to the annotations, is the technical data for a ‘Unified Mind Field.’”

“And they’re still sending more!” Rebecca added quickly. “The main antenna at Solin is still receiving data nonstop. The scale of the facilities for this ‘Unified Mind Field’ is even more staggering than we imagined. Judging by the annotations and numbering, we’ve probably only received less than a third so far…”

“Blueprints for a magical tide detection device and a Unified Mind Field? And the full set of blueprints?!” Gawain’s eyes widened in surprise. When he first heard about the sudden influx of data from the Noyans, he guessed they might be trying to show goodwill by sending some basic materials—like promotional brochures for a product. But he never expected they’d send the entire blueprint package outright. “Did they send anything else?”

“So far, just more and more data,” Jenny said cautiously, rubbing her hands together. “We can’t actively ask them for details, so we just have to accept whatever they send.”

Gawain’s frown deepened. His gaze on the blueprints grew even more serious. Sending core technology—what could be called “top secret”—before any formal cooperation was agreed upon went far beyond a mere gesture of goodwill. From a human perspective, this was unsettling. Either it was a massive trap, or it meant the situation was urgent.

Neither possibility was comforting.

Of course, Gawain wasn’t a Noyan and didn’t know any real Noyans personally. He couldn’t rule out that this was simply a misunderstanding caused by alien thought processes differing from human ones. But for now, he had to analyze the situation through a human lens.

“Have you figured anything out?” he asked Rebecca, who had never disappointed when it came to technical matters. “How long has it been since we started receiving the data?”

“Almost half a day,” Rebecca nodded vigorously. She then led Gawain to a nearby equipment table close to the central hologram and handed him a printed set of blueprints. “Take a look at this first. It’s their ‘Magical Tide Observation Device.’ The annotations say it can indirectly calculate background oscillations in deep space by observing magical energy fluctuations emitted by stars. Jenny’s initial assessment is that the principles make sense—though it’s a concept we never considered before.”

Gawain scanned the materials slowly. The first image showed a massive ring-shaped device, seemingly assembled from numerous segmented “modules” like building blocks. Between the ring segments were many tall “towers” and “lenses” pointed skyward. At the center of the ring was an enormous facility, with extensive data and annotations describing its function and principles.

Behind this blueprint was a thick stack of detailed schematics breaking down every component of the ring and central facility. Each sheet was packed with parameters and notes—some even marked “translation incomplete.” Clearly, even the most skilled star decipherers hadn’t yet fully tackled this sudden mountain of work.

As Gawain’s eyes moved over the subsequent blueprints, he realized something: aside from the annotations, most of the content was incomprehensible to him.

The technical complexity was overwhelming. While he could discuss broad technical directions or theoretical guesses with the experts, the detailed specifics were beyond him.

Still, that didn’t diminish his authority as the ancestor. He calmly fixed his gaze on Jenny. “The text here isn’t fully translated yet. Can you understand it?”

“Not completely,” Jenny admitted frankly. “But from the general descriptions, it seems like a well-thought-out device. And if it’s just for observing magical tide oscillations, we don’t need to fully grasp the principles. All the construction parameters and technical details are included. The Noyans even sent alternative plans in case the main design can’t be realized. We just need to build according to the blueprints, and we should be able to complete the observation device. Of course, there will be practical challenges—some components might not be compatible with our existing energy or data interfaces—but those are solvable.”

“…So it’s feasible to build it purely from the blueprints…” Gawain murmured seriously, weighing many factors in his mind but keeping them to himself. He then shifted his attention to another pile of documents on the table. “Is that the data for the ‘Unified Mind Field’?”

“Yes, that’s what we’ve received so far,” Rebecca said, handing over the thick stack of printed papers. “I should mention, the translation progress on this set is even slower. The star decipherers have only translated the initial annotations and the general titles of each component blueprint. Since the Noyans keep sending more data, the Solin monitoring station has paused full translations of the later files and is just forwarding the raw materials here.”

Gawain nodded slightly as he listened, his gaze already scanning the pile. As he flipped through the first few pages, he quickly realized something: this so-called “Unified Mind Field” was far larger in scale than he had imagined.

It wasn’t a single device—completely unlike the “Magical Tide Observation Device” from the first set. The “Unified Mind Field” data contained numerous seemingly independent “parts”: countless terminals called “Thought Connectors,” a massive Mind Interaction Center, complex connection frameworks, and even “background data” modeled on entire planets.

On top of that, the Noyans had sent a large number of technical documents that weren’t blueprints. These were filled with highly specialized terminology, and the star decipherers hadn’t yet translated them. The alien text was interspersed with countless numbers and mathematical symbols, dizzying to even glance at.

Gawain could only guess at the purpose of these alien technical files. He suspected the Noyans were trying to teach the Loren people the principles behind the “Unified Mind Field.”

They were really trying to teach us. jpg

Shaking off the strange feeling that flashed through his mind, Gawain refocused on Rebecca and Jenny. “What do you make of this data?”

“It will take a long time to understand this vast, complex system,” Jenny said gravely. “Its scale is more than ten times that of the ‘Magical Tide Observation Device.’ The Noyans clearly made a distinction when sending the two sets of data. For the ‘Magical Tide Observation Device,’ we only need to build according to the blueprints. But for the ‘Unified Mind Field,’ it seems they want us to understand the principles behind it.”

Gawain said nothing, but his thoughts churned.

He tried to grasp the Noyans’ motives, searching for possible traps or uncontrollable factors. But in the end, he found few elements that were truly under control.

Beside him, Rebecca sighed softly. “When I first heard about the ‘Unified Mind Field,’ I thought it was some huge device—like a force field emitter that creates a massive shield everyone could hide inside when the magical tide arrives. I never expected it to be this… extravagant. A global defense system, truly global.”

“My initial thoughts were similar,” Gawain sighed gently. His gaze instinctively settled on one of the blueprints in the pile.

It depicted a planet. The Noyans used this planet to demonstrate the effect of the entire “Unified Mind Field” and reveal its true scale.

Nodes were scattered worldwide, the network covered the entire globe. The Unified Mind Field Generator wasn’t a single device but a planetary-scale complex made up of thousands of massive nodes.

No wonder it took the Noyans fourteen hundred years to build this thing.

Of course, when considering this “one thousand four hundred years,” we must also take into account the unique developmental path of the Noy civilization and the impact of their social changes. This is a civilization that grew out of the legacy of a pioneering people. Even in their relatively primitive technological stage, they had already uncovered the truth about the magical storms. Because of this, the grand project likely began during a period of low productivity—back then, it might have taken them a century just to build a single node, much like how the Silver Elves once needed several centuries to repair an energy station left behind by the Primordial Elves.

But no matter how you look at it, even at the height of Talrond’s glory, something as vast as the “Unified Mind Field” could never have been constructed overnight.

Jenny noticed the seriousness on Gawain’s face. She clearly understood what the empire’s ruler was worried about—this was the same concern that had been gnawing at her since earlier. “To build something like this—let’s assume the technical data sent by the Noy are accurate, and that every technical hurdle during construction can be overcome instantly—just the sheer scale of the project would probably take a century to complete.”

Gawain slowly set down the documents in his hands. “And that’s assuming everything goes perfectly. The reality is, we first need to understand how this system works, to confirm that it can actually affect the intelligent life on our planet. This project is so staggering that we can’t just recklessly throw the full might of the Alliance behind it.”

Jenny and Rebecca said nothing, only nodding silently. Although the technical data from the “Noy” had filled them with excitement and hope, they hadn’t lost their heads. They understood perfectly well that Gawain was right.

And it was clear that Gawain’s worries didn’t end there.

“We’ll need more scholars—Typhon scholars, Silver scholars, experts from other Alliance nations. We need enough brilliant minds to analyze every technical detail in these documents,” he said quietly. “Our ‘alien friends’ really did just drop a ‘gift’ on us out of the blue…”

(End of chapter)