Chapter 1483: Theory and Practice

To be honest, Gawain wasn’t exactly a technical expert—though he often engaged enthusiastically in discussions involving technical matters. His strength lay more in his broad thinking and unique perspective from another world. When it came to pure theory and formulas, he simply couldn’t compete with specialists like Rebecca and Jenny.

But precisely because of his open-mindedness, he sometimes spotted issues beyond the scope of theoretical formulas—problems that even the “locals,” or their “gods,” might inadvertently overlook.

“The key reason gods are immune to the magical tide is the ‘information closed loop.’ Simply put, it’s ‘I observe myself,’” Gawain explained slowly, noticing the astonished looks on Jenny and Rebecca’s faces. “If the Noyan’s ‘Unified Mind Field’ works on the same principle to resist the magical tide, then it must place the mortals within its protective field into the same state…

“By creating an information closed loop, the mortals’ ‘observer effect’ is separated from the real universe outside the shield. Or, to put it in terms we already understand, it’s like wrapping the entire planet in a powerful, chaotic, and non-directional ‘thought current’ that blocks information exchange between us and the ‘real universe’ beyond the barrier…

“So from this perspective, once the Unified Mind Field activates, the collective mortals inside the information closed loop effectively become like a ‘god’—a god defined by the same closed-loop information.”

Rebecca was beginning to grasp the ancestor’s line of thought. Slowly recovering from her shock, she murmured, “So the entire mortal civilization stands in the universe almost like a god, facing the magical tide… This idea is truly… astonishing.”

“But wouldn’t that cause problems?” Jenny looked worried. “If the entire mortal population enters a ‘quasi-divine’ state, wouldn’t that create some kind of… shackles? Like the mental seals and chains of faith we’re facing now—those are also results of thought currents.”

“That’s exactly the crux of the matter,” Gawain interrupted before Jenny could finish. “Our thinking is limited by ourselves. We tend to be overly anxious about gods and all things divine, so we instinctively approach this from intuition rather than rationality. Why do mental seals and chains of faith appear? Because mortals collectively worship an illusory ideal unconditionally and indulge in long-term ‘collective fantasy.’ It’s blind reverence and self-imprisonment that come first, and only afterward do gods arise—not the other way around.

“We must not get this sequence wrong, nor ignore these prerequisites.

“Based on this, a pure ‘information closed loop’ won’t create mental seals or chains of faith, because the loop is formed by a ‘non-directional thought current’—the collective subconscious of countless mortals. This chaotic current involves no explicit worship or reverence, and it doesn’t point to any unified ‘target’—it doesn’t even point to the mortals themselves.

“So when I say the Unified Mind Field treats mortals ‘as if’ they were a god, it doesn’t mean the mortal population actually becomes a god.”

Gawain paused, his gaze sweeping over Jenny and Rebecca, his tone growing solemn. “We shouldn’t be so afraid of gods. Being overly cautious and conservative here is just swinging from one extreme to another. Remember what we said when we first studied the divine power inversion array? As long as we keep a clear head and think rationally, even the power of gods can be transformed into ‘technical means’ in mortal hands.”

Jenny was instantly awakened by his words. She instinctively touched her cheek, her eyes shifting slightly. “Just a technical means… I almost fell into blind conservatism myself… You’re right. We shouldn’t be so afraid of gods. After all, even real gods can be described by theory and formulas!”

Gawain nodded gently, returning his gaze to the blueprints before him. His voice was low and steady. “Our best news now is that the ‘Unified Mind Field’ has become somewhat feasible. It’s no longer a completely unknown phantom.”

“Yes, yes!” Rebecca nodded vigorously. “At first, no one understood what the Noyan’s Unified Mind Field really was, or whether it would work for the Loren people. We didn’t even know if we could build it. So even though we agreed on the ‘Magical Tide Observation Device’ plan in earlier meetings, everyone was uneasy—because we had no clue about ‘protection’ yet…”

Jenny, however, was less optimistic. Despite many problems being solved, her expression remained serious and somber. After a moment of thought, the pale-haired chief runesmith spoke up: “But even so, we’re still far from building a truly usable ‘Unified Mind Field.’ Your Majesty, don’t forget its scale.”

Her words cut through the room like a cold wind, freezing the atmosphere. Even Rebecca’s expression stiffened.

Gawain said nothing—he had known this problem existed all along, and the situation was still far from optimistic.

When the technical experts first received the blueprint for the Unified Mind Field, they were stunned by its staggering scale. After roughly estimating the construction cost and timeline, despair crept in. The Unified Mind Field was a colossal structure covering the entire planet, consisting of countless linked nodes and projection devices scattered worldwide, supported by a massive energy system and distributed control hubs.

Only such a system could form a shield strong enough to protect all humanity… but how long would it take to build?

The Noyan took a full 1,400 years to construct their Unified Mind Field—even accounting for their lower productivity at the time, this was an unimaginable mega-project for the current Loren Alliance.

For the Loren Alliance, with perhaps only a year and a half left before the magical tide reached their homeworld, building the Unified Mind Field from scratch was impossible. But when Jenny and Rebecca examined the Noyan blueprints and saw the neural network and anti-divine barrier architecture, the problem seemed a little less hopeless—whether by luck or coincidence, Cecil had already laid some groundwork for this defense system. At least the project didn’t have to start from zero.

Still, even with the current scale of the neural network and anti-divine barrier, it was far from enough to support a global protective shield.

“I want to confirm one thing first,” Gawain finally spoke after a moment of thought. “Starting with the basics: as the ‘source’ of the anti-divine barrier, how many nodes must the neural network link to support a Unified Mind Field that protects the entire planet?”

In the Noyan system, the neural network—formed by the connected minds of many mortals—acts as the “generator.” It produces a powerful “non-directional thought current,” while the force field generators and projection devices convert this current into the Unified Mind Field (the inverse state of the anti-divine barrier) and project it over the planet. It doesn’t require connecting every human mind to the network, nor does it mean people hide inside the network for refuge.

Theoretically, as long as the neural network reaches a certain threshold of nodes, it can generate a strong enough non-directional thought current to meet the needs.

So the scale of this “basic project” doesn’t necessarily have to cover the entire globe. Especially since the Cecil Empire has already laid some foundation, it might be possible to reach the blueprint’s requirements.

“We’ve only done rough calculations so far,” Jenny, clearly well-prepared, responded to Gawain’s question. “In principle, the more thinking nodes linked in the neural network, the stronger the non-directional thought current produced, and the more effectively it can suppress the observer effect. But in fact, just expanding the current neural network by two to three times would generate enough thought current to activate the shield… Of course, further expansion would improve the effect, but it’s not strictly necessary.”

The existing neural network needs to grow two to three times…

“So, it’s achievable,” Gawain said thoughtfully, his voice low.

“Yes, this part is doable,” Rebecca nodded. “The neural network is developing rapidly domestically, and its adoption in other countries is going smoothly. According to Jenny and me, it might take less than a year and a half for the entire Alliance to triple the number of neural network nodes. This technology is incredibly attractive, and immersion pods are now mass-produced industrially, so scaling up isn’t difficult.”

“So the real challenge lies in the other part,” Gawain said slowly. “The force field projection…”

“According to the Noyan blueprint, we need to cover the entire planet with projection devices to achieve a complete protective effect,” Jenny nodded gently. “Compared to the neural network, these projection devices are the real ‘hard battle’ we can’t avoid. The largest anti-divine barrier generators we’ve made so far only cover a few city blocks, and because they use a lot of precision technology, their production and assembly cycles are very long. In a year and a half… forget covering the whole planet, even half of the southern region is a problem…”

“What if all Alliance countries put their full effort into producing barrier generators?” Rebecca considered, then looked at Jenny. “I remember the elves recently restarted many ancient manufacturing stations. Although the equipment is old, their production efficiency is high, and they can flexibly adjust production modes. Most modern industrial parts can be made there…”

“But only the Silver Empire has that kind of ‘nest egg’ in the Alliance,” Gawain shook his head. “At best, Typhon can throw their ‘money power’ into it, plus the Sea Witches’ deep-sea technology—but even then, it’s probably not enough to fill the gap. We’re facing a planetary-scale project. Even if every Alliance country had Cecil’s production capacity, it might not be enough. Most member states are just beginning industrialization—mostly magic workshops and artisan handcrafting. For such an Alliance to suddenly face a planetary-scale project… this isn’t just the wheel of history arriving at the doorstep—it’s already crushing us under its treads.

“And this is a ‘Warhammer-II’ heavy tank rolling over us.”

“We need to pool our wisdom,” Gawain said after a moment of silence, shaking his head gently. “We need more brilliant minds involved, including scholars from other countries. Now that we understand what the Noyan blueprint actually means, the next step is figuring out how to do it. Contact the Silver Empire’s Astrologers’ Association, Typhon’s Royal Mages’ Guild, the Sea Witches of the deep seas, and the dragons… We need input from all sides and fields. No idea can be overlooked.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Jenny immediately bowed.

“Before we discuss the force field projection issue, expanding and upgrading the neural network must be integrated into the ‘Magical Tide Countermeasure Project,’” Gawain continued. “Although the current growth rate of the neural network can meet the shield’s needs, mere scale increase isn’t enough. We must consider that it will serve as the ‘generator’ of the Unified Mind Field later… We can’t continue with the original plan. We need to re-plan and prepare for future connections with other subsystems.”

He looked up and said to Rebecca, “Go find your aunt. She might have to… work a little overtime.”

“Okay!” Rebecca agreed immediately and turned toward the study door. But halfway there, she suddenly stopped with a creak, pulled her neck back, and glanced at Gawain. “If I tell her that… will I get in trouble?”

Gawain shot her a sharp look. “I’m just passing along the message. Why would she hit you?”

“Oh.” Rebecca nodded, finally reassured, and left the room.

…

At the same time, deep within the Ogure tribal lands, a tranquil night blanketed the ancient forests and mountains. The sacred Ancestor Peak stood tall beneath the starry sky.

At the foot of the peak, Wenna Whitebloom, chieftain of the Grey Elves, stood at the edge of the highest council hall’s balcony in Sainthelm City. She rested her hands on the stone railing, quietly gazing at the mountains bathed in starlight.

Near the summit, faint lights flickered alongside the silhouette of a towering spire.

The cluster of lights marked the fairy tribe’s mountain settlement, while the imposing tower was the Arcane Network’s central hub atop Ancestor Peak—the largest relay tower in the entire Ogure tribal nation.

A slightly hoarse voice came from beside her: “You’ve been staring at Ancestor Peak all day.”

Wenna turned her head and looked up to see a remarkably tall figure standing next to her.

“Camilla, you’re standing too close. It’s tiring to talk looking up like that.”

“Oh, sorry,” the chieftain quickly stepped back half a pace, then cast her gaze toward the towering mountain. “By my reckoning… ‘that lady’ should be arriving about now.”

“Yeah, soon,” Wenna nodded softly. “Stella just sent word from the mountain—she’s received the transmission signal.”

Camilla pursed her lips, hesitating before finally speaking, “…Do you really think the ancestors in the mountain won’t blame us for what we’re doing?”

“If the ancestors truly dwell in that mountain, they’ll be proud of us,” Wenna said slowly after a few seconds of silence, shaking her head. “If they’re not there, then there’s even less reason for us to hesitate.”

Camilla’s pale golden cat-like eyes widened slightly as she quietly studied her childhood friend in the night. After several seconds, she sighed softly, “…You really are a shrewd one—thicker-skinned than I am, no doubt.”

(End of chapter)