Chapter 1514: The Malice of This World
Gawain’s sudden change in demeanor made Amber quite nervous. As the atmosphere shifted, her voice instinctively dropped several octaves when she spoke. “You know? What did the Lady of the Night’s warning mean?”
“Our plan to resist the Maelstrom,” Gawain lifted his eyelids slightly, locking eyes with Amber. “Do you still remember what the core element of all our anti-Maelstrom strategies is?”
“The core element?” Amber paused for a moment, then quickly caught on. Though she wasn’t a technical expert, she had at least grasped the general idea. “It should be the Mind Unification Field… I recall it’s based on the ‘inverted’ state of the anti-divinity barrier, extracting chaotic currents from the neural network and then… something like that. In the end, it blocks the Maelstrom.”
“Exactly. The Mind Unification Field is a defensive barrier created by manipulating the non-directed currents within the neural network,” Gawain nodded slowly, his expression darkening to something almost frightening. “The Lady of the Night’s warning was about this very thing.”
Amber froze, struggling to piece together the logic behind it. Several seconds passed before her mind seemed to catch up. “You mean the process where we convert the non-directed currents in the neural network into the Mind Unification Field? The ‘large-scale manipulation of currents’ mentioned in her warning refers to this? Wait, that can’t be right… Non-directed currents aren’t the same as the currents directed at the gods. And we’ve been using the anti-divinity barrier for so long without any issues.”
“That’s true. The anti-divinity barrier technology is safe, and manipulating non-directed currents is also safe. Simply reaching this stage doesn’t affect the gods’ ‘operation,’” Gawain said, his voice low as he stared at Amber. “But the problem lies in another link… Using non-directed currents to resist the Maelstrom could have very serious consequences.”
Amber’s eyes widened. She stared at Gawain for a long moment before finally making up her mind. “Maybe you should just speak in Common Tongue—I’m sure you know how my brain works…”
“Final Rebellion,” Gawain said bluntly.
Amber: “…What?!”
“We’ve all overlooked one thing: the Maelstrom comes from the depths of the cosmos!” Gawain took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down as he carefully laid out his terrifying theory. “Non-directed currents are still currents. Though they don’t point toward the gods, their other end is very much connected to mortals. They’re essentially an extension of the collective subconscious of countless mortals.
“Do you understand? If we think of the neural network as a ‘brain’ formed by thousands upon thousands of mortals, then the ‘non-directed currents’ deep within it are like the brain’s subconscious. This subconscious is part of the collective consciousness of all living beings. Though chaotic, ever-changing, and lacking clear awareness, it still belongs entirely to mortals’ perception of the world… By now, you should be able to connect the dots. Do you remember the activation condition for the Final Rebellion?”
“The activation condition for the Final Rebellion…” Amber’s face grew serious, her expression mirroring Gawain’s. “When mortal cognition surpasses the boundaries of this planet and begins to directly contact outer space, the gods lose control due to the breakdown of their ‘information closed-loop structure.’ That process is the Final Rebellion…”
“Exactly. When mortals break free from planetary constraints and step outside the ‘mythological knowledge system,’ it triggers the Final Rebellion,” Gawain nodded slowly. “But we’ve been trapped by inertia, thinking that only sending astronauts into space could cause this. Our mindset was so rigid that we almost ignored the essence behind it—if the activation condition is ‘mortal cognition crossing boundaries,’ then even if no one physically goes into space, as long as this boundary is crossed, the gods will still lose control!”
Amber’s breathing grew faintly rapid. After a brief pause, Gawain continued in a grave tone: “Everything hinges on ‘cognitive boundary crossing.’ We’ve always believed only mortal actions could cause this crossing, but the world changes. The universe isn’t a static stage. It won’t remain still just because mortals behave. The Maelstrom, as a ‘primordial wave’ oscillating among the stars, is itself a form of ‘boundary-crossing information’—and it’s an active boundary-crossing force descending upon the earth.”
Amber inhaled softly. “Even if we stop at the edge of the stars, the stars will still come crashing down on us…”
“Yes. The stars will come crashing down. And once the Mind Unification Field based on non-directed currents contacts the Maelstrom, it’s as if mortals collectively embrace the mysteries between the stars. The Final Rebellion will instantly ignite. That’s exactly what the Lady of the Night wanted to warn us about,” Gawain said, clenching his fingers. “The key isn’t in ‘manipulating currents,’ but in what we use that manipulation for…”
“Wait, that can’t be right,” Amber suddenly seemed to recall something. “Then what about the Dragon God helping Tal’Rond resist the Maelstrom for over a million years? According to your reasoning, once the currents touch the ‘stellar truths’ within the Maelstrom, wouldn’t the gods be immediately corrupted? How come the Dragon God was fine?”
“That’s another blind spot in our thinking—and in the Dragon God Enya’s own thinking,” Gawain shook his head with a bitter smile. “One end of the currents is mortals, the other is the gods. We often describe this as ‘two ends of a chain,’ to show that both mortals and gods are victims of the Mind Seal. But in reality, the ‘states’ of these two ends differ.
“The gods’ end is the ‘result’ formed after the currents are projected. When the gods take shape, the information in this projection has already formed a closed loop—like closing their eyes. Unless they undergo rites of passage like the dragons or gods like Amon and Mylmina abandon their divine status, this closed-loop state remains. In other words, gods don’t actively absorb new information from the real world; they only receive information from mortals.
“The mortals’ end, however, is the ‘origin’ of the projection. The mortal world is in constant flux, and the collective mortal mind is directly connected to reality. This end can never be closed—it always retains the ability to input new information and transmits that to the gods. To put it simply, in a system with input and output, the output can’t be changed once produced; only new input can potentially corrupt the entire system…”
Gawain finished explaining his entire line of reasoning. He expected Amber might need some time to process it, but to his surprise, she grasped it faster than he anticipated.
As soon as he finished, Amber nodded, then muttered in a strange tone after barely two seconds of thought: “In your words, within this system of mortals and gods, mortals have more subjective initiative, right? So whether the system evolves for better or worse, it will start with the side that has subjective initiative—and the Mind Unification Field’s effect is centered on all mortals.”
Gawain nodded gravely. “Sometimes I wish you wouldn’t summarize what I say so precisely, because whenever you do, it usually means bad news.”
Amber caught his teasing with practiced ease, not even changing her expression. “Don’t get ahead of yourself with compliments. Let’s focus on how to solve this huge problem first. If what you say is true, then when the Maelstrom arrives, we’re doomed no matter what. If the Mind Unification Field contacts the Maelstrom, it triggers the Final Rebellion. So if we don’t block it, we die in the Maelstrom; if we do block it, we die at the hands of the gods. Then what about the Noyans…”
Gawain gave Amber a wry look. “Did you forget? The Noyans… have already come of age.”
Amber: “…Oh, damn…”
Gawain sighed inwardly. The cruelest irony and the biggest pitfall in this world was probably just that. It was like preparing perfectly for an exam—memorizing every formula, every word, every text, even every punctuation mark—confidently stepping into the exam room, only to see the teacher wheel in a pull-up bar and say, “First test: pull-ups.”
Of course, the analogy wasn’t perfect, but it wasn’t far off either.
“So, the prerequisite for resisting the Maelstrom is to first complete the rite of passage… There’s actually an order to this,” Amber finally snapped out of her shock and frustration. She blinked twice, her face uglier than tears. “The Noyans sent so much info before—why didn’t they mention this even once?”
“They didn’t know our situation—and besides, would it have helped if they did?” Gawain shook his head. “The Maelstrom will arrive on schedule in a year and a half. It won’t stop halfway just because the Noyans warned us to wait until we finish our exams. This world has always operated strictly and coldly according to natural laws. If a civilization gets crushed… it just gets crushed.”
“That doesn’t sound like something you’d normally say,” Amber couldn’t help but look into Gawain’s eyes. “Are you… losing hope? I mean, no offense, but even if you are, it’s understandable. After all, it’s mortals fighting against natural order. Still, I’ll stand with you till the end. In my heart, you’re already the best person in this world.”
Gawain looked at Amber with some surprise. He hadn’t expected this usually loud and flighty girl to suddenly say something so sincere. He quickly smiled and reached out, ruffling her already messy hair. “Thanks for the support. But don’t worry, I’m not about to give up over this. I’ve just come to see the true face of this world more clearly—and from the perspective of knowing your enemy, that’s a good thing.
“We’ll keep resisting the Maelstrom. We’ll keep producing projection devices, keep modifying the neural network, keep pushing the homeworld barrier project. The Maelstrom observation devices in Augray won’t stop either. Even if everything we just discussed is true, none of this will stop—not for a second.”
Amber’s eyes widened in surprise. “Then what about the Lady of the Night’s warning…”
“We’ll actively prepare to face the gods’ backlash. In the time before the barrier is finally activated, we’ll look for a way out,” Gawain said seriously. “As long as the barrier isn’t activated, as long as the Maelstrom hasn’t arrived—if there’s even twenty-four hours left—the Final Rebellion won’t happen. We still have a chance.”
“We can choose not to activate the barrier after it’s built, but at least we still have that choice. It’s better than not building the barrier at all—because if we later find out that the problem of the Final Rebellion could have been solved, but we missed the chance to build the barrier due to hesitation and indecision, that would be truly unbearable.”
Looking into Gawain’s still bright eyes and his seemingly unyielding expression, Amber suddenly felt as if this man could never be broken by anything.
And the pressure that had just surfaced in her heart—the shadow cast by the Final Rebellion—seemed to dissipate, inspired and eased by Gawain’s steadfast resolve.
As the shadow lifted, her sluggish thoughts began to stir again. Suddenly, Amber seemed to have an idea. “Now that I think about it… could Lady Night’s ‘unusual actions’ be her way of trying to solve the problem of the Final Rebellion?”
“That’s very likely,” Gawain said, clearly having considered the same possibility. “Since she’s sending us this warning, it means she doesn’t want this civilization to perish from the Final Rebellion just as it’s about to successfully resist the magical tide. Whether that’s her own will or a directive left by the Forerunners, it’s possible she’s secretly lending a hand. But we can’t be sure how far she’ll go to help.”
“How far she’ll help…” Amber stroked her chin thoughtfully. “We’ve discussed before that she probably won’t just step in and beat the current gods into submission, but it’s quite possible she’s meddling with the ‘Chains of Faith’—and that’s exactly the focus of the Divine Council’s work… So what exactly is she planning to do?”
“Don’t get stuck on that,” Gawain interrupted, noticing Amber was already lost in thought over the question. “Lady Night has her own plans. We can’t pin all our hopes on an ancient god stepping in to save us—besides, hasn’t she already extended an invitation? Maybe the answer lies within that invitation. For now, we should focus on the problems we can actually solve.”
Amber shook her head, pushing the perplexing question aside for the moment. “You’re right. So what’s your plan next? Should we inform Typhon, Silver, and Talrond about this? Should we make our theories about the Mind Unification Field and the Final Rebellion public? I have a feeling that if we’re thinking about this, others will figure it out sooner or later…”
“Exactly. They will figure it out eventually. Even without Lady Night’s warning, there are always clever minds around,” Gawain said seriously. “In fact, Typhon has already given a clear response, and I imagine Silver and Talrond are weighing things similarly. Let’s just gather them all together and face this… malice of the world as one.”
(End of chapter)
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