Chapter 821: A New Network Project

The flickering runes gradually dimmed one by one, and the humming crystal apparatus began its cooling process. Rosetta Augustus, seated in a specially designed chair, opened his eyes and slowly emerged from a mental state somewhere between reality and illusion.

He exhaled softly, feeling a rare sense of mental relaxation. Without hesitation, he rose from the magical device.

“If you feel mentally exhausted, you can rest on it a bit longer,” Ms. Windsor Mapel said from nearby. “Though it can’t cure the curse, at least it can ease your mind.”

“Using soul anesthesia to relieve stress is effective, but long-term use weakens one’s will,” Rosetta replied calmly. “This will do. Ms. Mapel, what’s the situation?”

Windsor Mapel’s gaze was steady as she looked at Rosetta and nodded slightly. “I attempted to probe your soul and consciousness. The spiritual contamination has indeed returned to normal levels, and there’s no sign of external interference. We can basically rule out the possibility that someone tampered with your mental world.”

“…So the cause isn’t within myself…” Rosetta mused briefly. “Ms. Mapel, what’s your take on this?”

“As a scholar, I won’t jump to conclusions without sufficient evidence, but I can share my thoughts. The curse on the Augustus family is linked to divine spiritual pollution, which inherently transcends time and space and distorts reality. It’s almost impervious to mortal forces. Recently, your curse has fluctuated abnormally, and since it’s unrelated to your own mental state, that means the source of the curse itself was disturbed. Only a force equal or close in power to it could cause such a disturbance…”

“Equal or close in power…” Rosetta furrowed his brow. “There have been no unusual events reported by churches across the land, and it’s been a long time since any deity directly issued a divine decree. Even the upheaval in the Holy Light Church of the Cecil Empire hasn’t affected Typhon…”

He suddenly looked up. “Ms. Mapel, have you received any recent reports on your end?”

“All the magical communication towers have reported no anomalies,” Windsor Mapel shook her head. “But their coverage is limited, and lower-level mages may not accurately identify supernatural phenomena related to deities. Many reports are delayed and take a long time to reach the capital. I’ll keep monitoring the intelligence and report to you immediately if anything arises.”

“Hm…” Rosetta nodded slightly, then frowned with a hint of frustration. “Communication towers… If only there were more of them, or if their coverage was broader.”

“The cost is a real problem, and there aren’t enough mages to maintain such large facilities,” Windsor Mapel said helplessly. “Actually, after completing the Imperial Road project and especially with the introduction of the magi-powered trains, communication efficiency between remote regions and the capital has improved dramatically. Information that once took nearly a month to travel from the western provinces to the capital now takes only a few days. That’s already a huge improvement.”

“Still not enough. Remember the warning from the Industrial Department’s advisory panel? Factory throughput cycles are measured in days or even hours. If fluctuations in raw materials from remote areas can’t be reported to the cities in time, it could cause a catastrophic chain reaction within days. And behind that is the flow of capital, which requires timely intelligence transmission. Machines have accelerated everything, but Aldern’s ability to respond to and control the southern and western regions is far from sufficient.”

“Those factory owners…” Windsor Mapel instinctively frowned, a trace of disdain in her voice. “Your Majesty, forgive me for being blunt, but they’re exaggerating the facts and trying to use ‘specialized terminology’ to emphasize their importance. In reality, they just want you to loosen the communication tower permissions and share the already limited transmission quotas from the Royal Mage Association.”

“I can see through that,” Rosetta said calmly. “But at least part of what they say is true—especially with Cecil’s rise, our weaknesses are becoming critical.”

Cecil…

Hearing that name, which had been appearing more and more frequently in imperial newspapers and internal reports, Windsor Mapel’s expression grew serious.

She was a senior mage and an imperial advisor, frequently involved in state affairs and in contact with various council members. She was well aware of what Emperor Rosetta Augustus was worried about—and that his concerns were justified.

Without a rapidly rising Cecil, the Typhon people wouldn’t have much to worry about. Many issues wouldn’t even be recognized as problems—like the communication towers’ shortcomings. Every Typhon citizen believed the empire’s abundant mages and strategically placed towers were sufficient. With the newly renovated imperial roads and new transportation methods, the improved intelligence transmission was more than enough for the current situation. No one thought the system was inefficient; many even believed it was advanced enough to last a century without upgrades.

But right next door was a swiftly rising Cecil—a neighbor whose rapid development brought many “new things” to Typhon, like magitech and competitive pressure.

Intelligence operatives risked their lives to deliver valuable information, much of it describing Cecil’s cutting-edge technology. These reports allowed Emperor Rosetta and the more perceptive council members to detect some of the empire’s weaknesses ahead of time.

This was the pressure of comparison.

“Their magic network communication is developing rapidly. Although it’s based on remote transmission magic, they’ve clearly solved the cost and manpower issues—that’s the consistent advantage of magitech, and the Cecilians have exploited it fully,” Windsor Mapel said slowly. “We’ve always prided ourselves on a professional and large mage corps, but it’s clear the Cecilians’ use of machines to replace mages is more efficient—at least in communication technology.”

As president of the Royal Mage Association, it wasn’t easy for her to say this, but she knew that even if she didn’t, the insightful Rosetta Augustus had long seen through it. Moreover, her mentor Daniel was the empire’s foremost magitech master, and many of his creations had already shaken the traditionalists in the association. The facts were undeniable.

“Magic network communication is a good technology,” Rosetta said seriously. “We must master it or find ways to improve our communication towers, no matter the cost.”

He suddenly asked, “Have we analyzed the ‘magic network terminal’ the merchants brought earlier?”

At the mention of technology, Windsor Mapel’s expression turned serious. She knew exactly what Rosetta meant—the machine a brave western merchant smuggled across the border at great risk, hiding it among furs and spices to evade Cecil’s border inspections. After returning home, he presented it to the emperor. That precious device now lay in the Imperial Engineering Association’s lab, being analyzed by a technical team led by Daniel.

“We dismantled it into parts and reconstructed its complex and exquisite rune and crystal structure. We might be able to replicate an identical machine soon, but that’s meaningless,” Windsor Mapel shook her head. “The Cecilians embedded a very strange set of runes inside. It’s not conventional transmission magic; it even has divine magic characteristics. No one can yet decipher their exact function or meaning. I’m very curious where the Cecilians got the inspiration to combine such a bizarre formation…”

“Master Daniel warned us that if we don’t fully understand each rune’s meaning, blindly copying the device would be very dangerous. The Cecilians might have hidden traps inside—they could directly cut off or even eavesdrop on our copies.”

“Master Daniel is wise; his warnings are always sound,” Rosetta nodded slowly. “We must treat that machine cautiously, extract what we can use, and the rest… we’ll figure it out eventually.”

“If only we could get the original prototype or the original rune blueprints…” Windsor Mapel sighed. “Prototypes, before simplification and optimization, often reveal clear technical ideas that might help us unlock those runes’ secrets… But that’s just wishful thinking.”

Rosetta’s expression darkened, and he said nothing more.

…

In Cecil Palace, in a study lined with blue velvet tapestries, Gawain recounted his experiences in the dream world to Hetty and the others. He described the end of Sandbox One, the confrontation with the Overarching Narrator, and the current status of the Sleeper after the incident.

The bizarre and inexplicable “Divine Descent Crisis” left everyone in the room wide-eyed (except for Kamail, who gave a brief nod). The mysterious and perilous nature of the gods deeply unsettled them. What struck them even more was that all this had happened just last night—

Last night was calm and peaceful in Cecil, but in a world beyond reality, everything was turned upside down. A divine descent crisis even erupted far away in Typhon, giving Hetty and the others a strong sense of unreality.

After digesting the massive amount of information from their ancestor, Hetty quickly shifted into work mode. She pondered aloud, “The Sleeper’s transfer should have already begun. I’ll immediately initiate the empire’s coordination—before Aldern reacts, we should have time to relocate core personnel and technical data…”

“Some technical data will be sent ahead through the psychic network,” Gawain said. “Although the Sleeper’s headquarters is gone, their psychic network is still running, albeit in its lowest-efficiency ‘basic mode.’ It can no longer support the Dream City, but simple data transmission is still possible. Of course, for obvious reasons, the most critical data won’t be sent—they’ll take it with them until our trains bring them to safety.”

Hetty frowned instinctively. “At a time like this…”

“That’s a normal reaction—if they didn’t do that, I’d worry about the intelligence of those core personnel and the authenticity of the data,” Gawain said with a smile. “Rest assured, the Sleeper has mastered psychic powers and has been hiding in Typhon for years. They’re experts at survival and escape. We shouldn’t worry about Aldern catching and killing them before they get out.”

“Your Majesty,” Kamail, floating nearby, spoke up, “Since the Sleeper’s psychic network is switching to basic mode, will our Origin Lab be affected?”

“In theory… it can continue operating, because the Origin Space doesn’t use the Dream City’s computing power. It’s built on the psychic network’s ‘base layer,’ which runs under any circumstances,” Gawain thought for a moment, then made a wry comment about squeezing every last bit of advantage. Then he shifted tone. “But I’m already planning to modify and transfer the Origin Space, including a large-scale overhaul of the Sleeper’s entire psychic network, to bring it under our control and make it safer. Now is clearly the best opportunity. So I plan to temporarily shut down the current Origin Space. Kamail, how is our ‘immersion pod network’ progressing?”

“We’ve already successfully established a network within the lab environment and conducted simulated operations independent of the Sleeper’s neural network. We’re currently fine-tuning the overall stability of the system, enhancing its compatibility with the Arcane Communication Network, and making some modifications to the immersion pods to reduce their burden, making them more suitable for untrained civilians. The specially designed unit sent to the Grant Territory is a successful example, and we’re now developing a civilian version based on it.”

“Excellent. This is a crucial step in reforming the Sleeper Cult and building our own network,” Gawain nodded with satisfaction, a faint smile gradually appearing on his face. “Since things are progressing smoothly on this front… Kamail, I have a new project for you. It can be developed alongside what you’re currently working on.”

Kamail emitted a low hum. “A new project?”

“The ‘Narrator Neural Network,’” Gawain said with a smile. “The cutting-edge communication system of the future will be built upon it.”

(End of chapter)