ccnovels Chapter 591 - 590: Seven Centuries Later
Chapter 591 - 590: Seven Centuries Later
After intense adjustments, more than ten failed calls and messages, and nearly two hours of agonizing wait, the technicians monitoring the Magic Web Communication Device finally detected a regular feedback signal amid the energy surge from the great walls—
The Magic Web Communication Device temporarily replaced the messaging function of the sentinel towers. It could not acquire the unique magic symbol characteristics of the sentinel towers, but it had the internal messaging key of the Silver Empire. Under normal circumstances, this would be an illegal access request, but today, even an illegal access request would receive a response from the monitoring personnel.
After brief secondary signal adjustments and enhancements, the interference in the channel stabilized to an acceptable level. The human communication terminal and the elf messaging medium achieved a satisfactory result on their first integration. The communication request from Pinnacle Base was first sent to the southern continent in the form of text and voice, and soon received a reply:
"Her Majesty Queen Belsetia will take the call."
"We have received higher-level authorization, the image is about to connect," Sonia stood by the communicator, slightly awkwardly identifying the characters on the holographic projection, then prompted the operator beside her, "Open the second channel—the throne area’s communication signal is separate."
Gawain looked up at the disordered, jittering illusion projection above the Magic Web Terminal. Moments later, it began to stabilize, and faintly discernible light and shadows emerged from the chaotic colors and lines, eventually forming a relatively clear image.
The image still had a lot of interference, but considering the signal crossed the entire Gondor wasteland and spanned the entire continent, the effect was already quite satisfactory.
A blonde-haired elf woman, crowned and wearing a court dress with a white base and gold trim adorned with intricate lace, appeared at the center of the image.
The leader of the elves, the queen of the Silver Empire for this millennium and the next, ruler of the Sacred Stars Temple, dominator of the Ancestral Forests and Silver Forest, Belsetia Morningstar.
She sat there, with a delicate and noble appearance as rumored, having the appearance of a "treasure created by the gods," while a majesty enveloped her entire being, making anyone who saw her instantly aware of her status as the empire’s ruler. Her throne was the legendary "Sovereignty Chair," with countless pipes and cables extending from the crystallized ancient technology behind her like strange wings. The ruler sat quietly on her throne, her gaze first sweeping over Sonia before landing on Gawain.
Her expression seemed to change slightly, her majestic eyes softening a little: "Duke Gawain Cecil, your revival is indeed true—thanks to the protection of the forest and the ancient spirits, this is truly a miraculous reunion."
"You are indeed very different from what I remember," Gawain remarked sincerely, sifting through the inherited memories in his mind, "Queen Belsetia."
In Gawain Cecil’s memories, the queen was still a little girl who would run around, love "adventures," and be wide-eyed at the heroic stories fabricated by Charlie and others. Gawain’s initial impression of Belsetia was based on this, but at this moment, those distant memories were gradually fading away.
Seven centuries later, the once little girl finally grew up into an empire’s ruler.
"You are still the same as in my memory," Belsetia smiled slightly, "Call me by my name, as before."
"Then I won’t stand on ceremony—you know I don’t like formalities," Gawain nodded, "As you can see, we have rebuilt the North-South channel of the continent, utilizing some of our new technologies—I’ll give you a detailed introduction later. Before that, High-ranked Order Messenger Sonia has more important matters to report."
It was a reunion after seven hundred years, yet both deeply understood they had no leisure for casual reminiscences.
"Yes, Your Majesty," Sonia stepped forward immediately, "An emergency has occurred, and I had to agree to establish this emergency channel—I need to report to you about the great walls and the Oblivion Association. Your Majesty, our sentinel towers have been infiltrated, and there are terrible breaches in the great walls system..."
Belsetia’s expression quickly turned serious: "Explain in detail."
...
The narration did not last long, as Sonia, the high-ranked messenger, knew well how to convey information clearly and concisely. She soon explained to Queen Belsetia her and Gawain’s experiences in the sentinel towers, especially the vines found in the shadow realm. Gawain then supplemented information about the Shadow Bridge, and how Oblivion Association believers might be using it to send signals into the wasteland.
After listening to the information, Belsetia pondered with a slightly furrowed brow. Her expression was obviously not good. After a brief silence, she looked at Sonia: "Sonia, the vines you discovered have already withered, correct?"
"Yes, but it cannot be ruled out that ’Shadow Vines’ at other sentinel towers might still be alive," Sonia said sternly, "Moreover, even if the vines have withered, the damage they caused to the sentinel towers hasn’t disappeared—through some unknown mapping method, the sentinel towers in the shadow realm are also affecting the operation of the high towers in the real world. Bannar the Magician has already determined that several key systems of the sentinel towers have varying degrees of damage, and these abnormal signals caused by the damage have been tampered with and concealed previously."
"Order Bannar the Magician to send all the data back. I will immediately have the Association of Astrologers research solutions," Belsetia’s voice was full of authority, "Additionally, I will command the Royal Druid Council to confirm whether there are fallen Druid sects operating within the Silver Empire’s territory, and you should maintain contact with the Empire at all times."
She then paused, turning her gaze towards Gawain: "Duke Cecil—you said earlier that this special communication line is built on human technology?"
"Strictly speaking, it’s the technology of the Cecil Principality," Gawain nodded, "The overall technology of Anzu is severely fragmented, with significant differences in development. The Cecil Principality was reconstructed after my revival, and we are attempting to follow a unique technological path, which I have named ’Magic Guide.’ The current communication system is one of the technological achievements of it. Lady Sonia has stayed on my side for a considerable time, and she should have her own elf perspective on Magic Guide Technology."
"Indeed, Your Majesty," Sonia said, with a hint of emotion in her expression, "After we arrived here, we witnessed many unimaginable things. Magic Guide Technology holds a very different...concept from old magic skills. It’s practical, very practical in many fields, and we are now using its power to construct the first layer of the power convergence ring for the Sub-Tower..."
Before Gawain, Sonia reported to Queen Belsetia about her messenger team’s experiences and activities in Anzu—of course, she reported briefly, with only publicly accessible content. During her report, Gawain took the time to sort out his thoughts.
He finally succeeded in establishing contact with the Silver Empire in the far south of the continent, and with this ancient civilization containing countless treasured knowledge, contact was established. This held an undeniable significance for him.
He needed to think of a way to make the Silver Empire turn into Sociology+8.jpg (×)
We need to swap some ancestor technology from the Silver Empire’s treasury (√)
He pondered the possibility of deep exchanges with the Silver Empire, contemplating how to exchange for the miraculous technology held by this ancient civilization—although he had already replicated quite a bit from the sentinel towers, he understood the significant gap between those scattered pieces and truly complete technical data.
After studying those anti-gravity symbols, Kamel sent him a message explicitly indicating the presence of incomplete, difficult-to-parse, and encrypted parts within those rune arrays. Although they still held significant reference value, transforming them into usable technology was evidently not easy. Kamel believed simply relying on copying some symbols from the sentinel towers for analysis was far from sufficient. To achieve the highest efficiency in gaining technological achievements, it was best to engage in open exchanges with the elves.
Gawain, already hoping to establish good relations with the Silver Empire, wholeheartedly agreed with this.
The conversation between Sonia and Belsetia concluded, and the latter’s attention returned to Gawain. The queen nodded gently: "You are still leading your people forward, forging new lands, just like seven hundred years ago."
"Survival isn’t easy, only development can enable survival on the edge of the wasteland," Gawain carefully weighed his words, speaking unhurriedly, "Indeed, I was intending to take this opportunity to discuss Cecil’s development with you—frankly, since we’ve established this communication channel, the Cecil Principality hopes to establish closer... exchanges with the Silver Empire."
"Exchanges?" Belsetia’s eyebrows raised slightly, "What kind of exchanges do you mean?"
Gawain met her gaze and decided to get to the point: "Technological ones. We are interested in the Silver Empire’s anti-gravity technology, rune stacking technology, barrier technology, among other fields. Also, Cecil’s Magic Guide Technology should hold some reference value for the elves. The sentinel towers’ malfunction reminded us that the ’security barrier’ we built back in the day might not be secure enough, yet humanity has stagnated for too many years. In this world becoming increasingly perilous, we must find ways to break this stagnation—development, only development is the hard truth."
Belsetia seemed surprised that Gawain would speak of these things, while Sonia beside her bore a slightly knowing expression: when exploring the sentinel towers earlier, Gawain’s attitude foreshadowed such developments; this resurrected old friend took great interest in the elves’ knowledge.
This High-ranked Order Messenger recalled a conversation with her son not long ago; remembering Soldrin’s words, she decided to observe for now, to see the queen’s attitude.
Belsetia did not immediately respond. After contemplating briefly, she said: "Duke Cecil, could we discuss this alone?"
Gawain agreed gladly: "Of course."
The accompanying personnel soon left their respective rooms, leaving Belsetia alone in the Hall of Domination and Gawain in the Magic Web Communication room. The communication line between them was an encrypted connection by the Elven Royal Court, enabling them to commence a private dialogue across the continent.
The holographic projection of Belsetia was still seated on the throne. She initially gazed at Gawain quietly, then suddenly sighed: "We don’t need to keep rigid, do we?"
Gawain was slightly perplexed for a moment but quickly regained his composure: "You are now a queen—it’s inevitable."
"I was also a queen back then, Uncle Gawain," Belsetia smiled softly—in fact, she maintained her regal demeanor as the Silver Queen, yet her smile and tone were evidently more approachable than before, "But you are right, I am the queen, so I must keep my composure during formal occasions. However, now in private, let’s relax a bit."
"I would be delighted," Gawain also smiled, "So, Belsetia—how does it feel sitting on the Sovereignty Chair?"
"It’s rather mundane most of the time; this temple doesn’t require complex control to operate automatically," the Silver Queen blinked, "And you? You really... have returned?"
"Indeed, I have returned to this world to face a mess," Gawain spread his hands, sighed flamboyantly, "I would love to talk about my resurrection experience with you, but let’s address business first. I’m serious about technological exchange; it benefits both Cecil and the Silver Empire."
"Uncle Gawain, I am willing to trust you," the Silver Queen’s demeanor grew serious, "That’s why I wanted to talk to you individually—I am no longer the naive girl who could pass national affairs onto the administrative council and act recklessly. As the Silver Queen, I owe responsibility to my Empire, so... whether it’s technological exchanges or anything else, I must consider prudently before responding, and I hope you understand."
"Prudent consideration is necessary," Gawain nodded, then suddenly showed a bit of curiosity, "However, you seem not to have too many doubts about my proposal for ’technological exchange’? Aren’t you curious that the magic skills of elves and humans... historically don’t integrate?"
"But you’ve found a way for humans to release elven spells through some device, haven’t you?"
This time Gawain was truly taken aback: "How do you know?"
The continental communication between north and south was severed; the Cecil–Silver Empire line was only established today, Sonia shouldn’t have had time to relay this information back to the homeland.
"I am not oblivious to happenings in the northern continent: your resurrection, the destruction and rebirth of Cecil, the wars in the south of Anzu, the civil war between Anzu’s two princes, the friction between Typhon and Anzu, Francis II’s death, and... Magic Guide Technology," Belsetia smirked, "Yes, I don’t fully understand; Sonia’s descriptions provided me a clearer understanding of what Magic Guide Technology is. But I at least know they exist. After all, I am the Silver Queen."
Sobered up by the repeated ’Uncle Gawain’ from the other party, he scrutinized the holographic projection of Belsetia anew, reassessing this individual who had been close to "him" seven hundred years ago but now sits on the Sovereignty Chair as the Empire’s ruler.
"Since you know our Magic Guide Technology can translate and control elven runes, surely you understand the significance of Magic Guide Technology," Gawain spoke steadily, "It’s a technology capable of breaking the barriers between elven and human magic skills, and I believe it can also help you decode those lost ancestral technologies—a new perspective whose significance in technology, I’m sure, need not be emphasized by me."
"Can it truly be that effective?"
"Of course, when have I ever deceived you, my dear niece?"