Mary left with a face full of confusion and a hint of carefully hidden anticipation. anwhile, Daniel stood quietly on the dim staircase for a long ti. His once-burly physique was now hunched and cloaked in a black robe, from which an artificial nerve cord extended from the back of his neck, trembling and emitting a very faint rustling sound. He looked like a faded oil painting blending into the dark background, with a withered and fierce face full of the cracks left by ti.
But after standing for a long ti, this faded painting was once again injected with a touch of vitality. Daniel blinked, nodded slightly in the direction Mary had left, then turned around and slowly ascended to the top of the Mage tower.
In his mind, he again conjured up mories from more than a decade ago, a ti when he wasn’t completely hysterical and hadn’t lost control due to nerve modification surgeries. Back then, he was mostly clear-headed and still maintained a gentle deanor toward his apprentices.
But then, frustrations encountered while exploring the truth of Magic shattered him. The Eternal Sleepers’ neurosurgery and brainwave technology transford his mind into that of a monster. He lost the ability to stay lucid and control his emotions in exchange for forbidden knowledge from those evil cult followers...
Recently, however, his reasoning and self-control abilities have returned—though not fully, they indeed partially ca back.
Daniel walked up the long spiral staircase to the upper part of the Mage tower, where his personal room was located. He opened the heavy, dark wooden door and stepped inside.
The room was furnished with all sorts of items that suited the tastes of an old Mage like him: sturdy wooden tables and chairs, carved bookshelves and display stands, iron candelabras, and an alchemy platform. In the center of the room was a magic fire pan that could control the operation of the entire Mage tower. In addition to these furnishings, every surface of the room’s walls, floor, and ceiling was covered with strange and mysterious symbols and patterns.
They were neither the dream arrays of the Eternal Sleepers nor any known magic symbol systems. Even the self-important Royal Mages of the imperial capital couldn’t boast of accessing such incredible things.
These symbols and patterns were gifted to him by the "Master", and their power far surpassed what human intellect could comprehend.
Daniel didn’t know the principles behind these symbols and patterns; he only knew that these things benefited him imnsely.
After closing the door, the old Mage ca to the fire pan at the center of the room, sprinkled so incense into it, and then relaxed his mind amidst the soothing aroma, admiring the symbols and patterns in the room as if appreciating a piece of art.
Those complex and mysterious symbols and patterns, though seemingly bewildering enough to drive anyone mad if looked at for too long, actually had quite the opposite effect. Surrounded by these symbols and patterns, Daniel felt a swift surge of positive and uplifting energy in his heart. A sound, like a gentle wave, echoed in his mind. He felt as though he were subrged in soft seawater, with countless pleasant thoughts and reflections erging, gradually healing his severely torn and distorted soul, even restoring his neural tissues.
He’d thought that the damage deep within his nervous system was incurable—a "gift" from being seduced by the Eternal Sleepers many years ago. The outdated technology and his operational errors at the ti left significant risks during the nerve cord connection, causing maddening noises and faint stings that tornted him for over a decade, directly resulting in his paranoid mania. Yet, such damage was unexpectedly healed by these complex and eerie "pictures"...a miracle only the Master could create.
Daniel enjoyed this pleasant atmosphere slowly, but he still rembered the Master’s warning: when strange thoughts suddenly popped into his mind, such as "Should I dig into big squid?", he imdiately severed this obsession, snapping back to clarity in an instant.
This was one of the reasons why, after receiving these "gifts," he sealed them within his room, preventing his apprentices from getting involved. Although the Master didn’t issue an order about this, he felt that those apprentices with frail wills might not be able to break free once touching these symbols and patterns, unlike himself. They might even be led astray by the thoughts in their heads and jump into the sea to drown.
After coming back to his senses, Daniel shifted his attention away from those patterns—after adapting, resisting the power of these patterns wasn’t too difficult—and recalled what apprentice Mary had told him and the orders given by the Master, then moved towards a magic circle located in the corner of the room.
He connected his nerve cord to a node on the magic circle and began to call upon the indescribable "Master"...
...
At the southern borders of Anzu, inside the feudal lord’s mansion in the Cecil Main City, Gawain had just finished reviewing a report from the Kant Region. He stretched lazily, about to reach out for another docunt when his movent abruptly stopped.
Aunt Heidi, who had been standing at the desk to deliver docunts, noticed this and imdiately asked with concern, "Ancestor, are you alright?"
This "Cecil’s Great Steward" was sowhat worried, after all, the elder ancestor was really quite old, though outwardly still vigorous and beast-like, who knew if he’d pull a muscle while stretching...
Of course, she didn’t dare to speak her thoughts—such was sothing Rebecca would do.
As a mature and steady Great Steward, Aunt Heidi would only quietly worry in her heart, and then secretly add a serving of bone broth to the elder ancestor’s dinner.
Gawain would never imagine how many strange thoughts were hidden in the head of the usually calm and elegant Aunt Heidi. He simply waved his hand: "It’s nothing, I just need to ditate for a mont... go find Amber and have her stand guard."
"Amber is probably tied up with the Intelligence Agency. I’ll stay and keep watch," Aunt Heidi said, frowning slightly. "I’ve also heard Amber ntion that you occasionally suddenly ditate... Is it a health issue?"
"Health issue? Oh, definitely not," Gawain hesitated for a mont, then waved with a mix of humor and helplessness, "You’ll know in the future. You can stand guard for Amber, just don’t let anyone disturb . If sothing urgent arises, just give my shoulder a good pat."
"Yes." Aunt Heidi lowered her head, replying earnestly, and silently decided to instruct the kitchen to add an egg to the old ancestor’s dinner later.
anwhile, Gawain was already beginning to empty his mind. Monts later, he had entered the hidden space located in the crevice of the Mind Network, a space he had "stolen" for himself.
The old Mage Daniel was already waiting in the space. Seeing Gawain appear, he imdiately stepped forward and bowed deeply, "My lord, I apologize for suddenly disturbing you."
"No worries," Gawain waved his hand casually, conjuring chairs and a table in the space and was the first to sit down, "Have a seat—what happened?"
For quite so ti, Gawain had devoted most of his energy to integrating and governing the southern borders, but he had not neglected the matters outside of the southern borders, especially the Eternal Sleeper Network, which had always been a focus of his attention. Recently, the Eternal Sleepers had been relatively quiet, and there had been no major changes in the network, so he essentially just logged in occasionally to check the news and assign Daniel so tasks related to learning, researching, and stealing technology.
He hadn’t expected this old Mage to contact him of his own accord.
Daniel sat down cautiously opposite Gawain, choosing his words carefully, "It’s like this, my lord, one of my apprentices accidentally heard so news that the ruler of the Typhon Empire... might be researching the Magic Web, or technologies related to it."
Gawain controlled the surprise in his heart and responded seemingly uninterested, "Oh?"
"Rosetta Augustus issued commands to recruit Mages, and the recruitnt orders have even been posted in remote towns near the borders. The talent he is recruiting is very rare—requiring a certain understanding of Ancient Gondor Magic while also being familiar with self-powered arrays, which reminds of your ’Magic Web’."
When Gawain was promoting the Magic Web, he had for convenience claid it to be "lost technology from the Ancient Gondor Empire," and he had ntioned this to Daniel before.
"Understanding Ancient Gondor Magic while also being familiar with self-powered arrays... it’s indeed uncommon," Gawain said, stroking his chin in contemplation.
Ancient Gondor Magic is seen as a "high-level field" among Mages, typically only those with talent, background, and strength having the credentials to delve into it and acquire even a modicum of understanding. anwhile, self-powered arrays had been considered a low-end and lesser field in magic circle technology, dismissed by archMages until an anonymous Wild Mage created the Magic Web, and those who could simultaneously delve into these two fields...
It’s almost like finding two people in the Chinese Academy of Sciences who are also skilled in cross-talk cody.
Even in the magical kingdom of the north, the Violet Kingdom, perhaps such non-mainstream Mages couldn’t be found.
No wonder Emperor Rosetta Augustus, even with the Royal Mages Institute under his control, issued recruitnt orders, even posting them in remote impoverished areas. Among those reclusive and eccentric Mages, they might unexpectedly find so talent in this area.
He didn’t expect that the ’slogan’ he had casually made up to promote the Magic Web would mislead Typhon’s ruler under such circumstances, and Gawain couldn’t help but find it amusing. As for the "speculation" that Daniel ntioned...
He had little doubt. Just from the recruitnt information released by Emperor Rosetta, he was 99% sure that the ruler of Typhon had developed an interest in the "Magic Web."
This was anticipated by him.
Because he had never tried to entirely hide the information about the Magic Web—besides, the rise of the Cecil Clan was so spectacular that it couldn’t be hidden even if he tried.
Even before the outbreak of the southern border war, intelligence about the Magic Web had traveled along the trade routes to the Plains of the Holy Spirits and the Duke of the East, and after the outbreak of the southern border war, it’s certain that Typhon would pay attention to any news related to the Cecil Clan—as an ancient and powerful Empire, they would inevitably have intelligence channels within Anzu.
Daniel cautiously observed Gawain’s expression and tentatively asked, "My lord, do you think..."
"This is good news. Based on the tiline, they should have also acquired intelligence from the southern war of Anzu. If Rosetta Augustus is indeed an ambitious and talented figure, he would certainly be keen in this regard," Gawain nodded, expressing calmly, "Rember the knowledge I taught you back then?"
"Yes," Daniel imdiately nodded, "and I’ve already implented the Magic Web in the laboratory, as well as a few basic chanisms..."
"You’ve already made your mark within the Eternal Sleepers cult, and as an accomplished Mage, you should be on the verge of becoming a technological star in the Typhon Empire as well."
Daniel solemnly nodded, as if he had been waiting for Gawain’s words, "I will obey your will."
"Let’s settle it this way," Gawain continued, "since you’re here this ti... by the way, tell about the recent changes in Typhon."
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