Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 1119: Chapter 1118: Undercurrents in the Wasteland

Gawain paused for a moment, then slowly sat down behind the desk with a serious expression. He raised his head to look into Veronica Moen’s eyes, noticing that this ancient Defier’s expression was more solemn than ever before... even to the point of being somewhat oppressive.

The gentle smile, almost like a "mask," had disappeared from her face at some unknown time. In this setting devoid of outsiders, the true Ophelia Norton stood before Gawain.

"There are some things you are unwilling to say, so I have never asked," Gawain said slowly as he watched Veronica, "As an ancient soul of the Gondor Empire who has survived to this day, you’ve never explained in detail how you survived the great explosion of the imperial capital back then, nor have you explained your current existence. As a defier wandering the human world, you also haven’t explained where your information about the wasteland comes from."

Veronica stood quietly across the desk, and after a few seconds of silence, she spoke softly, "If you must know, I can now..."

"No, if you don’t want to tell, I still won’t force you," Gawain shook his head, "I just wanted to say that I have already given you enough trust and... leniency, which requires some level of honest reciprocity. You have the right to keep secrets related to your privacy or personal boundaries, but for those things that might threaten the kingdoms beyond the barrier, I hope you can be frank."

Veronica closed her eyes slightly and then suddenly bent down gently, paying a solemn homage to Gawain. Her voice, as always, was soft and pleasant, yet it seemed to carry a bit more warmth than usual, "Please forgive my previous decision on this matter. I did not mean to conceal anything; I was simply too accustomed to logical and data-driven deductions and overlooked the variability of ordinary human society in its development process. Now I will tell you everything I know, and how to handle it... that’s for you to judge."

She paused as if searching for a suitable start to the topic, then continued, "The Well of Deep Blue... is actually still operational."

Gawain’s pupils contracted momentarily at this shocking news, causing his heart to pound, but he immediately recalled the anomaly he had observed during a certain aerial survey of the Gondor wasteland. Despite the entire wasteland being shrouded by a powerful energy field and thick clouds, the satellite monitoring view could hardly see any details on the land. However, under certain favorable conditions, he indeed saw a strong flash of light in the center of the wasteland, precisely the location of the once Well of Deep Blue!

The long-ago monitoring records were suddenly confirmed, and the shock in his heart quickly calmed down as a result. After a slight change, Gawain’s expression returned to calm, and he stared into Veronica’s eyes, "How was it preserved? The explosion seven hundred years ago... the Well of Deep Blue should have been at the explosion’s core."

"You’re calmer than I imagined. Is it because you’ve also acquired part of the information in some way?" Veronica looked at Gawain with some surprise, but wisely refrained from asking further. Instead, she went along to explain the answer to his question, "The Well of Deep Blue was indeed the core of that explosion, but in fact, the details of that explosion differ from the common understanding of later generations—this involves the ’nature’ of the Well of Deep Blue itself.

"In your impression, what is the Well of Deep Blue?"

Veronica suddenly posed a counter-question, prompting Gawain to ponder and quickly provide an answer, one that most acquainted with the Gondor Empire could give: "It was the energy core of the ancient Gondor Empire, the largest magic focal point in history, consisting of four towers, four arcane reflux chambers, and a main magic surge source outlet..."

"This is indeed the public understanding, but in fact, these things, including the towers, the arcane reflux chambers, and the surge source outlet, are all ’auxiliary facilities’ built by humans to conveniently extract energy from the primordial magic," Veronica nodded, "Before these constructions were set up by the builders of the Gondor Empire, the energy rift at the core of the Well of Deep Blue had been gushing on this continent for many years—its history predates human civilization itself and even surpasses the records of the silver elves. Initially, it was a natural magic focal point, only later became known as the extraction devices, and the true scale of this magic focal point... might far exceed everyone’s imagination.

"The ’magic geyser’ that once erupted at the old imperial capital of Gondor should essentially have been just a stream of the Well of Deep Blue exposed to the physical world. Its true complete network is hidden near the borders of all connected elemental realms, demi-planes, and even the kingdoms, and we don’t know exactly how far it extends into the depths of this world. But it is certain that it is part of our planet’s structure and a significant one at that. For a planet, no matter how many times the nations on it are destroyed or how many times its ecosystem is reset, the planet itself remains undamaged.

"Thus, what the explosion of the Well of Deep Blue destroyed were merely those man-made extraction devices. As the main body of the ’well,’ the energy rift at its core was intact after a historically unprecedented release of chaotic magic—over seven hundred years ago, I perceived an anomaly in the Well of Deep Blue at the last moment and understood its true structure. I tried my utmost to buffer and guide the chaotic magic seeking release by utilizing its vast, underlying structure. Overall, I failed. The chaotic magic that spurted from the well formed a chaotic wave impact, which from today’s perspective, was a ’small chaotic wave’ that destroyed the entire Empire. But in fact, I did successfully protect a small part..."

Gawain slightly furrowed his brow, "A small part?"

"I preserved my research base and the main conduit of the Well of Deep Blue," Veronica said, "right beneath the Well of Deep Blue."

Gawain abruptly realized. The vast imagination accumulated from his former life and numerous insights from this life quickly allowed him to deduce many things. He stared at Veronica, "So, you’re actually still in that research base?!

Veronica showed a slightly surprised expression once again, looking at Gawain, "Actually, I... well, yes, I am still in that research base."

As she spoke, she revealed a slight smile, "I really didn’t expect you would immediately think of this layer. It doesn’t match my understanding of you, nor does it align with the usual way people think... Is your keen insight truly merely due to intelligence?"

"Just a sudden thought," Gawain said casually, and then immediately asked, "Is that research base still operational? What else is there?"

Veronica nodded slightly in response, "There is also an Iron Soldier Corps still in service—on that basis, I have spent centuries repairing and rebuilding the production and maintenance facilities of the Iron Soldier Corps, and I have modified the above-ground structures of the Well of Deep Blue’s main conduit to extract magic power to maintain all facilities."

Gawain was stunned, "You’re saying there’s a functioning Iron Soldier Corps deep in the wasteland?! And you’ve repaired the related production and maintenance facilities, even partially restored the operations of the Well of Deep Blue?!"

"Yes—but you don’t have to be so excited, their scale is small, much smaller than you imagine."

"So all these years, you’ve been doing these things deep within the wasteland while somehow projecting your spirit into the human world outside the wasteland, observing the changes in the outside world like the ’Veronica’ at this moment," Gawain said with a serious expression, though he couldn’t help but marvel, "An Iron Soldier Corps... Honestly, if I hadn’t heard it from you, I wouldn’t dare believe it’s true. How did they survive such a strong surge of chaotic magic back then?"

"I created large-scale anti-magic barriers in the underground facilities—supported by the main conduit of the Well of Deep Blue itself, which allowed it to withstand the powerful chaotic magic surge back then," Veronica replied, "In fact, even so, only a small part of the Iron Soldiers survived. At that time, there were a total of sixteen Iron Soldier Corps stationed as the garrison near my research base, and I set up independent anti-magic barriers for each place. As a result, only one outpost survived the surge, the other fifteen did not."

Gawain rubbed his forehead, digesting the explosive information suddenly presented before him. As his thoughts gradually became clearer, he looked up at Veronica, "So you’re actually trapped in the innermost part of the wasteland now—although you’ve repaired a base to serve as your refuge, and you have a running Iron Soldier guard, evidently these aren’t enough to retreat from the center of the wasteland to beyond the great walls..."

"I never thought of leaving... though in a sense, I am indeed trapped in the center of the wasteland," Veronica shook her head gently, "I still have unfinished tasks, including further research on the structure of the Well of Deep Blue and observing changes in the wasteland. Moreover, through the means of projecting my spirit, I can also act externally like now, so whether to leave there or not does not matter much to me."

"Well, that’s your choice, and honestly, I can’t help you with anything right now," Gawain nodded, not forgetting what the initial topic was about, "Now I have a general understanding of your situation and the truth about the Well of Deep Blue—can we talk about those evil cult followers stirring within the wasteland? Do they have any connection with what we just discussed? Are they aiming at the Well of Deep Blue?"

"Not just stirring, I suspect they have already taken some action," Veronica said with a serious expression, "Recently, there have been some unusual signs in the core area of the wasteland. I’ve lost the signal of some Iron Soldiers, while others have discovered signs of damage or modification to the energy conduits near the base’s border during patrol—the technique is highly sophisticated, impossible to be done by the wandering aberrations or mindless mana spirits."

Gawain’s eyebrows furrowed slightly, he unconsciously tapped his fingers lightly on the tabletop, casually asking, "Didn’t you see them directly?"

"...for certain reasons, I can only stay inside the core of the underground base," Veronica replied, "The patrolling Iron Soldiers on the surface and the few sensors and surveillance devices near the energy conduits are my only channels to understand the external environment. This may sound a bit ironic... in such a harsh environment, my understanding of what’s around me is not even as good as my understanding of this Cecil Castle thousands of miles away, because compared to the heavily limited entity, this interactive medium named ’Veronica’ at least has complete freedom of action to touch the real world."

In Gawain’s heart, there arose a huge curiosity about the real state of Veronica/Ophelia’s "entity" now, but he knew this matter involved privacy, and it seemed that the other party was also mostly unwilling to talk about it, so he didn’t actively ask further. He quickly returned his attention to those evil cult followers, "Based on the intelligence we received from Beltira, the Oblivion Association branch inside the Great Wall should have been active on the Gondor wasteland for a long time... Have you never caught them all these years? Nor had direct dealings?"

"I said that my... ’territorial range’ in the wasteland is actually very limited, the Iron Soldier Corps can only operate in the old imperial capital ruins and the narrow areas on the edge of the ruins. The sensors laid along the conduits can only run within this range," Veronica said regretfully, "Compared to the entire wasteland, my perception range is extremely small, and those cult followers should have been active near the Great Wall before, an area that’s a blind spot in my vision. In fact, if you hadn’t uprooted the Oblivion Association, I wouldn’t even know there was a force hidden right outside my refuge."

"That sounds a bit creepy," Gawain stopped tapping the table, thoughtfully pinching his chin, "You don’t know them, but those cult followers clearly know about you, at least they know the Well of Deep Blue is still running—for centuries they’ve coexisted peacefully with the Well of Deep Blue, seemingly deliberately moving around you, but recently they’ve suddenly become bolder, even stealing your soldiers, stealing your energy... there’s got to be a reason."

"Stealing... yes, they are indeed thieves," Veronica said in a solemn tone, though there was actually no anger in her voice. In fact, most of the time her emotional fluctuations were extremely faint as if her human emotions had been worn away over hundreds of years of work, and the gentle, kind appearance she usually presented was merely a mask simulated from experience, "I can’t imagine why they suddenly took action recently, but perhaps it has something to do with the Oblivion Association outside the Great Wall being eradicated."

"One half got eradicated, and the other half began implementing some contingency plan," Gawain pondered, the sound of unstable winds came in from the open window in the late spring season, "It seems necessary to confirm this with Beltira... but I guess she probably won’t be able to help much either. Those Oblivion Association followers active within the wasteland are too mysterious, with many secrets even hidden from the then-Archbishop Frankenstein, and besides... if there truly was any ’contingency plan,’ Beltira should have reported it by now."

He shook his head, temporarily noting down the matter, then asked, "Do you have any thoughts on the cult followers’ objectives? It’s quite obvious they’re aiming at the Well of Deep Blue’s resources... what do you think they’re preparing to do with such massive energy?"

"There are too many directions to speculate from, with too little reliable evidence to draw a conclusion of reference value," Veronica said, "The energy of the Well of Deep Blue can be used for so many things. It can empower someone who can control it to gain a power only second to a god, or be used to reshape the environment or destroy specific things. To those cult followers entrenched in the wasteland, each of these possibilities is a reason worth the risk."