Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 1137: Chapter 1136: Facing the Currents of Thought

Amon stared fixedly at the Goddess of Magic in front of him, who quickly shook off the awkwardness and looked back with surprising candor: "What else? While you were dazing off over there, I was busy checking those devices. Without my help, when would you be able to connect to the network?"

"You’re changing the subject!" Amon, of course, would not be sidetracked by such a trivial diversion. He continued to stare at the Goddess of Magic, "I’m just asking what ’Highspeed Stag’ means—I understand needing a new name to enter the network, but at the very least, you should have consulted me on the name..."

"Trust me, Amon, the name is not strange in the neural network. In a place where everyone can give themselves a new name, only such unique titles can keep up with the times—you’ve always wanted to keep pace with the new era the mortals have ushered in, haven’t you?" Faced with Amon’s dissatisfaction, the Goddess of Magic merely laughed, "Besides, think about it carefully, this title actually suits your situation quite well..."

Seeing that Amon’s expression didn’t relax at all, she had to shake her head: "Anyway, it can’t be changed."

"Can’t it be changed?" Amon was taken aback, frowning quickly, "Wait, then what name did you give yourself?"

The Goddess of Magic crossed her arms proudly, smiling reservedly: "Tower Witch."

"... Immediately find a way to change my name!"

The Goddess of Magic shrugged: "I told you, it can’t be changed... If it really bothers you, you can talk it over with Gawain yourself, if you think this small matter is worth such a fuss."

Amon felt the corner of his mouth twitch, yet for a moment he didn’t know what to say; after sealing himself for three thousand years, he was not a deity skilled in eloquence—especially in front of such a mentally agile and already humanly awakened opponent like the Goddess of Magic, he really couldn’t gain any advantage in conversation.

And in the brief second of his silence, the Goddess of Magic had already stepped lightly two steps forward, smiling as she gently patted Amon’s shoulder: "We’ve wasted too much time here—let’s put aside those irrelevant trivial matters, old... Amon, are you ready to see the amazing world the mortals have created?"

Amon subconsciously nodded, and in the next second, he suddenly felt the light and shadows before him start to distort, a flood of complex information surged from the mental connection, and a set of false senses completed the switch in the blink of an eye. He just wanted to say something, but suddenly everything went black—then, his vision brightened.

Warm light shone on his face, a gentle breeze blew in from afar, vibrant sounds and shifting light and shadow filled his surroundings. He looked up to see a lush oak tree standing before him, surrounded by a spacious plaza with beautiful columns encircling it, neatly trimmed shrubs adorned the spaces between the columns. Farther away, he saw towering and handsome houses crowding together, clean and wide roads stretching out in his view, groups of people walking leisurely between these roads and facilities, each as if truly living there with ease and peace.

And even farther away, he saw huge pillars of light soaring into the sky, connecting the high sky and pyramid-like structures. Up above the sky, some shadowy figures seemed to be patrolling the area, likely administrative personnel.

The wind brought a fresh scent of flowers and grass, Amon instinctively took a deep breath and blinked again—his entire body transmitted genuine sensations as he took a step forward, feeling the solid ground underfoot.

"Why are you silent? Too overwhelmed by the shock?" The Goddess of Magic’s voice came from the side, finally startling him awake, "Or are you so moved to tears by finally leaving that Dark Chaos and entering a vibrant ’world’?"

"No... I just didn’t expect... didn’t expect it to be this real," Amon spoke softly, as if in a dream, "I remember many, many years ago, I imagined a scene like this, but I never thought it could be realized. Here I stand, surrounded by the comings and goings of mortals, while the entire world operates safely and steadily... and a breeze fragrant with flowers blows in from afar..."

"I can’t relate to your latter feelings, because I haven’t experienced what you have, but speaking of the ’reality’ of this world, I agree entirely," the Goddess of Magic chuckled, "This is a dreamscape created by the collective minds of tens of thousands of humans, with hundreds and thousands of ’Shapers’ meticulously fine-tuning every detail, filling every blank in this dream, so of course it feels real... In fact, the ’sense of reality’ we experience here may even exceed that of the mortals entering the network, you know why?"

Amon pondered slightly, vaguely realizing something: "Because we are born from the depths of mortal thought..."

"Exactly, coming here feels like returning home," the Goddess of Magic smiled, "Isn’t it marvelous? We were born from thoughts, escaped from thoughts, and ultimately returned to thoughts through machines, viewing the forces that once twisted and bound us from a safe observer’s perspective—look how beautiful it is here, completely different from those superficially glamorous yet gradually collapsing kingdoms."

Amon steadied himself, finally breaking free from the emotions this bright and warm world elicited. Listening to the Goddess of Magic’s words, he subconsciously asked: "What should we do next? Where should we go?"

"Should? There is no ’should,’ we are free, Amon—do something you want," the Goddess of Magic shook her head, "Treat this as a truly existing resting place, wander around, see the sights, or meet a few people, talk about mundane topics. This dream city is the topmost space of the neural network, a free hub where mortals can experience another life or use certain city facilities to partake in the construction of this space, or head to some entertainment zones to experience things they usually cannot... all of this is available to you too.

"Don’t worry that your actions here might accidentally destroy this intricate world—it is far more robust than you imagine, and there’s also a powerful ’Administrator’ monitoring the operation of this space. Of course, I sincerely hope you don’t really attract the attention of the Administrator, who... is more troublesome than you can imagine."

Amon listened intently, then suddenly realized: "You’re not planning to act with me?"

"Me? I want to go further and take a look," the Goddess of Magic waved her hand. "I have been to this place once before, but it was just a rushed visit. There were many things I didn’t have time to fully experience. Besides, the outskirts of this city are quite different from when I last came. Certainly, the builders here have further expanded its edges... I want to go and see for myself. As for you, feel free to familiarize yourself with this place, and we’ll meet later in the ’courtyard.’

"Hey, wait a minute..." Amon instinctively called out, but before he could finish his sentence, he saw the Goddess of Magic’s figure rapidly fading in the air. Within a second, she completely vanished.

"... She really just left like that," Amon sighed, but he knew she had already helped him a lot, so he could only helplessly shake his head. With the thought of at least taking a stroll, he slowly walked along the stone path at the edge of the plaza.

A slightly immature female voice suddenly came from beside him, stopping Amon in his tracks: "Old man! Is this your first time entering this world?"

Amon looked down in surprise in the direction of the voice, only to notice a petite young girl sitting on a bench next to the bushes. Her features were as delicate and lovely as a doll’s, appearing to be around fifteen or sixteen years old. Long light brown hair cascaded down her shoulders, with a few delicate ribbons tied at the ends. She sat there, wearing a pretty white dress, her legs playfully swinging beneath the long skirt. She gazed up at him, her eyes as clear as water, reflecting the clear blue sky and Amon’s slightly puzzled face.

"I... indeed, it is my first time here," Amon said somewhat clumsily. It was his first time talking to a ’person’ other than the Goddess of Magic after entering here, and a sense of novelty lingered around him. "And you are?"

"You can call me Patty," the girl jumped off the bench, landing lightly, with a cheerful smile on her face. "I am an old resident of ’this world.’ I was here in its previous version... but it didn’t look like this back then. Ah, let’s not talk about that. Do you need help, old man?"

Looking at the smiling young girl, Amon couldn’t help but smile. It was the first time he conversed with a mortal in this way—an experience entirely different from any interaction he had with Gawain Cecil, Kamel, or Queen Belsetia. "How did you know I needed help?"

"My job is to help those travelers who enter the dream city for the first time. This plaza is one of the gathering spots for newcomers," Patty said with a playful grin. "And at a glance, you are someone using the neurological network for the first time because you haven’t even hidden your name—people usually don’t run around the city with their real names, Mr. Highspeed Stag."

Startled, Amon quickly looked up and was astonished to see a line of glowing letters above his head, the name "Highspeed Stag" shining brightly—so he had been wandering around the plaza with such a name all this time!?

"With just a thought, you can hide it," Patty couldn’t help but chuckle. "But don’t be disheartened; your name is quite distinctive and recognizable, and it doesn’t even seem that strange. In this city, peculiar nicknames are more common than serious names—I see many people running around named ’Aaaaaa’ or ’1111111’ every day."

Saying this, Patty couldn’t help but shake her head. "But then again, too many people pick strange names when entering this world due to unfamiliarity with the process. Lately, the number of people applying to change their usernames has been increasing. The computing center is discussing whether to open this functionality..."

"It must be opened!" Amon immediately said with a serious face, his expression so earnest it startled Patty. "Please tell them, it must be opened!"

"Um... I’m just saying... alright, I’ll ask my mother about it when I get back. She probably knows something..." Patty said a bit helplessly, then suddenly seemed to remember her "job" and quickly pointed to the beautiful columns at the plaza’s edge not far away. "By the way, old man, since it’s your first time in this world, why not start by exploring the information flowing through the neurological network? Have you noticed those columns? They are ’ports.’ There are such ports everywhere in this city. Some are columns, and some are floating crystals in the streets. You can place your hand on them to see what’s happening in this city.

"Of course, you can also see the latest messages left by people active in this city, and see what topics everyone is eagerly discussing. In reality, people might live in different corners of the Empire, never contacting or understanding each other in their entire lives. But here, discussions spanning long distances connect everyone. A topic can spark discussions across the entire Empire in an instant. If you’re interested, you can enter a place called the ’Cecil Forum...’"

Patty was chatting away, clearly very familiar with everything about this ’world,’ though what she said was actually a bit exaggerated. The current scale and application range of the neurological network was far from "all over the Empire" or "accessible to everyone." In the real world, currently, only a few large cities had access to the neurological network, and nearly all cities severely lacked immersion capsules and computing centers. The public’s primary media were still newspapers and magazines, followed by Magic Web broadcasts, and lastly, the neurological network was regarded as "a novelty in big cities." However, these details were unknown to Amon.

Even if he knew, he wouldn’t care.

He came to a nearby column full of anticipation and curiosity. After observing how others operated it, he cautiously placed his hand on it.

A series of interfaces emitting a faint blue light, auto-playing images, and scrolling news briefs instantly filled his vision.

Amon looked on in astonishment at everything before him. After being cut off from the world of mortals for three thousand years, he once again felt the sensation of "connecting with the entire world"—he watched a vibrant world operate before him, countless events unfolding, countless people interacting and communicating within this invisible connection. Tens of thousands of minds were involved, like countless neural nodes communicating in a giant mind, with tides brewing amidst chaos.

Thought waves—observable, approachable, and controllable thought waves.

Here, he could only see some interfaces, accessing only part of the "display area" of this vast miracle. But at the moment of contact, his divine wisdom perceived the true meaning deep within these interfaces. He also realized why Gawain Cecil went to such great lengths to construct such a network, even bringing ’dangerous factors’ like himself and the Goddess of Magic into the network.