Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 1140: Chapter 1139: The Formation of the Final Critical Point

Most have been extinguished.

Enya’s words were like a cold wind, instantly calming Gawain who was about to get excited, his face becoming serene as he carefully pondered the information hinted behind this "extinguished," breaking the silence after a long while: "Extinguished...what kind of extinguishment? Do you mean they all went extinct for various reasons?"

"Those signals flicker like lights in the night sky, restricted perhaps by technology, the flickering lights convey very limited information, sometimes so simple as to merely signal ’I am here,’ then at some moment, some signals suddenly disappear, never to send new messages— the vastness of the universe hides too many secrets and truths, in the darkness, I cannot see anything."

Enya spoke slowly, as if picking up the yellowed pages from long-blurred memories.

"I don’t know what exactly happened to them; like other minds trapped on this planet, I can only speculate on the downfall of those civilizations through known phenomena, but some of them... I successfully deciphered the information they sent, basically confirming that they either perished from natural disasters or were destroyed by their gods."

Gawain instinctively repeated the last few words: "Destroyed by gods?"

Enya whispered: "Destroyed by gods— their own gods. In the few successfully deciphered signals, I indeed heard their final cries in the wrath of the gods, a sound so piteous and desperate that it remains unbearable to hear even across distant stars."

"So just as we previously speculated, if there are intelligent beings on other planets, if their world also follows the natural laws as we understand them, then they will also face everything we face..." Gawain lightly inhaled, "Upon reaching a certain level of development, they too triggered the ’Final Defiance’ ritual, leading to the gods running out of control and world destruction..."

Enya said nothing, and after a pause, Gawain continued to ask: "And what about being destroyed by natural disasters? What kind of natural disasters?"

"Those signals that luckily traversed the stars to reach us are mostly vague and seldom transmit clear, detailed information, especially after the outbreak of a ’natural disaster,’ civilizations sending the information often fall into chaos, a chaos more severe than the descent of gods, rendering them unable to organize manpower to launch a coherent ’final scream’ into space," Enya said quietly, explaining to Gawain in a calm tone, as if analyzing a dead body, those cruel clues she encountered in more than a million years, "therefore, descriptions of ’natural disasters’ are very chaotic and fragmented, but precisely because of this chaotic and fragmented state, I can almost be sure that what they encountered was the ’chaotic wave.’

Chaotic wave.

At this moment, Gawain’s expression didn’t change at all, although strong ripples had already been stirred in his heart, those strong ripples only confirmed the speculation he had long held.

Enya’s conclusion was within his expectation— the chaotic wave is not limited to this planet but is a common phenomenon in this universe, sweeping across the starry sky impartially and periodically, time and again erasing the records left by civilizations among the stars.

The golden giant egg in the room remained quiet, Enya seemed to be carefully observing Gawain’s expression, and after a moment of silence, she spoke again: "All of this, is merely the conclusions I’ve speculated based on observed phenomena, I cannot guarantee they are all accurate, but one thing is certain— this universe is more prosperous than we imagined, yet also more silent, the dark and deep starry sky is filled with countless flickering flames of civilization, yet beneath those flames lie more numerous extinguished, cooled graves."

"Do the Dragonkin also know about these things?" Gawain suddenly asked with some curiosity.

"They only know a small part, but no dragon dares to delve further," Enya said calmly, "In the span of one million eight hundred seventy thousand years, there have always been dragons on the dangerous brink paying attention to the movements in the starry sky, but I blocked all signals from the outside world and interfered with their sense of the stars, as you know, in the former Talronde, gazing at the starry sky was a taboo."

"But their God of Gods has always been listening to the sounds among the stars, even conducting so much research," Gawain looked at the golden giant egg in front of him with some odd expression, "If not a single dragon can gaze at the starry sky, how did you..."

"Close your eyes, listen carefully," Enya said with a hint of laughter in her voice, "Remember? At the top of the Great Temple of Talronde, there is the highest star observation platform, I often stood there listening to the sounds from the universe— actively stepping into the starry sky is a dangerous affair, but once signals have arrived on this planet, passive listening is not so easily out of control.

"Yet even so, it is still not easy... Each time I stand on the star observation platform, I must oppose two forces, one is my own aversion and fear of the unknown deep space, the other is my destructive impulse as a God towards the mortal world, so I would very cautiously control my frequency of going to the star observation platform, keeping myself at the brink of losing control."

Listening to Enya reveal these secrets known to no one else, Gawain couldn’t help asking curiously: "Why do you do this? Since such actions place so much pressure upon you..."

"Curiosity," Enya said, "Don’t you have curiosity?"

"... Instinct and inclination are not the same, are they?" Gawain shook his head with a wry smile after a brief moment of surprise, "You know, what you’ve described makes me think of a theory... a theory that circulates in ’my homeland.’"

"Your homeland... the homeland of the Wanderers from Outer Realm?" Enya’s tone shifted, "What kind of theory?"

"The Great Filter," Gawain sighed softly, patiently explaining, "a filtering mechanism standing before all civilizations, determining whether they might have the fortune of stepping into the starry sky— we believe that the process of life from nonexistence to eventual development into advanced interstellar civilization can be divided into several stages, and at least one of these stages is extremely perilous with slim chances of survival, a certain crisis leads to almost all species perishing at this stage, preventing them from eventually stepping beyond their own planet, and this harsh screening and elimination mechanism is the ’Great Filter.’

"We cannot ascertain when and in what form the Great Filter would appear, nor can we determine, before truly stepping into the starry sky, whether a civilization has already fortunately passed the test of the Great Filter, or if the test lies tomorrow... But it seems the answer to this scholar-troubling problem might already exist in this world."

"Are the chaotic wave and God disaster the ’Great Filter’ we must face?" A gentle and calm voice emanated from the golden giant egg. "Ah, this is indeed an intriguing theory... Wanderers from Outer Realm, it seems that in your world, many insightful scholars are also observing the mysteries deep within the world... I really hope to meet them."

Gawain prudently stopped the conversation before delving further into this complex realm that’s difficult to answer—he had already discussed many things he would never normally talk about with others. Yet, he had never imagined that he could talk about topics involving the stars, the future, and extraterrestrial civilizations in this world. A rare feeling of finding a kindred spirit made him want to continue exploring more with the Dragon God.

"You mentioned earlier you’ve ’heard’ voices traversing the universe at least hundreds of times," he thought of a new question, "and those signal senders at least did not encounter God disasters while making those calls, does this mean that establishing interstellar communication in itself won’t trigger gods losing control?"

This is very crucial because "where exactly is the ultimate critical point of gods losing control" has always been the most concerned issue for the theocracy Authority Council and the past Defiers.

Currently, scholars have separated the "collective out-of-control phenomenon of all gods in the world" from the "God disaster" that corresponds to the single god losing control, and have named it the "ultimate God disaster," so it can be said: before thoroughly solving all god control crises, the "critical point of ultimate God disaster" signifies the development limit of mortals’ civilization in this world. The more accurately this critical point and all related technical limits can be mastered, the more countries can prepare as much as possible before the ultimate God disaster truly arrives, allowing mortal civilization a greater chance of survival in the future.

To date, the critical point of ultimate God disaster determined by the theocracy Authority Council is based on the "Final Defiance" confirmed by Talronde’s adulthood ceremony, that is, "mortal civilization relying on its own technological accumulation enables explorers to substantially and physically leave their home planet and enter an unexplored cosmic environment." Scholars have already confirmed this behavior would lead to a symbolic "Final Defiance." If overcome, it marks freedom between humans and gods; if not, it signifies Civilization Extinction Burst.

But there are still many uncertainties about this critical point. The biggest problem is—will the "ultimate God disaster" truly only erupt at the "Final Defiance" stage? Is the conclusion that the Dragonkin practiced on this special case truly the "standard answer" to god operations? Is it possible for the ultimate God disaster to erupt before the Final Defiance at some stage?

If the substantial physical departure of explorers from the home planet leads to ultimate God disaster, what about the preparation stage before the launch of spacecraft? The wide-ranging observation phase of the night sky across the globe? What if mortals launch an unmanned probe? What if... another interstellar civilization sends a greeting to this planet, and mortals on the surface respond to this sound, what would be the consequence?

These questions are not groundless concerns—each of these questions is marking the critical point of the end of the world, mapping out the survival range of the entire mortal civilization.

Enya evidently knows what Gawain is worried about, so she was very cautious when answering this question. After a long deliberation, this former divine being broke the silence. "I believe the true determinant of whether the gods will completely lose control is not entirely a symbolic ’Final Defiance’ ritual. You should rather consider the meaning behind this ritual."

Gawain furrowed his brow, "The meaning behind the Final Defiance ritual?"

"Mortals have touched upon the truth beyond the domain of cognition, and this ’truth’ is irrefutable and unshakeable," Enya said. "As a god, I don’t know how to view this process from a mortal’s perspective and understand... the significance produced from it. But you can imagine, suppose there is a person who firmly believes we live on a flat world, not on a planet, and he firmly believes that the sun is a light orb cycling from the edge of the land, rather than our planet revolving around the sun, how can his perception be broken?

"External sounds are inadequate because those might be lies; universally recognized knowledge by the world is inadequate because everyone might be deceived; even images from space are inadequate because those images could be fabricated...

"No matter how bizarre these explanations are, as long as they can make sense, then the one who believes the land is flat can continue placing himself in a closed-loop and ’self-contained’ model. He doesn’t need to care about the real nature of the world; he just has to ensure his logical fortress is not breached.

"Unless he sees it with his own eyes."

Gawain listened earnestly to this point expressed by Enya, frowning involuntarily: "I understand your point, but this is exactly what we have always failed to grasp—even though a few observers among mortals have painstakingly reached space, using their own eyes and experiences to personally verify the shape beyond the known world, it merely changes their ’personal cognition.’ How does such an individual action create a ritualistic effect, influencing the changes of the entire thought current? Why do the gods, as products of thought currents, go directly out of control simply because a few humans suddenly see the scene beyond the world?"

"... This means you are still mired in a misunderstanding," Enya suddenly chuckled softly, "that obstinate and pitiful guy who needs to ’see it with his own eyes’ that I mentioned earlier is not any of the mortals launched into space, but the gods themselves."

Gawain: "You mean..."

"Your comprehension of thought currents is somewhat one-sided," Enya said. "Gods do indeed originate from the thought currents of numerous mortals; this is a macro process, but this doesn’t imply that the only way to make gods go out of control is to trigger macro changes in thought currents—sometimes a ripple in a microcurrent is enough to collapse the entire system.

"If gods are viewed as a vast ’entanglement,’ then this entanglement includes the complete cognition of worldly life towards a particular thought trend. For example, in my case, I am among the Dragon Gods, then my essence includes all the cognitive logic of the Dragonkin during the Age of Mythology. These logics are tightly entwined like a ball of yarn, with numerous strands, but all the ends are included within this ball. In other words—it is closed-loop, extremely exclusionary, rejecting external information intervention.

"Therefore, only one end needs to escape the order of the yarn ball, to probe and jump out of this closed-loop system, which equals breaking the basic rules that establish this yarn ball.

"Under normal circumstances, within this closed-loop system, it is almost impossible for such a ’jumping-out end’ to appear because the paths of all ends have been predetermined, and the yarn ball itself prevents the occurrence of boundary-crossing behavior. The closed-loop system cannot create a ’window’ for detachment on its own, so during most stages of civilization development, the only way to collapse the yarn ball is gradual overload chaos of the entire system, which translates to the theory you have already grasped—’dramatic macro changes in group thought currents leading to gods losing control,’ i.e., changes in thought currents produced by numerous mortals within this closed-loop system cause gradual transformation, ultimately destroying the entire system.

"The closest example to you is the War God.

"In another situation, external information from outside the closed-loop system intervenes in this system. This information is completely beyond the ’control of the yarn ball.’ With just a little bit, it can cause a strand to leap out of the loop, making the previously self-explanatory system suddenly non-contained; it—the gods—results in a perfect operational logic having a ’factor’ violating the rules, and no matter how small this factor is, it can poison the entire system.

"The closest example to you is me."