Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 1183: Chapter 1182: The Foundation of Cooperation

Unintentionally, the conversation seemed to drift into strange territory. The experienced Dragon Goddess once again used her experience to plunge the golden oak into a long silence. Gawain sighed and lifted his eyelids, looking at Enya with a slightly helpless expression on his face: "Is it my illusion... why do I feel like you’re quite proud?"

"This is certainly not something to be proud of," Enya’s expression remained serious, "I am merely stating facts—I’ve been through things you can’t imagine, or rather... it was the ’old me’ who experienced all that. Although past experiences in this new era may not always be effective, at least when it comes to the laws of nature, my words should still hold significant reference for you."

"Everything is indeed as you said," Milmina snapped out of a daze and nodded immediately, "It seems that we can’t hope for the ’mutual exclusivity’ between gods to suddenly disappear... rather than expecting such far-fetched things, we should calm down and think of technical solutions..."

"Let’s consider these matters carefully over time," Gawain cleared his throat softly, steering the conversation back on track, "We digressed a little—returning to the initial topic, regarding the Typhon Empire’s plan to establish a kingdom... can I consider that an agreement has been reached?"

"All questions have been clarified, you may respond to that Typhon Emperor and also relay what we’ve discussed today," Enya nodded slightly, "Then find out if he has a sufficiently thorough and feasible plan. If you deem anything inappropriate during the process, we will be ready to assist at any time."

"Allow me to thank you in advance," Gawain stood up, glanced over the three Gods of Yore sincerely nodding, then stepped back half a step, exhaling a deep breath, "Then I should be leaving too, I’ve already delayed too much time here today..."

"Leaving so soon?" Amon lifted his eyelids, a gentle smile in his ancient eyes, "Gawain, you’re pressing yourself too tightly, there should be some relaxation between these burdens. This doesn’t affect your role as a wise and powerful ruler..."

Gawain remained silent, watching Amon quietly. He saw the latter gently wave his hand, and the beautifully manifested cards on the table instantly disappeared into the air, replaced by a box seemingly containing something heavy. The former God of Nature smiled slightly: "Now there are four of us, we can have a round of gods’ mahjong..."

"No, thank you." Gawain retreated another half step without hesitation, thinking that everything was as he expected: these retired gods, with human nature burgeoning, have reached a point of boredom. With two they play Chinese checkers, with three they play "Fight the Landlord," with four they prepare for mahjong. He dared not imagine what they would do with five—and they often label their leisure activities with "Gods’ XX" names, a logic that even the directors and screenwriters of magic dramas wouldn’t dare write—but Gawain had no way to refute them...

After all, these three could genuinely claim to be gods, and even Enya’s former identity was "The Gods," so if they were counting ants, it was "Gods Counting Ants"... How could that be reasoned with?

In any case, Gawain felt he couldn’t reason with them, so he simply chose to turn and leave. Amon opened his mouth to speak but hadn’t the chance before Gawain vanished in the fallen leaves and breeze beneath the golden oak.

"...He seems to have no interest in participating with us," Amon sighed and shook his head after a moment, somewhat regretfully sitting back in his seat, "I thought attaching ’Gods’ to it might have some appeal to him."

"The appeal of ’Gods’ to him won’t manifest in this aspect," Milmina glanced at Amon with slight sarcasm, "Besides, he doesn’t have the idle boredom that you and I do—he has plenty on his plate."

"Alright, that’s true, but no matter," Amon said contentedly, looking at the two ladies beside the table, "We still have three of us, we can still have a round of gods’ cards..."

"I won’t be spending time with you," Milmina said casually, her silhouette gradually fading into the air, "I’ve recently found a pleasant free settlement outside the city, planning to create a resting place over there; we can play cards another time."

The figure of the Goddess of Magic fully disappeared into the air, leaving Amon slightly stunned. He then turned helplessly to Enya, who had already stood up: "Sorry, I must leave too. The real world has matters waiting for me, I should be quite busy during this period."

"The real world?" Amon was taken aback, "Do you still have tasks in the real world? In your current state..."

"I am incubating eggs."

With those parting words, the elegant figure enveloped in a faint golden glow vanished beneath the golden oak, leaving only Amon by the square table for a while. The former God of Nature blinked, taking a few seconds to finally realize what Enya meant by "incubating eggs," then he glanced around, clearly dejected: "They really all left..."

He murmured, sat back at the square table, conjured the exquisite deck of cards again, slowly rearranging their order and the phantom suits represented, while recalling something Milmina casually mentioned earlier—she seemed to have found another monitoring breach in the neural network, and she’s definitely been researching around that breach recently.

"She’s really adept at this... should I say it’s befitting of a god created by the most adept in research and exploration among mortals..." the former God of Nature sighed gently, then nonchalantly messaged Nariteer to report Milmina.

...

In Aldernon, the approaching autumn is slowly pushing back the summer heat left on this land. The entire imperial capital and the vast plains surrounding it are entering the relatively dry and comfortable season of the year—before the Frost Throne Constellation ascends high and Frost Moon arrives, the sun will continue to shine on this land for a while until the mists rise again over the plains, wrapping Aldernon in a moist, chilly embrace once more.

During these last sunny days, the upper layer study of the Obsidian Palace had its windows wide open, allowing the fresh air and sunlight to spill together onto the empire ruler’s desk.

Emperor Rosetta Augustus sat in his favorite high-backed chair, bowing his head over documents just delivered by his attendant. The sunlight cast behind him, sharply etching the text on the documents in black and white. Within these well-organized and precise words, he could clearly grasp the pulse of the entire empire at this moment—just as he had done over the past two decades, everything happening on this vast land was clearly presented in his mind.

The wounds left by war are not so easily healed, even with the strong dual influx brought by the Circum-continental Route and new international trade, the vitality drained from the empire in the Battle of Bitter Winter still requires time to recover. But after an entire past winter and months of hard work this year, the domestic situation has stabilized, with all fields showing a clear warming trend. As long as the current stability continues, this warming pace will only accelerate and eventually lead to a new peak.

The battle of Bitter Winter Castle was a brutal one, and the impact it caused was undoubtedly heavy. However, in the long run, it also provided a beneficial "bloodletting treatment." The Empire’s rotten flesh was cut clean, the voices of dissent disappeared without a trace, the hidden dangers left by the new policies of the past twenty years were uprooted, and the ossified upper society was reshuffled and reorganized. A massive void appeared in the market, and post-war reconstruction provided numerous job opportunities... Once the most difficult labor pains ended, the Empire would welcome the month of harvest.

Of course, the cost of all this was high, and new hidden dangers would take root beneath the surface of prosperity. But with the price already a given, extracting as much benefit as possible from the price has become an essential lesson for a ruler.

What comforted Emperor Rosetta Augustus was that there were still plenty of "smart people" in Aldernon. The situation he most feared—that young aristocratic investors might lose confidence and core industrial investments shrink—did not occur. This assured further economic recovery in the imperial capital’s economic circle.

Footsteps approached from the corridor outside, finally pulling Emperor Rosetta’s attention away from the documents. He looked toward the study’s doorway, and the door was pushed open just as his gaze reached it.

Maid Chief Diana stood at the entrance, the inorganic light in her eyes reflecting the sunlight pouring in from the window: "We have received Cecil’s response."

"So quickly?" Emperor Rosetta said with some surprise. "I thought they would have to hold several meetings of varying scales to finalize such an important matter... How did they respond?"

Diana slightly lowered her head: "Gawain Cecil will speak with you directly via remote communication in half an hour."

Emperor Rosetta paused for a moment, then immediately rose from behind the desk: "Have Lady Windsor prepare the communication room. I’ll head there now."

Before the appointed time arrived, Emperor Rosetta had already reached the "communication room" located within the Obsidian Palace. This newly set-up function room was situated at the fringe of the Magic District. Its basic array was a component of the royal communication Tower, which was directly connected to the recently upgraded communication Tower chain in the northwest. Through a series of direct communication and conversion mechanisms, this link enabled real-time communication between the Cecils and could send and receive signals between the two networks.

This was unimaginable in the old days: the rulers of two imperial capitals, separated by vast distances, could communicate in real time as if face-to-face. Negotiations or consultations significant enough to impact the entire continent could be conducted instantly, and the "hidden hazards" caused by poor communication in the past were minimized to the greatest extent.

The cost of this system, of course, was not insignificant. Especially since the transnational communication network was just in its infancy, and the project to interconnect the neural network, communication Tower chain, and sentinel data chain had just begun to take shape. Building such a line that spanned almost half a continent was obviously challenging, but for the two nations that had just been through the War God’s cataclysm... This level of cost was entirely negligible.

Emperor Rosetta stepped into the communication room. The oval-shaped room was sparely decorated, with only a giant magic circle depicted on the round platform in the room’s center. Numerous high-quality crystals and magic-conducting materials emitted a radiant glow from the platform. At that moment, the complex array was already in operation, receiving signals from afar and translating them into rapidly clarifying sounds and images.

Finally, the holographic illusion projected above the platform stabilized completely, and Gawain Cecil’s face appeared before Emperor Rosetta.

"Good day, Emperor Rosetta. It’s been a while since we last met."

"Good day, His Majesty Gawain Cecil—it’s nice to see you still in good health. You’re right; it’s indeed been some time since our last meeting."

The two imperial rulers briefly exchanged pleasantries but did not waste much time on these customary words. Gawain quickly got to the point: "We have received the documents sent by the Obsidian Palace. After our theocracy Authority Council experts conducted a thorough analysis and simulation in Cecil, we believe this daring plan is executable—but we need more detailed technical data and project plans before making a final judgment."

"... You reached your conclusion faster than I expected," Emperor Rosetta said sincerely.

"That’s because I have the most reliable experts and the most experienced... consultants here," Gawain laughed, though he noticeably paused when he mentioned "consultants." "Their suggestions were swift and impartial."

"... I think I have a guess as to who your consultant is," Emperor Rosetta was initially thoughtful, then connected this to the high-access-level files recently made public by the Cecil side within their theocracy Authority Council. His expression slightly changed, his demeanor becoming more serious. "If it’s... their advice, then I can understand why you made your decision quickly."

Gawain nodded, not dwelling on the topic of "consultants," and directly asked, "I want to know what the specific plans for this ’cooperation’ are from Typhon’s side. Regarding the project of opening the kingdom’s gateway, Typhon scholars have already advanced ahead, so what do you need us to do next?"

Emperor Rosetta did not beat around the bush, since this was a direct communication channel between two heads of state: "High-purity, high-intensity Arcane Energy Source, and it must be highly controllable."

Gawain’s expression was serious, slowly nodding. What Rosetta proposed was indeed one of the possibilities he anticipated before beginning the communication.

According to the rough technical information provided by Typhon, opening the War God’s kingdom gate required three critically important conditions: First, the fragments left behind by the War God to serve as the "beacon" for opening the gate; second, the technical parameters for building the actual gate, which Typhon scholars have been tinkering with, originating from knowledge fragments snatched by the Augustus Clan from the Eye of the God; third... was an Arcane Energy Source sufficient to open and sustain the gate.

Typhon possessed the first two conditions, but the third condition was in Cecil’s hands—the foundation for "cooperation" lay here.

"We know Cecil has been conducting experiments exploring the ’Essence of Magic,’ and we are aware that you have manufactured the highest purity and intensity Arcane Energy Source humanly possible to date. To be frank... Typhon cannot craft this," Emperor Rosetta said candidly, "We need your energy technology, and you need our portal Gate Technology."