Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 1191: Chapter 1190: Beltira’s Clue

Bard rarely saw such a hesitant expression on Beltira’s face. Whether during the dark sect era or now in the Empire era, the Dark Matriarch he remembered was always resilient and never wavering. Therefore, upon realizing the anomaly in Beltira’s demeanor, he was instantly filled with intense curiosity.

He maintained this curiosity without speaking up to inquire. Instead, he stood up and followed Beltira, trailing her as she moved through the rest area and central zone of the laboratory, passing through a section filled with culture pods, biomass containers, bio-vascular connections, and yet another "leaf door" he had never seen before, finally reaching the lower level of the laboratory.

This was an area he had never seen, so much so that he didn’t even know the laboratory had a "lower zone". Enshrouded in layers of thick branches, leaves, and fiber separators, Beltira had partitioned off an even more secretive space in her "private residence." This space was evidently not connected to the vast transportation channels in the Sorin Giant Tree, nor did it have any openings leading to the outside world. To get here, one must pass through the upper layer of the laboratory—clearly, entry without invitation was not permitted.

The fiber separation layers slowly closed behind them, and luminous plant vines gradually lit along the walls, brightening the space before Bard’s eyes. He saw an elliptical hall, without doors or windows on all sides. A faint red glow emitted from vein-like structures implanted in the ground and wall crevices, resembling slow breathing. Several wooden structures resembling pillars rose from the ground, connecting to the dome above. Surrounding those "pillars," Bard saw several closed incubation pods, resembling those culture containers found in the factory zone.

"Is this your... secret laboratory within the secret laboratory?" Bard asked, curiosity evident as he glanced at Beltira, then instinctively pursued further, "Was this place reported?"

"His Majesty knows about it," Beltira glanced at Bard, "and only he knows. You understand, I have certain autonomy, and some matters are only accountable to His Majesty personally."

"Alright, I know, after all, you are a ’special citizen,’" Bard waved his hand, his gaze falling on the pods in dormant status, "What are these? Pets you’re privately cultivating or agricultural by-products?"

Beltira did not reply, instead slowly moving forward. The vines curled and squirmed beneath her feet, lifting her body as if in embrace. She approached one of the pods, gently brushing the gelatinous shell with her hand. The light green shell immediately quivered and silently retracted, revealing a transparent culture container in front of Bard, who suddenly widened his eyes in astonishment.

It was not some bizarre "bioengineering product," nor biological matrix waiting for processing, but rather in the thin biological fluid floated quietly... an elf, petite in stature, with long pale golden hair, appearing barely past adulthood—a silver elf.

She floated in the pale-yellow biological fluid, eyes tightly shut as if in a slumber. A layer of leathery gelatin enveloped her slender torso, containing faintly visible outer nutrient conduits and neural monitoring nodes within the protective layer. Several dark red vascular canals extended from near her spine, connecting to the pump-like organ at the head of the container. With the circulation of internal gas and liquid, fine bubbles continuously drifted from her mouth and nose, rising to the container top. All indications showed this "cultivation body" had completed physiological growth and development, and had independent heart and lung function—yet she remained asleep, as if the final step had not completed.

"This is..." Bard blinked, initially very confused, unable to fathom what Beltira intended with this secret laboratory cultivating an elf carcass. But soon as if recalling something, his expression became thoughtful and quickly complex, "I think I remember her somewhat..."

"You do remember? Ah, yes... You met her once while she was alive," Beltira spoke softly, her gaze always on the face of the slumbering silver elf, "Belna Lightwind, a girl too naive, never imagining how perilous the world outside her family would be..."

Bard’s expression grew complex, his tone reflective, "I remember she was seriously wounded near the Shadow Marsh, yet stumbled upon the Oblivion Association’s stronghold seeking help... the priests there took her as delivered experimental material, whereas she thought she found a doctor..."

Beltira still did not avert her gaze from Belna Lightwind’s face, "That experimental material was sent to me. I then asked if she had any wishes—she said she didn’t want to travel anymore, wanted to return home. I promised her, gave her an anesthetic."

"Ah, I was there—you promised her and then devoured her, supplementing your biomass reserves and genetic sample library," Bard stated slowly, then raised his gaze, with a dawning understanding expression, surveying the entire hall, those incubation pods growing around the pillars one after another, realizing his calm expression could no longer be maintained. A startled yet heavy expression emerged on his face, "I think I know what you are doing... you are trying to accomplish something nearly impossible... you are attempting to resurrect all those you’ve consumed..."

"Not resurrection, at least not entirely, Mr. Bard," Beltira interrupted, "Resurrecting the dead is a landmark undertaking in the miraculous domain; I don’t have the capability to drag those souls perished in the world back from the realm of death—I am only ’restoring,’ reverse processing the events I did back then. In a way, these people never truly died; their genetic samples are wholly recorded in my bio-core, their souls ’contained’ in the depths of my soul. Theoretically, this process can be reversed. Certainly, I couldn’t accomplish this back then, but now... my capabilities just suffice."

Bard paused in silence, turning to meet Beltira’s eyes, "What is this? Some form of ’redemption’?"

Beltira smiled briefly, "His Majesty once said, a sin is a sin; true sin is irredeemable. I wish to continue establishing my presence on this land, and the only thing I can do is to make contributions—scientific research is a contribution, infrastructure establishment is a contribution, resolving the Plains of the Holy Spirits’ food crises is a contribution; these aren’t redemption, but ’offsetting wrongdoing,’ and everything else I do, is just providing accountability to myself... what you see is merely my answer for myself.

"These are not for His Majesty, nor for the disaster survivors in the Crystal Cluster War, nor originally intended for you to see. I discussed with them all, only for those willing to return to this world do I initiate the ’restoration’ process."

Bard’s expression seemed to relax a little, then he curiously asked, "So what step are you at now? If the situation is indeed as you say, with both biological data and soul intact, then theoretically this is possible..."

"The Belna Lightwind before you is the first individual to initiate the restoration process, and the earlier stages went smoothly—she can actually wake up now." Beltira finally showed a slight smile. She gently tapped the exterior of the container in front of her, and several nerve fibers in the container brightened up. Moments later, the young elf floating in the liquid actually slowly opened her eyes!

Bard was taken aback, clearly not having expected that Beltira’s "secret project" had progressed to the point where an individual could be awakened. Then he entered into a staring contest with Belna in the container. He soon noticed that her expression was vacant, her eyes carrying a hint of confusion and bewilderment. After staring blankly outside the container for nearly half a minute, this frail elf slowly raised a hand as if trying to greet those outside, but the process was still exceptionally stiff and her reactions sluggish.

Bard raised his hand to respond to Belna, then looked at Beltira: "She seems... not quite conscious... Can she hear us?"

"Yes, but her cognitive efficiency is not yet high, so she may not be able to keep up with our normal pace of conversation," Beltira nodded. "Her current state is more akin to being half-awake, half-asleep—her soul does not adapt well to the newly born body, the regeneration of her personality has also hit a bottleneck, and moreover..."

Bard furrowed his brow: "Moreover?"

"Moreover, her body cannot leave the container at the moment. Once outside, her spirit will rapidly wither and decay, and her nervous system would quickly fall into chaos and self-destruction. Simply put, the external environment is lethal to her."

"You mentioned earlier that ’the previous stages went smoothly’—so now you’re encountering an unsmooth phase?" Bard inferred, and then, as if suddenly realizing something, he recalled the reason Beltira brought him here in the first place, "Wait, is it only Belna that’s like this?"

"You’re very astute, Mr. Bard," Beltira nodded slightly. "Yes, only Belna. The reason lies in the elves’ unique neuronal structure and soul ’format.’ Their nervous system is overly complex and sensitive, with many special structures for perceiving Magic Power and mental forces. Their souls are unlike those of humans or other races; they are more prone to connecting with realms beyond the material world. This means that once their soul leaves their body, or attempts to enter an unfamiliar body, a very severe rejection reaction is triggered immediately..."

Pausing here, she continued: "These two problems are very serious, and their internal mechanisms are extremely complex. Neither the ancient classic Druid spells nor the modified and enhanced bioengineering technology from the Oblivion Association that I am now using can perfectly solve them."

Bard finally realized what the "clue" Beltira mentioned earlier meant. He thought of those internal documents disclosed by the theocracy Authority Council, particularly the parts about Fyrna and Lelena sisters, and his eyes slowly widened: "So... Fyrna or Lelena back then couldn’t possibly have used any Druid technology to remold their sister’s body, much less control two bodies with one soul—unless they were using technology unknown to mortals!"

Beltira nodded gently, speaking slowly: "Fyrna and Lelena were Defiers from the Ancient Era, and according to the intelligence from the theocracy Authority Council, this pair of Defier sisters encountered a terrifying accident a thousand years ago... They were drawn into the Divine realm, and no one knows what they experienced there, nor how they survived. It’s only known that one of the sisters returned alive to the real world, and soon afterwards, the one who returned, out of some ’obsession’, used Druid technology of the time to replicate her sister’s body, manipulating two bodies with one soul to maintain the illusion that both sisters were among the living...

"Admittedly, this is a sad yet poignant story, and the sacrifices made by the Defiers are worthy of being moved by, yet we never noticed the anomaly behind this event... which is understandable, since even in the Gondor era, human replication was an extremely advanced and taboo subject. Although the Defiers often engaged in taboo practices, their main members and research were focused on the human race—the elves never replicated themselves nor conducted research in this area. They are not a rebellious species and dislike being subjected to rebellious experiments, which led to..."

Beltira didn’t finish, and Bard took over: "Led to no one ever discovering this fact: elves cannot be replicated using biotechnology and have souls parasitized—Fyrna’s ’sisters’ deceived everyone."

"Exactly."

"Then the key question now is—why did they do it? And how?" Bard was already thinking rapidly, his brows furrowing deeper. "Back then, all the Defiers thought the one who returned alive replicated her sister’s body and pretended her sister was still alive by using one soul to control two bodies. But the fact is such a thing is technically unfeasible, unless ’they’ used unknown technology... and the Defier organization then represented the peak of technology among the Mortal Nations, just as the bioengineering technology you use now is the peak, if even you cannot accomplish it..."

He shook his head, curling his fingers to tap his temple, forcing his somewhat agitated thoughts to calm down: "Did Lelena or Fyrna use an unknown technology to create a body, was their sole purpose truly just to pretend their sister was still alive? I’m now suddenly very doubtful of that... If ’they’ used knowledge beyond mortals, if they were polluted by something when drawn into the Divine realm, then that would be terrifying."

"Even more terrifying is that this happened a thousand years ago," Beltira suddenly said from the side. "In the thousand years since, they’ve been Defiers, inheriting ancient knowledge, Great Druids, Archbishops of the Church of Oblivion, planners and executors of many schemes. Their behaviors indeed were odd, yet despite being so odd, we considered them at least as ’mortal’ as ourselves for a long time... that’s the most terrifying part."

Bard’s expression instantly turned grim.