Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 795 - 794: ?

This was Gawain’s first time entering the interior of the Central Temple in the dream city.

The temple is located at the center of the dream city, and within the structure of the network of minds, the data constituting this temple is located at the deepest part of the entire network—it is under the direct surveillance of the Supreme Council of Bishops and is constantly under the "watch" of Pope Megal III. All mental activities within the temple area are based on the highest security policies, and data flow control is extremely strict.

Therefore, for a long time, Gawain had no intention of approaching this area. To prevent being discovered by the monitors of the temple as a "stowaway," he wouldn’t even operate near the temple area.

Until today, when Daniel became the monitor of the temple area and reconstructed the entire region’s data flow.

Gawain calmly transmitted to the inner corridor of the Central Temple and then unhurriedly walked into the magnificent and resplendent circular hall.

In the luxurious hall illuminated by sourceless radiance, the figures of the Archbishops appeared one after another. The surface of the golden round table in the center of the hall was adorned with numerous mysterious magic symbols, each of which shimmered with ripples as the attendees arrived. Gawain slowly approached the round table, calmly scanning the floating magic and holy seals along the edge of the round table, feeling a mix of emotions—

Network enthusiasts really like RGB, as if this can truly enhance the performance of the network of minds...

As his thoughts floated, the figures quickly solidified. The Archbishops of the Eternal Sleepers arrived at the venue, standing before Gawain.

Gawain looked at the seating arrangement on the scene, noticing that a total of twenty-three seats were placed around the luxurious round table—corresponding to the twenty-three Archbishops, including Daniel.

But there was one chair that was empty at the moment.

Gawain recalled Daniel’s report—during the earlier exploration of sandbox one, an Archbishop of the Eternal Sleepers was mentally contaminated by the Supreme Narrator while protecting others. She has been isolated in the real world, and it seemed that the empty seat belonged to her.

Gawain casually sat beside the empty seat—this position was good; now it was his.

Other than Daniel, the Archbishops had no idea that a Wanderer from Outer Realm had come among them. They orderly took their seats around the round table, with Yuri Charlvin sitting on Gawain’s left and an unfamiliar Archbishop sitting on his right.

Several attending bishops couldn’t help but cast their gaze toward Gawain’s position. Of course, to them, it was just an empty seat. One of the Archbishops shook his head and sighed, "Alas... I hope Archbishop Wendy can recover quickly."

There were a few sounds of agreement around, and several gazes cast toward Gawain’s position carried a sense of lament and concern.

Gawain felt a bit awkward but still stiffened his face and remained in the seat... After all, Daniel was sitting across the table; he couldn’t break his character as a Wanderer from Outer Realm—retreating out of embarrassment was not an option for a Wanderer from Outer Realm.

At this moment, a voice echoed in the venue, announcing the beginning of the meeting and relieving Gawain’s awkwardness: "Everyone, let’s begin."

Following the voice, Gawain saw Selena Gerfen sitting not far from him, dressed in a plain white dress. Her tone was as serene and gentle as he remembered.

"His Holiness the Pope will also attend this meeting," Selena continued.

Megal III?

Gawain felt a stir within him, and the face of that diligent and gentle pioneer, known for his loyalty, appeared in his mind. Almost simultaneously, a starlight polymer, continuously wriggling and morphing, suddenly appeared above the golden round table in everyone’s view.

For a moment, Gawain’s gaze froze. Memories from Gawain Cecil surged in his mind, yet he could not align that indescribable starlight with the "comrade" in his memories.

He couldn’t help but think of Beltira, who transformed into a plant, and "Archbishop" Frankenstein, who merged with the body of the fake god and perished...

Mere mortals must pay a significant price to resist the passage of time and live through long years.

Then, he heard a voice emanating from the starlight, a voice that had lost its original tone, trembling and speaking to the gathered Archbishops: "We are facing a unique crisis—the ’Supreme Narrator’ that emerged from Sandbox One has begun to pollute the real world. You must be already aware of the specific circumstances.

"Moreover, all the conscious entities in Sandbox One have been confirmed to have disappeared, including three thousand church brethren serving as test entities and millions of virtual consciousnesses formed by the Sandbox System.

"We have yet to determine the reason for these consciousnesses’ disappearance—they may have been ’devoured’ by the out-of-control Supreme Narrator, or perhaps... they have somehow integrated into Sandbox One or even penetrated the barriers and entered our surface network."

Pope Megal III’s voice echoed through the hall as Gawain’s expression gradually turned solemn.

The consciousnesses within Sandbox One had disappeared... it housed millions of consciousnesses, most of which were virtual personalities generated by the Sandbox System...

That vast number of "virtual personalities" didn’t surprise Gawain because the Sandbox housed a highly realistic "real world," and as the internal historical "script" developed, the civilization scale within the Sandbox World would inevitably expand, and the vast number of "residents" could not all be real test subjects—implying that the Eternal Sleepers would need to put an entire national population into their Sandbox, which was clearly unrealistic.

So, using virtual personalities as the Sandbox System’s "NPCs" was their inevitable choice and one Gawain had long anticipated.

But he hadn’t expected that Sandbox One, which appeared to operate normally... was actually empty inside?

As for whether those virtual "NPCs" can simulate human mind with all its complexities, whether they can achieve advanced artificial intelligence, this is something Gawain is deeply concerned about, but evidently, now is not the time to dwell on such matters.

While thoughts continuously race through Gawain’s mind, the archbishops in the hall have commenced a formal conference discussion.

The archbishops who participated in the Sandbox One exploration shared more details of the exploration mission, while the technologically inclined archbishops, led by Daniel, put forward several proposals. During the discussion, the severity of the situation became increasingly evident, and the weight of the crisis pressed heavily upon everyone.

Selena stood up, her gaze tranquil, her tone low and subdued:

"...To date, we are still unable to confirm the essence of the Supreme Narrator, whose formless and intangible powers contaminate everything entering Sandbox One, making conventional countermeasures ineffective.

"The Vanguard Troops attacked after nightfall by an invisible enemy suffered hallucinations possibly due to mind backlash, and apart from these occurrences, we remain clueless about this form of attack.

"Fellow comrades, we are attempting to confront a power that might surpass human psyche... I’m afraid regular methods have become useless."

Low voices rose in discussion in the hall as archbishops swiftly exchanged thoughts, even Gawain, hidden to observe the meeting, couldn’t help but sink into contemplation, devising possible countermeasures from the extensive information just heard.

No matter what, he still wished that such an effective mind network wouldn’t be declared obsolete so swiftly—furthermore, that Supreme Narrator sounded bizarre and dangerous, if possible, he wouldn’t want that entity to truly invade the real world.

Selena Gerfen quietly watches the discussing archbishops, and after several minutes, she suddenly voices out breaking the silence.

"Comrades, listen to me—

"Perhaps my forthcoming words may seem unbelievable to you, but the gravity of the situation is undeniably clear, I hope all of us can earnestly ponder more possibilities.

"Regarding the current situation, Pope Megal III and I negotiated a bold proposal—"

Gawain instinctively raised his head, along with the other archbishops, attuning their focus towards Selena Gerfen.

"Perhaps, we should seek cooperation with the Wanderers from Outer Realm," Selena calmly stated.

The hall became so quiet one could hear a pin drop.

Gawain: "...?"

Daniel: "...?"

In the next moment, the discussions surged like a boiling cauldron, when a name that the Eternal Sleeper’s Order regards as a "large neutral outdoor boss" appeared in this special conference, even the archbishops of the dark sect couldn’t suppress their shock and confusion.

Just then, Selena’s voice rang out again, rapidly restoring quiet to the scene: "Silence, everyone, please hear me out—this isn’t fantastical speculation, but serious deliberation.

"Through prolonged observation and analysis of the Wanderers from Outer Realm, we should have understood this indescribable presence to some extent. Various features indicate that despite presenting extreme danger and bizarre techniques throughout its wandering in worlds, within certain segments of its journey, it operates on relatively defined principles—according to observations and fragmented memories gathered by the ’Wanderers Analysis Group’ concerning Cecil territory, each time the Wanderer descends to the real world, it carries specific objectives, all its actions revolve around this objective, and in our world, its goal is to... establish a new order.

"And based on the various new policies of the Cecil Empire, from the details of its implemented religious reforms, we can ascertain that it might hold opposing stances against gods, at least they aren’t part of the same faction.

"Given this point, concerning the matters of the Supreme Narrator, cooperation with the Wanderers from Outer Realm isn’t entirely unfeasible."

Once Selena finished speaking, the archbishops resumed discussions, someone couldn’t help but stand and said, "But can we devise ’operating principles’ for an indescribable entity based on fragmented data available? Its mode of operation and objectives might be beyond human comprehension, how do we ensure accuracy in our current conclusions?"

Selena looked towards the direction the voice originated: "We can’t ensure accuracy, only declare, within specific periods within certain scopes, its objectives don’t conflict with ours, offering us a possibility for cooperation."

Another person stood up: "Archbishop Selena, I believe this imprudent—although the Wanderers from Outer Realm might not belong to the gods’ faction, it evidently also doesn’t align with our side. Within Cecil borders, massive efforts are underway to purge the dark sect, the Oblivion Association has been uprooted, and our comrades there are continually apprehended by local police forces and Transcendent centers, being arrested and reformed, it obviously doesn’t favor us..."

"Its enforced order won’t allow uncontrollable and extreme groups like the dark sect to exist, but this doesn’t mean we can’t pursue ’partial cooperation,’" Selena responded, "The organization’s main forces reside within Typhon borders, we can avoid action within Cecil, preventing direct confrontation with the Wanderers, under this premise, concerning ’god’ related issues, we might reach a tacit understanding."

The archbishops glanced at each other, evidently still trapped in shock and turmoil, sitting at Gawain’s left, Yuri Charlvin couldn’t resist turning his gaze towards the right, exchanging ideas with another archbishop seated one chair away, while Gawain, sandwiched in the middle, leaned back on his chair, listening to the Eternal Sleepers discussing among themselves, and occasionally spacing out, his mind wandering...

A particularly loud voice sounded, Magnan stirred Gawain back to awareness; the short-tempered small stature archbishop rose to question: "Perhaps the Wanderers from Outer Realm can handle issues within Sandbox One, possessing corresponding levels, but will it genuinely assist? Or after its assistance, will we not face an even greater threat? We can’t deal with the Supreme Narrator—nor can we deal with it!"

Clearly, this concern is universally shared, immediately eliciting widespread concurrence, seated at Gawain’s left, Yuri stood up, looking across the table towards Daniel: "Archbishop Daniel, what are your thoughts on this matter?"

Daniel: "?"