Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 807 - 806: Departure

Those who seemed to be attending a funeral finally left.

Gawain breathed a sigh of relief, glanced at Amber resting with her eyes closed in the nearby armchair, then looked at Tiel curled up in the corner of the room waiting for "mental nourishment," and steadied himself, once again focusing his mind, calming his thoughts to enter the spiritual network of the Eternal Sleepers.

...

In Gran Territory, Riftstone Castle, inside Patty’s bedroom.

The great sun’s brilliance completely fell beyond the mountains, and faint starlight appeared at the end of the horizon on the other side. Bright magic crystal lamps illuminated the room, dispelling the thickening night sky along with courtyard lights and street lamps inside and outside the castle. Under this bright light, Patty was sitting at her dedicated desk, carefully reading a beautifully printed, simply bound textbook.

The content of the textbook wasn’t profound, just primary education level from the Empire General Knowledge Academy, but Patty had missed too much education, so she was only now starting to read these basic materials.

Yet, she was still very happy because being able to sit in a chair and read peacefully like this, without constant pain and convulsions, was something she hadn’t imagined as fortunate over the past many years.

A gust of air blew in from the vent in the corner of the room, stirring the hair on Patty’s cheek. Feeling something, the girl raised her head but saw no one beside her.

Patty lowered her eyelids and pursed her lips in a bit of disappointment.

She hadn’t had that incredible dream in a long time, hadn’t seen the kind "Sister Selena" again, or the irritable Red-Haired Uncle, or the big Uncle calling himself "Uncle Celsey."

Everything in the dream, as if accompanied by her past chaotic years, turned into disordered fragments, gradually becoming blurry in the steadily recovering world of her mind. Her mother told her those were hallucinations induced by the pain-relieving ointment, and as her body recovered, that strange and lengthy dream would eventually be forgotten, just like every child’s bizarre childhood fantasies gradually fading away, because Patty... finally grew up.

But Patty would occasionally think of those things from the dream, recall those beautiful streets and gardens, and the friendly people in the dream... She never dared to tell her mother, but she really wanted to return to that world in the dream again, to see those uncles and aunts.

Because she forgot to say goodbye the last time she dreamed.

But mother would surely worry, so Patty kept it all in her heart.

Another breeze came, but from the direction opposite the vent. Patty quickly turned around, but still saw no figure.

Only when her peripheral vision glanced over at the glass window opposite did she vaguely seem to see a warm, familiar portable lamp appear in the reflection, but when she rubbed her eyes and looked carefully, she saw nothing.

...

Pale golden magic symbols flowed like water across the surface of the wide round table, and under this purely decorative faint light, shadows appeared around the table.

Compared to the last Supreme Council of Bishops meeting, several seats were obviously vacant beside the round table this time. Those seated normally clearly noticed this, but they merely glanced at the empty chairs without asking questions.

Soon, almost everyone’s gaze fell on the location beside Selena Gerfen.

A special "attendee" was sitting there openly, smiling as they greeted the eyes of the Archbishops.

"Everyone is very punctual." Gawain said with a smile, looking at several familiar people around the meeting hall—Archbishop Yuri was seated several seats away from him this time, and his complexion looked much better than last time. Archbishop Magnan was seated across the round table, with his lips tightly closed, seemingly not intending to release a Mental Storm, which made Gawain nod in satisfaction.

Indeed, not everything should be engraved in the subconscious. Is the Mental Storm something to be used for self-defense?

The atmosphere on site was somewhat peculiar; even though this was already the second appearance of the Wanderers from Outer Realm, the Archbishops were still not very accustomed to the scenario where a "large neutral wild monster suddenly became an organization leader" situation. Attendees exchanged glances for quite some time before a few awkwardly greeted Gawain, while more could only squeeze out a smile, unsure how to respond to the "Wanderers" without seeming frantic.

Gawain was unconcerned, having already anticipated such a situation. After briefly greeting others, he observed the meeting hall, predictably noticing a few missing people.

"Seems a few are absent?" He asked calmly, looking at Megal III floating in mid-air, "Should we wait?"

"They unfortunately suffered contamination from the Supreme Narrator," Megal III’s starlight polymer slowly squirmed, emitting a soothing voice, "and are no longer fit to appear here."

Gawain nodded, casually saying, "... Oh, that’s indeed unfortunate."

Even a few Archbishops from the Supreme Council of Bishops have been added to the cleansing list... It seems Megal III’s internal purification of the evil-cult is quite significant, preparing for the upcoming religion restructuring and core transfer.

Achieving this within two or three days, the capability of this dreamscape Pope is indeed remarkable...

With some feeling, Gawain shook his head and smoothly steered the topic to the Supreme Narrator’s contamination: "Speaking of the Supreme Narrator’s contamination, Selena, did those magic symbols I gave you last time take effect?"

"It produced a surprising effect," Selena immediately responded, her eyes filled with undisguised joy. "Those companions who were contaminated while exploring Sandbox One have calmed down quickly after seeing those runes. Now, every six hours, they undergo ’Rune Therapy,’ and even the most severely contaminated individuals have stopped praying to the Supreme Narrator. The isolation will continue for a while; if they do not relapse after the event is over, we can declare them healed."

"That’s good," Gawain said pleasantly, "See, the Supreme Narrator is still manageable, isn’t it?"

The "runes" he referred to are exactly the ones he handed over to Selena during their talk through a mental illusion projection last time — the sea demons Runes copied from Tiel’s Sea Demon Form.

Although the runes originating from sea demons still hold many mysteries, the Cecil Clan’s runemasters have not completely deciphered their secrets. Jenni’s research team has already organized several effective rune combinations and applied them in parts. They have been used to cure Daniel’s mental illness, crafted into a "Mind Protection System," and proven effective against the body of the fake god. Now, these deep-sea runes have further confirmed their efficacy in combating the Supreme Narrator’s spiritual contamination!

Of course, after healing, individuals may experience minor Squid Frenzy or become overly exuberant and optimistic for a certain time. These constitute residual effects, but compared to being completely ensnared by spiritual contamination as nameless believers or becoming sacrifices in the descent, such minor "residual effects" are certainly acceptable and even negligible.

Frankly speaking, Gawain always felt that the effect of the sea demons’ runes, like "Let’s go dig up Big squid together," should essentially be a form of mental contamination similar to deities’ erosion. After all, evidence also shows that those deep-sea dwellers’ "racial totem" indeed stole the godship of the God of Storms, and their Sea Demon Form’s patterns are apparently related to the power of storms, but the mental contamination effect of those deep-sea beings is so humorous that sometimes Gawain cannot distinguish whether they count as Evil Gods or harmonious gods. One thing is sure: becoming a bit cheerful and optimistic certainly won’t hurt...

Perhaps this is what is meant by only mental contamination can combat mental contamination...

The archbishops present listened to Gawain and Selena discuss the purification of the Supreme Narrator’s contamination, yet no one mentioned the archbishops who were missing today, declared as "Supreme Narrator believers," nor mentioned those "contaminated nodes" disappearing in the mental network recent days. Everyone showed a mutual understanding regarding this matter—

Some have been contaminated by the Supreme Narrator, purified, and will soon return; some are absent today, meaning they genuinely won’t return...

"So, let’s return to the main topic," After discussing those runes, Gawain proactively ended this topic and turned to Bishop Megal III floating in mid-air, "Are you ready for the next action on Sandbox One?"

"Everything is prepared," The starlight polymer in mid-air swelled and wiggled, "Including all levels of monitoring and assistance in the network, as well as shielding and guiding personnel in the real world. As for the specific personnel entering Sandbox One...learning from last time’s lessons, we will not send ordinary priests in; besides yourself, only three will enter Sandbox One this time."

As soon as Megal III finished speaking, three figures sitting around the round table had already stood up.

Gawain, without any surprise, saw Selena, Yuri, and Magnan, three archbishops.

Evidently, having personally explored Illusion Town and long handled the Supreme Narrator-related matters, they once again became members of the scouting teams.

As for Daniel, he was not selected for this mission, which didn’t surprise Gawain. —As the Chief of Security in the mental network, Daniel’s role within Sandbox One is quite limited; he would provide technical support in the main network, ensuring the stability and reliability of the network environment and preventing unexpected data contamination in Sandbox One.

"A four-person team... fewer people means fewer troubles," Gawain nodded, appearing unconcerned about the specific "teammates." "Is there anything else that needs attention?"

A female archbishop with a slightly gloomy temperament and wearing a white magic robe stood up; she seemed to be responsible for the technical aspect: "As agreed, after you enter Sandbox One, we will partially restore the system’s time iteration, which will accelerate the time flow within Sandbox One to ten times that of the real world — this is the highest multiplier the sandbox’s safety system currently supports without worsening contamination."

After the statement of the female archbishop, Daniel in a black magic robe stood up too, continuing, "During this period, the main network will devote all remaining computing resources to maintaining the stability of consciousness layers, maximizing the containment of sandbox’s contamination from leaking outward; this supports a day in the real world..."

Gawain nodded with understanding: "That’s easy to understand — with time acceleration, you have secured ten days of action time for us; within these ten days, regardless of what kind of commotion we cause in Sandbox One, you will ensure to the fullest extent that the outside world is not polluted."

The slightly gloomy female nodded, "Exactly, you may do as you wish."

Gawain asked again, "What if I haven’t resolved the Supreme Narrator within ten days or if the operation in the sandbox fails?"

The slightly gloomy female priest immediately answered, "...We will destroy all Brain Servant nodes, and all priests connecting to Sandbox One will immediately commit suicide to cut off dream propagation. We will do our utmost to prevent the descent of the Supreme Narrator, as for you... We believe you surely have a way to leave."

"I do have a way to leave," Gawain said, glancing at the round table around him at Magnan and the other three, "but as for them..."

"I’ve written my will." Yuri said calmly.

"Damn it!" Magnan’s loud voice suddenly rang, "We agreed that we don’t need that thing!"

Yuri glanced at the red-haired short man, "If you need to draft one, I can lend you paper and pen — in the real world."

"Damn it, I don’t need it!!"

Gawain ignored the two archbishops who seemed to have a good relationship; he looked at Selena beside him, "Have you said goodbye?"

"We met once." Selena said calmly.

Gawain nodded, "Alright, then let’s set off."