Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 1158: Chapter 1157: The Voyager’s Defiance

The sunlight was bright, the insects were chirping noisily, yet the midsummer atmosphere was blocked by the well soundproofed and insulated window panes; in the Hatching Room there remained only some sounds that seemed to come from very far away, making the room feel all the quieter.

The atmosphere was a bit awkward, but Gawain at least did not let this awkwardness last too long. He gently coughed twice to break the silence and said calmly, "I just ran into Nicholas outside."

"Saint Nicholas Egg? Yes, he just left from here," Enya’s tone was as mild and detached as ever. "He helped me repair this set of Neural Coupler... that’s what it’s called, isn’t it? Sorry, I seem to have some issues with the way I use it and accidentally damaged a critical component."

"I heard," Gawain let out a breath, finally feeling the atmosphere gradually return to normal. He decided to bury forever in his heart the evaluation Saint Nicholas Egg had given Enya in the corridor—and if possible, it would be best to forget it entirely right now. "Don’t worry about it, it’s perfectly normal for machines to suffer wear and tear—though it’d still be better if you could somewhat control how long you stay connected to the neural network. Even leaving the equipment aside, being too addicted to the online world to your own health... uh, probably still has some impact?"

By the end, Gawain’s tone had clearly grown cautious. Looking at the "Retired Deity" in front of him, who currently stood on her pedestal in the form of a dragon egg, he suddenly began to doubt whether she would develop ’health issues’ the way mortals did—given the state Enya was in now, how much worse could her health possibly get? Would she surf the net until the yolk scattered?

Fortunately, Enya did not care in the least what impolite things Gawain might have been thinking during that brief pause. A gentle laugh sounded from within the shell: "I accept your advice—let’s say... for the sake of my health."

Gawain nodded, casually pulled over a chair at the side and sat down, poured himself a full cup of tea, and as his mood gradually calmed, he pushed the minor incident on his way here to the back of his mind. His expression turned earnest: "Actually... I came today because there are some things I’d like to discuss with you."

"I can tell," Enya’s voice sounded unsurprised. "You have something weighing on you—you had it the moment you came through the door. I’ve just been waiting for you to start talking on your own."

Gawain immediately cleared his throat twice. He wanted to say that what was weighing on him when he entered had nothing to do with this, but at least he managed to swallow back the words that almost slipped out, and continued seriously, "I just went to Kamel’s laboratory. In the lab, we talked about a conjecture... concerning Magic Power and the development of civilization."

Then he held nothing back, recounting in full everything he had discussed with Kamel—including the possible ’catalytic’ role Magic Power played throughout the universe, and the history of this planet, where the rise and fall of civilizations were swept along and wrapped by Magic Power.

When he spoke of the association that had occurred to him, when he said, "This universe is a pot of brutal boiling soup, and all civilizations pass through this never-ending midsummer like insects, rushing through their brief Samsara," he noticed a distinct radiance spread across the surface of Enya’s eggshell. Those magic symbols that had been drifting calmly instantly grew active, and only after several seconds did they gradually return to normal.

This perhaps revealed a brief flash of emotion from this former goddess?

When Gawain finally finished speaking, Enya’s voice came from within the shell: "Over the past one million eight hundred and seventy thousand years... you are the first intelligent being to stand on so vast a timescale and spatial scale to discuss this topic with me."

Gawain couldn’t help leaning forward slightly. "So... you’ve had similar feelings?"

"...After surviving for so long and witnessing so many things, even the dullest fool would be capable of summarizing many of the rules by which the world operates," Enya sighed. "Gawain, judging from your tone, it seems that in your home planet there is no such ’catalytic force’? Between the stars there, things are even more ’desolate’ than here?"

"At least from the perspective of the evolution of civilization, that’s indeed the case," Gawain nodded. "In the world we lived in, energy is far less active than here; on the astronomical scale, everything is empty and silent. The planet we inhabit is crowded with enormous populations, and there, the struggle over living space and resources... is far more brutal than in this world."

"I see... then I understand why you, this ’Outland Wanderer’, could lead your Empire to rise so quickly," Enya’s tone carried something like a sigh. "You are a people who fought your way out of Eternal Winter. Coming to such a ’midsummer’ where everything flourishes in abundance, I fear the whole world in your eyes is nothing but lambs waiting for slaughter—in this world, the starting conditions for civilization are truly too privileged."

"But the price of this ’midsummer’ is far shorter cycles of civilization and far harsher, more frequent apocalyptic disasters. Before Divine calamities and chaotic wave, lives are like grass; who can say for sure which of the two worlds has the better survival conditions?" Gawain shook his head with a smile. "So once I learned all this, and then thought back to those Voyagers who have passed by this planet over the course of more than a million years... some new feelings arose in me."

"New feelings?" Enya asked with some curiosity. "How do you see them now?"

"I still don’t know where that endless ’expedition’ of theirs is ultimately heading, nor do I know why they tirelessly take away every civilization they encounter along the way and fold them into their ’fleet’. But in terms of outcome, they are like the only ’countercurrent’ within this universe’s ceaseless waves of destruction," Gawain said, his tone solemn. "In this world, nearly all forces and rules are accelerating civilization toward annihilation, and only the Voyagers seem to be walking a contrary path. They have broken free from this Samsara, and have chosen to take with them those races that have yet to break free...

"If for us races bound by gravity to the earth, the ’ultimate defiance’ we face is confronting our Goddess of the Night, then the Voyagers... their goal seems to be to have defied the rules of the entire world."

"Perhaps they do indeed harbor such grand ambitions, but it might not be as magnificent as you imagine," Enya said evenly. "You should understand: at least in the eyes of the gods, the image of the Voyagers is... not all that gentle."

"...All right, that’s true," Gawain recalled the battle report he had heard back then and could only nod helplessly. "But given the utterly out-of-control, insane situation this planet was in at the time, the thunderous methods of the Voyagers were probably the only kind of release for those Goddess of the Night who had already plunged into madness and confusion—even for us, before we figured out the method to safely decouple, we had always believed that killing the gods was the only way to prevent Divine calamities."

The Hatching Room fell quiet for a while, until after several seconds a sigh finally came from within the golden giant egg.

After that, Gawain continued talking with Enya for a long time. They discussed the long-term impact the Voyagers had brought to this world, the various recent changes in the neural network, and even Amon and Goddess of Magic, who had likewise become "retired internet users"—until the mechanical clocks at the side sounded a loud chime, prompting him to rise to take his leave.

But before leaving, he suddenly remembered something: "Right, I nearly forgot to mention one thing. Talronde has already sent permanent ambassadors. They’re Dragonkin you know: Melita Ponia, and White Dragon Noreta, who will serve as liaison officer—do you still remember them? They’ll be living in this city for a long time, and they’ll be visiting here today as guests. Do you want to meet them?"

The golden giant egg instantly fell into silence. Though she had no visible expression, Gawain could clearly feel the hesitancy and inner struggle coming from within the shell. Only after a full half minute did Enya’s voice emerge: "...I don’t know if directly making contact with Dragonkin right now is a good idea."

"We’ve carried out a risk assessment," Gawain nodded. "Melita Ponia and Noreta are Dragonkin who already know of your existence, so there’s no risk that their worldview will be shaken and their faith will reconnect. On the other hand, you’ve completely shed your divine nature. The monitoring team has confirmed that your decoupling is far more thorough than Amon’s and Goddess of Magic’s, so there’s no need to worry about spiritual pollution spreading—the only question is whether you yourself are willing. As for Melita Ponia and Noreta, I’m ninety-nine percent sure they’ll be delighted."

Enya fell silent once more, but this time her hesitation lasted only a short while. "Very well, then please help arrange it. I... do indeed somewhat wish to see them."

Gawain nodded. "Then I’ll bring them over a bit later..."

Enya hummed in acknowledgement, then called out to him again before he turned to leave. "Wait a moment—I feel I should express my thanks."

Gawain was a little puzzled. "Your thanks?"

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw one of the containers floating behind Enya suddenly fly this way, while a clean glass cup dropped onto the small table at his side. The container tilted, the ice cubes and liquid inside clattering as they poured out. Along with the dense crackle of bursting bubbles, a dark brown drink flowed into the cup and a layer of foam rose to the surface.

"About that drink you asked for, I’ve made some progress these past two days. I’ve adjusted the formula, and this batch should be much more successful than the last." Enya’s tone lifted slightly, a note of pride in her voice. "This time I took into account the taste and sweetness you specifically mentioned. Want to give it a try before you go?"

Gawain hadn’t expected this at all. He looked somewhat hesitantly at the cup on the table, froth bubbling up in it, and couldn’t help but recall the impact from the last "test batch" Enya had concocted. Although the exact taste and mouthfeel had already been forcibly erased by his brain, that "sensation" was etched in his heart as if carved by a knife. This cup this time... was it drinkable?

Noticing his hesitation, Enya couldn’t help but say, "Give it a try. You can just take a small sip first."

After hesitating again and again, Gawain finally picked up the cup. This time, however, he first spent a long while cautiously smelling it. He even secretly released some extraordinary power to detect curses and poisons, carefully checking for quite some time before confirming that what was in the cup was at least harmless. Only then did he carefully bring the rim of the cup to his lips and take a small sip.

There didn’t seem to be much taste, only the feeling of bubbles bursting in his mouth, so he took another sip, trying to determine whether this stuff was even slightly close to the "cola" in his memories.

The next second, he felt that sensation of countless bubbles exploding in his mouth even more clearly. At first they were like countless tiny pockets of air popping, then like a rapid barrage of violently erupting pellets, then like exploding fireballs, Flame Burst, hellfire eruptions, the main cannon of the Winter, ten thousand Rebeccas going all out hurling gate-sized fireballs in every direction...

The wild and over-the-top associations flashed through his mind, and in the next second Gawain spat everything out. "Pff—"

Enya’s regretful yet apologetic voice echoed through the Hatching Room. "Ah, I’m terribly sorry. It seems we’re still a long way from success..."

"This isn’t a matter of success or not," Gawain finally managed to recover after quite a while. He stared wide-eyed at the giant egg in the middle of the room. "The key is how you even did this... Is this really an effect you can get with mundane ingredients? You’re sure you didn’t mix in some kind of ’incredible Divine Arts effect’?"

As he spoke, he glanced at the more-than-half-full cup still in his hand, and hastily put it back on the table. To be fair, this stuff was definitely non-toxic—Magic tests had cleared it, and he’d personally tried it himself. The liquid in this cup indeed wasn’t poisonous—yet it was harmful, very harmful, the kind of harmful that chipped away at your sanity.

Enya claimed that after leaving the divine seat she’d lost the ability to create miracles—but in Gawain’s view, this thing absolutely qualified as "miraculous" already!

"I don’t understand why it turned out like this," Enya’s voice remained as calm as ever, even carrying a very earnest, exploratory tone. "I believe that even if what I concocted doesn’t taste good, it absolutely shouldn’t have this kind of effect... Perhaps I shouldn’t use too much Magic Power to mix these ingredients? All right, I’ve found another direction to work on..."

"Let’s not worry about directions to work on for now," Gawain hurriedly interrupted this overly serious lady whose motivation had clearly been set ablaze. "I have a suggestion. Next time you mix something... if it really comes to it, maybe borrow a test animal from the Druids first?"

The golden giant egg fell silent for a moment before speaking again, somewhat hesitantly. "In fact, I already tried that. Because I firmly believed what I’d made this time was absolutely harmless, I tried feeding it to that spotted dog in the garden..."

"Ah? And then? How did it react?"

"I don’t know. It ran away—very fast."

Gawain was instantly dumbfounded. "So this stuff scared even the dog away?!"

Yet Enya’s tone was still calm and full of confidence. "At the time my main thought was that dogs’ taste buds and preferences are different from those of humans, and you also specifically emphasized that this drink called ’cola’ has a unique flavor, which for first-timers might even taste as awful as herbal decoction..."

Gawain: "..."

After a long silence, he could only sigh, wave his hand to show he no longer minded this little mishap, and stride toward the door of the Hatching Room. Enya’s voice came from behind him, carrying the same seriousness and gravity as always. "I will continue trying new formulas. Please look forward to the next result."

Gawain’s steps paused for a moment. The corners of his mouth twitched twice before he finally squeezed out a helpless line. "Then... do your best. I’ll try my best too."

After leaving the Hatching Room, Gawain took a moment at the doorway to properly compose himself before finally regaining his usual air of dignified steadiness. Then he strode toward the direction of the main hall.

Judging by the time, Melita Ponia should have already finished the "official procedures" at the Autumn Palace and would be about to arrive at the Cecil Palace. As a friend rather than as the ruler of a nation, he ought to personally receive her.

Hopefully this time that My Little Pony lady wouldn’t bring him any more "surprises"—he’d already had more than enough surprises for today.