Chapter 844: Chapter 843: Computing Center

Yuri and Semyr were the first to stand up, followed by Wendy and a few other bishops and archbishops at the scene. Finally, the other priests realized who was in front of them, and the gentle sound of benches and clothes lightly rubbing and moving echoed throughout the hall as each Eternal Sleeper stood up.

It was truly a magnificent sight.

Gawain looked at these people in front of him, at those who had just transferred from Typhon and were members of the dark sects not long ago. Although he had orchestrated all of this himself, he still felt a bit detached—more than half of the fruits of the seven-hundred-year accumulation of the Eternal Sleepers now belonged to the Cecil Clan.

These were all technical personnel.

Gawain took a soft breath and said calmly, "Please, be seated."

The Three Great Dark Sects: the Sons of the Storm were being eroded and transformed by the power of the deep-sea heretic god, their current situation unknown; the Oblivion Association finally lived up to its name, with most members in human territories either dead or gone into hiding in the wastelands, leaving only a single plant on the Sorin Plains as the last remnant; the Eternal Sleepers Sect has collapsed, and the remaining technical personnel have been divided by the two human Empires.

This seven-hundred-year-long darkness and chaos had not yet entirely settled, but in Gawain’s view, the overall trend was at least determined.

"Yuri, Semyr, and... Wendy," Gawain’s gaze swept across the faces of the archbishops he was more acquainted with. When his gaze turned to an empty spot beside him, two figures abruptly appeared there, "Ah, and Magnan, Selena... I’m glad to see you’ve all arrived safely."

"Your Majesty," Yuri took a slight step forward, noticeably stumbling over the words "Your Majesty," clearly not yet accustomed to the title. Then, turning slightly, he gestured to the crowd in the hall, "So far, all the Eternal Sleepers who successfully crossed the border are here—numbers wise, they account for less than a tenth of the sect, but they are mainly mid-level and high-level members who hold technical knowledge, including nearly all the archbishops, one-third of the bishops, and some elite priests with outstanding abilities, all ready to serve you."

In other words, a considerable number of mid-level technical personnel actually remained in Typhon...

Gawain sighed inwardly but did not show it. He merely nodded and said slowly, "No rush, you can take a few days to rest here, familiarize yourselves with the environment, and learn the laws and rules you must obey here. There will be dedicated personnel and departments to help with your accommodation and daily needs.

"Additionally, during this time, these Holy Light priests will live with you to help you gradually adapt to life here."

The Eternal Sleepers at the scene seemed a bit restless upon hearing his final words, but nobody voiced any objections, and Gawain was quite satisfied with this.

"Then, everyone else can go rest. The archbishops please stay—I have further instructions and arrangements to make."

The White Knights and Combat Nuns at the scene immediately stepped forward, guiding the other priests out of the hall to pre-arranged accommodation areas. Yuri, Semyr, and the other archbishops remained as instructed—this included Magnan and Selena, currently appearing before Gawain in a projected form.

Magnan curiously looked around at this place; he was still not very accustomed to the "psychological projection" mode of existence, flickering like a malfunctioning magic crystal (reminding one of Kamel in party mode). It was only after everyone else had left that he seemed to gradually perceive the change in the scene, turning his curious gaze to Gawain: "Your... Your Majesty, what arrangements do you have?"

"To take you to see your new ’home’," Gawain showed a slight smile, then turned to Amber beside him and said, "To the Computing Center."

The place Gawain was taking them wasn’t far—in fact, it was right next to the hall.

With a team of White Knights escorting them, the archbishops walked down a path completely devoid of pedestrians, shaded by tall trees and shrubs, and in about ten minutes, the scene before them suddenly opened up to a vast open area that seemed still under construction.

Various types of magic-conducting machinery they had never seen were busily operating on the site, with ordinary workers wielding extraordinary power, applying it in fundamental construction projects on a grand scale. In the orderly and highly efficient construction site, a five or six-story high, roughly pyramid-shaped building, its exterior being paved with numerous magic symbols and materials, had already taken shape and stood imposingly in the center.

Magnan’s eyes immediately widened—nearly every other archbishop on the scene was somewhat surprised as well.

Some were amazed by the never-before-seen "mechanized cluster construction" scene, others by the mysterious pyramid with its unprecedented style and structure. But regardless of their reasons for astonishment, their reaction was surprisingly unanimous: all eyes quickly turned to Gawain.

Magnan stared at the pyramid for a long time before looking at Gawain, being the first to speak up: "Is that a prison? Or a ’factory’ for our transformation?"

He still vividly remembered Gawain’s mention of "labor reform" at the highest bishop meeting.

Several archbishops at the scene showed somewhat subtle expressions, and Yuri even helplessly shrugged—ever since Magnan became a projection, it had become much harder to quickly shut this loudmouth up.

Gawain was not concerned, however; he smiled and shook his head: "Rest assured, none of you here have yet reached the point of being imprisoned, and your knowledge can provide you with as bright a future as possible. As for this facility... in a way, it will indeed require you to work within it, but it is not a factory.

"Welcome to the Imperial Computing Center—though it’s not fully completed yet, parts of the main building are ready. Come with me, and I will show you the future."

Gawain led the Eternal Sleepers with broad strides toward the pyramid-shaped building, and everyone followed, filled with a mix of curiosity and anticipation. Amber shuffled quickly on her short legs to keep up with Gawain. As they neared the "pyramid," Yuri noticed that much of the outer edge of its foundation was still uncovered, revealing a large array of neatly arranged hexagonal magic symbol structures, through which a faint magical brilliance flowed among the components.

This must be the Cecil’s "Magic Web," he thought.

From scale to precision, it indeed far surpasses the various "replicas" produced by other forces.

Thereafter, they stepped through the grand doors of the pyramid-shaped structure, revealing a hall illuminated by numerous lights, still undergoing clearing and facility installation.

What they first saw was a giant pillar in the center of the hall—a rectangular structure, thicker than the main beam of any castle, its surface seemingly composed of numerous silver-white metal plates joined together. The precise assembly and the geometrically patterned gaps exuded a captivating "aesthetic," one indescribable by words since no one had seen anything like it elsewhere.

And in the gaps between those metal plates, on some special panel surfaces, streams of pale blue magical brilliance flowed quietly, specks of light flickering like a breathing rhythm.

This even gave Yuri an illusion—he felt this pillar was alive, even possessing its own consciousness, being the heart and brain of this structure, gradually awakened by the Cecil workers and technicians, waiting to communicate with other minds...

Suddenly, Yuri realized it wasn’t an illusion.

He truly sensed some familiar things from that pillar, fluctuations of magic similar to certain facilities in the headquarters of the Eternal Sleepers!

"This is the Hall of Thought, the pillar you see before you is called the ’Mind Nexus,’ currently the first and only Mind Nexus in the Empire," Gawain noticed the change in expressions on Yuri and others’ faces, deliberately pausing a moment before explaining, "You might find it somewhat familiar, which is normal, because this thing... uses your mind network technology.

"The ’Mind Nexus’ connects throughout the entire building, spanning four stories above ground and two below, linking various computational layers, the Hall of Thought, the redundancy center, and the deepest Magic Web Medium Layer. Have you noticed the rooms around the hall? There are even more rooms above and underground, housing thousands of Immersion Capsules—and in the future, there will be more, with more computing centers appearing in every province of the Empire. Near each computing center, there will also be more ’distributed stations’ to undertake additional computational tasks.

"The Immersion Capsules in each room will connect to the Mind Nexus, and then through it, access the Magic Web—after an extra Magic Web conversion and a new safety medium, it’s much safer than your previous direct ’bare connection’ with human brains to the network.

"Oh, by the way, some of you might not know what an Immersion Capsule is—you can ask Selena about it, she has seen them."

Semyr was no longer concerned with what Gawain’s last remark meant.

He, along with the other archbishops present, stared in awe listening to everything, imagining it all in their mind.

This majestic structure, along with the massive, advanced, and sophisticated equipment inside, was essentially an extension of the technology of the Eternal Sleepers’ mind network. However, its scale and application far exceeded the comprehension of all Eternal Sleepers. Even without seeing the entire structure, just a glance at what was visible, Semyr, Yuri, and others could determine that this was not just for the present Eternal Sleepers Priests here—it’s intended to accommodate "users" far more numerous than they imagined!!

What shocked them even more was the fact that similar "computing centers" would not just be one in the future—each province would have one, with even facilities like "distributed stations" for extra expansion. Just how vast would this scale be?

The Eternal Sleepers Sect once had so-called "external nodes," computation facilities set up elsewhere aside from the Orlandeau’s headquarters. However, those nodes were pathetically small, their function merely auxiliary to the headquarters, likely equivalent to Gawain’s mentioned "distributed stations." Even so, that was already the result of centuries of accumulation by the Eternal Sleepers Sect...

What Gawain described was a future they found unimaginable.

A scale so vast that they even felt it was somewhat unnecessary, somewhat incredible.

"So many, such large-scale computing centers..." Yuri couldn’t hold back any longer, "Are you planning to have everyone connected to it?"

"Why not?" Gawain retorted, "The Immersion Capsules are a safer connection method, and ordinary people can use them too. In fact, Cecil has already completed research in this regard; the only limitation to the scale of computing centers right now is the production capacity of the Immersion Capsules.

"As you said, Yuri, I intend to have this network cover the entire Empire—because, in my view, it’s a very useful technology."

The archbishops looked at each other in dismay.

This was a path they had never imagined—because the direction this path represented seemed impossible to them!

Yet, just thinking about the prospect Gawain painted, about the power the mind network could unleash once reconstructed on Cecil Empire’s land, they couldn’t help but feel dazzled.

"It can actually be done this way..." Magnan mumbled, unable to restrain himself, "We never even imagined such a thing..."

Gawain smiled, calmly glancing at Magnan.

"Because the Eternal Sleepers Sect is merely a sect, while Cecil is an Empire," he said slowly, "What you see are two forces—the power of industry, and...the power of the state machine.

"Meanwhile, your original ’lonely salvation’ path was destined to be contrary to these two forces.

"Lastly, let me repeat—welcome to Cecil, welcome to the future."