Chapter 866: Chapter 865: Another Beginning

This world does not always bring good things—often, bad things may occur more frequently, but as long as tomorrow’s sun can rise, it’s worth looking forward to the future.

Under the majestic canopy of the Sorin Giant Tree, a breeze mixed with the scent of wet soil started to blow.

Within the layered canopy resembling a giant fortress, countless branches and leaves began to rustle and sway, producing sounds akin to ocean waves, startling the birds and beasts that reside in the trees and surrounding shrubs, causing them to dash out from their hiding places. Margarita stepped onto the hardened path, leaving her cabin and slowly moving forward.

She looked up ahead, where the grand canopy and the vast land formed a wondrous vista, turning the sky into a stretched bright curtain, with a giant sun slowly moving along the curtain’s edge.

The young Knight squinted her eyes, a kind of deep and suppressed emotion hung over her heart, yearning for someone to share this heavy feeling with—but ultimately, she could only return to her usual calm and serious demeanor.

Then, several shadows suddenly emerged from the far end of the elongated sky, moving against the sun, resembling tiny jewels on the crown of the great sun, but soon they rapidly approached Sorinburg, under the sun’s glow, those shadows’ outlines became increasingly clear.

The sentinel towers in the Sorin Region started to signal with lights, and the pass messenger stationed at the communication station appeared in Margarita’s sight, running swiftly towards her, but before he approached, Margarita already anticipated the situation—

The King has finally arrived.

The Knight did not allow herself to be engulfed in a gloomy ambiance; the Knight’s training and the professional soldier’s demeanor enabled her to quickly adjust her state, and she swiftly arrived at a highland located at the edge of the canopy coverage—here was the airport landing platform, a new military facility for landing the Empire’s Flying Machines.

Although the construction army is not frontline troops, the reconstruction of the Plains of the Holy Spirits holds the same priority level as the frontline projects, and given the Empire’s severe shortage of Dragon Cavalry and other aircraft, this place was already approved to build airport facilities, and a small scale unit of Dragon Cavalry was stationed here as a precaution. The Soldiers here were not unfamiliar with aircraft.

The swiftly approaching shadows from the horizon finally reached the Sorin Region’s skies, the initially blurred and small shadows revealed clear outlines under the daylight, with Margarita and the Soldiers gazing upwards at the sky. Upon recognizing the form of one of the shadows, a low gasp and noticeably heavier breathing suddenly emanated from the surroundings.

There was a Black Dragon leading the vanguard position of the entire formation! It was not a flying machine familiar to the Soldiers!

Initially, some thought it was an illusion caused by backlighting, thinking it was a new model, a larger-sized flying machine, as the propulsion wings of Dragon Cavalry were indeed reminiscent of Dragon wings, but soon everyone recognized it was truly a Dragon—she was larger than any Dragon Cavalry, with scales like cast metal and mighty claws and teeth, clad in a suit of steel armor that gleamed coldly in the sunlight, with the faint glow of magic symbols flowing between the armor seams, all of which exuded a powerful, awe-inspiring dignity and beauty.

The Black Dragon flew prominently in the formation, escorted by four Dragon Cavalry, clearly confirming the Dragon’s identity.

There being Dragons among the Empire’s allies wasn’t really a secret, but hearing and seeing are entirely different concepts; not all Soldiers have seen Maji with their own eyes, most experiencing the "Dragon’s shadow" cutting through the sky for the first time, and this intense impact spread among the Soldiers—yet strict discipline quickly took effect, and after a few mild clashes of armor, everything went back to silence behind Margarita.

The Knight gazed skywards, watching the Dragon descending gently—she had seen Maji before, even fought alongside her, but back then Maji did not wear such advanced Magic Guide armor!

The Black Dragon landed on the platform in the sunlight, and the escorting aircraft adjusted their landing trajectories. When everything settled and the cyclones around each aircraft gradually dissipated, Margarita immediately led a few close Soldiers to the side of the Dragon with her enormous wings lowered—there she saw a human figure appearing on the Dragon’s back, an exceptionally tall and burly figure, standing against the sun like the dragon-riding hero from the bards’ tales.

A second later, the Knight immediately reacted, leading the Soldiers to salute: "Salute to you, King!"

Gawain waved his hand, jumping directly off the Dragon’s back: "No need for ceremony, time is pressing."

As he spoke, he turned to pat the lowered, steel-covered wing of the Dragon: "Thank you for your hard work."

The Black Dragon slightly lowered her head, spoke gently and respectfully: "It’s what I should do, King."

Meanwhile, several other aircraft steadily landed and lowered their gangplanks, allowing figures to emerge from the cockpits—though Margarita only recognized Rebecca among them.

Gawain had already approached Margarita, and after a simple nod, he straightforwardly asked: "How is the situation?"

"King..." Margarita felt her breath pause for a moment, then softly exhaled to calm herself down, lowered her eyes, and whispered, "You are a little late... Minister Norris has already left."

The surrounding Soldiers fell silent, yet Gawain merely looked serenely at the Knight in front of him, his tone stable and gentle: "Margarita, don’t rush to despair—how long ago was it?"

The Knight didn’t understand the purpose of this question, but her instinct as a soldier made her respond promptly: "An hour ago, Your Majesty."

"Then perhaps we are not too late—there’s still time to create a miracle," Gawain said, then gestured to the side, "Unload the equipment—all technicians follow suit, we’ll assemble them when we reach the site."

Under the puzzled gaze of Margarita and the Soldiers, the newly arrived group quickly got busy, rushing to the Black Dragon and using all sorts of auxiliary tools and manual labor to unload large crates from the Dragon’s back—only then did Margarita notice these crates; they seemed like standard transport crates used in the base for engineering components, with grey-white shells printed with the royal emblem, and the people moving them appeared highly cautious, swiftly yet maintaining steadiness and caution throughout, undoubtedly indicating the significance of the contents of those crates.

"King, what is this..." Margarita couldn’t help but break the silence out of curiosity.

"You’ll know in a moment," Gawain said with a hand wave, "Now take us to Norris."

Despite her full of questions, Gawain’s demeanor and those peculiar crates gave Margarita some kind of inexplicable "hint;" the Knight seemed to have guessed something, although she couldn’t believe her own conjecture, she still straightened her back and responded loudly: "Yes, King."

All the relevant personnel quickly headed to the cabin located near the roots of the Sorin Giant Tree, where two fully-armed Treants were guarding the only door; as Gawain approached, the Treants promptly retreated to the sides, and the wooden door swung open in the next second, allowing Beltira to step outside from within.

"I am here to make some attempts," Gawain spoke ahead of Beltira’s introduction, "I need your assistance on the side—you are the best biological engineering expert."

Beltira initially had a trace of doubt, but swiftly she noticed the figures behind Gawain—Yuri and Semyr stood there, as well as Selena Gerfen holding a portable lamp. Upon seeing these figures, especially Selena Gerfen at that instant, Beltira’s doubt transformed into thoughtful contemplation, turning to Gawain: "Are you sure? Norris is just an ordinary person..."

"Hence, this is an attempt," Gawain nodded, stepping towards the cabin, "Rest assured, we have made significant progress in the relevant technological fields, and I brought not only them."

Beltira was curious about what Gawain meant by "not only them," but the latter had already taken the lead into the cabin, she could only suppress her doubts and turn to follow him. As she entered the cabin alongside Gawain, her peripheral vision abruptly swept across something unusual—almost transparent white spiders seemed to flash in front of her, but when she focused her attention again, she couldn’t see anything.

Even with the perception capabilities of the entire Sorin Giant Tree mobilized, she could not find the phantom-like spider—it seemed to be just an illusion.

Gawain stepped into the wooden cabin.

The revered elderly man lay quietly there, with fluorescent light from glowing plants on the ceiling gently enveloping him.

Each person who entered the cabin instinctively lightened their footsteps, even the usually rash Rebecca stood quietly aside.

Gawain walked to the couch intertwined with vines and soft leaves, he lowered his head, seeing Norris covered by a blanket, his hands placed outside, crossed over his chest, gently holding a transparent glass tube with a lush green wheat plant inside. A calm and satisfied smile still lingered on the old man’s wrinkled face; he slept more peacefully than ever.

This worn-out body finally got its rest.

Suddenly, vivid images from years ago flashed in Gawain’s mind—he seemed to see again the pioneer camp built on barren land, those tents and cabins made of wooden boards and burlap, newly cultivated fields, and the humble smiling old man standing by the fields.

He slowly bent down, placing his hand on Norris’s hand.

"I’m sorry, Norris," he said softly, "What I’m about to do hasn’t sought your consent. It’s my unilateral ’kindness’. I’m going to apply an as-yet-unproven, what barely qualifies as ’technology’ on you.

"I might disturb your rest, so... let me apologize to you in advance.

"But I must do this.

"The wheat is about to be ready, and you should see it firsthand."

Then, Gawain slowly straightened up, withdrew his gaze, and softly spoke to those standing by: "Begin."

The technical personnel had already opened those storage boxes as they entered the room. Now, they took out numerous components—it was a dismantled brainwave modulation device, artificial nerve cords gleaming with silver light, neatly arranged crystal arrays, and many objects whose purpose Margarita couldn’t even guess.

They were an incomplete set of equipment, a batch of parts created based on Immersion Pod Technology. In normal circumstances, such a batch of parts could hardly function—yet Gawain brought experts.

Seven hundred years ago, under extremely harsh conditions with nearly zero technological foundation in the relevant field, the first generation of Eternal Sleepers managed through manpower to successfully preserve a fragmented soul.

That soul belonged to a legendary powerhouse.

Now, they attempt to preserve the soul of a regular person—this was, of course, far more challenging than before.

But the technology they hold in their hands today is incomparable to back then.

The parts were swiftly assembled; beside Norris’s bed, a silver base was placed and quickly completed the signal connection with the local wireless Magic Web, ensuring stable power supply. Subsequently, the crystal array was calibrated, and artificial nerve cords stretched out from the base—they were handed by Yuri on-site to Beltira.

Holding a portable lamp, appearing in the room in the form of a psychological projection, Selena Gerfen nodded slightly to Beltira: "You know what to do—the improvement of this technology was personally participated and completed by you back then.

"The position of the nerve node remains unchanged, except now we don’t need destructive implantation—use your vines to secure them, perform basal skull contact, and finally activate those nerves."

At this, Selena suddenly smiled faintly, gazing into Beltira’s eyes: "Our success rate is quite high—because until now, you have forcibly maintained the activity of most biological tissues in this body."

Beltira gently raised both hands, vines extending from the floor wrapped around those artificial nerve cords, incrementally adhering them to the target locations. Hearing Selena’s words, the former Saint Princess, now merging with plants and earth, merely smiled softly.

"I still occasionally look forward to miracles," she softly murmured as if speaking to herself.

Margarita finally understood what these people intended to do.

Standing beside her, Rebecca quietly told her everything.

The King will attempt to preserve Norris’s soul, converting it into a mind that can exist within the Empire’s data network—this is not the severely flawed and dangerous necromantic magic, but a completely new Magic Guide Technology.

Behind this technology lies a plan called "the Immortals."

Margarita was not interested in the secrets behind this plan—nor was it something she was supposed to focus on.

She only focused on the event happening in this room.

The technical personnel busied themselves in the room, with fluorescent light softly enveloping the elderly resting on the bed, legends and myths emerging, the pioneer hero solemnly standing beside the bed, all in solemnity and awe.

Margarita gently closed her eyes.

This world does not always bring good things—more often than not, perhaps more bad things occur.

But as long as tomorrow’s sun can rise, it doesn’t hurt to hold a bit more hope for the future.