Chapter 867: Chapter 866: The Immortals Project

It seems like there’s a gentle, cool breeze blowing on my face.

How long has it been since I’ve breathed this easily? How long since I’ve laid down so comfortably? How long since I’ve felt so calm and at ease—all pain and fatigue have gone away, all chronic ailments seem to have healed.

In memory, such feelings seem to have been from decades ago.

"This child is blessed with the land, carrying the grace of the Goddess of Harvest..."

Suddenly, a voice buried deep in memory unexpectedly broke into my mind, organizing the chaotic and scattered thoughts, the feeling of blurring fantasy and reality vanished instantly, the wind blowing on my face became real, and there was a faint scent of green grass and soil drifting into my nostrils—Norris suddenly opened his eyes.

Endless green fields stretched out before him, indeed there was a breeze brushing across this land, the blades of grass creating gentle waves in the wind, peculiar mountains seemingly patched together by colored blocks stood in the distance, and amidst the clouds in the sky were majestic formulas and arrays, a huge sun with gentle light slowly traversed the sky, and he lay amidst this unfamiliar world.

Norris woke up in this strange place, confusedly gazing at everything in front of him.

Some hazy memories began to linger in his mind, those flickering figures before his eyes, remembering Margarita and Beltira’s whispers beside his bed, remembering walking amidst the final sigh of life, accompanied by rising confusion, he got up from the grass, standing up.

He found his body unusually agile—this feeling hadn’t occurred in many years.

Nearby was a small mound, standing higher might reveal more, Norris stepped toward it, effortlessly reaching the top of the mound, then discovering habitation beyond the slightly undulating hills.

—A large, beautiful city quietly lay on the plain, surrounded by gem-like crystalline rivers and lakes.

A voice suddenly came from the side, "Beautiful, isn’t it? They created it based on images in memory."

Norris was startled by the voice, immediately turning to look only to find a figure had appeared beside him at some moment, a young girl he had never seen before, wearing a simple white long dress, hair like snow cascading to the ground, she stood there, gazing at the distant beautiful and strange city, a pure and happy smile floating across her face.

Noticing Norris’s gaze, the girl turned back, showing a bright smile, "Hello, my name is Nariteer."

Then she pointed behind Norris, "That’s Duvalt!"

Norris puzzled, turned around, only to find another figure had appeared behind him at some moment, an elderly man in simple robes, his face kind, with a smile, nodding slightly at him.

"I..." Norris opened his mouth but didn’t know where to start, bewilderedly looking around at everything, ultimately shaking his head, "Is this a kingdom? The Goddess of Harvest’s kingdom?"

"This is not a kingdom, but it’s a very good place," the girl who called herself Nariteer laughed and said, "though we’re just responsible for bringing you here, someone will explain the specifics to you."

Norris furrowed his brow, "Someone?"

Nariteer smiled and nodded, "He’s already here."

The moment the words left her lips, the girl calling herself Nariteer and the elderly man named Duvalt silently disappeared from Norris’s sight, the latter subconsciously rubbed his eyes, and as he lowered his hand, he saw a familiar, towering figure already standing before him, smiling warmly at him.

"King!" Norris immediately recognized who it was, and in surprise, called out instinctively, "How come you’re..."

"I came to see you," Gawain nodded with a smile, "and I’m sorry I couldn’t arrive in time in the real world."

"Real world?" Norris blinked, looking around, "Do you know where this place is? I found myself lying here when I woke up..."

"This is the Mindscape formed by the Empire Data Network," Gawain said with a smile, "Norris, it seems you usually don’t have much time to focus on these things."

Norris furrowed his brow, "I think I’ve heard people mention it... but why am I here?"

"In short, you have died in the real world, a few hours ago," Gawain looked into the old man’s eyes, and said calmly, "but I took the liberty of letting you ’live’ in another form."

...

Explaining all of this did not take Gawain much time, and once informed of the events that had occurred to him, Norris fell silent.

Looking at the Minister of Agriculture who had fallen into silence, after a brief pause, Gawain spoke up, "I heard from Beltira that she once privately suggested you use the Life Exchange Spell, to extract life energy from volunteers, but you refused."

"Yes, King, this is something that cannot start," Norris said calmly, "Some things can never be used as a bargain, even the life of volunteers. The temptation of this thing is too great, once ’life for life’ behavior is allowed, or even tacitly consented to, it would lead to rapid abuse—people would be coerced into becoming ’volunteers’, or forced into becoming ’death row inmates’..."

As someone who has struggled up from the bottom of society, Norris has indeed seen too many similar things. A missionary can easily weave charges against a commoner and then "legally" seize his land and house. Even wealthy merchants are extorted by theocracy and monarchy, compelled to "voluntarily" donate money to the church or the king from time to time. If wealth is treated this way, how much more so the preciousness of life?

He believes that Gawain, who personally crafted the "Cecil Order," understands these things better than he does.

"Your judgment is correct," Gawain said to Norris. "Beltira made a mistake, and I’m glad you didn’t fall into it."

"But you still let my soul ’live’ on, live in this ’Mindscape,’" Norris looked around and couldn’t help but say, "I want to know if you plan to do this just for me, or if you intend to apply this technology more broadly?"

Although Norris once read books and served as a Church Attendant, he couldn’t escape the shackles of a commoner’s mindset. However, after serving as Minister of Agriculture for so many years and witnessing the establishment of a nation firsthand, he had long since learned to look at things with a broader perspective. Behind Gawain’s action of preserving his soul, he faintly felt there must be further considerations.

"This is a longer-term plan," Gawain said frankly. "I call it the ’Immortals’ plan.

"In short, after acquiring the key technology of the Eternal Sleepers and establishing the Narrator Neural Network, I plan to create a special ’Soul Database.’ This will preserve talented individuals who have made outstanding contributions in the form of a networked mind so that they can have the opportunity to continue serving the Empire. These people will be known as ’Immortals.’

"You are the first, Norris.

"This is also part of my preparation for the changes in the future world—we live in a world that is not at peace, and as a nation that is not yet powerful, we need to be more prepared."

"Immortals..." Norris instinctively repeated Gawain’s words, and couldn’t help but express some concern, "But I’m worried this could affect our social order—from a certain perspective, gaining immortality in the network is also a kind of ’life leverage.’ Moreover, according to you, the ’Immortals’ have a special status and influence in life. Could such things...also be abused?"

"Any good thing has the potential for abuse. The difference lies in whether they can be controlled, and compared to Beltira’s easily manipulated Life Exchange Spell done in secret, the Immortals plan, which relies on the national system, is at least easier to control," Gawain was not surprised by Norris’s doubts, and he candidly expressed his thoughts, "The Administrative Office will also establish a set of procedures to ensure that the ’Immortals’ do not conflict with the social order of the real world. Of course, this will probably take a long time, and in the long future, these systems will undergo destruction and repair multiple times. We need to consider all that.

"And as the first Immortal, Norris, I’m sorry we didn’t seek your consent before—all subsequent Immortals will follow a voluntary principle, and responsibilities, rights, and obligations after ’soul regeneration’ will be clearly defined. This is also an essential step for the proper control of the Immortals plan.

"Also, to prevent the Immortals from affecting the social order of the real world, Norris, I will relieve you of your role as Minister of Agriculture. There will be a successor to legally replace you in the real world, and you can participate in the Administrative Office’s affairs in a limited manner as a consultant. We’ll operate this way for a while to see if this process is reasonable, and if issues arise, we can adjust gradually.

"Finally, the Immortals living in the Narrator Neural Network will also be bound by social order. You should have seen, this world has cities, and in the future, it will naturally have residents—they will be ’users’ connected to the network as ’short-term residents’ and the Immortals as ’long-term residents.’ The Administrative Office will establish management institutions similar to those in the real world in this special world, and by then, you’ll find that living here is not much different from living in the real world."

Norris listened intently to every word Gawain said, trying to imagine what kind of future that would be, but found that even with his broadened horizons over the years, he could hardly keep up with Gawain’s train of thought. He could only envision some revolutionary, unprecedented "prospects"—the world split into two, with the real world and networked Mindscape running in parallel, countless people living in these two worlds simultaneously, and all knowledge and ideas exchanged and shared at an unprecedented efficiency. Immortals living long-term in the network could even give birth to a whole new "ethnicity," and one of the major challenges Cecil will face in the future might be to balance this new ethnicity with social order...

Some challenges are worth looking forward to.

Meanwhile, as Norris tried hard to envision the future, Gawain’s mind was also filled with swirling thoughts.

The Immortals plan... this is a bold and ambitious plan.

Outstanding talents will be protected, valuable knowledge will be more thoroughly utilized, and it can also serve as a great reward and incentive for people’s hearts. At first glance, it’s almost all positives.

But risks lurk deep within these exciting advantages.

As Norris first worried—the subversive technology that allows the soul to live eternally could very well conflict with existing social order and faces the risk of being abused and spiraling out of control in the future.

For this reason, Gawain must lead the Administrative Office to draft a large set of regulations to constrain the Immortals, strictly control the channels, prevent it from clogging the social mobility of the real world, prevent it from disrupting the relatively fair social order painstakingly established, and prevent it from becoming an outlet for uncontrolled power...

But even with numerous risks, Gawain still decided to initiate this plan and make it one of the Cecil Empire’s important "latent forces."

This world is not at peace, and human beings... are not a particularly powerful species within this unpeaceful world.

The long-lived, rich heritage elves, the individually powerful dragons, the mysterious and powerful, immortal sea demons... too many species have superior innate conditions compared to humans, and they themselves possess extremely advanced civilizations.

Another common feature they have is longevity and remarkable survival capabilities.

Any individual could easily accumulate the knowledge and technology spanning several generations of humans as long as they reach adulthood.

Even though the Cecil Empire’s current relationships with these forces are good, Gawain cannot rest easy because he remembers how recently the Dragonborn saw through the Cecil Empire’s investment plans and trade schemes at a glance. Though the Dragonborn eventually agreed to join the Cecil Settlement, which on the surface seemed to fall into the Cecil Clan’s monetary entrapment, all signs indicate that Duke Balogar was not truly caught in the "trap"—the Dragonborn’s ability to discern Cecil’s investment plans from experience suggests they are also familiar with human monetary tricks. Their nonchalant acceptance of the Settlement Zone only indicates... they do not care about it.

Standing behind them may be the dragons of Talronde, and it is not inconceivable for ancient superweapons that all the continents’ humans combined cannot defeat to be buried in the depths of their mountains.

Gawain hopes to maintain long-term peace with these races, but he knows well: to desire peace, one must have the capital for peace.

The Cecil Empire needs some "special depths" belonging to humans themselves.