Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 919 - 918: Howl

The network integration project is proceeding intensively.

From Sherlin City in the West to Tamdor and Longwind Fortress in the East, from Bitter Winter Fortress in the extreme North to Cecil in the southern borders, the Empire’s main hubs are conducting their final tests before officially going live. The subordinate magic web nodes below are also preparing for the upcoming "sequential roll call." This years-long, most exciting project in history has finally reached the stage of acceptance, and everyone involved at this moment is tense, hoping nothing unexpected will happen.

This exciting project affects not only the real world; another "world" is also preparing for the imminent network integration.

In the "new world" constructed by mental power, a brand new city unfolds on the plains, shining brightly under the sky. This city appears as a "mirror image" of the imperial capital, Cecil, with outlines of Cecil Castle seen everywhere. However, the details show many differences; it is newer, larger, and contains many buildings that do not exist in the real world. It’s as if a more imaginative and forward-looking "city model" based on the real world stands proudly on this vast land.

In the western district of the city, in a street that does not exist in the real world, people and vehicles fill the bustling streets, creating a congestion that even Cecil Castle has never seen. This congestion has gradually disrupted the order of shops along the streets.

But suddenly, everything froze. The crowded streams of people and vehicles on the streets began to dissipate quickly, and the lights went out in the shops along the street. Then, those colorful buildings began to lose color, turning into gray-white geometric patterns, quickly becoming monotonous lines and noise. Everything vanished in a matter of seconds, leaving only undefined empty land—in the distance, the prairie began to rapidly reclaim this undefined area.

A gentleman dressed in a white research robe and wearing a monocle suddenly appeared on the gray-white land. He glanced at the street undergoing reset and casually spoke to the air: "The urban planning simulation for the Western District Phase VI is over. Traffic congestion hasn’t shown significant improvement; road scale and traffic signal positions need to be reconsidered. I’ll compile a report on the specifics afterward."

Jumping golden magic symbols appeared in the air, a response from the real-world urban planning department came through: "Received, thank you for your work."

"It’s my duty," Yuri said politely, glancing at the sky nearby—there was a massive countdown displayed there, reminding him of the approaching time. "This is the last simulation for today—network integration is about to begin, and the neurological network will temporarily disconnect from all regular nodes before the magic web returns to normal."

"Understood—good luck. Connection terminated."

"Thank you. Connection terminated."

Yuri disconnected from communicating with the real world, and the prairie encroaching from afar just happened to reclaim the last piece of gray-white undefined land beneath his feet.

He turned around, preparing to return to the nearby city, but a familiar presence suddenly approached, causing him to halt.

Magnan’s figure emerged before Yuri.

"Am I late?" The loud-voiced man stared with wide eyes, "I came as soon as I got the notice—even didn’t have time to assign the after-class homework to the students..."

"You should consider increasing your teaching efficiency, not just the efficiency of assigning homework," Yuri said indifferently, glancing at the guy in front who has lost his physical body in the real world but recently thrived through different means, then nodded, "Timing is perfect, with you, all members of the technical team are in place."

Magnan breathed a sigh of relief and nodded.

Behind Yuri and Magnan, on the other side of the "New Dreamland City" constructed to emulate the imperial capital, a gigantic pure white spider appeared out of the air and slowly crawled up the hillside outside the city.

...

On the eastern side of the "New Dreamland City," on a high ground, an elderly man in a black suit, holding a cane in one hand and an old-fashioned lantern in the other, looked up, observing the white spider climbing a nearby hillside. He softly spoke to the air beside him: "This is Duvalt, Nariteer has begun to monitor neurological network central data, expecting to complete the protection of all nodes in five minutes."

Jumping golden magic symbols appeared out of thin air beside this "God’s Humanity," with Rebecca’s voice coming through: "I’ve received it—afterward, remain attentive to the scheduling center’s instructions."

Duvalt nodded, intending to say something more, but suddenly heard Nariteer’s voice from the distant hillside: "I can climb faster!"

Her voice wasn’t loud, yet enough to spread across the entire region.

"Ahem... just maintain your current efficiency," Duvalt instinctively coughed once, "There are three hours before the official network integration, we have ample time."

"Right, no need to rush; the key is to monitor and protect all network nodes," Rebecca’s voice echoed from the golden symbols, "Your task is vital, ensuring the neurological network remains intact during the magic web’s integration."

"...oh."

Nariteer uttered an "oh" and continued climbing at her present speed. Around her massive spider body, countless faint, elusive strands started appearing from the air, rapidly weaving an invisible web to layer and protect the current somewhat immature neurological network in preparation for potential impacts when the physical network in the real world changes.

...

In St. Soniel City, within the symbolic Silver Castle of the old royal family, a tall tower is gradually coming to life.

It serves as St. Soniel’s main hub and geographically as the "central point" of the Cecil Empire’s magic web throughout its territory. This hub will play a crucial role in coordination and pressure management during the upcoming network integration.

Cohen Loland and Earl Balin stood side by side in another tower near the tall tower, watching through a window as the tower, embodying the most advanced technology of the Empire, woke from its slumber, feeling both excited and anxious.

Unlike other major hubs, the tower in Silver Castle is not completely newly built—in fact, it’s remodeled from the previous main tower of Silver Castle. Its main structure is part of this royal fortress, with craftsmen from St. Soniel and technical advisors from the southern capital having spent about a year completing this project. Now, a complex, sophisticated mechanical scaffold and crystal array operate slowly above the former "King’s Eye," where members of the Moen royal family once gazed over the entire royal capital.

This "revamping of old" doesn’t mean that the quality of St. Soniel’s hub project is inferior to other places—quite the contrary, Silver Castle being the heart of former Anzu, the Moen royal family spent substantial funds on magical blessings and precise materials to reinforce every corner of this fortress; under the premise of ignoring costs, the old magical craftsmanship did not lose out to today’s magical industry. The tower’s robustness and anti-aging ability can absolutely compete with modern reinforced concrete hubs, even surpassing them.

Seeing this symbolic building of ancient royal power rejuvenated into one of the pillars of the Imperial magic web is what truly moves the former Anzu aristocrats.

"When this tower goes operational, St. Soniel will be reborn as well..." Earl Balin broke the silence. He seemed slightly thinner than last year, while his gaze was more composed and refined compared to that time, "The economy and culture should both develop to a certain extent..."

"This tower is a signal; it’ll tell those who only know to stay home and drink, to abandon unrealistic nostalgia, urging them to forget the old days and adapt to this new era," Cohen Loland nodded, "As for the economy and culture... like you, Earl Balin, I remain optimistic."

Both men showed a hint of a smile.

Since the Empire’s establishment, the political and economic center of this nation shifted from St. Soniel to Cecil Castle in the South. Inevitably, the former royal capital has undergone a certain degree of decline—although the city’s normal functions and basic commercial, industrial order have been restored, it’s easy to imagine the gap when a city transitions from a capital to a regular municipality.

This includes economic disparity, cultural status disparity, and the psychological disparity among citizens.

Revitalizing this once-glorious ancient city remains the most important matter in the hearts of officials from St. Soniel’s Administrative Office—perhaps even an obsession.

"Time is running out," Earl Balin glanced at the mechanical clock on the nearby wall and suddenly said softly, "Get ready."

Cohen Loland turned his head and saw the Magic Web Terminals in the room running smoothly. Many control panels with magic symbols were flickering with lights, and Mage Technicians and Runemasters were standing by the machines, just like soldiers waiting to march out.

He himself felt as though he was a general about to lead his troops into battle.

A few minutes later, the Magic Web Terminal set in the center of the room started up by itself, and the figure of Rebecca, the head of the Empire’s Magical Energy Technology Department, appeared in the holographic projection. Never had anyone seen such a serious expression on her face—

"This is the highest command center. All main hubs are now starting to call the secondary hubs in order. Report the progress in fifteen minutes."

...

In the command center on the underground floor of the Magic Guide Technology Research Institute, the bright light of the magic crystal lamps illuminated the large hall. A large number of technical personnel were seated beside their monitoring equipment, executing processes they had rehearsed countless times in advance.

Rebecca sat on a chair at the front of the room, with several Magic Web Terminals running in front of her, projecting scenes from the main hub control rooms established through single-line connections from all over the Empire.

"West region sequential call complete. All nodes are normal."

"Tamdor region sequential call complete. All nodes are normal."

"Longwind Fortress in the eastern region sequential call complete. All nodes are normal."

"Northern Bitter Winter Castle sequential call complete..."

Within the scheduled time, all sequential calls were completed smoothly. The main hubs scattered throughout the Empire and their subordinate secondary nodes were connecting one by one, gradually forming a vast network.

Gawain sat on a chair not far behind Rebecca, feeling a bit tense and anxious.

According to his initial plan, he did not intend for the Magic Web of the entire Empire to complete the "holistic connection" in one operation. He once planned to divide the entire Empire into several regions, allowing each regional network to gradually take shape one by one, and then sequentially connect these branch networks to the main network. The whole project would take much longer, but it would be more reliable and allow for a higher risk tolerance.

However, the problem was that he did not have that much time—especially after experiencing the God disaster triggered by the Eternal Sleepers, and realizing that the "countdown" of the gods was getting closer and closer. His sense of urgency grew stronger, and he had no choice but to choose the current plan, which was shorter in duration and more challenging.

To be honest, even with the pressure from the sense of urgency, Gawain hesitated for a long time before this plan. It was the appearance of "Nariteer" that finally made him decide—a God of Yore entering the network gave him more confidence when linking. Nariteer was the most effective "insurance" he could think of. With this insurance in place, he dared to face the risks of the holistic connection of the Magic Web.

While Gawain’s thoughts were swirling, Rebecca’s work was proceeding methodically.

All main hubs had completed their checks. Now it was time for the most critical step.

"This is the highest command center. Now issuing the command:

"Except for the St. Soniel main hub, all main hubs execute the boot standby command 120 seconds after the timer starts;

"The St. Soniel main hub enters connection mode immediately after boot, with the first channel directed at Cecil;

"Except for the St. Soniel main hub, the other main hubs will wait for 60 seconds on standby, then call St. Soniel one by one at 60-second intervals to establish connections, in the following order:

"Sherlin City, Bitter Winter Castle, Tamdor, Longwind...

"This order is consistent with the documents released earlier. Let me repeat it to confirm:

"Sherlin City, Bitter Winter Castle..."

Gawain looked at Rebecca, who was meticulously issuing commands, took a deep breath, and unconsciously tapped the armrest of his chair with his fingers.

"Attention, timer starts!"

The crowd in the hall became extraordinarily quiet, with only the hum and click of various devices, and Rebecca’s voice issuing commands.

Subsequently, every few dozen seconds, a controller in front of an operation station would report loudly:

"Received signal from St. Soniel, signal strength is as expected... Connected to the western nodes of the Plains of the Holy Spirits."

"Received signal from Sherlin City..."

Gawain looked at the largest Magic Web Terminal at the front of the hall. On the large holographic projection, the map of the entire Cecil Empire was displayed.

Light points on the map were lighting up in sequence as if clusters of stars were illuminating the previously dim land.

Soon, these bright light points covered most of the Empire’s land, with only the final closure remaining—

"Received signal from Sorinburg, signal strength..."

On the projection map, the last patch of light emerged from the Sorin Region, covering the entire Empire in a layer of bright radiance.

However, all this lasted less than two seconds.

A sharp, strange wailing sound, making one feel as if their very soul was trembling, suddenly emitted from every Magic Web Terminal on the scene, and all the lights in the hall began to flicker violently!