Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 322 - 321: Emerging Talent

The long-awaited Dream City, the long-awaited splendor, the long-lost towers and halls.

Mage Daniel stood on the streets of this magnificent city, looking at the grand edifices unfolding before him and the bustling pedestrians on the street. He couldn’t help but feel a multitude of emotions in his heart.

He had returned to this place—after a series of trials and "heritage," he finally gained the recognition of that terrifying Wanderer from Outer Realm and was granted permission to reconnect to the Mind Network, allowing him to operate within the Dream City.

But he knew, he was not free—moreover, from this day forth, he would not have any freedom in his activities within the Mind Network.

The Wanderer from Outer Realm had already left Their spiritual imprint deep within his mind, and he could never escape this imprint. From now on, he must act as the servant of the Wanderer from Outer Realm, unable to speak of the master’s secrets, perform actions forbidden by the master, attempt to escape the master’s control, or seek help from others in any form on the Mind Network, nor alert other Eternal Sleepers.

He didn’t need to consider secret actions or self-suggestion to circumvent regulations, because he knew no matter how secretly he acted, he couldn’t escape the monitoring of the Wanderer from Outer Realm. That monitoring existed deep within the subconscious, and one could not deceive one’s subconscious—whether in this Mind Network or in the outside reality, as long as the subconscious triggered the "keywords" left by the Wanderer from Outer Realm, a dreadful punishment would surely arrive.

But Daniel no longer cared.

He had witnessed the great power of the Wanderer from Outer Realm and had accepted those unbelievable knowledge legacies. To him now, his most important identity was as the servant of the Wanderer from Outer Realm, not as an Eternal Sleeper follower, much less a Typhon Magician.

The old mage reshaped his appearance to the familiar form he used in the Mind Network: a cultured middle-aged mage. Then, he headed to places where the lower-level cultists gathered in the city.

He coldly observed the Eternal Sleepers coming and going on the city streets, watching those ignorant of the Wanderer from Outer Realm’s might continue with their mundane lives. A peculiar sense of pride suddenly rose in his heart:

I am one who serves that ineffable great entity, one of the first messengers reshaping this world! When the new era comes, I will have a place at the pinnacle of order—then what does this seemingly prosperous but actually illusory Dream City count for?

The old mage found this sudden feeling rather strange, but ultimately, he chose to enjoy it.

A large building with tall spires and pale golden walls appeared ahead. It was a gathering place, with two rows of giant horn-blowing sculptures lining its entrance. Many elegantly dressed cultists were entering and exiting through the grand doors. Daniel straightened his clothes and followed the crowd toward the entrance, calmly and resolutely.

This was the place where lower-level cultists gathered and exchanged knowledge and information; it was also the first step in executing his master’s will.

The words his master left before going offline echoed in Daniel’s mind:

You are already a mature Eternal Sleeper, it’s time to learn to stand out, astonish everyone, and dominate, then climb to the pinnacle of life.

Daniel entered the assembly hall, the first-floor hall broad and bright. Many long tables laden with fine food and wine were arranged around the hall; in the inner part were round tables and semi-open booth seats for visitors to sit, converse, and rest freely. At the very center stood several crystal pillars: ports for accessing the upper-tier network, uploading, publishing, and retrieving information.

Daniel ignored the fine food and wine around him, as well as the two charming and seductive female Eternal Sleepers walking toward him. He went straight to the crystal pillar, placed his hand on it, and posted a message of the highest priority he could at his level:

"Important Knowledge Sharing - Significant Personal Discovery - Hope to Draw Attention.

"I believe there are serious security flaws in the Mind Network we use. Once unauthorized visitors access the network, they are extremely difficult to detect, and we cannot ascertain the true status of every visitor in the network...

"I have a set of proposals for building network security protocols, along with some ideas to enhance node management efficiency...

"Additionally, our database management lacks organization and is chaotic. The process of retrieving information feels cumbersome and aimless... As the network continues to grow, the volume of information we save will only increase, and the chaos in the database situation will inevitably worsen. Regarding this, I have some suggestions for standardizing the database, which I’ve named Database Management...

"I hope to attract the attention of higher-level nodes."

...

Daniel sent out this message, which had been brewing and editing for a long time, and then left the place directly.

He was not worried that his information would be lost in the vast data of the Mind Network, because he knew the upper echelons of the Eternal Sleeper Order—those nightmare bishops and archbishops—were always attentive to this network, and even the Pope himself was continuously connected to the network. Those powerful Eternal Sleepers possessed strength matching their status, and they would not overlook any information flowing through the network, able to instantly focus on anything worth noticing.

Even if they only glimpsed briefly, he believed the issues he pointed out could draw extraordinary attention from the upper echelons of the Order.

Although his master once advised him to first attract the attention of Eternal Sleepers at the same or slightly higher levels before gradually devising ways to capture the notice of the Order’s top hierarchy, he knew there was a better way to quickly catch the upper echelon’s sight—and this action had already received his master’s approval.

Daniel once held infinite reverence and admiration for those bishops, greatly respecting their formidable strength. Yet, after learning from his master what database structures, directory indexes, and invocation rules were, his reverence for those bishops had vanished—controlling the entire network using immense brainpower and magical strength was barely different from beasts using brute force to fight.

Just as Daniel had anticipated, barely a few minutes had passed before the information he sent had already caught the attention of the Eternal Sleeper Episcopal Circle.

In a luxurious palace located in the Dream City Central District, a rounded hall suddenly lit up, the vast round table at its center covered in countless arcane symbols (which were actually just light effects), and several figures manifested around the table out of thin air.

These are the Eternal Sleepers’ bishops distributed across the continent.

A bishop wearing a golden crown spoke up: "Important information has appeared in the network."

Someone nearby responded: "We’re already keeping an eye on it."

"A Nightmare Mentor named Daniel discovered significant security vulnerabilities in the network, and his perspective lies precisely in our blind spot of thought..."

"It’s been initially confirmed that these breaches do indeed exist — but no one noticed them, and no one proposed any solutions."

"We should feel fortunate — before the breach could escalate into a major crisis, a talented compatriot timely discovered the problem..."

"The Pope has already ordered that we must quickly ascertain the situation of all these breaches and reach out to the Nightmare Mentor who discovered them as soon as possible. Since he could so keenly discover the defects in the mental network, he must possess a unique talent in this area."

...

Cecil Clan, Gawain slowly awoke from his "meditation" state.

He silently glanced at Amber in front of him: "Do you always have to get your face this close?"

"I just wanted to see when I could finally scare you!" The half-elf girl grinned cheekily. "But you stay so calm every time. Tell me honestly, are you never actually asleep? Are you just pretending to be asleep to tease me?"

"I’m not as bored as you," Gawain casually pushed Amber aside, feeling quite good as he got up and stretched his shoulders. "Did anything happen while I was ’meditating’?"

"Nothing really, just Hummel came by once and delivered the steel production plan, I’ve placed it on your desk," Amber said while curiously observing Gawain’s expression. "Speaking of which, you seem to be in a good mood, did something happen?"

Gawain touched his own face a bit puzzled: "Is it that obvious?"

Amber crossed her arms and analyzed: "Anyway, I can always tell. When the left corner of your mouth is higher than the right, you’re usually in a good mood, and you probably just successfully schemed against someone again..."

"...Can’t you focus on something useful when you’re idle," Gawain gave her a sidelong glance and then nodded in acknowledgment, "I am indeed feeling quite good."

The half-elf girl suddenly showed a keen interest: "Why, why? Did you have another dream and realize something?"

Gawain didn’t directly answer, instead posing a seemingly unrelated question: "How can one hide within a large and intricately structured organization without ever being discovered by its screening mechanisms?"

Amber was momentarily stunned without understanding where this question came from, but she attempted to answer: "Disguise yourself? Keep moving? Prepare multiple fake identities?"

Gawain smiled and shook his head, choosing not to respond because, for now, he had no intention of letting anyone know he’d infiltrated the Eternal Sleepers’ mental network.

In fact, the answer was quite simple:

Any disguise can eventually be seen through, constant movement can be tracked by vigilant observers, and multiple fake identities are still fake; the best method is actually singular... and that is to become the one who defines the screening mechanisms.

Gawain felt extremely pleased, with a smile spreading crazily: As long as he became the person responsible for verifying identities, then all fake identities would become real.

And once Daniel completes those tasks, Gawain could even use real-name verification and address binding features to track down and cut off those evil cult followers via wifi...

Amber watched Gawain’s changing expressions and couldn’t help rubbing the goosebumps on her arms: "... Weirdly, old man, seems like you’re losing it again."

For once, Gawain ignored Amber’s nosy remarks and waved his hand with a smile: "Alright, I’ll explain it to you in the future, but for now..."

Before he could finish, the voice of the little maid Betty came from outside the door: "Sir! Mister Soldrin is back!"

Gawain paused, quickly responding: "Let him in!"

A moment later, Gawain saw the dust-covered and even quite disheveled High-Ranked Ranger Sir.

He looked astonished at his capable friend and immediately noticed the bloodstains on the other’s chest: "What happened to you?!"

Soldrin pulled a somewhat awkward smile: "Got chopped by the evil cult followers..."