"You've already agreed to Tallrond's invitation?!"

In Gawain's study, Herty, who had just learned of the situation, widened her eyes and looked at the smiling ancestor in front of her with a look of astonishment.

"That's right," Gawain knew that Hetty would react in this way, and he smiled and nodded, "Of course we don't want to go now—at least until the events of the Goddess of Magic have completely subsided, and all the domestic affairs have been arranged." ”

The stunned expression on Hetty's face still hadn't completely faded, but she looked at the ancestor's smiling appearance and listened to his indifferent response, and she already realized that this was not the other party's whim, and the ancestor may have made a decision after careful consideration, but this decision was ...... Some of them are too unexpected and too overwhelming.

"Anyway, it seems that I really should have consulted with you," Gawain looked at Hetty, suddenly patted his forehead lightly, and said with some apologies, "It's not my business alone, my decision was a bit hasty. ”

"No, that's not what I meant," Hetty hurriedly shook her head, "I'm just too surprised. Now that you've made that decision, you must have your own reasons. ”

"There are many reasons, the dragon is a powerful and mysterious force, and for the mortal realm, the opportunity to come into contact with such a force is rare; There are so many mysteries and unknowns in Talrond that I speculate that their civilization level is likely to be far greater than that of Loren, which needs to be observed; Dragons are a civilization that has survived many demon tides, and this information is very valuable to us," Gao Wen said in an orderly manner, finally shaking his head, "but for me personally, these reasons are not the main thing, the main thing is ...... They have a god who has come to earth, and this god seems to have something to say to me. ”

"You mean the 'dragon god'......" Hetty frowned slightly, "you mentioned this to us. So do you think this god is friendly? ”

"Not sure, but at least it's certain that he communicates with reason," Gawain said, "and so far we haven't come into direct contact with any 'normal' gods who communicate with reason, either false gods created by cultists, or 'new gods' who are special like Naretil and vastly different from the gods of the world, or 'gods of yesteryear' like Armon who have been detached from their divinity and whose divinity has been largely diminished...... Of course, they also have great reference and exchange value, but the exchange value of Ryujin is obviously more special and irreplaceable. ”

Hetty nodded slightly, obviously she had to admit Gawain's opinion in this regard, but the worry between her eyebrows still did not fade: "...... You're quite right, but it's still a big risk, especially now...... There are so many unpredictable variables that you will face when you go to Talrond in person, and we are not sure what the purpose of the 'dragon god' is, but the danger is real. ”

As she spoke, she couldn't help but shake her head: "It would be nice if we could communicate with Tarlund at the ambassadorial level first according to the normal diplomatic process......"

"Unfortunately, this is not a normal 'diplomatic act,'" Gawain said, "and in the eyes of the other side, this is just a personal invitation to me, and our side is just a unilateral desire to get more out of this invitation." Don't think about sending ambassadors to each other, at least not for now—it doesn't mean much to the 'god', and he's not interested. ”

Then he looked at Hetty, who seemed to be in a state of confusion (the Grand Butler of Cecil usually seemed to be caught up in tangled worries for various reasons), and smiled and comforted: "I have considered all kinds of unexpected situations, including the possibility of malice on the side of Tallund, and the possibility of the dragon god setting a trap, and I agreed to this invitation with great confidence and weighing the pros and cons. ”

"Are you sure?" Hetty said subconsciously, she looked at the family ancestor in front of her who seemed to always be confident and always gave people a sense of reliability, and for a while she wanted to ask how he, as a mortal, was sure to face a god with an unknown attitude at close range, but she swallowed back when the words came to her mouth.

She suddenly thought of the "different things from humans" that her ancestor had shown after he had risen from the dead, the powerful resistance and even suppressive ability that the other party had shown in the face of the knowledge of the gods and even the remains of the gods, and his forward-looking plans and incredible knowledge...... The Patriarch had explained that some of that knowledge came from the time of Gondor, and some of it came from the fragments of history he had seen in his soul state, but she had searched through the ancient texts and could not find even the slightest clue from the history of mankind that corresponded to that knowledge.

"I see," she bowed her head, "I'll get everything in order as soon as possible, and this place will still run in order for the days you're away." ”

She had been vaguely aware of the fact that the ancestor who had risen from the dead was not just a "human" for a long time, but no matter how many secrets the other party had, the years had proved at least one thing: Gawain Cecil was indeed a mountain to be relied on and trusted by the land and its people.

For Herty herself, she only knew the ancestor who had risen seven hundred years later – and that was enough.

"I'm not going to be away for too long, it's going to be a short 'visit'," Gawain nodded, he couldn't see Hetty's expression after lowering his head, but years of getting along with him had allowed him to sense the ups and downs of the other party's mood in this situation, and he couldn't help but smile and speak softly, "Don't worry, I'll be back safely - and as soon as possible." ”

Then he waved his hand, skipped the topic for the time being, and asked casually, "Let's not talk about this yet." Do you have anything to report when you came here so early? ”

"Yes," Hetty quickly gathered his thoughts thinking about the purpose of his arrival early this morning, "I brought the latest monitoring report from the main hub of Thorin...... The mysterious signal that appeared before reappeared in the early hours of this morning! ”

Gawain was stunned for a moment, and then remembered what the "mysterious signal" mentioned by Hetty was, and was taken aback: "Appeared again!?" ”

"Yes...... And it's very similar to the previous one, it continued to play for several cycles, interspersed with short high-frequency oscillations and repetitive waveforms, and then mysteriously disappeared as if it appeared out of nowhere – we still failed to capture the source and made no progress in deciphering it. ”

Gao Wen's brows furrowed, and he said in a deep voice, "So...... This signal has nothing to do with the Goddess of Magic......"

What they are discussing is the mysterious signal that the main hub of Thorin and the northern winter hub have received before, its source is unknown, the meaning is unknown, like a ghost abruptly appeared on the listening boundary of the magic network terminal, bringing noise and ripples for a period of time before mysteriously disappearing, this signal made all the technicians confused, in order to investigate its details, Gawain even specifically contacted the dragons, the kraken and the elves, but still failed to figure out its source.

This mysterious signal has stirred the nerves of many people.

And in the wake of the Goddess of Magic's invasion and escape through the web, many technicians in the Empire – even Gawain himself – subconsciously linked the two events.

Gawain once suspected that the Goddess of Magic was the source of the mysterious signals received by Thollin and Wintercastel twice, and even suspected that those strange signals were caused by the Goddess of Magic when she tested the magic net before carrying out her escape plan - although there is not enough evidence, this speculation is very plausible, so many people think so.

And yet now...... The goddess of magic has been confirmed to have escaped completely and distanced herself from the human world, and the traces she left in the magic web have been completely erased by Naretir and Duvalt, and the strange and mysterious signal has reappeared!!

"Is it only the main hub of Thorin that heard?" Gawain frowned, "Are there any similar reports from several other hubs?" ”

"Not yet, that signal is not stable, sometimes strong and sometimes weak, it seems that only by chance will it appear and be caught by our magic net crystal," Hetty shook his head, "but several other main hubs are currently checking all the listening logs from midnight to early morning yesterday to see if there are any missing clues - if the signal they received is too weak and short, it is very likely to be ignored by the staff on duty at the time, but there may be some traces left in the buffer crystal array." ”

"Hmm......" Gao Wen nodded slowly, "Let them check carefully, this signal ...... It makes me very concerned, it's very unusual. The Goddess of Magic has already made trouble in our net, and now that this signal has reappeared, I am afraid that the Goddess of Magic is not the only one who wants to cause trouble. ”

Hetty bowed her head and bowed to receive the order: "Yes, Ancestor. ”

Hetty left, and Gawain was lost in thought behind his desk, then he looked up to his side and watched a piece of amber slowly elaborate from the air beside him.

Miss Half-Elf blinked, with a look of surprise and confusion on her face: "I thought the signal was over after the Goddess of Magic ran away......"

"I thought so, too - we all thought that the signals received by Thollin and Wintercastle were made by the goddess of magic," Gawain frowned, "but now it seems likely that these were two unrelated events......

"If only Naretir had managed to keep the goddess of magic at that time," Amber said subconsciously, "so that we can confirm directly with each other, even if the signal wasn't made by her, maybe she knows something—after all, she is more or less a god, and she should know more than mortals." ”

Listening to Amber's muttering, Gawain just shook his head and didn't say anything.

……

Two days later.

The cold wind of late autumn blows through the vast plains of the Holy Spirit, and when you look up at the sky from the Solin area, you can only see the sky high and the clouds are thin, and the field of vision is clear and open.

The season of frequent precipitation and even snowfall is coming, and such sunny days are likely to be less and less in the coming months.

In the autumn wind, there was a rattling sound in the colossal canopy of the giant tree of Thorin, and countless branches rattled in the depths of the canopy, as if some structure was moving and reorganizing, and there was a continuous grinding and rolling sound, as if something was moving through the depths of the canopy, leaving a sound along the way.

At the top of the Thorin Tree, the top of the canopy, the extremely dense wooden structure and heterogeneous leaves overlap to form a steel-like plane, and the "green ground" of the city square is fixed with a series of man-made facilities - a fence to prevent people from falling, street lights for lighting, and small meteorological observation and collection devices, the largest of which is located in the center of all the facilities. A vast array of crystals held in place by a mass of metal frames and intertwined vines: the Thorin Main Hub Array.

This is the highest point of the entire Holy Spirit Plains, and it is also one of the most important facilities in the Thorin region, around the huge crystal array, you can see more than a dozen large heavily armed treemen, they are all "guards" that have grown from the giant tree of Thorin, responsible for guarding this giant tree and a large number of valuable devices mounted on the giant tree, these treemen are covered with heavy alloy armor, and the back and waist are fixed with large magic net energy packs that humans simply cannot afford and can only be used on chariots. In his hands he carried the mighty Gorgon cannons, each of which looked majestic and terrifying.

And the defenses of Thorin's main hub are not limited to them-

A little further away from the crystal array, at the edge of the canopy, there are many unusually thick and sturdy wooden structures growing from between the branches, and those wooden structures that look like giants' arms are "clinging" to the ends of fortress-class railguns or large bomb droppers, these powerful defensive firepower is another line of security for the main hub of Thorin.

The main hub of the magic net is an extremely important strategic facility of the empire, not only here in the Thorin Giant Tree, but also in several other main hubs, there is also a similar level of protection.

With a rattling sound, a crack suddenly opened in the "ground" near the crystal array, and the leaves that were originally used to cover the "ground" opened to both sides, forming a structure like a cluster of petals, and a "cage" made of vines naturally grew up from the crack.

The cage came to a steady stop, the vines on the sides opened layer by layer, and Margarita and several technicians stepped out of it.

The shield that enveloped the entire treetop platform shielded the cold wind from the sky, and the only thing that greeted the visitor was the magnificent open scenery at the top of the canopy, Margarita took a light breath and couldn't help but sigh a little: "No matter how many times you come up, the view here is so amazing......

There was a rustling sound from the side, and some of the vines that had been separated from the lift cage wriggled and coalesced, and in a burst of fusion and transformation, they changed into the appearance of Bertila, and the former Immortality Patriarch nodded to Margarita: "It is indeed very unusual to look around from such a high place - if you need to, I can also create a higher lookout on top of the canopy." ”

"No, no need, thank you for your kindness, Lady Bertila," Margarita said hurriedly, then looked at the crystal array not far away, "Your Majesty is very concerned about the reappearance of the signal, do you have any new discoveries here?" ”

"The tracking attempt has failed, the source is completely gone, and I can't find any clues in my perceptual range," Bertila shook her head, "but when I tried to analyze the signals that had been recorded, I seemed to have made some discoveries. ”