As twilight approached, a distant glow had receded into the mountains, leaving only a little dark red afterglow shining in a small piece of the sky in the direction of the setting of the great sun, and the wider inky blue night was diffusing from the other direction, and in the depths of that night, there was a starlight gradually appearing, and the stars that mortals had looked up to for thousands of years were becoming more and more obvious in that dark blue.

How many magnificent imaginations and idyllic fairy tales do those bright spots twinkling in the night sky carry for mortals? Perhaps even the most knowledgeable scholar of the Silver Empire could not describe them all. The stars hang high in the sky, high in the realm that mortals can't touch, and the distant distance and eternal brilliance carry an almost divine meaning to the people who are bound by gravity on the earth, so there have been countless divinistic stories around the stars since ancient times, and have taken root in the hearts of mortals.

And these stories describing the starry sky have nothing to do with the real and vast stars of the universe.

Both Amon and Enya have personally confirmed that there is no kingdom of gods above the stars, that the kingdom of gods is just an exotic space established by mortal thoughts, and that the countless stories in the world that point to the starry sky are nothing more than a magnificent empty shell, and for the universe outside this shell, mortals have never really touched it, and they have never been prepared to touch it.

But the stars of the vast universe will not cease to twinkle because of the indifference of mortals—it is there after all, and everything in the depths of the sea of stars is constantly moving, and now there is finally a voice that has crossed the distance of the stars, whether the races of this land are ready or not, this voice has arrived.

Of course, all this is still unconfirmed, but at least in the case of Gawain himself...... He thought the voice was most likely pointing to the stars.

After all, there are already starry visitors like the Kraken on this planet, and there are even fleets of ancient Voyagers and alien alliances that accompany the fleets on expeditions with the dragons—so he wants to believe that there are other intelligent beings among the distant stars, who may have just opened their eyes to the sky and are sharing the world with the mortals of Loren.

The evening wind blew through the top of the Thorin treetops, whistling above the listening antenna, and the giant magic web hub in the distance and the nearby listening antenna emitted a low humming sound together, and Belsetia seemed to suddenly wake up from her contemplation, and said: "Regarding the stars, astrologers have always had a vision beyond ordinary people, and since the time of Gondor, the magus of mankind have successfully measured the distance between our planet and the sun and 'O', and determined that the twinkling stars in the universe are all and ' Around the same time, scholars of the Silver Elves speculated that our 'Sun' was in fact a high-energy star similar to 'O', except that it was more mild and did not burn violently......"

"I remember this, when I was a knight's apprentice, my mentor brought a book from the city about a meeting between a human magus and an elven magister and a debate about the stars that took place at the meeting," Gawain nodded, "Scholars believe that it is because of the mildness of the sun that we are able to survive on this planet, and that the excessive energy radiation of 'O' will destroy any ecosystem that comes near it...... On this basis, a Magus Gondor once hypothesized that if there were stars in the universe that were the same as our sun, that did not burn violently and had the right intensity of energy release, and that there were solid-state satellites similar to ours in suitable orbits, then such an environment could give birth to alien life. ”

"At that time, no one knew the origin of the Siren, and no one knew that the mysterious creatures that lived in the deep sea actually came from the universe - and even to this day, very few people in the world know about it, and this is because of some scientific propaganda on Cecil's side," said Bertila with some sigh, "but it was in those days that the top scholars of the mortal kingdoms had already set their eyes on the starry sky, and even began to speculate about what those distant worlds were like. ”

"But before they could make any further discoveries, the Demon Tide destroyed the mighty Gondor Empire, and in order to make up for the huge scars left by the Demon Tide to this world, even the Silver Empire was dragged into a centuries-long vortex, and all development was stagnant or even regressed for hundreds of years," Belsetia said softly, and the sound of Ye Hai churning in the wind could be heard in the distance, "Now that I think about it, it was really a glorious but ignorant era, and our top level has explored so far to the truth in the depths of the world, The main body of society has been stagnant, and a demonic tide has arrived, and the Gondor Empire has been wiped out in an instant, from the top magister to the lowest level of the people—we have no idea of the dangers of this world. ”

"I remember you accurately describing the situation," Bertila suddenly looked at Gawain, "and there is a serious disconnect between the top and the bottom in the field of knowledge, and there is no connection between cutting-edge technology and social productivity...... How do you say that? ”

"The knowledge structure at the top and bottom has completely lost its continuity, and cutting-edge technology cannot be transformed into the productive forces of the entire society, which eventually leads to a serious imbalance in development, and the disaster resistance and recoverability of civilization are greatly weakened. Gawain casually said the theory he had summarized at the beginning, and then glanced at Bertila with some surprise, "You have also read those things I wrote?" ”

“…… Take a look once in a while," said Bertila as if unnaturally, "at least it helps me to conclude how all things will die." ”

“…… In any case, it is always good to read more books," Gawain touched the tip of his nose, and then sighed, "Alas, it is a pity that there are still many countries that are following such old paths......"

"After all, for the order created by the transcendentals, it is easiest and safest to concentrate all your knowledge and wealth in one place," Belsetia chuckled and shook her head, "Fortunately, Ansu has been reborn, Typhon has reformed earlier, and the Silver Empire ...... That group of parliamentarians has also sobered up a lot over the years. ”

Gawain didn't respond for a while, but looked into the distance with some distraction, watching the edge of the canopy of the giant tree of Thorin gradually be dyed with silver glow by starlight, and after a moment he suddenly said, "In a way, the demon tide of Gondor back then...... Maybe it saved the lives of all the mortals in the whole world. ”

Bertila was stunned for a moment, and subconsciously asked, "Why do you say that?" ”

"On the eve of the Demon Tide, Gondor and the Silver Empire are already on the verge of exploring the stars, and the Magus have theoretically analyzed too much knowledge about the stars—they just haven't taken that substantial step," Gawain frowned, his voice sinking steadily and thoughtfully across the night sky, "and once that step is taken, the biggest 'veil' of mortals in their perception of this world will be lifted, which will lead to the ritual 'final disobedience' that will occur in advance, and the mortals at that time will ......"

Gawain didn't continue, but Belsetia already felt a shudder, and now that the night wind had stopped, there was a sound of shaking leaves from the depths of the canopy of the giant tree of Thorin, and Bertila was the first to break the silence: "So if the demon tide of the year hadn't broken out, it would be very likely that the scholars of Gondor or the Silver Empire would have tried to explore the starry sky...... What happened to the dragons more than a million years ago will happen to us! ”

Gao Wen nodded slowly, and his voice became extremely low: "But we may not have the good luck of the dragon clan, we can carry the gods and merge at the critical point of being wiped out, and find the opportunity to bow our heads in time to survive." ”

"So the demon tide back then was actually saving the entire mortal civilization from a macro perspective?" Beelseia's eyes widened, "It sacrificed the Gondor Empire, but kept all the mortal realms except the Gondor Empire, do you mean that?" ”

"Thinking like this would make it seem that the Demon Tide is a well-planned operation, and it is best not to make assumptions of this magnitude in the absence of evidence," Gawain shook his head immediately, "Besides, even if it is really the 'handiwork' of some being, we are destined to not get an answer - the only person who can carry out this kind of 'shot' may be a certain god, and we can't ask the gods about the situation." ”

Speaking of this, he paused, and said in a somewhat strange tone: "At least for the time being, there is no way to ......"

As he spoke, he secretly thought to himself, thinking that although it seemed that he couldn't find someone to collect evidence about this matter, maybe he could try to ask Enya about the situation when he went back...... Although the retired dragon god can't "say whatever she wants" now, at least compared to when she was on the job, she now has a high degree of freedom in her speech, and there are some things that can be asked directly to her.

Bertila didn't know what Gawain was thinking during the few seconds of silence, she just asked with some curiosity: "So are we 'ready' now?" ”

“…… No one knows, not even me," Gao Wen can use the identity of "extraterritorial wanderer" here to be unfathomable, but he looked at Bertila's heterogeneous figure, and finally chose to tell the truth, "I once said that there is no way to find an accurate 'variable' for many things when it comes to divine disasters, and we cannot predict the tipping point of the madness of the gods, nor can we calculate the step to which mortals are ready for 'final disobedience'...... The only thing we can do is to do everything we can to fill in the gaps in the process of development, so that we can have a better chance of survival when 'that day' comes." ”

"This isn't like what a dreaded 'Wanderer' would say," Belsetia said suddenly, "but to hear you say that reassures me a little. ”

Gawain smiled and did not respond to the other party, but Bertilla spoke after some thought, bringing the topic back to the "signal": "What do you think...... If that signal really came from Frost Heaven, what kind of civilization would its sender be? I mean...... How threatening is it? ”

"It's hard to judge," Gawain frowned, "Logically speaking, their ability to transmit signals across such a long distance to our planet shows that they have more advanced technology than us, at least more advanced communication and detection technology, but until we crack down on the way those signals are transmitted and have a better understanding of the starry sky, no one can be sure whether those 'senders' sent signals purely by powerful technology or by environmental coincidences." Furthermore, communication and detection technology is only one of many technologies, and it cannot be used to judge the sender's technical strength in other areas.

"To use an extreme example, perhaps this method of communication across the stars is so simple that even primitive people with sticks can project their thoughts onto distant stars, and we just don't realize this simple principle......"

Belsetia thought for a moment and couldn't help but laugh: "Your example is too extreme. ”

"Example, just an example," Gawain waved his hand up, "I just don't want you to be too nervous. There is one more thing that I need to correct...... Or to put it in mind, although the signal appears after the main antenna is pointing at Frost Celestial, it does not mean that it is coming from Frost Celestial. ”

"The Frost Constellation is just a constellation, and the celestial bodies that compose it are most likely distributed in a very vast starry sky, and they are distributed in three dimensions, and the celestial body that emits the signal can only be said to be in the 'direction of the Frost Constellation', but where does it come from...... It takes astrologers to work hard to calculate, and now it is astronomically wrong to say that the signal is coming from the constellation Frost. ”

Listening to Gawain's words, Beltilla couldn't help but cover her forehead, and Beltetia on the side also muttered quietly: "It's been many years since I heard Uncle Gawain's preaching......"

Gawain: "......"

He couldn't laugh or cry, but as a gust of night wind blew through the treetops, his mind gradually relaxed.

"Maybe we're getting too nervous," he said, "it's just a voice that suddenly comes to our world, and judging by the amount of mathematical concepts it carries at the beginning, it's more like a 'greeting' to introduce itself, to another intelligent race in this vast and dark universe that they are also a group of intelligent beings who can communicate — I know this is an overly optimistic idea, but until we figure out what the symbol at the end of that message means, we can still be optimistic." ”

"Well, I do like optimism," Besseltia exhaled, thinking as she spoke, "I'll also bring those symbols back to the scholars of the Templar of the Stars, for elves are no weaker than humans in cryptography and language, and that there may be something in our ancient records that can help...... You don't mind if the Silver Elves are involved in this, right? ”

"Of course not," Gawain said immediately, "as I said at the beginning - this is a big deal for all mortals, and I plan to make this project public throughout the Alliance. ”

His tone was sincere, but he didn't say everything that was on his mind.

Now that the technology of the entire monitoring system is in Cecil's hands, the core secrets of the main antenna array will definitely not be shared, and even if other countries get the technical information, this kind of top-notch magic guide device may not be able to imitate it if they want to imitate it - under the premise that the only monitoring channel is completely monopolized by Cecil, the project will be open to the world, in fact, it is essentially to let each country contribute their cryptography, philology and astrology experts, and use a large number of technical personnel to invest in exchange for a "participation" quota.

But this kind of thing, even if the participants can see it, no one will say it explicitly.