There are some things that Gawain can calculate clearly in his heart, and of course Belsetia, as the Silver Empress, can also understand it, she knows very well that these antenna arrays that seem to be cutting-edge secrets are technology firmly in the hands of Cecil, and mastering these antennas can be regarded as the only gateway to dialogue with that "signal" (if it can talk), Gawain said that he wants to open this monitoring plan with the countries of the whole alliance, but will he also open the key to this door?

Obviously, it is impossible, Gawain may be a generous ruler, but he is first and foremost the leader of Cecil's empire, and it is impossible for him to trust the initiative to outsiders for something that does not know where the future will go.

But even so, Belsetia is willing to gladly accept this "invitation" - since the Cecil Empire has mastered the core technology and "opportunity", it is normal and natural for them to lead this monitoring project, but the remaining "right to participate" is equally important, especially for the Silver Empire, which is not weak in technical strength, as long as they can participate in this project, the elves are confident that they will get their own gains in the future technological achievements.

Of course, is this signal a blessing or a curse...... It also depends on how it will develop in the future.

"When are you going to make this public?" After a moment of silence, Belsetia suddenly asked, "I mean...... Announce the ...... to the whole society Are you going to publicize this kind of thing to the public? ”

In the end, the silver empress was obviously hesitant, she knew that one of the goals of Gawain's current efforts was to "push knowledge to the people, and return thinking to the people", to "make the people knowledge" as much as possible, so as to reduce the awe and even deification of the unknown among all mortals, she understood the necessity of doing so, but now there was a secret in front of her, this secret pointed to an unknown world that had not been explored by mankind - she suddenly hesitated.

Those ordinary people who lack knowledge...... Can they really accept this kind of thing? After they come into contact with this kind of secret, don't they really give birth to new beliefs in thinking about the mysterious starry sky?

Gawain understood Belsetia's concerns, which were complicated, so he thought about it for a while before breaking his silence: "This may be the first challenge that the Theocratic Council will face since its establishment - when cutting-edge technology suddenly touches into areas beyond ordinary people's understanding, and even touches into the realm of theology, how to explain everything to the public in order to achieve a smooth transition, so that blind awe can land safely on the soil of rational logic."

"This problem must be faced head-on, because as long as our technology is still developing, similar situations will always appear, today it is a signal from the stars, tomorrow it may be an explanation of the shadow world or even an understanding of the origin of magic - if we avoid explaining them in front of the public, then it is essentially no different from the 'god-making' of the past, and the people's doubts and awe of cutting-edge technology are accumulating more and more, and sooner or later it will give birth to new technologies as the goal of reverence among the people." theological explanations', and there will even be such things as the Mechanicalism, the God of Technology. ”

Belsetia raised her eyebrows: "You mean, you really want to open this signal and the series of explanations surrounding it to the people?" ”

"It should be open, but it should take full account of the guidance of public opinion and the thinking habits of the public, and carry out a gradual, limited, and controlled opening up," Gawain said in thought, his mind was running rapidly, and at this moment, he suddenly realized that the mysterious signal brought more than just a "greeting from outside the sky", in a sense, it could even become a "practical exercise" after the establishment of the Theocratic Council, although it came very unexpectedly, but this "accidentality" is one of its values," We have to face up to the fact that the level of knowledge and the way of thinking of ordinary people is different from that of real astrologers, so we can't communicate with ordinary people according to the pattern of communicating with scholars......

"We should first do a good job of 'popularizing the professional knowledge', transforming the technical terms into a language that at least six to seventy percent of the average person can understand, and we need some less serious propaganda platforms and propagandists to explain to the public - or re-interpret the astronomical concepts that have become common sense in the upper class of society in the time of Gondor, of course, even if they explain it in this way, they probably won't understand the difference between stars and planets, but at least they will understand one thing, that is' The heavenly worlds are also understandable, they are not out of reach, but are in the sight of mortals.

"We can't just come up and tell them what 'interstellar communication' is, it's easy for people with ulterior motives to channel it as a revelation from the gods or some kind of 'harbinger'......

"In addition to the official voice, we need a very large range of civilian guidance, we need people to walk and observe among the public, to understand what people are discussing in the taverns and squares, and we need to organize a large number of influential and convincing 'speakers' who may not be real experts, but who will speak in the eyes of the people more intimate and credible than those scholars who are full of obscurity. We need to manage this kind of 'speaker', and if there is, we have to co-opt it, and if it doesn't, we have to build it from scratch.

"The minds of the people are not inherently ignorant, but it is an uncultivated land, and if we do not cultivate it, it can easily be occupied by ignorant and blind thoughts......"

Gawain was talking and thinking, with occasional pauses in between, in order to better organize the language and straighten out his thoughts, and he talked about a lot of details later, so that both Bertilla and Bedsetia couldn't help but show thoughtful looks, and at the end, he didn't forget to add a point:

"Also, Belsetia, you have to remember that the purpose of all our 'publicity' and 'publication' is not to pursue 100% accuracy and detail—too accurate and detailed technical information is difficult for the public to understand and not like to hear, what we want to ensure is that these things are not wrong in the general direction, in line with the facts in terms of basic concepts, and the main purpose of these things is to ......"

"In order for ordinary people to think," Belsetia nodded her head without waiting for Gawain to finish, "let them not get used to awe and theological explanations when faced with the unknown, but learn to use logic to try to understand everything - it doesn't matter if this superficial understanding is correct or not, the important thing is that they don't take that signal as the voice of God in the first place." ”

"That's right, that's the most important job of the Theocratic Council," Gawain nodded, "Looks like you've understood my theory—it's rare." ”

Speaking of this, he couldn't help but sigh: "To this day, even in Cecil, there are many people who think that I want to thoroughly educate the people, and I hope that everyone can think rationally and be wise and erudite...... Alas, in fact, even I dare not think of such a thing. ”

When Gawain and Belsetia were seriously discussing, Bertila on the side remained silent for a long time, she seemed to be thinking about something, until the discussion next to her came to an end, and she suddenly said: "Even so, it is inevitable that there are still people who mislead the public around the topic of signals and stars, they may be politicians with ulterior motives, they may be conservative priests who are eager to find loopholes under the pressure of the Theocracy Council, and they may even be cultists who have plotted against them from the beginning...... The situation may have been better in Cecil, but not all countries have effective control over society, and in this case, the population becomes a breeding ground for heretical beliefs. ”

"When that happens, I'm afraid we'll have to invoke the Council's theocratic tribunal," said Bertia, looking into Bertila's eyes, "Of course, that's the next resort—if we can achieve our goals by widespread universal education, common sense literacy, and emancipation of the mind, we won't have to resort to violent means to solve the problem." ”

With that, the elven ruler suddenly let out a long breath, and she smiled in the starlight as she looked at Gawain beside her: "What you just mentioned has benefited me a lot—I have held the reins of an empire for seven centuries, and sometimes I even consider myself a successful ruler, but now it seems ...... There is still a lot to learn from the world.

"This knowledge doesn't sound like Uncle Gawain can summarize, are they the teachings of the 'Wanderer of the Territory'?"

"Does it make a difference?" Gawain smiled, "We are already the same entity, even if the general direction of the things I just said comes from the 'Extraterritorial Wanderer', its details are based on Gawain Cecil's knowledge and understanding of this world. ”

"That's true," Belsetia smiled lightly, with some emotion, "and then again, what you just said...... It doesn't happen overnight. Looks like I need to go back and think about it now. ”

She turned around, turned her back to the antenna array behind her, and bowed slightly to Gawain: "It's getting late, I'll retire first-can you continue to show me around this magical place tomorrow?" ”

"Of course," Gawain smiled and nodded, and said to Bertila beside him, "you send her back." ”

As soon as Gawain's words fell, he heard a rustling sound from the depths of the nearby sea of leaves, and then a large area of flowers and vines suddenly bloomed and spread from the layers of leaves, and when the vines squirmed, another incarnation of Berthira came out of it, and came to the Silver Empress briskly and silently: "I will take you to the place where you rest—Elaine has been waiting for you for a long time." ”

The Silver Empress looked at the two Bertilas in front of her with some surprise, then smiled a little wisely, followed the second avatar who appeared, and turned away from the platform where the antenna array was located.

It wasn't until the other party's figure disappeared, leaving only Gawain and Bertila on the top of the tree at night, that Gawain glanced at the latter: "You can still create and control two avatars at the same time?" ”

Bertila smiled slightly, with a hint of pride and cunning on her face: "I have a lot of brains. ”

Gawain: "......"

Some crazy images flashed through his mind, and Gawain almost shivered in the warm summer night, and then he quickly shook his head, throwing those mentally polluted associations out of his mind, and then fell into thought.

After a brief moment of consideration, he looked at Berthira and said solemnly, "I remember you said that your current body can continue to grow...... And there's a lot of room for subsequent growth? ”

"Theoretically...... If you only think about 'growth', the growth potential of the Thorin Giant Tree is far from the limit, and even I don't know how big this limit can be," Bertila thought for a moment and said cautiously, "but in fact there are many things to consider - firstly, whether to ensure such a large supply of nutrients, and secondly, how to ensure the stability of the overly large structure, these two points are actually quite easy to solve, and I can consciously adjust the new branches and root tendrils system to ensure the structural strength and nutrient supply of the giant tree." ……

"And then there is also the environmental carrying capacity, my canopy has now affected the ecosystem of the entire Thorin Plains, and under conscious control, this effect has now reached a beneficial balance, but if the canopy continues to spread, I will have to include the entire ecology of the Holy Spirit Plains in the calculations, which will lead to too many unforeseen parts......

"Finally, and most importantly – my ability to think."

Bertilla pointed to her forehead, but it was only a symbolic gesture: Gawain and she both knew that there was nothing but wood in this head.

She was referring to her ability to think.

"You mean...... The size of the Thorin Giant Tree is too large, and continuing to expand will affect your mind," Gawain frowned, "and even your spirit will not be able to command such a huge body, causing parts of the Giant Tree to lose control?" ”

"That's it," Bertila nodded, "Although I have ...... 'transformed' into this form now, and even my own spirit seems to have undergone a certain degree of mutation, and I can command such a vegetative body, but my spirit still has a limit after all, and if the giant tree expands infinitely, I will eventually lose the ability to perceive and control a part of my body." ”

Gawain's tone became serious: "What will happen if part of the Thorin Giant Tree gets out of control?" ”

"Don't be so nervous, those branches that have lost control won't turn into monsters and jump down from the canopy," Berthira couldn't help but laugh as she looked at Gawain's serious expression, "Just like those 'Beltila dolls' who have broken the vines, most of the branches that have lost control will only turn into ordinary branches, at most they will die and fall off, just like ......"

Gawain had a word popping up in his head for some reason: "Hair loss? ”

Working overtime can lead to hair loss .jpg.

Bertila: "...... As subtle as you put it along, how do I feel offended? ”

Gao Wen hurriedly coughed twice: "Ahem, I didn't say you, I said it...... Forget it, just when I didn't say anything. ”

Bertilla glanced at Gawain suspiciously, and after a moment withdrew his gaze: "Well, it's pretty much the same as you said, those giant tree structures that have lost control will look like ...... hair-like shedding. Then again, why are you asking me these all of a sudden? Didn't you say that the Thorin Giant Tree has expanded enough now that it's better not to continue to expand? ”

Gawain was silent for a moment, silently looking up at the night sky.

The distant constellation of Frost twinkled silently in the night sky, and in that direction, there was a star that might have eyes like his, looking at the same universe, quietly contemplating questions about fate.

"I just suddenly felt a sense of urgency." He broke the silence in a low voice.