In fact, the moment Pilot II spoke, Duncan had already sensed that the state of this "God of Wisdom" was very different from that of the Storm Goddess - not in the "polluted" state of its host array, but in the fact that it remained "awake" in this way.

Duncan didn't hide his curiosity: "We've already gone to see Gemona, she sealed her 'death' and 'decay' in a temple to prevent erosion of the interior of the sanctuary, I thought you were all in a similar situation, but now it seems that you are in a different situation?" ”

"We're all facing similar problems—decay and corrosion creeping through our 'existence,'" a humming tremor came from the hub, "but we don't have the same means of slowing down this process.

"As the 'substrate' of the world, Gemona is under the most pressure, so she has to choose the extreme means of 'splitting herself in two', while Taregin's solution is to sleep in the fire and delay decay by imprisoning herself in a closed-loop dream, and Bartók has built himself a prison, a wasteland without borders, from which he can never leave......

"As for me, I'm probably the most special of all - as you can see, I'm just a machine made of mortals, but the Great Annihilation has made me life-and-death and corrupt, so in order to combat it, my method is to 'iterate'."

The lights of the pivotal host flickered, and Duncan was surprised to hear these words: "Iteration? ”

"I'm in v16.08.102-beta right now," Pilot II said calmly and earnestly, then probably noticing the subtle expression on Duncan's face, and patiently explaining, "The number in front is generational, the major version number in the middle, and the number at the end is the minor version update, the beta version is because I just updated my light driver, but it's still unstable - it's the lighting effects that keep flashing on the surface of the secondary server, and now they can flash in 4096 custom groups. ”

The expression on Duncan's face became more subtle after it was explained: "......"

After two or three seconds of sluggishness, Duncan finally couldn't hold back the slight trembling of the corners of his mouth: "I thought those lights were important status indicators......"

"I can tell if I'm in good shape or not, or an external monitoring unit will output the signal - of course, that was when my creators were still around, and no one will come to check my status anymore," Navigator 2 didn't seem to notice the change in Duncan's tone, still calm and serious, "As for the lights, they were 'added' by one of my creators after I was born." ”

It paused, and the hum in the hub was a little undulating.

"I still don't understand what he was trying to do, but he seems to think it's important, and I remember his happy look when he saw me learn to 'flicker', so I've been learning more about flickering over the years, and no matter how many iterations the version has, I keep those lights."

Behind the backbone host, a series of sub-server surfaces that stood like tombstones flickered, flickering as if they were stars.

Duncan, however, suddenly remembered the scene he had seen in the deep sea, and recalled the innumerable lights of unknown significance on the surface of the Shadow Lord-Pilot's massive mountain-like body because of its continuous growth.

Alice's eyes widened slightly, she looked happily at the flashing lights on the surface of the Pilot No. 2, and couldn't help but exclaim softly: "It's so beautiful!" ”

"yes, it's beautiful, that's probably what they're for." Pilot II said softly.

At this time, Morris, who had been quiet next to him for a long time, finally couldn't help but speak, he had been restraining his overly excited mood, and only then did he find a chance to speak: "So, you rely on 'iteration' to delay your 'rotting' process...... But I don't quite understand what you mean by 'iteration'...... What does it mean exactly? ”

The red light above Navigator 2 was slightly deflected, and it seemed to have its "gaze" on Morris, and a gentle tremor sounded from within it:

"The body is fragile, but knowledge is everlasting—so only the continuous transformation and change of the self can carry those eternal truths......"

Roars and tremors suddenly came from all directions, and countless large and small shadows on the distant sea began to shake in the mist, Morris hurriedly raised his eyes in astonishment, and in the next second, he saw a scene that he would never forget-

The countless black crystal clusters standing on the calm sea were gradually "blooming", like the crystals of the blade jungle peeling and cracking, and from the depths of those crystal clusters, many outlines that could only be vaguely seen before were revealed—they were countless huge black hosts like tombstones.

They were crisscrossed by crystals and seawater, many of which had been badly distorted and distorted, the remains of metal and flesh piled up, the dead eye stalks and nerve cords wrapped around the server host, the shells damaged by some massive external impact exposed the long-lost internal structure, and the slots and plates were stuffed with proliferating biological tissue.

The "mountains" that look spectacular and mysterious all over the sea are countless graves!

"Those are the old versions of 'me,'" the voice of Pilot II suddenly sounded, finally waking Morris from a great consternation, the voice of the "god of wisdom" seemed to be like that forever, "every iteration of the version produces such waste. ”

Morris looked back, but his face was still shocked.

Lucrecia, who was not far away, was also shocked - when she set off, she was mentally prepared to face the Old Gods, and even the wreckage of the Old Gods, and she had actually seen the huge remains of the Old Gods in the palace of the Storm Goddess, but even with her imagination, she never thought that she would see such a ...... A scene where the corpses of the old gods are piled up!

"It's an iterative way...... It's amazing," even Duncan was a little dazed at this time, the scene in front of him was obviously not what he imagined when he first heard the word "iteration" from Pilot 2, "The version upgrade in my impression is not such a big battle......

"Yes, it's going to be a lot of movement," Pilot II said calmly, "Every time I upgrade, I have to find a way to get rid of the old version of myself, but on rare occasions, the new version won't win, and then the upgrade will fail and the version will roll back - but I usually prepare more alternate upgrades, and if the upgrade fails, the alternatives will be activated, and then multiple new versions will beat the old version together, and in the end, the upgrade will be successful......"

Duncan: "......? ”

Isn't the process of "system upgrade" of Pilot 2 a bit too hardcore?! Co-authoring is a physical upgrade, a real "hardware update", right?

However, when Duncan's face was questioned, Maurice and Lucrecia next to him lost their initial stunned expressions, and even Nina beside him nodded thoughtfully, and muttered in a low voice: "The teacher did say that the road to finding the truth is indispensable for a strong body and a duelist-like will......"

Morris was relieved when he heard this: "The process of chasing each other with knowledge is the process of fighting, and you already understand this truth." ”

Shirley couldn't help but muttered in a low voice after hearing it: "Then I'm quite capable of fighting, and I haven't seen knowledge get into my head......"

Ah Gou immediately came out of the shadow at her feet and muttered: "Your situation is different, knowledge can't catch up with you......"

Alice looked at the Pilot 2, her eyes went back and forth between Morris, Shirley, and Dog, and she didn't know if she understood the topic at hand, but she just smiled to herself.

Seeing this, Vanna, who was standing at the stern of the boat, clasped her hands to her chest, shook her head helplessly and sighed.

Duncan suddenly felt a little subtle, his gaze swept between Shirley and Alice (by the way, he glanced at Vanna, who was shaking her head and sighing), and a series of strange associations could not help but pop up in his mind-

In this world, scholars chase knowledge, and knowledge chases mortals like beasts, but for the followers around him, things always seem to be a little wrong - knowledge can't catch up with Shirley, can catch up with Alice, but can't find a place to get into Miss Puppet's brain, as for Vanna......

Vanna is amazing, she probably killed her knowledge in the year she graduated from sports school.

Duncan shook his head vigorously, and quickly shook out the increasingly outrageous associations in his mind.

Then he looked up, his gaze falling back on Pilot 2.

Now he finally figured out one thing - he knew where the scholars of the world came from such a fierce style of painting.

The sinister environment is not only part of the reason, but the god of wisdom is probably the root cause of physical upgrades by opening his own braincase......

And the Pilot 2 also lowered its "gaze" at this moment, it seemed to have discovered something, the red light sprinkled above the main engine slowly moved on the small boat that Duncan was on, and then finally stopped on the dog.

“…… This dog's head is very familiar. ”

Ah Gou was stunned for a moment, and at this time he seemed to suddenly remember some past things, and suddenly shrank his neck and hid behind Shirley.

Shirley also reacted closely, quickly reached out and grabbed the chain near Ah Dog's neck, and looked up nervously at the strange-shaped "god" in front of her.

"Don't be so nervous," Pilot-2 said softly at this scene, "You're here, and you don't have to worry about any forces separating you—I'm just a little surprised, among the defective offspring that Pilot-1 has created...... There is such a special individual. ”

Its red light grew brighter, and its tone finally changed slightly.

That's curiosity.

"What the hell happened to you?"

It asked softly.

(End of chapter)