Gwen was stunned for a moment before he slowly sat down behind the desk with a serious expression on his face. He looked up into Veronica's eyes and saw that the ancient rebel's expression was more solemn than ever before. It was so solemn that it was almost depressing.
The gentle smile that was almost like a 'mask' had faded from her face. In this place where there was no one else, the real Ophilia Norton was standing in front of Gwen.
"There are some things that you don't want to say, so I haven't asked," Gwen looked at Veronica and said slowly, "As an ancient Gondor soul, you have never explained in detail how you survived the big explosion in the imperial capital, nor have you explained how you exist today. As a rebel wandering in the human world, you have never explained where you got the information about the wasteland."
Veronica stood quietly across the desk. After a few seconds of silence, she said softly, "If you must know, now I can …"
"No, if you don't want to say it, I won't force you to say it." Gwen shook his head. "I just want to say that I have given you enough trust and … tolerance. This requires some reciprocal honesty. You have the right to keep secrets related to your privacy or your own bottom line, but I hope you can tell me the things that may threaten the country outside the barrier. "
Veronica closed her eyes slightly, then suddenly bent down gently and saluted Gwen very solemnly. Her voice was as soft and pleasant as ever, but it seemed to be a little warmer than before. "Please forgive me for my previous decision in this regard. I didn't mean to hide it, but I was too used to logic and deduction at the level of data and ignored the variability in the development of ordinary human society. Now I will tell you everything I know. As for how to deal with it … it is up to you to decide. "
She paused as if she was looking for a suitable topic to start. Then she continued, "The Deep Blue Well … is actually still running."
Gwen's pupils contracted instantly. This shocking news made his heart pound. But then he remembered the strange phenomenon he saw when he looked down at the Gondor wasteland. The entire wasteland was shrouded in powerful energy fields and thick clouds, and the satellite could barely see any details of the land. But when the conditions were right, he did see a strong flash in the center of the wasteland. That was the location of the Deep Blue Well!
The long-ago surveillance record was suddenly confirmed, and the shock in his heart quickly calmed down. Gwen's expression changed slightly and then he calmed down.
He stared into Veronica's eyes and asked, "How did it survive? The Deep Blue Well should have been at the core of the big explosion 700 years ago. "
"You are calmer than I thought?
Is it because you have grasped part of the information in a certain way? "Veronica looked at Gwen, a little surprised. But she was wise enough not to ask further.
Instead, she took the opportunity to answer the question.
"The Deep Blue Well is indeed the core of the big explosion, but in fact, the details of the explosion are not the same as what the later generations know. This involves the 'essence' of the Deep Blue Well itself.
"In your impression?
What is the Deep Blue Well? "
Veronica suddenly threw a rhetorical question, which made Gwen ponder.
And he quickly gave an answer.
At the same time, it was the answer that most people who knew the Kingdom of Gondor could give. "It is the energy core of the ancient Kingdom of Gondor, the largest magic focus in history. It is composed of four reaction towers, four arcane return cavities, and a main magic gushing vent …"
"This is indeed what most people know, but in fact, does it include the reaction towers?
The arcane return cavities?
And the gushing vent and all these things are just 'ancillary facilities' that humans built to facilitate the extraction of energy from the primordial magic energy. "Veronica nodded." Before the builders of the Kingdom of Gondor built these things, the energy fissure at the core of the Deep Blue Well had been gushing on the continent for many years. Its history is longer than human civilization itself, and even the records of the Silver Elves. First of all, it is a natural magic focus?
Secondly, it is the extraction devices that people know, and the real scale of this magic focus … may be far beyond everyone's imagination.
"The 'magic gushing spring' in the capital of Gondor?
In fact, it should be just a branch of the Deep Blue Well that is exposed in the material world. Its real complete network is hidden in all the connected elemental realms, demiplanes, and even the borders of the divine kingdoms.
We don't know how far it extends in the depths of this world, but one thing is for sure.
It is part of the structure of our planet.
And a big part of it?
And for a planet, even if the kingdom on it was destroyed countless times, even if its ecosystem was reset countless times, the planet itself would remain intact.
"That's why the explosion of the Deep Blue Well only destroyed the man-made extraction devices. As the 'well' itself, the energy fissure at its core was unscathed after completing an unprecedented release of magical energy. More than seven hundred years ago, I sensed the abnormality of the Deep Blue Well and its true structure at the last moment, and tried my best to use its massive underlying structure to buffer and channel the magical energy that could not be released. Overall, I failed. The chaotic magic energy gushing out of the well formed the impact of the Mana Tide. From today's point of view, it formed a 'small Mana Tide' and destroyed the entire empire, but in fact, I still succeeded in a small part. "
Gwen frowned slightly. "A small part?"
"I kept my research base and the main pipe of the Deep Blue Well," Veronica said. "It's right below the Deep Blue Well."
Gwen suddenly came to his senses. The vast imagination accumulated in his past life and the many things he had seen in this life allowed him to quickly deduce many things. He stared at Veronica. "So, you are actually still in that research base?"
Veronica again looked a little surprised. She looked at Gwen and said, "Actually, I … Well, yes, I am still in that research base."
She smiled as she said, "I didn't expect you to think of this immediately. This is not in line with my understanding of you, nor is it in line with the way ordinary people think … Does your keen insight really come from wisdom?"
"It's just a flash of inspiration," Gwen said casually. He then asked, "The research base is still operating? Other than that, what else is there? "
Veronica nodded gently. "There is still an army of ironmen still in service. Based on this, I have spent centuries repairing and rebuilding the production and maintenance facilities of the ironmen army and remodeling the aboveground structure of the main pipe of the Deep Blue Well to extract magic from it to maintain the operation of all facilities."
Gwen was stunned. "You mean there is an army of ironmen in the depths of the wasteland? And you have repaired the relevant production and maintenance facilities and even restored part of the Deep Blue Well's operation? "
"Yes, but you don't have to be so excited. They are very small, smaller than you think."
"So for so many years, while doing these things in the depths of the wasteland, you have somehow projected your spirit into the human world outside the wasteland, just like 'Veronica' now to observe the changes in the outside world." Gwen looked serious. At the same time, he could not help but sigh. "An army of ironmen … To be honest, if I hadn't heard it from you, I wouldn't have believed it. How did they survive the powerful impact of the magic?"
"I created a large-scale anti-magic shield in the underground facility, supported by the main pipe of the Deep Blue Well itself, which allowed it to withstand the powerful impact of the magic," Veronica replied. "In fact, even so, only a small part of the ironmen survived. At that time, there were a total of 16 ironmen as garrison troops stationed near my research base. I set up an independent anti-magic shield for each of them. As a result, 15 of them failed to withstand the impact, and only one survived. "
Gwen rubbed his eyebrows, digesting the explosive information that suddenly came to him. As he gradually straightened out his thoughts, he looked up at Veronica. "So, you are now trapped in the deepest part of the wasteland. Although you have repaired a base as your refuge, and have an operational ironmen guard, these things are obviously not enough for you to retreat from the center of the wasteland to the outside of the Great Wall …"
"I have never thought of retreating from there … although in a sense, I am indeed trapped in the center of the wasteland." Veronica shook her head gently. "I still have a mission to complete, which includes continuing to study the structure of the Deep Blue Well and observing the changes in the wasteland. And through the method of reincarnation, I can also move around in the outside world like I do now, so it doesn't matter to me whether I retreat or not."
"Well, that's your choice. And to be honest, I can't help you much now." Gawain nodded. At the same time, he did not forget the original topic. "Now that I have a general understanding of your situation and the truth of the Deep Blue Well, we can talk about the cultists in the wasteland who are ready to make a move. Do those cultists have anything to do with what we just talked about? Are they eyeing the Deep Blue Well? "
"Not only are they eyeing the wasteland, I suspect that they have taken some action," Veronica said with a serious expression. "Recently, there have been some abnormal signs in the core of the wasteland. I have lost the signal of some of the ironmen, and some of the soldiers found signs of damage or modification of the energy conduits near the border of the base in the process of patrolling. The method is very sophisticated, and it can't be the doing of those wandering mutants or mindless magical spirits."
Gawain's brows furrowed slightly. He unconsciously tapped his fingers on the table and asked casually, "You didn't see anything directly?"
"… Due to some reason, I can only stay in the core of the base deep underground," Veronica replied. "The ironmen patrolling the surface and the few sensors and monitoring devices near the energy conduits are the only channels I have to understand the outside world. It may be ironic … In that harsh environment, my understanding of the things around me is even less than my understanding of the city of Cecil thousands of miles away. Because compared to the layers of restrictions on the real body, this medium called Veronica at least has complete freedom of movement and can touch the real world. "
Gwen could not help but be curious about the real state of Veronica/Ophilia's' real body '. But he knew that it was a matter of privacy, and Veronica probably did not want to talk about it, so he did not pursue the matter. He quickly turned his attention back to the cultists. "According to the information we got from Bertilla, the branch of the Doomsday Cult inside the Great Wall should have been active in the Gondor wasteland for a long time … After so many years, you still haven't caught them? Nor have you confronted them head-on? "
"I've said it before, my … 'territory' in the wasteland is actually very limited. The ironmen can only operate in the ruins of the old imperial capital and the very narrow area at the edge of the ruins, and the sensors along the conduit can only operate within this range." Veronica said with some regret. "Compared to the entire wasteland, my sensing range is very small, and the cultists should have been active near the Great Wall, which is my blind spot. In fact, if you hadn't uprooted the Doomsday Cult, I wouldn't even know that there was a force hiding outside my sanctuary. "
"That sounds a little scary." Gwen stopped tapping the table as he rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "You don't know about them, but the cultists obviously know about you. At least they know that the Deep Blue Well is still operating. For the past few centuries, they have been living in harmony with the Deep Blue Well, as if they were deliberately circling around you. But recently, they suddenly became bold, even stealing your soldiers, stealing your energy … There must be a reason behind this."
"Steal … Yes, they are thieves," Veronica said in a low voice, but there was no anger in her voice. In fact, most of the time, her emotional fluctuations were extremely faint, as if her human emotions had been wiped clean after hundreds of years of work, and her usual gentle and kind appearance was just a mask based on experience. "I can't figure out why they suddenly took action recently, but perhaps it has something to do with the Doomsday Cult outside the Great Wall being wiped out."
"Half of them were wiped out, and the other half started to use a backup plan?" Gwen pondered as the unsettling sound of the late spring wind came from the open window. "It seems that this matter needs to be confirmed with Bertilla … But I don't think she can help much. The Apocalypse Cultists operating in the wastelands are too secretive. Many of their secrets are even hidden from the sight of Grand Patriarch Franken. Furthermore … if there really was a 'backup plan', Bertila would have reported it long ago. "
He shook his head as he made a mental note of it. "What do you think about the cultists' purpose? They are obviously after the Deep Blue Well … What do you think they are going to do with such a huge amount of energy? "
"There are too many guesses, and too little information to draw a conclusion," Veronica said. "The energy of the Deep Blue Well can do too many things. It can give those who have the ability to control it a power second only to the gods, and it can also be used to reshape the environment or destroy specific things. For the cultists in the wasteland, each of these things is worth the risk."
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