As dusk approached, the glow of the sun in the distance gradually receded into the mountains, leaving only a little dark red afterglow that illuminated a small part of the sky in the direction of the setting sun. An even wider ink-blue curtain of night spread from another direction. In the depths of the night, starlight gradually appeared, and the stars that mortals had looked up to for thousands of years became more and more obvious in that ink-blue color.
How much of the magnificent imagination and idyllic fairy tales of mortals were those twinkling stars in the night sky? Perhaps even the most erudite scholar of the Silver Empire could not describe them one by one. The stars hung high in the sky, in a realm that mortals could not touch. The long distance and the eternal brilliance of the stars had an almost divine meaning to the races that were bound to the earth by gravity. So, since ancient times, countless stories of divinity had unfolded around the stars and taken root in the hearts of mortals.
And these stories that described the stars actually had nothing to do with the real, vast universe of stars.
Amoun and En Ya had personally confirmed that there was no divine kingdom above the stars. The divine kingdom was just an alien space built by the thoughts of mortals, and the countless stories that pointed to the stars in the world were just a magnificent empty shell. Mortals had never really come into contact with the universe outside this shell, nor were they prepared to come into contact with it.
But the vast universe of stars would not stop twinkling because mortals ignored them. It was still there, and all things in the depths of the sea of stars moved endlessly. Now, there was finally a voice that crossed the distance of the stars. Whether the races on this land were prepared or not, this voice had arrived.
Of course, all of this was still unproven, but at least for Gwen himself … he believed that this voice was most likely pointing to the stars.
After all, there were already guests from the stars like the sirens on this planet. In the records of the Dragons, there were even ancient starship fleets and alien allied forces that embarked on an expedition with the fleet. So, he was willing to believe that there were other intelligent beings in the distant stars. They might have just opened their eyes and looked at the sky, and were now sharing this world with the mortals of Loren.
The evening wind blew through the top of Thorin's tree and whistled over the listening antenna. The giant Mana Net hub in the distance and the listening antenna nearby hummed together. Bersetia suddenly seemed to wake up from her thoughts and said, "Regarding the stars, astrologers have always had a vision beyond ordinary people. Since the era of Gondor, the human mages had successfully measured the distance between our planet and the sun and 'Oh', and determined that the twinkling stars in the universe were high-energy celestial bodies similar to 'Oh'. Almost at the same time, the scholars of the Silver Elves proposed a speculation that our 'sun' was actually a high-energy celestial body similar to 'Oh', but it was more gentle and did not burn violently …"
"I remember this. When I was a Knight's apprentice, my mentor brought a book from the city. It recorded a meeting between the human mages and the elf mages, and the debate about the stars in the meeting." Gwen nodded. "The scholars believed that it was because of the sun's gentleness that we could survive on this planet, and the excessive energy radiation of 'Oh' would destroy any ecosystem close to it. On this basis, a Gondor mage once hypothesized that if there was a celestial body in the universe like our sun, without burning violently and with a suitable intensity of energy, and there were also solid-state satellites in its suitable orbit, then such an environment could possibly breed alien life."
"In that era, no one knew the origin of the sirens, and no one knew that the mysterious creatures living in the deep sea came from the universe. Even today, only a few people in the world know this, and it was because of some popular science propaganda by Cecil," Bertilla said with some emotion. "But it was in that era that the top scholars in the mortal countries had already turned their eyes to the stars, and even began to guess what those distant worlds looked like."
"But before they could go any further, the Demonic Tide had destroyed the powerful Kingdom of Gondor, and in order to repair the huge scar left by the Demonic Tide, even the Silver Empire was dragged into a whirlpool that lasted for centuries. All development stagnated and even regressed for hundreds of years," Bertilla said softly. The sound of leaves fluttering in the wind came from afar. "Now that I think about it, it was a glorious but ignorant era. Our top had explored so far into the depths of the world, but the main body of society had been stagnant. When the Demonic Tide came, the top mages in the Kingdom of Gondor and the people at the bottom were annihilated in an instant. We had no idea about the dangers of this world."
"I remember you accurately described this situation," Bertilla suddenly looked at Gwen. "The top and the bottom were seriously disconnected in the field of knowledge, and there was no connection between cutting-edge technology and social productivity. How did you put it?"
"The knowledge structure of the top and the bottom was completely disconnected, and cutting-edge technology could not be transformed into the productivity of the whole society. In the end, it led to a serious imbalance of development, and the resilience and resilience of the civilization were greatly weakened. When a world-class disaster broke out, only a few elites at the top could not protect the whole civilization, and they could not even protect themselves. Occasionally, the social individuals who survived could not rebuild the society due to the loss of knowledge, and eventually led to the rapid destruction of the whole civilization. That was how the Kingdom of Gondor ended." Gwen casually mentioned the theory he had summarized, and then looked at Bertilla with some surprise. "You have read the things I wrote?"
"… Occasionally, I'll take a look," Bertilla said unnaturally. "At least it helps me to summarize how everything will die."
"… Anyway, it's always good to read more." Gwen touched the tip of his nose and then sighed. "Alas, it's a pity that there are still many countries following the same old path …"
"After all, for the order created by the Extraordinary, it is the simplest and safest choice to concentrate all knowledge and wealth on one point." Bertilla shook her head with a chuckle. "Fortunately, Ansu has been reborn, Typhon has carried out reforms earlier, and the Silver Empire … the group of parliamentarians has become much more sober in recent years."
Gwen did not respond for a moment. He just looked into the distance, watching the edge of the crown of Thorin's giant tree gradually being stained with silver by the starlight. After a moment, he suddenly said, "In a way, the demonic wave in Gondor … may have saved the lives of all the mortals in the world."
Bertilla was startled for a moment. "Why do you say so?" she asked.
"On the eve of the demonic wave, Gondor and the Silver Empire were already on the verge of exploring the stars. The magisters had theoretically analyzed too much knowledge about the stars, but they had not taken the real step." Gwen frowned. His voice was deep and thought-provoking under the night sky. "And once that step was taken, the biggest 'curtain' of the mortals' understanding of the world would be lifted. This would lead to the 'final disobedience' of the ritual happening in advance, and the mortals at that time …"
Gwen did not continue, but Bertilla was already shuddering. At this moment, the night wind had stopped, but there was a rustling sound of leaves in the depths of Thorin's crown. Bertilla was the first to break the silence. "So if the demonic wave had not happened, Gondor or the scholars of the Silver Empire would have most likely tried to explore the stars … and what happened to the dragons more than a million years ago would have happened to us!"
Gwen nodded slowly. His voice became particularly low. "And we would not necessarily be as lucky as the dragons, who could survive the fusion of the gods at the critical point of extinction and find the opportunity to bow down and survive."
"So the demonic wave was actually saving the entire mortal civilization on a macro level?" Bertilla's eyes widened. "It sacrificed the Kingdom of Gondor, but saved all the mortal kingdoms except for the Kingdom of Gondor. Is that what you mean?"
"Thinking like this would make it seem that the demonic wave was a well-planned operation. It is best not to make such assumptions in the absence of evidence." Gwen immediately shook his head. "Moreover, even if it was really the work of some existence, we are doomed to not get the answer. The only one who could do this' work 'could only be a god. We have no way to ask the gods about the situation."
He paused for a moment and said in a strange tone, "At least not for the time being …"
As he spoke, he secretly calculated in his heart. He thought that although it seemed that he could not find anyone to collect evidence for this matter, perhaps he could try to ask En Ya about the situation after he went back … Although the retired Dragon God could not "say whatever she wanted" now, at least compared to when she was on duty, she now had a lot more freedom in speech. There were some things that he could ask her directly.
Bertilla did not know what Gwen was thinking during the few seconds of silence. She just asked curiously, "So are we 'ready' now?"
"… No one knows, not even me." Gwen could have used his identity as an 'extraterrestrial wanderer' to be mysterious here, but he looked at Bertilla's heterogeneous figure and finally chose to tell the truth. "I once said that when it comes to the calamity of the gods, there are many things that can't be found accurately. We can't predict the critical point of the madness of the gods, and we can't calculate how far the mortals have to go before they are ready for the 'final rebellion.' The only thing we can do is to do everything possible in the process of development so that we can increase our chances of survival when that day comes."
"This doesn't sound like something a terrible 'extraterrestrial wanderer' would say," Bertilla suddenly said. "But hearing you say that, I feel a little relieved."
Gawain smiled, but did not reply. Bethel pondered for a moment before he opened his mouth, bringing the topic back to the 'signal', "What do you think ….. if that signal really came from Frost Constellation, what kind of civilization would the sender be? I mean … how threatening is it? "
"It's hard to tell." Gwen frowned. "Logically speaking, they have the ability to send the signal across such a long distance to our planet, which means that they have more advanced technology than us, at least more advanced communication and detection technology. But before we can crack the transmission method of the signal and improve our understanding of the stars, no one can be sure whether the 'sender' is purely relying on powerful technology or a coincidence of environmental factors when sending the signal. Moreover, communication and detection technology is just one of many technologies. It cannot be used to determine the technical strength of the sender in other fields.
"To use an extreme example, perhaps this communication method across the stars is so simple that it is unbelievable. Even a primitive man with a stick can project his thoughts to the distant stars, and we just happen to have not discovered this simple principle."
Bertilla thought for a moment and could not help but laugh. "Your example is too extreme."
"Example, just an example." Gwen raised his hand and waved. "I just don't want you to be too nervous. There is one more thing that I need to correct … or remind you, although the signal appeared after the main antenna pointed to the Frost Constellation, it does not mean that it came from the Frost Constellation. "
"The Frost Constellation is just a constellation. The celestial bodies that make up it are likely to be distributed in a very vast starry sky. The celestial body that emitted the signal can only be said to be in the direction of the Frost Constellation, but where it came from … it still needs the hard work of astrologers to figure it out. It is astronomically wrong to say that the signal came from the Frost Constellation."
Listening to Gwen's words, Bertilla could not help but facepalm. Bertilla also whispered, "I haven't heard Uncle Gwen's preaching for many years …"
Gwen was speechless.
He was a little dumbfounded, but as a gust of night wind blew through the treetops, he gradually relaxed a little.
"Maybe we are too nervous," he said. "This is just a voice that has suddenly visited our world. Judging from the large number of mathematical concepts it carries at the beginning, it is more like a 'greeting' that introduces itself to another intelligent race in this vast and dark universe that it is also a group of intelligent beings that can communicate with each other. I know this is overly optimistic, but until we figure out what the symbol at the end of the message means, we can still be optimistic."
"Well, I do like to be optimistic." Bertilla exhaled and said while thinking. "I will also bring those symbols back to the scholars in the Stellar Temple. The elves' talent in cryptography and language is no less than that of humans, and our ancient records may also be of help. You don't mind the Silver Elves being involved in this matter, do you?"
"Of course not," Gwen said immediately. "As I said at the beginning, this is a major event for all mortals. I plan to make this project public within the Alliance."
His tone was sincere, but he did not say everything that was on his mind.
Now that the technology of the entire monitoring system was in the hands of Cecil, the core secrets of the main antenna array would certainly not be shared. And this kind of top-notch magitech device, even if other countries had the technical information, they would not be able to replicate it. Under the premise that the only monitoring channel was completely monopolized by Cecil, making this project public to the world was, in essence, asking each country to contribute their cryptography, philology, and astrology experts, and a large number of technical personnel in exchange for a place to 'participate'.
But this kind of thing, even if the participants could see it, no one would say it out loud.
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