Abyssal Schilling spent a lot of effort to explain to us the existence and construction method of the Activator. Many of the terms were abstract and difficult to understand, but in the end, I could still roughly understand what was going on.
The Activator was something that was different from any existing technology. It was neither technology, nor magic, nor Protoss Divine Arts or any other arcane knowledge. The technology needed to build the Activator did not belong to any of the categorized "technology trees". It seemed to be closer to the origin of the Void, so it was highly likely that it was personally invented by the Void Creatures from the other side of the river. In any case, it was not the product of any mortal or Protoss. But now that the memory of its inventor had been wiped clean by the Cataclysm, no one knew the true principle of the Activator.
We only had a few processing plans, and could only follow them.
That was why Abyssal Schilling had no choice but to use the Heart of the World as the raw material to build the Activator. She did not know what other "raw material" other than the Heart of the World could be used. She did not even know what role the Heart of the World played in the process. The essence of the Heart of the World was a bunch of abstract data, but the Activator eventually took on a physical form. The process in between was a mystery. Abyssal Schilling observed the entire process, but she could not understand it at all.
Perhaps the Void Creatures could use their own unique perspective to understand the process (after all, it could have been thought of by one of their intelligent brethren from the other side of the river), but there was no time for me and the other two seniors to slowly study it.
"So, the 'blueprint' for building the Activator came from the other side of the river?" I looked at Abyssal Schilling. "You didn't explain it clearly before."
"The basic part came from the other side of the river." Abyssal Schilling nodded frankly. "But you also know that communication back then was not as convenient as it is now … In fact, it was not really communication. I saw the basic manufacturing method of the Activator from the other side of the river, and this method was not complete. There was only the core part, and it was this core part that I could not understand. In order to verify whether it was harmful or not, I spent many years of effort. Apart from this core part, the other components of the Activator were slowly figured out by me over the years. "
"You're quite impressive." I smacked my lips. "So, you collected the Heart of the World as raw material because you did not know if other things would work? Wait, does that mean that the Federation of Rings on the other side of the river also created the activation terminal this way? "
"They could have used a more … humane method." Abyssal Schilling sighed. "They started very early, at least millions or even tens of millions of years before us, so they could slowly customize some of the eligible blank worlds, and then extract the World Core harmlessly. Moreover, they also had the time to artificially create a peaceful zone and place those artificial blank worlds on the nodes as' offerings', all without sacrificing anything. However, I didn't have that much time. After I woke up, I discovered some signs that the Great Cataclysm was brewing. Although I didn't know how long it would take, I knew that I couldn't wait any longer. Coupled with the change in thinking after being infected by the Abyss, I adopted a more 'efficient' method. "
"Directly using a ready-made universe as a sacrifice …" I felt that this topic should end here. "Let's not talk about this anymore. Anyway, the core of the startup is already destroyed, right? There's no time for you to create a new one — and that 'efficient method' of yours definitely can't be used again. What do you intend to do? "
"Even if you want me to collect the Heart of the World again, it can't be helped." Abyssal Schilling spread his hands helplessly. "It requires a precisely customized Heart of the World. Just selecting these raw materials from the entire Void takes a long time, and there's no guarantee that I'll be able to find them. When I said that I used an efficient method, that's only in comparison to the one on the other side of the river. Generally speaking, it seems that it takes a long time. So, what we can do now is … to find a replacement as soon as possible. In the end, the Heart of the World is just a state of information entanglement, and it's not difficult to artificially create a false entanglement. It's just that we aren't sure how it works when we synthesize the core of the startup terminal … So, I intend to use artificial false information entanglement to replace the Heart of the World. "
Halland was rather worried. "Can it be that simple? It sounds like a whimsical plan. "
"I've failed before." Abyssal Schilling frankly admitted his previous failure. "I've considered looking for a replacement since it would be much more efficient if we could artificially create a replacement, but several tests back then failed … Perhaps this is a difficult path to take, so after many years of trying, the other side could only choose to slowly cultivate the raw materials by building a world in large quantities. But this path might not necessarily be a dead end. Even if it's a technology created by Void creatures, it still has to be reasonable, right? It's just an information entanglement. What's the difference between the Heart of the World and artificial entanglement? I think that as long as we understand the difference, we can solve everything. "
I wasn't sure if it was an illusion, but from Abyssal Schilling's tone of voice, I heard a sense of hopelessness.
It seemed that she had realized that the collapse of the startup core was an irreparable loss. Even if the Protoss and the New Empire did not stop her, she would not be able to use the so-called "efficient method" to create a new core before the Cataclysm arrived. So she could only pin her hopes on the hopeless "shortcut" — a shortcut that had failed before.
If I could see that she was hopeless, of course, the others present could as well. Xing Chen looked at Abyssal Schilling meaningfully. "Not a bad idea, but the success rate seems to be worrying … But if the Protoss and the New Empire help you with the experiment, there should still be a chance of success. After all, you didn't completely prove that this path couldn't be taken back then. Maybe you just lack help."
Abyssal Schilling's expression did not change, but her eyes seemed to brighten a little. "I hope so."
"But I think you should have a backup plan," Sandora suddenly said. "A qualified decision-maker should not put all their hopes on one path — what if the 'shortcut' really doesn't exist?"
"Then we will forcefully activate the current broken startup version." Abyssal Schilling looked at the holographic projection in the center of the room, her eyes sharpened. "The core will collapse, but I can use a large number of external mathematical equipment to forcibly revive it, and then use the power of all races to suppress the Abyss Gate. The main function of the core is to ensure the stability of the giant Abyss Gate before the long bridge is connected. This process will not take long, and we may not be able to do it alone, but what if all three Void Creatures take action together, and put all our high-tech equipment on the line? Maybe we can hold on until the moment the gate opens. And even if we fail … even if we fail, we can still create a temporary connection between the two sides of the Void, which can greatly alleviate the imbalance between the two sides of the Void, and the Cataclysm will be delayed for a long time. At least we will have the opportunity to continue testing other methods. But this delay can only work once, and now this broken startup version can't withstand any more torment. A few more times and it may completely collapse. "
This was considered a backup plan if it did not work, but the situation was stronger than the people, so everyone present could only accept this compromise.
"Let's stop talking about the startup version first. The situation is not good, but it is not completely hopeless." Sister Hilla noticed that the atmosphere was a little gloomy, and immediately clapped to get everyone's attention. "Then let's talk about something else — Abyssal Schilling, you said there was other bad news? What happened to the Tranquil Core? It seems like that place was blown up too? "
I was speechless. Big sister, are you really trying to lighten the mood? You might as well let us continue to study the startup version!
"The Tranquil Core is no longer peaceful." Abyssal Schilling showed a helpless expression today more than usual. "Actually, you should have guessed it by now. Which universe could withstand such a violent Big Bang? The entire world was almost torn apart, and the world barrier was almost destroyed by the Void's internal and external attacks. A large number of celestial bodies disintegrated into information units, and the entire world's underlying data was as chaotic as it could be … It was as if it had been contaminated by the Evil Abyss, and it was the end of the world. "
As she spoke, she adjusted the holographic projection in the center of the room, and the current appearance of the Tranquil Core was displayed on it. The situation was shocking. The Tranquil Core used to be a strange world, and space was filled with distorted celestial bodies and magical lights, but at least the distorted starry sky was complete. But now, the Tranquil Core …
The starry sky had dimmed, and no one knew how many celestial bodies were deleted by the Void during the Big Bang that day. The remaining starlight was distributed in space in an irregular structure, the spectrum was chaotic, and the structure was crazy. It was like a seriously disrupted television screen.
Large patches of unsettling shadows slowly floated in the starry sky. These shadows were not simply dark bands, and if one looked closely, one could see very complicated things in the shadow bands. There were some distorted lines with extremely dim colors, and it looked as if a galaxy had been twisted into a long strip and forced into it.
And in the next image, we also saw a large empty area in space. Although the surrounding stars were thin, at least there were celestial bodies, and in that abnormal empty area, the universe was empty as if it had been eaten by a giant beast. "Celestial bodies collapsed, mass leaked, and the original balance of matter has been broken.
The whole world is still experiencing great turmoil, and before a new balance is established, it will probably be turbulent for many, many years, and it may never be established. Those dark bands are celestial bodies that have been squeezed into other dimensions, and they can no longer be found. What we can see is the last silhouette of them before they were squeezed into other dimensions, "Abyssal Schilling sighed." The last large empty area you saw is even worse. It is a black celestial body. You all know how rare a black celestial body is, but the Tranquil Core now has a massive black celestial body that is equivalent to several galaxies connected together. Since the black celestial body is the result of the loss of order, it can be said that the order there is almost shattered, and now we can only use the Sovereign Hub to forcibly restrain it so that the world does not fall apart. "
Tawil was the most experienced expert present, and she directly told everyone the consequences of this situation. "That means that the Tranquil Core is no longer able to carry out the 'opening mission'."
Abyssal Schilling nodded. "We can see the bridge as a common bridge project, and it requires two very strong 'piers', and the Tranquil Core is the pier of our side. I spent a long time carefully adjusting this world, but the big bang destroyed the balance of the Tranquil Core … The expert team is still trying their best to save that universe, but it is about to 'die'."
Although I did not really understand the technical stuff, I instinctively thought that a separate universe would be easier to solve than the startup terminal. After all, the latter was made from countless World Cores, and it also used some seemingly advanced technology. The Tranquil Core, on the other hand, was the result of Abyssal Schilling's adjustments, and the technology should not be too difficult, at least Abyssal Schilling was completely aware of the entire process.
But after hearing my guess, Abyssal Schilling could only spread his hands and shake his head. "It's not that simple. Creating a Tranquil Core is not technically difficult, but it takes time. Everyone still remembers the bridge-building process, right? We need to open a massive Abyssal Gate in the Tranquil Core, and this gate may be even larger than the giant abyss that destroyed the Old Empire, so the 'opening world' has to bear great pressure. And in order to relieve this pressure, apart from creating a peaceful environment in a large area of the Void, the other is to build a Tranquil Core. I used the Inert Abyss to subtly transform a suitable universe, allowing it to slowly adapt to the Abyss environment, and even become a state between the World of Order and the Inert Abyss. Only then can it persist in the 'opening phase' of bridge-building. This transformation takes a long time, and it also has high requirements for the world structure, and not every world can do it. It must be stable from the beginning, with just the right size and information capacity, and after the Abyssal Gate appears, it must go through a long and painful process to persist until the Abyss's inert state is completed. Another thing: even we can't control the phenomenon of the opening of the Abyss. The appearance of the Abyssal Gate is random, and creating the Tranquil Core is more like a test of luck: the parameters of the world must be suitable, and the Abyssal Gate must appear coincidentally, and the size of the Abyssal Gate must not be too big or too small. It's not easy for me to build a Tranquil Core. "
I couldn't help but smack my lips when I heard such a large number of conditions. "It's like winning a hundred times in a row?"
Sandora immediately glared at me.
Alright, I know we're talking about serious matters, but it's not bad to complain occasionally. I really felt this way: when I first saw the Tranquil Core, I just felt that the universe was strange, but I never expected that it would take so much effort from Abyssal Schilling!
If I really see bridge-building as an ordinary civil engineering project, then the starting point is the bridge piers on both sides, and the large area of Void Calm is the river bank that meets the geological requirements. What about the role of the 'Tranquil Core' universe? It should be similar to the foundation, or the cement pouring pillars that connect the piers and the river bank together, right? Speaking of which, I don't seem to understand civil engineering …
"There's only one Tranquil Core?" Sandora bit her lower lip. The difficulty of the situation gave her a headache. "It sounds like such a universe is indeed difficult to build, but you only prepared one Tranquil Core after so many years?" "There are indeed two backup universes, also known as the 'Tranquil Core'.
"There are indeed two backup universes, and they are also known as the 'Tranquility Core'. Drag them to the Tranquility Zone and they can replace the Tranquility Core No.1," Xi Ling of the Abyss answered. But before everyone could rejoice, she poured a bucket of cold water on them. "I have to remind you, since they are backup universes, there must be flaws. You should know how uncontrollable the process of modulating the Tranquility Core is. It is not something that can be mass-produced, but more like a primitive handmade product. Therefore, the quality of each Tranquility Core is uneven. The other two backup universes are barely usable. If the startup core is in good condition, I still have some confidence. But now, we may have to forcibly build a bridge when the startup core collapses.
"... Where did you learn to speak in such a weird way?"
"Your database. Didn't you give me some reading privileges last time and suggested that I learn the rules here?" Abyssal Schilling looked at me. "You said that it would help me blend in here, but I realized that it's useless. People still reject me. But this way of speaking is really interesting."
I suddenly wanted to complain, but I was worried that Sandora would bite me half to death, so I didn't dare to say anything. But even if I didn't say anything, Sandora still punched me. "Ah Jun, can't you just add a bunch of weird 'personal hobbies' after you finish your business?"
I laughed dryly. "Heh … Let's talk business. Let's talk business."
Abyssal Schilling spread her hands. "That's it. That's all the bad news. Do you want more?"
I couldn't help but look expectant. "… Then, there's no good news?"
"That, really."
I was speechless.
Sis Hilla raised her head to look at the ceiling. A few seconds later, she suddenly let out a long sigh. "We've been fighting so hard for so long, and now we have to rely on luck to see if we can survive the Cataclysm? To be honest, I don't really like this feeling. "
"No one likes it, but the situation is stronger than the person." Xing Chen didn't seem to be stressed at all. I wasn't sure if it was because he was just being generous or because his expression wasn't complete. Either way, he was still smiling gently. "We can't say that it's all luck. After listening to everything, I feel that there's still a lot of room for us to maneuver. Even in the worst case scenario, we can still delay the Cataclysm for a while. Didn't Abyssal Schilling say that forcefully activating the Activation Terminal has a certain effect? As long as there's a buffer, anything is possible. We can discuss it with our compatriots on the other side of the river and see if they have any ideas."
"That's true." Hilla scratched her head. "Their inheritance is much stronger than ours."
"That's it then. Meeting adjourned for today." I stood up. "… There's too much information. I have to go back and think about it."
Everyone nodded and indicated that they would go back and think about it. Soon, everyone left.
Only Sandora, Abyss Schilling, and I were left in the spacious room. We still had some things to discuss with her.
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