Chapter 149: Accommodate

Although it was decided that they could not place the ‘divine sample’ back into the shadow realm, the specific accommodation for it was a big problem. Bringing it back to the territory was a definite no — this thing was unlike the conventional findings, not to mention a metal ball like Nicholas Egg who was harmless to man and beast. The divine tissue cells themselves were a fatal substance to mortals. Even if it was merely taking a closeup look, a human would certainly die or go mad. Hence, they had to keep it somewhere far from the crowd but at the same time, ensure that it was completely under their own control.

After much thought, it seemed that this ruin in the mountains was the best accommodation for it.

Gawain took out the map that Byron drew. Very soon, he found a space that fit his demands — in the large winding corridor in the middle level of the ruin, there was a spacious empty room close to the southwestern corner. That room used to be a laboratory; thus, it was strong and easy to guard.

Most importantly, there was a considerable distance between that room and this circular hall.

Though he didn’t know if there were other objects in this circular hall that could engender a response with the divine flesh and blood, increasing the distance between the two would be reassuring to some extent.

Gawain pointed at the map and ordered, “Keep it in this room, held in a light-proof cloth or box, in any circumstances other than when I’m present. Otherwise, ensure that this sample is always completely covered. Not a single trace can be exposed in the sight of laymen. Heidi, the magic door of that room is already daMaged. Go reset its mechanisms to ensure that it won’t be casually opened by anyone. That room will be set as a ‘restricted area’ henceforth. Unless it is with my permission, no one is allowed to enter.”

Byron and Heidi nodded in assent. Then Byron went on to ask, “Lord, do we leave guards outside the room?”

Gawain nodded. “Leave two guards and dispatch another two teams to rotate shifts with them. The room has to be guarded all round the clock. In addition, you must pick the most reliable soldiers so as to prevent fellows who are too curious from going in and sending themselves to their doom.”

“Yes.”

After all these orders, Gawain let out a breath, but the weight in his heart didn’t lessen.

He seemed to understand Viscount Andrew’s feelings then — dug a treasure out, but it turned out to be a hot potato.

The flesh and blood sample of the gods. How big a storm this item could set off in this world was something that almost didn’t need to be thought about. The powers, the knowledge, as well as the wealth that it could bring, were immeasurable, but the risks it might entail were also the same. Gawain wasn’t a person who liked taking risks in his previous life. According to his personality, if he dug out such a thingamajig, he would want to throw it as far as possible away from him; it would be best if it could be tossed to a certain wastrel (for example, a certain heretic cult), but now, there had been more or less some changes in his personality.

He really couldn’t restrain his curiosity towards ‘the gods’, especially when he’d now realized that a connection had probably emerged between ‘the gods’ and himself; such curiosity became even more irrepressible.

Those biological tissues could be suppressed by himself; the gods had probably died in the hands of a powerful civilization that owned a fleet. He had transmigrated and was highly likely attached to a satellite. This satellite was perhaps left behind by that powerful civilization, so his suppression of the divine flesh and blood was most likely related to his identity as a ‘satellite spirit’. On the other hand, the Eternal Stone Slate even recorded the truth that the gods were dead, and the process through which the Eternal Stone Slate built a connection with him also showed distinctiveness. Associating this to those crystals set in the back of the stone slate fragment, perhaps it was also a relic of the powerful civilization.

As for why the Eternal Stone Slate — that was supposed to be the ‘property of some deicides’ — instead bore the knowledge of the gods and brought religious enlightenment to the mortals of this planet, this was something that Gawain couldn’t figure out until now.

Gawain had a vague sense that he was already caught up in all of these, unavoidable to him even if he tried. It could even be said that it was more than being involved in this vortex for him — he himself was part of this vortex.

“The incident that happened here today must be kept secret,” Gawain said in a low voice and looked towards Sir Byron. “Byron, you and your men will continue exploring this ruin, but as long as you discover rooms that have styles similar to this, you must seal it at the first moment and wait for me to personally confirm it. This is to prevent you people from accidentally coming into contact with those things related to gods.”

Byron bowed his head deeply. “I understand, Lord.”

“Ancestor, these manuscripts…” Heidi pointed at those manuscripts that had been collected on the desk not far out; they were those ancient parchments that recorded the insane ravings of a certain mad person. “Do we bring them back or what?”

Gawain glanced at those manuscripts, and his eyes could not help but wander to the bloody skeleton on the ground nearby that was rapidly disintegrating. He had vaguely guessed how those manuscripts came to be — most likely left behind by this monster.

In those days, a considerable number of failed experiments had arisen from the human body experiments that the Gondor Empire carried out here. And when they evacuated, most of the experiment subjects were destroyed, but there were also some that were kept in breeding vessels, sealed instead of destroyed —— this was perhaps for the sake of certain research aims, but evidently, those researchers that left never returned.

Yet, those experiment subjects sealed in the vessels didn’t die as a result; on the contrary, he (or it) was persistently affected by the divine flesh and blood while in the experiment apparatus, surviving all the way till today, and developed peculiar abilities in this process such that it was able to break out of the breeding vessels and achieve a certain extent of freedom of movement.

It even retained the ability to think for a time.

Regardless, it was now merely a pile of remains that was continuously disintegrating.

“Store it together with this piece of crystal,” Gawain ultimately decided. “This crystal cube is named primary sample, number one. The manuscript shall be a derivative of this primary sample. Henceforth, if similar strange items are found in these ruins, they will be numbered and stored according to this rule.”

By the time he was done handling the matters in the remnants, it was already night when Gawain returned to the territory.

The bright magic crystal lamps were lit on the main roads of the territory and several other important spots.

Due to the realization of the Magic Web technology, as well as the pilot run of the new ‘Honeycomb Magic Web’, the territory no longer had to rely on only torches and fire pans for illumination at night like they did at the start. These days, at the various factories, research facilities, night school areas, and the main roads of the territory, magic crystals that could stay lit throughout the night thanks to the sustained energy supply from the Magic Web brought permanent and stable light. And illumination in the night was the important guarantee that the territory could speed up developments.

Without inexpensive and reliable means of night lighting, people could only work in the day. Many projects that required continuous work throughout 24 hours could not be launched; night education and factory production were all affected as a result. On Earth, the emergence of electric light brought radical change to the work and lifestyles of humankind, allowing human civilization to become a powerful machine that operated round the clock. Whereas in this world, high-quality night lighting technology had actually appeared long ago; illumination crystals that could be artificially synthesized weren’t something that was too costly. The only thing restricting its development was merely the backward state of energy resources.

Without the Magic Web which had high compatibility, traditional magic crystals would have to rely on the continuous infusion of magical power by Mages to be lit up, and how was having a noble Mage rushing throughout the night between hundreds of such magic crystal lamps like a handyman something that civilians could imagine? Therefore, it was always only the castles of the King and feudal lords that could be brightly lit throughout the night. To those civilians who even had to budget lighting oil lamps, they never dared imagine a so-called ‘nightlife’.

They ought to thank the Magic Web; it filled the shortcomings of the magic crystal lamp, reducing the greatest magical power cost to the extent of almost zero. The remaining magical power that all the factories at various areas could not use up was enough to illuminate lights throughout the entire territory.

By the lights, Gawain returned to his own tent. He glanced at this tent that he’d been living in for several months and smiled with a shake of his head.

It was indeed time for him to move out of the tent —— the brick-kiln yard was already on the right track. The territory had begun constructing its earliest batch of brick houses; wooden huts had even entered the phasing-out stage. Yet as a feudal lord, he was still living in a tent. This would really shock lots of people if it was shared.

Some people guessed that this was because the feudal lord cared for his people; others guessed that this was because the feudal lord was naturally thrifty as a pioneer back in the years. However, in reality, it was because Gawain had long designed the style of the residence that he needed —— including the storage room, magic laboratory, weapons room, kitchen, sewage system, and more. Given the standard of the territory in earlier times, it was impossible to construct it, and Gawain could not be bothered to build a temporary wooden hut and then tear it down again. Therefore, he simply chose to wait till this day when their means were now up to standard to complete it at one go.

Once he entered the tent, Gawain saw Betty who was bent over his desk, fast asleep. The little maidservant had probably been sleeping for quite a long time here. Judging by the range of saliva, she’d been here for at least an hour.

Though Betty slept soundly, she was especially sensitive to the sound of Gawain’s footsteps. The latter had just moved to three meters away from her, and this young lady lifted her head instantly, mumbling with a dazed look, “Lord, you’re back. —— I didn’t sleep. I just laid down for a while…”

“Saliva.” Gawain watched this rather muddle-headed young lady in amusement. “Wipe your saliva.”

“Oh.”

Gawain was very curious. “Why are you waiting here? Was someone looking for me?”

Betty carefully recalled while she had fallen asleep on the desk and then finally remembered what she was here for. “Ah, I remember! Miss Rebecca and Miss Jenni came by to look for you!”

“Why were they looking—” Gawain waved his hand midway. “Oh you must have forgotten.”

“I did not forget this time!” Betty said with her head lifted and chest puffed out. Then she took out a small notebook from the pocket of her maidservant skirt, opening it solemnly. “Miss Jenni wrote it in here for me! They said… they’d calculated and found the rune mold… rune mold… Lord, I don’t know this word!”

Gawain was both surprised and at a loss of whether to laugh or cry as he moved over to take a look. “Let me see… This means scorching ray. Very good, very good, I was just waiting for this good news. Quickly go get them here!”