Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 417 - 416: Those Who Venture into the Unknown

To be honest, the communication device that Kamel and Rebecca have created, along with its current level of completion, greatly exceeded Gawain’s expectations—not only on a technical level but also in terms of design philosophy.

Gawain could understand the technical aspects, after all, this world has its unique technological path. Things that seem incredible to him might just be trivial tricks in the realm of magic. And with the ready research results of the Eternal Sleepers as a foundation, the "advanced functions" of the communication device are not hard to imagine. What really surprised Gawain were Kamel’s mature design concepts.

This device not only has the design to recognize each other within the network but also allows for relatively simple "dialing." It also features the ability to receive broadcasts and communicate over long distances. To ensure its long-distance communication capability, Kamel even designed a solution to use Magic Obelisks as a "relay station," which must have already included information forwarding, amplification, channel management, and many other complex functions—all of which were accomplished without any hint from Gawain.

He couldn’t help praising Kamel’s design, praising him for achieving these unbelievable functions. But to his surprise, Kamel seemed indifferent upon hearing the praise: "Aren’t these the basic requirements for remote communication?"

Gawain was taken aback, and after seeing Kamel’s matter-of-fact attitude, he suddenly realized he had fallen into another mental trap:

He had once again underestimated this world’s level of technology and also forgotten the technological level of the Gondor Empire at that time.

The lower layers of society in this world may be primitive and backward, the average level of development may not be high, but its top-tier technological level and the heights it has reached in history... have never been backward.

A convenient, cheap, stable, and reliable general-purpose communicator may be a new thing in this world, but the communicator itself is not, and neither is communication technology.

As early as Gondor’s time, humans had established an informational network that spread across the entire empire. To this day, the elves’ Sacred Stars Temple still provides convenient broadcasting services for the entire Silver Empire. Even the seemingly backward and dark contemporary Anzu has advanced holographic video call technology within a small range—isn’t it just the palace Mages’ communication spell?

For those who have been exposed to these technological pinnacles, certain high-tech things do not pose a question of "existence" but rather a question of "pervasiveness."

Kamel would naturally have mature design concepts—because he had used similarly advanced things back then.

Gawain quietly regarded this magic master with sudden enlightenment: Perhaps in the eyes of outsiders, everything Cecil has experienced is a rise, but in Kamel’s eyes, most of the technological achievements that have appeared on this land up until now can only be considered a "revival," right?

The revival of human civilization.

Of course, the so-called "mature design concepts" are only relative to this era. As a new thing, the communicator still has a huge room for improvement in Gawain’s view—how to encrypt information, how to prevent the communication network from being eavesdropped on or exploited by adversaries, how to ensure network controllability, whether the network can remain stable when the number of connected communication terminals becomes huge, how to solve the shortage of "numbers" when there are too many communication terminals, how should bandwidth of the magic-based communication technology be calculated, or rather, what limits its "bandwidth"... all these detailed issues need to be gradually resolved.

Gawain knew that Kamel and Rebecca probably hadn’t thought about these issues yet, because many of these problems only appear when the network scale is large enough and the technology to disrupt it is advanced enough. Even during the Gondor Empire, the empire’s information network at its largest scale couldn’t compare to any national-level network on planet Earth, just as the Eternal Sleepers who just established the mental network couldn’t foresee someone exploiting a brain-machine backdoor to invade their "servers." Kamel couldn’t imagine how complex a network containing hundreds of millions of information nodes would be and what kind of precise design it would require.

But that’s fine, these issues can be addressed gradually.

"We should get these things operational as soon as possible," Gawain turned his head and said to Aunt Heidi, "Firstly, set up communication stations quickly in the Cecil and Kant regions to ensure communication for key departments such as the various levels of Administrative Offices, outposts, and military camps. Then establish civilian communication stations. Both areas have sufficient Magic Obelisks, so transmitting information shouldn’t be an issue. As long as the communication devices are in place, we can immediately establish contact...

"Next, we need to focus on establishing communication with the Hosman region, where a Grade 2 Bureau of Affairs is under construction. A communication station can ensure that we get timely updates on their situation. Hosman has enough Magic Obelisks on its own, but Count Hosman died too early and didn’t get a chance to expand the Magic Web... We could consider setting relay points between Hosman and Leslie regions, which would also allow us to establish contact with Leslie region.

"Communication is paramount. There needs to be a dedicated agency to manage it. I have some suggestions regarding the agency’s function, basic features, and its coordination with other departments..."

Aunt Heidi, by this time, had summoned The Sculpture Hand and swiftly grabbed a stack of white paper and a dipped pen from the nearby lab table, starting to jot down the torrent of things Gawain was firing off at breakneck speed, so masterful that it made one feel a pang.

Meanwhile, Rebecca, still on the communicator line, whispered to Kamel: "Look, our grand ancestor is at it again—it’s like he’s had this myriad of supportive measures figured out long ago, just waiting for us to develop the actual items so that he could immediately provide a set of management and application plans..."

Kamel didn’t respond; he just floated silently beside the communicator. Although no one could see his expression, it seemed he was deep in thought.

On the other hand, though Rebecca tried hard to keep her voice down, none of her mutterings escaped Gawain’s ears. However, Gawain decided not to bother with the girl: Rebecca had once again proven her abilities in the research field, Gawain was thinking about rewarding her rather than scolding her.

After addressing some general issues with Aunt Heidi, Gawain turned back to look at Kamel by the communication device: "If this equipment can already work stably, then arrange for a trial production batch. Only during actual use can we identify any potential issues. Don’t forget to organize a report on any newly discovered problems regarding production costs, manufacturing cycles, and difficulty factors."

"Yes."

After completing the inspection of the communication device, Aunt Heidi was the first to leave the research institute. She needed to go back and consider how to establish the "Department of Information and Communication" that Gawain had mentioned. Rebecca finally reluctantly hung up the call — mainly because she hadn’t finished playing, but no one was paying attention to her on this end of the communication device...

Gawain and Kamel walked in the spacious corridor of the research institute.

"This will change the entire era, you should understand the significance of that communication device," Gawain said as he walked forward without turning his head, "I think I should erect a monument for you."

"For a researcher, the best reward is to explore unknown territories," Kamel shook his head, "We successfully created the communication device, but in reality, we still know very little about the complete truth behind it... I only know that the oscillation of magic can transmit information within the magical power field, yet I still can’t unlock the fundamental secrets of magic. I think only in the process of uncovering these truths can I receive a true reward."

"Researchers heading into unknown territories..." Gawain couldn’t help but reflect, "This is a great endeavor."

"Yes, heading into unknown territories, but it’s not only researchers who venture into unknown territories," Kamel suddenly stopped, turning to face Gawain, the arcane magic glow on his body settling into a calm and bright light, "You are also venturing into unknown territories."

"Me?"

"Yes," Kamel said as he continued to float forward, "Many people see you only as a far-sighted or ambitious ruler, but I can see more... As someone who is accustomed to advancing into the unknown, I can see something familiar in you. You are also challenging an unknown domain, trying to create something this world has never seen before. Even the Cecil Clan’s current development is just the tip of the iceberg of such things... You remind me of my colleagues from the defied Fortress."

Gawain didn’t expect Kamel to suddenly express such sentiments, and not knowing how to respond, he could only say: "...That’s quite a high evaluation."

Kamel’s voice seemed to carry a hint of laughter: "The evaluation is fitting, my leader."

Gawain also smiled but made no response. He raised his head and suddenly saw something through a piece of white crystal glass embedded in the corridor wall.

On the other side should be a large engineering laboratory of the Magic Guide Technology Research Institute. In the laboratory, Gawain saw a large number of neatly arranged amplifiers and Magic Web Energy Receiving Devices installed on a metal base. There were many slightly curved metal rails, rings, and crystals placed near the base. It was obviously something that hadn’t been fully assembled yet, but just from the completed part, Gawain couldn’t help but associate it with a kind of "weapon."

"What is that?" Gawain frowned slightly, a curious expression on his face.

"Do you remember when we initially designed the ’cannon’ type weapon, we had two simultaneous plans?" Kamel spoke with a tone of pride, "The Entity Grand Cannon and the energy-converging weapon based on the arcane pulser principle."

"Is that the product of the second plan?"

"That is a prototype Rainbow Light Device. Of course, it’s not operational yet. I’m still figuring out its most crucial cooling issue," Kamel said, "However, its main structure has passed inspection. Perhaps you will witness its power on the battlefield before long."

Gawain was thoughtful: "...Did you use the data collected from the ’test range’ on the South City Wall on it?"

"Yes," Kamel replied with a peculiar vibrational tone, "The sacrifices of those invaders have their own meaning — I hope my research can aid you as you proceed into the unknown."

Gawain’s gaze fell on the center of the laboratory, where the incomplete "Rainbow Light Device" was visible through the white crystal embedded in the wall.

Today was truly a delightful day.