The Path to Lordship Begins in the North

"That's a bit inhumane."

Lucanus stared intently at the caged girl before him.

"It's hard to imagine you finding other people inhumane."

Seraphim, in the dream of the lantern, stood beside Lucanus, reaching out to stroke the caged girl before him, seemingly trying to comfort her.

Besides the two people, there were many researchers around the caged girl, making it a complete expert consultation.

It could be said that if Anjou were to unleash a powerful spell on the girl in the cage, it could directly set back Capet's research progress on the ocean of consciousness.

"It's different. The pain I suffer in order to restore the glory of the empire is an incomparable joy to me."

Lucanus sighed heavily.

"But she was different; she was simply being tortured."

Accessing the ocean of consciousness is not something to be enjoyed, because even the people in the tower cannot delve into the depths of the ocean of consciousness. Individual consciousness can only be forcibly accessed to the very surface of the ocean of consciousness, and then subjected to the waves of the ocean of consciousness washing over it.

No one understands this feeling better than Lucanus. At first, there may be nothing special about it, but the vast amount of information in the ocean of consciousness will constantly wash over your soul.

If a person has no beliefs, no anchor point to believe in, they will be overwhelmed by the vast ocean of consciousness, and after a long time, they may even feel that they are no longer themselves.

"In the former empire, this technology was only permitted for use by the military."

Sensing Lind's curious gaze behind him, Lucanus began to introduce himself.

“My king, you know that even the surface of the ocean of consciousness is far more dangerous than the public dream we are creating now.”

"Moreover, the control over the ocean of consciousness was not as mature as it is now. Looking at it now, the Empire's ocean of consciousness frequency bands were almost full of vulnerabilities. They didn't even have the awareness to segment the 'local area network' and establish a 'firewall' as you mentioned. If I went back now, I would probably crash all my colleagues from that time."

"The Empire was aware of this at the time, but unlike you, it couldn't find a solution, nor did it have a place like the Public Dreamland for us to practice. To prevent it from being used by people with ulterior motives, this technology has never been widely adopted."

"I just didn't expect my colleague to be so anxious now."

Lucanus's gaze returned to the girl in the cage.

"Of course, he hasn't made no progress at all. During this attack on him, I discovered that he actually has a method to divide frequency bands and control the security of consciousness within those bands through human intervention. It actually took me quite a while to connect to his consciousness through the surface of his ocean of consciousness. That's why he dares to be so bold as to put something that even the old empire wouldn't dare to sell on the table. Of course, compared to your grand vision, these are like infants, not worth mentioning."

Linde, who had been flattered along the way, understood that Cassius was already aware of the need to build a wall to protect his network, which was why he dared to carry out commercialization activities that were impossible during the old empire era, and planned to promote this technology.

The so-called genetic technology of the old empire was actually mainly aimed at transforming people into human brain machines with different functions, and connecting them to the network through the surface of the ocean of consciousness.

This technology tree... is far too skewed. Linde simply cannot imagine what technology would be like now if the old empire had not collapsed.

Just after Lucanus gave Lind a brief introduction to the old empire's technology, Bernice, who had entered the dream world with a lantern to conduct an examination, also woke up.

"Sir, this girl hardly ever dreams, so it's hard to say whether she still has any self-awareness."

“There should still be some. Cassius used some methods to quickly wash away the girl’s personality in the ocean of consciousness, but it seems that something touched the girl, allowing her to find her anchor point... Human consciousness is very fragile; it may become a blank sheet of paper with just a gentle wash. But human consciousness can also be very strong; as long as there is an anchor point, it will stubbornly remain.”

Perhaps because he was thinking of himself, Lucanus became unusually sentimental.

"Herbert".

Lind summoned the spy who had narrowly escaped death in Anjou and asked, "Is it true that the girl you mentioned on the radio said she saw the Kingdom of God?"

Herbert immediately stepped forward and said, "That's right, sir, that's exactly what she said at the time."

After saying this, Herbert approached the girl, took her hand, and asked, "Sarah, you said you saw the God of War's kingdom, is that true?"

"That's right..."

Sarah's weak voice rang in everyone's ears.

"I saw it... Lord War is bound by black ropes."

"The God of War was covered in black mud."

“There are some people helping the God of War clean up, but it’s not enough.”

Just then, Deborah, who had been watching with the people from the tower, couldn't sit still any longer and stood up to ask, "Among those people cleaning up, was there an elf with slightly curly hair, wearing a white robe, and looking like she hadn't woken up yet?"

Deborah gestured frantically while describing the characteristics of the other Tower members.

"Yes... but some people were eaten by the black mud."

Upon hearing this brief reply, some of the Tower members present turned their faces away, while others squatted down on the ground in disappointment.

Deborah stood there stunned, her face grave. Lady Anastasia seemed to be still alive, but her other colleagues... no, sinking into the ocean of consciousness without authorization was a one-way trip. Lady Anastasia was at least still fighting for now.

However, Deborah quickly recovered from this state and said to everyone, "Since even a little girl like this can see the scene deep in the ocean of consciousness, coupled with what the Elf Queen said before, I'm afraid this situation is not accidental. The barrier between the depths of the ocean of consciousness and reality is gradually thinning."

Deborah was about to ask something else when Lucanus clapped his hands and said:

"Okay, that's it."

“We can’t let this child recall what she saw in the depths of her consciousness anymore. I can feel that the more she recalls it, the more she will be subjected to the baptism of the ocean of consciousness. If we want this child to return to a normal state, we can’t ask her so frequently.”

Seraphim was somewhat surprised: "I didn't expect you to actually have some humanity."

Lucanos replied, "The reason this child was able to enter the deep ocean of consciousness is probably because his original humanity had been washed away, causing his soul to sink into the ocean of consciousness. The anchor he suddenly grasped allowed his soul to return, which is why he was able to see some things in the ocean of consciousness."

Linde nodded and said, "We have enough information now, Herbert. Take good care of the child and cooperate as much as possible with the Lantern Dream Therapy."

Seraphim nodded slightly to Herbert as well.

"I understand, Your Excellency."

Can this girl really be cured? Herbert doesn't know, but if she is cured, Herbert wants to take her to school so that she can experience the life that children her age should have, and so that she can see what the normal world is like.

After everyone had left, Linde looked out the window and suddenly asked in his mind, "550C, do I have the authority to enter the ocean of consciousness?"