The Path to Lordship Begins in the North

How does the Dyson Sphere project counter "that gaze"?

These space stations, which are like nails driven into the blue planet, are not simply space structures. At least according to 550C's explanation, these different space stations can indeed withstand that gaze, and they are still operating today.

Linde is currently located in the outermost room of the space station, the one that protects the station from that gaze. Here, he acts as a human firewall, helping 550C to constantly inspect the equipment within and manually restarting some systems and areas of the space station.

Because of Lind's arrival, the entire space station underwent a major overhaul, and many areas that had ceased to function were revitalized. This also gave Lind some new insights into the space station, such as the two oracle lanterns in the Lantern Dream and the Church's possession, which were actually fragments that fell from the space station when 550C was in hibernation.

According to 550C, after this overhaul, the goddess will regain her original authority over the sun, moon, and stars, but Linde always felt that 550C was letting him get familiar with the entire space station.

After helping 550C complete manual maintenance and gaining an understanding of the entire Tiangong command center, Lena's phantom reappeared beside Linde. "Returning to your previous question, please allow me to ask you first: do you know the true nature of that gaze?"

Guided by the drone, Linde left the room and finally took off his heavy hazmat suit. After hearing 550C's question, he began to think about the devices he had seen in the room.

"Is it light?"

Linde put forward his conjecture: since the gaze could be blocked by the technology of the Golden Age, it means that the Golden Age had done some research on the nature of the gaze, or even had some understanding of it. This means that the gaze could be analyzed and explained, at least for the Golden Age. The Golden Age were indeed a bunch of madmen.

Linde's first reaction was to use "light" in a physical sense.

Thinking about this, Linde suddenly understood the madmen who devoted themselves to madness during the Golden Age. Linde even felt that he had become a madman himself, a madman who tried to understand something beyond human common sense.

"No, pure light doesn't possess those properties, since it's something humans can understand..."

Linde wasn't a physics major, but his mind was racing, searching for the closest possible answer.

"Is it a wave?"

Linde asked somewhat uncertainly, "Is that gaze some kind of electromagnetic wave? Is it some kind of wave that spans the entire universe? And does that wave carry information? Was the first photograph ever taken by humankind captured this wave?"

"So after that wave 'stared' at Blue Star, humanity has been passively receiving information, which is the so-called will check and the source of that crazy knowledge."

Linde's conjecture fails to explain the origin of the message within the wave. Was it a threat from some civilization? Or a cry for help? Were humans deliberately chosen? Or was the other party simply sending out a mass message indiscriminately? Or was it truly just a casual glance from some transcendent being?

But it is clear that this wave will react to things that have thoughts, or even be described as a kind of thought or concept.

550C neither confirmed nor denied this conjecture, but continued, "The energy contained in that gaze disrupted the material stability of this world. This phenomenon was particularly evident in the post-Golden Age. Magic was born in this unstable world. The energy generated by the fusion on the ground and the energy contained in the gaze underwent anomalies and merged into all things in the world."

Therefore, the new humans are indeed completely different from the original humans. They were born in a new environment and are more compatible with it. They can even utilize the magic generated by this world, and this phenomenon is particularly evident among elves.

"These energies even affected some substances on Earth, turning them into so-called magical materials."

"However, the corresponding price of so-called magic is that the material stability of this world is not as good as before, which is why regions like the Sea of ​​Impermanence have emerged. And because the high-altitude regions, unlike the ground and space stations, were not once filled with the energy generated by fusion, they only have the energy brought by that gaze, making them even more chaotic and dangerous."

No wonder the phantoms of the Outer Gods always appear in the sky. Is it because there are more residual waves in the sky? Considering that the Outer Gods can invade the sea of ​​consciousness, they may very well be creatures formed from the crazy information in the waves after it came into contact with consciousness, mixed together and materialized.

The so-called prophecy of the descent of an outer god is actually "knowledge" about the time required for this energy to be mixed and visualized.

If what 550C said is true, then the changes in the nature of magic may be the result of different fusions between the energy and waves generated by fusion. Although this still cannot explain why dragons can fly at high altitudes or change their shape, it at least gives Linde a direction for research, and at least tells him that dragons are not a product of natural development in this region, but may be the result of some anomaly in other regions, or the product of some kind of distorted technology tree.

As for what those "Outer Gods" actually are, since the Outer Gods descended at the end of the Golden Age, there are very few records of related research. The last Outer God was just blasted to smithereens by Lind with an orbital cannon. However, the demon race that the Adventists created using humans and Outer Gods still exists, so perhaps we can get some clues from the demon race.

Linde has a general idea of ​​how magic is formed, but it is only a guess. He needs to return to the ground to continue his research.

After all, all of this is hypothetical. However, Linde still felt that he might have gone mad. He and this artificial intelligence were actually discussing the essence of an existence that was completely incomprehensible, and even trying to use science to understand metaphysics.

"550C, I should go back now."

Although there are still many things I don't understand, sometimes knowing too much isn't a good thing. It can make people hesitant to act. For example, after learning that the demon race was compiled from the genes of Outer Gods and humans, Linde worried that he might do something against his conscience when he returned, such as sparing the demon race's life and using them for human experiments.

Sometimes looking too far ahead isn't a good thing.

However, at this moment, 550C, who had transformed into Reina, once again led Lind into a room.

"Having seen the truth of this world, don't you have any other thoughts?"

"Of course there is. We should go back and find a way to get nuclear fusion back on track. There's no hope for it in my lifetime. We should pave the way for future generations as soon as possible."

Seeing 550C speaking to him while wearing Lena's appearance, Linde was a little angry, but looking at that silly face that still looked silly even under 550C's transformation, Linde couldn't get angry at all.

550C seemed to be certain that Linde wouldn't feel anger or anything like that towards this image, which is why it maintained this appearance, and went further, saying, "I have a better way to continue human civilization."

After saying that, Lena's phantom stepped aside, and a chair with a bio-tech feel was placed in front of Lind.

"Do you know which of the three projects was the most successful? It was the Ocean of Consciousness Project, because people in the Golden Age really explored the ocean of collective human consciousness. Here, people could even directly compile the entire human consciousness system."

"Unfortunately, this technology was not studied in depth due to its high risks, and thus it was lost. However, another technology has been preserved."

Lena's phantom appeared before Lind, pressed against his face, and asked, "Do you wish for immortality?"

Throughout history, countless emperors have dreamed of having their options presented to Linde, but looking at the 550C in front of him, wearing Lena's face and speaking to him with a serious expression, Linde still found it somewhat difficult to maintain his composure.

Seeing that Linde did not answer, 550C explained, "I believe you should have some guesses about how the space station determines your citizenship."

"consciousness?"

Linde replied instinctively.

“That’s right, your body is undoubtedly that of a new human, but your consciousness conforms to the characteristics of humans in the Golden Age and has been registered as a citizen.”

550C continued, “As long as you are willing to sit in this position, your consciousness will be fully uploaded to the space station, and you will become the master of this place, the god of this area.”

Reina's phantom bowed in sync with 550C, saying, "The so-called goddess authority is nothing more than an accessory to your control of this space station. I will grant you all your wishes, as long as you stay."

Linde stared at the spot, and for some reason, it gave him the feeling of looking at a golden toilet. He asked, "Once you sit down, you can't get down?"