Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 354 - 353: What the Hell, a Poem?

In the Cecil domain, Gawain was completely unaware of what Miss My Little Pony did after leaving. His entire focus was now on the Eternal Stone Slate—or rather, some kind of ancient information storage medium in front of him.

Amber widened her eyes curiously as she watched the metal slate in Gawain’s hand, murmuring to herself, "It really looks different from the last one!"

Then she mumbled something else: "But honestly, you traded a piece of metal scrap for an Eternal Stone Slate... is that appropriate?"

"Value depends on a person’s needs. For us, it’s metal scrap because we have a lot of the same thing. We even have a divine sample in our hands, but to those outside of us—that’s an extraordinary creation equivalent to an Eternal Stone Slate." Gawain said calmly.

Amber pouted, "Your ability to spew nonsense is even better than Pittman’s."

Gawain just smiled without saying a word, but he felt that what he said wasn’t wrong at all—is divine flesh valuable? Tossing a small piece to any major church might cause them to fight amongst themselves, but Tiel doesn’t think so. Those deep-sea heretic gods devour dozens of tons of divine corpses whenever they have a party...

He waved his hand, instructing Amber to keep watch beside him: "I’m going to try and communicate with this Eternal Stone Slate, you keep watch on the side."

"Yeah, sure—though I’ve noticed I have to keep watch for you every now and then, "Amber agreed and then started murmuring again, "Every time I think about you crawling out of a tomb, I feel like I’m keeping a vigil..."

This creature never ran out of small talk while working.

Gawain didn’t pay attention to Amber’s muttering beside him. He had begun to release his magical power, and the Eternal Stone Slate in his hand resonated with a familiar sensation the next moment.

Along with the illusion of the slate slightly heating up, Gawain felt his spirit detach from his body once more. An ultra-experiential perception descended upon him. In that indescribable, floating state, he suddenly sensed some brief information emerging in his mind...

He concentrated, trying to listen to the content of that information, but when it emerged, he was only stunned:

"...Do not be intoxicated by this illusory serene long night... the night sky will eventually shatter...

"...Do not indulge in your warm cradle... the cradle will overturn one day...

"...Do not sleep in the shelter of the mind... the mind’s refuge will eventually become an unbreakable shackle...

"Set out, before the stars flicker, set out, before the long night ends...

"If you don’t start moving quickly, the daylight will arrive..."

After what seemed like a short poem, there was only the long-standing background noise and an unbearable sense of spiritual emptiness.

In this transcendent state devoid of up and down, devoid of any perception, Gawain’s mind was still operating. He felt a burst of astonishment: was that it?

The second Eternal Stone Slate only recorded a poem?

What does this poem mean? Who left it? Was it the Zenith Fleet that brought down the gods in ancient times? What was the purpose of leaving this poem?

Could it be that it incidentally showcased the artistic talent of those high-tech aliens...

Gawain’s thoughts spiraled endlessly, but halfway through, they quickly reeled back in. He knew that the truth was certainly not so simple—the Eternal Stone Slate was not an ordinary storage medium. They also carried divine secrets, extraordinary powers, battle reports on killing gods, and many other things enough to change the course of human history. Among such incredible information, suddenly appears a poem... it can’t possibly be a coincidence.

This poem should have its special significance, perhaps it’s hinting at something.

Gawain carefully recalled what he "heard" and "saw." From the poem, he faintly linked to something. The poem urges people not to indulge in a temporary but peaceful illusion? Moreover, among the lines, it hints at some force that will break this brief tranquility, the cradle will overturn, the night sky will shatter... if linked to the real world, could this refer to the periodic... chaotic wave?

Is the brief tranquility the intermission between chaotic waves? What about the cradle? Does it refer to the planet humanity currently resides on?

The poem’s author also mentioned shackles and mind shelter... what does that mean? Mind’s refuge... could being asleep in the mind’s refuge be related to the Eternal Sleepers?

But the one who left this poem probably didn’t know the Eternal Sleepers because the creation of the Eternal Stone Slate predates even human history...

Also, the poem mentions "daylight." What does daylight mean? Is it another artistic term for chaotic wave? Then why refer to it as daylight?

Gawain’s mind was racing in this state of spiritual transcendence, and as each question turned into speculation, he found that he still showed no signs of leaving this transcendent state—is the information recorded on the second Eternal Stone Slate not yet finished?

Just as this thought popped into his head, he suddenly felt that other information appeared in his mind, the boundless background noise vanished abruptly, and amidst the infinite darkness, a glow gradually emerged.

The glow formed a scene, he saw a blue and green planet quietly floating in the vast expanse of space, and on the edge of the image, an arc-shaped atmospheric storm exuding immense pressure was slowly surging.

It took Gawain a few sluggish seconds to realize that what he was seeing was precisely the planet beneath his feet, and the arc-shaped atmospheric storm on the edge of the image... was the "sun" that the planet revolves around, indeed, the gas giant!

Upon realizing this, his first thought was to try and discern what was on the surface of that vibrant blue and green planet—how many continents exactly, how vast the ocean is, Loren Continent, Anzu, Typhon, where exactly they are located on this planet, and where the sea demons might be...

Yet he quickly discovered that he couldn’t control the perspective before his eyes and vaguely realized that what he was seeing was not an actual, real-time image of the planet. The information emerging from the depths of his mind told him this was merely a simulated image, showing what this planet looked like eons ago, countless tens of thousands or even millions of years past...

Subsequently, he saw the perspective move uncontrollably, the blue-green planet gradually zoomed in, and around it, numerous shining dots and matching text symbols suddenly appeared.

These were characters distinct from any known language in the world, but their meanings flowed into Gawain’s mind as soon as they appeared. He saw those glowing dots around the planet had names:

Glare Station No. One, Glare Station No. Two... Zenith Satellite Array... Firmament Station... Skybridge Reference Station... Gas Giant Monitoring Station, First Starbridge, Second Starbridge...

These aspects surfaced one by one, but then, each was stained with red, possibly indicating malfunction or offline status.

The red initially appeared in only a few places but quickly expanded throughout the entire view; eventually, almost all space stations entered malfunction or offline status, with only a few scattered points still shining alone in space.

Here, the information stored on the Eternal Stone Slate truly ended, and familiar dizziness washed over Gawain’s spirit, swiftly pulling him out of that "transcendental" state. When the scenes before his eyes stabilized, he unsurprisingly saw Amber’s large face...

In fact, this half-elf always made appearances, and Gawain had long gone from being accustomed to numb, to now completely ignoring her. He simply habitually waved and brushed Amber aside, then proceeded to ponder on his own with a furrowed brow.

From that final scene appearing, he saw many things, thought of many things, and these sights and thoughts left his mood unsettled for a long time—

Indeed, there’s something in space, a boundless something!

The super civilization that left this world many years ago and set off into the distance, never to be found again, left a system of monitoring stations and management facilities in the sky above this planet. Time has merely passed, and these monitoring stations and management facilities malfunctioned or went offline one by one. The surveillance satellite he first traversed through... must be one of the last remaining operational devices!

Do those devices still exist in the sky now? Gawain believes the vast majority of them likely still do.

Perhaps only the communication system shut down, but the orbit control systems probably endured longer than the communication systems. Perhaps over the ages, indeed some space facilities crashed onto the earth, but remnants must remain—after all, the relatively common satellite he attached to survived, and there’s no reason why larger and longer-lasting space facilities should all have crashed.

But none of those things seem to be observable... whether through Magic like bird’s eye view or purely optical principle telescopes, no artificial objects in space can be seen... perhaps those space facilities possess stealth systems even more advanced than their orbit control systems?

Gawain dwelled on these thoughts with furrowed brows, and upon discovering no leads, finally exhaled and looked up, noticing Amber still standing by with a slight surprise: "Ah, you’re still here?"

"Of course I’m here!" Amber put her hands on her hips, "You just shoved me aside and then forgot?"

"Ah... I didn’t notice," Gawain tapped his forehead, shaking off the last remnants of dizziness from his mind, and rose to stretch his arms, "How long was I ’asleep’ for?"

"Half an hour, but judging by your current complexion, it’s like you haven’t slept for three days," Amber sneered, "What did you see— I know you have the ability to perceive many bizarre things from bizarre places..."

"What kind of statement is that," Gawain glanced at the half-elf, "Put the Eternal Stone Slate away, keep it with the first one. As for what I saw... even if I explained it to you, you wouldn’t understand."

"Tch, stingy," Amber muttered, while packing the Eternal Stone Slate, grumbling, "Speaking of which, you’re really okay letting me handle something so precious—aren’t you afraid I’ll secretly sell it?"

Gawain chuckled at this, "Alright then, if you’ve got the guts to find someone willing to buy it, go ahead— I guarantee that as soon as you reveal this thing, twenty pioneering knights from the religions will show up to chop you down, and by then, I won’t protect you."

Amber immediately shrank her neck as if those twenty pioneering knights had already come knocking: "Whoa—you speak so terrifyingly!"