Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 760 - 759: Promotion

As a slight chill spread through his mind, Daniel’s somewhat muddled thoughts quickly cleared up.

The security springboard is functioning normally, the internal brain port is directed to the controlled shallow sea of consciousness, memory disguise and multiple shells are functioning as usual, praise be to the Wanderers from Outer Realm — his mind is heavily armored, and no one can glimpse even the slightest abnormality from that flawless mental barrier.

Even if the other party is a powerful Archbishop.

Daniel calmed down, knowing he had entered the mental world, and in this spiritual realm, his facial expression showed no abnormality.

"Which Archbishop are you?" he asked with an appropriate respect and calmness.

The woman opposite him had an unfamiliar face, likely generated temporarily for this conversation, an act to conceal her identity, but Daniel asked anyway, as this is the normal reaction of a frank Eternal Sleeper when opening up in a conversation with an unfamiliar Archbishop.

"No need to mind that, this face is just an interaction medium, it’s the Supreme Council of Bishops speaking with you now," the woman said lightly, "Please prepare yourself to answer our questions."

Daniel showed a compliant appearance: "Yes, I will not conceal anything."

The woman nodded in satisfaction, then asked, "Recently, have you been investigating the church fellows located in the Aldernon Region? Is this true?"

"It’s true."

"This is not within your duties as Chief of Security; what is the reason for conducting such an investigation?"

"Recently, there have been many rumors about failures in the mind network, and the security system also detected abnormal fluctuations in some nodes. I was concerned about network security being threatened, hence the investigation."

"Why did you not report it proactively and choose to act privately?"

"I was unsure about the details of the situation, so I wanted to first confirm whether the issue originated from the security system — if it is related to the security system, I would handle it according to protocol; if unrelated, I would naturally report it to the Supreme Council of Bishops. This is to save manpower for the sect and improve investigation efficiency."

"This explanation is reasonable..." the woman said, pausing slightly, as if the Supreme Council of Bishops behind her were in rapid discussion. After a moment, she continued, "You mentioned earlier that the security system detected abnormal fluctuations in some nodes. What exactly is the situation?"

Daniel immediately provided the prepared statement: "I discovered ’blank connections,’ some nodes maintain a connection to the mind network but have no record of data transmission. I suspect a large amount of computational resources are being secretly transferred out of surveillance or ’swallowed’ by network breaches..."

He spoke calmly because this was indeed an anomaly his security team recently discovered in the mind network!

Moreover, he was very certain of one thing: those anomalously lost computational resources were absolutely not being devoured by his master’s ’Origin Space,’ since the latter’s required computational quota had long been ’reasonably allocated’ from the mind network’s lowest level, and there could be no ’anomalous loss’ in any way. What he and his security team observed was indeed a true ’anomaly.’

These computational resources with unknown destinations must be part of the affairs the Supreme Council of Bishops is trying to cover up recently, and Daniel chose to bring it up at this moment not only because he judged the timing to be ripe and needed to demonstrate his abilities and value, but also for a very important reason —

As the Chief of Security of the mind network and the person with the highest authority among the bishops, if a malicious situation in the mind network has developed to a point where the Supreme Council of Bishops cannot cover it up, then he certainly, and must be, the first person to detect the anomaly!

If, at this moment, he claimed to have not discovered any sensitive information, it would not be self-protection, but instead suggest there was something wrong with him!

The room suddenly became quiet.

Daniel suddenly felt an indistinct sensation—he felt as if the entire world outside the room disappeared from his perception in an instant, leaving only this quiet room, isolated and blocked, observed by every eye of the Supreme Council of Bishops.

The woman in front of him quietly watched him.

Daniel knew that the final examination had begun, and if he failed, his perception of this room would no longer be an illusion—the only ’room’ in the world would immediately become his mental prison, and his mind would be forever trapped inside.

A conclusion quickly came before him—the woman showed a slight smile.

"Mr. Daniel, are you willing to make a greater contribution to the sect?"

"A greater contribution?" Daniel pretended to show a confused expression, "Do you mean..."

"You now have the opportunity to enter the Supreme Council of Bishops and become one of the Archbishops. Your talents in network security and network architecture are crucial to us—and the issues you’re concerned about regarding recent anomalies in the mind network will also be resolved as you gain higher data retrieval privileges," the woman spoke calmly, her eyes reflecting Daniel’s image, "Mr. Daniel, we’ll also remind you of one point—higher status means greater responsibility. Once you face the deeper secrets of the sect, there’s no turning back.

"So, you still have a choice now—what will your choice be?"

Daniel pondered solemnly for a moment, then raised his head and solemnly said, "For the interests of the sect, I have long put my personal life and death aside."

As soon as these words fell, the ’sealed’ and ’unique’ feeling of the entire room suddenly vanished. The stagnant sunlight and dust shattered like a broken mirror, dispersed and disappeared. In the blink of an eye, the original bedroom transformed into a magnificent hall, with Daniel himself sitting beside a large round table in the middle of the hall.

Many figures in white or black robes sat around the round table, their robes depicting silent stars and spiral patterns representing ’awakening dreams’ and ’peaceful deep sleep’ respectively. These figures stood up from their seats, applauding Daniel.

"Welcome to our ranks, Mr. Daniel," on the opposite side of the round table, a lady in a white long dress, with a warm and serene smile, also stood up, "Your joining is very important to us."

Daniel instantly recognized the identity of the lady and speculated that she was likely the main personality of the ’interface’ he spoke with earlier. He then stood up to salute, "Archbishop Selena Gerfen."

"No need for formalities," Selena nodded to him, "Mr. Daniel, you have been promoted, to be honest, this promotion is a bit hasty. We haven’t had time to prepare a more formal ceremony for you, nor can we celebrate with you in the real world. All of this, we hope you can understand.

"On the other hand, you might still be a little confused now, and it’s understandable to feel uncertain about your identity change after becoming an Archbishop. Originally, we should give you more time to adapt gradually, but the situation is rather special now. We need you to quickly understand some things and get into state quickly...

"The specifics of the situation will be explained to you personally by His Holiness the Pope."

Daniel maintained a polite and calm expression, but upon hearing the term "His Holiness the Pope," he couldn’t help but feel a sudden tension in his nerves.

And almost at the moment Selena’s words fell, an amorphous star cloud appeared above the round table—

Daniel had no idea when that star cloud appeared, and in fact, he even suspected that the amorphous star cloud had been floating at the center of the venue all along, only that his senses completely ignored its presence!

In the next second, Daniel immediately bowed his head, greeting respectfully, "Your Holiness the Pope!"

"Raise your head," the star cloud expanded and contracted, while a voice spoke directly in Daniel’s mind, "I’ll get straight to the point—do you still revere the gods?"

Daniel’s response seemed rehearsed thousands of times, "I have no reverence for the gods; their existence is only terrifying."

This is the standard answer for a true dark sect follower.

Countless people in the world who are unaware of the truth only fear and misunderstand the Three Great Dark Sects, often mistakenly believing that those dark cultists are extreme followers of the gods, fallen into the darkness of human nature due to overzealous faith. Even some of the lower-level followers initially hold this incorrect view upon entering the sect, but once they’ve truly encountered those twisted and Fallen Divine Arts, truly undergone the higher-level "baptism," and accessed those secretive knowledge, any dark cultist would know what their true "faith" is.

"Very good..." The star cloud seemed very satisfied with Daniel’s answer, "Then, what I’m about to tell you next is the truth that most people could hardly imagine... The gods are not only terrifying but also a shackle imposed upon all mortals..."

Daniel blinked.

He knew this, and he also knew that this shackle is called "mental Steel Stamp," which his master had been studying persistently. In the Origin Space, there are hundreds of formally organized researchers studying issues with this Steel Stamp.

He even suspected that the knowledge regarding the "mental Steel Stamp" would appear in the primary school textbooks of Cecil in a few years.

But here, he still had to appropriately feign astonishment, "A shackle?!"

The Pope’s voice echoed in his mind, "Yes, a shackle, and what the Eternal Sleepers cult has been doing for seven hundred years, is finding a way to break free from this shackle."

This time, Daniel was genuinely surprised.

Moreover, he believed that even his master, the Wanderer from Outer Realm, would show surprise and curiosity upon hearing this information.

"Ways to break free from the shackle..." he couldn’t help but repeat, "How can a mortal achieve that?"

"By letting the minds of mortals operate in a Sandbox World without gods, until their minds escape the gaze of gods, until the connection between the gods and this world is severed," the voice continued to echo in Daniel’s mind, "This plan... is named the ’Zero Project’."

The Zero Project!

Daniel’s breath involuntarily paused half a beat, followed by a burst of genuine joy.

He finally came into contact with this project, finally being able to understand its true form!

This project hidden amidst veils of mist and directly controlled by the Supreme Council of Bishops, turns out to be related to the mental Steel Stamp?

Immediately, he associated it with numerous anomalies in the mind network recently and connected many clues—

This made the expression on his face become solemn, his tone serious, "Could it be... there’s a problem with this project?"

"We suspect..." It was Selena Gerfen answering him, this Archbishop who had survived for seven hundred years, now co-existing with the mind network in spirit form, said while shaking her head, "We suspect that within a certain sandbox of the Zero Project, divine power has appeared."

...

In the quiet room of the afternoon, the black-haired Mary was bowing her head, immersed in a sea of calculus exercises.

With the last few numbers and symbols falling onto the paper, this female mage absorbed in her studies finally raised her head, glancing at her mentor who was sleeping peacefully on the armchair.

The mentor seemed to be sleeping soundly.

For many years in the past, the mentor rarely experienced such restful sleep—the unbearable neurological headaches and hallucinations tormented the old mage’s spirits, making him increasingly irritable and angry while robbing him of his right to peaceful sleep, a condition that persisted for more than a decade.

It was the "master’s" gift that provided the mentor with a chance to improve, indirectly saving every apprentice around him who was suffering from torment.

The "master" was terrifying; to this day, Mary couldn’t help but feel a bit anxious and fearful every time she entered that "Origin Space," but at the same time, she also had an unavoidable sense of gratitude towards the "master."

The mentor suddenly shifted his body, startling Mary from her short-lived distraction.

She promptly got up and walked towards the armchair, "Mentor, are you awake?"

Daniel slowly opened his eyes and saw the familiar room, the familiar apprentice.

The old mage let out a light sigh, "This time... truly, something major has happened."