Chapter 1169: Chapter 1168: Technology Frontend

Upon hearing the technical director’s explanation, Selena remained silent for a few seconds before replying expressionlessly, "...a simple and effective method."

She then took two steps forward to the hemispherical crystal device containing the "Main Brain." Inside the transparent shell was an artificial brain, resembling giant organs. For most people, this was a somewhat shocking sight, but for Selena, who hailed from the Eternal Sleepers, it was merely an ordinary research subject.

Her gaze swept over the metal electrodes and various conduits fixed in the brain tissue’s grooves. Lady Ropeney also approached, introducing the details of the device: "Biomass pipelines connect to the container from below, continuously delivering nutrients from division pools to the various levels of Servo Brains. There are three independently operating pumps maintaining the circulation of these liquids. Even if one or two pumps encounter an accident, these Servo Brains will not cease functioning due to a lack of nutrients. Additionally, each container is equipped with independent filtration and alarm devices; if toxic substances enter the circulation system or if metabolic waste in any section of the pipeline exceeds limits, the control center will be immediately informed."

"What if the toxicity of the substances exceeds the system’s processing limits?" Selena asked without turning her head, "Or what if other disasters cause the entire ’Tower’ to lose external connections... Please don’t think I’m deliberately making things difficult. After all, in the real world, any kind of accident can occur. I’ve witnessed too many inexplicable full-system disasters in the past seven hundred years."

"Of course, your concerns are quite necessary, and we do indeed have an ultimate protection plan," Lady Ropeney smiled slightly, exuding confidence. "Considering that the most delicate and expensive parts of the entire system are these ’Servo Brains,’ the ultimate damage control for the entire system is designed around preserving the Servo Brains. If irreversible disasters occur in the factory, the Servo Brains will immediately shatter these containers and escape through reserved evacuation passages. Their flight speed is fast, and the muscle strength of their neural tendrils is enough to handle stuck ventilation grilles or sewer outlets—an impressive escape ability."

After Ropeney finished speaking, the technical director added, "Moreover, to ensure the factory’s mainframe retains a certain level of evacuation ability, we arrange weekly physical training for these Servo Brains, including short and long-distance flights, as well as lifting weights and pulling with tendrils. Additionally, we plan to conduct fire and toxicity drills every six months—training alongside the factory workers."

Ropeney nodded: "All workers will undergo basic knowledge training about the Servo Brains and gradually become familiar with them, ensuring they handle their relationship with the Servo Brains under normal colleague relations. His Majesty’s reminder remains in our hearts, as the psychological health of all employees is something Gran Heavy Industries has always focused on."

Selena: "..."

"Lady Selena?" Noticing the unusual expression on the Node Scholar’s face, Lady Ropeney couldn’t help but ask, "Is there anything else?"

"...No, I just think... well, it’s all quite reasonable," Selena rubbed her forehead with a strange expression, muttering as if to herself, "The things Beltira creates are getting stranger and stranger... It’s amazing how you normal folks with regular views can so easily adapt to these strange things she makes..."

Hearing Selena’s low mutter, Ropeney smiled: "No matter how peculiar, magical products are just tools. For a generation newly exposed to mage products, there isn’t much essential difference between a roaring steel beast and a giant brain floating in liquid—in fact, thanks to the mystical impression left by some traditional black wizards, the latter might be even easier to imagine for the public."

Selena nodded lightly, not dwelling on the topic but instead looking up at the Servo Brains immersed in the containers as if lost in thought. It wasn’t until a few seconds later that Lady Ropeney’s voice broke the silence again: "Actually, many people remain puzzled by these Servo Brains, mainly because they always think these artificially manufactured brains would think like humans, especially when they see them in a ’living posture.’ This feeling of facing an intelligent entity seems particularly strong..."

Selena turned back with a faint smile at the female governor: "Does that include you?"

Ropeney remained expressionless: "I am a mage; I only trust the research data and am not concerned with biases based on intuition."

"Lady Governor, even mages would waver when first encountering such cutting-edge technology, and there’s nothing embarrassing about it," Selena smiled faintly. "Any new technology will inevitably cause various concerns, and indeed, they come with various risks—there’s no absolutely safe technology in the world, only continuously rigorous safety measures and the cost of trial and error for these safety measures."

"Servo Brains won’t possess intelligence like humans. Although they are a crucial part of the Emperor’s planned ’intelligent era,’ the ’intelligence’ of these brains isn’t the same as what ordinary people understand. Their nervous system structurally can’t produce complex thought processes and can only handle heavy data calculations. Of course, they do have some basic thinking activities, like feeding and... coordinating with your physical training, but such thinking activities are closer to animals than humans.

"Ultimately, Great Druid Beltira hadn’t designed an intellectual foundation for these brains, nor left them the space to seek genetic mutations through reproduction, so rest assured, they’re just more advanced tools... perhaps seen as loyal ’animal partners’?

"However, as I mentioned earlier, there is no absolutely safe technology in the world—nobody knows how these Servo Brains might present problems in the future, and the societal impact of their large-scale application is hard to estimate. Just as magic-guide technology changed our way of life, these Servo Brains will certainly bring about similar impacts and changes, and this is a problem that officials like you and technical personnel like me must face together."

"Your words are strikingly similar to His Majesty’s," Lady Ropeney laughed, shaking her head, "He described the problems we face in development in just this way."

"I am a dedicated reader of the ’Emperor’s Holy Words Collection,’" Selena suddenly winked, "I’ve read every volume."

Then she waved her hand, refraining from letting the conversation veer in that direction. Instead, she lifted her head, nodding at the "Main Brain" that was in standby mode: "I’ve gained a general understanding of this system—should we now proceed to wake up this slumbering... friend as planned?"

"Of course," Ropeney instantly returned to her professional demeanor, seriously nodding before instructing the management personnel beside her, "Ring the bell and notify everyone to take their positions."

Moments later, the sharp, rapid sound of bells echoed through the factory, and the prepared workers and technicians hurried into the workshop. Although the oversight of the mainframe by wetware significantly boosts production efficiency and reduces the number of operatives required at various posts, this system still requires human assistance and supervision. Moreover, since the system is currently in test operation, a certain number of operational personnel is required in the workshop.

A window at the midsection of the "Wetware Control Tower" opened in the depths of the workshop. Ropeney and Selena stood together at the window, observing the happenings in the workshop. They saw personnel in their respective positions, ready signals flowing in from various corners. Behind them, the technical director approached the main brain’s control panel and firmly pulled down the central black lever.

Strings of bubbles rose in all the containers, runes glowed between the pedestals and pipelines, and the slumbering Main Brain was awakened in an instant. These devoted control units considered briefly, and then—the entire workshop came to life.

In Selena’s vision, she saw the once-calm rivers of thought suddenly become extremely active, with continuous thought pulses rushing along the neural cords spread throughout the workshop, like a previously dim network suddenly illuminated, the "thinking" of the Servo Brain was injected into the neatly arranged large machines, causing all the heavy gears and connecting rods to rumble into motion—

"All execution units are operating normally!" "Neural cord signals are normal!" "Biomass pipeline monitoring is normal!" "Servo Brain glucose is normal!"

Amidst the continuous reports, Selena showed a faint smile. Despite being a ghost, she took a deep breath as if she were still alive, and sighed: "Finally... the obscure knowledge of the past has once again found the light of the righteous path."

...

North of the Rocky Ridges Fortress, downstream of the Gorgon River, in the Pompeii Area, the warm wind from the south rolled over the vast wasteland outside the development area’s border, carrying a slightly moist smell of earth—a sign that a summer rain was imminent.

This year’s rainfall was more abundant than in previous years, and the water level of the Gorgon River had been steadily rising, but after careful research, the scholars confirmed that this level of rainfall would not cause flooding. The people living in the central area of the Plains of the Holy Spirits felt relieved and hoped that the last stretch of summer would be favorable, ensuring a bountiful harvest this year.

A large factory was situated in the development area on the east side of this riverside city. This factory, which just began operations this year, featured multiple Magic Obelisks and several towering Magic Dissipation Towers, with straight and wide roads passing through the plant area and extending to the pier on the Gorgon River, indicating that it was a heavy industrial plant producing large magical devices, and the local Administrative Office held high hopes for it.

In the loading and unloading area of the plant, a heavy truck was parked by the transfer platform, waiting to deliver goods outside the plant. Several workers and technicians were busy on-site, manipulating machinery to move the heavy crates while checking the contents within each box.

Among the onsite operators, a tall middle-aged man was particularly conspicuous. Besides his more robust build compared to ordinary people, the man’s face and around his neck showed visible scars and subtle crystallization symptoms—indicating his identity: he was a "Healer," a survivor of the Crystal Cluster disaster and a proud rebuilder of this land.

The mechanical lifting device was in operation, and the final large crate was securely placed on the heavy truck. After confirming that the mechanical device had stopped and locked securely, the middle-aged man put down his controller, joining two other workers to climb onto the truck, ready to use hooks to secure the crates in place.

"The first batch of finished products... finally completed," said a worker beside the middle-aged man. "These are precise items... I hope they can be delivered steadily to the imperial capital’s test field."

"Speaking of which... why make such large anti-gravity units?" another worker voiced doubt. "I’ve seen Dragon Cavalry in the north, and those ’Cloud Bottom’ transporters—they don’t need such large anti-gravity units... A unit this big, I really can’t imagine how large an anti-gravity ring made of them would be..."

The middle-aged man with scars and crystalline marks glanced at his two coworkers and reminded them in a low, hoarse voice: "This is not something we should concern ourselves with, don’t randomly speculate about the Empire’s plans."

"Hey, Sam, you’re too serious—as long as we’re discussing products within the plant, it’s not violating any confidentiality agreements, moreover, these parts themselves aren’t classified," a worker waved his hand, then lowered his voice, "Aren’t you even a bit curious? Oh right, you were just transferred from the north recently... you might not be familiar with this plant’s situation..."

The middle-aged man, called Sam, ignored the chatty man. He lowered his head, his gaze sweeping over the labels on the crates, where the shipping information was clearly printed in black-and-white letters:

Standard-III Anti-gravity Unit (Welded Type), Produced by: Pompeii Special Manufacturing Center, Destination: Cecil Castle.

Below the label, there was an additional note: Empire’s Magical Energy Technology Department, Authorized by Minister Rebecca, Domestic Clearance.

"Secured." "This side’s secured too."

The voice of a colleague came from beside him, and Sam withdrew his gaze accordingly.

These large magic units could be used to assemble an anti-gravity ring with a diameter of over ten meters, representing the processing limits of modern factories in the field of rune devices. Regardless of what plan the Princess, praised by the Emperor as having a "brain of steel," may have devised with her remarkable affinity for working with steel machines, these rings surely pointed to some kind of great creation that would shock the world—just like the magic-powered engines and rune cannons of the past, or the racing magic trains and powerful steel warships.

But these matters had little to do with him.

For him, rather than focus on these mysterious magical components, it was better to focus on the healing of this land and this flourishing summer.

Sam stood on the truck, gazing far towards the new forests north of Pompeii—last year, it was still a scorched wasteland, a landmark representing the boundary of the pollution zone during the Crystal Cluster War of the past.

Although the Crystal Cluster Army did not attack within Pompeii’s territory, the Cecil Corps back then used heavy incinerators to thoroughly burn large areas north of Pompeii to prevent the spread of pollution, creating a "purified zone." Those once completely burned lands were once shocking to behold, but as the Emperor said, after the burn, new sprouts always grow more luxuriantly.

Now, a lush landscape has emerged—though Sam thought the growth rate of that forest this summer was unusually fast, the trees that seemed to have grown overnight were indeed pleasing to the eye. They covered the last piece of scorched earth on this land with lush green, signaling that the land’s ecology was on the path to complete recovery.

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