“Vital signs are normal.”
“Magic power response is normal.”
“There are no erosion reactions.”
A group of people withdrew from the Black Fog.
This group was quite complex, consisting of volunteers willing to participate in experiments, prisoners on death row about to be executed, and those informed that participating in this investigation could reduce their sentences, even absolving their family members from involvement with the nobility.
Different individuals were divided into different groups, equipped with various gear to explore the Black Fog.
The Demon Clan continued to retract from the Eastern Border, with their base being set near the coast at the edge of the Black Fog. After all, while the Demon Clan was not affected by the Black Fog, those human nobles were.
As for the areas near the Royal Capital and Northern Border, they could basically be said to have been abandoned, and even so, due to the influence of the Black Fog, Lind found it difficult to take back those places eroded by the Black Fog, and could only send people to explore slowly.
Flora was carefully inspecting the equipment of the personnel who had withdrawn.
If it was ordinary equipment, it would be unable to resist the pervasive Black Fog; even if completely wrapped up, prisoners wearing full gear would still be hopelessly eroded into monsters.
However, if they had been baptized with Holy Water in advance, it could provide a certain purifying effect. At least for the time being, wearing equipment baptized with Holy Water could allow them to traverse freely within the Black Fog.
Another key point was the mental state of the individuals. Just as Harold had desperately sent out a message originally, the more afraid, desperate, and unaware of the possibility of survival a person was, the easier they were to erode and become a monster.
Conversely, the well-experienced soldiers and sisters who stepped into the Black Fog showed no signs of turning into monsters without the need for Holy Water purification, with not even the most basic erosion phenomenon occurring.
Especially the sisters of the Sisterhood, who wore full gear and, even without Holy Water baptism, observed the Black Fog moving away from them.
However, regardless of whether those sisters or the prisoners remained in the Black Fog for a long time, their mental states would be affected, getting increasingly worse. The resolute individuals fared better, but those hopeless prisoners experienced a rapid decline in mental state. Even if they were baptized with Holy Water, it would only drive them insane before they turned into monsters.
This investigation led Lind to ponder. The extent of erosion by the Black Fog was indeed correlated with people’s mental states.
Lantern Dream suggested that human consciousness significantly affected dreams, so could it be inferred from the transformation of dreams what impact the Black Fog had on human consciousness? And could this influence be completely resisted?
Upon Lind’s approval, Lantern Dream began to delve into this area of research.
On the other hand, Lantern Dream also researched shared dreams. Although nominally to study the influence of the Black Fog on people regarding shared dreams, in truth, it was primarily to investigate the concept proposed by Lantern Dream earlier that all humanity is interconnected through deep dreams, a bit like putting up a sheep’s head to sell dog meat, to obtain research funding.
“That concludes this investigation, along with the report from Lantern Dream,” Lilith, looking fatigued, handed Lind the latest research findings from Lantern Dream and the Church.
“Mm, good work.”
Lind took it but noticed that Lilith had not left, staring at him with dark circles under her eyes.
“Brother, can I take a break?”
Perhaps to stabilize public morale, the Goddess Church swiftly conducted an election for a new Pope, and Lilith was elected with a high vote count as the new Pope, becoming the first female Pope in history.
Naturally, this was good news for Lind. Lilith had completely shed her identity as a former Queen, transitioning from a political figure to a religious one, with her status not changing much, and reasonably coming under Lind’s command.
However, there were currently too many issues concerning religion. Lilith not only had to find a way to incorporate the large Goddess Church into the Northern Border Church but also needed to work on mending and supplementing the relationship with Lantern Dream.
Although Lantern Dream’s side was not resistant to returning to the family with Lind’s assistance, the Goddess Church might not be as willing.
“Your vacation is not something I arranged. Can’t the Pope give herself a break?” Lind said, flipping through documents from the Church.
But Lilith instead leaned directly against Lind’s desk, refusing to leave. Lind had no choice but to relent, saying, “Alright, I’ll find someone to coordinate with the Church. You go rest first.”
“Yay! I knew brother would be the best!”
After saying that, Lilith showed no trace of fatigue, bouncing out of Lind’s study. Lind could only helplessly hold his head while looking at the investigation report.
The many tasks Lind arranged for Lilith were, after all, to consolidate her power and prestige in the religious arena. Although this would lead to an increasingly greater reputation for Lilith, greater prestige also meant greater safety. However, ever since Lilith connected with Lind as an external brain, she had begun to slack off.
In the latest research report, Lantern Dream described the current research progress using terminology that Lind could comprehend. It could only be said that the research direction of Lantern Dream was correct, but the methods were getting increasingly unorthodox, as Lantern Dream had yet to find anything to replace the brain servant’s computational power, or rather, nothing was as efficient as the brain servant.
There might be something that could replace the brain servant, like that so-called “Holy Grail” held by the Tower, but clearly, that thing was not available for borrowing.
Thus, Lantern Dream developed another method to extract computational power, which was to neutralize the brain servant’s technology, minimizing its impact and load on the brain, and using a quantitative approach to provide computational power for collective dreams. Moreover, the brain servant providing computational power could also communicate or play within the collective dreams organized by Lantern Dream, thus treating psychological disorders.
However, this required Lind’s support.
The report from Lantern Dream resembled exaggerated reports Lind had seen before when applying for activity funding, but in the end, Lind agreed along with previous research on deep dreams, provided Lantern Dream guaranteed to handle the technology harmlessly and let the people from the Northern Border Research Institute assist Lantern Dream.
Deborah once again represented the Tower in the Royal Capital. At this time, Bernice had just taken over some of Lilith’s duties, reporting the latest research progress of Lantern Dream to Lind. After Bernice finished her report, Deborah asked, “Lord Governor, may I take a look?”
“Are you interested in this?”
Lind shook the report in his hand while looking at Deborah.
Deborah then realized that her display of interest was too intense, but still reached out to take the report Lind handed over.
The more she carefully studied it, the more silent Deborah became.
Those sisters had actually touched the edge of the Sea of Consciousness. If they continued to dig deeper, they might reach the Sea of Consciousness, but Deborah felt it was still too early for humanity to be exposed to these secrets.
After a long silence, Deborah said, “Lord Governor, we need to meet with the person in charge of Lantern Dream.”
Just then, a researcher from the Tower rushed in and whispered to Deborah. Meanwhile, the communicator on Lind’s desk also rang.
Confirming the message from the communicator, Lind looked up at Deborah and found her expression matched his own shock.
A giant dragon, a black dragon, flew over several small kingdoms and headed towards the area controlled by the Demon Clan in the Eastern Border.
