Chapter 292 — The Simulation Grounds

Everything in this virtual world was the product of accumulated computing power; countless Sleepers formed a vast calculating engine out of the human-brain network and "computed" the Eternal Dream. Yet that computing power could not be directly applied to pure numerical problems—which was probably where this otherworldly "computer" differed most from an electronic computer on Earth.

At least so far, Gao Yang had still not found the psychic network's "mathematical computation interface," and precisely because there was no such interface, he had no way to use the network's processing power to directly optimize and reconstruct the rune array on the shell. That work could still only be left to Jenny and her Rune Research Institute.

But Gao Yang was not much discouraged; he had even steeled himself for never finding that interface. The Sleepers' creation was not an Earthly supercomputer, after all. "Dream magic" was, in the end, only one kind of magic; the world of magic held too many wonders and peculiarities, and he had lived in this world long enough that he must accept the fact.

Magic had its conveniences and its shortcomings. In this world the Sleepers had used dream magic to achieve the fully immersive virtual reality that even Earth had failed to realize, yet they could not achieve even the mathematical computing efficiency of the most primitive electronic computer. But Gao Yang believed one thing: in the progressiveness and the possibility of technology. It did not matter that no "interface" could be found now; he trusted that sooner or later the problem would be solved.

After confirming that all the encryption settings were sound, Gao Yang exited the "hidden laboratory" he had created.

In Phantom Pivot City, nothing had changed.

The cultists of the Long Slumber still came and went through the city; the magnificent city still blazed with gold and splendor; the node crystals floating above the plaza still radiated their soft light before his eyes; a dozen high-ranking cultists stood near him, hands pressed to the crystal's surface, surfing the net in a group…

No one realized that something had gone wrong with their psychic network, no one realized that a piece of the network's computing power had been occupied, no one realized that in a corner of their virtual world a new "mounted object" had appeared out of thin air…

Gao Cen left the crystal with a bland face and, bearing the sense of accomplishment of one who has mooched off a network and gotten away with it, stepped aside. He gazed at the splendid city before him and the cultists moving through it, and gradually sank into thought.