Chapter 799 — A Day Trip

"...So we can largely rule out the possibility of personality replacement..." Amber murmured softly. "Patty is still Patty—that's good news."

"Boss, the apothecary did mention one other thing," Anton went on. "She said that when she first took charge of Patty, the child's condition was worse than one could imagine. By her experience and judgment, she hardly believed Patty could survive, yet after obtaining the crown, Patty remarkably pulled through the most dangerous stage. To the apothecary, that was a miracle.

"So the apothecary believes Patty's crown is a blessed ritual implement that eased her injuries. But we all know that crown is a 'connection device' of the Sleepers—perhaps also a temporary 'soul vessel'—and has no injury-healing function at all..."

Amber furrowed her brow and spoke slowly, deep in thought. "The crown let Patty rest within dreams, which in a sense gave her the will to live on and eased her mental strain. From that angle, it's at least plausible that it carried Patty through.

"The power of the human spirit can work certain miracles—even if those miracles sometimes defy our common sense.

"Still, that situation you mentioned does need watching... I'll tell our emperor about it later."

Anton nodded, then asked curiously, "Then what about the surveillance team from here on..."

"Maintain surveillance," Amber said. She thought briefly, then instructed, "Also, be ready for emergencies. In the near future... the Sleepers may make some moves. We can't predict the situation, and we can't rule out the possibility that the success or failure of their actions will affect Patty in the real world. I'll ask other departments for help afterward and send over several specialists in immersion pods, cerebral nerves, soul studies, and related fields, to be ready for whatever may come."

Anton lowered his head. "Yes. I'll give the orders at once."

"Go see to it if there's nothing else," Amber waved her hand in dismissal. "I still have some reading to do."

Scarface Anton took his orders and left the room. Once more Amber was alone in the simply furnished office.

The half-elf lady, already a person of high station, sat staring blankly at her desk for a while before lowering her head again to glance at the textbook she had tossed onto the table. As though lifting a weight of a thousand catties, she raised the book and went on reading with a sigh...

She truly had little learning, and truly came from low origins; most of what she knew were the rules of back alleys and squalid lanes, and her foster father, who had died young, and her second foster father, who had spent half his life as a heretic cultist, had plainly failed to instill in her much that was correct or proper about how to conduct oneself.

Here in this resplendent "Capital of Magic and Industry," within the Empire's highest administrative hall system, she sometimes even felt like an incongruous oddity.

Yet she was still unwilling to fall behind, unwilling to halt upon her accrued merits and position and simply rest easy in enjoyment.

After all, the scenery ahead on this road... really did seem splendid.

Firmly believing herself one of the Shadow Goddess's own, she wanted to see just how far she could keep following this road.

...

Over the course of a day's itinerary, the envoys from Typhon visited many things.

They beheld a novel form of "modernized instruction," beheld the Imperial Grand Library with its astonishing collection, beheld the immense quantities of new-style books printed by industrial machines, and beheld as well the层层-protected original manuscript of The Foundations of All Things, hailed as a treasure of the Empire.

They beheld a "Mages' District" unlike that of Aldernan, and beheld the wondrous sight of diverse research facilities operating in orderly fashion, common folk and transcendents working side by side. Though they were shown no substantive technical content, Cecil's peculiar "atmosphere of research and development" alone was enough to leave them feeling thoroughly refreshed.

As the giant sun drew near the horizon, daylight came to its end.

In the dining hall of the Autumn Palace, Gaoyang dined with Mathilda and the others.

"This has been an unforgettable day—no flattery, it is simply the truth," Mathilda said, seated with poise at the long table, facing Gaoyang. "The Foundations of All Things especially... I truly find it hard to describe what it made me feel. I never imagined there could be a book like it—like it... vast, immense, even full of ambition."

"It is not yet finished," Gaoyang said. "A book like this cannot be compiled in a year or two."

"I have already begun to look forward to what it will be when completed," Mathilda said with utter sincerity. "And... if you would not mind, I have an even more presumptuous request: I hope to obtain a set of copies—once it is finished, I wish to bring it to Typhon."

Gaoyang looked into Mathilda's eyes and paused for two or three seconds before speaking: "Of course, that is no problem at all—I am glad to see knowledge spread; that was one of the purposes behind The Foundations of All Things from the very start. When it is complete, I will give you a full set—as a gift in celebration of the coming of a new era."

A trace of delight showed on Mathilda's face. "My deepest gratitude."

(Time for a book recommendation: the title is Monsters Die When Killed, by Yintian Shenyin—you may have heard of his Burning Steel Soul. Unlike last time's seedling, Monsters has already passed a million words! Time to slaughter and feast!)