Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 293 - 292: Simulation Experiment Field

Gawain didn’t know exactly how long he’d been in this isolated space.

Based on past experiences, he could confirm that the virtual space created by the Eternal Sleepers had a different time flow from the outside world — this might be related to some kind of "perception bias" of the human brain. He felt he might have been here for several days, but in truth, only a few dozen minutes might have passed on the surface — after all, Amber hadn’t woken him up yet.

The half-elf wouldn’t just watch him sleeping like the dead, right...

Gawain stood up and stretched lazily — even though he wouldn’t feel bodily fatigue in this virtual world, stretching was still a reflexive action — then he raised his head, looking satisfied at the independent space he had created.

This space remained vast and empty; Gawain hadn’t added any meaningless decorations or structures to it — because each meaningless decoration would mean an extra waste of storage space and data processing capability. Between the clear, distant blue sky and the endless expanse of water, there were only massive white metal platforms to be seen, most of which were empty, while a few platforms featured apparatuses similar to alchemy tables and various bizarre facilities — those were created by Gawain to test the "simulation degree" of this space.

From the outside, the change in this space was merely the addition of those platforms, but the real, most important changes were actually in places invisible to the eye: Gawain had put a lot of effort into the confidentiality of this space, ensuring it would completely "disappear" within the mind network of the Eternal Sleepers. He added extensive camouflage and encryption to the space itself, and even attempted to create layer upon layer of protection within the mind network of the Eternal Sleepers, hiding all traces in the vast, chaotic information nodes at the base of this network.

He believed that with the current network security consciousness of the Eternal Sleepers, it would be impossible for them to discover he had stolen their network resources to create this space.

Besides confidentiality, he had also set up numerous preset "templates" here, hidden within the underlying data of this space, which he could summon at any time to quickly build a suitable experimental environment when needed.

Having completed all this, Gawain willed himself and the next moment, appeared on one of the metal platforms.

He thought for a moment, raised his right hand, and began to simulate an object.

The next second, a cellphone appeared in his hand.

He pressed the power button, and as expected, the "phone" showed no response.

Objects that cannot be simulated are those whose principles cannot be parsed, or existences that cannot appear in this world due to rule contradictions.

He waved his hand, and the empty form of the phone dispersed into scattered fine points, vanishing into the air, and in the next second, a hexagonal rune trigger coalesced into shape, embedded with magic crystals that were already charged.

Gawain activated the Rune Trigger, and in an instant, a searing beam of light sliced through the air, striking the ground not far ahead.

The invocation of the basic template went smoothly, and the simulation effect was perfect.

He then dissipated the rune trigger and approached the edge of the metal platform — a massive device had already been installed here: it featured four metal rails arranged in parallel, fixed on a massive base. Two rails were arranged horizontally, and two vertically, forming two "groups." On the horizontal rail group, a series of shining magic structures could be seen, and the inner side of the rails revealed numerous repulsion units set at certain angles, while the vertically-arranged rail group also had repulsion mechanisms, but these were arranged in parallel on the rails — they didn’t contribute to the acceleration of the projectile, but ensured the projectile "floated" within the device throughout the acceleration process, preventing the projectile from colliding with the repulsion mechanisms on either side.

After all, repulsion acceleration rails are different from any similar acceleration devices on planet Earth — their interiors are not only unsmooth but are filled with inclined, protruding repulsion points and due to the nature of the repulsion trick, these points cannot be covered, so the accelerated object must be additionally fixed in the rail to prevent collisions.

A projectile in a floating state can also minimize kinetic energy loss due to friction with the launch mechanism, which will further increase the range and energy efficiency of the "cannon" — this is the best solution Gawain could think of, based on current technology.

Gawain opened the protective cover at the beginning of the acceleration rail and placed a groove-indented "projectile" in the middle of the rails. After ensuring both its upper and lower grooves had good contact with the "floating rail," he closed the protective cover and initiated the main rune trigger for the entire device.

With a peculiar hum, the projectile, under the effect of the "floating rail," broke away from direct contact with the launch device. It moved forward under the influence of the first-stage repulsion mechanism, entering the acceleration zone between the rails. It then rapidly accelerated in this process; in merely a flash, all acceleration whistle sounds compressed into a piercing explosive bang — Gawain saw a metal object shoot out from the front end of the acceleration rail, with a sharp whistle as it pierced the air. A few seconds later, an explosion of firelight illuminated a metal platform in the distance, with the loud noise reaching him afterward.

As expected— the projectile successfully completed its acceleration, but the "aerodynamic runes" hastily drawn on the projectile did not work, causing the flight distance to fall far short of his expectations, and moreover...

Gawain glanced at the acceleration rail which had its power cut off. He could see that all four acceleration rails were misaligned to varying degrees. This was because the repulsion points exerted a strong thrust not only on the projectile itself but also on the other acceleration rails during the process of accelerating the projectile— the massive repulsion points interacting at such close distances produced immense forces, and it was inevitable that the rails would become misaligned without effective reinforcement.

In addition, the irrational arrangement of the repulsion points was also a significant reason— if the position of repulsion points could be reorganized, presumably the pressure on the rails could be dispersed...

Looking at the experiment results, Gawain’s initial joy gradually dissipated, and he began to analyze the role that this Simulation Experiment Field could play.

Undoubtedly, this is the true use of the "virtual space" created by the Eternal Sleepers. The cultists wasted such a useful thing by turning it into an awe-inspiring illusory realm and escapist dream. This thing should be used for scientific research!

However, this virtual world is not omnipotent.

Gawain can simulate his "Rail Cannon" here, but he can’t make the runes hastily drawn on projectiles function.

This indicates that this space can currently only be used as a testing ground— bringing some already roughly finished conceptual items in for testing. With the highly realistic nature of this time-space, he can collect a large amount of effective data in this process.

This will undoubtedly save a lot of R&D costs. Many costly and time-consuming real tests can be shifted to the virtual space, and many highly dangerous things can be tested here first before taking them outside for actual production after most parameters are adjusted— naturally, Gawain estimates that the degree of "simulation" in this virtual space also has limits. Tests conducted here are bound to have inconsistencies with the real world, and the more complex and deeply involved items in the domain of magic, the larger the simulation deviation should be. After all, the Eternal Sleepers are still mortals, even if they created this place using "quasi-divine arts" Dream Spells, they cannot restore all the rules of the real world into it.

Yet, even with only ninety percent simulation effectiveness, this virtual space is enough to produce unimaginable value.

Besides simulation effectiveness, Gawain is more concerned with how to leverage the "calculation" capabilities of this mental network.

Everything in this virtual world results from the accumulation of computational power. Countless Eternal Sleepers used a human mental network to form a giant computational device and "calculated" the eternal dream-realm. However, this portion of "computational power" couldn’t be directly used to address pure numerical problems, which might be the biggest difference between this otherworldly "computer" and the electronic computers on planet Earth.

At least for the time being, Gawain has not yet found the "mathematical calculation interface" of this mental network. Without this interface, he couldn’t utilize the computing power of the mental network to directly optimize and reconstruct the magical circle on the projectile— this part of the work still has to be handed over to Jenni Perot and her Rune Research Center.

However, Gawain is not too disappointed by this. He is even mentally prepared to never find this interface— the creations of the Eternal Sleepers are not the supercomputers on planet Earth, "Dream Spells" is ultimately just a type of spell. The magical world has too many wondrous, special aspects. He has been living in this world for so long, he must accept this fact.

Magic has its conveniences and shortcomings. In this world, the Eternal Sleepers implemented full-immersion virtual reality not achieved on planet Earth with Dream Spells but failed to realize even the primitive mathematical computation efficiency of electronic computers— yet, Gawain believes in one thing, which is the progressiveness and possibility of technology. Not finding the "interface" now doesn’t matter. He believes that one day, this issue will be solved.

After confirming that all the encrypted settings were correct, Gawain exited the "secret laboratory" he created.

The "City of Dreams" remained unchanged.

Eternal Sleepers cultists continued to come and go in the city, the magnificent city remained resplendent, the Node Crystal hovering in the plaza emitted soft light before him, and more than a dozen powerful cultists were nearby placing their hands on the surface of the crystal to gather online...

No one realized that there was a problem with their mental network, no one realized that a portion of their network’s computational power was being occupied, no one realized that a new "mounted object" had suddenly appeared in a corner of their virtual world...

With a calm face, Gawain left the crystal, carrying a sense of accomplishment from "borrowing the network without getting caught" and moved aside. He looked at the magnificent city before him and the cultists active in the city, and gradually fell into contemplation.