Chapter 619 - 529: Information Flood, Super Database

Chapter 619: Chapter 529: Information Flood, Super Database

At this realization, Roland’s heart felt as if it were being squeezed by an invisible hand.

Even though his knowledge of the Heartstealer race stemmed mostly from scattered encounters and books, he knew the full weight of the words "Main Brain." ℴ

It was the absolute core of Heartstealer society, a terrifying aggregate formed from the convergence and sublimation of countless individual consciousnesses—the ultimate source of their Power, wisdom, and cold Order.

Individual Heartstealers were dangerous enough, but a Main Brain...

It was practically the stuff of myths and nightmares, one of the most profound taboos in the depths of the Dark Nether Realm.

And now, he had just used his Spiritual Energy like a tendril of his soul to rashly barge into the fringes of this domain of consciousness—a realm ruled by the Main Brain and belonging to the entire Heartstealer race.

If he were detected, if he were "marked," the consequences would be unimaginable.

It would no longer be a matter of facing a few Hunter Squads. It could attract the endless pursuit and annihilating will of the entire Race—perhaps even the terrifying Main Brain itself!

A tremor of fear, like ice water being poured over his head, made the hairs on his arms stand on end.

His mind raced. Roland didn’t dare make a single rash move, forcibly suppressing the chaotic thoughts and the instinctive urge to ’escape.’

In a place like this, any intense emotional fluctuation or reckless action would be as conspicuous as a torch in the Darkness.

’Still...’

He barked the command at himself in the depths of his consciousness, just as he did when tempering his will, pulling all his focus inward.

At the same time, the Shadow Veil began to operate on its own with an unprecedented level of activity.

It no longer simply weakened his presence in the material world. Instead, it spread out to encompass the Spiritual Perception Roland had extended, the very link connecting him to this domain of consciousness.

It attempted to cloak his perception in an invisible "camouflage," to fade and blur his fluctuations, his characteristics, even his very "existence," and merge it into the background "static" of this cold ocean of information.

He held his breath and focused his mind.

His consciousness was like a diver sinking into the Deep Sea, slowly descending into a state of near-absolute stillness and introversion.

He carefully maintained the faint Spiritual Silk Thread connected to the slice.

It was proof of the "key," the very foundation of his foothold here. It could not be completely severed.

Instead, he lowered its activity to the bare minimum, retaining only the most basic "receive" function, like a silent, almost-deactivated receiver.

In the tense standoff, time seemed to stretch.

He "felt" the vast, cold, ceaselessly flowing ocean of information around him.

Countless fragments of thought, data streams, and Spiritual Energy pulses flew past like cosmic dust.

The vast, silent hum of the collective consciousness at the center of it all was like the gravitational field of a star—omnipresent, yet it didn’t seem to be focused on him, this insignificant "anomaly."

A few breaths...

Dozens of heartbeats...

The expected alarm, targeting lock, and rejection response never came.

The Shadow Veil seemed to work wonders on a conscious level as well. That, combined with his damaged soul, meant his own Spiritual Energy level was not high to begin with.

Furthermore, his point of entry was through this unexpectedly acquired "key" slice, which seemed to have temporarily bypassed the outermost layer of the vast network’s automated detection systems.

Only after confirming that his presence was like a single grain of sand dropped into the ocean, causing no discernible ripples or drawing any attention, did Roland dare to relax his frayed nerves, if only slightly.

But he remained extremely cautious, not daring to show the slightest "active" intent to probe.

Slowly, like a novice swimmer testing the water’s temperature, he carefully opened the "reception" range of his Perception by the slightest margin, creating a tiny crack through which the more public, peripheral fragments of information could flow.

Like a Ghost hidden in the Shadow, he began to passively "listen" to the whispers from the outermost edge of the Heartstealer’s domain of consciousness.

What he perceived was not text or images in the ordinary sense, but a more direct, more efficient hybrid of thought-streams and data charts.

They were encoded with Spiritual Energy and, through the conversion of the slice, formed directly within his consciousness as understandable "concepts" and "impressions."

[...Third Exploration Detachment reports discovery of Ancient Dwarf ’Furnace Era’ secondary forge ruins in the ’Sighing Corridor’ region. Preliminary scans show high-concentration ore vein of refined gold and Cold Iron, with trace reactions of ’Star Flame Crystal.’ Resource assessment: Medium-High. Recommend dispatching ’Stone Breaker’ engineering unit and armed escort for preliminary extraction...]

A blurry but structurally clear three-dimensional diagram of the corridor flashed past, accompanied by a spectral analysis chart of the mineral distribution.

[...Study on the Spiritual Energy adaptability of the ’Shadow Wing Bat Dragon’ (tentative name). 47th induction experiment failed. Subject D-9 underwent irreversible brain tissue crystallization when Spiritual Energy load was increased to 1.3 times the standard value. Conclusion: Species has limited potential for bearing Spiritual Energy and is unsuitable as an advanced host for Spiritual Servants. Relevant data has been archived in the ’Biological Modification—Failed Cases’ database...]

The cold data was accompanied by a brief, dynamic image of a creature’s brain gradually turning into purple crystals amidst a faint blue Spiritual Energy.

[...Northwestern edge of the ’Broken Star Sea,’ waters near the ’Howling Wind Fjord.’ Continuous monitoring has detected weak but stable anomalous Spatial Folds fluctuations. Data shows an 87.3% spatial-topological correlation with the last known coordinates of the missing unit from ’Shell Ship—Standard Issue—Seventh Fleet.’ Requesting ’Pursuer’ squad prioritize investigation of this region...]

An abstract star chart of the fragmented sea region appeared, with several flashing markers, and keywords such as "Shell Ship," "missing," and "spatial anomaly" highlighted.

[...’Dark Moon Gathering’ conflict incident—preliminary feedback: Encountered unknown high-threat targets (plural). Individual characteristics: extremely high resistance to Spiritual Energy impact; abnormal physical Power and defense; suspected of wielding high-concentration Order Attribute attacks. Accompanied by two support units (Holy System Interferer, Arcane Precision Spellcaster). Three ’Master Brain Whips’ (standard configuration) were rapidly annihilated. Information transmission incomplete. Threat level reassessment: Extremely High. Recommend elevating surveillance level in the region and consider authorizing ’Cleaner’-level units to intervene and investigate...]

This stream of information carried a more obvious "expedited" marker, conveying a cold sense of alarm and reassessment.

Though no names were mentioned, Roland instantly understood it was referring to their recent battle.

The information flowed past, an inexhaustible river.

There were topographical survey reports on other regions of the Dark Nether Realm, surveillance summaries of certain human towns or Elven outposts on the surface, cold analyses and categorized archives on various Magical Creatures, minerals, and even strange phenomena. There were even fragmented discussions and experiment logs regarding the fundamental principles of Spiritual Energy technology.

It was, quite simply, a vast, efficient, and terrifyingly cold super-database.

The Heartstealer civilization was built around Spiritual Energy and knowledge, and their collective consciousness network was their most powerful information processing and storage center.

Although "Seventh Exploration Fleet—Secondary Tactical Information Network" sounded like a branch or divisional network, the breadth and depth of the information it contained already far surpassed the collections of any human Kingdom’s library or Mage Tower Roland had ever seen.

He was like a bystander who had stumbled into a treasure vault, only to be allowed to stand at the entrance and watch countless treasures whisk by on a conveyor belt.

He couldn’t step forward to choose, couldn’t ask any questions. He could only passively receive the public or low-security information that happened to flow "past" him.

Authority was the greatest restriction.

His current "Temporary Visitor (Unregistered)" status clearly restricted him to the outermost periphery of this domain of consciousness, allowing him to access only the relatively basic, public, or time-sensitive general information streams.

The deeper, more confidential channels and information—involving the Heartstealers’ core technology, strategic deployments, or direct commands from the Main Brain—were like the bulk of an iceberg hidden beneath the Deep Sea.

He could vaguely sense their existence and the even more powerful Spiritual Energy barriers protecting them, but he couldn’t get anywhere near them.

Even so, the value of this "peripheral information" alone was incalculable.

For example, the coordinates hinting at a possible link between the Broken Star Sea and the Shell Ship; the assessment of the Heartstealers’ reaction to the Dark Moon Gathering conflict and their likely next moves; and those scattered fragments of knowledge about various resources, creatures, and geography...

Any single piece of it, if revealed to the outside world, would be fought over by Adventurers, scholars, and powerful factions.

And now, he was sitting on just such an information channel—unstable, but with infinite potential.

As his mind raced, Roland tried his best to memorize the most valuable fragments of information, especially those concerning the Broken Star Sea and the Heartstealers’ next moves.

At the same time, he maintained the Shadow Veil with heightened vigilance, ensuring his faint "eavesdropping" remained hidden in the background noise of the information torrent, undetected by the cold network consciousness.

After confirming that there were no more new, time-sensitive pieces of key intelligence in the information stream flowing past him, Roland no longer hesitated.

As if operating a precision instrument, he carefully, bit by bit, reeled in his extended Spiritual Perception, gradually weakening and Stripping away its connection to the cold Sea of Consciousness.

The process required extreme patience and precision; any sudden "disconnection" could cause unnecessary fluctuations or leave a trace.

He waited patiently for his faint presence to completely dilute and dissipate in the torrent of information, like a drop of ink in water.

He waited until the vast ocean of data in his Perception receded, blurred, and finally faded into silent Darkness.

Immediately after, the nebulous halo swirling inside the Obsidian Thin Slice also calmed, returning to its slow, serene rotation. The faint pulsating light on its surface was completely extinguished.

His vision switched, and the Void receded.

The cool moonlight, the chilly night wind, and the two faces before him—each wearing a different expression—refilled Roland’s senses.

He was still standing in the same spot, his posture almost identical to before he had entered the network of consciousness.

However, in the eyes of Holland and Ellis, that brief yet seemingly endless moment had been filled with an indescribable strangeness.

"Buddy?"

Holland’s tentative voice rang out, tinged with obvious worry and a hint of imperceptible tension.

His brown eyes were fixed on Roland.

Just moments before, he had seen Roland’s pupils lose all focus. The whites of his eyes had even been briefly coated in a strange, inhuman, milky-white sheen. His entire body had frozen as if his soul had left it, with only the slice between his fingers flickering with an ominous light.

He had instinctively started to step forward to check on him but was stopped by a hand from Ellis at his side.

Now, seeing Roland’s pupils return to their deep black, their light restored, Holland finally dared to speak.

Roland rolled his neck, which was slightly stiff from holding the same position for so long. He turned his calm gaze to Holland, as if he had just been daydreaming.

"What is it? Was I standing here long?"

"A little while..."

Holland let out a sigh of relief, but his brow remained furrowed.

He looked Roland up and down, and after confirming he had no visible injuries or abnormalities, he couldn’t help but press for answers.

"What... what just happened? It was like you were hit with a Body Fixing Technique. Your eyes changed color, and that thing in your hand was flashing... Are you all right?"

Before Roland could organize his thoughts to explain the incredible experience, Ellis, who had been observing silently from Holland’s side, slowly lowered the arm he had used to stop him.

The young Mage’s expression was exceptionally grave, tinged with the shock of having discovered something unbelievable.

His gaze was fixed on the now-serene Obsidian Thin Slice in Roland’s hand, then it slowly moved to Roland’s face. The young Mage’s gray-blue eyes glinted with a scholar’s incredulity and probing curiosity.

He subconsciously licked his dry lips. His voice, hoarse with some intense emotion, was almost stating a fact as he asked, enunciating each word.

"Mr. Rudolph... just now... are you... a ’Spiritual Master’?"