Silent Crown

The corners of the black iron plate were round and polished. Although it was a prototype, it was not crudely made. An extremely thin, transparent layer of metallic glass covered its exterior. Under the refraction of sunlight, the alchemy array integrated into the iron plate could be seen faintly. Complicated notes flashed, and as Ye Qingxuan twirled it around, the iron plate danced deftly between his five fingers.

As requested by Ye Qingxuan, it was solid and durable, and its size was small enough for it to be carried around on one. It could be put into any pocket, although there was a risk of losing it.

But if someone was careless enough to lose it, one could only say that he deserved it, no?

Ye Qingxuan nodded. “Looks good, how is it used?”

“It’s just like using an aether ball.” Lola replied, “Other than being the connected terminal of the Net of Aether, it can be totally be seen as a variant of the aether ball.”

Lola took the terminal from Ye Qingxuan’s hand, held it in her hand, then awakened and activated it, and a projection appeared in the air, emerging from the iron plate. Detailed icons showed the aether waves in the surroundings and various other values.

All the functions of an aether ball were available, and unlike the aether ball, within it was a very thin layer of black gold, which served as the core. It could store plenty of small-scaled movements, making it convenient for them to be used at any time.

The demonstration was the Tetris movement that Ye Qingxuan and Charles composed back then. Since the game was created, it had become widely popular, and many musicians liked to have one or two goes at it when they were killing time.

After demonstrating the various effects, Lola flipped the terminal and showed Ye Qingxuan the golden alchemy array on the back — the music theory of the Heaven Ladder.

“It has been locked in resonance state with the Net of Aether. Users just need to carry it on them and activate it when necessary. Like banks, everyone is differentiated based on their individual accounts. Users can set a password and bind it to their sound of heart for two-factor authentication.”

As the array of the Heaven Ladder lit up, the glow of Jiu Xiao Huan Pei traveled through the air and emerged, connecting the terminal to the vast system of the Net of Aether. Then, under the guidance of Lola, strands of music theory interwove. In the gentle melody, a warm light spilled from her hands onto Ye Qingxuan’s body.

Chorale movement.

Through the Net of Aether, even hybrids with demon blood like Lola could use the music theory of the school of choir, which was opposite to their own music theory, without any hindrance, and they need not worry that the music theory in their bodies would be ignited.

This alone was enough to ensure that the Sacred City would never let him off.

But in this regard, Ye Qingxuan still couldn’t care less.

At most the Sacred City would just hate him a little more. One wouldn’t feel itchiness after having too many lice on one, and one wouldn’t worry about one’s debt after it accumulated too much.

Instead, he was more concerned about the upcoming demonstration.

“What about communication capabilities?” he asked. “I remember making requests regarding this aspect to Newton.”

“With the Net of Aether as a channel, it isn’t a laborious task to achieve such functions.”

Lola showed Ye Qingxuan the serial code at bottom of the Heaven Ladder of the terminal. “Every terminal has its own serial number. As long as you have the serial number of the other party, you can transfer information through the Net of Aether any time you like. Other than sound, you can also transfer images, but the transfer of images occupies too much resources, and the system will fail to cope if everyone uses it.”

Ye Qingxuan frowned. “Is there a solution?”

“It is easy to resolve.” Lola said, “Newton asked me to tell you that we can introduce different permission levels. Those of a high permission level can use the function any time, whereas those of a low permission level must apply when necessary, and the function will be made temporarily available for them.

In terms of operation and maintenance, according to your order, Heaven Ladder Communications Company has been registered. Congratulations, you are about to monopolize the future communication industry, you’ll simply be rolling in money.”

Ye Qingxuan couldn’t help but smile bitterly. “The income is just a number, and the main point is to promote the Net of Aether.”

Newton had strongly protested to him in the report. According to calculations, the communication function of the Net of Aether was expected to occupy one-fifth of the total resources. In other words, one-fifth of the power would be wasted on it.

In comparison, the communication function was not what musicians needed most, because the products that had such a function had already existed for a long time. Large-scale instruments of harmonious melody could send and receive information to and from the outside world at any time, not to mention various movements of revelation.

Although the communication function of the Net of Aether was easy to use, it was not necessary for musicians.

But conversely… What about non-musicians?

What about civilians?

The average person who were still stuck with writing letters to communicate with their relatives and friends, often waiting for three or four months, or even half a year, for a letter…

Ye Qingxuan could say with certainty that as long as the terminal of the Net of Aether was made available to civilians, a large number of people would definitely be willing to use up their last resources and spend a relatively expensive amount of money to purchase a terminal of the Net of Aether.

Even if it was just for this one function.

Then, the number of loyal followers of the Net of Aether would increase significantly, among them, many might have the talent to become apprentices and later on musicians. Their contributions to the Net of Aether alone would be enough for Ye Qingxuan to earn back the amount he had invested.

From the very beginning, Ye Qingxuan did not place any restrictions on the independence of the Net of Aether, nor did he intend to turn the Net of Aether into something that was solely his.

The nature of the Net of Aether meant that it must be open-sourced, and permission of usage must be made available. The more people using it, the stronger its power.

It had no direct ability to attack, nor could it be used for defense, not to mention the lack of various wonderful effects. As a catastrophe, it could be considered the weakest, but it had unlimited potential in itself.

Every user would become part of the Net of Aether, making it stronger and stronger, and also sharing its burden.

As the load testing of the Net of Aether came to an end, Ye Qingxuan also gained a certain level of understanding of its limits at the moment.

At any instant, it could support 40,000 formal musicians who were using movements simultaneously. If the number was exceeded, confusion would occur.

But the statistic only took into account the limit it could withstand on its own.

Actually, Ye Qingxuan did not intend to rely upon on it to withstand all the pressure, or rather, he did not even consider its own bearing capability, and only planned to use it for emergencies.

What would bear the pressure actually would be the instruments of harmonious melody connected to it.

With the addition of each large-scale instrument of harmonious melody, room for 120 more formal musicians could be added to the system. At the same time, the pressure would be shifted downwards all the way to the lowest level, and all users could share the burden together.

The pressure on each person was almost insignificant.

But for every thousand of users added, one more person could be granted master-level permission for the usage of the Net of Aether. If strict control over its usage was implemented, the number could even be doubled.

The operation of the Net of Aether was not something that one could do on one’s own, even for one of the three kings.

Meanwhile, what Ye Qingxuan needed to do was to drag more and more people into the same boat as him…

…

Newton was Newton, after all, and one must admit that every detail of the product he produced was perfect, and all of Ye Qingxuan’s ideas were realized perfectly. He even went beyond Ye Qingxuan’s expectations, and he could identify no problem with it.

Finally, Ye Qingxuan nodded and asked the last question. “Anything else?”

“Mhmm?” Lola replied questioningly.

“Is there anything else?” asked Ye Qingxuan.

“Do you think that it has any other problems?” Lola smiled.

But Ye Qingxuan didn’t smile. He looked at Lola. “You haven’t told me everything, Lola, I can see that — Whenever you put on the airs of a professor, it means that you are preparing to deceive someone. ”

Lola was silent, and her expression became complicated.

After a long time, she said, “The investigation you requested some time ago has yielded results.

“Your friend, Victor, has died.”

“Mhmm.” Ye Qingxuan kept his head low and said, “Continue.”

Lola said, “Our investigators found the ship that he stowed away on. The captain signed a contract with a gold mine in the first colony of Burgundy and sent the stowaways there.

“The people in the mine said that Victor was infected with a lung disease on board the ship and died shortly after arriving.”

Lola placed a paper bag on the table. “He left this behind.”

“Noted.”

Ye Qingxuan didn’t go through the bag. He nodded slightly. “If there’s nothing else, you can go back first, I still have something to continue working on here.”

Lola looked at him, her gaze complicated. After a long time, she got up and left.

The door closed.

In the long silence, the afternoon sunlight passed through the curtains and fell on the table in a slanted manner, shining on the little paper bag.

The paper bag contained a coat of arms.

It was the most valuable thing on Victor. He was always telling others that it was what his father left him, but everyone thought that he stole it from God knew where.

Once, Victor took it in his hand and said to Ye Qingxuan that he would come to success in the future, no longer bow to anyone, and become as dignified as a noble.

Back then, the town of Lute was not big, but it was big enough to contain the childhood of two boys, giving them a place to stay.

But at the moment, the town of Lute was gone.

The post-disaster census team of the ministry of land informed him that the town of Lute had become ruins. It was probably razed to the ground by a Beast Tide when the abyss was broken.

When Ye Qingxuan left the town by ship, he vaguely understood in his heart that it would no longer be a place for him to return to, but he only just discovered that the farewell came too fast.

It was so fast that he was caught off guard.

He closed his eyes tiredly.

“Goodbye, Victor,” he murmured.