Chapter 519 — Intelligence

"The artificial nerve cord does indeed carry the risks you mentioned, and it requires neurosurgery—the risk is extremely high. At least when I left, that technology still showed no hope of a breakthrough," Pi Yun nodded. "But if one wishes to achieve interaction between the human brain and a rune array without the aid of Sleeper arcane arts, then a nerve cord or similar neural modification is an unavoidable medium. I do not know exactly where you obtained this portion of the technology, but you surely have noticed its function: between the human brain and machinery, there must exist a biochemical interface. Of course, if one possesses a special spiritual gift, or is skilled in Sleeper arcane arts, that is another matter..."

"You are right, a biochemical interface must exist, but it need not necessarily be implantable," Gao Yang interrupted. "Do you remember Patti's crown?"

Pi Yun was startled, the wrinkles on his face deepening. "You mean..."

"The Sleepers have made further progress in this field. Patti's crown is in essence a non-implantable brain-nerve interface; it can establish a stable connection between the human brain and a rune array without drilling holes in the nerves or wiring them up."

"But the core of that crown cannot be simplified, and it uses many materials that cannot be obtained by ordinary means..."

"Our technicians indeed could not find an approach, but someone has made some progress," Gao Yang said, straightening up. He casually pulled a document from the desk and pushed it toward Pi Yun. "Take a look. You should be able to understand it."

Pi Yun took the materials in puzzlement. He noticed that the text and drawings on the paper must have been written not long ago, for they still gave off a faint scent of ink, and once he saw the specific content, his gaze could not be pulled away.

These were precisely the second batch of materials on brainwave connection technology that Daniel had just sent to Gao Yang through the psychic network.

Pi Yun raised his head in astonishment. "This is..."

"A non-implantable nerve cord, using a clever complementary contact structure to improve fault tolerance, and adding a layer of runes with filtering and protective functions, which can effectively reduce the user's neural stress and lessen hallucinations and phantom pain—most importantly, because it is non-implantable, it can be quickly disconnected when a problem arises in the connection. There may be some aftereffects, but at least there is no fear of brain death."

"It seems not yet finished..."

"Correct. Some key points cannot be finalized for lack of practical testing," Gao Yang nodded. "The person who designed it temporarily... has no conditions for experimentation."

Daniel had just settled in the imperial capital of Typhon. To avoid arousing suspicion, he had to keep a very low profile. Until his private laboratory was completed and he himself had gained the trust of the Typhon Royal Mages' Association, his experimental conditions were very limited.

"The person who designed it..." Pi Yun detected a deeper meaning in Gao Yang's words, and he realized that his understanding of this pioneer who had returned from the dead was still far too little.

Behind this lord, there existed unseen people or forces serving him.

"We have experimental conditions here—laboratory, personnel, materials, everything," the old druid raised his head, the wrinkles on his face smoothing out. "And now there is even an expert with experience in both the technology of the End of All Things and the Sleepers—and all it takes is double the bonus."

"If you can turn these blueprints into reality, I can give you triple."

"Oh ho, then everything becomes very simple."

Pi Yun left. Behind the desk, Gao Yang let out a relaxed breath, then stood and walked to the large floor-to-ceiling window of the study.

Technology is neither good nor bad; the key lies in the person.

After today, Pi Yun should be able to make greater contributions to the domain—a priest of the Nether Shade sect who had laid down his burdens (and who had joined sects twice over); how much use could the knowledge he commanded be put to?

Gao Yang looked forward to it greatly.

Through the crystal glass of the floor-to-ceiling window, his gaze fell upon the small skirmish still raging among the girls in the courtyard.

Tiel had finally been pelted with snowballs one time too many; she charged into the courtyard and threw herself into the fray. Now she had transformed into a sea demon over a dozen meters across, crouched beside the pond, more than a dozen tentacles extending from her body and flinging an unbroken, sky-blotting barrage of snow in every direction. That hideous, colossal, indescribable mass of limbs resembled some abyssal monstrosity from a horror myth run amok upon the world—and facing this vast sea demon, Rebecca, shielded by Amber, was raising her staff high and gathering a fireball larger than a door...

Gao Yang: "??"

Wait... wasn't this supposed to be a cozy little snowball fight between girls?

The window of the second-floor study was flung open: "You lot—get up here!!!"

And so the last snowball fight of Rebecca and the others' winter came to an end.

Recommended: Master Shi's new book, the urban fiction master.