Chapter 765: The Matrix and the Wars.h.i.+p’s Brain
The Mind avatar!
When Merlin stared at this person who looked exactly like him, he suddenly broke out in laughter. This Mind avatar was just like an extension of his mind. Every movement of the avatar could be controlled by Merlin.
In short, it looked rather unique!
Fortunately, Merlin had achieved the stage of the Illusory Heart by now, and could control his opponent’s mind. Therefore, when faced with his own peculiar Mind avatar, he was merely somewhat astonished, following which he relaxed and got used to it.
“No matter how far you are from this Mind avatar, you’d be able to feel it. In other words, he’s another you. Once you die, this Mind avatar will die as well.”
Merlin bobbed his head. This Mind avatar was Mind Power after all, and its force was the same as Merlin’s. It possessed the state of the Illusory Heart as well and was a great help to the current Merlin.
It was a shame that just as t.i.tus had said, condensing a Mind avatar came with a high cost. Merlin’s Mind Power was clearly much weaker, needing a long time to recover.
“Merlin, within a short period, you won’t be able to condense a Mind avatar anymore. Otherwise, you’d be injured to the core. Your current Mind Power is still a long way from me at my peak.”
t.i.tus spoke with disdain.
Nonetheless, Merlin simply shook his head with a slight smile. In the past, t.i.tus had consolidated an Illusory World belonging to him. Naturally, Merlin was no match for him. It was a shame that t.i.tus had been trapped in the Slothful Beast world. Though he had accomplished the Illusory World, he could not possibly leave the Slothful Beast’s body.
Otherwise, t.i.tus would not be obscure and unknown as he was now.
Three days had pa.s.sed. Today should be the day Arcane Wizard Setoh’s Darkness avatar brought Merlin away. However, Arcane Wizard Setoh’s Maxim avatar still had not arrived. Merlin was in no rush, and used this time to enter the Spatial Ring, checking on the Atlan civilization’s wars.h.i.+p he had controlled on the battlefield.
His mind was constantly preoccupied with thoughts of the “void-level” wars.h.i.+p the Atlan civilization was building. It was not enough to ask the Atlans. It was best if he could obtain relevant details from the wars.h.i.+p’s records.
Therefore, Merlin thought about the Matrix.
“I wonder if the Matrix is able to access the wars.h.i.+p’s information?”
Merlin thought about it and decided to give it a go. Therefore, two wars.h.i.+ps were placed together. First, Merlin picked a mere city-level wars.h.i.+p.
“Matrix, read the data within the wars.h.i.+p!”
Merlin commanded the Matrix in the empire-level wars.h.i.+p.
“Beep beep beep.”
The empire-level wars.h.i.+p began to flicker with red lights, following which, unseen energy surged through the city-level wars.h.i.+p. After a moment, the Matrix seemed to encounter some trouble.
“Obstructed by an intelligent program. Should I absorb the said program?”
The Matrix’s voice rang out once more. Merlin was slightly shocked.
“An intelligent program?”
Only then did he recall that every wars.h.i.+p of the Atlan civilization was equipped with a brain, which was, of course, an intelligent program. Previously, the Matrix was able to successfully control that empire-level wars.h.i.+p because the wars.h.i.+p had been broken, and the brain of that wars.h.i.+p was destroyed long ago. Naturally, the Matrix could easily take over.
Now, faced with a city-level wars.h.i.+p which brain was not at the high-level, the Matrix was still unable to control the wars.h.i.+p.
“It can still absorb the intelligent program. If it does so, can it then read the wars.h.i.+p’s data? However, isn’t that the same as destroying the wars.h.i.+p’s brain? Without the Matrix to take over, this wars.h.i.+p would be useless…”
Merlin mumbled to himself. Nonetheless, the Matrix seemed more “human-like” and started to explain, “Absorbing the intelligent program wouldn’t ruin the brain, merely lower the control level of the brain as necessary. Even so, the basic operations of the wars.h.i.+p would be maintained.”
Merlin raised an eyebrow. After such a long time of not contacting the Matrix, it seemed to be slightly different. However, as to what exactly was different, Merlin could not point that out at the moment.
After he considered for a moment, Merlin nodded. “Absorb.”
Then, the wars.h.i.+p immediately fell silent. Those Atlans were transfixed by Merlin’s Hallucinating spell, so they knew nothing about what was going on.
Merlin looked wordlessly at the control desk in the city-level wars.h.i.+p, noticing that it was blinking with red lights. Soon, the red lights gradually faded. At this point, it looked as if nothing special had changed.
“Beep. Absorption complete. You may choose to access the data or control the wars.h.i.+p.”
The Matrix’s voice rang out once more. There were two choices – one was to read the information, the second was to control the wars.h.i.+p. It looked like after the Matrix had absorbed the intelligent program of the city-level wars.h.i.+p, it had completely conquered its brain, forcibly controlling the wars.h.i.+p now.
This was another function of the Matrix.
Nevertheless, once it had controlled the wars.h.i.+p, it was bound to wreck the wars.h.i.+p’s brain. Merlin felt it was a waste to leave the Matrix here to control this wars.h.i.+p.
Therefore, Merlin shook his head. “Just read the data!”
To him, these wars.h.i.+ps under his control belonged to the battle strength of the Spell Caster civilization. He must not wreck them so easily. The Spell Caster civilization had a way to make these Atlans obediently operate the wars.h.i.+p.
“Data reading complete!”
The Matrix’s voice resounded again. Merlin was rather surprised that the Matrix was able to absorb other intelligent programs, and did not know what changes this would induce in the Matrix.
“Could it be like the black cat Didimoss?”
Merlin conceived of a bold notion, yet it was not impossible. The Void Zone was incomparably mystical. Since a living state like the black cat Didimoss could be produced, then a living state transformed from a series of intelligent programs was nothing in comparison.
Nonetheless, this was only Merlin’s speculation. At the moment, the Matrix had not changed much, and would obey Merlin’s order.
“Look for information regarding the void-level wars.h.i.+p.”
Merlin began to ask the Matrix to search the data it had just obtained from this city-level wars.h.i.+p, hoping to get some information about the void-level wars.h.i.+p.
“Search complete. There’s no information about the void-level wars.h.i.+p.”
The Matrix’s words surprised Merlin. However, after careful thought, it seemed possible. A top-secret matter like the void-level wars.h.i.+p would not be known to everyone.
Still, Merlin controlled many wars.h.i.+ps, among which were plenty of empire-level wars.h.i.+ps. Thus, after storing the information from all the city-level wars.h.i.+ps, he still did not discover any data about the void-level wars.h.i.+p.
Of course, the Matrix could similarly absorb all those intelligent programs. Thereafter, Merlin started to search through the data of the empire-level wars.h.i.+ps. The intelligent programs of empire-level wars.h.i.+ps were evidently stronger. The Matrix had to use a long time to absorb them, obtaining the information of the empire-level wars.h.i.+ps.
There was a succession of data from empire-level wars.h.i.+ps. After the Matrix had absorbed these intelligent programs, it seemed to become stronger. Most programs of the empire-level wars.h.i.+ps were not a match for the Matrix, which could easily absorb them.
However, though the Matrix had benefitted from this, the information on the void-level wars.h.i.+p that Merlin required was still nowhere to be found. Among the wars.h.i.+ps he had controlled, whether it was city-level or empire-level wars.h.i.+ps, had nothing useful in their databanks.
“The Atlan civilization is cautious indeed. Although I can’t find anything in the databanks of these wars.h.i.+ps, it proves that this is a cla.s.sified matter. It’s certain to be the Atlan civilization’s biggest secret!”
Merlin’s eyes flashed with a sharp glint. Although he had searched busily the entire day, he still did not find any information on the void-level wars.h.i.+p. Still, this only strengthened his conviction. The void-level wars.h.i.+p was the Atlan civilization’s most cla.s.sified secret, and only a small group of people would know about it.
“Merlin, it’s time.”
Suddenly, Arcane Wizard Setoh’s voice came from outside. It was time for Merlin to leave with Arcane Wizard Setoh!