area51novel Chapter 235 What the mind desires, the scenery responds.
Chapter 235 What the mind desires, the scenery responds.
Long You slept until past noon, and seeing that his cousin Long Ping had already entered seclusion, he simply didn't bother his cousin anymore. Instead, he dismantled the automatic charging soul tool that was still dutifully charging the backup energy of the large aircraft and connected it back to the soul tool system power supply module of the entire island.
After launching the Longyuan boat, Long You piloted the small yacht all the way to a deep water area far from the island, before launching the large aircraft again. After gliding for a distance, it soared into the sky.
To ensure the location of the new continent remained concealed, this island was actually quite far from the original Douluo Continent. For the Long family's communication point on the mainland to contact this island, someone needed to use a flying soul tool to venture a considerable distance into the ocean to establish a signal connection. Therefore, it was six hours later when the detection soul tool on the large aircraft finally reached the horizon again. By then, the sun had set, and the light over the sea was no longer abundant, making it a good time for landing.
Around 9 PM, the entire coastal area was shrouded in complete darkness. The Longyuan ship, switched to landing mode, silently glided onto a deserted beach. Long You knew very well that his allure to the Sun Moon Empire had increased dramatically, so he needed to be extremely careful not to reveal his itinerary upon his return.
After spending the night in a secluded spot outside the city, Long You changed his appearance early the next morning and moved into a small county town closest to the landing point. The population of the small county town was relatively stable, so Long You did not stay in the county town for long. After having a simple bowl of seafood noodles for breakfast, he headed towards a larger city.
There's no rush to contact the academy right now. Long You needs to have a place to stay in a big city before the academy can send someone. However, just to be on the safe side, Long You doesn't plan to contact the academy's teachers this time; he intends to go directly to Zhang Lexuan.
Unfortunately, the academy's teachers are too conspicuous; any movement would definitely attract the attention of those with ulterior motives. In this situation, Zhang Lexuan, the senior sister of the inner academy, would actually be a blind spot, allowing her to move around relatively safely with just a little caution.
In some big cities, finding temporary accommodation is very convenient, so it didn't take Long You long to find a suitable place to stay, and he immediately got busy in his new home. Calling people over was no problem, asking for help was no problem either, but he needed to prepare his own things. Right now, all the items Long You planned to use for the exchange were still in his head; he needed to quickly put them into practice.
Longyou could only give a general direction regarding the location of the other new continent. Ultimately, it would still require human exploration using soul-guided probes, so this wouldn't require too much effort. What would truly take more time was the soul-conversion array and the intercontinental communication radio.
Long You has already thoroughly mastered the basics of soul magic obtained from Electrolux. Although artificial soul spirits are still in the conceptual stage, the transformation of soul spirits with soul beast souls as their vessel has been thoroughly researched and is just waiting to be put into practice.
After spending two whole weeks cooped up in the newly rented courtyard, Long You, pale-faced, wandered through the city's streets and alleys, constantly stuffing his mouth with various kinds of snacks.
When leaving his base in the New World, Long You truly hadn't expected these things to be so difficult to create. According to his initial plan, he should have already returned to the New World by now, either to cultivate his soul power in seclusion or to continue improving the War God Palace server. But now, Long You had only barely achieved his initial goals.
"Soul power, oh soul power! This level of fifty-something soul power is such a hindrance. Never mind, once I get back this time, I'll start exploring that blessed valley. Even if there are powerful soul beasts inside, I'll need to use other methods to obtain the rare and precious treasures that might be there."
The only thing to worry about now is whether that blessed land has become empty. I vaguely remember that a certain god-king, before going to the divine realm, once took a global trip, plundering a lot of things to replenish the rare and precious materials that had been dug out from the Yin-Yang Well of Ice and Fire. I wonder if ten thousand years will be enough to make the rare and precious materials in the blessed land sprout again. As long as there is a foundation, then I can use some methods to accelerate their growth.
Regardless, the existence of that certain God-King has made my entire development process incredibly troublesome! I never even intended to oppose this God-King, so how did things get to this point? Ugh, this is really frustrating.
After wandering around the city for half a day, basically visiting all the markets and wards, Long You's complexion finally improved. He set up a signal tower in his rented courtyard and tried to contact the academy directly using his mobile phone.
After trying for half a day, Long You had no choice but to admit that the current mobile communication network coverage was too narrow, and such communication, which spanned almost half a continent, was completely impossible.
“There’s no other way, Byrne. From now on, you will operate this high-powered radio and continuously contact this address until it replies to you.”
With the widespread use of mobile phones, radio communication, which was once frequently used, has been largely phased out. Contacting Shrek Academy via radio is now purely a matter of luck. Long You doesn't have the patience to constantly monitor and operate the radio; this repetitive task, which doesn't require much technical skill, can be left to Bourne.
With one worry gone, Long You, who had exhausted himself over the past week, collapsed onto the soft bed in the manor and fell into a deep sleep.
Perhaps it was because Long You's desire to increase his soul power level was too urgent, but the soul power that had been slowly circulating under Xiao Yan's control suddenly accelerated after Long You fell into a deep sleep and lost consciousness. Half an hour later, the speed of the soul power circulation in Long You's body had reached a speed that was fast enough to injure his meridians, but Long You's meridians showed no signs of injury, and Xiao Yan did not forcibly stop the soul power circulation.
A wisp of shimmering, multicolored light gradually emanated from Long You's body, slowly forming a cocoon of light that enveloped and covered him. After the cocoon was complete, the previously very noticeable fluctuations in soul power around Long You completely subsided. Perhaps the fluctuations in soul power inside the cocoon were still evident, but from the outside, even using the best soul-detecting device available to Long You, no trace of remaining soul power could be detected.
Sensing the change on Longyou's side, Bourne, who was originally focused on operating the radio, revealed the image of a bald little man from his carrier wristband.
Previously, fearing a potential android crisis, Long You drastically altered the underlying logic shortly after the emergence of soul-guided intelligence. What appeared to be incredibly powerful artificial intelligence was, in essence, merely a computer with high processing speed and a massive database. Therefore, Long You subsequently referred to it as Bourne assisted intelligence rather than artificial intelligence.
However, with the Great Evolution at Fifty and the Celestial Evolution at Forty-Nine, powerful intelligence, regardless of its limitations, will always have the potential for self-development and breakthroughs. Therefore, although Longyou's underlying logic is rigorous enough, these auxiliary intelligences, after gaining sufficient experience and a deeper understanding of human society, still have a slight possibility of advancing to artificial intelligence, or rather, intelligent life. Now, judging from the constantly blinking eyes of the little bald figure Bourne has created for himself, Bourne, as an auxiliary intelligence, is close to taking that crucial step towards a qualitative leap.
After a while, the lively look in the little bald man's eyes faded. If you only look at the room, the high-powered radio on the table is still dutifully sending signals to the designated communication address; but if you broaden your gaze to the entire courtyard, then a discerning person will notice that this rented courtyard has been silently enveloped in a transparent energy shield.
For a human of normal intelligence, choosing the appropriate action based on the situation without command is instinctive, but for an assistive AI that needs a controller to intervene, it is absolutely unimaginable. Bourne, as an assistive AI, cannot do this, so his ability to do so clearly represents a crucial step towards a qualitative change; from this moment on, Bourne is an intelligent life form.
However, all of this is completely unknown to Long You at this moment. The deep meditation came quite suddenly and irrationally, but with Berne, who has advanced to the level of an intelligent life form, around, there is no need to worry about delaying things. Long You just needs to relax in deep sleep for now.
As dawn broke, Long You was still deep in meditation when the high-powered radio, which had been operating continuously, suddenly emitted a different sound. It was the sound of an incoming message; after a brief "beep" to indicate this, Zhang Lexuan's clear, cool voice came through the radio.
"Who are you? How do you know my radio station's contact address?"
Zhang Lexuan's question was completely unavoidable. In mobile phone communication, there is a contact number, but in radio communication, confirming each other's identities relies entirely on usual codes.
After receiving the radio call signal, Zhang Lexuan was able to calmly inquire about the identity of the person on the other end, relying on her own strength and knowing that people who possessed such communication skills were generally considered friends.
Having followed Long You for so long, Bourne naturally knew Long You's usual identity verification codes and had no problem completing the voice reply. However, after hearing the mechanical voice reply from Bourne's speaker, Zhang Lexuan immediately went into an uproar.
The contact method that Long You discovered from his past life was quite unique, so Zhang Lexuan immediately confirmed Long You's identity. However, the reality that the person should speak but the AI had to speak made Zhang Lexuan nervous.
Whatever the reason, the only reason for this situation is that Long You himself is currently unable to speak. Recalling the long string of continuous calling prompts, a series of rather serious conjectures uncontrollably appeared in Zhang Lexuan's mind.
"Are you Byrne? How is Xiaoyou doing? Have you left the New World?"
"Senior Zhang Lexuan, please rest assured, Master is doing well and his safety is basically guaranteed. Originally, Master was supposed to explain the current situation to you in person, but as I understand it, Master seems to have entered a state of deep meditation."
You probably don't need me, a mere AI, to explain just how precious this rare meditative state is. Because I wasn't sure when I could contact you via radio, I didn't refrain from calling your private radio station. However, in return, it's now up to me to answer your questions.
By the way, the master returned to the Old World more than a week ago, but didn't tell me what he wanted to do, so you'll have to talk to him directly. However, if you're in a hurry, you can come over directly.
I will tell you the owner's current address, but I hope you can come alone and be careful.
“Deep meditation? Where are you now? I’ll come find you. Don’t worry, I’ll come alone and I’ll be careful not to let anyone follow me.”
Whether it was hunting for the fifth spirit ring in the Star Dou Great Forest, participating in the All-Continent Advanced Spirit Master Academy Battle Tournament in the Star Luo Empire, or after returning to the academy, Long You's interactions with this senior sister of the inner court were quite frequent.
Long You's thoughts were quite straightforward. Although Zhang Lexuan didn't show any special care for Long You on the surface because she couldn't forget what happened in her childhood, she still subconsciously wanted to get to Long You's side as soon as possible when faced with this situation where opportunities and risks coexisted.
The direct communication ended there. For the next address, Byrne used the radio's encrypted communication function to send it to Zhang Lexuan in text form.
A full day later, Long You still hadn't recovered from his deep meditation, but Zhang Lexuan had already arrived from Shrek Academy. After a precise scan by the soul-guided detector, Bourne controlled the defensive soul-guided devices set up in the courtyard to open an opening, allowing Zhang Lexuan to safely enter the room.
Bern didn't greet Zhang Lexuan upon her arrival. Having just evolved from an auxiliary AI into an intelligent life form, Bern wasn't actually very proficient in his duties. Fortunately, the situation in the room was quite simple, and Zhang Lexuan didn't need Bern to introduce her.
Although she didn't sense any fluctuations in soul power, Zhang Lexuan paused slightly after peeking into the room and seeing the multicolored cocoon of light before leaving the room.
Just as Bourne had said before, deep meditation is a gift from heaven for a Soul Master, and it should never be disturbed. So Zhang Lexuan simply stopped asking questions and stood guard at the door of Long You's bedroom.