Although Angela's breath was the wind of life, it was clearly more than just infusing life force into people. Now that Karen was experiencing it firsthand, she felt that it was more of a conceptual rather than a biological "life" force, which gave her quite the creeps.
Speaking of which... aura... wind...
"Speaking of which, there's something else I need to tell you."
Karen turned her head and said,
"I told you before that I wanted you to investigate the source of that so-called pollution storm in the wasteland, right?"
Hayden nodded naturally: "I haven't had much time to look into this lately, is there something wrong?"
"It's alright. I know there are priorities, so I've been looking into this matter in the city myself recently."
Karen answered with a frown.
“I don’t have any evidence yet, but by process of elimination, among the recent large-scale projects in New Seattle, only one looks most suspicious. In the entire New Seattle area, only that one project is both so secretive that I don’t know the details, and yet it is large enough.”
She truly lives up to her reputation as the daughter of the Peacock King. Ever since Karen's relationship with the Peacock King improved, her abilities have grown considerably.
But for some reason, Hayden suddenly had a bad feeling. His sixth sense seemed to be foreshadowing something unpleasant.
"...Could the person working on this project be someone we both know?"
He couldn't help but ask first.
Karen gave Hayden a strange look, then nodded: "Is it your intuition again? That's right, I'm talking about the only major collaborative project between Smoke Mirror Company and Mitra Group in the Northwest of America. The person in charge of Mitra's Americas branch for that project... is Dhritarashtra."
Dhritarashtra
Alicia's father, Adam's father-in-law.
The executive from Mitra Corporation's Americas division that Hayden and Karen had both seen at that wedding last year.
123: Plant more trees!
Adam never forgot to check on Hayden and Karen's condition from time to time.
Let's not even talk about Karen. The daughter of the Peacock King has been doing strange things lately, and many people in the company are paying attention.
As for Hayden, as someone who might know that Adam was colluding with the devil, how could Adam completely ignore him? So he would always keep an eye on Hayden's situation from time to time.
—But Adam never imagined that Hayden would tell Karen all of this!
He knew Hayden very well, at least the Hayden of the past. However, Adam had no idea that in the past year or so, after meeting Angela, Hayden's personality had undergone such a huge change that he would trust Karen and be honest with her about everything.
Who would have thought that Hayden would become like this in just one year?
So Adam could never have imagined that Karen would be so wary of him—she was especially suspicious of whether Adam was conspiring with the devil to pull off some big scandal.
“You told me before about Adam, the dream chip, and those student hackers called [Bo Xun].
That's why Karen is saying this now.
"What I recently learned is that—without any evidence, just some rumors—the cutting-edge project that Smoke Mirror Company and Mitra Group's Americas branch are currently collaborating on seems to be related to the [Initiation] technology."
Even if it was just a rumor, Karen immediately became wary because Hayden had told her about the past.
"It seems this cutting-edge technology hasn't really left the Pot Lab yet, so I can hardly get any detailed information. But speaking of which, didn't you get your hands on something related to Adam last year?"
Hayden rubbed his temples, remained silent for a moment, then took out his portable computer:
"It's not safe to leave my phone here, so all my data is in here."
Now it was Karen's turn to be speechless: "...Do you carry all these things with you at all times?"
There's no other way. How could it be reliable anywhere else? Mitra Corporation is a mega-corporation that controls the StarNet.
So Karen could understand Hayden's concerns. However, after taking the small calculator Hayden handed her and carefully examining the files in the folder, she quickly frowned:
"...This is so hard to read."
Hayden sighed, "You can be more direct if you want. These are probably the most cutting-edge life magic and telepathic information technology... things like that. Neither of us are professionals in this field. It's already good enough if we can understand even a little bit."
Why did Hayden obtain information about the new chips Adam was developing last year, but never take any action based on it?
The primary reason is simply that he doesn't understand it!
This might sound a bit ridiculous, but it's really no joke. As the old saying goes, "a trade is like a mountain," and in the cutting-edge research field of modern arcane arts, it's even more so that if you're separated by a completely different specialty, you'll be completely baffled as to what others are even doing.
Hayden, who was quite knowledgeable, had always been very interested in medical magic, and could understand about 10% of the materials.
Karen, on the other hand, is highly accomplished in the broader field of life magic. Just by skimming through the materials, she can understand far more than Hayden.
However, regarding the parts involving cutting-edge psychic arcane arts, she could only frown: "This is... filling consciousness with alchemy? So it can be used like this?... Hmm, what is this?... And what is this?... Is this really [Initiation]?"
This stuff is just too difficult. Maybe if we spent more time studying it, we could manage, but Karen and Hayden are both very busy right now and neither of them can afford to spend a lot of time studying hard.
As for entrusting someone else to help interpret it... how many people can be trusted and possess the necessary skills?
"If only we could find an old wizard who has been studying this field for hundreds of years."
Karen glanced at Hayden as she finished speaking.
Clearly, they did know an old wizard who met this criterion and whom they could trust.
"For Professor Albion?" Hayden frowned. "But he's no ordinary man."
Rather, the professor is about to get busy again—a new semester is about to begin. Professor Albion takes his teaching very seriously. Hayden and Karen can't expect him to neglect his own duties to tinker with all this for them.
Besides, Hayden had been entrusting the professor with researching Angela's life force, trying to figure out where she came from. There hadn't been any major results yet, but the professor was clearly very engrossed in his research. Hayden didn't want to suddenly ask the professor to change direction.
Ultimately, Hayden and Karen have to figure out a solution themselves.
"Alastor once said that this dream chip-based technology, if developed further, could become an educational chip that could be attached to anyone's forehead and enable them to immediately learn all the skills required of a normal company employee."
Hayden scratched his head as he finished speaking.
"...That is indeed a kind of 'initiation'. So, the company is trying to develop a low-cost initiation technique that won't easily kill people?"
The chip that Hayden encountered at the Wenle Club could shape his "personality," so what if a chip that could inject "knowledge" were added...?
After thinking it over, Hayden finally couldn't help but complain: "Separating things like 'memory' and 'skills' into chips and then stuffing them into someone else's brain, isn't that just an animation plot from eighty years ago?"
Karen actually wanted to complain about how Hayden knew about animation from eighty years ago, but it was best not to waste time complaining about that now.
"Such new technologies can indeed have terrifying effects, and may even change the entire world situation."
She frowned and said,
“This is technology that could shake the world; I even suspect that this is the ‘storm’ my father was talking about.”
A new type of "initiation" technology that can be mass-produced, is low-cost, and will no longer cause death (or may even have an acceptable mortality rate) would be absolutely enough to change the entire world.
But Karen was still puzzled: "But what does this have to do with the increased environmental pollution in the wasteland?"
Hayden shrugged. Of course, he knew even less.
"The testing and production of new chips increases industrial pollution emissions, so they're dumping all the pollution into the wilderness?" he mused. "Hmm... I just don't feel right."
This explanation might be reasonable, but Hayden intuitively felt that something was wrong; it seemed to be related but not the truth.
The two discussed for a while longer, looking at the chip data Hayden had stolen earlier, but still had no clue. Karen couldn't stay in the wilderness forever. She was currently shuttling between Shuenan Town and New Yatu City all day, and couldn't possibly have time to research these chips.
"I lack enough reliable staff, which is a big problem. Sigh."
Before parting, Karen sighed again.
"After we return to the city, I will try my best to investigate the specifics of that chip cooperation project. You don't need to worry too much; just focus on city building and the ley lines."
Hayden nodded and said nothing more.
So Karen turned around, took a few steps forward—then turned back and whispered, “Thank you. I know I’ve put a lot of pressure on you lately.”
Then she was teleported back to the city.
Hayden watched Karen teleport away, pausing for a long time after she left.
"oops,"
Then he said thoughtfully,
"Karen is still a bit distant with me. She kept saying thank you, and even felt guilty for asking me for help."
Why bother? Don't we all share the same dream? Don't he and Karen both want to create a better world?
Well, it's tiring, but I guess I'll just have to bear the immense pressure.
Changing the world isn't about throwing a dinner party, right?
Angela was somewhat surprised to hear Hayden say that: "Master, it seems that your awareness in this area has improved."
"I can learn too."
Hayden stroked his chin.
"Even if it's to avoid causing trouble for you two, I can't be a social terrorist forever."
These words truly startled Angela, leaving her stunned.
After all, Hayden wasn't stupid. He knew that Karen was actually a little scared.
What? The invincible Peacock Daughter is afraid?
However, Karen was indeed afraid of one thing. After all, she was not some enlightened being devoid of thought, sorrow, joy, and love, and coupled with what her parents had said before, Karen was indeed a little afraid—she was afraid that Hayden could not keep up, could not withstand it, and that being too rigid would lead to breaking.
Hayden knew why Karen was afraid. He understood; after all, she was a goddess, while he was just a mortal—their backgrounds were different. Even if Karen trusted that Hayden shared the same ideals, she couldn't guarantee that he wouldn't die before achieving his goals.
In that case, if Hayden wants to prove that he is not so fragile, he has no choice but to let his results speak for themselves.
"Karen doesn't quite understand me in this respect, do you think?"
When did Hayden ever have a personality that allowed others to look down on him?
————————————————————————————
So Hayden then spent two days quickly exploring the entire abandoned mine.
Like those ancient tomb raiders or tomb builders, he observed the flow of water, wind, and soil everywhere, tapping around with his staff, carefully examining and analyzing the ley lines, searching for a node where he could lay the foundation for the city's magic.
Is it really possible for Hayden to build a city all by himself, even if it's just a basic ley line barrier for city magic?
Of course it’s impossible!
If there were unlimited resources, it might be possible, but Hayden doesn't have unlimited resources. Karen said Hayden could use the funds as he pleased, but in reality, she wasn't his father.
So no matter what, Hayden still had to find a way to take shortcuts.
His greatest skill is taking shortcuts.
"I want to plant a tree here!"
In a clearing in the woods, Hayden announced loudly,
"Use the power of the [Dream Flower] to extract the pollution from this ley line, and at the same time, use it as the core of the ley line barrier!"
Upon hearing this, Angela nodded thoughtfully: "Master, this should also be a classical city-building magic, right?"
She was right.
In the classical magical era, the first foundation pile driven into an important building, the first brick used in the construction of a city, and the first cornerstone of a temple all possessed unique significance and magic. They could be used to gather or even control the magic of the entire "city," influencing the rise and fall of the entire building or city.
Modern people don't pay much attention to this when building cities with arcane magic. It's actually quite cumbersome. A city could originally be an almost abstract concept, incredibly powerful and without weaknesses. However, for the sake of convenience, the ancients would incorporate a physical core when constructing the city's magic, making it easier to build the spell.
Once the physical core is destroyed, the city's magical barrier will also collapse. This may sound foolish, needlessly adding a weakness to the city, but ancient magicians did not have as much energy and resources as modern people, so they had no other choice.
“In ancient times, the barriers of those cities were usually based on the foundation stones of palaces or core temples as their physical core. For example, the city of Athens was based on the foundation stones of its temples. But I don’t plan to do it that way this time. I’m not going to copy the ancients’ methods, but rather combine them with the arcane arts of the new era.”
"I want to use the flowering trees grown from the [Dream Flower] as the core of the city's geomantic barrier!"
Using living beings as the core of the entire concept of the barrier and the operation of energy?
Using a stone as the core is already unreliable, as it could be destroyed. Wouldn't it be even more risky to entrust the key to the city's barrier to something that you yourself might die from?
But Hayden felt confident.
“The earth is alive. The spiritual veins are the earth’s blood vessels. Rather than using a brick, a throne, or a temple as the physical core, it is better to use a living tree.”
He traced an outline on the ground with his moonlight staff.
"One is the whole, and the whole is one. The microcosm reflects the macrocosm, and the micro world reflects the macro world. To control the life of a mountain, the core must also be a life."
"Karen said before that my plan to become a part of a land god was stupid. Indeed, that's too risky. So I'll try a different approach!"
So Hayden pointed one finger to the sky and loudly proclaimed...
"I will use the [Dream Flower] to plant a tree, which will become the new land god of this mountain! Let it rule this land, and then I will rule it! Through the tree as the core, I will regulate the earth's veins!"