Chapter 596 : Praise the Soul of All Machines
Chapter 596: Praise the Soul of All Machines
The entire island of Castel had never exceeded the scope of the Symbiotic Contract; this point had already been verified through many experiments before.
And the Banshees were not all soaking in the water either. Many Banshees were currently on the island, so in truth, the whole of Castel was covered by the Banshees’ network.
The will condensed by the Banshees pierced through the high wall of reality and pulled Hughes into Mind Resonance; this was not difficult.
But to so easily drag the entire island in as well was somewhat unreasonable.
There should have been other variables involved.
What could it be?
“I know!”
Nini clenched her three left hands into fists and slammed them into the palms of her three right hands. “I’ve got it — it’s the Machine Soul, the Machine Soul!”
Hughes froze for a moment, then realization dawned on him.
Indeed, this Mind Resonance had one special point: the Machine Soul had also joined.
Mind Resonance was a Banshee’s innate ability. If humans being able to join could barely be understood, then the participation of the Machine Soul was extremely strange.
Strictly speaking, the Machine Soul was not considered a living being. The earliest Machine Souls had merely been fragments of the Sea God’s soul, transformed by Monica through certain modifications.
And the Machine Soul of Castel now seemed to have an even more complex origin, yet it was indeed an existence without a body.
An existence like that should, in theory, be very difficult to influence with a Banshee’s will, right?
They should have been dragged into it by an existence similar to themselves. If one spoke of something similar to a Machine Soul—
Hughes slowly lowered his head and looked at the Steel Ark beneath his feet.
“Nini, I think I’ve found the source of that will.”
“Ah?”
“The Steel Ark summoned by Gwen was formed from countless sunken ships. It already possessed a chaotic yet immense will of its own. At this moment, it had only just been born, but it happened to hear everything I said earlier. It was influenced by me as well, just like you were, and without realizing it, it was pulled into Mind Resonance.”
“No — to be precise, both the Banshees and it were pulled into Mind Resonance by me. I was the center of this resonance!”
“And after that, an expansion occurred. It pulled in the Machine Souls on the island, you pulled in the people on the island, and the whole snowball kept growing larger and larger, until it finally became a Mind Resonance covering the entire island!”
Nini’s two eyes widened until they were perfectly round, her mouth opening wide enough to stuff in half of Nora’s head.
“So, so the entire Castel was drawn into Mind Resonance, and the will formed by tens of thousands of people gathered together then pierced through the high wall of reality in return, forcibly anchoring this will formed by countless Castel people in the present world — which is what you just said…”
“It hasn’t left.”
Hughes took a deep breath. “That’s right!”
The two looked at each other, then slowly lowered their heads together, gazing at the Steel Ark beneath their feet.
“Lord.”
“Mm.”
“Do you think it’s possible—”
“I think so too.” Hughes’ expression was somewhat complicated. “It’s very likely right beneath our feet, inside this Steel Ark.”
Nini paused. After a while, she spoke softly, “Then… are we still burning it—”
“Of course not! Gwen, come over here for a moment!”
Gwen walked over somewhat confused. “Lord? What’s wrong?”
“Did you feel that after our wills merged just now, it seemed like something extra appeared?”
“Something extra? No. And what do you mean by wills merging?”
“That was the Mind Resonance just now, mm?”
Hughes suddenly took a step back and carefully sized up Gwen.
As a 【Named One】, Gwen also seemed to be a variable?!
After all, Gwen could easily knead this world’s physical laws with her own will. Even a Gatling without bullets could fire. When Hughes first heard that, he felt as though physics no longer existed.
Others required extremely harsh conditions to cause Cognitive Interference; Gwen succeeded effortlessly, and without the trouble of Pollution descending.
Even this absurdly massive Steel Ark had been summoned the moment she said so, as if the entire world was accompanying her in playing house.
Hughes even felt that her ability was not inferior to that of any Heretical God.
He turned his head and glanced at Nini. Nini was clearly thinking the same thing and secretly made several gestures at Hughes.
Perhaps because Mind Resonance had not yet fully dissipated, Hughes actually understood those complex, seal-like hand gestures.
—Nini was asking: Should they toss her into the furnace as well and give it a try?
Hughes was so angry that he stomped on the tip of her tail.
Nini let out a yelp and sprang up from the deck, flying away. Gwen looked over, puzzled, scratching her head. “I didn’t feel any merging at all?”
Hughes froze for two seconds before realizing what she meant, then spoke in disbelief. “Wait — you didn’t enter Mind Resonance just now?”
“So what exactly is Mind Resonance?”
“Did you feel anyone else’s will? Or did you close your eyes just now and sense some vast soul-like existence?”
“No. I was standing just fine on this deck, and then you all suddenly closed your eyes. I was still wondering what happened.”
Hughes was at a loss for words. The entire island had entered Mind Resonance — and only you couldn’t sync?
Were 【Named Ones】 really that powerful?
No, no. Hughes had a vague feeling that it wasn’t that 【Named Ones】 were powerful, but rather that Gwen’s personality and way of thinking were simply too different from everyone else’s, so she had been directly squeezed out of Mind Resonance.
Looking at Gwen, who, despite being bruised and battered, was still gripping her longsword with high spirits, Hughes suddenly felt that this wasn’t strange at all.
Gwen’s personality really was… unique.
Wait!
Hughes suddenly thought of a possibility. “Gwen, did you feel anything extra appear inside the Steel Ark beneath our feet just now?”
“Yes.” Gwen placed her hand on the ship’s rail. “I suddenly felt that this ship seemed to… um, I don’t know how to describe it. It felt like it came alive!”
Hughes also placed his hand on the rail. Based on his affinity with Machine Souls, the Machine Soul should have proactively greeted him at this moment.
But this time, it felt different. Unlike any previous communication with a Machine Soul, he sensed another will — one that felt faintly familiar to him.
Mm, wasn’t that exactly what he had sensed during Mind Resonance?
A wave of warmth accompanied the fluctuations of emotion, transmitting from the steel rail in his hand.
“Lord, it seems very happy.”
“Yes. It… seems to really like this place.”
An immense surge of joy emanated from the Ark beneath their feet, gradually spreading outward.
At this moment, every Steam Engine throughout Castel began to sound its whistle in unison, as if cheering, as if celebrating, as if praising together in chorus.
“It seems capable of governing other Machine Souls. How about calling it the Soul of All Machines?”