In a small garden blanketed by countless little white flowers, an invisible wind circled the round table at the garden's center twice. Yet this was not an "environmental parameter" simulated by the Neural Network—this was a space created by the Thorin Giant Tree's vast Neural Nodes, attached to the network as an independent visitor area. The wind passing through this sea of flowers was, in essence, the Thorin Giant Tree's "thought."
A few seconds later, the wind gradually subsided, and Beltira finished exchanging information with her distant limbs. Stirring the steaming tea in her hand, she looked up at Gawain. "Yes, I can clearly sense Bertrem's signal response. He's operating near the front with a group of malformed freaks, always around my distant roots..."
She paused again, narrowing her eyes as if carefully sensing the signals coming from afar. Then she continued, "I can feel it... He's leading his team to dig up my peripheral roots that haven't fully matured yet, introducing targeted toxins and inhibitors into the groundwater, and guiding the dark Root Network within the wasteland to resist my spread... By now, he should have become the primary commander of the wasteland's immune barrier. His involvement... has been very effective."
Beltira narrowed her eyes. She did not like praising her enemies, but as she sensed Bertrem's struggle against her, she had no choice but to describe his results as "very effective."
"I thought that after such a failure, he would never be able to return to the front lines. I didn't expect him not only to come back, but to be entrusted with an important role," Gawain said, frowning as he listened to Beltira. "It seems this 'Dark Grand Priest' named Bolken isn't as harsh, hot-tempered, and miserly with favor as you said. At least he knows how