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The abnormal fluctuations in the Mind Network put Gawain on alert.

Though the Mind Network had been created by the Sleeper, one of the Three Great Dark Cults, and was "evil" by conventional standards—indeed, its construction had been steeped in blood and taboos—one fact could not be denied: Gawain still needed it.

Many of Cecil's research projects were affected by it.

Of course, Gawain had been pushing for the Mind Network to become harmless and independently developed for a long time, and they had achieved some results by now.

On one hand, experts like Camil had verified his original hypothesis through the combined technology of Immersion Pods and the Magic Network: the Mind Network did not necessarily require sacrifices like Brain Servants to function. At its core, it should be a "Cloud Net" supported by a vast number of nodes, and the so-called Brain Servants were most likely products of another Sleeper plan. On the other hand, Cecil's own Immersion Pods and ever-improving Magic Network were developing rapidly. Sooner or later, once Cecil had enough nodes of its own, Gawain would be able to build his own Mind Network and create an Origin Space that did not need to piggyback on the Sleeper's traffic.

But all of that would take time.

Immersion Pods were cutting-edge imperial technology. Their manufacturing costs and the difficulty of mass production remained high. The Immersion Pods currently in use were still limited to several research departments in the imperial capital, numbering only a little over a hundred. According to Camil's calculations, at least two to three thousand "brain nodes" had to be connected to the network at once before a relatively stable Mind Network could form, before a "mind-image world" like the Sleeper's Dream City could emerge. That goal would not be easy to achieve.