Chapter 339 Elven Synchronized Intellect Nation
While sacrificing Marni as an offering was a path of research, Edward was much more interested in what the undead elf had been murmuring repeatedly for some time now.
The words were so unintelligible that Edward couldn’t understand what it was saying at all.
But if there was anyone who would understand those words, it would undoubtedly be the wood elf elders sent here to help. After all, the wood elves claimed that they were the closest thing to a proper descendant for the high elves compared to the other elves, and it was equally likely that one of the elders turned out to be a great-grandchild of the undead high elf over there…
“What were the words?” The wood elf elders quickly asked—they understood Edward’s intention and naturally were not denying him.
“If I remember correctly…” Edward paused for a moment and took a peek of the video clip he posted himself on the forums and then mimicked it word-for-word. “Ruentner, Hayero, Kachumouth, Mitrayati… Anything comes to mind?”
The wood elf elders traded glances.
Edward assumed from their reaction that they were stumped. In fact, he had every intention to sling a jibe at them and say ‘how dare you call yourself descendants when you don’t understand your ancestor’s language’, and ride his black fire dragon out of there.
However, the leading wood elf elder spoke. “We naturally had heard of it before.”
“Eh?” Edward was surprised.
“It’s ancient elven and rather different from the modern elven tongue, but it remains essentially similar.” The elder added when he saw Edward’s blank look.
If one were to compare, the difference between modern and ancient elven was the same as the difference between simplified and traditional Chinese text. As long as they know the simplified word by heart, they could more or less grasp the meaning even if it was written in traditional Chinese.
“Be that as it may, it is something akin to a folktale when it is mentioned in literature that survived the age of mythology.”
The wood elf elder hesitated for a while and that, but eventually decided that a rumor in the age of mythology was not confidential and hence revealed everything. “What the undead high elf speaks of is the Elven Synchronized Intelligence Nation (SIN).”
“I have heard to the elves once ruled the continent a long, long time ago… could that be the elven kingdom of that age?” Edward asked in curiosity.
While civilizations of the last two eras had not survived, the survivors had passed down certain information had been passed down to the next generation by word of mouth, and in the forms of myths and folktales.
One such tale was about how the dragons, the giants, and the elves had taken turns to rule the world. There tend to be many inconsistencies in such tales, but the circumstances of the previous era would be re-lived to a certain extent.
“That’s not it. True, the high elves had once ruled most of the continent, but there were also city states that secede out of differences in political ideology. In fact, most governments then had a loose alliance like present-day federations.”
As expected of a specialist of high elf history, the wood elf elder knew the narrative of the last era by heart, including many secrets before. “It was rumored that the leaders of the high elves were not content with ruling land and had planned to explore new domains in other planes. Naturally, they would have to integrate every resource in this plane before they do so, to build an immeasurably stable base to fall back on from which they could both attack and defend. And the name of that plan is the Elven Synchronized Intellect Nation.”
“I see, so the Synchronized Intellect Nation is the elves’ plan to rule the world…” Edward nodded, slightly disappointed by the answer. “No, it is not to rule…”
The wood elf elder appeared to have a hard time explaining. After racking his brains for a few moments, he asked Edward, “Have you ever seen an ironfort golem?” “A few times…”
In a nutshell, ironfort golems were small metal pillboxes that were golemized, having grown a few legs and could freely move around.
Aside from inconsistent firepower (depends on the people inside) and being slightly slow, it resembled a tank from Earth, but was a little superior in its maneuverability over harsh environments.
In this world, they were mainly used for an army to steadily advance on the battlefield, especially since blitzkrieg warfare roles were assumed by swift and agile supernatural individuals. Along with its expensive maintenance costs, the golems were therefore less used than their Earth counterparts, and only several powerful nations have them.
The Valla Empire had a handful of them, but were all poor models that were mainly used for moving troops.
“Well, that makes explanations simpler: The Synchronized Intellect Nation is not to only assert dominance over this plane. Instead, it would fashion this entire plane into a weapon like the ironfort golem, capable of attacking and defending!”
“What?!”
Now Edward was really shocked.
Even though he had tried his best to elevate his opinion of the high elves, he was still bound by the issue of horizons and as such still underestimated those past sovereigns.
Not even the gnomes would have capable of the insane idea of fashioning the entire Prime Material Plane into a weapon!
It was also no wonder that the wood elf elder who held high elves in such high regard would consider that the Elven SIN was no more than a folk tale.
Could the reason those madmen were all wiped out was because of their crazy idea?
When it comes to a weapon created out of an entire plane, even the gods would have to give it a wide berth regardless of how one would think about it. So, would those lofty divine beings permit such a thing to happen?
Clearly not.
Nonetheless, Edward threw away the thought even as it came to his mind.
Leaving aside the dishonor to the God of Games, now wasn’t the time to think about such things.
In fact, Edward had generally understood the present situation.
The massive tortoise that they assumed to be an oversized golem was more than what met the eye. If Edward’s hunch was right, it was a miniature or even a model of the SIN made before the high elves went extinct!
To create a mini world out of thin air… the high elves’ magitek (or indeed Mystery) was simply horrific!
“No wonder skills are useless…” Edward grimaced as he watched the tortoise slowly trudge along. “It felt like we were fighting a shrunken world.”
Against such an illogical foe, Edward finally felt like he was totally out of ideas and didn’t know where he should start.
And that was when the colossal tortoise’s movement turned violent!
