Silent Crown

 This was one of the reasons why the Three Kings were so terrifying. They represented the Holy Caldron and the foundation of the seven systems of musicians. As guardians, protectors and gatekeepers, the Three Kings were capable of influencing the Originator through this system. It was as if the Emperor has groomed a commoner to become a consul under his personal command, who would then carry out his tasks from the most central of all places. This was also the reason why the Church and the Sacred City possessed such unique status. They might have given humans strength but they have always been in full control, allowing them to ensure the stable development of the entire world.

This was the reason why Ye Qingxuan was very sure that the Sacred City would not let matters rest if they knew of his intentions of activate the Net of Aether. Just as what Lola had casually said, there would not be a price too high to pay in order to eliminate someone like him. The Net of Aether could shake the very foundations of the Sacred City. It could make use of tools to make up for the difference in ‘talent’!

Its theory was similar to the bracelet that Ye Qingxuan had showed to Newton. Although it might look like an alchemy equipment, its essence was completely different. It did not make use of the alchemy array to play musical notes, arrange intervals and music theories, before finally casting movements. It merely acted as an ‘interface’, a ‘terminal’ that was connected to the Net of Aether.

Normally, in order for musicians to cast movements, they would need to sense for aether before controlling it with musical notes, intervals and music theories. Eventually, it would take shape in the form of movements before being casted. This entire complicated process could be simplified into a single step by the Net of Aether, whereby the key was to achieve a breakthrough in the ‘interface’. There would be no need for racking of brains, sensing of aether, and controlling of movements… everything could be left to the Net of Aether and the user would only have to be responsible for how the movement would be used. There would be no need to consider anything else.

According to Hermes’ final concept, the entire process would not need to be completed solely by the musician nor by machines. Regardless of musicians or machines, they would only play a small role in the entire process before eventually becoming a massive system. It would comprise of a massive source, a set of complicated systems and countless terminals. Under such a strict system and control, movements would no longer be an individual’s product, but the finished product of an assembly line.

This was not just a wild idea at all because it has been proven by Ye Qingxuan. Or to be more accurate, this was the path that Ye Qingxuan has always been taking.

Back in the days when he was still an apprentice and his talents were sealed, he had utilized an exhaustive method in the Classical School to commit the multitudes of records to memory, so that he would be able to use the musical notes freely. This could already show that the sensing of aether was something that was governed by a set of rules. There was no need to seek any mysterious feelings. One would be able to achieve the desired effects as long as long as one chose the right formula according to the environment. In this system, the entire process would be replaced by complex machineries, just like the terminal that Newton had utilized. Any ordinary person, who might be devoid of any talent, would be able to use the terminal freely, as long as he understood the theory behind it.

After ‘the way of deciphering’ has been deconstructed, movements would be broken down into several segments before being pieced together in the system of the Net of Aether and finally completed at the terminal. At this point in time, all the pre-requisites that the Net of Aether would require have already been prepared. ‘Genesis’ would be merged with ‘Kingdom of Heaven on Earth’ to form the foundation of the Net of Aether, while Jiu Xiao Huan Pei and Heaven Ladder music theory would make up its main body and would cover the entire Anglo as the Net of Aether was gradually built. Within the area covered by Heaven Ladder music theory, the power of Kingdom of Heaven on Earth could be sent to every terminal. All those people that have been recruited to fill the new institutes of the Royal Academy of Music have all been through the most basic music theory training and ‘the way of deciphering’ lessons and would become the first batch of users.

These commoners would be able to quickly grasp powers that only sophisticated musicians could possess in the past. Bits and pieces of such powers would already allow them to become new war musicians. Within the area covered by the Net of Aether, the influence of born talents was reduced to the minimal. As for the musicians, they would have to make their way down from their place on the altar… and take on roles that were similar to engineers.

In the beginning, they would be constrained by Ye Qingxuan’s abilities and the extent of the Net of Aether’s completion, and the movements that could be utilized would be limited to those of lower tiers. But the lower tiers were exactly the areas where there was a shortage of musicians. Who would need a Saint in a hundred-strong infantry? Three musicians of apprentice level were more than enough!

By then, all musicians in the world would probably protest and refuse to acknowledge these people, that have been groomed through this system, as musicians. This was because the pursuit of the Originator would no longer be possible once autonomy and integrity have been lost. But truth be told, not many musicians would dedicate their entire lives to pursuing something as intangible as that. 99 percent of musicians have never ever thought that they would ever have a chance of getting close to the Originator. That was something that only scepters would think about. Everyone knew how the Originator was powerful, perfect, sophisticated, almighty and knowledgeable. But what has that got to do with them?

Practically, the vast and wide Originator… was not worth anything. But just based on this alone, Ye Qingxuan has already been labelled as a ‘heretic’ and has been badly scolded. Fortunately, all his actions from hereon performed in the name of righteousness…

“This feels so good! Who dares to accuse the Chief Inquisitor of the Religious Court of Inquiry of being a heretic?”

After listening to his plan, Newton immediately saw the biggest flaw, “Purely based on your abilities alone, I don’t think the product that will be created can even be considered a prototype. There are seven systems of musicians. Even though you may dabble in abstinence, illusions and heart, at the end of the day, abstinence is your only forte. The unique quality of the School of Abstinence is its ability to provide an interface for the other six systems to combine into one, using only music theories. To musicians, the content provided by this platform is too lacking.”

“I never planned to settle every problem on my own, otherwise, what else will the others have left to do?” Ye Qingxuan did not seem to be worried, “All I can do is to build the prototype of the entire system. I will leave the rest to the users to fill up the gaps.”

Newton was stunned, “You plan to make it an open source? Can you bear to give up the initiative?”

“Why not?” Ye Qingxuan rebutted, “To me, the Net of Aether is just a tool. If more people use this tool, the more power I will have. I believe that once they discover the convenience of the Net of Aether, they will automatically create new contents on their own, and push their own music theories all the way to the top…”

Newton scrunched his nose, “You mean all the way to you?”

“Something like that.” Ye Qingxuan shrugged his shoulders, “I’m the one who stands to gain in the end anyway. Since that’s the case, why can’t I share them with the other participants too?”

Newton kept quiet. He could not believe that Ye Qingxuan would… open up the external structures of the Net of Aether! Of the four layers of alchemy array, outflow, form, create and circulate, Ye Qingxuan would probably open up the layers of creating and circulating to other people. Such evil motives!

He knew just how attractive this item was to other musicians. In order to get them onboard, he has no qualms opening up so much contents to them. Besides, he was killing two birds with one stone. Not only would his contents become richer, he would also gain a large number of users. There would definitely be plenty of musicians, who might have fallen behind the rest or were limited by their talents, that would be grateful to Ye Qingxuan! No, they might even become Ye Qingxuan’s fanatics!

“Even so, what about the basic facilities?” Newton asked, “Although I don’t know much about music theories, but I can tell that the requirements of the basic facilities of the Net of Aether would be overwhelming…”

Before he could even finish, he saw the strange look in Ye Qingxuan’s eyes and he stopped. There was a complex emotion that he could not describe. It has been a long time since he was in such a dilemma.

Would the Net of Aether demand a lot out of the basic facilities? Of course. Not only would it require plenty of complementary mechanical terminals, it would also require a lot of checkpoints and all sorts of technical skills. Otherwise, the Net of Aether would not even be able to extend out of Avalon. The complexity and size of the workload was so immense that it was like a nightmare, even to Newton. At this point in time, his heart was only filled with regrets.

“I have been duped! I have been duped! Clearly, this has always been Ye Qingxuan’s motive! Didn’t he spend so much effort to find me just because I am able to do this? Who else in this world is more suitable than me to be doing this? Who else has the ability to do so? Before I snatched over that piece of incomplete page, Ye Qingxuan did ask me to think carefully. There will be no turning back once I have seen it.”

At that time, he had thought that Ye Qingxuan was merely trying to scare him. It seemed that he has really fallen into a trap. Now, he was only left with two choices, ‘do’ or ‘not to do’. If he chose not to do this, there was no way Ye Qingxuan would allow him to continue living in this world. It was not that Newton was trying to wriggle his way out of something he had promised but this project was just too insane. Any leaking of information could easily bring about disastrous consequences.

If Newton was Ye Qingxuan, he would not let him live either. Newton did not wish to die yet. Really. There were still many things that he wanted to accomplish, such as continuing the mechanical engineering course of study that his teachers had pioneered. He needed to prove the value of this new path. He firmly believed that this was the key to the future of mankind. Therefore, he had no choice but to submit.

But if he really did it… then he and Ye Qingxuan would become the top heretics of the Church, possibly even placed above Hyakume! Why was ‘redemption’ so terrifying? Was it because of how much damage it could cause, as much as piercing through the armors of knights? Or was it because of the theory that all deterrence would be lost with prior mental preparation?

No… it was because of how applicable it was to everyone! When it came to redemption, everyone was equal. Once it has been created, even a farmer would be able to use it to kill the king!

What made the Net of Aether even more terrifying was that… it would create musicians! All the musicians would be pushed down the altar, being stripped of their godly status to become ordinary people, transforming from ‘magicians’ to the engineers of the Net of Aether. That miraculous power would be shared with everyone. The moment it appeared, everyone that desired power would be groveling in front of Ye Qingxuan. He would be the only one that could determine who deserved power.

This was just too… insane! This was why Ye Qingxuan refused to return ‘Genesis’ to the Sacred City, even if the latter threatened to stop him from advancing to a scepter. The Net of Aether alone would have been able to help him advance to scepter anyway. Not only that, the element of the Net of Aether would ensure that he would become one of the top few scepters. In addition, he could also ensure that Saint Haydn’s inheritance would remain in the Net of Aether.

This has been Ye Qingxuan’s plan all along. At this moment, Newton fell into silence as he was in deep thoughts. His facial expressions changed ever so minutely, from fear to depression… he was experiencing all sorts of emotions. Due to his own curiosity, he has fallen into Ye Qingxuan’s trap. Right now, when the truth has been revealed, strangely enough, he did not feel upset. Instead… he looked forward to this day.

He was fully aware of the consequences of Ye Qingxuan’s actions but what was so bad about that? No, it would be great! In fact, things could not have worked out better for him. Ye Qingxuan had chosen him and given him chisels and shovels so that he could dig a nice grave for the musicians.

At this thought, he was so excited that there were goosebumps all over his body. He slowly raised his head to look at Ye Qingxuan and nodded, “I’ll do it!”

“Fantastic.” Ye Qingxuan nodded and smiled happily. He picked up the wine glass on the table, “Cheers to our friendship!”

Pui! Damned his so-called friendship.

Newton could not be bothered with the nonsense that Ye Qingxuan was spouting. Ye Qingxuan quickly finished his whisky before wiping the corners of his mouth with his handkerchief, “Thank you for your hospitality. The alcohol was pretty good.”

“Once you are done, scram.” Newton tore a piece of cloth to wrap up his palm that has yet to recover fully. He pointed at the door, “Don’t come and bother me unless you have a good reason to. I will write you a list of items that I need. You only have to worry about paying.”

“No problem.” Ye Qingxuan shrugged his shoulders and took his hat off the rack before bidding farewell politely. He looked like a complete gentleman. Just as he was about to leave, Ye Qingxuan stopped and turned back to look at him, “Hey, Newton.”

Newton could not be bothered to look at him. His back continued to face him as he tidied up the drafts on the table. From today onwards, he would be changing to yet another laboratory. When he heard Ye Qingxuan’s voice, he was somewhat irritated, “Anything else?”

Ye Qingxuan was silent for a moment before asking, “Although this may sound funny to you but Newton, was there ever a moment when you felt sorry about the incident with Charles? Any moment.”

After a period of silence, Newton replied coldly, “No.”

“Is that so?” Ye Qingxuan laughed in a self-deprecating manner, “It was all my own wishful thinking then. My apologies.”

The door closed and the sound of footsteps grew faint.

Newton was the only one left under the dim lighting.

He tried to tidy up the mess on his table but for some reason, it only got worse. Finally, he swept everything off the table in a fit of frustration. He sat on the chair with his head hung low. “Damned it…” he muttered under his breath.