Quadruple split.

Chapter 2628 Server

We will rise again.

Everything for Valhalla.

Spanning countless millennia, the two lines of sixteen characters of the universal language remain firmly imprinted on the screen, as if its creators knew from the beginning that even if those sophisticated devices could not operate forever, these words would leave a mark to prove this vow.

To prove this vow, which was destined to be extinguished from the very beginning, destined to be sealed in the corner of history, and could never be fulfilled.

"This is a lie."

Ji Xiaoge sighed silently and lowered her eyes, saying, "I can sense that although these machines are precise and exquisite, their complexity is far beyond my current comprehension, and their efficiency is enough to make countless people in the engineering community drop their jaws. However, they were already sentenced to death by their designers long before they were created."

Mo Tan stood quietly behind the girl, turning his head to look at the badminton shuttlecock resting on his shoulder.

The shuttlecock rolled listlessly for half a circle, then raised its left wing and scratched Mo Tan's ear.

"Ugh, am I being a little too sentimental?"

Suddenly noticing the somewhat tense atmosphere, Ji Xiaoge shrank back, scratched her head, and chuckled awkwardly, "Sorry, sorry, it's just that my mentor taught me before that if you want to understand a machine, it's best to incorporate the creator's thought process into the research, analysis, and disassembly process. I only briefly touched on that just now, and then..."

Ji Xiaoge didn't continue speaking. She just took a deep breath, forcing herself to stop immersing herself in that somewhat sad perspective, and gently shook her head.

"Let's finish the task first."

Mo Tan considerately changed the subject, smiling and saying, "Although there's still some time, I think it's better to complete the identity verification mentioned in that task as soon as possible. Is it called visitor access or something like that?"

"Temporary visitor privileges".

Ji Xiaoge gripped Mo Tan's wrist, forcing him to place his palm on a dusty square panel in front of them. The next instant, accompanied by a flash of pale green light, the center console panel, which had been off for an unknown amount of time, flickered slightly for about half a second, before displaying a line of generic text:
[Temporary visitor privileges activated. Welcome to Ascension Fortress, XNα07996. Please leave this fortress within 72 hours or update your privileges. Valhalla wishes you a pleasant stay.]

"I knew it."

Ji Xiaoge released Mo Tan with satisfaction, then reached out and pressed her hand on the spot where Mo Tan had wiped away a lot of dust. The pale green light then shone again.

[Temporary visitor privileges activated. Welcome to Ascension Fortress, XNα07997. Please leave this fortress within 72 hours or update your privileges. Valhalla wishes you a pleasant stay.]

"It's done."

Just as the text on the screen changed and she completed the registration along with Mo Tan, the winged beauty breathed a sigh of relief and gave him a "V" sign, smiling as she said, "The emergency mission is complete. Although there's no reward, there shouldn't be any punishment either."

"Thank God."

Mo Tan relaxed slightly upon hearing this, then said with a somewhat serious expression, "In any case, I hope to find an opportunity to get another title as soon as possible. I don't ask for anything else, just something normal."

Ji Xiaoge thought for a moment, then said enthusiastically, "I think the title 'Night Song' sounds really good!"

Mo Tan subconsciously thought about it for a moment, then his mind went blank the moment he started thinking about how to obtain the title, and he immediately began to recite the Diamond Sutra in his heart.

However, he didn't get to read for long. After a while, Ji Xiaoge, who had been playing with the badminton shuttlecock, came up to him and asked thoughtfully, "Mo, what do you think is the situation with this fortress?"

"I don't know, but it sounds impressive just from the name."

Mo Tan spoke the truth sharply, then reasoned seriously: "Based on your mission description and what we've seen along the way, this complex, codenamed 'Ascension Fortress' and officially named 'Valhalla,' is already larger than the well-known City of Miracles. If it can really fly... I think it must be at least over seven thousand years old."

Ji Xiaoge fluttered her wings and asked curiously, "Why do you say it must be at least over seven thousand years?"

"Because a floating city of this scale could not possibly be buried or forgotten by history, but based on my limited experience, since the official historical records of the [Innocent Realm] began to be established in 2007 of the Holy Calendar, there have been no related legends of the [Ascension Fortress] or [Valhalla]."

Although the function of the mechanical devices here is unclear, Mo Tan, who is very clear that this fortress would not have been unknown if it had appeared in modern times, commented quite aptly: "In fact, even if 'ascension' is just a metaphor, and this is not a true floating city, a fortress of this scale would definitely leave a strong mark on history. But we have not only never seen it, but we have never even heard of it. To be honest, what I am most curious about now is where it is and why it has not been unearthed by the Archaeological Association or any other force until now."

"Because this is an alternate dimension."

This time, Ji Xiaoge immediately gave an answer, saying seriously, "Moreover, it is an unprecedented and unique alternate dimension whose survival time has exceeded the theoretical limit."

Mo Tan didn't seem very surprised. He said in a somewhat enlightened but also quite calm tone, "So this place really is man-made, an alternate dimension attached to a regular plane?"

“That’s right. I think there must be an anchoring device used here. Although such devices only started to become popular outside Tianzhu Mountain thirty years ago, it’s not surprising that there are a lot of anchoring devices in this fortress, based on the functional analysis of the various devices inside.”

Ji Xiaoge stroked his chin and said seriously, "In fact, the most likely scenario is that the entire fortress is an 'anchor.' Although the difficulty level is quite high, considering that this place is likely related to the mentor, it wouldn't be surprising if it could be done."

Mo Tan looked at Ji Xiaoge, whose smile was beaming but whose expression was still somewhat gloomy, and hesitated before saying, "You seem a little unhappy..."

"I just don't understand why my mentor didn't tell me the specific details of the Ascension Fortress. Now that I think about it, he probably already connected it to this as soon as he learned about my mission."

Ji Xiaoge flapped her wings in frustration and complained, "But she didn't say a word to me."

Mo Tan shook his head and said seriously, "I believe Master Lu must have had his reasons for not telling you right away. More importantly, do you think this trip will be of any help to your mission?"

"Of course there is."

Ji Xiaoge gave an affirmative answer without hesitation, and said seriously, "I just thought about it for a moment. [The Glory of Valkyrie] will reward me with three legendary missions. They are the slightly lower-level [Repair: Lower Left Wing - Furnace Area], [Repair: Lower Right Wing - Repair Area], and the higher-level [Repair: Lower Tail - Power Furnace]. The Central Management Room where we are now, which has not been mentioned, is very likely to be a follow-up or hidden mission."

Mo Tan nodded slightly, agreeing, "Indeed, considering that the three mission areas are all in the 'lower level,' there must be some corresponding missions in the upper level as well." "Unfortunately, we don't have any clues right now, except for this little guy called [Queen's Legacy]."

Ji Xiaoge turned to look at the badminton shuttlecock that had just returned to its 'iron nest' and was now rolling around and amusing itself. She shrugged and said, "It's too mysterious. It's not a regular item whose attributes we can directly see. Apart from its impressive name, it's a complete mystery. We can't even find a way to break through it."

Upon hearing this, Mo Tan shook his head and said thoughtfully, "As for a breakthrough, perhaps there really is one."

"Oh! Hurry up, tell me quickly, I knew you were amazing!"

"Actually, it's not some idea that people would praise. I just think that the name 'Queen's Legacy' itself might be a clue."

Om-!
At that very moment, the badminton shuttlecock, which had been playing by itself, suddenly appeared between the two of them, trailing a golden tail, flapping its wings and spinning in mid-air.

Then, under the watchful eyes of Mo Tan and Ji Xiaoge, it flapped its wings and flew to the control panel behind the 'iron nest', and after circling for a short while, it landed in a prototype groove that was just the right size.

Click.

Click - click - click -

Immediately afterwards, accompanied by a series of dull sounds, the device in the center of the control room, which the two had previously regarded as an ordinary load-bearing column, slowly shed its outer shell. The thick metal plates that had been tightly attached to the outer layer fell off in sequence, revealing the crystal-like columnar body inside.

"This is!"

Mo Tan's pupils suddenly contracted, and then he abruptly turned his head to look at Ji Xiaoge, who was also looking over.

"The one from Cordoba!"

The boy nodded vigorously, his expression equally shocked, and said, "Although upon closer inspection, many details are completely different, this thing is definitely related to the [Cordoba Server] in the Seventh Outer Mountain, only it is much cruder and more primitive."

Mo Tan frowned slightly as he walked side by side with Ji Xiaoge to the device that was submerged in some colorless and transparent liquid. It was a snow-white cuboid covered with interfaces and had clearly stopped working completely. He asked the latter, "Can you figure it out?"

"We can't study it at all."

Ji Xiaoge shook her head decisively and said helplessly, "Before, because my mentor liked to bully Xiaoyu... uh, I mean Cordoba, Cordoba approached me several times to ask if I could take over the maintenance and control of the server. I also talked to my mentor about it. The first two times he just said I couldn't do it, but the third time he let me try, and the result was..."

Mo Tan blinked: "What was the result?"

"The results were indeed not very good."

Ji Xiaoge continued to shake her head and shrugged, saying, "Although my supervisor explained the operating procedure to me and gave me a simplified version of the structural drawings and operating manual, the only result of my three hours of tinkering was that I almost formatted the Cordoba."

Mo Tan: "...Hiss."

It's worth mentioning here that, although many people may not remember, the so-called "Cordoba server" was actually a device used to "summon the spirit" of Cordoba.

To put it more plainly, it's the place where Cordova's consciousness is stored after he dies for one reason or another.

Unlike other players who can only rebuild their characters after being killed, Cordova, in a sense, always has a "backup plan" as an "artificial creation." That plan is a special device located in the Seventh Outer Mountain Workshop. According to Ji Xiaoge, this device can retrieve Cordova's artificial soul signal throughout the entire continent and download it back to its built-in special storage unit regardless of distance.

Despite the extreme limitations of the [Córdoba Server], which prevented him from interacting with others except through a radio and speakers (making the gaming experience extremely poor), Ruvi was able to re-upload Córdoba by operating the [Server] after completing the 'acquisition' of his consciousness.

For example, uploading it to Runebody.

For example, uploading it to AlphaGo.

It's incredibly easy to use, and it's the infinite life mode that every player dreams of!

At this very moment, what appeared before Mo Tan and Ji Xiaoge was a device that bore a striking resemblance to the [Cordova Server], and was being immersed in some kind of liquid.

Even a layman like Mo Tan could see that, compared to the server at Tianzhu Mountain, this device, although several times larger in size and over four meters tall, and covered with a large number of seemingly very sophisticated parts, was probably vastly different in performance.

For example, if the [Coldova Server] in the Seventh Outer Mountain is very close to the supercomputer in Mo Tan's house that is full of cutting-edge technology and weighs about the same as a brick and a half, then the device in front of us, which is immersed in a mysterious solution, is like ENIAC (the world's first general-purpose computer) that we mentioned before. Although it has an amazing size, amazing weight and amazing consumption, its performance is worlds apart.

Not only that--

"silent."

Ji Xiaoge gently tugged at Mo Tan's sleeve and whispered, "Although I'm not entirely sure, this thing... um..."

What's wrong with this thing?

Mo Tan looked at Ji Xiaoge, who seemed hesitant to speak, and remained silent for a few seconds before ultimately not taking her cold, uneasy little hand.

"It's just speculation."

Feeling slightly relieved after taking Mo Tan's hand in return, Ji Xiaoge pursed her lips and looked up at the enormous device, which resembled a colossal pillar reaching to the sky—

"It's different from the [Cordoba Server], it seems to be... a manned type."

Chapter 2619: The End