Imperial Crown

The content of the letter was very simple—the seventh-level great magician Crouch is here.

At this moment, many scenes flashed through Raven's mind, all of which were closely related to the stake.

Raven's fingers tapped rhythmically on the table, and he sorted out various coping methods in his mind.

After a long time, Raven got up and left Eagle Castle.

He left at noon and came back at night, then called Old Gordon and whispered to him for a while.

Old Gordon first showed a surprised expression, then nodded heavily in response.

If Raven has any advantages, it is that he will plan for the future, but not worry about the future.

So for a period of time, Raven continued to do what a lord should do, and Old Gordon would report new situations to Raven every day.

On the fifth day after Crouch arrived, Raven received the magic core from the Deep Blue Platform, as well as a batch of enchanting raw materials and enchanting tools.

For magicians, alchemy may not be a must, but enchantment is a basic skill.

In various legends and stories, magicians always have various magical props.

For example, flying blankets, automatically boiling coffee pots, scissors that can trim branches by themselves, and small magic locks on drawers.

These items themselves have little cost and cannot be bought on the Deep Blue Platform, but they can greatly increase the convenience of life.

They are enchanted creations.

Not to mention, enchanted weapons, equipment, and jewelry can play a variety of amazing effects, which is also an important reason why many nobles will support a wizard.

As early as the gray dwarves forged the first batch of eagle feather swords, Raven had already bought three books related to enchantment, namely "Basic Principles of Enchanting Methods", "Thirteen Enchanting Configurations", and "Elementary Enchanting Analysis and Practice".

The thirteen enchanting configurations are light, darkness, flame, water flow, dust, atmosphere, floating, ground binding, pushing, pulling, absorbing, releasing, and storing.

They can be combined in pairs, or combined in multiples, or repeated, to produce countless combinations and changes.

This is also the foundation of all enchantments.

After nearly half a year of study, Raven's theoretical knowledge is quite sufficient, and he even made a few small toys.

For example, a ball of yarn.

It combines three enchantment configurations: pushing, pulling, and floating. Although it does not have much magic power, it is enough to run around the ground. Occasionally, it can jump onto the table or climb a distance along the wall. Its behavior is completely unpredictable.

And it became the new favorite of the black cat Sikoret, who chased it around the house every day, giving Raven more time to be alone.

In the next few days, Raven transferred a batch of steel weapons forged by gray dwarves from the forge factory and began to try to perform real enchantment.

It is worth mentioning that most of the enchanted weapons on the market today are so-called "apprentice works", that is, a first-level enchantment is added to ordinary weapons and equipment, but there will be various restrictions on their use.

The enchanted crossbow that Raven purchased before is among them.

It can shoot about fifty flaming crossbows. Once the number is exhausted, it will become an ordinary crossbow again and cannot be enchanted again.

Swords and armor also have a limited lifespan, but many weapons and armor bases used for enchantment are mixed with some first- and second-level magic materials, so the service life will be longer.

Only equipment forged purely with magic ore and enchanted can be called "enchanted equipment". If it is well maintained, it is normal for an enchanted weapon to be passed down for three or five generations. The higher the level, the longer the preservation time.

For example, the fourth-level plate armor "Melting Fire Embers" of the Fox family has been passed down for hundreds of years.

In the blink of an eye, another five days passed. On this day, Raven completed another enchantment. He saw him gently wave his wrist, and the long sword in his hand drew a fire curtain.

He casually threw the long sword into the pile of weapons next to him, where he had finished his five-day work, a total of sixteen swords.

"Dark, really dark! How much money have I wasted in the past!?"

Indeed, enchantment requires a customized magic pen and magic raw materials made of various organisms and minerals, but in summary, the cost of raw materials for a first-level enchantment is only about 30 gold coins.

The book says that the success rate of a skilled first-level magician is about 27%-35% when performing a first-level enchantment. Even if calculated at the bottom line, the cost does not exceed 110 gold coins.

The last batch of enchanted weapons that Raven bought had an average price of more than 600 each!

What a profiteer!

It's almost comparable to Angel's Tears!

On the other hand, Raven gradually discovered that not only elements, but magicians also have different affinities or compatibility for different enchantments.

For example, even with the help of the Eye of Truth, Raven's enchantment success rate is only about 60%, and if it is a "bloody" enchantment, Raven has done it three times so far and has not failed.

"Otherwise... give it a try?"

The next moment, the mithril crossbow was placed in front of Raven.

Gently stroking the surface of the crossbow, Raven took out the tool, and the various key points of enchantment flashed through his mind again, and he slowly raised the magic pen.

He was going to add a "bloodthirsty" enchantment on it.

Many enchantments can be upgraded. Taking the enchantment that Raven is about to perform as an example, the first to fifth levels are named: bleeding, bloodthirsty, boiling blood, rotten blood, and thirsty blood.

And above these five levels, there is also a seventh-level enchantment "Life Severance" of the same route.

With a flash of silver light, Raven quietly opened the Eye of Truth, contaminated the raw materials, and began to enchant the hand crossbow.

His expression was focused, and his wrist was as steady as a machine, without any unnecessary movements.

The black cat who was chasing the ball of yarn stopped. She jumped up on the desk and quietly watched Raven's enchantment process, with a look of appreciation in her eyes, as if watching a great artist splashing ink.

As time passed, Raven picked up his pen and slowly rubbed his wrist.

The enchantment is complete.

The crossbow was loaded and cocked. At this moment, a stream of flowing blood surrounded the hand crossbow, seeping into the crossbow and lighting up the dull star iron. The open arms of the crossbow were like the wings of a bloodthirsty monster. And this arrow is a fang that chooses people to eat!

The second-level enchantment "Bloodlust" can not only cause bleeding damage to the enemy, but also absorb part of the opponent's life essence to restore one's own injuries.

After leaving the secret room, Raven had dinner together with the black cat.

After dinner, Old Gordon found Raven and gave him some detailed information.

Having sent away three family heads one after another, there is no doubt about Old Gordon's ability.

After taking over the task of building Eagle Town, he was not only responsible for the planning and construction of the building, but also responsible for reviewing the person in charge of each house, and personally trained the core personnel, making them the eyes and ears of Eagle Castle.

This is the most basic espionage agency. Although it has no penetration capabilities, it can ensure that Raven knows everything that happens in Eagle Town.

It was through this method that Raven discovered the whereabouts of the Order of the Hand of Death before, and now it was also through this method that he found out about Crouch's living habits.

Determining who Crouch is is a problem, and Raven has already locked his identity through the Eye of Truth and informed Old Gordon of his characteristics.

After hearing the report, Raven's lips curled up into a smile: "It's time."

Early the next morning, before dawn, Raven put on relatively common civilian clothes and left the castle.

Crouch's activity track is difficult to follow a pattern. During the day, he walks through the streets and alleys, and occasionally goes to the construction site of New Castle. He eats three meals a day very casually, sometimes at the construction site, sometimes at the homes of local residents. Have a meal, and occasionally solve it at Baile Tang.

The place where he lived every day was not fixed. If someone stayed overnight, he would stay in someone else's house. If no one stayed over, he would find a sheltered corner and sleep with a cane. One day, he even went to the Crystal Palace to get a private room and fell asleep to the loud music. night.

The only regular thing is that he will play chess with the local old men at a fixed time every morning, rain or shine.

The sky is dimming, and the buds of the willow trees on the roadside have grown into goose-yellow willow leaves. They rise and fall slightly with the morning breeze, shaking the dew on the ground.

Over this period of time, Crouch has gained some status among a group of old people, and is basically guaranteed to be able to play chess at any time.

Without prior knowledge, it would have been difficult to imagine that this old man, who wore a slightly dirty white robe, mingled among a group of elderly citizens, and occasionally had passionate exchanges with others, could be the legendary seventh-level great magician.

Raven pretended to be a passerby and came to the chessboard. At this time, the battle situation was initially decided. Crouch held the white flag and forced the old man holding the black chess into a blind corner.

Old Black Chess was so anxious that he took off his leather hat and scratched the top of his head with sparse grass: "Why is it this 'Double Cavalry King' again, and you can't say goodbye?"

Crouch smiled proudly: "You don't care what I use, as long as it's effective?"

The old man Black Chess pursed his lips and frowned, but he didn't want to admit defeat: "Say, old guys, we have been playing chess for so many years, you can't watch me being killed like this by a foreigner, right?"

The elderly people next to me looked at me and I looked at you, and they all shrugged. They all play chess spontaneously based on their hobbies, and their levels are about the same. If one person can't do anything, everyone can't do anything!

Seeing that it was almost time, Lei Wen interrupted and said, "This is not 'Two Horses Kill the King', this is 'Ruidian Cavalry Tactics'."

"What code and what technique?" Old Black Chess was a little confused.

But Crouch's expression changed: "Young man, we are playing chess, just watch and don't make a sound."

"It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter!" Old Black Chess smiled broadly: "Young man, since you know the name of this formula, why don't you come and help me?"

"Okay." Raven bent down, picked up Black's cavalry, and took a step forward, just in time to protect Black's king.

This time, it was Crouch's turn to frown.

After thinking for a while, he finally took a step forward, but Raven immediately dealt with it lightly, causing Crouch to think again.

In just a dozen moves, Crouch was forced into a desperate situation. He slapped the chessboard and shouted: "No, no! I should have won. You old guy is looking for foreign aid, and I won't accept it!"

"Hey, old man, you have defeated us for so many days, and finally found someone who can cure you!" The old man Black Chess stood up and said to Raven: "Boy, come and play with him!"

Raven sat down without hesitation. In the next few rounds, Raven did not hold back at all. He used various tactics such as abandoning troops on the rear wing, castling the king's rook, and killing Crouch with infantry. He was completely defeated, his breathing became heavier and heavier, and he began to curse.

"Do it again!" After losing another round, Crouch angrily said, "I don't believe I can't cure you!"

Unexpectedly, Raven shook his head and stood up: "No more."

"Why?" Crouch said.

Raven scratched his chin: "Your skills are too poor."

As a seventh-level great magician, if you say that Crouch is not good at magic, he will just smile and let it pass. But if you say that he is not good at chess, then he will have to talk to you!

"I saw that your boy is talented in playing chess, so I let you go on purpose!" Crouch patted the chessboard: "Let's play another game to show you my true strength!"

Raven still refused: "No, I still have to work..."

"I'll give you the wages!" Crouch took out a silver coin from his sleeve: "I'll buy you a little time, is that enough?"

"This..." Raven showed a hint of excitement and shook his head: "Playing chess is just a pastime after all. You should keep the money for yourself."

As he said that, he was about to leave.

Seeing that Raven was unable to get in, Crouch rolled his eyes and sat down on the ground: "He hit someone! The young man hit someone! He beat me so old..."

This was beyond Lei Wen's expectation, and he suddenly felt dumbfounded: "Old sir, you..."

The old man who was playing chess next to him couldn't stand it any longer, and they all came around to persuade him: "Young man, I think this old man is also from outside. He has never seen his relatives, is lonely, and sometimes sleeps outside at night. Just treat it like this." Good thing, let’s play a few games with him!”

Raven pretended to hesitate, and Crouch blinked and looked at him expectantly.

"Okay." Raven said relentingly: "Then I'll come back tomorrow. I really don't have time today."

Crouch said: "If you run away, where will I find you?"

Raven said: "My name is Reis, and I am responsible for raising horses at Eagle Castle. You can find out just by asking."

Crouch shrank his neck: "That's not okay. This is your noble lord's place. If I take the initiative to ask, won't I get a severe whipping?"

The old man next to him said: "That was in the past. Baron Raven was different from others, and the soldiers under his command were also different. As long as you didn't go to cause trouble, no one would touch you."

"Okay, it's agreed." Crouch stared at Raven: "If you don't come tomorrow morning, I will go to the castle to cause trouble!"

After meeting Crouch in person, Raven had a comprehensive and clear judgment about him.

To describe it in one word, it is "old naughty boy".

Crouch has a casual, free and uninhibited personality. He has no persistent requirements for external objects. He will look at things when he is curious and do things if he likes them. He has no pretensions.

It is precisely this kind of character that can bring up the innocent and kind-hearted Lux.

As for where Raven's chess skills come from, it's actually very simple.

In his early years, he was cheating and kidnapping in Men'en City, oh no, when he was trying to climb up, he teamed up with others to play a game, which is the end game of Lewis Chess.

If the visitor wins, he will get a silver coin bounty. If he loses, he will give the stall owner a silver coin.

Of course, this kind of game requires support, and Raven is that support.

He was not stupid to begin with, and he quickly memorized the partner's endgame and set up his own stall.

Of course, this business had not been in business for long before he was thrown out of business because he offended the little boss who had a bloody harpoon at the time, but the knowledge remained in Raven's mind.

Early the next morning, Raven fulfilled his promise and came to the chess stall. Seeing Raven's arrival, Crouch beamed!

Raven immediately entered the game and started fighting.

Raven didn't know Crouch's purpose, but one thing was certain. Crouch didn't come with any hostility, otherwise he could have killed him directly at Eagle Castle.

So before meeting Crouch as Raven, it is essential to play chess to gain favor.

Who told him to kidnap someone else's good student?

Raven was plotting against Crouch, and someone was also plotting against Raven.

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