Sword of Dawn

Gao Wen immediately felt that he had hit this guy a little lightly just now...

However, Amber's twists and turns of thinking and her smacking mouth did not last a day or two. Gao Wen has already developed a good immunity. As long as she ignores this guy, she will soon calm down .

But this time, Amber's balabala seemed to be stronger than usual. Even if Gawain ignored her, she kept opening new topics beside her. She glanced at her: "Why do you talk so much this time?"

"Is there?" Amber was taken aback for a moment, then shook her head, "I don't think so!"

"You're a little nervous." Gawain looked at this guy helplessly. "When you're nervous, you talk a lot of nonsense, and you don't even feel it."

After being reminded by Gao Wen, Amber realized that she had inadvertently exposed her emotional changes. After lamenting why a knight should be so sensitive, she finally nodded in embarrassment: "To be honest... a bit, but I'm not nervous myself."

In fact, Gao Wen had vaguely guessed what Amber was thinking: "Is it because of those people you brought?"

"Basically..." Amber smiled dryly, "I just want to say... those guys are bastards who grew up in the gutter, and bastards, liars, and thieves were their main roles in the past, although they all swore before they came Play by the rules, but I know what they're up to... I hope you're prepared and don't get pissed off by their vulgarity. Those... are actually a pretty good bunch."

Gao Wen stopped in his tracks, looked at Amber with a half-smile, until the other party turned his head away in embarrassment, he smiled and said: "It's rare that you speak so cautiously—and you still excuse others in advance."

"I had a fatal friendship with them—although it was many years ago," Amber curled her lips, "I wanted to take this opportunity to give them a hand, but I really don't feel at ease about their seriousness."

Gao Wen shook his head with a smile, and suddenly brought up a seemingly irrelevant topic: "You know the Royal Shadow Guard who is loyal to the Ansu royal family, right?"

Amber was stunned, then nodded suddenly: "I know, I met one last time we went to the capital - the one who was kicked out of the Shadow Realm by me and almost fainted into a grandson is the Royal Shadow Guard, right?"

Gao Wen: "...you don't have to worry about that one accidental record. If you were to face the Shadow Guard at that time, ten of you would not be enough for him to deal with. The Royal Shadow Guard was trained by the Ansu royal family. The most powerful stalkers and intelligence personnel came out. From the beginning of the Ansu Kingdom, they were responsible for secretly defending the kingdom, and at the same time collecting all kinds of information for the king—and I was the original trainer of the Royal Shadow Guard one."

"I seem to remember you also said that," Amber frowned and tried to recall, "Oh, you taught them two-handed sword skills and physical training..."

Gao Wen was choked again, it was not good to try to show B but was choked back, but he still bite the bullet and continued: "...I did teach them these two things, but in addition to these In addition, I also participated in the formulation of a complete training process for the Royal Shadow Guard."

Amber finally understood what Gao Wen meant, but her face was full of astonishment: "Could it be...you want to train those unprofessional guys according to the standard of training royal shadow guards?"

Before Gao Wen could answer, she waved her hands vigorously: "Don't be joking, I don't know how much those guys weigh? What are they capable of other than cheating and a few deceiving tricks? Training It’s enough to be an ordinary soldier, not to mention the elite.”

"They don't need too much force, and I don't expect to train them completely according to the standards of the Royal Shadow Guards." Gao Wen smiled and shook his head, "The Royal Shadow Guards are different from the intelligence personnel I require. I don’t need a group of elite fighters… intelligence gathering, secret contact, identity disguise, use of espionage tools, they have a lot to learn as ordinary people. You should have some confidence in them.”

"I don't know what you're thinking," Amber looked at the confident Gao Wen, and couldn't help scratching her hair, "But you always have a lot of ideas, I just believe you'll be fine this time."

At the same time, in the magic laboratory located in the southern part of the territory, Hetty and Rebecca, who was brought in by her as an assistant, were lowering their heads and testing a strange "stone".

They opened up a large open space in the center of the magic laboratory. On the ground, a "portable honeycomb magic net" spliced ​​together with rune substrates, which is easy to disassemble and move, was placed between the honeycomb units of the magic net. A red copper base plate used to transmit magic power—these three base plates are arranged in a zigzag shape, and in the center of them is a "stone" that is tens of centimeters high and roughly shaped like an obelisk.

The surface of the "stone" has a deep purple luster, and its texture is between crystal and metal—it is the purified and recast Hom raw stone.

In order to purify this strange magical material, Hetty and Hammer of the metal smelting factory have spent a lot of thought - different from ordinary metal ore, hom raw stone cannot be smelted and cast through simple high-temperature calcination , as the temperature continues to increase, these rough stones will only fall apart and eventually become useless powder like sand. Although Nicholas egg has successfully overcome the symptoms of "allergic cold" to the rough stones of Holm, his metal manipulation ability has no effect on these rough stones. The ore had no effect—it was a seemingly inadvertent wrong operation that finally solved the purification problem.

Hetty accidentally poured the acid solution used for the experiment into the container containing the original sample, but found that the ore, which does not allow oil and salt, would be dissolved by the acid solution, and the useless components in the ore reacted with the acid It becomes a residue that can be filtered out, and the acid itself finally becomes a smeltable powder after a series of subsequent reactions, replacements, and purifications. After a series of melting and casting of these ore powders Only then did Heti get the first pure Holm crystal.

Confirming that the precious Holm crystal has been stably connected to the magic net, Hetty turned to look at Rebecca who was standing next to a magic circle in the corner of the room: "Can you sense the magic field over there?"

Rebecca (who has already been searched) glanced at the induction crystal in the center of the magic circle, the crystal was emitting a faint light, and three of the dozen or so runes around the crystal lit up: "Yes, yes ! But the intensity is still very low..."

Hetty frowned slightly, looking at the Holm crystal connected to the magic net: "Well... After purification, it becomes easy to release the magic field, just connecting with the most basic magic net unit can Work, which shows that the purification is indeed effective, but the strength of the magic field has not changed much... Is the upper limit of this thing's release of the magic field so big?"

Rebecca said while recalling: "I remember that when you injected an extra amount of magic power into the crystal just now, the strength of the magic field increased for a moment..."

Hetty frowned: "Is there? Why didn't I feel it?"

Rebecca was a little unconfident: "That's probably because I misunderstood..."

"No, we can try." Hetty is a person who will not let go of any details. Hearing Rebecca's mention, she immediately picked up her staff and put the front end of the staff close to the piece on the ground. The purified Hom crystal then released the simplest infusion spell, "Do you see any changes in the induction crystal?"

"It seems that it is indeed bright..."

"What is 'as if'?" Hetty glared at Rebecca, "How many times have I said that magic experiments are very rigorous, and words like 'like' and 'probably' cannot be used! Let's try again!"

Hetty and Rebecca were busy testing the purified Holm crystal, while Kamel was studying the "textbook" given by Jenny in the Rune Research Institute, which was far away from the magic laboratory.

This ancient magister from 1000 years ago eagerly absorbed all useful knowledge in this era, no matter whether the knowledge came from a learned scholar or a small fourth-level rune master, as long as it was useful, he would be happy To study—although he felt quite disdainful when he first learned that a little girl who was not even a junior mage was leading the rune research in the territory, but after seeing the rune logic materials that Jenny brought out, This ancient scholar who loved to study was deeply impressed by this novel theory.

Jenny, on the other hand, looked at the great magister with an incredible form in front of her with mixed emotions of awe and joy. When she saw Kamel for the first time, she was taken aback, but after knowing the identity of the other party She even fell into tension and anxiety—although she has adapted to the relaxed and respectable new life led by Cecil, the coercion from the senior magician continued to weigh on her heart. In my mind, powerful great magicians are arrogant, cold and terrifying. These powerful spellcasters will not only dismiss weak people like themselves, but also regard their research results as deviant. Those contemporary magicians If the master is like this, how proud and elusive should an ancient magister who has lived from 1000 years ago to today be?

She was ready to face Kamel's wrath, and was ready to uphold the dignity of rune logic in this situation, but she did not expect that the ancient magister saw rune logic After that, he didn't get angry at all, but showed great research interest.

This made her very happy-it turns out that the great magicians or magisters are not all so unreasonable.

Kamel lowered his head to read for a long time, and only raised his head after reading the discussion on the interference knot. He seemed to want to say something, but before he could speak, his body suddenly trembled slightly, followed by a suspicious sound :"Ok?"

Jenny suddenly became nervous: "Master Kamel, what's wrong with you?"

The arcane flow of light on Kamel's body gradually stabilized: "I don't know...I suddenly itch."

In the magic laboratory far away from the Rune Research Institute, Hetty put the staff on the top of the Holme crystal again, and while preparing to release the magic, she told Rebecca: "This time, watch carefully, and you must count clearly." How many runes are lit up!"

After the words fell, a small ball of white light erupted from the front of Hetty's staff, and the Holme crystal shone slightly.

In the Rune Research Institute, just as Kamel manipulated the Evocation Hand to put down the information in front of him, his body trembled again.

Jenny became nervous again: "Master Kamel?"

"...I don't know what's going on, I'm itchy again..."

Chapter 0249 Apostasy and Faith

Kamel twisted his body awkwardly, and the rune armor pieces floating in mid-air made a slight collision sound with his movements, but that strange feeling came and went quickly, before he could Figured out what happened, and everything seemed to be back to normal.

To be honest, Kamel hasn't had this "feeling" for many, many years—since he lost his human form, he has lost most of human perception, replaced by the ability to detect surroundings with the help of magic, He wasn't even sure if what he felt just now was "itch"—this feeling was so far away that he only retained such a vague impression. When this feeling suddenly appeared just now, he even I was taken aback and thought something was wrong with my body.

Jenny in front of him seemed quite worried: "Master Kamel, are you really... all right?"

"It's okay, it should just be a little uncomfortable after coming to a new magical environment, I can go back and adjust my energy flow," Kamel said buzzingly, and manipulated the magic power to make those formulas on the table The manuscript paper of the calculation process was floating around him, and his voice was full of admiration and surprise, "I still can't believe...you can actually sum up these things..."

"It's not just me, Mr. Ravencrest, Mr. Wild Mage, they laid the foundation, I just made a summary," Jenny corrected seriously, and she boldly looked directly at Kamel's head Those two jumping arcane sparks, "The lord once said a word: the truth of the world should tend to be concise and clear, exploring the truth is everyone's god-given right, and human magical talent should not become a shackle that restricts thinking... "

"The shackles of thinking..." Kamel pondered, thoughtfully, "Everyone has the right to think—this is a sentence often talked about by the magisters in the Gondor era, but few people know it. Really extending it to everyone, we are so used to the fact that only magicians are qualified to explore the truth that we almost forget...ordinary people can think too."

He looked around at the manuscripts floating around him, and at the same time, he couldn't help thinking of the magic mechanisms he had seen in the machinery manufacturing plant before, and thought of those "mortals" who operated magic mechanisms and even designed them. For many years, the ancient magister who has seen the magic civilization of Gondor, of course he can realize what these things mean.

Even ordinary people without the slightest magical talent, as long as they have enough knowledge, can control the power of magic—not only can use it, but can even do research and invention, so as to promote the development of technology.

Kamel is a researcher, but that doesn't mean he doesn't know anything about social development. He can imagine how these technologies will affect human civilization, but what makes him at a loss is that he doesn't know This effect can be good or bad.

"Noble magic, is it just a tool in the end..." He couldn't help talking to himself.

"Magic is not noble, it's just a kind of power," Jenny retorted immediately, but she shrank her neck as soon as she finished speaking, "That's what the lord said..."

However, the expected scene of "the ancient magister was furious" did not appear, and Kamel just let out a series of hoarse laughter: "You seem to admire your lord?"

"The lord is a great man," Jenny whispered, "He goes further than all of us think, and sees everything..."

"If he firmly believes that doing so is beneficial to mankind, then I will support him, after all, I have sworn allegiance," Kamel chuckled, putting the manuscripts neatly on the table, and turning his head to look To Jenny, "Can I take a manuscript back to study? I'm...very interested in these things."

"Of course!" Jenny nodded hastily, and at the same time was a little surprised, "I didn't expect you to be so interested in these things. I thought a great magister like you would be angry after seeing such things, After all... Treating mysterious magic as a tool is an outrageous behavior for many magicians, and my mentor almost killed me for it."

"Is it deviant... Maybe it is true," Kamel sneered softly, "but do you know what I did back then?"

Jenny shook her head honestly: "I...don't know."

"I have done more deviant things," Kamel said lightly, "All of us are...we are the most deviant researchers who have been selected by thousands of people, so these things you are studying are very important to me. Words are nothing at all, and I'd be happy to study them with you."

Jenny lowered her head happily: "Master Kamel, this is my honor."

"In this field, you are the master." Kamel is very modest in this regard, "Many things I have learned are no longer applicable in this era, and it is necessary to learn them again. On the academic road, honor is only Belonging to capable people... eh?"

"Master Kamel?"

"It's nothing, I'm itching again..." Kamel twisted his body awkwardly, and suddenly turned to a certain direction. In the short moment just now, he finally sensed the magic wave that caused him to "itch" From what direction, "What's over there?"

"Over there? There are basically residential areas and warehouses..." Jenny was stunned, "Ah, but there is a magic laboratory at the end of the street, which belongs to Ms. Hetty, and she should be doing experiments in the laboratory right now .”

"Magic experiment?" Kamel's tone was curious, "Interesting...I want to take a look."

……

In the rebellious fortress located in the Shadow Realm, the material handling work has come to an end.

Most of the useful samples and ancient equipment are packed into crates and transported to the fortress in the real world through the magic gate. Most of the unmovable ones are large equipment connected to the main body of the building or have been clearly harmful and are not suitable for transportation to Contaminants in outer space, and as the handling work draws to a close, the fortress facility is gradually returning to calm.

Pittman stood on the top floor of the rebellious fortress, and the heavy partition wall had been opened. Through the translucent "divine protection barrier", he quietly watched the chaotic and broken world outside the barrier, and watched the floating world. The giant white deer among the rubble and metal wreckage.

Soldiers passing by would occasionally look at the old druid curiously. They were amazed that this old man, who had never been serious before, could have such a deep and solemn appearance, but no one came over to talk to him—they were still busy Finish the last job to get out of this spooky place as soon as possible.

There are also soldiers who will look curiously at the corpse of the giant deer Amoen outside the protective barrier, but they also do not pay too much attention to this huge biological corpse - only a few people know the truth about this giant white deer, and those who know The attackers have been given a gag order, and now ordinary soldiers don't even know how amazing secrets are buried in this fortress. Regarding this fortress, what they get is just an ancient research base for studying ancient and powerful creatures, and it is floating in the sky. The white giant deer in the different space is a monster that has been dead for many years-this kind of explanation is easier to accept than directly telling them that this place is for the gods to make slices.

But Pittman knew the truth about the giant white deer. Gawain told him everything about the "rebellious" fortress and the fortress of disobedience. Pittman could see what it was, too.

He has been standing here for a long time, just staring at the remains of the God of Nature for such a long time, his wrinkled face is tense, no change in emotion can be seen, and it is impossible to guess what is going on in his heart. It wasn't until there was no one around that he sighed softly: "I'm really dead..."

Then he silently took out a silver disc, oak flakes, blessed twigs, and acorns from his bosom, and built a small altar in front of the partition with these things. He lit the oak flakes in the center of the altar, Sprinkling a pinch of pollen on the small flame, his movements were meticulous, as precise and capable as those druid priests whose inheritance had not been interrupted 3000 years ago.

Nowadays, there are very few druids in the world who can master such a complete sacrificial movement.

However, the flame in the center of the altar was only burning quietly, and gradually extinguished as the fuel was exhausted. The God of Nature was right in front of his eyes, but this altar could not evoke even the slightest miracle.

Pittman didn't care about this, he just finished the short but complete sacrificial ceremony silently, looked up at the things on the altar being completely burned by the flames, and looked at the shimmering white The giant deer carcass, he suddenly showed a smile:

"You are lying here, and it seems that the God of Nature will never appear again."

After saying this, Pittman turned around and left the place without any hesitation.

He passed through the rebellious fortress that had been evacuated, passed through the ancient fortress in the dark mountains, and it took him a long time to walk back to the territory. The huge sun has gradually set in the west, and the huge corona is like a golden crown. Over the forest on the west side, and in the dimming sky, he saw a group of people leaving the only church in the town together.

These should be civilians who have just finished their prayers, with peaceful and indifferent smiles on their faces, while the priest of Shengguang, who looks like a berserker, stood in front of the church, watching the last batch of prayers leave.

Wright had already seen Pittman approaching him, and this strangely painted Priest Shengguang greeted him loudly from a distance: "Master! Come in and sit down? I still have some unfinished bread! "

Every piece of communion cookie distributed by Cecil Holy Light Church was made by Pastor Wright himself.

So it never ends.

Pittman thought about his teeth and stomach, and felt that as an old man, there was no need to challenge things that young people dare not challenge, so he declined Wright's kindness, but still walked into the church.

"It's rare for you to come here," Pastor Wright lit up the magic spar lamp in the church, and handed a glass of clear water to Pittman, "I'm afraid you have the least number of visits to the church in the entire territory—even Miss Amber is more than you." frequently."

Pittman subconsciously asked, "Is there anything missing?"

Wright was able to continue the topic smoothly: "I really have nothing to lose here, so Miss Amber hasn't come here much recently."

Pittman was stunned for a moment, then laughed silently, and then sighed softly after a few laughs: "Are you firm in your faith?"

Chapter 0250 The Blonde Soldering

This is a very direct question, but it is not a problem for the vast majority of believers in the world, Wright nodded without much thought: "Of course, a firm belief is the basis of being a priest. "

"It can be seen that you are even better than most senior priests in practicing the way of the Holy Light," Pittman smiled, "In this era, it is rare to see priests who are as meticulous as you. Follow the classics."

"Ansu's 'Sacred Law Reform' in 503 caused many priests to be less strict with themselves. That reform made it easier to release many divine spells and sacred rituals, and also made it easier for many low-level priests who could not be promoted The winners got the chance to be promoted—objectively, this greatly filled the manpower of the priest team, and also let other churches learn from it, and brought about the great development of various sects," Wright talked eloquently, usually really can't see This melee priest with all the tendons actually has such solid theological knowledge, but as long as someone sits down to talk to him about the belief in the Holy Light, he will show such a knowledgeable and talkative side, "The increase in the clergy is It is a good thing, but it is also a fact that more and more people no longer pay attention to the warnings about the heart in the way of the Holy Light... But no matter what, I believe that the pious people still occupy the majority, and the Holy Light is guiding people to be good after all .”

"Sacred law reform..." Pittman said unhurriedly, "Pope Ditas summed up the laws from a large number of divine arts and rituals, discovered the 'key points' in various divine arts and sacred rituals, and found that As long as these points are reasonably followed, it is enough to trigger the miracle of the gods, which greatly simplifies the threshold for releasing divine spells. In the process of summarizing the rules, the bishops at the same time also discovered that through self-evidence, self-examination, self-questioning and other methods to strengthen The shortcut to the effect of faith, the discovery of this series of laws greatly lowered the threshold for becoming a senior priest, and the Church of the Holy Light, which was the first to reform the holy law, also took this opportunity to become the most powerful religion in the world—this That strength continues to this day.”

Wright looked at Pittman a little surprised: "I didn't expect you to know this well? I thought druids were not interested in the knowledge of the Holy Light."

"It's just the history of religion. It's not the knowledge of the Holy Light." Pittman shook his head and said, "It can be seen that you are a priest who follows the path of classical hidden cultivation. Ask yourself... I wonder what you think of those priests who take shortcuts?"

Wright was stunned for a moment, and couldn't help laughing: "They have their way, and I have my way. The Holy Light will take care of them and me. Since the Holy Light shines on each of us fairly, it means that the way There is no right or wrong—naturally, I am not qualified to judge their ways."

"That's right," Pittman shook his head, "I'm just curious, what would the God of Light think if he knew that someone relied on taking shortcuts to gain power—those priests who are not strict with themselves can only follow the 'sacred law reform' After the scriptures perform rituals and release divine spells, they can obtain the power of the holy light. Usually, even if they drink too much, fight, and gamble, they extort high ransom money from the common people, and exchange poor people with poor-quality holy water made after a hangover. The last straw in the family, the Holy Light's care for them will not weaken at all, don't you think this is a very strange thing?"

If a mainstream Holy Light priest was here, he would probably have been furious after hearing Pittman's words, but Wright is obviously not a mainstream priest. He always thinks about Holy Light before anything else, so in After hearing Pittman's words, he couldn't help thinking. He thought for half a minute before raising his head: "I can't answer your question."

Pittman was stunned, and he stared at the pastor in front of him with wide eyes: "I thought you would try to come up with a theory to convince me—do you admit that my doubts about the Holy Light are correct?"

"I don't admit your doubts about the Holy Light, but I really can't answer your question," Wright replied frankly, "The way of the Holy Light told me to be honest with my heart, if I don't know, I don't know. But I don't think the disgraceful behavior you mentioned must not be the original intention of the Holy Light—those priests with bad character do exist, and I had conflicts with many of them when I was in the central region, but their Evil deeds stem from their own inner instability. They use deceit and trickery to seek their own interests, not the Holy Light or the God of Holy Light seeking benefits through these vicious priests—what interests do the gods have? What about taking it from a mortal?"

Pittman picked up the glass of clear water, raised his eyelids and looked at Wright: "For example... Faith?"

"If it is really for the belief of mortals, the God of Holy Light will not allow the existence of those evil deeds." Wright seemed to finally grasp the contradiction in Pittman's words, and he smiled, "Justice and mercy will Let the people cling to it, just as people naturally yearn for the light."

Pittman stared fixedly at the confident pastor, and couldn't help muttering under his breath: "...but sometimes fear and violence can have the same power."

……

Dark Mountains, Eastern Extension.

An elite troop is operating on a winding mountain road. They wear fine-quality light armor and carry all kinds of light weapons that are easy to use in mountain combat. They move in an orderly and well-disciplined manner. It can also do it like walking on the ground, and all signs are proving that this is a well-trained and capable team.

It's just that they can't see any identification that can show their identity, and even their weapons are deliberately concealed. Whether it is a sword or a crossbow, they are the conventional weapons that senior mercenaries will use. If you only judge from the appearance, I'm afraid it's easy to confuse them with the desperate mercenaries.

This team and several other troops have been active in the Dark Mountains for two days. Since leaving the border between Ansu and Typhon, these infiltrators from the Typhon Empire have been approaching the depths of Ansu.

Their task is to use the winding mountain roads in the dark mountains to bypass the steel defense line set up by Duke Loren in the eastern border of Ansu, and to find out the country's defense situation in the southeast region. After sending back the information, they will find a way to lurk. Merge with other infiltrated troops and form a "dark nail" that pierces the enemy's flesh and blood, and wait for the opportunity while carrying out various sabotage operations. When the war breaks out, the damage they cause will be enough to cause considerable damage to Ansu. Heavy blow.

There was more than one team that entered the Dark Mountain, but this team was the most powerful among several troops. The high-ranking elf ranger Solderin was the commander of the team. He jumped onto a protruding rock, lightly Easily control the balance of the body on the top of the rock, and look out at the large plains and forests at the northern foot of the Dark Mountains.

At this distance, humans can't see anything, but he can distinguish almost all the cooking smoke and frightened birds from the hazy forest and the fog floating above the forest. Based on this, he It can be roughly judged how many human settlements are within the field of vision, and the approximate size of these settlements.