Sword of Dawn

700 years! In 700 years, why didn't these unworthy descendants make progress?

Chapter 0039 Dark Mountains

Of course, although he complained hard in his heart, Gao Wen also knew that there was no way for the world to develop into this way.

The development of civilization has its laws to follow, but it is also full of uncertainties. Sometimes an explosive technological innovation is enough to make the entire civilization jump to a higher level, but in more cases—especially when feudal ignorance occupies an overwhelming advantage Under the circumstances - the development of civilization will show a state of rigidity and slowness for hundreds of years.

In a world of supernatural powers, extreme class solidification, and a world that has survived a single catastrophe, the situation will only get worse.

The existence of extraordinary power has brought many conveniences beyond the times in this world, but at the same time, extraordinary power has also put shackles on the development of civilization in this world.It allows those at the top to easily live an extremely comfortable and comfortable life, and forms an absolute dominance over the vast majority of "mortals" who have no power, and due to the rarity and uncertainty of "magic talent" itself This makes it difficult for this kind of power to become a driving force for social development—because it cannot benefit the general public in this world. Those lucky few who occasionally awaken their magical talents will only become the new noble class. Yes, but also powerless to change the fate of most people.

Extraordinary power does not belong to "mortals" - it is a rule that is taken for granted.

It is precisely because of this that the progress of society has become extremely slow. On the one hand, ordinary people who are the main body of the population are unable to change any status quo, and on the other hand, the upper class who enjoy the convenience of extraordinary power do not think that society is necessary to progress— —In fact, even those ordinary people don’t think that society needs to progress. They only need to pray that they can awaken their magic talent one day.

In a world with Frostbolts, who would have thought of inventing refrigerators and air conditioners?

However, Frostbolt will always be just Frostbolt. It cannot allow everyone to eat ice cream in summer, nor can it allow medical scientists to store serum and vaccines anytime and anywhere.

At least in this day and age, that is the case.

This is definitely wrong. Gawain is quite aware of this. Extraordinary power should not be an obstacle to civilization, and this place should not be trapped in the Middle Ages forever. It should have been a driving force for rapid development, not a shackle - but none of this can be resolved now.

He explained to Hetty and Rebecca in more detail the necessity of his own statistics of these data, as well as some matters that need to be paid attention to when making the table.Of course, since they have never counted these things, and those poorly educated civilians may not be able to tell their surnames and ages at all, he relaxed the requirements for the form and only asked them to count the data of craftsmen. Other civilians only registered their names first.

Everything will be perfected after the new territory is established.

No one has ever carried out this kind of statistics on civilians, because to the aristocratic class of this world, civilians are almost worthless-not even enough to serve as cannon fodder on the battlefield.The only role of civilians is to produce food and serve as free labor. No one realizes the importance of "people", and naturally no one realizes the necessity of registering population information.

The good news is that Rebecca, who is confused about other things, is the only one who knows a little about this. She quickly understood what Gao Wen meant, and happily led people to sort out the materials.

Reminiscent of her previous decree that allowed serfs to be converted into freemen through service, it seems that this "incompetent" lady lord is not really useless.

This child, if educated well, might be able to be tricked into managing personnel affairs (no).

Fortunately, the number of people who need to be counted is less than [-], and after settling down in Tanzania Town, Knight Philip has already made a simple record of the survivors. With the help of Hetty, Rebecca quickly sorted out Gawain. information requested.

After getting the information, Gao Wen decided to divide the team into two groups and head to the "new home".

The first group is the advance team, led by him, Rebecca, and Hetty. The team includes half of the soldiers and militiamen led by Knight Byron, as well as necessary craftsmen and a hundred laborers. The advance team will establish a temporary camp at the destination , Find out the water source and other conditions, and do a good job of preventing the attacks of the surrounding beasts.

Then most of the civilians will follow under the escort of Philip Knight.

It is unwise to directly lead more than 800 people into a barren land. Although there are basically no old, weak, sick or disabled among these 800 people (they failed to escape), it is safer for civilians who lack combat effectiveness to follow the advance team .

To open up a barren land, no amount of preparation is enough, but the first step must be taken in everything. After planning and deploying as carefully as possible, Gao Wen and his advance team finally left the tank. Sang Town, heading towards the dark mountains in the southeast direction.

They marched along the tributaries of the Baishui River on a relatively flat river beach. Knights and lords led the way in front of the team, while soldiers guarded both sides of the team. Those craftsmen, together with various materials and tools, were protected in the team. the central.

Hetty rode on the horse, looked back at the not-so-large team, and suddenly felt emotional: "We seem to have become pioneers too..."

"We are the pioneers." Gawain looked at her and said with a smile.

Hetty blinked: "What I want to talk about is the great development 700 years ago..."

Gao Wen shrugged: "That's still me."

Hetty: "...that's right."

"Show up some confidence," Gao Wen looked at the lady who seemed a little worried about the future, "every time you step into an unknown place, it is a great journey, whether it is the second pioneering 700 years ago, or The first pioneering in ancient legends, or what we are going to do now, are equally great in essence. We will not only establish a new home—maybe we will also establish a new era."

Hetty looked at Gawain in a daze, then nodded.She didn't quite understand what the other party meant by "new era", but since the ancestors who were legendary heroes said so, it must be a great and glorious thing.

And Amber, who was accompanying her, slapped her hands. Miss Thieves thought simply, anyway, now that Gao Wen is the boss, whatever the boss says is right, no matter what he understands or not, it is always right to slap first... …

The closer one gets to the Dark Mountains, the more desolate the scenery becomes, and the power of human civilization shows signs of gradual decline in this southern land.

When the pioneering craze had not abated, the descendants of the first generation of pioneering knights used swords and flames to set up small settlements in this barren land, and planned to go to the wasteland of Gondor. The territory was re-expanded, but with the restlessness of the demon tide, the dark and primitive forces on the border of civilization eroded again and again, and the continuous breeding of monsters and the deteriorating natural environment made it difficult to maintain these settlements. The forces ushered in a reshuffle, and the last few pioneering villages that barely survived on this land were also destroyed.

To this day, the counterattacking barbaric forces have swallowed up all the traces of civilization back then, and only wild beasts and monsters remain between those dilapidated and dilapidated settlements and primitive forests.

Although the magic power has now calmed down again, and the dark tide is bound in the wasteland of Gondor, human beings seem to be satisfied with the current civilized territory. Coupled with the decline of the Cecil family in the southern border, to this day, the Kingdom of Ansu There are no plans to redevelop the land.

The team of chariots and horses marched silently on the rough and potholed road. Although Gawain's encouragement to Hetty was very effective, the rest of the team were still uneasy. What is the result, even if they were led by the great pioneer 700 years ago-especially for those craftsmen who were found among commoners and serfs, it is not so much the sense of glory that drives them, but rather the sense of pride. The lord's habitual obedience and numbness to life are driving them to step forward.

In this way, they walked all the way along the river beach, and stopped at an open field after three days.

This open land is already close to the Dark Mountains. In fact, it is sandwiched between the river and the mountains. It is a narrow and long small plain area. The tributaries of the White Water River are slightly widened here, and the river slows down and flows gently through the Dark Mountains. On the north side, it flows eastward into the Typhon Empire.

Facing the south, looking up, is the magnificent and daunting dark mountain range.

Gawain climbed onto a large rock beside the river beach, looked at the surrounding scenery, and compared it with the satellite overhead view in his mind. He saw that there was a forest growing on the west side of the plain, where most of the wood was hard black cedar and giant wood. It can be used as a valuable source of timber in the early days of the territory, and the mountains on the east side are more prominent. If Gawain Cecil's memory is correct, there should be iron ore there.

In addition to iron ore, there are several other mines nearby—the Dark Mountains are a treasure.

Although the pioneering team led by Gawain Cecil and Charles I did not stop in the Dark Mountains, they still did basic investigation and exploration along the way. Regarding the mineral vein resources that were discovered on the road to pioneering but could not be utilized, Gawain Know it like the palm of your hand.

Now that the Ansu royal family has given up on these things, he readily accepts them.

After observing the terrain, Gawain jumped off the rock and looked at Hetty: "You guys set up camp here, set up all the tents you brought, and let the soldiers escort the loggers to get wood from the forest—but don't get too excited. Go deep into the forest to prevent being attacked by ferocious beasts. Don’t worry about monsters. The dark mountains are not as scary as you imagined. Besides, the other labor force will stay here to help build the camp first. Rebecca, Byron, Amber, the three of you come with me."

Hetty froze for a moment: "Ancestor, you are going to..."

"Go get my inheritance back."

Chapter 0040 Ancient Ruins

In fact, the ancient ruins or ruins in Gao Wen's memory are not far from the place where the team camped - it is located on the north side of the Dark Mountain Range, most of which are hidden in the mountain body, and part of the structure is exposed between the mountain walls In theory, as long as you look up at the dark mountains in the distance, you can see part of the structure of the historic site between the rock walls hundreds of meters above the ground.

It's just that the long-term passage of time has obliterated the traces of civilization. A large number of spreading vines and mountain vegetation cover the rock walls, covering those ancient sites layer by layer. It is difficult to observe the structure outside the mountain now. Standing at the place where the team camps and looking at the mountain, it may be difficult for hunters with good eyesight to spot the abnormalities between the rocks and vines in the first place.

After arranging things about the camp, Gao Wen and his party set off for the mountains. Merely ten years will not change the terrain of nature. As for the route into the mountain, Gao Wen and his party found the way up the mountain very smoothly.

Amber seemed a little worried: "I said...you are going to dig treasures in the Dark Mountains. There are only four of us in total. Don't you think this team is a bit precarious?"

Gawain glanced at the half-elf: "Then what do you think?"

Hu Po gestured: "No matter what happens, there will be a team of several hundred guards along the way, a dozen master-level rangers and druids in charge, the knights in front will clear the way, the mages will be behind, and a master-level thief like me will be in charge. Door lock picking—isn't that standard treasure hunting in the mountains?"

"Standard for your size!" Gao Wen originally thought that this guy had some good ideas, but he ended up talking nonsense, "Which treasure hunting team is configured according to the standard of the regular army! And it's easy for you to say - you organize it for me A wave of such a team coming out?"

"Okay, I'm exaggerating a bit, but this is the Dark Mountains! Dark Mountains!" Amber waved her arms exaggeratedly, "It is said that there is a place where a demon lord lives every 800 meters! You just bring three people into it!" Mountains—and one of them can only fireballs..."

"Believe it or not, I can beat you to the ground without a fireball!" Rebecca suddenly became agitated, picked up the staff and pointed at Amber, "Let you see how powerful the women of Cecil's family are!"

Gao Wen stopped the great-granddaughter on the N+1 floor, and looked at Amber helplessly: "You will die with this mouth sooner or later. And where did you hear that there are demon lords living every 800 meters in the dark mountains? Are the ignorant villagers scaring the children? If there were so many demon lords, they would have swept Anzu long ago."

As he spoke, he raised his head and looked at the winding mountain road ahead.

"The Dark Mountains are indeed a dangerous place, but most people magnify the danger here too seriously. In fact, during the Gondor Empire, this mountain range was just one of the ordinary northern mountains. Mountains are also known as the two major mountain systems in the north and south of Lawrence. At that time, the Dark Mountains were not dark at all. Instead, they had the reputation of "Mountains of Gold" because of their rich products and various minerals. Just facing the place where the elemental storm hits the hardest—the entire southern foot of the mountain range was eroded by elements, forming a frightening black forest, and this mountain range is gradually being called the Dark Mountain Range.”

Gao Wen talked about what he knew - part of it came from the memory in his mind, and the other part was the knowledge he acquired recently.

"The Black Forest on the other side of the mountain is indeed dangerous, but it is located on the south side of the mountain range. This mountain range is a natural barrier, which almost cuts off the breath from the wasteland of Gondor that diffuses through the magnificent wall. Most The mutated monsters living in the Black Forest all need to rely on chaotic mana to survive, so they will never leave the Black Forest, let alone cross the ridge to the north of the mountain, which is enough to suffocate them. The north side is actually pretty safe."

The route that Gao Wen chose does not have much vegetation coverage, but he can still see some overgrown trees and vines spreading from the roadside to block the way from time to time. These plants grow more or less tenaciously in the dark mountain range area. It will also be affected by some wasteland breath - that is the trace of "elemental wind" (that is, the unclean wind in the mouth of Viscount Andrew) that floats from the south along the airflow every year. Underneath, the plants appear distorted and unusually thick, with a somewhat hideous meaning.

But Gawain knew very well that apart from looking a little scary on the outside, these things are actually not threatening at all. They are just "stronger" plants. The noble children who boast that they have experienced the experience of the Black Forest are all exaggerating the dangers of this land-they have no idea what the real Black Forest looks like.

The reason why he was able to confirm that the pollution in the area on the northern side of the Dark Mountains had receded was not because of the memory in his mind or the information he inquired about, but because of the satellite view from ten years ago.

As long as you compare the satellite view with the data in your memory, you can easily determine that this place is actually a safe zone.

"People's fear here is actually only derived from two points. The first is the fear of the wasteland of Gondor. Although the sentinel towers and magnificent walls built by the elves have sealed most of the wasteland of Gondor, that layer The magic barrier can only isolate 700% to [-]% of the chaotic magic energy. The corrupt power that permeates from the wasteland of Gondor every year is the biggest threat to the border areas of the four countries. The fear and pressure will not dissipate so quickly—these horror stories in the border areas have been circulated for [-] years, and they have long become a part of almost traditional culture," Gao Wen said casually while chopping the plants blocking the way, "The second... is the fear of the unknown."

"Unknown?" Amber asked, frowning.

"That's right, unknown. How many years has it been since the Ansu Kingdom stopped exploring the south?"

It was Rebecca who answered: "If you count from the signing of the order to stop the development, it will be more than 200 years. If you count from the cancellation of all settlements, it will be 100 years."

"That's right, it's been 100 years at least. For 100 years, this place has been listed as a forbidden area. Except for those 'adventurers' who go back and brag about it, no one dares to approach this place, and no one knows about it. What exactly is it? They can only learn about this place from the horror stories passed down from generation to generation and the adventure stories blown up by adventurers, how can they not be afraid?"

After listening to Gao Wen's series of scientific popularization, Amber finally breathed a sigh of relief: "Phew... so the horror stories about the Dark Mountains are all blown out. In fact, we are safe here?"

Gawain thought for a while, and suddenly showed a very scary expression and approached the half-elf lady: "Actually, I lied to you - this place is eerie, dangerous, chaotic and terrifying, and there is a demon lord living every 800 meters."

Amber: "...Eeeeeeeeeeeee!!"

"It's a shame to be a master-level thief," Gawain laughed with satisfaction, raised his hand to pat Rebecca's head next to him, and pointed to a tree trunk that fell on the ground not far away, "Your fireball There's a place for that trick—blow that thing up. If I remember correctly, it's in front of it."

Rebecca had been waiting for this moment for a long time, and immediately nodded happily, raised her staff, and a fireball with the size of a head flew straight forward.

I always feel that this girl summons fireballs faster than before...

"boom--"

After a loud noise, the fireball exploded, and the already rotten and fragile tree trunk was blown apart, turning into two unbalanced pieces that rolled down the hillside, and the road ahead suddenly became clear.

An open land hidden in the mountains is presented to everyone.

This open land seems to have been deliberately leveled by someone, and the rocks have been cut into incredible neat shapes. Among the rocks, you can see ancient arches and collapsed walls, which seem to be "embedded" in the mountains Between the huge rocky cliffs, there is even an illusion—as if there used to be a magnificent fort here, which was swallowed by the surrounding stones.

But in fact, this ancient ruin itself was built inside the mountain, and about two-thirds of its structure was hidden behind the stone wall.

Whether it is Amber who has been coddling all the way, Rebecca who has been listening carefully to the admonition of her ancestors, or Byron Knight who is fully alert, when they see this ancient ruin hidden in the mountain, they can't help but His eyes widened.

They looked at this incredible ancient ruins in astonishment.

Gawain's eyes wandered around, and suddenly stopped beside a collapsed rubble.

He came to the pile of rubble, and there was a black thing stuck in the pile of stones, which could hardly see its original appearance. After carefully distinguishing it for a long time, he realized that it was a handle that had been severely corroded broken sword.

On the ground next to the stone pile, you can see a line of incisions, which are so deep that they are still clearly identifiable after 700 years of weathering: 16 Squadron, Cole is buried here.

Rebecca's voice came from behind: "This is... what?"

"When the team crossed the Baishui River, they encountered pursuers. The 16th Squadron was in charge of the rear, and no one survived," Gao Wen said slowly. "It should be the last surviving soldiers who retreated to this place when there was no hope of breaking through. It's a pity. …At that time, the demonic tide was raging, and the entire Dark Mountain Range was shrouded in corruption. In my lifetime, we were unable to take back this area, and when the demonic tide subsided naturally, no one remembered this place..."

Knight Byron took off his saber, pressed the long sword to his chest, and bowed to the humble tomb.

There is still a tomb for the soldiers buried here, but it is hard to find even the slightest trace of the soldiers who built the tombs and left scratches.

Gao Wen was silent in front of the grave for a while, then picked up a piece of gravel from the side and pressed it on the top of the pile of stones: "Don't worry, everyone has survived."

At this moment, he wished that he said this sentence in the tone of Gawain Cecil, not the time traveler Gawain.

Then he walked to the arch not far away: "Come with me, and I will show you what your ancestors left here."

Chapter 0041 The Treasure House

The ancient treasure house is hidden in the mountains, the unknown ruins are covered with vines, and the walls made of boulders and metal are covered with many scars. Every trace is a character left by time, and human beings from these The only thing that can be read in the characters is the word vicissitudes.

The history of this ancient ruin can be traced back to the distant period of the Gondor Empire. Its thick and majestic style is extremely unfamiliar to the Ansu people today. In Gao Wen's memory, it was already here when the northern pioneering army found it. It was in ruins - and it didn't look much "younger" then than it does now.

Gawain, Rebecca, Amber, and Knight Byron walked into the mountain through the largest archway. The flickering light of the torches made the corridors on both sides dark and dark, just like the legendary "soul corridor" leading to the kingdom of the dead. Amber complained dissatisfied He said: "I should have sent your Aunt Hetty over if I knew it earlier. What's the use of bringing you - you can't even do a flash spell and you're a magician?"

Rebecca blushed: "Fireball... Fireball can also illuminate..."

It's a pity that the weak tone is not convincing at all.

Knight Byron walked not far behind Gawain's side. He looked at the ancient stone walls and the dents on the walls that could no longer be seen, and couldn't help but think of the feeling he had when he was a mercenary many years ago: "This How many years have the ruins been?"

"I don't know," Gawain shook his head. "The first time we found it, it was already in ruins. The more knowledgeable people in the team at that time said that it was the legacy of the 'Spark Age'—that was the magic of the middle and late stages of the Gondor Empire." At the time of great technological development, at that time, the great magic well "Deep Blue Well" was successfully launched, and there was a wave of expansion in the empire, and a large number of fortresses and research facilities began to be built on various borders, hoping to find similar "Deep Blue Wells" in other parts of the mainland. 'Such a super-large magical focus, but then those facilities were abandoned one by one."

Rebecca felt incredible: "Isn't there a magic focus?"

"No, I can't find a magic focus like Deep Blue," Gawain recalled the history in his mind, "The power of the Deep Blue Well is beyond your imagination. It is a super-large source of magic power located in the center of the continent. It The output energy can even supply the Mage Tower in the entire territory of Ansu to run for a month-so some scholars in later generations believe that the explosion of the Deep Blue Well in Gondor in 1739 was actually the inducement of the magic tide, although the explosion did not blow up on the spot The entire empire, however, tore a big hole in the elemental plane, and the imbalance of elemental power accumulated until the second year, which triggered the demon tide. However, this conjecture cannot be confirmed, the entire Deep Blue Well and the magic focus 'Dark Blue' 'It has been completely annihilated, and no one can investigate."

"It's amazing..." As a mage, Rebecca could naturally hear how amazing the ancient magic well was. She was even more shocked that human beings were able to master that level of power at one time. "The Gondor Empire back then was so powerful. ..."

"All in all, in the eyes of the Gondorians back then, the magic power points all over the continent were almost invisible, so after barely finding a few medium-sized magic power points, Gondor stopped exploring more distant areas. A large number of fortresses and research facilities were abolished. This should also be one of the facilities that were abolished at the same time, and it is likely to be a comprehensive thing.”

Amber suddenly became nervous: "Then... then there shouldn't be any out-of-control ancient magical monsters or magic traps here?!"

Gawain glanced at the nervous half-elf: "As a guy who dares to dig other people's ancestral graves, are you still afraid of this ancient facility that has been abandoned for thousands of years?"

"That's different! Even if the person in the coffin digs up the ancestral grave, it's just a person—once something pops out of this kind of ancient facility, it's impossible to tell what it is! I heard that in some ancient facilities It also seals the synthetic magic beast and magic colossus made by the crazy magician..."

Gao Wen had a vein in his forehead: "I'm a 'human' when I pretend to be a corpse. I really disappoint you——it's the same with the previous rumors about the Dark Mountains, and the same is true for the strange rumors about ancient facilities. The incorrect knowledge in your head Where did it all come from?"

Amber thought for a while, and suddenly said with a mysterious face: "Let me tell you, in fact, I am really the Goddess of the Night Goddess. Sometimes I pray too much and the Goddess will give me enlightenment. She taught me." of……"

Rebecca rubbed a thumb-sized miniature fireball and threw it at Amber, who was caught off guard and covered in black ashes, and immediately yelled, "Mom, you're crazy! It's dangerous to throw a fireball all of a sudden. Well!"

Rebecca shrugged: "...It seems that she is not chosen by God."

Gao Wen was too lazy to talk to these two guys who were not easy to deal with.

Because the ancient gate had appeared before their eyes.

At the end of the corridor, a heavy door made of purple-black metal stands in front of it. This door has a typical Gondor "Spark Age" style, thick and steady, and the surface is painted with abstract reliefs. Pattern of soldiers and walls.