Sword of Dawn

Hu Po wiped off the gray and black on her face vigorously, and looked at the door in front of her with bright eyes: "This thing...couldn't be a whole piece of purple steel?!"

"That's right, it's a whole piece, but I'll have Rebecca convert every piece of scum you scrape off from it into a fireball and burn it on your face," Gawain tapped Amber's with the hilt of the Pioneer Sword. Head, "So put away your bold ideas and wait for me to pay you honestly is the long-term solution."

Amber turned her head and whispered to BB: "... old stingy..."

Gawain heard her muttering, but ignored her, instead took half a step back, and took out the crucial "key" from his bosom.

A heritage from 700 years ago, a white gold disc.

Rebecca was a little worried: "It's been so many years, can this thing really still work?"

Gawain looked at her and showed a slight smile: "This is the technology of the Gondor Empire. As long as the main body of the facility does not collapse, its main gate will never fail."

As if to prove what he said was true, at the same time as the words fell, the complex lines on the platinum disc lit up one after another, and the relief on the heavy metal door also followed closely. Wisps of brilliance.

When the brilliance filled the entire gate, a creaking mechanical sound came from the gate and the depths of the rock walls on both sides, and everyone felt the ground under their feet tremble slightly, and with this tremor, the gate slowly opened .

Gawain, Rebecca and the others had already made preparations. When the door opened, they covered their mouths and noses and retreated to the sides. At the same time, Gawain also activated one of the knight's basic skills, "breath protection", a layer of invisible The barrier protected everyone at the scene - this ability is similar to the mage's basic magic "breeze shield". Although it can only provide very, very limited defense, it can effectively maintain a clean air environment. In places such as ancient ruins, this skill can prevent the caster from being harmed by those poisonous gases.

There are no poisonous gas traps in this ancient ruins, but there may be some gas accumulation in a closed space that has been closed for 700 years, and it is always good to have multiple layers of protection.

After several minutes, Gawain released his protection, nodded to the others, and walked into the gate first, followed by Knight Byron.

Hu Po hesitated for a moment, but gave up the idea of ​​chipping off a piece of metal from the gate while no one was paying attention—because the purple steel was too hard, a dagger couldn't pick it.

Inside the gate is a vast rectangular hall. The closed gate can be seen from all four directions of the hall, and those ancient properties are directly stacked in this hall.

The sealed environment in the hall and the runes set in various places in the hall ensure that the materials here are oxidized and corroded at the slowest rate, and even today, many of them are still well preserved.

There are piles of metal ingots, crystals of various colors, swords, armors, and several large boxes as tall as half a person stacked in the very center.

Gao Wen stepped forward and stuck the Pioneer Sword into the gap of the box, and pulled it hard, and the box opened with a sound.

One of the boxes contains gold and silver coins that are still shining, while the other boxes contain neatly arranged lavender crystals—military crystals that have been engraved and charged.

Those gold and silver coins are not the most valuable things, crystals are.

The ancient Gondor Empire dominated the mainland with advanced magic technology. The magic power from the Deep Blue Well gave the mages of the empire almost endless energy to squander. Even the poor mages can still pile up technological achievements under such conditions. , so the Gondor Empire did something that is almost unbelievable in the eyes of the four major kingdoms today:

Mass-produce "Extraordinary Armed Forces".

Ordinary swords and armors are not enchanted. No matter how strong and sharp they are, they are only ordinary equipment. Only equipment that has been enchanted and contains extraordinary power can be called "extraordinary weapons".In today's Ansu, enchanted weapons and equipment are things that only officers at all levels can issue-and they are not necessarily available, but in the Gondor period, each soldier was equipped with a long sword enchanted with sharpness and A standard crystal is standard.

The thumb-sized crystal is pre-set with primary shield and explosive spell models, automatic operation, friend-or-foe identification, even a leader who has no spellcasting ability can use it-the shield will be activated when attacked, and the shield will be exhausted It will generate heat and flash as a warning, and then throw it forcefully, and it will explode when the wearer and nearby friendly units reach a safe distance. In Gao Wen's view, this is an incredibly advanced weapon.

If it wasn't forced by the situation back then, they really couldn't take these away, and the pioneers would never leave them behind-then the team took away all the more valuable materials that could be carried with them. These crystals are The part that had to be given up.

Gao Wen reached out and picked up a crystal, and gently rubbed it in his hand.

This may be a way to allow ordinary people to have access to magic, but this way will not work.

Only when the Deep Blue Well is activated can this kind of thing be infused regardless of the cost. Now that the Deep Blue Well has been destroyed, these ancient crystals use one less.

But at least for now, these crystals will become the cornerstone of the stability of the territory.

Chapter 0042 Camp

Looking at those dazzling gold coins and crystals, Rebecca, Amber and Knight Byron fell into a daze without any surprise.

When Byron was a mercenary, he had seen the so-called deep mountain treasures, but those dim and dusty antiques were not of the same order of magnitude as the military supplies protected by runes in front of him; The treasures that I can see in the castle in my life are not as many as in the warehouse in front of me; let alone Amber, from the perspective of a dedicated and good thief, for the first time, she feels that it may be difficult for her to evacuate the things here up...

Of course, they will inevitably have a layer of curiosity when they are sluggish, because many of the things in front of them are standard equipment from the Gondor period, and most of these things rely on the advanced magic technology of the Gondor Empire. Therefore, after the establishment of Ansu, the pioneers The equipment they brought with them was basically one piece of equipment that was broken, and a lot of energy was exhausted after use. Today, the ancient weapons of Gondor in Ansu have become unknown even in the history books. Of course, these dazzling equipment in the warehouse are extremely unfamiliar to them.

But to Ms. Amber, it doesn't matter what the principles of these things are - anyway, they look so valuable!

"Gondor's long gold coin... the coat of arms silver coin... and the real three-leaf golden flower coin! My God!" Amber rushed to the box full of coins, her head was almost buried in the pile of gold coins, " Money! It’s all money! We’re getting rich!! Boss, boss, we’re getting rich!!”

When she has no money, she is old-fashioned, and when she has money, she is the boss. This attitude change is so great that she is worthy of the title of shame of the elves.

Gao Wen stretched out his hand and pulled Amber out of the pile of money, tugging at the back of her neck: "Calm down, calm down—this is my money, not yours!"

Amber had a righteous face on her face: "As your most loyal follower, this money is yours and mine!"

"These gold and silver coins are the least valuable things, and the crystals next to them are the real treasures," Gao Wen pouted, introducing these things that are completely unfamiliar to contemporary people, "The ones piled outside the box are crystal rough stones. , Unprocessed magic matrix, Rebecca, you are a mage, you should know them-although it needs to be processed before it can be used, but it will definitely come in handy. The box is a standard military crystal from the Gondor period, and it is very simple to use , can increase the combat power of the soldiers on the territory for a long time. Those swords and armors are a trouble... I checked just now, and the condition is not very good, especially the magic mechanism, which is almost scrapped. Now it can be used It is not clear how much combat power will be released."

Although there are sealed runes in this treasure house, which can slow down the oxidation and corrosion of metals, the continuous collapse and energy dissipation process of the magic mechanism itself cannot be delayed, although they all have a long "shelf life" ", but in the face of a time span of 700 years, there is still a limit to the shelf life-not only those weapons and armors, but in fact even the military crystals in several boxes have different degrees of energy dissipation, and now the energy contained in them is probably only Less than one-third of the "factory" time, and the failure rate of these antiques is also a problem.

But for the current poor and white Cecil family, this is still an amazing fortune.

So even though Gao Wen emphasized that these things were not in good condition, the eyes of Rebecca and Amber were still straight.

"Such a huge amount of wealth..." Knight Byron felt his mouth was a little dry, "It has been lying quietly on the border of the kingdom... and no one knows..."

"In a way, I would like to thank the civil strife in the Brumaire 100 years ago," Gao Wen shook his head, "When the Moen family still remembered these wealth, the demonic tide blocked people from exploring this place, and when the demonic tide subsided After that, the Moen family has already broken the lineage. Alas, fate..."

He lamented fate, but what Gao Wen really lamented was the closed and backward feudal system - all wealth belonged to the king and lords, and the lifeblood of the country would be controlled by a few families in the form of private property. Without inheritance, these things would turn into ownerless things in the barren mountains and ridges. What absurd situation is this?

If the Moen family had clearly recorded these treasures on paper and stored them in the archives, and the members of the royal family were only responsible for keeping the keys, it might not be his turn to get these treasures—weakened after the civil strife in Brumaire The wretched royal family would definitely have ideas for these things.

But how should I put it, isn't this kind of family-inherited treasure house left deep in the mountains for various reasons, isn't it the so-called medieval standard development?

Rebecca glanced at the ancient equipment and crystals, and finally landed on a box of gold and silver coins. She let out a sigh of relief: "With these, you can pay off Viscount Andrew's debts, and you can also buy food and stones. It's..."

Gao Wen glanced at her and shook his head: "No, the money can't be spent directly."

"Huh?" Rebecca was stunned for a moment, but she wasn't really stupid, she quickly realized, "Because these are antiques?"

"That's right, if you go shopping with a bunch of 700-year-old Gondor gold and silver coins, no matter how foolish you are, you will guess that the Cecil family has dug up treasures in this dark mountain," Gawain said. Nodded, "At the very least, these things can't be exposed casually when we're not getting a firm foothold."

"Then what should we do?" Rebecca frowned, "We are very short of money now..."

"It's very simple. Even if it looks different, gold is still gold, and silver is still silver. Thanks to this era of precious metal trading." Gao Wen smiled brightly, but what he said made Amber's heart twitch, "Molten these things. !"

"Mom!" The half-elf lady almost jumped up, "You know what I'm talking about! Melted?! These are ancient gold coins and ancient silver coins from 700 years ago! Even if you sell them as antiques on the black market, it's better It's reliable to melt!"

"The ancient gold and silver coins from 700 years ago are as good as new ones. What's more, many of them are ancient imperial coins that have been completely lost and can only be seen in books," Gao Wen looked at Amber, showing the same gentle eyes that she usually looks at Rebecca, "It's okay if you sell one or two boxes, try selling all six boxes to me? If you come back alive, I will give you one." box!"

Amber gritted her teeth, and wanted to run with all her body slashed to pick up a box. When she saw Gao Wen's arm thicker than her thigh, she suppressed the daring and embarrassing thought in her heart.

But she still wanted to struggle: "Then you can't melt it all...it's too wasteful..."

"Of course only a part of it will be melted," Gao Wen spread his hands, "I'll feel bad if I have to melt so many antiques, won't I? First re-mint a part of the coins to meet the urgent need, and seal the rest to see when they can be distributed. use."

Only then did Amber's expression relax, and Gao Wen looked at Rebecca with a smile: "Now you know why I specifically declared in the Silver Castle that day that I would retain my status as Duke Cecil?"

Rebecca blinked: "Huh?"

"Stupid! The duke has the right to mint coins!" Amber stared, then turned to Gao Wen, "So you made up your mind to melt the antiques here, right?!"

"It can be said that," Gao Wen admitted without any pressure, "I am now an unprecedented non-real duke, with zero territory for the time being, and I have to reclaim it myself, but even if there is no territory, the various privileges that come with duke status are In terms of legal theory, it is 'naturally self-contained', and the coinage right is just one of them."

Amber stared at Gao Wen with bulging eyes, and could only sigh in the end: "You ancient aristocrats still know how to play—the bumpkin aristocrats who only know how to dig holes in their territories to extort tolls from merchants are really incomparable to you."

To this, Gao Wen's answer was only one sentence: "Let's take a long-term perspective. Even this entire treasure house is nothing compared to the future."

Then he ordered Byron and Rebecca to pack some crystals and coins each, and prepared to leave this place first.

This treasury has been brought into my hands, but there is no way to put everything here to use. First, let the camp below be established, and then trustworthy soldiers will take the contents of the treasury in batches—the most important thing. It's weapons and equipment -- transported to the camp.At the same time, he had to arrange guards for the treasure house. Although there was a magic gate to protect it, since he had already arrived here, he couldn't continue to leave the treasure house unattended in the mountains.

Moreover, the ancient warrior outside the ruins had to be reburied—a pile of rubble was not considered a qualified grave. Now that people from the civilized world had returned to this land, the warriors who died in battle should be properly buried.

After sealing the treasure house with platinum disks again, Gao Wen and his party left the place.

The camp near the river beach is still busy and busy, but it is almost finished.

The two knights, Byron and Philip, purchased a large number of tents in Tanzania Town—actually, they were just the canvas and wood needed to build the tents. After arriving at the place, they needed to be processed on site to become temporary camps. However, the advance team The first batch of people were all skilled workers, and the speed of setting up the tent was also very fast. Moreover, Hetty used some auxiliary spells to help, and the camp had begun to see its scale at this moment.

According to the plan left by Gao Wen in advance, all the tents were built on the south side of the Baishui River, roughly forming a fan shape. Important materials such as food and iron were piled in the center of the camp, and the prefabricated wood he brought was stacked on the bank of the river for transportation. The carts and caravans used at the time were piled up around the camp after being emptied, serving as a temporary barrier before the wall was built—although the tide of magic has receded, this is a barren mountain where civilization has been cut off, who knows what beasts will come out ?

Beside the tent in the center of the camp, Gawain found Heidi with a tired look.

Trust those ancient crystals to lift the spirits of this weary lady.

Chapter 0043 The Limits of the Times

"Look at these crystals."

As soon as he saw Hetty, Gawain threw a standard lavender crystal into the opponent's hand.

The lady glanced at the things in her hands curiously, and a look of surprise appeared on her face.

"This is what you told me before, in the treasure house in the mountain..."

"That's right, I got it from there," Gawain nodded. Although he didn't bring Heidi with him this time, he had already told her about the treasure house of the Dark Mountains when he was in Tanzan Town, "These crystals It’s a technology from the Gondor Empire, let’s see if you can understand its rune structure.”

Any mage who has not been caught by the door will realize the preciousness of these crystals when he sees them. Hetty was immediately attracted by these beautiful lavender crystals, but he couldn't put it down after playing with them. After that, she could only shake her head slightly with shame: "Ancestor... I'm sorry, I'm ashamed... I'm only a third-level mage, I'm afraid I can't make such a profound thing..."

Gawain looked into Hetty's eyes: "I didn't ask you to make it, just analyze its rune structure - if possible, draw this rune structure. Speaking of manufacturing, I am afraid that no one in this era can make a similar It's a stuff: it's directly infused with the magic power of the Deep Blue Well."

"The Well of Deep Blue..." Hearing this famous name, Hetty couldn't help repeating, and then looked eagerly at the crystal in her hand, "If you just read and arrange the rune structure inside, that would be It's not difficult, as long as you get a set of crystal resonators, you can project the things inscribed in it. But just reading the rune structure...does it make sense? There is no corresponding energy injection technology and activation method, and the rune structure is nothing more than It's just a bunch of geometric figures..."

"I'll talk about that later," Gao Wen nodded and said, "These crystals can no longer be produced. At least before they are used up, I want to keep as much information as possible."

Hetty snorted and put away the crystal. The tired look on her face was still there, but after learning the exact news about the "Treasure House in the Mountain", her spiritual boost still made her look much better. Gawain then Take advantage of the situation and ask about the construction of the camp.

"Before the sun goes down, all the tents can be set up, and a fence can be erected at the same time. I plan to set up some magic traps and warning runes around, which should be more than enough to resist wild beasts. The lumberjacks found it in the woods to the west. There are a lot of high-quality wood. The rough wood that has been felled is still piled up in the upper reaches of the Baishui River. After cutting some more tomorrow, just let the wood flow down the river. In addition, according to the information you provided, I sent two people to the east. It is true that iron ore has been discovered, but right now we do not have the ability to smelt it, so we can only come a little bit. The most important problem now is the lack of manpower. The advance team is mainly here to investigate the situation and establish an outpost. Collecting resources needs to wait for follow-up People and horses."

"The big troops will come over in three days, and the manpower problem will be alleviated by then - and the tools and materials will follow." Gawain said while turning his head to look at the camp that was gradually being completed.

He has a lot of plans, a lot of plans, and the broad thinking from the traversers and the rich knowledge from Gawain Cecil gave him full confidence. Therefore, looking at the tentative camp, he will inevitably feel a little bit of a feeling in his heart. Share ambitions.

The tents are neatly arranged according to the plan, and surrounding drainage ditches have been dug in the camp. After the water from the White Water River is introduced into these ditches tomorrow, they can be used to prevent the most dangerous situation for the freshman camp. Fire; craftsmen are processing wood, nailing them together to make the most primitive and crude fence - the fence can't protect much against real monsters, but it's more or less useful when dealing with wild beasts Useful; the lumberjacks who went to the forest to the west have withdrawn and are resting at the moment...

Everything looks fine.

But after entering the camp and looking around carefully, Gao Wen couldn't help frowning.

He saw the numbness and cowering expressions on the faces of those craftsmen and civilian laborers, as well as their various lazy skills that were not brilliant at all, and they could be seen everywhere on the seemingly neat and compliant camps and fences. Cut corners and perfunctory places - missing a few nails is the most common phenomenon, and some tents are not even tied firmly.

Under Hetty's supervision, the craftsmen could still complete their work accurately, but the civilian labor of those helpers was simply operating indiscriminately - Gao Wen had actually thought of most civilians in this era without the slightest education. , neither literacy nor numeracy, so he explained to everyone in advance how these tents should be set up and how the entire camp should be planned. In addition, almost every single indicator in this camp is unqualified!

Don't they know that these tents and fences are their only shelter in the wilderness and their life guarantee for the next period of time?

Gawain thought angrily, then suddenly woke up:

Yes, they don't know.

Because these things belong to the lord, not theirs, even if these tents will be used for them in the future, they don’t believe that they can live forever—sooner or later, after the wasteland is measured, they will be driven to the wasteland and the tents would be dismantled to become the lord's castle and stables.

This is the general law of the age, and everyone firmly believes in it.

Despite the disaster in the old Cecil Territory, despite the exile with the team, and the construction of a new home, for these civilians and serfs who have survived the rigid and decadent era, they have already adapted to the suffering. And they are used to being numb in the process of suffering, so they will neither have the idea of ​​great blessings after the disaster, nor will they have the vigor and vitality to build a new home.

Gao Wen realized that he had taken it for granted before, and at the same time realized that some of the plans he had worked out for a long time before might not come true easily.

He called Hetty and Rebecca over at once.

In front of a tent that seemed to meet the requirements, but after a closer look, several supports were missing, and the entire tent was skewed, he pointed at those perfunctory places: "What do you think of this?"

Hetty didn't understand what Gawain meant at once, and thought he was blaming her, so she immediately lowered her head: "I'm sorry, ancestor, I supervised..."

"No, it's not a matter of supervision—you can't watch them nail every nail," Gao Wen interrupted her, "it's a matter of the attitude of the workers."

"My lord ancestor, you can't ask too much of those commoners and serfs," Rebecca thought for a while, and explained, "Most of them have little knowledge, except for doing the jobs their ancestors were used to on the farmland and mines, they Can't master other, more complicated jobs. Most of these people have never pitched a tent-especially if you also specify the specifications and functions of the tent, as well as the planning of the entire camp. Too complicated."

Gao Wen shook his head: "Is this really complicated?"

Hetty nodded slightly: "The army camps are so strict, these civilians and serfs can't do this."

"No, it's not complicated at all. I have broken down every step they have to do to the most basic level. Each person only needs to do one thing-drive a nail, or tie a rope, or saw the wood. Well, they don't need to know the plan of the whole camp at all, and what they have to do is no more complicated than working as a coolie." Gawain looked at Rebecca and Heidi, "Do you think that commoners and serfs are so stupid that they can't even master this? ?”

Hetty and Rebecca looked at each other, they could see that Gao Wen was very dissatisfied now, but they didn't realize the crux of the problem yet.And as for Gawain's question - it was a matter of course for the two of them, especially Hetty.

Commoners and serfs are of course stupid.

They were born in this era and grew up in this era, and neither of them are well-informed and gifted thought enlighteners, so it is impossible for them to have insights and understandings that are too far beyond this era.

In fact, Hetty and Rebecca are already extremely progressive outliers among contemporary nobles—Hetty never allowed the knights or soldiers in the family to plunder the property of civilians and serfs at will, and tried to make every Everyone can fill their stomachs, and Rebecca broke the iron law of serfs for life, arranged for them to become free people, and also allowed civilians and serfs to circulate freely in their territories, and allowed civilians to free business...

Each of these scattered systems can be said to challenge the norm, but the overall ideological confinement still prevents them from completely breaking through a fixed mindset: commoners and serfs are inferior.

Maybe they don't think so, but subconscious things can't be denied just by saying no.

Of course Gao Wen also knew this, so he didn't call the two great-granddaughters here to reprimand them or give them any ideological enlightenment, and he was not so naive as to think that with his few words, the civilians in the camp and Serfs were transformed into sober, active, fighting citizens.

This will be a long process, but right now, he only needs these people to complete the work requirements he issued as soon as possible.

"Gather everyone—civilians, serfs, soldiers, all of them," Gawain ordered, "while it's still bright."

Those who were working and those who were resting were quickly summoned. Even Amber, who was telling Betty about her adventures in the treasure house in the mountains, rushed over curiously——Besides her was a bewildered Betty.

Everyone doesn't know what the ancestor from 700 years ago wants to do, even Hetty and Rebecca are in a state of confusion.

As for the civilians and serfs, they just numbly obeyed orders and gathered together. The civilians gathered together, the serfs gathered together, and beside them stood the soldiers responsible for maintaining order.