Sword of Dawn

"How long have you been a blacksmith?" Gao Wen asked suddenly.

"Three...almost 30 years," Hammer replied hastily, "but people like us don't remember the year very clearly..."

"A 30-year-old blacksmith, I didn't expect you to have so many innovative ideas," Gao Wen was a little confused, "It stands to reason that these ideas are easily produced by young talents with unlimited ideas. How could you think of it? so much?"

Hammer opened his mouth, and spoke only a few seconds later: "...Master, I'm not afraid of your jokes, these ideas of mine are actually not new, these ideas have been accumulated for many years..."

Gao Wen showed an interested expression: "Tell me."

"I've been a blacksmith for decades, and I really don't know much about stoves and steel. If I say I'm used to it, I've been used to it for a long time," Hamel said with a smile on his face. "But I still remember when I was still an apprentice—my father was a blacksmith in the village at that time, and I learned the craft from him. One year, the lord asked us to smelt a batch of refined iron, and I volunteered to master it myself. Furnace, my father felt that I had studied it for many years and should be on my own, so he let me try, but something went wrong.”

Hamilton paused, and then said: "I was too impatient, and I didn't wait enough time when the furnace was cooling down, so I raised the temperature again-the rune broke.

"Once the rune is broken, the stove is completely useless. It is the most valuable and most important thing in the blacksmith shop. My father was furious. He hung me at the door of the shop and smoked me for a long time. He almost beat me to death. He said he didn't kill me. The only reason for killing him directly is that once he is killed, no one will help the family with work, and no one will inherit the blacksmith shop...

"That year, we failed to fulfill the lord's order, and my father received dozens of whips in the castle..."

Obviously, this incident during the apprenticeship left a deep imprint on Hammer's heart.

And when he was punished by his father and saw his father go to the castle to receive the punishment, many thoughts about the blacksmith's furnace began to sprout in his mind.

Fortunately, 30 years have passed, and those sprouts have not completely withered in Hammer's heart—maybe they have withered, but Rebecca's plan to "draw a magic circle on the furnace to replace the runes" made the old man Hope reappeared in the blacksmith's heart.

It is already a pretty good breakthrough to be able to re-emerge hope.

Since the old blacksmith is not as immobile and difficult to accept new things as he feared, it seems that some things can be prepared in advance.

Chapter 0063 Changes

The construction of Magic Net No. [-] went smoothly. On the one hand, Rebecca really has a good talent in this area, and on the other hand, because the "Magic Net" basically uses the most basic rune arrangement, With his calculation power and creativity, the wild mage almost simplified this incredible magic circle to the extreme, even downgrading the materials required for the magic circle to an incredible level - quartz sand that can be bought by ordinary people can As the main material, the key nodes only need a little mithril and obsidian as conductive materials, and the cost is completely within the affordability of today's Cecil collar.

After all, the wild mage back then was extremely down and out, if he didn't simplify the magic net to this point, he wouldn't be able to make this set of things at all.

But the smooth progress of a project means that the pressure related to the project will follow——

In Gao Wen's vision, the territory must first ensure sufficient steel production. With steel, there are weapons, equipment, working tools and infrastructure for manufacturing next-level products, and only the smelting facilities are built. It is only the first step, and more importantly, the construction of the eastern mining area is completed to ensure a steady supply of ore.

And the construction of a mine requires more materials. In the absence of heavy machinery and equipment, it can only rely on manpower to excavate rocks, which also requires more manpower.

At the same time, the construction of the camp must also be accelerated—replacing the tent with a wooden house is only a stopgap measure. A truly solid and stable camp cannot be built with wood, but is there any more convenient and fast construction technology and construction materials in this era? ?

After putting everything in front of his eyes, Gao Wen realized how difficult it is to build a family from scratch. Even with the help of magic and a temporarily worry-free fund reserve, it is not easy to build a new home on a piece of white land.

At this time, he couldn't help but look forward to the batch of aid promised by Francis II—on the one hand, food and cloth, and more importantly, the hundred craftsmen and apprentices, 100 people, even if many of them were excluded because they were excluded. The unlucky guy who was forced to come to the south to open up wasteland is also a hundred technical talents!

For Cecil Territory, which has a total population of just over 800, what is the concept of [-] technical talents?

It is a concept that can make Gao Wen wake up with a smile while falling asleep, and at the same time startle the soldiers on night duty at the gate.

It's a pity that it will take more than half a month at the fastest.

Speaking of talent, Gao Wen thought that it had been two days since Amber set off... and there was still no movement, so the Shame of All Things, who has no integrity at all, really absconded with a few gold bars and money?

In the big tent in the center of the camp, Gawain was having a lot of thoughts in his mind, trying to focus on the drawings and forms in front of him, while Betty was sitting on a cushion not far away, her head was moving little by little. dozed off.

The blueprint in front of Gao Wen is the new type of furnace he is designing - it has a similar shape and part of the structure to the blast furnace on the earth, but the inner operating mechanism is completely different, and it is necessary to reserve space for the magic circle to function , we must also consider making the magic guide structure on the furnace as close as possible to the "Magic Net No. [-]" buried underground, and at the same time, we must also consider that the molten iron cannot damage the magic pattern on the furnace body...

This is completely different from the magic net and the water wheel. Gao Wen must combine the knowledge of the two worlds to complete this design. If the "magic net" is the cornerstone of Cecil's land, then the design Such a peculiar "mixture melting pot" is Gawain's "foundation" for himself.

Gao Wen knew very well that only after completing it, would the many unconstrained ideas in his mind be realized, and no one could help him in this regard.

He completed the design of the combustion chamber and the molten iron drainage part, and reserved space for drawing the magic circle based on Gawain Cecil's knowledge, then rubbed his forehead, and stretched out his hand to the side: "Betty, help me put that on the drawing Bring me the sheepskin bag...the one with the red string."

There was no response from the side, only a slight snoring sound, and when I turned my head, I saw that the sleepy little maid had curled up into a small ball on the mat, sleeping soundly.

It seems that letting her sit here with me is really boring.

Gawain shook his head dumbfounded, and was about to get up to get the sheepskin bag, but saw Betty suddenly get up with his eyes closed, and then walked to the corner of the tent in a daze, opened the box, took out the sheepskin bag, and shook it again. leisurely walked in front of himself...

I almost didn't open my eyes during the whole process...

Gawain took the sheepskin bag amusedly, and while putting away the blueprints, he looked at Betty trying to open his eyes: "Sleep first if you're sleepy, I don't know how long I'll have to work."

Betty finally woke up at this time, opened her eyes vigorously and shook her head: "I'm not sleeping, the master is not sleeping, I'm not sleeping!"

Then she lowered her head and looked at the drafts that Gao Wen spread out on the table, as if she was very serious. Gawain was a little curious when he saw this, "Can you understand these?"

"I don't understand..." Betty shook her head, "I can't read..."

"Oh, then you must be bored watching this," Gao Wen laughed, "No wonder they fell asleep just now."

"I didn't sleep!" Betty shook her head quickly, and then her eyes involuntarily drifted to the drafts full of words, "Master, you know a lot of words..."

Obviously she was sleepy just now, but looking at the drafts on the table, her sleepiness seemed to have passed. This made Gao Wen feel amused, so he tried to ask: "Do you want to read? ?”

Betty nodded subconsciously, but then shook her head nervously, pinching a button on her maid uniform: "Mrs. Hansen said that maids can't read, as long as they work hard."

"That's unreasonable, everyone can read!" Gao Wen immediately corrected, and then said on a whim: "If you want to learn, I can teach you some."

Betty's eyes couldn't help drifting to the papers again, but this time she shook her head before nodding: "But Philip Knight said that the paper and pens on the territory are very precious, and I can't waste them..."

Gawain was stunned for a moment, and just wanted to say that there are plenty of papers here anyway, but then he realized that what Knight Philip said had some truth - he couldn't be self-sufficient in the territory, and the transportation with Tanzan Town could only rely on In the case of messengers riding back and forth on horseback, these materials are actually used a little less, and it is indeed a bit extravagant for Betty to practice calligraphy.

What's more, I don't know if this girl can really learn it. What if she is just playing around?

But looking at the little girl's dumbfounded appearance, Gao Wen couldn't help laughing: "You wait here."

He ran to pick up a branch and came back, brushed it with his hands, and under the action of the knight's strength, all the burrs and forks were cleaned up, and then he roughly trimmed one of the ends with a knife After a while, he handed it to Betty: "Let's practice on the ground first, and then we'll talk about it when we're done."

Betty took the branch in a daze, and then saw Gawain turn around and take a piece of paper from the desk and start writing with a brush. Soon, he wrote a "copybook"—a large paper on yellowed rough paper. The handwriting of the number is written with the basic alphabet, and there is a huge word below it.

Gawain handed this piece of paper to Betty: "The one on top is the alphabet, and the one on the bottom is your name, just practice accordingly—ask me if you don't know it."

Betty reacted for a while, and then took it as if she had found a treasure, and almost burst into a snot bubble with joy.

There was still land in the camp, but it was just compacted. Gawain set aside a space for Betty next to his desk as an area for her to practice calligraphy.

After helping the little girl loosen the soil, he went back to the desk, while the little maid squatted beside her, and began to practice those basic letters clumsily.

It looks pretty decent.

A text he had learned in his previous life flashed through Gao Wen's mind, then he shook his head and smiled.After this little episode, he felt that his spirit had relaxed a lot, and his thoughts had become active again, so he pulled out another draft and prepared to solve another problem.

But this quiet atmosphere didn't last long, after a while, Gao Wen heard a noise coming from outside the tent.

He comforted Betty, let the little girl practice calligraphy here at ease, and then walked out of the tent quickly.

Knight Byron was also running towards this side. Seeing the slightly anxious expression on his face, Gawain knew something had happened.

When the other party came close, before the knight could speak, Gawain asked, "What's going on?"

"My lord, the soldiers guarding the treasury in the mountain reported that they heard strange movements in the treasury, like the sound of rubbing against the rock wall or something colliding - but the gate of the treasury was blocked, and they couldn't get in, so they couldn't confirm it. As for the situation in the treasure house, we had no choice but to send the news first.”

Something went wrong in that ruin? !

Gao Wen admitted that he really broke out in a cold sweat at this moment: It's easy to say anything, but there must be no mistakes in the treasure house!

That's the real coffin book!

But then he calmed down: If the news had come earlier, he might have panicked even more, but fortunately, he has been arranging manpower to transfer the urgent supplies in the treasury to the camp one after another these days, although Not all of them have been moved out, but at least one-third of them have been shipped out. Even if something happens to the treasure house, or even the whole thing collapses, it won't be so painful to death...

All in all, after some self-comfort, Gawain completely calmed down—and now that it was dark, Byron probably didn't notice the cold sweat on his master's forehead just now.

The image of the ancestors has been preserved.jpg.

Gao Wen weighed whether to set off immediately to check the situation or wait until tomorrow morning, and quickly came to a conclusion: sleep paralysis!With this kind of thing hanging in my heart, which hard-headed person can sleep? !I'm afraid that Rebecca's mentality will collapse!

"Leave the defense of the camp to Knight Philip. Find some smart and capable soldiers and go to the mountains with me—and also call Heidi, her auxiliary spells should be helpful."

Chapter 0064 Deep in the Ruins

In fact, Gao Wen planned to call Rebecca, but the latter has been busy with the construction of "Magic Net No. [-]" these days, and has not had a good rest for several days. He didn't wake her up again.

Anyway, there are only a few fireball launchers if they are called up, and they are not very useful--it is not as powerful as Gao Wen's own knife to chop people.

Hetty hadn't rested yet. She was studying the systems and plans written by Gawain in her tent. When she heard that there was something wrong with the ruins in the mountain, she immediately put on her coat and rushed over.

Seeing her slightly nervous look, Gao Wen said in relief: "Don't panic, it's just some abnormal noises. It may be that the ancient facilities in the ruins moved a little - if there is a landslide, it is impossible to make such a small movement."

Hetty nodded apprehensively.

Knight Byron quickly selected capable soldiers, and then, led by Gawain, walked through the mountain path to the main gate of the ancient ruins.

A temporary outpost was built here with a wooden house, and there are usually five soldiers on duty here. The torch illuminates the surroundings of the gate of the ruins, making the situation here clear at a glance: except for a few nervous soldiers standing, look There is nothing unusual about it.

"My lord," a soldier came up to greet him, and saluted immediately after seeing Gao Wen, "There were two more noises inside just now."

"Well, I'll go and see for myself," Gao Wen said as he walked towards the gate of the ruins. "You guys are guarding outside. No one is allowed to come in without my order."

When he came to the gate of the ruins, Gawain activated the ancient Gondor magic pattern with a platinum disc, and seeing the glow of magic flowing from the heavy purple steel door as usual, Gawain was somewhat relieved: at least the magic channel here It's normal, which means there won't be much change inside.

Hetty subconsciously clenched her staff tightly, and first outlined the spell model of Frostbolt, but the magic power dissipated in the next second and replaced with auxiliary magic—it would be embarrassing if Biu didn't hit anyone.

Driven by the magic power, the purple steel gate slowly opened, and the magic spar placed in the hall lit up immediately. Gao Wen placed his hand on the hilt of the Pioneer Sword, stepping into it vigilantly.

There seemed to be nothing unusual in the hall. The undelivered metal ingots and weapons and armor were still well placed in place, reflecting the glow under the bright and constant light of the magic spar. There was no sign of any collapse or looseness in the entire hall. business as usual.

However, after scanning around, Gawain immediately noticed a change - the doors in the deep part of the hall were opened.

This ancient relic is more than just a hall in front of me. Inside the mountain, it has a larger structure, which can be judged from the scale of its entrance and the architectural structure that can be occasionally observed on the mountain wall, but so far Gao Wen and the others just used the hall at the entrance of the ruins - it wasn't that they didn't want to go deeper, but the door leading to the deeper part was locked.

As early as 700 years ago, when the Northern Exploration Army found this ruin, the gate leading to the deep layer was locked, and a magic seal that was completely different from the surface gate was used.The team of pioneers cracked the magic key of the entrance of the first floor, but they could do nothing to the gate deep in the hall, so they just used the hall as a treasure house, re-sealed it and left here, and today, 700 years later, , Gao Wen led Cecil's pioneering team back to this place, and he and the people he brought still had nothing to do with those gates.

Hetty once spent a whole day researching in the treasure house hall, but failed to unlock the seals of several doors: that was the magic technology in the heyday of Gondor, and it was far from being able to be cracked by a third-level mage like Hetty.

Gao Wen originally planned to put those doors aside first, and then consider how to deal with them when the situation stabilizes in the future, but he did not expect that just today, those doors opened by themselves.

Hetty also noticed the situation of those gates, and pulled Ragawain's clothes a little uneasily: "Ancestor, those gates..."

"I saw it, God knows how it opened." Gao Wen said with a frown, but he couldn't help but think of the red spot eruption and magic power surge a few days ago-could it be that the magic power surge also spread to Here in the ruins, loose the seal in the ruins?And recently, I have frequently asked Hetty or Rebecca to come here with a platinum disc to open the door and carry things. The frequent opening and closing of the first layer of seal activated the door inside by accident?

Based on Gawain's knowledge of the magic technology of the ancient Gondor Empire, this is very possible.

He brought a few soldiers to the three doors and began to think.

If it unfolds according to the general plot, drilling into this suddenly opened ruins in the middle of the night to explore is basically a deadly unfolding, but the specific situation depends on the subject matter-if this is an American drama, basically everyone will go in quickly The ball is dead, but if it's a Japanese drama, everyone might see a female ghost or something before the ball dies, but if it's a domestic drama...then he's very likely to have sex with a female ghost after he enters...

Gao Wen looked around at the people around him. These guys in armor and helmets were carrying staffs, no matter how they were drawn, they looked like American dramas.

If you don't go in, the ball will definitely be dead, and you won't even be able to see the female ghost before you die.

But just when he made a decision to order the gate to be temporarily closed, and then explored again when the conditions were ripe, Hetty suddenly muttered: "There seems to be a magical reaction inside...in a very deep place. "

Gao Wen raised his eyebrows: "Magic reaction? Deep?"

"It came from the depths of this door." Hetty pointed to the door in the middle. "Before, the door probably blocked the flow of magic power. I haven't felt it, but now that the door is open, I can faintly feel it." It feels like there is something inside...it may be a magic circle that is running. But the reaction is very, very weak, and it is still fading, and I am afraid it may disappear completely at any time."

Gao Wen: "..."

He abruptly stopped the urge to turn around and leave, sighing deeply in his heart: human beings are indeed creatures that have to die.

No matter what was inside, it seemed that one had to take a look at it before leaving.

Holding the Pioneer Sword in his hand, Gawain silently used knight skills to protect his house several layers, and then took the lead at the front.

There was no light in the depths of the ruins, and it became darker and darker when walking through the gate into the corridor. Hetty raised the staff and recited a few syllables in a low voice, and a glowing magic ball floated on the staff head, illuminating the progress. path of.

Can cast lighting, is a real mage.

Looking at the increasingly deep corridor ahead and the high and wide spaces on both sides, Knight Byron couldn't help but marvel: "It's really something made by the once-thriving Gondor Empire... There must be something in it... How big is it?"

"God knows, the gate of the ruins is in the shape of a large fortress in Gondor's Spark Era. It is possible to hollow out a mountain for such a large fortress," Gawain pouted, "I don't know if Amber really absconded with the money—she It would be nice if it was here."

"This kind of highly professional ancient ruins, even the most skilled stalkers are not good at dealing with them." Hetty glanced at Gao Wen suspiciously. "Cracking such places is usually the professional field of mages..."

"No, if Amber is here, I can throw her out to explore the way. I can feel less psychological pressure," Gao Wen said casually, "and her escape skills are top-notch, and she can still throw her when she comes back..."

Hetty was dumbfounded: the ancestor suddenly made a wicked statement, what should the younger generation do? !

Gawain glanced at her and laughed: "I'm just joking—the main reason is that Amber has a special ability to walk in shadows. In places like this where there are shadows everywhere, she can find more hidden paths than us."

Only then Heidi breathed a sigh of relief, and the knight Byron next to him also nodded, "I knew that you are a model knight, and you would definitely not do that kind of thing to a lady..."

Gao Wen's mouth twitched slightly: Amber?If it weren't for the chest and face, who could associate her with a lady?

And to be honest, the relationship between her breasts and a lady is not very close...

A few small talk eased the tense atmosphere of everyone, but everyone's vigilance has not weakened in the slightest. Under the illumination of Hetty's magic light ball, Gawain stared at every detail around him, not letting go of any possible situation. Traps and the occasional ancient writing on the walls.

Those are the common characters of the ancient Gondor Empire, and the common characters used by the four major kingdoms today are derived from them. However, due to the span of thousands of years, there will be some changes during the evolution of the characters. The "Spark Age" itself was also the era of great changes in the Gondor Empire, so basically only Gao Wen could understand the ancient characters in the ruins.

Hetty saw that they all half understood.

The scale of this mountain ruins is indeed huge, even to the extent that Gao Wen was a little surprised.