Sword of Dawn

Page 701

"A figure?" Mordir frowned and glanced over there, "The surrounding vegetation has no traces of being touched, no magic power or biological breath remains... What kind of figure do you see?"

Although he didn't see anything, Modil didn't take Maggie's words as lies because of this. His rich adventure experience told himself that when your teammates around you suddenly said with certainty that they saw something, you would Let’s assume it’s true—it’s one thing for teammates to misunderstand, but it’s another thing to ignore the danger due to paralysis, not to mention that they are walking in the most evil forest in the world at this moment...God knows Ye After the lady fell asleep, she left something in this forest.

"A figure in a cloak, whose whole body was covered by a black cloak and a hood," Maggie recalled briefly, "I couldn't see the outline of that person's body clearly, I just felt that the whole body of the person was as black as a shadow, even the hood There seems to be only a dark and shapeless shadow below. In addition, he is motionless there, every part of his body is still... This is very strange, because there was wind in the woods just now, no matter how stable a person stands , His clothes should also be blown by the wind, but that figure didn't even move the corners of his clothes..."

"It feels like a phantom projected in the air, but its body is not here," Modil made a guess without waiting for the other party to finish speaking, and then he frowned and analyzed, "Under the clothes are completely dark The 'Shadow', which sounds a bit like the shadow dwellers I know, but the shadow dwellers' bodies are bound by a shroud-like substance, which is a very obvious and standard feature... except for the cloak Do you see any other features?"

Maggie thought about it carefully, then slowly shook her head: "The cloak is all the characteristics of the other party, and there are no accessories or weapons other than that... Wait, there is something, I remembered, there is a silver-white emblem, look It looks like a brooch on the front of a cloak..."

Miss Dragonborn frowned when she said this, and continued: "But I didn't have time to see the shape of the emblem—the figure of the other party only appeared for a moment, in fact, the other party had already started to disappear before I yelled loudly ..."

"For a moment...but you did see it, right?" Modil thought for a while, then suddenly reconfirmed. He looked into Maggie's eyes with a very serious tone, "Do you mind if I use some... Do you use small tricks to help you recall details in your short-term memory? Don't worry, I won't pry into your privacy, and in fact I can't pry into your privacy."

Maggie was stunned for a moment, and seemed to come to her senses: "You mean 'memory extraction'? But isn't this spell only for the caster to use on himself? It's used to assist in learning spells...can you use it on others?"

"The original version can only be used by yourself, but I have improved it," Modil said cheerfully, "Sometimes I will take risks with temporary teammates, after all, an extra pair of eyes is more comprehensive, but temporary teammates Not necessarily experienced adventurers, so I will use magic to enhance the abilities of temporary teammates in case of emergency..."

Maggie's expression suddenly became a little weird. She was very curious about how many weird adventures this great adventurer had in the past, so that he could accumulate so many unimaginable experiences and unconstrained solutions. She was even more curious about this great adventurer. The "temporary teammates" in the mouth must be a group of outlaws with thick nerves, so that they can have the courage to embark on those adventures with him that can be thrown at the end of any hero legend, but these problems are at this time. It doesn't matter anymore.

"Then please," she took a light breath, and quickly made a decision. She is willing to trust someone who Victoria deeply trusts. "Short-term memory is easy to dissipate. Let's hurry up."

Mordir nodded, and he was not polite. He directly raised his hand and outlined a piece of shining runes in the air, and then guided these runes to form a mysterious and complicated magic circle beside Maggie. , Then he said while guiding the magic circle to close: "Relax, you may feel slight dizziness and blurred vision, this is normal..."

Maggie nodded wordlessly, and the nearby Iron Ranger soldiers spontaneously set up sentries and guards around them. As Mordir's improved memory extraction technique was successfully activated, Maggie felt a moment of trance in her mind. ——At this moment, she felt that a small piece of memory in her mind seemed to have become an "image" stored in the magic network terminal, a fragment that could be edited and manipulated, and an external force precisely Control those flashing pictures.

The scene she saw a few minutes ago suddenly appeared in her mind, the scene that flashed like a phantom - the mysterious man in the black cloak, the thick shadows in the forest, the escaping darkness under the cloak , and that little silvery-white emblem or brooch on a black background like a silver star.

At the moment when the picture was clear and frozen, she suddenly felt that the surrounding environment was a little darker than before. In the next second, she was keenly aware of the changes in the atmosphere of the surrounding environment, as well as a sense of "blocking" that her perception was obscured. .

Maggie raised her head, and saw that she was standing alone in a forest glade that had been burned by the dragon's breath, and there was no one around—whether it was the great adventurer Mordir, or the Iron Ranger warriors who followed her , are now gone.

some kind of hallucination?False memories injected into the mind?Was teleported to the abnormal space?

Several possibilities flashed through Maggie's mind in an instant, and at the same time, she was fully vigilant at the first moment, but in the next second, she noticed that there was an extra figure in her line of sight——the one in the black cloak The mysterious person, the other party is standing quietly among the bushes not far away at this moment, and Maggie is [-]% sure that the other party was not there a second ago.

"Who are you?" After concentrating for a moment, Maggie took the initiative to break the silence while clenching the long sword in her hand as a guard, "Is this your fault?"

After saying this, she thought that the other party would dissipate like a phantom just like before, but to her surprise, the mysterious figure who could not help but think of shadow power actually responded, ta Taking a step forward, she reached out and took off the hood that concealed her face at the same time—Maggie set her eyes on the other's chest while she made this move.

When she saw the silver-white brooch clearly, her eyes changed instantly.

It was a watchful eye, and a pair of crossed daggers, an emblem she knew well—the emblem of Imperial MI.

The hood of the mysterious man came down, and at the same time, a head of silver-white long hair and a disturbingly pale female face appeared in front of Maggie's eyes—this scene was very weird, just like the long hair As if the face didn't exist originally, but was condensed from the shapeless shadow at the moment when the hood fell, Maggie even suspected that this face was temporarily constructed for the purpose of communicating with others. Under the cloak, there may still be nothing but darkness.

This weird scene and the somewhat weird appearance of the other party made the dragon-born lady even more cautious. She stared at the silver-haired girl in front of her—all the other party's facial features were blurred by the pale face, and even her other features were blurred. The eyeballs were pale with the same color as the skin, which made Maggie feel like she was dealing with an unpainted "statue": "Repeat, who are you—the emblem on your body..."

The mysterious silver-haired pale girl of the "Senior Operator of the Shadow Affairs Section of the Military Intelligence Bureau" spoke. Her inhuman specialties were so obvious that the moment she spoke, Maggie felt a strange exclamation in her heart, "The other party is actually speaking human language". But compared to speaking, the content of the girl's words was obviously more shocking, "You can just call me Morning Star, Miss Maggie."

"Shadow... Affairs Department?" Maggie looked at the silver-haired girl full of inhuman traits in astonishment, "I've never heard of such a department in the Military Intelligence Bureau..."

Maggie is not an "insider" of the Military Intelligence Bureau, but she at least knows the general structure of the Military Intelligence Bureau. She knows that this vital intelligence unit has an "Internal Affairs Section" that deals with general domestic affairs and a department that deals with overseas issues. "External Affairs Section", there is also a "Suppression Special Section" that deals with disloyal elements within the imperial government system, but she has never heard of such a "Shadow Affairs Section" - the name is quite a bit strange important sector.

And this name came from a strange girl who mysteriously appeared on Violet Island, who did not look like a Cecilian in any way, so this matter was even more suspicious.

Not to mention that the other party even knew his name.

"I know that you have a lot of doubts, and I also know that you have never heard of the name 'Shadow Affairs Division'—this is normal, because even Director Amber and His Majesty don't know about it," said the silver-haired self-proclaimed "Morning Star" The girl smiled, but because of her pale face that seemed to have lost its color, the smile looked somewhat creepy, "I'm sorry to talk to you in this way—but we didn't expect Mr. Great Adventurer to use it directly. 'Memory Retrieval' spell to check your short-term memory, so that he can find the 'imprint' left in your mind, and probably erase it at will, then I'm wasting my time.

"In order to prevent my work from being wasted, I had to activate this imprint in advance while the great adventurer was extracting the memory... Please rest assured, this is just a small corner between your memory and consciousness, the place you left in the real world Your body and your companions are both safe and sound, and our conversations don't take up a hundredth of a second in real life."

"...Is this some kind of mind-manipulating, mind-implanting spell? Just like the divine spell of the Eternal Sleeper?" Maggie frowned, and while carefully paying attention to the girl's actions, she lowered the tip of her sword slightly. Expressing temporary peace, but she did not completely relax her vigilance. At the same time, her eyes fell on the opponent's cloak again, on the emblem representing the Military Intelligence Bureau, "Are you really... an operator of the Military Intelligence Bureau? Then Why don't His Majesty Gawain and Miss Amber know of your existence? And from what you said just now...there are many of you?"

"Please don't misunderstand, this is just a small means of interfering with dreams and cognition, and it is not the same thing as dangerous mind invasion." The silver-haired girl smiled, and seemed not to care about Maggie's vigilance, "As for the details behind my identity... …sorry, some things cannot be revealed until a certain point in time. I can only tell you that 'we' have no hostility, 'we' are your friends, allies, and comrades in arms - from many years ago From the beginning, we have served the Empire, though our allegiance is unknown."

"I don't like this mysterious way of speaking, it only makes me more vigilant," Maggie said lightly, "I don't care how many secrets you have to hide, I just want to know... yours Purpose. Why are you looking for me?"

"A conversation to establish the interactive landmark between the Shadow Affairs Section of the Military Intelligence Bureau and the real world. The connection between 'us' and the real world will be strengthened from this conversation, which will help us accomplish our mission. Another The purpose is to send a message," the silver-haired girl said, bending slightly, "Our 'Big Boss' would like to ask you to help pass a message to your highest superior, just say..."

She paused here, seeming to organize her language, before continuing: "It's great to see that there is finally a season of civilization ready for adulthood, but there are still huge hidden dangers lurking on the way forward, large-scale manipulation Ethos is a very dangerous thing, please be cautious, and—Ms. Ye invited Gawain Cecil and his outstanding guards to visit the City of Thousand Towers."

Maggie slowly widened her eyes.

The words Chen Xing said were as obscure and inexplicable as ever, but behind the seemingly cryptic words were enough to reveal infinitely reminiscent content. Maggie felt the thoughts in her mind were chaotic, and couldn't help but say after a while: "Wait a minute , you said 'Ms. Ye' just now? So you are passing the message for Ms. Ye? Didn't you just say that you are officers of the Military Intelligence Bureau? And the 'big boss' you are talking about is not Amber..."

The pale silver-haired girl just smiled. She didn't answer any of Maggie's questions, but slowly put on the hood—at this moment, Maggie was finally sure that she felt right, and the other person's face was on the hood. The moment it was pulled up, it melted into the shapeless darkness, that is definitely not a characteristic that humans can have!

In the next second, Chen Xing retreated into the shadows of the forest. Maggie widened her eyes, but she couldn't realize how the other party disappeared—as if the process of "disappearing" was omitted. The mysterious girl named Chen Xing It directly turned into nothingness in all her perceptions.

Chapter 1503

In the second after the mysterious silver-haired girl named Morning Star disappeared, the whole world returned to normal.

The wind in the forest began to flow again, and the occluded breath environment returned to perception again. The light and shadow flickered in the dense forest, and it returned to the shadow state that was approaching dusk but not completely dark. Surrounded by vigilance, these engrossed soldiers seemed to have never left from the beginning to the end, and they still maintained the position and posture they were in at the last moment in Maggie's memory, and no one noticed anything strange in the forest.

The great adventurer Mordir was standing in front of Maggie, weaving a mysterious and complex array of runes in his hands, as if he had just reached the final step of the memory extraction technique.

However, in the next second, Modil, who should have been unaware, blinked suddenly, and then the rune array in his hand suddenly changed its layout, and the memory extraction technique that was almost formed was abruptly reversed by the legendary magician It became a kind of mental protection spell. Maggie felt that the magic power in the air was agitated and gathered at a frightening frequency, and was forcibly suppressed and reshaped by a powerful force. Her spirit was instantly protected by layers of protection. , At the moment when her thinking was sluggish, she heard Modil's voice directly in her mind: "What's going on? I just felt that there is another consciousness in your mind... But I don't seem to have caught the intruder."

At this moment, Maggie deeply realized what kind of powerful legendary spellcaster this seemingly harmless and always cheerful old man in front of her was, and the words "" appeared in her mind for less than a hundredth of a second. Consciousness injection" failed to escape the old man's perception, and the other party even built layers of defenses in his mind the moment he noticed the vision - this even ignored her own powerful magic resistance as a dragonborn And mental strength!

No wonder the girl named "Morning Star" came and went in such a hurry, it seemed that even if she stayed for a moment longer, Mordir would be able to draw out her mental projection and imprison her!

Fortunately, everything was a false alarm. Maggie quickly collected herself and responded in her mind: "Don't worry, I'm fine. The unexpected guest has already left."

Immediately afterwards, she blinked to show that her control over her body was normal, and her consciousness and body were also in the same state. After Modil was slightly relieved, she explained: "There was indeed an 'intruder' just now. , I'm not sure whether the other party has invaded my memory or interfered with my perception...Mr. Mordill, I need to organize my thoughts a little bit."

Under the eyes of Modil who became serious in an instant, Maggie quickly sorted out her thoughts and organized her words. She recalled the whole process of the "communication" just now, and sorted out all the suspicious and important details. She tells her own experience—from the emergence of Mordir guiding her memory, to the arrival of the mysterious figure, the surrounding environment fell into a vision, and then to the departure of the unexpected guest, and she woke up suddenly.

The whole narration process didn’t last long, but Modil became more and more frightened as he listened to it, and even the ranger soldiers who were on alert nearby were also affected—these were the elite of the elite, from training to equipment. Then there are soldiers with impeccable combat experience, but they don't know anything about what happened just now. Although this is indeed beyond the coping ability of ordinary soldiers, it is enough to make them frightened.

"She claims to be a senior operator of the Shadow Affairs Section of the Military Intelligence Bureau? And she also clearly mentioned the name 'Director Amber'?" Modil stared. Bizarre things can be counted on the fingers in his experience, "Are you sure you read it right? That emblem really belongs to the Military Intelligence Bureau?"

"I confirm that the emblem is correct—and the issue of the emblem is actually secondary. The important thing is that if the other party lies about this kind of issue, it really doesn't make sense," Maggie frowned. Although she returned to the real world, she At this moment, the confusion in her thoughts did not decrease but increased, "She has very obvious inhuman characteristics...skin color, pupil color, breath, these can't be hidden, and she doesn't seem to plan to hide them, if she really wants to make up for herself No matter how you make it up, it is better than saying that you are an officer of the Military Intelligence Bureau...

Speaking of this, she frowned, and her tone was a little uncertain: "And I don't know if it's an illusion, when she mentioned the name 'Senior Operator', she seemed to really show a kind of pride, just like this The identity is not only real, but also honorable...Mr. Mordill, you haven’t heard of this ‘Shadow Affairs Section’, have you?”

"Of course I haven't heard of it, how can I know something that you don't even know," Modil spread his hands, his face full of helplessness, "It's not like you don't know about my situation, I am at most the Grand Consul of Victoria now I'm afraid I don't know as much about the affairs of the upper echelons of the empire as the clerks in the government affairs hall."

What the old man said was the truth, and Maggie knew it of course, she could only shake her head: "That girl who called herself 'Morning Star' gave me a very weird feeling, and I have seen many strange races in this world. Even Ms. Till, who would suddenly flow out of the faucet, and Mr. Nicholas, who rolled down the slope after catching a cold, but it was the first time for me to feel the 'breath' that was not human, or even seemed to belong to the real world. I feel it. There are many seemingly contradictory and weird things in what she said... I even think she is pretending to be mysterious, but the information she revealed is very important."

"Indeed, even if she is pretending to be mysterious, she is also pretending to be mysterious when she mentions Ms. Ye... After getting in touch with the ancient gods, a little bit of superstitiousness in her speech is not a big deal," Mo said. Dill pinched the beard on his chin, his eyes gradually became serious, "Anyway, everything that happened today must be reported to the imperial capital, and His Majesty Gawain must know about it...especially the 'oral message' that Morningstar asked you to pass on."

"Do you really want to deliver this message?" Maggie seemed a little unnecessarily worried, "The origin of the morning star is a mystery, and its purpose is unknown. The message she wants to deliver comes from an even more mysterious ancient god. In this 'message' There may be some kind of 'element' that we mortals cannot perceive... You know, the power of gods can even be hidden in words and cognition..."

"...That has to be passed on," Modil thought for a while, with a firm tone, "On the one hand, I don't think it is necessary for Ms. Ye to throw a trap in this way at this time, after all, all the clues prove that He is a A sober and friendly righteous god, and he was clearly on our side during the battle of Tarash; on the other hand, even if there is power in these words and cognition, I don't think His Majesty Gawain will be affected by it ... He is Gawain Cecil, the god of death cannot take him away, the evil god cannot defeat him, the god of war died under his gunfire, I heard that even the real body of the dragon god has no effect on him—Ye How much power can a lady pack into a single sentence?"

The old mage's evaluation of Gao Wen carried a strong and undisguised impression of reverence, but anyone who knew the great adventurer knew that he had always regarded the pioneering hero as an idol, Maggie said Of course it was not surprising, she just nodded, approved of the old man's judgment, and then said: "Then shall we continue to explore the 'rock pile' four kilometers away as planned?"

"...Continue," Mordir thought for a while, nodded and said, "We need to find a safe place to spend the night before the sun goes down. It is better to have open terrain near the stone pile than to be deep in the dense forest full of shadows."

"Understood," Maggie nodded immediately, and then turned her head to greet the ranger soldiers who were guarding nearby, "Go ahead—be careful to avoid areas with unusually heavy shadows on the road, and don't stay under the tree canopy for a long time. Report any abnormal perception immediately .”

When operating on Violet Island, which is full of shadow power, many things must be considered in the special and weird environment here. When operating personnel, try to avoid too strong shadows as much as possible, and do not let your body stay in one place for a long time. Covered by tree canopies, even when camping, you have to find a way to avoid forest areas. It is best to camp on open ground where starlight can shine-although the faint starlight cannot dispel the darkness, at least where the starlight shines, the "shadow" More or less the power will subside a little.

This is the experience summed up by Modil, Maggie and others along the way.

Ms. Ye is not hostile to the real world, and there are no traps and beasts that prey on people on this island. However, the ubiquitous shadow environment itself is a danger to mortals, although there is no evidence to prove that in the dense forest The shadows can "eat people", but when passing through areas with strong shadows a few times before, soldiers who were accidentally shrouded in shadows for a long time felt inexplicable "watching" or "traction" coming from the shadows. The soldier's report made the whole team move more cautiously.

But this caution will not overly affect the speed of the team—well-trained special combat soldiers are already fast in the dense forest, and Maggie, the humanoid dragon, and Mordir, the legendary mage, are violently opening the way in front of them. The whole team moved at an extremely fast speed, and before the sun set and before the deep night fell, they arrived at the predetermined location, the edge of a clearing in the forest.

Under the rich evening light, a large flat open space appeared in the shadowy forest as if someone had dug it out of thin air, and a pile of strange totem-like objects seemed to be carved out of a large number of precisely The "stone pile" formed by piled up stone pillars stands quietly in the center of this open space. The stone pile is about tens of meters high, and hundreds of stone pillars are piled up into a cone shape, presenting a kind of The two cultural styles are completely different, but mysterious and ancient "architectural" style.

This is unquestionably an artifact.

On the ground around the stone pile, soft white sand is spread all over, and almost the entire open space is covered by this white sand, which is clearly different from the black soil in the forest not far away. This white sand made Modil unable to help It reminded him of the endless desert in the Kingdom of Shadow God—but he didn't feel the extraordinary aura from the dust under his feet, nor did he feel the divine power from the stone pile in front of him.

"This is the 'strange boulder' mentioned by the reconnaissance plane..." Maggie raised her head, carefully watching the large stone pile in the center of the open space, "Sure enough...it is a man-made object. This is what you saw with the eyes of the magician before ?”

"That's right," Mordir nodded slightly, and slowly walked forward as he spoke, "This kind of stone piles are distributed in the forest, and may even be distributed on the entire Violet Island...they are closely related to each other. They are far away, the distribution seems irregular, and there is only bare open space around the stone piles, but I always feel...they are connected with the Violet Kingdom that has completely disappeared."

When using the Mage's Eye (heavy armor type) to scout the depths of the island before, Modir discovered this kind of randomly distributed boulder "buildings" in the forest area. At that time, he became curious about these weird things. It's a pity that the mage's eye is a summoning object with limited functions after all, and it is difficult to perform delicate and complicated exploration tasks, so he didn't figure out what the origin of this thing was in the end. He could only judge it from the appearance—— Now, he finally had the opportunity to investigate in detail.

"Explore the surrounding environment and set the trigger warning rune," Maggie ordered the following rangers, "contact the rear command and say that we are going to set up camp at point 3."

After the soldier took the order, she followed up with the great adventurer who was walking towards the stone pile, and asked in a low voice while looking at the stone pile, "What do you think this thing is for?"

"It looks like some kind of magic device...a magic device with an unheard-of style," Modil said of his first impression, "I've never seen this kind of thing, but it feels a little strange to me. Familiar... I don't mean their appearance, I mean their 'smell', as if I've worked with it, but I don't remember it at all."

"You feel familiar, but you don't have the corresponding memory..." Maggie was thoughtful. She knew that this great adventurer had a problem with incomplete memory. This kind of "feel familiar but can't recall" is not the first time It happened again, but this time she suddenly had other thoughts, "Your familiarity...could it come from the 'other side'?"

"The other side... you mean 'another me'?" Modil was taken aback. He once mentioned to Victoria that he talked with "Wild" in a dream. At that time, the dragonborn lady was also present. So it's not surprising that the other party thinks of this place, and when the other party reminds him, his thoughts can't help but shift to this side, "It's really hard to say..."

While talking, he sighed a little: "Thinking about it carefully, as I get closer to the center of Violet Island, I seem to be getting closer to the 'boundary'... I have often had some strange dreams in the past two days. I see some life related to myself, but I can't remember it at all, and I don't feel real. Maybe, I and the 'other me' are already very close, so that our memories are gradually interpenetrating..."

"...Is there any problem with this?" Maggie looked at the big adventurer with a little worry, "Maybe you should..."

"What should it be? Should we stop?" Modil laughed, "Victoria also tried to persuade me, but even she couldn't persuade her.

"Don't worry, Maggie, I know what I'm doing——I'm uncovering a new secret. I like to uncover all kinds of secrets in my life, but this is the first time I've revealed it to myself. It’s an experience that not everyone can have.”

While speaking, he waved his hand and strolled to the edge of the huge rock pile: "Come on, as the first group of explorers to visit here, we should focus on the things in front of us, such as studying this thing to the end... ...this thing is glowing!"

Chapter 1504 Another

The great adventurer has been in the world for hundreds of years, and countless miracles and magnificent scenes are like a passing cloud. He has witnessed the raging fire burning deep in the earth's crust, and he has also witnessed meteorite rain falling into the plain. He once talked freely with those powerful masters in the field of elements—and in such a long and magnificent life, he often talked about four sentences, which were widely known in the future.

These four sentences are - this thing is shining!This thing is smoking!What is this stuff?What the fuck is this? !

After hearing the old man's exclamation, Maggie broke into a cold sweat on the spot, and even felt that the scales on her back were about to pop out. She rushed to Modil's side in two steps, and the next second saw the huge The surface of hundreds of hexagonal stone pillars in the stone pile is really showing layers of brilliance—just like thousands of fireflies suddenly emerging from the night, or like there are surging pulses in the stones, and the brilliance of the stars is shining on the surface of the stone pillars. Flowing, under the dim light of the evening sky, the entire stone pile was instantly covered by a layer of dreamlike shimmer!

"Don't panic, don't panic, it doesn't seem to be dangerous." Hearing the sound of weapons colliding behind him, Modir hurriedly waved his hands, and then said quickly while putting shields on himself and his teammates, "I can sense it The energy flow of it... No lethal spells and traps are activated, this is just the process of waking it up from a deep sleep..."

"Are you sure?" Maggie asked in a low voice while holding two long swords tightly in both hands, maintaining her vigilance. Fine dragon scales appeared on her cheeks and near her wrists, and her eyes gradually revealed a dark golden brilliance. Mars burst out from the corner of her mouth from time to time, which is her highest alert performance in human form, "Such a large-scale 'relic'...is there no danger?"

She didn't even have the nerve to mention the ten layers of magic armor that the other party shot just now—after all, it's a habit for the old man to shoot magic armor. The protective spells he adds to himself every day are enough for an ordinary adventurer team to survive in the wilderness for half a year. .

"The flow of magic is not deceiving, I don't perceive any dangerous magic spells." Modir muttered casually, and almost at the same time as his words fell, the change of the stone pile also reached a certain critical point— ——The stream of light that kept gushing out instantly calmed down, and then converged inward a little bit, and the surface of the originally dark and simple stone pile was now covered with mysterious and shining runes and connecting lines. Immediately afterwards, everyone at the scene heard this There was a humming sound from the stone pile.

Scenes of huge holographic projections suddenly appeared in front of the stone pile, before everyone's eyes.

It is a glorious image of the city, a city with a distinctive style shining in the sun; there are also busy markets, bustling pedestrians walking through the market; there are also huge sculptures on the street, lively children and jugglers on the side of the road ; Workshops powered by magic, theaters echoing with melodious melodies, flower fields blooming on the edge of the city, and landscape fountains dancing in magical illusions...

Scene after scene of holographic projections condensed in front of this huge stone pile. The clear magical illusion seemed to vividly reproduce some things that had become history. Maggie looked at these illusions that filled the entire field of vision in astonishment, and then suddenly heard A calm and slightly mechanized female voice came from the direction of the stone pile: "Welcome to Lenghai City, this is the last city connecting the 'Frontier' in Violet Inland.

"Lenghai City is located in the southeast region of the Violet Kingdom, between Palansanto and Prandel, it is known as the 'bridge of gold' between the inland and the border, with prosperous commerce and magic workshops all over the city It is the greatest pride of the citizens of Lenghai... The city council hall of Lenghai City is located in the north of the city center, and was designed by the outstanding architect Ms. Tor used to be the earliest trading-focused city in the Violet Kingdom, and even before Prince Nash Nart came to power, Lenghai City was..."

Amidst this melodious female voice, Maggie couldn't help but raise her head, she saw Mordir looking at her as well, and from the face of the old mage, she saw the same thoughtfulness and suddenness.

The holographic projection in front of the stone pile is still being presented, new pictures are constantly appearing, and new short films are constantly being projected from the top of a certain stone pillar—a city with countless memories, countless perspectives, and countless Things that are worthy of pride and narration, they flow in the streets and alleys, and are engraved between stones and steel, and what these magical illusions can record and display at this moment may not be one percent or one thousandth of these memories one.

But even so, after seeing the magical illusion in front of her eyes, Maggie still felt that she had understood what the "builder" of the stone pile wanted to convey.

I don't care if everything can be recorded, and I don't care whether there are latecomers who can understand and remember everything the stone pile tells, and I don't even care whether these narratives will be seen again—this huge stone pile seems to have only one The purpose is to leave a mark in this world, a mark that proves "we did exist".

Suddenly, Maggie recalled what her father had said to her when she was very young, when she was not so rebellious, and before she jumped off Longyue Cliff:

"... If one day, we are destined to disappear in this world, everything we care about, hate, and love will lose meaning in the next era... If there is such a day, and we are there When the day comes, there is still a little time to do something, so do we want to leave something in this world to prove our existence..."

She recalled that she never seemed to understand her father's inexplicable sigh during her entire childhood. She only vaguely remembered that her father went to the highest Dragon's Landing Fort on the mountain to accept the summoning of the Dragon Blood Grand Duke... Looking back now, Maggie suddenly understood something. She thought that maybe on that day, her father came into contact with the mission that Dragonborn once shouldered, and came into contact with the truth about Tarrond and the "Exiles"...

"The Violet Kingdom is just a dream to Ms. Ye, but it is a dangerous vision to us. To the whole world, it is just a kingdom that disappeared inexplicably, a primitive island returning to wildness..." She endured He couldn't help whispering, and he didn't know who he was talking to, "But for the Violet people...it's not like that."

Mordir next to her didn't make a sound. The old mage just looked up at the top of the stone pile. He didn't seem to have much emotion, but just fell into long-term thinking. Seeing this, Maggie couldn't help asking: "What are you doing here?" What are you thinking?"

"I'm just thinking, it seems that for the Violet people themselves, the disappearance of the kingdom is not a very sudden thing," said the old mage thoughtfully, "although we outsiders feel that it was concentrated overnight. The fog engulfed it, but the passage of time in the dream itself was never referenced to the real world... You look at this huge stone pile, and then think about the other stone piles scattered throughout Violet Island, this seems to be a No small project."

Maggie nodded slowly while thinking, and then she was a little puzzled: "But in coastal cities like Plandel and Rattle, after the thick fog dissipated, there were no such piles of stones..."

"Maybe it's because they are too close to the 'border'," Modil said casually, "even the Violet people, who are the creations of Lady Night's dream, would probably have a hard time leaving such a 'monument' that crosses the boundary between dreams and reality." It's not a simple matter. The coastal area of ​​Violet Island is the weakest part of God's Dream, where the power of the real world dominates... In fact, I suspect that the Violet people left these stone piles with the acquiescence and even help of Ms. Ye , which can explain why the stone piles all appear inland where the dream power is powerful."

Maggie was thoughtful, and at this time the narration recorded in the stone pile gradually came to an end, and the magic phantoms projected in the air began to dissipate one by one, and the memory of this "monument" seemed to come to an end .

It recorded a little less than Maggie imagined.

Maggie breathed a sigh of relief, and was about to turn around and go back to the place where the team camped, but just as she was about to turn around and leave, she heard Modil's voice suddenly coming from the side: "Wait, there seems to be something else ...No, something has entered into the magic circle of the stone pile! Something is connecting in!"

Maggie stopped suddenly, turned her head to look at the last holographic projection left in front of the stone pile, and in the next second, she saw the magic phantom shaking a few times suddenly, and large pieces of interference lines were shaking Quickly reorganized into a clear picture, a beautiful lady appeared in the middle of the picture - she was extremely beautiful, with long brown curly hair hanging behind her head, wearing a luxurious white court dress, in the slightly flickering phantom boundary Against the background, this lady is like a classical court lady depicted in an oval photo frame, exuding a mysterious and elegant temperament.

After the beautiful lady in a long white dress appeared, she turned her eyes to Maggie and Modil who were on full alert, with a smile on her face: "Welcome, visitors from the 'outside', I really didn't expect The first contact signal will be the cold sea node... I hope that Violet's extremely limited hospitality conditions don't bother the guests too much."

"Who are you?" Maggie asked immediately, and at the same time stood calmly in front of Mordir—although this legendary adventurer is powerful, he is a spellcaster after all, and he still needs to be like this at critical moments. soldiers in front of the guard.

At the same time, she couldn't help but sigh in her heart - when she realized the truth of the Violet Kingdom before, she still thought that this huge country would be gone if it didn't exist, and there might be no one on the entire Violet Island, and only the primitive people were left. The forest and the uninhabited wasteland. As a result, not long after the in-depth exploration, unexpected "mysterious people" appeared one after another. First, a mysterious girl who claimed to be an officer of the Military Intelligence Bureau, but she did not even look like a human being. Crawling along the network cable again, like a ghostly lady...

This Violet Kingdom really deserves to be born from the dreamland of the ancient gods, it is very evil.

The mysterious lady who appeared in the magic phantom didn't seem to notice the tense atmosphere at the scene. She just kept a graceful smile and nodded slightly to Maggie: "You can call me 'Bernadette', let's say One of the last surviving 'administrators' of the land... Curator of the Great Library, Clerk of the Archives, Master Spirit of the Dark Court, Assistant to Prince Nash Nart... I have many identity, but here, you just think of me as a demon that keeps running among the ancient ruins."

Listening to the series of names reported by the other party, especially the name "Prince Nash Nart", the expression on Maggie's face became serious for a moment, and Modil next to her grasped another important point: "Lord Spirit-controlling body... demon spirit, so, you are the magical intelligence created by the Violet people? Are you a tower spirit? After the Violet Kingdom disappears, you are still running?!"

"The kingdom has disappeared... Ah, indeed, from the perspective of the real world, the Violet Kingdom has indeed disappeared," the beautiful lady who called herself Bernadette smiled and shook her head slightly, "But even so, the kingdom that once lived in People in this kingdom always want to leave something behind before returning to their "hometown". Human beings are like this. The shorter their lives, the more they like to make their traces last forever... With the promise and help of the Lord of the Night, There are some Violets who choose to leave behind collective monuments, like the one you see before your eyes, and others, who choose to leave behind their proud creations..."

Having said that, Bernadette pointed to herself, with a somewhat complicated expression on her face: "I don't know if it's luck or misfortune, but I seem to be a creation that the Violet people are proud of..."