Sword of Dawn

Page 248

No matter how you adjust it, what appears on the light screen will always be a chaotic, spreading halo.

The halo fluctuated and changed with Gao Wen's adjustment, like a devil's malicious smile, mocking the helpless experimenter.

No interference fringes.

Gawain seemed to have returned to a few months ago again, and once again felt the shock and confusion that occurred when he first observed the halo through this device.

The light in this world does not seem to be light, but simple optical devices such as telescopes he designed are in normal use.

There are no interference fringes on the light screen. It may be that the precision or adjustment range of the device is still not enough, or it may be that the "light" in this world really has no volatility. After verifying the same problem encountered in the fluctuation of magic power, he had a new guess: perhaps, this device was also interfered by magic power in nature.

Is the "light" of this world also a kind of magic power?Is it a magic power visible to the naked eye that can be blocked by ordinary opaque substances?Or, the magic power of this world can affect the fluctuation of light in the microscopic field, so that all double-slit interference experiments will definitely fail as long as they are exposed to the magic power environment?

Looking at the hazy and chaotic halo on the light screen, Gawain fell into a long thought.

……

It's autumn.

As the most eye-catching constellation in the summer night sky, Sagittarius has gradually moved away from the highest point of the sky, and has completely become a frequent visitor in the western sky, while the "Frost Sky", which represents the reduction of summer heat, gradually rises and begins to move towards the center of the sky.

Every year, January is the cold month, February is the recovery month, March is the fire month, and April is the harvest month—the rising of the frost sign means that the hottest season of the year is coming to an end, representing the harvest. Autumn has come to the earth, and it will continue to rise in the next frost moon and fog moon, getting closer to the highest point of the sky every day, and in order to distinguish the changes of solar terms, the Ansu people set a time limit for the season when the constellation of Frost Sky just started to rise. The name is called "April Greeting Frost".

This name made Gao Wen briefly confused. Although he knew in his memory that the word "Yingshuang" in this phrase did not mean to welcome frost and snow, but to welcome "Frost Sky Constellation", the thinking inertia of the people on Earth still made him feel uncomfortable. It took him a long time to associate this "cool" name with the days that still had a little heat left.

He finally got used to the world.

In the government affairs hall, the weekly routine report meeting was in progress. Gao Wen sat at the head of the long table, listening to the report of Minister of Agriculture Norris with a calm expression.

This minister, who was growing older and was born as a poor farmer, was holding the documents in his hand. Although he tried his best to stand up straight, his upper body was still a little bent: "...Horsman, Kant, Carroll, Grant, Tan The crops in the newly reclaimed land in the Sang area are growing well, and the harvest can be expected. The new land in Peibo, Constantine, the Western Wilderness, and the Northwest has not been completed due to the late reclamation, and the relocation of residents. Grain production plan...

"The promotion of new agricultural machinery in the Horsman and Kant regions has done well, and some early-maturing crops have been harvested ahead of schedule...

"Testing the 'Harvest·II' druid potion in the north shore test field has achieved initial success. According to the plan, the next step will be to evaluate the subsequent impact of the new potion on the land... Cough, cough, cough..."

Gao Wen looked at the Minister of Agriculture: "Norris, are you in good health?"

"Ahem, it's an old problem. I keep coughing in autumn." Norris waved his hand. "This is the end of my report. I have given the detailed information to Ms. Hetty."

Pittman, who was sitting next to him, winked at Norris: "Hey, do you want to try my medicine? Let me tell you, your problem is not a problem here..."

"Pay attention to order during work." Gao Wen glared at Pittman, then glanced at everyone present, and exhaled slightly, "Then today's meeting will end here, and the meeting will be over."

Soon, the people in the meeting hall left the table one after another, and only Gawain and Hetty were left in the huge room—and a hidden cat beside Gawain, Amber who had been nibbling melon seeds for an hour .

"Ancestor, the messenger from the royal capital has arrived at Rock Fortress," Hetty said, "The leader of the team is Cohen Rollen, the deputy head of the Royal Knights. In addition, according to what the messenger said, the first batch of soldiers used to build the barrier The supplies have been loaded at the upper port of the Dorgon River, and if there is no accident, they will arrive in the southern border within [-] days."

The elves sent a letter as an advance messenger, and the official special envoy of the king's capital arrived immediately. At the same time, materials from the northern region were also loaded on the cargo ship on the upper reaches of the Dorgon River. Such a chain of actions shows that One thing: the opinions of the nobles of the royal capital have finally been unified.

Victoria Wilde... The Grand Duchess of the North is still very reliable.

"Their efficiency has finally increased," Gawain nodded. "How's the progress of the 'Pathfinder' engineering team?"

"'Pathfinder' has set up an advance base at the northern border of the Black Forest, and has begun to advance towards the depths of the forest. The guards and the monsters in the forest had several short encounters. Only one soldier was slightly injured, and there were no other casualties. .”

"After crossing the Dark Mountains, you have crossed the safe zone of the border of civilization. You must be extra careful to guard against the enemies in the Black Forest," Gawain said slowly, "Come with me to the South Gate Fortress and take a look at the construction over there. Condition."

Hetty lowered her head: "Yes."

Gao Wen hummed, and took the melon seeds on the table next to him, "Don't eat it, come with me."

"Hey!!"

……

At the southern foot of the Dark Mountains, the South Gate Fortress.

Strictly speaking, this place cannot be regarded as the "South Gate Fortress", but can only be regarded as a huge semi-finished fortification and a busy construction site.

Construction machinery, construction materials, and engineering personnel from Cecil City were stationed in the former "Shadow Experimental Site". Based on this huge cave, a large-scale and strong reinforced concrete fortress was built.

Under the command of the construction supervisor Gordon, the engineering team has reinforced the southern mountain wall of the cave with permanent cement fortifications, and built steel mechanical gates and several firepower and observation points on the mountain wall. The large magic spar lamp made the whole cave as bright as day. The original Gondor relics in the cave have been sorted and recovered or cleaned up. On the ground, the originally exposed stone walls were also re-reinforced by the supporting structure, and the construction of walls and pipelines began.

The engineering team is currently setting up support columns in the south and west of the cave, preparing to build the second floor of the fortress, while Gordon himself is in the center of the cave, supervising the workers' protective isolation and repair of the "Shadow Gate".

The portal that can enter the shadow realm has been damaged, but Miss Amber can still use her unique power to enter the depths of the shadow realm through the gate. The lord believes that this gate has special scientific significance, since the portal itself is a facility fixed on the surface It cannot be moved, so Gordon is going to protect it and turn it into a special facility in the fort.

A machinist with a magic terminal in his hand and wearing yellow overalls came to Gordon and saluted Zhang from the Ministry of Construction: "Mr. Gordon, the supplies from Cecil City have arrived—it is sent to Do you want to personally inspect and accept those who are going to the base?"

Gordon looked up to see several trucks with Cecil Department of Construction logos parked under the lights.

He nodded and walked towards the truck: "I'll go and have a look."

The materials sent to the advance base are important items, and there is no room for carelessness.

Thanks to the new magic vehicle technology, this powerful machine can transport goods equivalent to a small carriage convoy at one time, and thanks to the superb construction technology of the Gondor Empire, the main corridor of the disobedient fortress can allow such large vehicles Feel free to pass through.Gordon came to the back of the truck, climbed up with a ladder, and began to inspect the cargo.

Food, clothing, a new water purification device...

Gordon nodded, and ticked off the "Life Supplies" column of the record sheet in his hand one by one.

Then he came to another truck, and the supplies of this truck came into his sight——

Boxes of Rebecca crystals, individually packaged detonating runes, druid blight potions, type II high-explosive bombs and matching fuzes...

Gordon nodded again, and began to check the "Construction Consumables" column of the record sheet.

While ticking the box, the Minister of Construction couldn't help muttering: "How do these things count as construction consumables..."

Chapter 0575 Advance to the Base

The high-power magic crystal lamp illuminates the vast cave as bright as day, and the sounds of mixers, hoists, and various magic matrices are intertwined. Busily walking between the support frames, the construction site of the South Gate Fortress was busy.

Gawain, Hetty, and Amber came to the former shadow experiment site. In the center of the cave, they found Gordon, the person in charge.

"Lord, the supporting structure and the bottom surface of the foundation have been laid. The construction progress of the main wall is more than halfway. The southern gate, wall, outer wall armor, and extended firepower platform have been completed by 60.00%," Gordon reported the construction status of the fort , "The military depot and energy station have been activated. As of yesterday, this place has initially possessed defensive capabilities."

"Not bad, well done." Gawain looked at the progress made by the engineering team led by Gordon with satisfaction. He saw that the workers were strengthening the wall at the boundary of the cave, and between the southern gate and the inner cave, An additional layer of cement-steel armor has begun to take shape. A huge support frame is stretched across the cave. The lifting device driven by the magic energy engine is fixed on the top of the frame. The winch pulls the cable and is lifting the huge cargo pallet to the fortress. On the second floor, and around each cargo pallet, you can see the faint glow of runes—that is, the weight reduction rune matrix is ​​taking effect.

At this stage, weight reduction is still a spell that has not been fully analyzed. Runemasters have not yet solved the problem of interference when several weight reduction effects are applied to a target at the same time, so it is difficult to use on larger-scale objects (such as large vehicles), but when dealing with smaller volumes of materials, weight reduction has always been a sharp tool for handling.

At the edge of the cave, technicians carrying magic terminals can also be seen quickly adjusting the rock wall with the "fossil to mud" and "turn mud to stone" techniques to prepare for the subsequent installation of wall cladding. Another engineering team at the office is embedding the magic net unit on the installed wall cladding. The flash of the plasma welding beam (hot-melt welding torch) is shining non-stop, showing the efficiency of each team and coordination ability.

Treating extraordinary power as productivity, rather than simply a "weapon for the strong to fight", brings about this incredible efficiency.

Of course, Gordon's proper command is also an important factor for the rapid progress of the project.

Gawain retracted his gaze, looked at the circular pit on the ground in the center of the cave, looked at the ancient and mysterious array of runes at the bottom of the pit, and the ancient devices arranged in a circle, and asked casually: "How close is this shadow portal?" Any unusual reactions?"

Gordon shook his head: "No—we have set up magic sensing devices around, and we haven't found any signs of activation of this magic door."

"Very good," Gawain nodded, and then looked at the brand-new gate at the end of the cave, "Open the gate, I'm going to the advance base to have a look."

"Yes—open the gate!!"

The rune array hummed, the gears and winch head creaked at the same time, the chain and bearings made of steel pulled the heavy steel gate, accompanied by a shock that even the ground trembled slightly, the South Gate Fortress The floodgate slowly opened in front of Gao Wen...

If you want to go to the border of the wasteland to start the wall repair project, you must first open a road from the civilized world to the wasteland, and this road blocks the entire black forest—a black forest that humans have not set foot in for hundreds of years.

After deciding to build the wall, Gawain considered two options to open up the road. One option was to pass through the mountains directly from the South Gate Fortress, and then build an advance base in front of the fort, open a road violently in the Black Forest, and build a straight road. The road leading to the wasteland; the second plan is to bypass the entire rebellious fortress, go out from the mountain pass on the west side of Cecil City, and finally build a road through the Black Forest.

The first plan is obviously more time-saving and labor-saving, but the second plan is to keep the secrets of the rebellious fortress and the south gate fortress - he doesn't want too many outsiders to know that Cecil holds such a special portal in his hands, such a A complete ancient fortress.Although there are many rumors about "Duke Cecil holds the relics of Gondor in his hands", there are really too many secrets in the rebellious fortress.

But now Gao Wen still chooses the first plan, because he has already determined that neither the royal family nor the Eastern Realm will send people to participate in the project-they want to preserve their strength and continue to fight, but for Gao Wen, he is also I am happy to let the whole project be under my own control.

Let a bunch of noble overseers and slave artisans from the north mix in, they will only hinder Cecil's engineering team.

Due to the convenient element manipulation spells, it is not difficult to lay a simple road in this world. From the South Gate Fortress to the border of the Black Forest, a wide road temporarily hardened by the "Turn Mud into Stone" has already connected the Rebellious Fortress and Going forward to the base, shortly after setting off by car, Gawain saw the towering magic net relay tower and the rising smoke——the temporary base built by the "Pathbreaker" was ahead.

More than a dozen large and small board-style houses were built on the edge of the Black Forest, and the outer perimeter of the houses was a protective barrier made of wooden fences, steel wire fences, chest-length low walls and sentry towers. The sentry tower was watching the direction of the Black Forest vigilantly, and in front of the gate of the base entrance stood two strong white knights like iron towers.

As Gao Wen had emphasized before - beyond the borders of civilization, there are dangers everywhere, and this forward base marching towards the wasteland naturally needs to be heavily guarded.

"pay tribute!!"

The two white knights noticed Gawain sitting in the car, and they immediately stood up straight. A thick and powerful voice came from under the fully covered steel helmet, and the gate of the base opened to both sides. The guide vehicle drove into the forward base smoothly.

After getting out of the car, Gao Wen saw a burly figure walking towards him quickly.

Wright Aviken, leader of the White Knights and Protestant Patriarch.

The pastor, who has become a "big man", did not stay in his church, but asked to come to the front after hearing that he was going to march to the wasteland, where he commanded the guards of the "Pathbreakers" .Since the white knight was good at taking on the job of guarding, and the power of the Holy Light had the convenience of curing pollution and expelling monsters, Gawain agreed to his application.

Behind Wright, Gawain saw several special figures——

That was Sonia Frostleaf and the elf messengers she brought.

These elves are obviously very concerned about repairing the barrier. Although the bustling and novel Cecil City has indeed aroused their great curiosity and interest, they are still more concerned about the progress of the project in the southern part of the Dark Mountains. These days, Sonia and her His companions only spent one-third of their time in Cecil City, and spent almost all of the rest of their time on the Black Forest side.

"Let me check the progress," Gawain greeted Wright first, and then looked at Sonia, "Are you here again today?"

"Looking at the progress of the project will make us more at ease," Sonia smiled, and said calmly, "and not staying in the city can also prevent some embarrassing... mother-child conflicts."

What Sonia said was obviously a joke. In fact, the relationship between her and Solderin was pretty good in Gawain's opinion, but Gawain still somewhat understood the entanglement of the elf mother after seeing Solderin. Mentality——

In all fairness, if he also has a son who doesn’t come home for 700 years, doesn’t have a date, doesn’t write letters, is bald and wears wigs and likes women’s clothes…

Halfway through thinking about it, he didn't dare to assume anymore.

He thought he might choose to lie back in the coffin and have someone help him put the lid on.

"...As you can see, we are doing our best to speed up the road paving and strive to clear the road to the Corrupted Plains before the harvest festival." In the event of a major accident, the project can be completed on schedule.”

"We saw it—this also made me feel more at ease," Sonia exhaled softly, "Frankly speaking, I didn't even expect you to be able to reach this level so fast, and in such a short period of time, you would be able to It has already begun to pave the road in the Black Forest. I can see how much manpower and material resources you have invested in this - but in contrast to your royal family, they have not yet sent the first batch of supplies! To put it bluntly, the same You are from Ansu, how can your efficiency be so different?"

"Not everyone can turn magic into productivity," Gawain shook his head helplessly, "what's more, the nobles in the north may not all realize how terrible the threat of the wasteland is. It may still be a vivid event, but for human beings... that is already an ancient legend dozens of generations ago."

It was not the first time for Sonia to deal with human beings. Of course, she knew that what Gao Wen said was reasonable, so she didn't say much. Instead, she looked in the direction of the Dark Mountains and the South Gate Fortress, and sighed leisurely: "The fortress in the ancient Gondor period... 700 years ago, I heard that the Northern Exploration Army discovered an ancient ruin while crossing the dark mountains, but I didn't expect that it would be in your hands 700 years later. function like this.”

"We didn't expect it at the time," Gao Wen said with a smile, "just like I never thought that before I fell down, I saw the magnificent wall being built, and after I woke up from the long sleep, I would rebuild the wall again——Fate , has always been unreasonable."

"You are unlucky enough." Sonia couldn't help shaking her head, "You fell down in the most difficult period and woke up in the next difficult period. It seems that fate deliberately arranges you to fight against disasters and does not give you any rest. opportunity. We had seven centuries of peace, and you haven't enjoyed a single day."

Gawain didn't speak, because he was not the real Gawain Cecil, so he didn't feel any regrets, but Hetty who was beside him suddenly raised his head, this Cecil butler seemed to be in Sony Ya's words were greatly touched, she fixed a glance at her ancestor, and suddenly felt extremely ashamed of her usual smoky makeup.

Gawain didn't know why Hetty blushed suddenly.

……

At the same moment, in the northern part of the Principality of Cecil, at the Port Square of Rock City.

Sir Walder Peric, the commander of the Rock, stood on the square with his guards and guards of honor, preparing to see off the envoys from the capital. These envoys stayed in this gateway city for half a day. Now, they are about to board a ship. Off to Cecil City.

"This city is impressive, sir," said Cohen Rollen, the leader of the messenger group and the deputy head of the Ansu Royal Knights, to Wald, "I came to this land two years ago, But back then it wasn't like that at all, and I have to admit, it was incredible here."

Sir Walder looked at the deputy head of the knight order in front of him—this deputy head has the special surname "Roren", but he is also a member of the royal family, and the envoys he leads also have people from the Eastern Region. Envoys and special envoys from the capital, the meaning of which makes people have to think about it, but Wald himself is not a person who is interested in court strategy and noble balance, he just smiled and shook his head: "Rock City is just a gateway , a truly incredible side of this land that you haven't seen yet."

"Oh, I'm a calm person," Cohen Rollen smiled politely, "I only look at the novelty things here with appreciation, after all, no matter how amazing they are, they are all man-made .”

"Then please." Wald raised his hand and pointed to the pier, and almost at the same time, a melodious siren sounded from the river bend.

A large ship without sails and paddles, which surprised Cohen Rollen, gradually approached the port from the distant river with the sound of breaking waves and the roar of machinery.

The boat looked as if it had been cast of metal.

"In order to ensure efficiency, the lord ordered the river express passenger ship 'Wavebreaker' to come and pick up the envoys," Walder Peric said with a happy smile, "Please board the ship."

Chapter 0576 Secret Letter

After the "Pathbreaker" engineering team entered the Black Forest, the envoys representing the Ansu Royal Family and the Eastern Territory finally arrived in Cecil City.

On the Baishuihe wharf square, the newly built inland fast passenger ship "Wavebreaker" was steadily approaching the trestle under the guidance of the tractor beam. After the springboard extended from the ship's side to the solid concrete bridge deck, Cohen Rollen was the first to step down .

He glanced back, and saw that the giant monster in the water, which was mixed with steel and wood and driven by some kind of magic mechanism, had become silent at this moment, and the flag representing the Cecil family was fluttering in the wind above the bow. As for the envoys who got off the boat after him, half of them walked staggeringly.

Frankly speaking, this kind of strange ship called "magic mechanical ship" actually sailed very smoothly, but obviously many people still got seasick. Looking at those rickety gentlemen, Cohen knew that they were short-lived. In time, I am afraid that he will not be able to use his proud eloquence to fight against the Cecils.

He didn't know if this was deliberately arranged by the Duke of the South.

On the pier, Gao Wen still chose to personally greet the envoys from the north, representing the royal family and the east.

He led a group of government affairs officials to stand at the end of the guard of honor and the red carpet, watching the deputy head of the Royal Knights with the surname "Roren" walking towards him, with a faint smile on his face.

"I salute you, the great guardian of the southern border, the founder of the kingdom," Coen Rollen put his hands on his chest in front of Gao Wen, and bowed slightly, "I came before you by order of the blood of Morn—the kingdom needs you the power of."

Gao Wen nodded. The deputy head of the knight order who had the same name as a young mage researcher in the territory spoke tactfully and cautiously. He used the name of "Moen bloodline" instead of the word "royal family", obviously to At the same time, it refers to the two "Princes of Moen" in the capital and the east.

It is probably because of this tact and prudence that he can become the "leader" of this special messenger team.

This special emissary team nominally represents the "Ansu Royal Family", but in fact only half of them are from Saint-Sunil, and the other half are representatives of the Eastern Territory. They do not necessarily have any specific responsibilities in the team. Positions symbolize the camps they belong to.The formation of such a nondescript "mixed mission" should be one of the conditions for the temporary truce between the royal family and the Eastern Territory, but such a mixed mission cannot assume the responsibility of a real envoy.

Cohen Rollen, a member of the bloodline of the Lauren family in the East, but for the sake of family stability, he had given up the right of inheritance in the family many years ago and became a royal nobleman. This special "royal nobleman" has been It should be an embarrassing life, but at this moment the civil war in the kingdom is suspended, and both sides need a qualified person to represent themselves in the southern border, so this royal nobleman has a place to play again.

Gao Wen didn't say anything about it, but just followed the topic: "I have received a letter from the elf messenger. It is my duty to contribute to this country."