Sword of Dawn

Page 122

This sudden news completely disrupted Solderine's thoughts. At the first moment, he thought not only how much trouble the border blockade would bring to his crossing, but also how much trouble this matter would have on Typhon. What kind of impact will the situation with Ansu have!

The relationship between Typhon and Ansu is at the coldest point in history, but even at the freezing point, there is a layer of war between the declaration of war and the all-out war. The two countries have not yet fought, not only because the timing is not enough, but also because Their respective highest levels are still making final integration and preparations—the situation on Ansu’s side is still unclear, but on Typhon’s side, the main combat faction has the absolute upper hand, and the last anti-war faction and neutral faction are currently standing in the way The last obstacle before the talented emperor.

It's just that although the anti-war side is declining, it is not without a say. There are still a few powerful nobles who are trying to delay the war, and the Archduke Ferdinand, who originally advocated the war but has gradually turned neutral in recent years, will be decisive. Factors - His stance will determine whether the anti-war faction can continue to delay...

"Wolf General" Andersa Wendell, who is currently stationed at Winter Wolf Castle, is the granddaughter of Ferdinand Wendell.

Information about the battle that took place in Winter Wolf Castle will definitely be sent back to the Typhon Empire as quickly as possible, and the details of the battle will be sent to Grand Duke Ferdinand. It will also be sent to Typhon according to the same trajectory—and vice versa, the Loren family stationed on the border of Ansu must have also received news of the attack on Winter Wolf Castle, and soon Francis II of Ansu The world will also see this information.

Although the transmission of information in this era is slow and full of loopholes, those high-ranking and powerful people still have enough ability to obtain this information at the first time regardless of the cost. So what impact will this information have?

Any savvy and vigilant leader would be aware of the threat posed by the Wastes of Gondor.

700 years has indeed made the human kingdom greedy for comfort and slowed down, but such a large wasteland of Gondor is spread outside their borders, and so many histories about the fall of the ancient empire are placed in their library So, there are so many portraits of heroes who fought against the evil tide of the wasteland on their walls (excluding one who suddenly crawled out after being dead for 700 years), as long as those kings and ministers have not completely lost their minds, they will Anyone who receives a tip of an aberrant rushing out of the wasteland immediately recognizes that this is a huge threat: a common enemy.

Now Solderin just wants to know the scale of the attack on Winter Wolf Fort and the magnitude of the loss—adventurers are always used to exaggerating when describing the situation, especially those male adventurers who are in front of him after dressing up as women In addition, only five out of ten sentences were believed. Although Soldering didn't quite understand why this happened, he had to filter the information he heard carefully.

The final number of mutants attacking Cecil's territory reached more than 3000, and there were also large individuals that could emit powerful magic bombardment. It was an army of monsters that could destroy a small or medium-sized human city. As a result, they all fell to the south of Cecil. Outside the city walls, however, the unreasonable and powerful troops led by Cecil are not comparable to the conventional troops at all... If the defense level of the army of Winter Wolf Castle is used, what will happen after encountering the same number of mutants? Sample?

Moreover, Cecil has experts in dealing with mutants, but the human army of Winter Wolf Castle has never faced the same enemy, which is also an influencing factor...

Solderin frowned, there was too little information, and he couldn't analyze anything, but he felt that if Winter Wolf Castle really suffered a major loss, it would definitely affect the war tendency of the upper echelons of the Typhon Empire—of course, The war machine that has already started is not so easy to stop, but the anti-war faction may regain the crucial right to speak after this...

The war may be postponed, and if the mutants invade again in this process, it is not impossible to eliminate the war...

Solderling shook his head, and gulped down the beer in his glass. He felt that he might be too optimistic—he always looked at human beings very optimistically, but in his 700 years of traveling career, he had seen too many stupidity of human beings. Operation, although this short-lived race has amazing creativity and learning ability, the problem of "short-sightedness" is even more troublesome. People with long-term vision like Gawain Cecil are rare in this race, so Maybe the rulers of Typhon and Anzu don't care about these threats at all, and they will still fight...

At this moment, the voice of the adventurer next to him interrupted Soldering's thinking: "Beautiful lady, you look worried—is there anything I can do to help?"

It's not easy for an adventurer with five big and three rough to pretend to be an elegant gentleman. Soldering commented in his heart, and replied with a polite smile: "I want to go to Typhon through the checkpoint, can you help?"

The adventurer's expression froze a bit, but he still bite the bullet and asked, "What do you want to pass the border at a time like this?"

"I'm going to the elf monitoring station at Typhon," Soldering said frankly, he was not worried that there would be any problems in stating his destination here, "I haven't contacted my hometown for many years—— I didn't expect that the friction between humans would cause so much trouble to the elves."

"Um... Passes are only issued to Typhonians, or foreigners and outsiders who have guarantors in Winter Wolf Castle," the adventurer scratched his hair, "I have a pass myself, but I am not qualified to sponsor others... ..."

"Where's your surety?"

"My guarantor is a Mr. Cavalier from Winter Wolf Castle, but he has already returned to the rear due to a change of defense a few days ago."

Solderling waved his hand: "Then you won't be needed."

Of course, Solderin knew that such a pass usually required a guarantor, especially for a foreigner like him. Normally, he would not worry about this. There are many acquaintances in Winter Wolf Castle, but now he is the least worried. What I hope is to deal with "acquaintances" in Winter Wolf Fort.

The elf ranger blocked the adventurer's words and began to think about alternatives. The increase in border martial law was indeed an unexpected situation, but it was not enough to make such an experienced ranger like him helpless. The only thing that really shocked him was It was just news of the attack on East Wolf Castle.

When it comes to how to cross the border, he still has many ways - use the skills of a ranger to sneak around the entire blockade, or recklessly pass through no man's land, or find a few more or less humane local snakes to make a fight False proofs are all solutions, even if there is really no other way in the end...

At worst, he would take off his wig and report directly to Winter Wolf Castle with the identity of "Master Derlin the Monk"—but to be honest, this was the last option, and he would not go here if he had the slightest chance. This way, it's too fucking black history, if it wasn't for the use of inferior glue in the summer decades ago that caused the wig to fall off... Forget it, I don't want to.

Solderin accidentally thought of the heart-wrenching past, and suddenly he was so entangled that he almost started to have a toothache, but his entangled appearance looked like a "distressed elf huntress frowning" in the eyes of those around him. The long golden hair reflected the light of the lamp like a dream, and cast a hazy shadow on the face of the "huntress". It looked perfect like a famous painting. The adventurer who had just been driven aside and a few The mercenaries immediately wanted to approach him again—but just when they were about to make a move, a slim figure sat down beside Solderin before them.

"Yo sister, it looks like you're in trouble?"

When the clear and pleasant voice came, Solderin was slightly startled: before the voice sounded, he didn't notice that someone was approaching him!

Another amber?

With a trace of vigilance, he looked for the sound, but found that sitting beside him was a female silver elf—a compatriot whom he did not know, but who seemed to have traveled the human world for many years.

She has long pale blond hair similar to her own (hell, it must be real), but is a little smaller, and she wears a thick, warm druid tunic, and around her neck is an amulet made of oak and jade beads. , with a protective dagger and a hardwood staff on her waist. The dagger is in the human style, so Solderin judged that this female elf must have been traveling in human society for a long time.

Most of the elves who just went out to travel are not used to the rough weapons of humans, but as long as they stay for a few more years, they will... because they really can't find a place to repair their elf equipment and start to adapt to human weapons.

When Solderin looked at this strange elf, the other party had already greeted him familiarly: "It's good to see my compatriots here, my name is Berna Qingfeng, and I belong to the Qingfeng family of Baishi City, how about you? "

"Sol, because of the family tradition, it is inconvenient to mention the surname during the training period," Soldering said casually about his false identity, while quickly guessing the origin and purpose of this elf. After all, there are not many elves who can adapt to the cold climate in the north. The elves I know in this area don't include the girl in front of me, "Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Ah? It's not you helping me, but I think I can help you," the lively elf girl laughed happily after hearing what Solderin said, "I just heard that you seem to be going to the monitoring station , but you are worried about how to pass the level, right?"

"That's true," Soldering nodded, "I went to other places to do business before, but I didn't expect that the checkpoint would be under martial law after I came back, and I didn't have time to get the supporting documents... If I go to find a guarantor at this time, it will probably take a lot of money." a long time."

"Yeah, the Typhon people are very nervous now, as if the ones attacking their fortress are not monsters but humans and elves." The female elf who called herself Berna frowned, but soon laughed, "But it's okay, I'm here There is a pass, and I can take one person with me--would you like to go with me?"

"You have a pass? Can you bring more people?" Soldering frowned slightly, "How did you get it?"

"I came here from Typhon on business. When I came here, martial law was about to start, so I got a pass by the way—it's much easier to get a pass from the other side of the border than here," Bernardo explained. , "As for why I can bring more people... I originally brought a friend, my pass is for two people, but something happened to her suddenly, she went to Ansu, and she will definitely not come back before the pass expires—I I was ready to go back alone, but I didn’t expect to meet my compatriots worrying about the pass. How about it? Let’s go together?”

Chapter 0296 Thor and Bernardo

After a brief hesitation, Soldering agreed to Berna's invitation to travel with her.

He did have doubts about this elf who suddenly appeared in front of his eyes, but he really needs a pass now-although there are many ways for high-level rangers to pass the blockade, it is better to cross the border safely and legally than those "alternative solutions" Much better, not to mention...

He has been away from his hometown for 700 years, and he is really happy to see his compatriots in front of him.

"It's too noisy here, why don't we go to my place?" Bernardo frowned and looked around. Those vulgar adventurers and mercenaries who always wanted to get close obviously made this young elf very uncomfortable, " I have a nice room at the Gray Whistle."

Solderin had another place to stay in the city, but he thought it would be good to take this opportunity to inquire about the situation of the elf in front of him, so he readily accepted Berna's invitation—two beautiful elf "female" ladies After leaving this small tavern, the remaining adventurers and mercenaries in the tavern did not change because of this small episode.

They continued to drink to their heart's content, swaying the extra copper coins in their pockets and the extra topics in their stomachs, discussing the changes in the situation on the border this year and their livelihood after the beginning of spring—two elves, far worse than the next one. business is important.

Solderin followed Berna through the cold streets and alleys, and soon arrived at the Gray Whistle Hotel in the southeast of the town.

The young elf girl did rent a nice room, and there was a small fireplace and a rough carpet in the clean and tidy guest room-it seemed that her financial situation was very good, or she hadn't experienced living in human beings. The world spends light on the embarrassment of traveling expenses.

"It's still quiet here," Berna entered the room, threw a few pieces of firewood into the fireplace, and said while lighting a fire, "Humans are really a very noisy race, aren't they? Oh, it's not that I don't like humans, but sometimes I think They're so noisy..."

"It's much quieter than a dwarf," Soldering said casually, and casually glanced at the furnishings in the room—there are traces of living there, and there are only elves in the air recently. "It's not bad to see silver elves in the northern region Easy, you just came here recently?"

Berna finally lit the fire. She clapped her hands and said with a satisfied smile, "Yeah, I just came here recently. I started traveling from the eastern gate of the dense forest barrier, and followed the commercial road all the way to Going north, through the fertile plains of Typhon and the northern hills, and finally came to this place... But I don't intend to go further north, this place is too cold, and I will freeze to death if I go further north. By the way Sister Saul, don't you take off your cloak?"

Soldering took off his cloak casually, revealing the huntress costume inside - an excellent ranger can disguise himself in any situation, wearing a battle skirt and long leather boots are part of the tactical suit, Solderin I am very satisfied with my camouflage skills, and I still can't understand why Gao Wen is always so surprised when he performs tasks in women's clothing. Isn't this a normal task requirement?

He hung the cloak on the hook next to him, glanced at Berna's outfit again, and asked curiously: "Are you a druid?"

"Yeah, I'm from the Heart of the Woods faction," Bernardo said proudly, a magical light flashed on the amulet hanging on her chest, "My mentor is Master Heart of Thorns in Moon Valley, and I'm here to travel It was arranged by the instructor."

"Master Heart of Thorns? Is she still teaching apprentices? Didn't she say that she has retired and no longer personally guides apprentices?"

"Oh, the mentor, she lost all her pension money playing cards with the Prophet of Moon Valley 100 years ago, and then she came back and recruited eight druid apprentices and forty cooks in one go..."

"Why recruit forty people who learn to cook?"

"The number of Druid apprentices is too small, and the tuition fees collected are not enough to pay off the gambling bill..." Berna said nonchalantly about these "elf secrets" that might surprise outsiders, but Solderin heard them After that, I only felt a kind of warmth and nostalgia: Many people who don’t know the truth always think that elves are old-fashioned, conservative, have a bad sense of time and are not good at communicating with others, but in fact elves are a kind of people who know how to enjoy life and entertain themselves. Race, but most of them are not as enthusiastic and active as humans in expressing emotions, which gives people some illusions.

Of course, Berna in front of me seems to be an unusual elf: she is as enthusiastic as a human being, which is probably the reason why her mentor assured her to go out and travel: it is very easy for such a character to adapt to human society .

"By the way...you know Master Heart of Thorns, but you don't know about her comeback." Bernardo looked at Soldering curiously, "Has it been a long time since you left the Silver Empire?"

"...It's been a long time," Soldering nodded, "I haven't been back for at least six or seven hundred years."

"Ah, if you have a chance, you should go back to your hometown. The royal city has changed a lot. The Queen ordered a new urban area to be built. This is the first expansion of the royal city since the demon tide..." Bernardo said excitedly, but In the middle of speaking, she suddenly shifted her attention again. She looked Soldering up and down, and asked curiously, "By the way, Sister Saul, I always think you smell very special...it doesn't look like the soil in this area , it smells of golden double grass seeds mixed in, it seems to be a kind of spice sold by Anzu merchants? I smelled it once or twice at a smuggler's place when I was in Typhon."

Solderin was a little surprised. He knew that the silver elves had a strong sense of smell, but Bernardo's ability to distinguish smells was too strong, but when he thought that the other party was the "Heart of the Forest faction" who was closest to plants among the druids ", he was not so surprised: the druids of this faction are very sensitive to the spices extracted from plants.

"I stayed in Anzu for a short time before," Soldering nodded, "that's why it was very difficult for me to pass the checkpoint-those Typhon soldiers were extra vigilant against anyone coming from the direction of Anzu, even if Elves are no exception."

"Have you really been with Ansu?" Bernardo opened her eyes wide, her face full of joy, "Then have you heard of Ansu's legendary hero named Gawain Cecil? The dead man came back to life? Have you seen him?"

Solderin's heart skipped a beat, but his expression remained calm: "I'm from the eastern region of Ansu, so I don't know much about it—but I've also heard that he died in the dark after his resurrection. A colony has been established near the mountains."

The information about Cecil's pioneering territory has been spread, and there is no need to keep it secret, but if it is not necessary, Soldering does not intend to expose the connection between himself and Cecil's territory—even to his own compatriots. no.

This is not because he is too vigilant, but a sense of responsibility. He knows that he is currently shouldering a task and has a sensitive identity. Maintain this vigilance.

Berna didn't care about Solderling's ambiguity, she just muttered yearningly: "The founding hero who came back from the dead... This kind of thing is like a story told by a bard. I really don't know what kind of story it is. It is said that Gawain Cecil and Her Majesty still know each other. By the way, although you have never seen him, you should have heard more news about him in Ansu than I did? I heard that the revived hero not only Established a pioneering territory, and is planning to recover the Cecil fief in the entire southern border? He also formed an army for this, is it true?"

Forming an army to recover the southern border - this is obviously something that adventurers and mercenaries have blown up indiscriminately. Although Soldering himself felt that his old friend formed a wave of troops, it was really possible to beat the child, but he knew Gao Wen's first choice of enemies were those monsters that came out of the wasteland, so he couldn't help but shook his head: "It's probably a rumor, I didn't hear that Duke Cecil was going to fight the Ansu nobles signal of."

Bernardo frowned, thinking: "Oh... But I always think it's not surprising that he fights with the nobles in Ansu, especially the nobles in the southern border. After all, the entire southern border was his fief before. The current Ansu southern lords have invaded his territory."

Solderin was noncommittal about this question, but Berna's question did not stop: "By the way, Sister Saul, you said that if that Duke Cecil really fought with the nobles in the southern border, would he win? "

"How do I know?" Soldering was a little dumbfounded. He felt that the young elf girl in front of him was too curious about the human world—his curiosity had never been so strong when he first came out to travel.

But it may also be that he put all his attention on finding the hair restorer back then, so that he didn't pay much attention to other things...

Solderin shook his head, temporarily throwing irrelevant thoughts out of his mind, and then used the weather as a topic to divert Berna's attention: For safety's sake, he didn't plan to continue talking about things related to Cecil Territory.

After chatting for a while, Soldering got up to leave.

"Oh? Sister Saul, you can live here," Bernardo said enthusiastically, "My room was originally for two people—and it's already dark outside now."

Soldering is a very principled person, and he doesn't plan to have too much contact with Berna: "I have a place to stay, and I'm not used to being in the same room with others."

"Alright then..." Bernardo nodded, "Then I'll see you off..."

Solderling rejected the other party's kindness: "No need, you are not used to the cold weather in the north, you should stay here and enjoy the fire. How about we meet at that tavern at noon tomorrow?"

"Okay, that's it."

"That `s a deal."

After leaving the Gray Whistle Hotel, Soldering looked at the dark night ahead and took a deep breath.

The cold winter air in the northern region was poured deeply into his lungs, and then slowly exhaled, taking away some heat and making his thoughts clearer.

"At least the problem of the pass is solved..."

In the room of Gray Whistle Hotel, Berna came to the window, letting the cold night wind blow on her face through the gap of the window panel, her eyes followed Solderling who was walking into the night.

"Sol... um..."

Bernard grunted softly, then turned away from the window and walked towards the warm fireplace.

The rustling sound of vines rubbing against roots echoed in the room with her footsteps.

Chapter 0297 Kamel and Santis

As the last rune was connected to the entire magic circle, the rune substrate on the test bench began to operate instantly.

The magic power is injected into the substrate through the transmission device on the test bench, and the standard runes that are snapped on the substrate and specially used for laboratory tests are lit up one by one, and the magic flow flows in an orderly manner among the magic materials. And it was transformed into a specific spell effect - a group of light blue airflow appeared above the substrate, forming a specific vortex shape according to the traction of the rune lines.

The clean air mass or the airflow itself is of course invisible. The light blue color is actually the "elemental glare" effect produced by the interaction between the magic power and the active elements in the air. Kamel knew it when he saw the familiar elemental glare. His experiment was successful.

The Jenny formula group and the Ravencrest constant are still effective when dealing with the magic runes of the elf system-the blessing of the wind, a classic elf spell, has been perfectly controlled in the human laboratory.

Looking at the swirling air mass, Kamel fell into thought for a while.

When did the concept of "casting spells" gradually deviate from his cognition?

Traditional mages are proud of their personal spellcasting ability. Only those who can create spell effects with their own hands and spiritual power can be considered a qualified spellcaster. However, such things as "talent" inherently limit Everyone's highest spellcasting ability, a person with insufficient talent, no matter how good his mind is, no matter how hard he studies, he can't release spells, but... these things that run on the test bench rely on calculations, tools, and materials to produce What kind of spellcasting should it be considered as the spell effect?

In the concept of traditional magicians, this is called "magic circle casting", and it is still the patent of magicians, because only those with spellcasting talent can describe the magic circle by sensing the flow of magic power. The magic circle can be as complicated as it is, so casting a spell through a magic circle is essentially the same as casting a spell personally. However, the research magic circle in front of him... was actually made by the assistant researchers in the Rune Research Institute.

They were a group of ordinary people with extremely low or no magical talent.

They designed all the rune structures by means of pen and paper calculations, and Kamel was just guiding from the sidelines, although the "Blessing of the Wind" is only the most basic thing in the elves' magic system, and even only in the human magic system. It can be counted as a first-level or second-level spell, but a group of ordinary people reconstructed a usable magic circle, which itself challenges the traditional concept of "spellcasting".

A slightly excited voice came from the side, interrupting Kamel's thinking: "Master Kamel... we succeeded!"

"Yes, we succeeded!" "These elven runes really work according to the structure of the rune knot-interference knot!" "Success!!"

The assistant researchers gathered here, they couldn't help but get excited when they saw the magic circle running stably on the test bench, but because of Kamel's presence, they didn't dare to cheer loudly - the majesty of the great magister still ingrained in their hearts.

Kamel raised his head, and glanced at the magic researchers wearing short white robes. The white short robes were designed by the lord as "technical personnel's exclusive clothing". However, wearing this white robe is already the highest honor in the hearts of many magic technicians in the territory. Looking at these excited researchers, he seemed to see those who stood with him 1000 years ago. Old friends in the lab...

The next second, Kamel woke up, and he made a slightly trembling voice: "Yes, it's a success, each of you is doing well - all of this is worth celebrating, and I will propose to Dean Jenny , hold a celebration in the academy tonight!"

The researchers left the laboratory with the excitement of the successful experiment and the anticipation of the evening dinner. Kamel returned to the laboratory table and looked at the other drawings fixed on the shelf next to him.

That is the design drawing of the acceleration track, and some adjustment parameters sent by the lord not long ago.

He didn't know how the lord determined these adjustment parameters, but these parameters were indeed quite effective after preliminary tests. Now that the step of adding air boost to the shells has been completed, the next task is to create the acceleration track.

Kamel has already seen the dawn of success, because the theoretical part of all the drawings has been solved, and in his deduction, these things should not have too many problems in actual tests. The new weapon of "Crystal Railgun" may be turned into a finished product from blueprints in the near future, but compared with this real cannon plan, his research on directed energy weapons has encountered some troubles.

—He has not enough hands.

There are currently only a dozen assistant researchers in the Rune Research Institute, and Jenny has already assigned half of them to him, and the rest of the researchers are following Jenny to do research on interference in the intermediate rune system. It is impossible to move.

The researchers under Kamel's team are going to conduct research and testing on acceleration orbits, shell charges, and fuzes. Although the theoretical parameters are ready, it is not so easy to convert theoretical drawings into actual products. It is foreseeable that in the future, many For a long time, there will be no extra manpower on the research institute side to help him deal with the problem of directed energy weapons - Kamel himself has enough energy, but without assistants, his efficiency will not be much higher go.

Lack of assistants, this is not the first time that Kamel has worried about this problem, he feels that he must solve this problem, otherwise even if he gets this project done, he will still be short of manpower in the future.

The ancient magister couldn't help but think of the new facility ordered by the lord, the comprehensive research center called the Magic Technology Research Institute. He knew that the research institute was a department that was more inclined to the practical field, with large laboratories and A skilled technician who is good at dealing with practical problems. Strictly speaking, the Magic Technology Research Institute is more suitable for handling his weapon research and development projects, but that research institute has only just broken ground, and it may not be expected in the short term.

What's more, even if the facility is completed, the technicians inside still have a lot of tasks waiting to be done: those are magic technicians, and their work tasks may have already been full.

So where to find a group of assistants?

I am afraid that there are not enough intellectuals in the entire territory who can be trained as magic technicians... unless we can find a way to introduce another batch of talents.