Sword of Dawn

Gao Wen immediately frowned, rubbed his chin and began to think.

Yuanqiu asked curiously: "What's the matter? Is there a problem?"

"This kind of evacuation order is not issued under normal circumstances," Gao Wen explained, "The reason why the Gondor Empire withdrew the various pioneering teams was that the income was not proportional to the effort, and there was no urgent problem, but the evacuation order you heard was obviously An urgent order, and it is not allowed to take away any test samples unearthed in the local area...why can't the samples be taken away?"

Qiu thought for a while: "Is it because the sample is contaminated? Or some facility used to study the sample is out of control and there is no time to rescue it?"

"The former is very likely, but the latter is unlikely," Gao Wen recalled the situation of the ruins in the mountain. "Although it was an emergency evacuation, I have observed the inside of the ruins, and they were evacuated in an orderly manner. Many large equipment were evacuated. Take it away, there is no problem of not having time to transfer the samples. What did they study in this mountain?"

"Then I don't know, I'm not doing research, I'm being studied," Qiu said helplessly, "However, a few times when they transferred the laboratory for me, I saw something. , The swollen corpses were pushed to the incineration room, I suspect that they used human beings to experiment with those corpses—although they don’t look like adults anymore, they can be seen at a glance that they used to be humans.”

"Human experiment?" Gawain was taken aback. He really didn't expect such a secret to be buried in the Gondor research facility here. "Are there any other characteristics of those test subjects?"

"Let me think about it... Oh yes, apart from being taller than ordinary people and showing signs of deformation in their limbs, there are also many crystal-like things growing out of their bodies, as if they were separated from biological tissues. It’s like a crystal. What a researcher said…” Ball thought hard, and finally remembered the word, “Ah, it’s called ‘God’. But I don’t know what they mean by God The crystals growing on the test subjects are still the test subjects themselves, your language is too troublesome."

"Abomination?" Gao Wen frowned, unable to bear repeating the word.

This is not a word that can be used casually!

The sin of gods is not allowed, violates the rules, betrays the will of the gods, is born of divine power, but should not be born at all. Some people think that it is the negative energy released by the gods at the moment when they lose their heart and fall into depravity. Some people think that it is the envoys sent by the gods to punish sinners, but no matter what kind of saying, this word is related to gods.

In the era of the Gondor Empire, the belief in the gods was as prosperous as it is today. It is impossible for those researchers to use words with special meanings like "abomination" to refer to their research products meaninglessly.

An emergency order 1000 years ago emptied the research facilities in the Dark Mountains, but this emergency order made them keep all the samples excavated in the area and not take them away—then what the ball saw Does "human experimentation" have anything to do with the "local samples" mentioned in the emergency order?

The latter is the material of the former?energy?Or technical source?

Of course, these are not what Gao Wen is most concerned about. What he is most concerned about is - are the samples that the imperial researchers did not take away 1000 years ago still left in the ruins in the Dark Mountains?

1000 years have passed, are those samples weathered?Is it decayed?Is it broken?There is still no change at all, and it is even subtly affecting this area!

"You seem a little nervous?" Although the metal ball is not human, it has learned how to analyze human emotions during the long-term observation of human beings. The facilities are also dead and abandoned, what impact can it have?"

"I'm worried about the samples they didn't take away," Gao Wen frowned, "Do you know where they put those samples?"

The ball shook left and right: "I don't even know. Although I was also classified as a 'local sample' back then, those magisters were obviously not stupid and would not confuse me with their real samples, so I have never had any contact with them." The real core of the facility. What, you want to find those things?"

Gao Wen curled his lips: "At least find it, so I can know what it is."

The scale of the ruins in the mountain is huge, even unbelievably large. Gao Wen has already led people in to explore once, but he suspects that the area he saw during that exploration may not even be one-fifth of the entire ruins. In other words, in the remaining four-fifths of the ruins area, anything can be hidden!

"If you want to explore, you'd better be cautious," the metal ball saw Gawain's thoughts, and kindly reminded, "Given the scale and danger of that facility, if the people organized by your camp want to It's almost impossible to explore it all."

"I know," Gawain nodded, "I will do what I can. Let's not talk about this, let's talk about you first."

The metal ball froze for a moment: "About me? What can I say?"

"Don't you know how eye-catching your painting style is in this world?" Gao Wen said dumbfounded, "There is no creature like you in this world. If you just ran out like this, how would you introduce yourself to others?"

Metal Ball: "Saint Nicholas Egg Boss."

Gao Wen: "..."

"Okay, I'm just kidding," Nicholas' egg slowly sank a little, almost touching the ground, "Most people in this era are stupid people, and there are really very few people who are smart and able to communicate like you, so tell me how to arrange it mine?"

"I am now explaining your identity to the outside world. I use the saying that it is a magical device that stores ancient souls, but this is only known to some soldiers. Most of the civilians in the camp have never seen you—if you don't Question, from now on you can show up at the camp in this capacity."

"Aha, it still sounds very touching!"

Obviously, Mr. Nicholas Egg (Ms.) was quite happy with Gao Wen's arrangement.

Chapter 0106

On the third day after reaching a consensus with Nicholas Egg, this "magical device that comes from the ruins of ancient Gondor, stores an ancient soul, and formed a friendship with the ancestor of Cecil" finally began to officially appear in New Cecil. before the leading people.

From then on, "he" must be used instead of "it" when addressing this egg.

His appearance certainly attracted a lot of attention—even the most insensitive serfs and slave laborers could not help being curious about this metal ball. When the ball floats towards them, everyone can't help but stop and watch, and then discuss it with the people around them.

At first, many people were terrified, because the appearance of Nicholas Egg was unimaginable, and it was too bright under the sun, like a magic ball that was about to explode at any time. Seeing this thing, he couldn't help but run away in shock, but Gao Wen specially sent some soldiers to preach and introduce the origin of this "magic device", and emphasized that inside the egg is actually a respectable ancient The scholar, who had to be trapped in the metal ball only by a magical accident, was no different from the people in the camp except for this strange appearance.

After so many preachings, people are finally reconciled to such a metal ball-of course, a little fear and nervousness cannot be avoided, but they do find that this chubby thing is harmless and can It was only after making a sound to communicate with others, coupled with Gao Wen's promise, that everyone forcibly calmed down.

As for Nicholas Egg himself... this ball is very satisfied with his current situation.

From the first day he was stranded in this strange world, he was in a difficult and embarrassing situation. First, he faced the strange environment, and then the locals with malicious intentions were caught in the laboratory as research samples, and he was almost caught The Gondor magisters 1000 years ago cut into metal shavings, and were finally suppressed by those magisters with a seal for 1000 years. When he opened his eyes, he saw a new world after the collapse of civilization and technology—he thought he was about to He ended up with such continuous bad luck, but he didn't expect to meet such a different kind of person as Gao Wen.

Can communicate, can understand what he said, and is open enough to accept his various statements, neither like the ignorant and ignorant modern locals, nor like those ancient people who only know how to dissect and study.

Now that I think about it, I secretly wanted to escape a few days ago but was bumped into by someone...it is really a good thing, otherwise I would continue to pretend to be a stone ball and I don’t know how long it will take before I can come out for a walk like today. .

But Nicholas Egg had a great time strolling in the camp, but someone ran to Gawain to complain, and Hetty stood in front of Gawain with a worried face: "That ball has been floating around in the camp, you really don't care Tube?"

Gao Wen was lowering his head to study the personnel information carefully: it was the general registration of a hundred technicians from the capital who had just arrived here two days ago. Hearing Hetty's words, he raised his head and smiled: "That ball is messing people up." Is it gone?"

"No trouble," Hetty shook his head, "but his curiosity is too strong, basically whenever he sees someone working, he will float over to look for a long time, his appearance is so eye-catching, workers will inevitably Affected."

"Sooner or later, everyone will get used to it. It's just a metal ball floating around, not a giant dragon." Gao Wen chuckled, "Of course, I'll remind him later so that he will try not to interfere with other people's work. By the way, let's talk Come back, do you have any thoughts on Nicholas Egg?"

Hetty's face became strange: "Are you sure you gave him this strange name?"

Gawain spread his hands helplessly: "There is no way, he just admits this."

Hetty sighed: "If you think about it... Actually, I have always wanted to study how he floats up. The energy response he radiates is very strange, unlike the magical power I am familiar with, and he can float in mid-air forever. If this is an innate spell..."

"Stop, stop," Gawain quickly interrupted Hetty's divergent thinking, "If you want to study, you should restrain yourself, that guy was arrested by the magisters of the Gondor Empire 1000 years ago to study It's been a long time, and now the psychological shadow is very serious, and you will make him lose the trust he has built up with us."

"Of course, I'm just thinking about it now." Hetty smiled apologetically, "Compared with this, I care more about what you mentioned at this time. About the sample. I heard that you asked Philip Knight to organize an exploration team? Are you going to search for those dangerous things in the ruins now?"

"Of course not," Gawain shook his head. "You've said it all, it's a dangerous thing, and it's not something we can get our hands on now. I asked Philip Knight to organize a team mainly to explore the shallow layer of the ruins, and to see what happened when we entered the ruins before." Those side roads that have not been explored. You know, it is a huge and strong fortress... Don’t you think it’s a waste to just put it in the mountain and not use it?”

Hetty opened her eyes slightly: "You want to..."

"Use it a little bit, at least use the rooms between the entrance hall and the shallow corridor. After all, this is a dark mountain range, and danger will always appear. If there is an emergency, everyone can at least go to that fortress to take refuge --Is not it?"

After saying this, he lowered his head and refocused on the list of 100 people.

"There are 15 official craftsmen, including stonemasons, carpenters, blacksmiths, cobblers, etc., and ten craftsmen who are good at building houses. There are only two official spellcasters. One of them is a second-level arcanist, and the other is a fourth-level The rune master," Gao Wen couldn't help laughing while watching, "Jenny Perot, a fourth-level rune master, is the highest-ranking professional in the team. This is the king's generosity. level spellcaster..."

Listening to Gawain's words, Heidi couldn't help frowning, because she was actually dissatisfied with that "middle-level spellcaster": the fourth-level rune master was the highest middle-level person in a team of 100 people. According to the "three-level and first-level" division method, she already belongs to the middle level, and a middle-level spellcaster is indeed considered a high-end talent. After all, besides Gao Wen, the most powerful occupation in the territory is the third-level profession, but the rune master can't. Let's put it this way - although they are also called "mages", they are actually "workers" in the mages. What they master is the technique of carving runes and magic circles on various magic objects and magic circles, which is comparable to that of ordinary magicians. Than, their biggest specialty is that their hands are relatively steady...

How does the rune master advance?It means that everyone gets together to draw runes and magic circles, as long as they can draw as many and well as possible within the specified time, as for the ability to cast spells...

Rune masters only have the most basic magic skills. It is enough to be able to sense magic power and identify different elements. Usually, their mage level is around the second level, and even a first-level mage who has just graduated from an apprentice can become an official rune master.

In the eyes of ordinary people who cannot master magic power, rune masters who can draw magic circles are also mysterious and powerful "mage masters", but in the eyes of real mages, rune masters are "inferior" inferior to them, or even several ranks lower , its status is only slightly higher than the "rune craftsman" who is completely unable to cast spells.Rune masters usually can only serve as vassals for formal mages, and together with rune craftsmen help the latter make magic artifacts or draw magic circles, and because they do not have too high magic skills, rune masters can't even use them. Magic circles and props - their weak magic power and poor magic control skills are not enough to control those complicated magic circles.

Therefore, it is a profession of making wedding dresses for others.

Hetty didn't have the lofty mentality of most mages, and she didn't discriminate against rune masters who were regarded as "magic servants" by mainstream mages, but she could tell at a glance that the rune master named "Jenny Perot" was actually a The one who was stuffed in by the capital to make up the numbers—the nominal middle-level spellcaster, with such a person in the team, Francis II was doing his best, and even spread it as a good story.

This is what makes Heidi most dissatisfied, and there are only two spellcasters in this team, and the rest are all mage apprentices or craftsman apprentices, which makes her think that the team sent by the king There was a serious lack of sincerity in the team.

Hetty is not a person who is very good at hiding expressions, especially in front of Gawain, so the latter can see her dissatisfaction at a glance: "What? Do you think a fourth-level rune master is insulting our IQ?"

"The king has no sincerity," Hetty said very bluntly. "A rune master——Rebecca might be better than her if she practices her skills well. This is just put in to make up the number."

"This should not be what Francis II meant," Gawain waved his hand, "The king must be concerned about my attitude, so his support for Cecil's pioneering land will not be too much, but he must bear the pressure of other nobles in the capital. pressure, and those nobles do not necessarily hope that the Cecil family can rise quickly. In fact, more than half of them may wish that our former southern ruling family can die quietly in the Dark Mountains. Under such circumstances, do you think they Will a capable and valuable technical team be allowed to come here?"

Hetty's face became very ugly: "Those narrow-minded and greedy royal nobles... The Cecil family has no intention of competing with them for any interests, but they have spent so much effort to destroy it."

Gao Wen shook his head: "This is exactly the code of conduct for nobles. If you can't accept it, it only shows that you are not a qualified noble—according to their standards. Of course, I am not qualified either."

"Then what do you think about this list..."

"Of course it's Xiaona, why not?" Gao Wen laughed, "No matter what, it's a hundred technicians, even if they are put together randomly, it's better than nothing, these blacksmiths and carpenters are not even equipped with hammers You don’t even know how to use a saw? And I also want to meet this rune master named Jenny Perot, there is a sentence in her information that I am very interested in.”

"Which one?"

"Jenny Perot, mage rank--apprentice."

Chapter 0107 Jenni Perrault

Jenny Perot, a fourth-level rune master from Wangdu, was staying in her room, sorting out her few belongings.

Most of them are tools used to draw runes or depict magic circles, such as corrosion-resistant smear sticks, carving knives mixed with fine gold powder, wedge-shaped scrapers, and various types of pens. Other than that, they have been carefully collected over the years books and notes.

When leaving the mentor's mage's tower, these were the only things she was allowed to take away, and there were only two changes of clothes besides that.

But Jenny Perrault still carefully arranged them, and then put these pitiful personal items on the desk, cupboard and bedside shelf, and then she sat in the chair in the center of the room, Quietly looking around at this wooden hut that can be described as simple.

As the highest-ranking professional in the hundred-person team, she received special care: a separate house.Although this is just a simple wooden house, which is completely incomparable to the mentor's mage's tower, Jenny knows that this is already one of the few good houses in this camp. This time there are only official craftsmen and another mage in the team Only a husband is eligible to live in an independent house, and her house is the largest of all the houses, which has made her extremely satisfied.

After all, even if she lived in the mentor's mage's tower, she just slept on the floor in the utility room. Except for the walls around her being made of stone, that place is really no better than this place.

No, it's better here, at least this wooden house is her own, and she doesn't have to worry about being called by her mentor to test potions and magic circles.

Jenny looked at everything in front of her quietly, then looked down at her hands, thinking about the days to come.

She is very aware of her embarrassing position. She is the highest-ranked professional in the team, but in fact her real extraordinary level is just a mage apprentice. Rune master is a kind of handicraft, except for the ability to cast spells and sense magic. , there is no essential difference from those carpenters and stonemasons. In fact, according to the habits of mages, the second-level arcanist in the team should be the person with the highest status, so it is obvious—she, a mid-level professional, is just making up for it. of.

At the same time, she was also very clear that the legendary duke 700 years ago could see this at a glance.

So such an embarrassing person has to be received seriously according to the rules and provided with an independent residence. How long can this situation last?

It probably lasted until the duke felt that he had given the king enough face, or until anyone in the territory raised objections to this matter.

And at that time, the only thing that can guarantee her the qualifications to gain a foothold in this land is her skill.

After all, this is a camp under construction. There are a lot of things that need to be established. Whether it is making magic equipment or processing runes, it needs manpower. And that Mrs. Hetty can't do everything by herself, so I am a rune master. Well, if you do well enough, you may even get the approval of that lady—Jenny doesn't dare to expect too much, she is satisfied to gain a foothold in this place.

At this moment, there was a sudden knock on the door, interrupting Jenny's thoughts.

She looked in the direction of the door in surprise and nervousness, guessing who would be looking for her at this time, but she did not stop because of this, but immediately got up to open the door: no matter who is outside the door, it is best to Do not offend.

The door opened, and the person standing at the door made her breathe a little slower.

A tall figure with short brown hair and deep eyes is the owner of this land, the Duke Gawain Cecil who was resurrected from 700 years ago. Beside this tall figure is a Wearing a long red dress, the elegant and beautiful Ms. Hetty.

The lord and the manager came in person, which made Jenny at a loss for a while. She couldn't help but think of her wild thoughts just now, and became very worried: Does the lord now think that the treatment given to him is too good? ?

While Jenny was slightly stunned, Gao Wen was sizing up the girl in front of him, and couldn't help but take a second look: This rune master from Wangdu looked less than 20 years old, tall but thin, with a She has long silver-white hair, but the long hair looks a little dry and messy due to negligence. The hair hangs on her cheeks from both sides, and on the left side of her cheek, the hair Where it couldn't be covered, there was a huge ugly scar - that scar was the reason why Gao Wen couldn't help but look twice.

They have completely affected the girl's originally pretty face. They not only covered the left third of the face, but also spread down the neck. Due to the cover of the clothes, Gawain didn't know that the area seemed to be scalded. Exactly how big the same scar was, but he guessed it must have come from some rather horrific accident.

Soon, he realized that it was inappropriate to stare at a girl like this, so he withdrew his gaze: "Why, don't you invite us in?"

Jenny seemed to wake up at this moment. She moved away a little helplessly, and whispered nervously and cautiously: "Duke... Your Excellency Duke, do you come in person... Do you have any orders for coming in person?"

"Just to take a look," Gawain led Hetty into the wooden house, and took a casual look: the house is not big, and the bedroom and living room are completely connected together, and what's inside can be seen at a glance, he Seeing that this place is basically the simple furniture made by the carpenters in the territory, and there are not many traces of personal belongings at all, it is judged that this Jenny Perrault is living quite well in the capital as she guessed. Depressed, "How is it? I have been acclimatized in the camp for two days, are you satisfied with life here?"

Jenny didn't know what the lord and the manager came to her hut in person, and she couldn't take the initiative to ask, so she could only bite the bullet and answer Gao Wen's question: "Very...very satisfied, to be honest It’s been better than I imagined.”

While talking, she moved two chairs to give the lord and the steward a place to sit down, while she herself could only stand beside: there are only two chairs in total.

"Imagine?" Gawain looked at Jenny curiously, "What did you imagine?"

Jenny felt stunned when she heard this, but she had to answer: "At first... I thought it would be more difficult here. I heard that the camp has only been built for more than a month, and there are no staff or anything. Insufficient, I didn't expect that so many houses have been built here, and there are docks that can receive supplies from Tanzan Town..."

"It's because everyone is working so hard," Gao Wen laughed. "And to be honest, it's not fast. I've seen the speed of building a town in a month."

That was on the earth with cement - Gao Wen quietly added in his mind.

Jenny was taken aback by Gawain's casual remark, but she immediately understood it in her own way: "Ah, you are talking about the Gondor Empire 700 years ago, right?"

"Almost the same meaning," Gao Wen said casually, and looked at the simple hut, "Well, the camp can only provide such living conditions now, but don't worry, the brick kiln factory has already started to be built, and when there are enough Brick and tile, I will let the people on the territory live in brick and tile houses as soon as possible."

Jenny: "...huh?"

She had been waiting for Gao Wen to bring up the issue of "too high salary" from the beginning, but after waiting for a long time, the topic became more and more biased. Now it is even the opposite. Is this ancient man planning the camp according to the standards of the Gondor Empire back then, but then he thought - Gawain Cecil also pioneered from scratch and built the Kingdom of Ansu with his predecessor Yes, the old man has a lot of experience in this area, so he shouldn't make random analyzes...

Miss Runemaster, who was at a loss, began to analyze indiscriminately.

Gao Wen didn't know what this rune master named Jenny was thinking about. He just said a few casual words to open up the atmosphere. Seeing that the atmosphere could not be opened, he simply changed the subject: "We are here today, mainly I just want to know about your resettlement situation, find out what needs you guests who come from afar have, and get to know yourself by the way."

"Understand... me?" Jenny pointed to herself in surprise, "Which area do you mean?"

Hetty pulled out a piece of paper and pushed it in front of the other party: "Let me make it clear, we read your information, you are a fourth-level rune master, but your mage level... is an apprentice?"

Jenny's heart twitched suddenly.

Sure enough, what should come has come.

The fourth-level rune master level will not bring glory to herself, but the apprentice-level mage level is the truth, and this disparity in level does not mean talent, it will only make people associate her with "freaks" Together.

Even worse: an apprentice mage was stuffed into the team as a mid-level professional, what would the founding grand guild from 700 years ago think?According to the thinking of ordinary nobles, he will definitely regard this as a kind of deception and insult, and it is possible to get angry for this, but he will not lose his temper with the king, so the only object of his venting is his own "lie". itself".

The rune master from the capital lowered his head deeply, and pleaded guilty in the most humble and fearful tone: "I'm sorry, my lord, and Ms. Hetty, I have no intention of deceiving you, and I am willing to accept punishment for it..."

But Gao Wen suddenly interrupted her: "How did you do it?"

Jenny was trying to organize her words so that she could extinguish the "noble anger" she imagined, but she didn't expect Gao Wen to ask such a nonsensical question instead of getting angry, and he was stunned for a while.

Gao Wen thought that the other party didn't hear clearly, so he repeated his question again: "How did you complete the basic exercises of the rune teacher as an apprentice? Can you sense the magic power of multiple runes at the same time? Can you understand the magic of runes?" Do you want to perform 'magic tuning'?"