The Book of Hibernation

The golem bird took the winter thistle back to where it started.So far, the bird no longer led the way, and Winter Thistle was waiting for someone to put a black bag on him.

Before the necromancer came, Dong Ji found a fallen dead tree and sat down, dozing off on her lap.

Originally, he was just dozing off, but in the end, he fell asleep more and more deeply, and even had some dreams. When he woke up, he was already lying on the straw mattress in the hole.

March leaned against the opposite stone wall.

"Have you hypnotized me?" Winter Thistle asked.

March said, "It doesn't count. You were already asleep when we arrived. So we gave you a spell to sleep better, so you don't have to wake you up and put your pockets on."

Winter Ji got up, pinching the space between her eyebrows.There are still three people guarding outside the cave door, two short old men, and a young man. In the palm of the young man is a faint ball of light, only the size of a fingertip, flickering from time to time.

Under such dim lighting, Winter Thistle could see everything around him clearly because of his elven blood, but these human mages might not be able to see clearly.

Looking at the ball of light, Winter Thistle suddenly understood that these necromancers didn't like the darkness, but because they lacked the materials for casting spells, the materials in their hands had to be used sparingly.Casting lighting spells usually requires glow moss or crude cold wax, both inexpensive, but they can't buy them.For safety reasons, they did not dare to use open flames in large quantities.

An old mage urged.In March, Dongji asked Dongji to talk about the results of the communication, so Dongji told the truth about the attitude of the city-state.

The city-state generally agrees with the necromancer's conditions, but there are some details that need to be discussed.The matter of materials is easy to arrange, and there is no dispute; releasing the captured necromancer is a little more troublesome. Some people are detained in the south, and it takes time to bring them here. Agree on a special location where the two sides face each other to exchange hostages.

The only thing that the city-state did not fully agree to was to return Wu Yun and Kanai.According to Winter Thistle: Fesisit agrees, but the temple does not agree, but there is room for negotiation.The chamber of commerce is willing to hand over the dark clouds, but is unwilling to hand over Kanai's body, which is obviously the selfishness of the current chief of the chamber of commerce.

The necromancers were not surprised.These are pretty much what they expected.

Then, Winter Thistle volunteers that he has a way to separate Kanai and Dark Cloud.He was very cautious in his choice of words, only saying that there was a possibility, and it might not necessarily succeed, but if it did succeed, the chamber of commerce would not object to releasing the dark cloud.

As Aldin speculated, the necromancers were obviously moved, as could be seen from their eyes.

The two old men outside the door were talking in a low voice.March remained silent, saying nothing for the time being.

The young male mage couldn't help but approached, and asked, "You have a solution? Then why didn't you do it before?"

Winter Thistle said: "The solution was recently figured out. I didn't dare to think about it before. And I didn't have the opportunity to find Kanai before. I have never been to White Lake City, and I don't know anyone in the temple. Who can let me go? What about trying?"

The young mage said: "Did you know that the spell on the body came from the refiner of the Chamber of Commerce. It is said that that person has Haman's spell book, which is very different from ordinary mages..."

March raised her eyelids to look at Winter Thistle.

Winter Thistle replied: "Yes, it is related to Haman's spell book. I don't know if you have heard that the San Dilian City Defense Force has updated a batch of enchanted weapons, some of which I have handled. How did these come from? Notes of the Chamber of Commerce Refiner."

Of course the necromancer had heard of these things.Among them, some had also lived near San Dilian, and it was precisely because they were afraid of the increasingly powerful city defense army that they ran to the banks of the Xiwa River.

At this time, an old mage raised his head: "Have you read Haman's spell book?"

"Strictly speaking, it doesn't count. I only read the notes of the refiner of the chamber of commerce, so I have a general idea."

Dong Ji was also very guilty when he said this, but after all, he was a hostage, and it was normal and natural to have a look of fear in his expression.

"Have you seen him?" asked the old man.

"he?"

"The refiner of the chamber of commerce, the one who holds Haman's spell book."

Winter Thistle said, "Yeah. He's been in my magic shop." And it was true.Winter Thistle even worked in Mr. Rosen's shop.

"If you can do it, then he should be able to do it even more..." said the old man rubbing his chin.

"It should be," said Winter Thistle, "but he may not be willing to do it. And he can't participate in this matter. He is under the control of the Austrian Law Federation, and now he has no personal freedom at all."

March kept staring at Winter Thistle, her eyes became more and more serious.Thanks to the darkness here, the three mages at the door could not see any difference in her expression.

The two old men whispered to each other for a while, and then began to ask Winter Thistle questions again and again.They didn't continue to ask about the refiner, but asked if they needed any materials or documents if they wanted to further study the method of releasing the dark cloud.

Winter Thistle was secretly shocked by the attitudes of these old people—this is not what the kidnappers should ask the hostages.Typical mage thinking.

Dongji couldn't help thinking: as a mage herself, it's actually quite strange to be able to perceive the other party's "mage thinking"... probably because she's been with someone like Aldin for too long.I don't know if this effect is good or bad.

Winter Thistle had to answer them, so she followed her intuition and made some requests.

He said that he needed some literature on witchcraft, the more the better, according to his vision, to solve the matter of Wu Yun and Kanai, must use witchcraft on the basis of chimera high-level arcane.

Except for necromancers, no one should touch witchcraft.Common schools are based on elements, while witchcraft involves the raw energy of life and the soul, which is the foundation of the Necromancy School and the Otherworld School.It is usually difficult to find literature in this area, but the closer you are to the necromancer, the more likely you are to find it.

Winter Thistle said that after being caught here, he found that March seemed to be carrying a swearer, and he recognized that it was the product of witchcraft, so he dared to claim that he had a solution.

His explanation is very reasonable, in line with the law of arcane chimerism, and also in line with the way of thinking of most mages.The old man at the door nodded slowly, his eyes became a little different.

Winter Thistle could understand this look.This shows that they have temporarily left the mode of kidnappers and hostages.

What follows is a dialogue between mage and mage.

This subtle change can be described as mixed.

The bad side is: mages are not easy to cheat, and Winter Thistle has to make sure that every request he makes is reasonable.

There is also a good side: unknowingly, these necromancers have become a lot more polite to Winter Thistle.

After basically negotiating, they took the winter thistle to another cave. There are not only straw mattresses, but also sheets and blankets, basic daily necessities, and a small table with paper and pens and a box of cold lights. wax.There is still no door to the cave, and there is a clay golem standing at the door, and the necromancer will dodge if he gets close to it.

The necromancers said that Dong Ji lived here on weekdays, so he could write and calculate any ideas he had.

The two old mages turned and left while talking in a low voice, and the young male mage also walked away with the ball of light.

They talked with Winter Ji for so long, but they didn't say when the next negotiation will be.

Winter Thistle originally wanted to ask, but later he realized that probably these necromancers hadn't made up their minds yet... Now their minds are full of "there is a way to get the dark cloud", and they haven't started thinking about the next negotiation at all.

After the other mages left, Sanyue cast the rune of silence at the door again, blocking the sound in the cave.

After casting the spell, she frowned and looked back at Winter Thistle, who was lighting a lamp with luminescent wax.

"What's wrong with you?" March asked.

The winter thistle had lighted the little ball of light and raised it to the ceiling of the cave. "What's wrong with me?" he asked back.

"Why are you saying that..."

"Because I can," said Winter Thistle.

"Aren't you afraid of revealing your identity? When they go back together, some people may realize that you are not a 'Rosen', you are a refiner of the Chamber of Commerce. Even if they believe you are a 'Rosen', once you really wake up in the future Wu Yun, Wu Yun will also recognize you. He has always wanted Haman's spell book... Originally, you only need to hand over Kanai's body to us, Wu Yun has no chance to see you."

Winter Ji was taken aback.

It wasn't because he was frightened by the words, but because he was surprised by another thing - as expected, March believed him.

Not only those strange necromancers believed him, even she completely believed it.

Winter Thistle sat on the straw mattress, leaning against the stone wall and sighed.

He said: "I know you took part in the robbery of the prison van. After that, did you not go anywhere else, just fled to the Khiva River?"

"Yes, what's the matter?" March stood in front of him with arms folded.

After the prison van incident, the temple and various city-states jointly hunted down necromancers. The scope and duration were unprecedented.She and some of her companions fled directly north.

Winter Thistle said: "If you stay in Harbor City or St. Dilian, you will surely learn one thing...Nowadays, Haman's spell books are actually not very valuable. If you have friends who stay in other south coast city-states , you can inquire about it."

"why would you say so?"

"Because I wrote down a lot of spell notes, and the assistants in the workshop also copied some for me. These notes were sent everywhere. Except for things that are still in the research stage, all the skills I have fully mastered are basically They are all written in the notes. There are many people who have obtained or read the notes, including the Elemental Mage Corps, the refiners of the San Dilian Military Factory, the workshop refiners of the Chamber of Commerce, and the Arcane Federation...they themselves I will definitely copy it again. It may not be obvious in a year or two, but as long as it takes a few more years, no one will need me. In the future, I will be an ordinary refiner, no different from other colleagues."

This made March even more confused.She believes it to be true, but doesn't understand why he did it.

She originally planned to continue asking, but after thinking about it, she felt that there was no need to ask.

"So, you don't have to hide your identity at all?" March said.

Winter Thistle said: "No, I'm still 'Rosen'. I don't know your people, I don't know what each of them thinks, and how superstitious they are about Haman's spellbook... In case someone insists on me What should I do if I stay here? If you try to explain it to me, you can’t explain it. It’s better to have one more thing than one less thing.”

"That's right." March nodded.

She paused, then suddenly said: "According to the calculation, we haven't seen each other for more than a year, right?"

"Why do you say this all of a sudden?"

Sanyue purposely looked Dongji up and down, and said: "It's only been so long, but I feel that you are different... It's very different from when you were in Harbor City. I don't know if you changed suddenly, or I wasn't quite the same before. know about you."

"It's because you don't understand me." Dong Ji chuckled.

Sanyue showed an "Okay" look in her eyes, and said nothing more.She was about to leave when Winter Thistle stopped her and asked what he should do next.

March said: "Just wait. I'll get what you need."

"I need?"

"You said it yourself, you want documents related to witchcraft."

Winter Thistle nodded slowly.Of course, he didn't really want to read those things, but it didn't hurt to look at them.

He said: "Do you have so many books with you? I thought this request was very difficult, and you couldn't give it to me."

March said: "We wanted to settle in the Gem Forest, so we brought a lot of things, but..."

She only spoke halfway, shook her head regretfully, turned and walked out of the cave.

The golem at the door sidled to let her through, then stepped back and blocked the door.

Winter Thistle understood what she meant: among the necromancers, many of them ran from Ord to the north bank, and after struggling there for several years, they definitely wanted to move back to the south bank.They gradually discovered that there are some places where they are not so vigilant against necromancers, such as Fesisit and Shandonia.Shandonia is a bit far away, and Fesisit is small but connected to the Gem Forest, so the latter is a good choice.

If Wu Yun plays the role of "Chief Bellos", he will definitely kill the threatening members of the Chamber of Commerce one by one, and then let the Chamber of Commerce provide assistance to the necromancers.It's a pity that this road didn't work.The necromancers finally settled in the gem forest, and now they have to retreat to the north bank again.

The North Shore is a place of bitter cold. The only advantage is that no one hunts down necromancers. Other than that, it is useless.

Dongji couldn't help but imagine... If Sanyue really brought some valuable witch ritual literature, he might feel a little guilty.

Obviously he can't help them.It seems that he is not being a hostage, but is here to cheat the book.

==================================

Three days later, the necromancer finally decided on the next plan and sent Winter Thistle to negotiate.

It was still evening, and Winter Thistle would not leave until late at night.A middle-aged man came to Dong Ji and said that San Yue was not here today and seemed to be busy with other things, so he was temporarily changed to explain the content of the negotiation.

Winter Thistle was reading a book.He lit a particularly bright ball of light in the cave, and placed a small constant temperature magic circle.

The middle-aged mage stared at the ball of light while repeating various conditions.After talking about the business, the mage muttered: "You save a little."

He was referring to spell-casting materials.Winter Ji looked at him, and then pointed to the jar where the luminescent wax was stored: "Look at the consumption. How about it, I don't use much at all, right? It's your own problem. You usually waste a lot of consumables. In fact, it's normal. It won’t consume so much. Because you are not good at element control skills, I am afraid that you have lacked training in this area since your apprenticeship... Sigh, it’s just such a basic little spell.”

The middle-aged man couldn't come back with a word.And he can't be angry either.

The middle-aged man didn't want to talk about consumables anymore, so he silently went to check the personal items that Winter Ji would bring tonight.Dong Ji asked him to look it up, and continued reading by himself.

After the conversation, Dong Ji was secretly surprised: I shouldn't have spoken like this, I should have been more nervous.I should be bothered by the lies I've told, and anxious about the long drive tonight...  

But he just didn't.

Also, he seems to be less and less afraid of necromancers, and he can even find wonderful entry points to bully them.This is not very good... He silently reflected.

The book Dong Ji was reading was the witch ritual literature that March brought him.

She first brought two books, each about a cubit long and half a palm thick.The book doesn't have a decent cover. It's wrapped in soft woolen sheepskin. The pages are bound with stitches. It looks like it has fallen apart and been repaired many times.The paper of the book is made of thin leather. Judging from the texture, it should come from different animals.I don't know if there is humanoid skin in it, Winter Thistle doesn't want to think about it.

March said these were her teacher's legacy.There are more than these two books, there is a whole box in total, they are currently stored separately, and it will take some time to get them all.There was some dirt on the leather wrapping the book, it is estimated that San Yue buried the book and hid it.

One is an introductory one, and Dong Ji hasn't read it carefully for the time being; he mainly reads the other one.This book records the method of making the Oathsworn. In addition, it also records many witchcraft spells of the same type, as well as related application theories and experimental records.

When she brought the book over, Sanyue said that she hadn't actually read it through.When she learned how to make a swearer, she mainly relied on her teacher to teach her personally.This book involves the ancient magic of Necromancy in Witch Ritual and some incorporeal research in Necromancy, which is not her specialty.

Winter Thistle didn't know the specific branch of the Necromancer School, so she was curious and asked what her professional direction was?March said it was "erosion and fragmentation, and a little bit of toxicology".

Among this string of words, Winter Thistle could only understand "toxicology", and he didn't intend to ask about the specific meanings of the other two words.

However, the book in Winter Thistle's hand is normal and not scary.Ancient magic is more barbaric, but it also has a lot of charm.As a spellcaster, you will definitely find something intriguing, so Winter Thistle is also very absorbed in reading, and being locked in a cave is not boring at all.

The book should have been passed down from generation to generation by many mages. There are many inserts on it, scattered with different handwriting. Because of the different ages, the expression methods are inconsistent. The mages in the old age directly used the common language, while the newer papers were mostly arcane. Word.

Winter Thistle has discovered some interesting ancient magics, some of which resemble chimeric arcane art of later generations.He just couldn't read enough, and wanted to use the current method to verify some content, so he pressed the book with one hand, and wrote on the table with a charcoal stick with the other.

The middle-aged mage checked the material bag of Winter Thistle and found nothing wrong.

At this time, he heard Dongji unconsciously "hmm", with doubts in his tone.

The middle-aged mage turned his head and saw Dong Ji drawing a magic circle on the table.He frowned: "What are you doing?"

Dong Ji ignored him for the time being, and finally stopped what she was doing until she finished drawing a set of magic circle runes and checked the calculations again.

He raised his head and asked in a daze, "Is March here?"

"I told you just now that she is not here and went to do other things."

Winter Thistle nodded.March is probably to dig other books.

"What's wrong with you?" the middle-aged mage asked.

"I was reading the information she gave me. Just now I..." Dongji paused, "There is something I don't understand."

The middle-aged mage leaned over to glance at the page, and shook his head: "I don't understand this either, I'm better at constructing bodies. After you finish this business, I guess you should come back in March, when the time comes You look for her again."

Seeing the pattern drawn by Winter Thistle on the table, he murmured dissatisfiedly: "And, we have paper. You should ask me in advance."

It never occurred to Winter Thistle to ask for paper.Just now, he discovered something.

Not sooner or later, just today, just a few minutes ago...

After he randomly turned to a certain page and saw the content that aroused his interest.

He didn't know how to express it for the time being.

If there is really something called fate in the world apart from human relationships, then fate must be deliberately making fun of him.

In the past, Aldin asked him to withdraw the spell and wake up Kanai, but he said he couldn't do it; later, Aldin asked him to pretend that he could do it, and use this to deceive the necromancer, so he said it clearly, and the necromancer really believed him up.

Now he suddenly discovered that these lies... might come true.

Of course, "come true" will not be too fast.What he discovered was not a formed spell, but just a way of thinking.

If this line of thinking is correct, the negotiating parties can get what they need, and the Arden brothers can be reunited.

At the same time, the dark cloud will be set free.Necromancers get what they want.Kanai's sacrifice would be a joke.

As for Winter Thistle herself...he was quite sure that this would never be a good thing for him.

The middle-aged mage left, mumbling and complaining as he walked.Winter Thistle was now alone in the cave.

He stared at the traces on the table in a daze, and it took him a while to come back to his senses and turn to the next page of the book.