There is a lot of content on the bulletin board, but not all of it is new. Some old papers are covered with new ones, and some old papers have faded due to wind and sun, and the contents on them have changed. It was blurry and looked quite laborious.
The civilian literacy education and town notice system implemented by Emperor Rosetta are indeed good things, but there are also many problems, because there is only one channel for releasing information, so whether it is the top New Deal or the town Every chore in the house will be posted here, and no one has considered the issue of timeliness. You can often see the emperor's decree followed by a notice to clean up the silt, and the news of purchasing new grain is the same as the grain distribution a few months ago. Putting all the contents together, it is not easy to distinguish them clearly.
In fact, finding useful content from this mess of information is indeed a skill, and as far as Mary knows, the promotion effect of literacy education is not that good, and most civilians do not They have enough spare energy to read and write. Even if they go to read and write, they will not learn much from those careless teachers who only come to class for a few coins every day. Therefore, those who can read notices are There aren't many in the entire town.
The confusing content on the bulletin board, coupled with the fact that the literacy rate of civilians is still not high enough, has even given rise to a profession, that is, "reader".
If anyone wants to find something useful from the mess of notices - for example, a farmer wants to know the latest purchase price and purchase time of a certain crop - then give the soldier a copper plate, soldier I will find out useful things and read them to you.
Of course, some information will be worthless after it is disseminated, and farmers who are more literate are likely to find out the useful information themselves and tell others, so on the one hand, the soldiers only use this "reading out" "income" as extra money, on the other hand, when posting notices, they will deliberately wet and smear the content that may arouse the most inquiries, so that civilians who want to know the price of goods or employment information have to spend a copper plate. Ask...
But these have no impact on Mary. As a mage, she has the ability to easily read everything on the bulletin board and distinguish it clearly, and she does not care much about this information. Timeliness – all of this stuff is interesting to her.
There is no such thing as a bulletin board in the village at the foot of the mountain.
"Recruiting mages..." The young female apprentice read all the posted notices with great interest, and finally her eyes fell on the notice recruiting mages. Can she It seemed like this was a solicitation for a research project, but the message itself was unusual.
Announcements for recruiting mages have been posted in the town... Emperor Rosetta seems to be selecting a group of talents from all the mages in the empire, and his recruitment scope is really large. In a rural town like this, the only mage who can see the notice is probably a third-level or second-level wild mage at most.?
But then Mary thought of her mentor... The scary old magician was probably an exception. He lived in seclusion in such a remote place, but his strength was unfathomable... It is said that the mentor was also there back then. Living in the royal capital, I wonder if he would be interested in His Majesty the Emperor's recruitment.
With such thoughts in the mind of the young female apprentice, she left the bulletin board and continued to wander in the lively town square.
The bard's poems are heart-warming to listen to.
The performance of the circus clown is impressive.
Even if they were just a few crappy craftsmen, Mary was particularly fascinated by the small straw and wood carvings they made on the square.
So when she finally woke up from these things, the golden-red sunset light was already shining on a circle of rooftops at the edge of the square.
Looking at the golden-red sunset and the townspeople and performers leaving the square, the poor young girl finally became frightened: she had completely forgotten what her instructor had told her. Behind the head!
Mary ran away and rushed to the shop next to the square. The only thing she was glad about now was that she had been holding the package in her arms well. If she had been too addicted to the entertainment in the square before, she would have sent the instructor to If the ingredients for the magic potion she ordered to be purchased are also lost...the instructor will definitely pull out one of her tendons and feed them to the bloodthirsty monsters in the mage tower!
Finally, luck rarely favored this girl. She bought the last spell-casting materials before the store closed, and by the time she came out of the store, the sky was almost completely dark.
Looking at the last ray of light left in the sky, Mary couldn't help but tighten her old black robe tightly. It was not a wise choice to rush after dark, especially the mage of the town and her mentor. There is a mountain road between the towers that takes two hours to walk. Even though she is a mage with a formal spellcasting level, the mountain road in the dark is also dangerous.
But the old magician's anger is more terrifying than the slippery mountain road and the monsters dormant in the darkness.
Mary secretly regretted her laxity today, while checking the package in her arms again, she finally took steps to walk out of the town.
The news she saw on the bulletin board was still spinning in her mind, but after setting foot on the mountain trail, she threw all her random thoughts aside.
Summoning the flashing magic ball for lighting, preparing the protective spell for body protection, holding the dagger for protection with her free right hand, the female apprentice walked in the dark with one foot deep and one foot shallow. On the mountain road, there was a cold wind constantly blowing from the mountain after nightfall, but Mary did not dare to be distracted to maintain an extra layer of breeze barrier: when operating in the wild, it is common sense for mages to save mana as much as possible, as long as the external environment does not If it's so bad that it affects your thinking and judgment, you can't be too particular about comfort.
Finally, before midnight, the dark and gloomy spire appeared in front of her.in sight.
Mary was cold and hungry, but she finally made it back to the wizard's tower before the collar around her neck turned into a red-hot iron ring.
The door to the mage tower opened automatically. The gatekeeper inside silently put the female apprentice into the tower. With a muffled sound when the heavy door closed, the mountain wind and starlight outside were cut off. outer.
The mage tower was still eerie and silent, as oppressive as a cage, but Mary still let out a long breath after entering the door. She tiptoed towards the stairs leading to the upper floor, preparing to Before her mentor found out, she put the things she bought into the warehouse and hid in her room, but as soon as she took two steps, she stopped stiffly.
The sinister and lonely old mage stood on the stairs, blending quietly into the darkness like a sculpture. The artificial nerve cords squirmed in the fabric and the sound of sweeping the ground was heard. Come on, it's as creepy as the sound of countless venomous snakes entangled and crawling.
Mary seemed to have forgotten how to speak. She stammered: "Teacher...I..."
A bright lightning struck her before she could finish her words. On the shoulder, along with the severe pain came the old mage's gloomy words: "Why so late?"
Lightning penetrated the simple robe with almost no protective effect, scorching a piece of flesh and blood. But Mary, who had long been accustomed to this kind of punishment, suppressed the tremors in her body and voice for the first time, and lowered her head: "I was delayed in the town..."
She didn't use "The mountain road is not easy to walk on." " She also has experience in this regard: her mentor has profound knowledge in the fields of neurology and brain wave manipulation. Those winding nerve cords can not only be used to connect a mysterious thinking network, but also It can detect lies. The last apprentice who lied in front of his mentor almost died on the experimental table. She didn't want to use her own life to test the old mage's mood at the moment.
The old mage Daniel stared at Mary with sinister eyes. He waved his hand, and the package in Mary's arms flew to him. After checking the contents of the package, he raised his eyelids again: "Remember, if you delay the experiment assigned by the master, I will use you as experimental material!"
Mary lowered her head and made a submissive appearance: "Yes... yes!"
The old mage had a mysterious master, which she knew, and she also knew that the mysterious and powerful master gave the old mage a series of orders to research new neural connection technology and brain wave amplification technology. It is part of the order - it is precisely because of these tasks that the old mage has recently frequently arranged for his apprentices to go out to collect materials.
Mary did not dare to ask about the secrets behind those studies, let alone the name of the mysterious "master". She knew very well in this regard: an existence that could make even the terrible mentor be so awe-inspiring was definitely not She can easily access it, and maybe just getting a little bit of information is enough to bring her death.
Looking at the timid womanApprentice, Daniel frowned, not knowing what he was thinking, and then suddenly spoke: "What did you see in the town?"
Mary did not dare to tell all the details of her wandering. , but said something that might make the mentor less angry: "...I was reading the notice in the town...I want to know if there is any useful news..."
Daniel snorted. : "Huh, what useful news have you seen?"
"His Majesty the Emperor is expanding the school...recruiting volunteers..." Mary immediately told what she saw, and The piece of information that she thought was the most important was put at the end, "By the way, His Majesty is still recruiting mages. It may be that the Royal Mages Society is expanding its manpower. Instructor, you..."
She didn't finish speaking. She didn't dare to say any more, because she saw that the expression on her tutor's face suddenly became gloomier than ever. The gloomy expression was almost filled with undisguised resentment, but the tutor spoke after she stopped. : "Continue to talk - why does the emperor recruit mages?"
"Maybe...maybe it is a research project..." Mary stammered, "The specific content is not written, but it requires...requires mathematical knowledge And the knowledge of magic circles, and you must know more about self-charging...self-charging magic circles..."
The gloomy expression on the old mage's face suddenly changed.
He frowned and seemed to be deep in thought. While Mary waited tremblingly, he whispered to himself: "... Could it be that the empire is researching... The master may be interested in this news... ..."
Mary lowered her head and listened without daring to breathe. She was not interested in the master of the old mage at all. She was hungry, sleepy and extremely nervous now. She just wanted to return to her room as soon as possible. .
The old mage finally woke up from talking to himself and thinking. He glanced at the apprentice who was still waiting at the bottom of the steps. A trace of trance flashed in his eyes, and then he regained his clarity.
He waved his hand: "Go back to your room."
If Mary was granted amnesty, she quickly bowed deeply, and when she was about to leave, she heard The instructor's voice came from the stairs again: "...There is a plate of muffins on your table, which is for you."
Mary raised her head in surprise, as if she suspected that she heard something wrong.
However, the old mage just waved his hand. His artificial nerve cord had calmed down for some time, and his tone was full of impatience: "Today is your birthday."