The cold moon.
The coldest month in Ansu has arrived.
The giant sun rises solemnly and slowly into the sky, with yellow-brown strips like wood grain floating on the huge sun disk with a cloud-like halo. The changes in those colorful stripes indicate one thing: The largest temperature drop since winter is coming soon.
The sun, the largest celestial body in the sky, is also the celestial body most closely related to people's lives. Experienced farmers can estimate the approximate cooling date and magnitude of the cooling based on the changes in the stripes on the sun's disk. Scholars have developed a method for deducing the overall climate of the second year based on the changes in the solar disc. Observation of the giant sun has always been a very important part of the daily life of people in this world.
Saint Sunil City, in the mage area.
With a slight friction sound, the "Sun-Chasing Platform" on the upper floor of the Astrology Tower opened its thick and huge skylight, and the magic-powered lifting platform also stopped firmly at the top of the passage in the center of the Sun-Chasing Platform. On the top, Morgan Hugo and his assistants walked down the lifting platform and came to the position used to observe the solar disk, ready to start the routine observation work.
"Open the filter plate - filter mode III."
The old royal mage gave instructions to the assistant on the side, and at the same time waved to the bookshelf not far away, the quill, Parchment, ink bottles and other objects immediately flew over and hovered steadily in front of him, while the assistant who received the order ran to a control node not far away and began to inject magic into the rune pillar.
Seeing his assistant's slightly reckless actions, Morgan couldn't help shouting: "Be careful! The runes here are priceless!"
The assistant hurriedly controlled the injection The magnitude of the magic power, and as the rune pillars around the sun-chasing platform became brighter, a thin layer of light also floated on the skylight used to observe the sun wheel.
After a while, the magical radiance condensed into a layer of light crystals that looked like substance, filtering the sunlight outside the skylight into a pattern more suitable for human eyes to observe. Morgan Hugo nodded slightly: This set The magic device built a hundred years ago is still useful today, and as the most qualified astrologer in this astrology tower, the privilege of using this magic device has always been the thing he is most proud of.
The old mage stood under the filter plate condensed with magic light, raised his head and carefully observed the sun disc outside the sky window, observing the changes in every colorful stripe on its surface, and the quill pen The parchment and parchment were suspended beside him, and he kept writing quickly, recording all the data and drawings.
Other assistants also came to the observation position and recorded the data they were responsible for. A quiet and solemn atmosphere enveloped the top of the astrological tower.
However, this atmosphere did not last long. An assistant's confused and low-pitched exclamation broke the calm on the observation platform: "The red stripe at the bottom shifted three degrees eastward?"
Morgan Hugo immediately glared at his assistant: "What nonsense are you talking about?"
"It's true!teacher! "The assistant said quickly, and then took out the last observation record while taking what he had recorded to the instructor, "Look, this is the last record - you personally confirmed it. ”
Morgan Hugo took a few pages handed over by his assistant and scanned them quickly. He was stunned for a moment, then looked at them more carefully, and then raised his head again. Come, stare at the giant sun in the sky without blinking
"This is impossible..." The old astrologer muttered to himself, and he waved his hand to summon the illusion spell used to calibrate the coordinates. , a large area of reference marks was set around the sun disk image on the filter plate. However, looking at the calibration results, his shock only increased, "No...impossible...such a large-scale offset... ...This has never been seen before..."
"Teacher, do we want to report it to Baiyin Castle? "The assistant asked cautiously, "This is an obvious celestial abnormality. "
"Report to Silver Castle immediately! ! "
...
In the Dark Mountains, in the Astronomical Observation Station No. 2, the young mage responsible for recording the changes in the sun also put down the record board in his hand in shock.
< p>"Is it possible that there was a storm blowing on the surface of the sun? "The young mage murmured to himself. He took a closer look at the data and drawings on the record board. Then he raised his head and looked at the image of the sun through the large filter lens on the roof of the observation station, with an incredible look on his face. .The companions on the side looked over curiously: "Is there an error in the historical records? "
"No, all data are observed and recorded in duplicate," the young mage said as he stood up and walked towards the door of the observation station, "I'll go outside and take a look, you're inside. Keep recording! ”
He walked out of the observation station and came to the platform connected to the station. The cold north wind was hovering over the dark mountains, rolling through the mountains and canyons, blowing whistlingly on this place that was built a few months ago. The young mage who had just stepped out of the warm room couldn't help but shiver at the newly built site.
The young mage held up his shield to isolate himself from the cold mountain wind, and then took out his portable phone. Filter lenses, carefully observe the giant sun in the sky through the lenses
These astronomical observatories set up in the dark mountains are ancillary products of the "Essence of Magic" project hosted by Kamel, with the purpose of studying. The connection between the activity cycle of the giant sun and the changes in the magic power of nature.
Kamael has always believed that the magic power of nature comes from the giant sun in the sky, but the entire world itself is surrounded by a layer of powerful magic power. It is shrouded in the environment, and it becomes difficult to observe the changes in external magic power in this "shrouded environment". In order to reduce interference as much as possible and improve the accuracy of observation, Kamel presided over the construction of a tunnel in the dark mountains. A series of observation stations.
"Celestial Observation Station No. 2" is one of them.
These observation stations have the function of detecting changes in magic power and observing changes in celestial phenomena. Since it's built high up in the Dark Mountains, it even has surveillanceThe role of the Wall of Magnificence.
Being able to station in such an observation station, the young mage is naturally the best among Kamel's many apprentices and assistants. However, at this moment, this outstanding young man fell into great consternation. middle.
The giant sun still hangs quietly in the sky, providing light and heat to the world as always. In the eyes of ordinary people, I am afraid that it cannot see any change at all. However, for this young man, the sky That sun has become extremely strange at this moment.
The young mage looked up for a long time without blinking. Even with the protection of filter lenses, his eyes soon became painful. He had to lower his head and use magic to relieve the pain in his eyes. There was swelling and pain, and then I started to carefully check the parameters on the recording board in my hand.
At this moment, a strange low sound came into the ears of the young mage.
The sound seemed to come from a very far away place. It sounded like the sound of a hurricane carrying thunder. It spread so far that when it reached the ears, it was already blurry. Young The man raised his head amid the strange noise, and after seeing the source of the sound, his expression fell into a dull state.
His sight crossed the ridge of the Dark Mountain, across the dark forest at the foot of the mountain on the other side, across the corrupted plain destroyed by the demonic tide. At the end of the sight, on the southern horizon, the entire magnificent The walls were emitting light many times brighter than before.
The low sound of wind and thunder came from that magnificent wall.
"...Goddess of Magic..." the young mage exclaimed in a low voice, then turned and rushed to the observation station, "Quickly notify Master Kamel! Notify the lord!!"
...
On the far southern horizon, the light emitted by the majestic wall is like an aurora falling to the ground. The light is several times stronger than usual floating there, with a breathtaking effect. The feeling of soul-stirring majesty was felt, and the unsettling sound of wind and thunder was still heard continuously - but it was much smaller than at the beginning.
Gawain stood on the observation platform of the Dark Mountains, looking at the distant scene without saying a word for a long time.
In his mind, the alarm from the satellite monitoring system was still echoing:
“...Warning, the activity of giant planets has increased abnormally, warning, the activity of giant planets has increased abnormally. ..."
The changes in magic in nature are closely related to the activities of the giant sun. According to what happened seven hundred years ago, the changes in the giant sun are very likely to herald the approach of the demonic tide. The sea monsters' Various observation records have also confirmed this: whenever a demonic tide rises, the first thing to have an abnormal reaction must be the sun in the sky.
Is time running out...or is it that the time has come?
Gawain turned off the alarm message in his mind and turned to look at the young mage beside him - except that he, a "satellite spirit", noticed the change of the sun immediately with the help of the satellite alarm, This young man was the first person in the territory to discover anomalies and send back an alarm.The young man reported the abnormality of the Magnificent Wall in a timely manner.
"How long has it been since the Great Wall emitted strange noises and lights?"
"It has been four hours now, my lord," the young mage said slightly. He said nervously, "But I can only confirm that the strange sound came from four hours ago, and I'm not sure when the brightness changed - we had been recording something else in the hours before that, and we didn't watch "The magnificent wall."
Gawain nodded, and he could hear the researcher's unique rigor from the young mage's report.
Behind Gawain, Hetty and others who came with him were all worried. Amber was the first one who couldn't help it: "I said... that wall will collapse soon." ? ”
Gawain wanted to give a clear answer, but after a few seconds of thinking, he could only shake his head: “…I don’t know.”
Hetty and Rebecca said in unison: "You don't know either?"
"I can only be sure of one thing: the current strange noises and the increased brightness of the energy barrier are manifestations of the surge in load on the Great Wall. , the pressure it is under at the moment is very high, but the barrier has not broken yet, which shows that the pressure has not exceeded the threshold. According to the original design, as long as there is no new impact, it will repair itself - but I am not sure that after seven After a hundred years of wind and rain, can the barrier's security system survive this test?"
Rebecca swallowed: "What if...it doesn't survive?"
"The Black Mountains may be able to block the first onslaught of the demonic tide, but the aberrations will soon begin to try to climb this barrier. The best case scenario is that the chaotic magic in the wastes of Gondor has been in the past seven hundred years. Greatly weakened, and no longer has the power to directly destroy the human world, then the Southern Territory will return to the situation when Ansu first founded the country seven hundred years ago - constantly fighting monsters rushing out of the demonic tide, and carrying out a never-ending war. It’s a tug-of-war,” Gawain shook his head. “The good news is that we now have magic cannons and rainbow light devices. The bad news is that in other places in the south, there are no longer the Cecil Wolf Cavalry, nor are there any more. The Priest Stormtroopers and the Noble Death Squadron were looking forward to death."
Behind Hetty, a Government Affairs Department official couldn't help but whisper: "So we'd better pray that it survives this time..."< /p>
“It’s hard to say whether prayer will work, but at least we can’t just wait around like this,” Gawain turned around and looked at Hetty, “The Government Affairs Department has entered a state of emergency and is ready to mobilize strategic supplies at any time... ...Towns where large shields have been installed are currently used as preliminary evacuation points...Increase monitoring of the south of the Dark Mountains, and all observation points are turned to the Great Wall...Be prepared for publicity, the security team is on standby at any time, and there can be no chaos anywhere... ”
As Gawain’s instructions were issued one by one, everyone at the scene realized the seriousness of the matter more clearly, and at the same time, they also felt a little relieved.
If there are instructions and arrangements, it is better than being at a loss.good.