The last ray of sunset on the horizon fell into the depths of the mountains. Under the gradually dimming skylight, the glow of the magic crystal street lamps lit up one by one under the control of the timing device - before the stars in the sky twinkled, the stars on the earth flickered. It became brighter first, and in the bright lights, the nightlife of Cecil citizens had just begun.
Night is not the end of the day, but the beginning of another activity.
The street taverns are brightly lit, and the workers who have just finished work are relaxing in the taverns and filling their stomachs. The magic network broadcasting device in the square is playing the evening news program, making nearby citizens stop and be very interested. , some restaurants and shops open late have lit up their signboards, enthusiastic shopkeepers and shop assistants are soliciting customers at the door, and a group of people are walking towards the east or south of the city - that is the factory area and directions to evening classes.
Sonia Shuangye stood on the street, looking at the bustling appearance of the city in surprise. She looked at the lights on the street and couldn't help but said: "This place... is far better than Ansu's." The royal capital is lively."
"Cecil is the most prosperous city in the south, and probably the most prosperous city in Ansu," Solderin said from the side, with pride in his tone. He was temporarily assigned. As a guide to lead visitors around the city, after all, no one in this city is more familiar with the preferences of the Silver Elf than him. "There may not be the historic buildings of Saint Sunil here, but everyone here lives better." ."
"It can be seen," Sonia nodded lightly, "This place reminds me of the Imperial City of Gondor...the same bright lights, the same advanced and prosperous, but they have the same essence. It's different... there is only one imperial city in Gondor, but there are more than one prosperous city here. It seems that I can't take you home - this is indeed a good place worth staying."
Silver Elf. They love traveling, and almost every young elf has at least a hundred years of travel experience. In the popular saying of elves, "a good place worth staying" is the best evaluation of a foreign country.
“It is developing very fast here, and it will develop even faster in the future - even in other parts of Ansu, those relatively closed and backward cities have been developing continuously in the past few hundred years. , and the Silver Empire... The Silver Empire has not changed for ten thousand years," Solderin said. "It is a very depressing place for me."
"Her Majesty the Queen has been promoting new things. "The construction of the city."
"I am not referring to the new city, mother, you know it," Solderin interrupted Sonia, "...how has the situation in my hometown been over the years?"
"If you mean peace, then the empire has always been peaceful. If you mean those 'legacies'...'legacies' are declining," Sonia sighed softly, "As of fifty A few years ago, all technical research fell into a bottleneck, stuck at the bottleneck of the great split of the original elves. The data was broken, the data could not be matched, and the technical field was all black boxes... Scholars still maintain hope, but some people say that we Already mired in quagmire."
"The bottleneck of the original elves..." Solderin couldn't help but softly repeat this word that has special meaning to the silver elves.
It is said that there was only one family of elves in the beginning. , whether gray elves, sea elves, dark elves or silver elves, all originated from the "primitive elves" on the distant old continent. The primitive elves have an extremely advanced civilization and can even build sky palaces that can stay at the top of the atmosphere permanently, but A sudden disaster caused this powerful ancient civilization to fall apart...
The original elves who escaped the disaster left the old continent in an ark flying on the sea. When they were about to reach the new continent (Loren continent), They encountered a high tower in the eternal night. They recklessly entered the tower by mistake, but were cursed by incredible power to disintegrate. The noble original elves turned into subspecies full of flaws, including gray elves, dark elves, sea elves, and silver elves. The elves split and gradually went their separate ways, and the civilizational heritage of the original elves was also cut apart during this great schism, and was fragmented in the messy memories of each subspecies, making it difficult to reproduce.
Many elves know this legend, and most elven scholars believe that this legend should be true, or at least part of it is true.
"Isn't this strange? Our technology may have been interrupted, but even if we start research from scratch, we shouldn't have been stagnant for so long," Solderin couldn't help but said, "Could it be that we subspecies elves have really degenerated during the mutation process? , so that our minds are completely unable to understand the technology of the original elves? This shouldn't be the case. "
Sonia shook her head: "No one knows what's going on... Maybe the Queen and the Supreme Academy know something, but they can't do anything. And things like this are not something that a ranger like you or a messenger like me can think clearly about. "
Solderin was silent for a while, but in the silence, he slowly raised his head and looked in the direction of the city center.
"Mother, what do you think about human beings? Can your wisdom help? "
Sonia obviously did not understand what Solderin meant: "You mean this city's technology? They...are indeed more advanced than other places, but today's humans are obviously lagging behind the Silver Empire..."
"Perhaps, on an overall level, the human nations have not yet returned to the era of Gondor. Brilliant, but did you know that it is in this Cecil City that humans use a new technology called 'Rune Logic' to realize the magical effects of elves on man-made machinery..."
Sonia opened her eyes wide: "...are you serious? "
Solderin looked at the lord's mansion from a distance: "I just have this feeling that this is where hope lies. "
......
Gawain retracted his gaze from the window. He returned to his desk, signed his name on the document, and then handed it to Hetty: " I agree with the improvement plan for the repulsion train. You are right, cost is a major issue -—We cannot blindly emphasize the most advanced solutions. "
"Thank you for your understanding," Hetty lowered her head, and then said, "Ancestor, the commendation for Carroll merchant Code has been delivered, including preparing him to accept the canonization. Order. But... do you really want to canonize a civilian businessman as a knight? "
Gawain raised his head and glanced at the other party: "Hetty, do you still value 'originality' so much? "
"No, it's not about origin," Hetty shook her head, "but the title of 'Knight'. The title of knight has always been obtained based on military merits such as military merit. It is a symbol of bravery and loyalty. Although it is the last rank among the noble titles, it has special honorary significance. The profession of 'businessman' has always been regarded as having nothing to do with honor... "
"Corder is not just a businessman, Hetty," Gawain looked into Hetty's eyes and said slowly, "he is a pioneer. ”
“Trailblazers? ! "Hetty repeated this word in astonishment. Obviously, she did not expect that her ancestors would say such a special word - this word was particularly meaningful when it came from the mouth of the "pioneer among pioneers". She remembered The one person who was so praised by the ancestors was the unknown wild mage who invented the magic net...
"Be brave and take the first step in the wild field, risk yourself, and benefit all generations." , is for development, it is not limited to land, nor is it limited to technology," Gao Wen said, "I know that Cord is a businessman, and he made those pioneering achievements to make profits, but I cannot deny what he did. The value of things. He has pushed magic technology further into the civilian field, and in many aspects it is even more in-depth and pragmatic than I thought - this is an advantage brought by his career and experience. In this regard, he is enough to be called a pioneer, and his courage to be the first to build a new factory and take the initiative to try new things... is also a veritable knightly character. "
At this point, he paused slightly and continued: "More importantly - we must encourage all behaviors that help promote magic technology. For now, Code is The most suitable for this benchmark. "
"I understand," Hetty lowered her head, "I will seize this publicity opportunity. "
Gawain hummed and asked: "How is the progress on Kamel's side? "
"The research institute has copied all the technical information brought by the elves and handed it over to the Rune Research Institute for analysis and translation. The work has just begun. According to your order, the mana purification part of the 'pressure relief mechanism' will be analyzed first. ”
Gawain nodded slightly, sighing slightly in his heart.
The magic systems of elves and humans are completely different. In terms of specific spells, due to the different brain nerve structures of the two races, , humans and elves can hardly understand each other's spell models. Even a few mixed descendants who inherit the characteristics of both races can only release a few "cross-race spells" at the same time."Magic". In the old technological era when "extraordinary power belongs to oneself", this obstacle has troubled scholars of both races for thousands of years. Until the concept of "mathematics" was introduced into the field of magic research, technicians began to use pure calculations to This obstacle was finally broken through by studying magic through reasoning and reasoning, rather than relying on personal mental perception and spellcasting talent.
For the first time in the kingdom of mathematics, two distinct magic systems were established. With a common language, no matter what kind of image and "extraordinary intuition" a spell model produces in the minds of two races, it will be unified in a single framework in rune logic.
The elves have technology that exceeds that of the current human countries - although the Silver Empire is in decline as a whole, its technological height is still much higher than that of humans, and those large-scale lost technologies are undoubtedly a treasure trove for humans.
Gawain lowered his head and began to continue to review the documents waiting for his approval and review.
After the northern lords and royal families have organized their resources and balanced the forces of all parties, he will take a break. After leaving this land, although he can still use the magic network to remotely command the territory by setting up relay towers along the way, remote control has its limitations after all, and he still has to arrange everything as much as possible before leaving here. < /p>
......
St. Sunil City, inside the Silver Castle
The light of the magic crystal lamp illuminates this historic royal castle. The study on the second floor of the castle was brightly lit.
Welsh Morn sat in a large and comfortable velvet chair. He raised his head and looked at the magic lamps inlaid on the opposite wall, which were inlaid with brass. Under the exquisitely made lamp stand, the hexagonal rune substrates are neatly arranged, like some kind of new wallpaper, extending all the way to the ground and disappearing under the floor.
Victoria Vale. De was sitting opposite the crown prince. She saw that the other person was distracted, but she didn't care: "The coronation is cancelled, Your Highness - please understand that we cannot stimulate the Eastern Territory. But don't worry, it's just a delay, you will sit on the throne sooner or later. "
"If you postpone it, postpone it, I don't care," Wales withdrew his gaze from the magic network units and looked at the duchess in front of him, "I heard that the thermal ray gun has been successfully copied? "
"It was indeed copied," Victoria nodded. "Actually, the technology of that thing is not complicated at all, although we don't know how the rune craftsmen in the southern region were so lucky to find such a perfect one. The runes are arranged, but its core formation is indeed very simple. The royal mages and rune craftsmen quickly copied the exact same weapon, but..."
Welsh said quietly: " Is it a cost issue? "
"...the cost, and the production speed," Victoria nodded. "It is impossible to create those magic weapons with just a few gold coins, and even if all the middle and low-level mages and runes in the city are activated, it is impossible to make them." Craftsmen, coupled with the production capacity of the new factory, we will not be able to build a ray that can arm an army in a short time.gun. ”
The Duchess couldn’t help but think of the Wang family mage who successfully imitated the thermal ray gun. She recalled that when the other party asked how many weapons she needed to make, and she replied that she wanted thousands of weapons, the other party’s reaction was The deputy was about to show his determination.
“Buying is worse than making,” Victoria said slowly, “This is the conclusion reached by the Wang Family Mage Association after discussion. "
Welsh Morn's fingers on the armrest of the seat suddenly turned white from exertion, but soon relaxed.
He whispered: "This is indeed a A sane conclusion, but sane doesn't necessarily mean wise. "
"In this regard, I agree with you, but we have not yet cracked the technical secrets of the Southern Territory. This is the current fact. "Victoria said lightly.
Welsh shook his head. He knew that with the power he had in his hands, he could do very little, so after a moment of silence, he changed the subject: "What are you doing? Time to leave the capital? "
"After the cargo ship sets off," Victoria said, "I will go to the Holy Spirit Plains to take charge personally to prevent changes on the front line - the Baldwin Archbishop will stay here to assist you in handling state affairs. ”
In times of political turmoil, there must be at least one regent Duke sitting in Saint-Sunil City, partly to calm the situation, and partly to...suppress the royal family.
Welsh understood the deep meaning of Victoria's words, and he just said calmly: "I understand. ”
Victoria nodded, and then stood up, but she did not leave, but quietly glanced at the middle-aged prince.
She couldn’t help but recall herself When she was still very young, when she first came to Silver Castle and came to this study, her father and Francis II were staying where she and Wales were now, and Francis II at that time was also the same. The whole country was as quiet and silent as Wales.
“Your Highness,” she suddenly couldn’t help but say, “defend this city—this is your duty in your blood. ”
“I understand. ”