In the minds of most ordinary farmers who spend their whole lives watching one or two magicians walking from one place to another from a distance, these people in exquisite robes can control things they know little about. The magical intellectual is a noble and visionary representative.
As we have been saying, most people are good at judging people by their appearance. Compared with those lower-level mercenaries who are always dirty and wearing cotton armor and old leather armor, exuding a long-lasting stench with tangled hair. and most ordinary civilians who were also covered in mud. Due to various rules and regulations, magicians who stay indoors all year round to study materials and ancient documents to obtain relevant knowledge are always relatively clean and tidy. In addition, with their knowledgeable speech and understanding of magic, they are like nobles. It is natural to be separated from the ordinary civilian class——
Therefore, magicians, whether they are elementalists or wizards who are blasphemous in the eyes of the church state, should represent nobility, elegance, and neatness——
should.
Just as the aristocracy is supposed to represent a nobler and more elegant body and mind, the image of a specific group with little contact in the minds of ordinary people with little information is often very different from its true appearance - it is true that most magician apprentices must be at least Only nobles or slightly wealthy merchant families could afford it, but there were still many candidates who could meet this limit. Just like before Sivalier fell into the political chaos of intrigues, because Avenella's rich minerals and magic items were sold through them, there were many merchants on both sides of this trade road who were nourished by it and made a fortune. The first-come-first-served advantage, in fact, before the battle with Yavinela to block the border, the magician apprentices and quasi-apprentices who were using the magic materials produced by Yavinela and studying various knowledge were in Sivalier. Official statistics on one occasion put the number of people in the country at several hundred or nearly a thousand.
——This number is actually very large. Even compared to mercenaries and other professions such as swordsmen and archers, they are still at a numerical disadvantage of 1:200 or even 1:300, but Sivalier - At least in terms of numbers - it is still a prosperous magical country.
It's just that sometimes numbers are just numbers.
When Silvalier fell into civil strife, and the borders of Avenella blocked trade routes, in addition to the refugees who were avoiding forced recruitment by the lords, many magician apprentices and quasi-apprentices also fled to Avenella. And these intellectual magicians, who are supposed to be noble and elegant in the eyes of ordinary people, are currently under the leadership of our Mr. Sage in the territory of Dowulf Borg in the southern part of the Ecasta Plain. Can what they do actually meet the requirements? How can I live up to this impression——
the answer is negative.
"Espartino, Espartito, Ethea!" "Boom——!" "Cough cough cough, cough cough cough——" The light of magic flashed past, and the dark passage instantly collapsed. A large amount of soil fell down, and a large amount of dust spread out from the part that gradually started to dry out. The gray-faced magician, who was wearing a gray robe with two gold threads on the sleeves, spoke in Siwaliya language. The fellow mage apprentice who was also dirty next to him yelled loudly: "I don't want this damn job anymore! Digging? I mean, I can endure being hungry just to buy a book, with the mercenaries I can stand skinning prey for money and getting bloody and smelly, but digging in the soil is beyond my tolerance, my friend, far beyond—ahem, ahem, ahem.”
Opening your mouth and yelling emotionally in the smoke and dust is obviously not a good idea. The higher-level gray-robed mage apprentice with three gold lines on his sleeves on the other side calmly covered his mouth and nose with a scarf and stepped forward. He patted the other party's back, and a large amount of dust fell from the back of the apprentice who used magic as he moved.
He waited until the smoke cleared before taking off his scarf and saying, "You have to understand, apprentice Adrian." He said, magicians don't need to call each other by their last names, because there has never been any real magic so far. The master family, coupled with their belief that everyone is an independent individual, therefore only has a title related to the level in front of their name - ordinary apprentices are added in front of their names, and regular mages are initially added at the end of their names. , for example, if Adrian was wearing a dark blue robe at the moment, his title would be Adrian Elementalist, and dark blue would be Adrian Elementalist Mentor. As for the most advanced pure white, then everyone who meets him would call him He is Master Adrian - returning to the original point, the higher-level mage apprentice continued.
"You can't make enough money from a job that's not hard or dirty. You've been stuck at Level 2 for a long time. There's already chaos in your hometown. The lords and archbishops are constantly fighting among themselves. The merchants have taken the opportunity to acquire precious things. Hoarding has driven up prices. A book that could be bought for 200,000 dannos in the past is now unavailable for five times the price. The Sivaliya gold coins have depreciated to the point where they can only be used to melt out the silver and gold inside and press them directly. When you're done shopping, don't complain so much when the world is not good." The senior elementalist apprentice rolled up his sleeves. Although this did not comply with the rules of the magician, the rules also said that the magician is to explore knowledge. Work for yourself instead of digging in the dirt.
"Okay, Apprentice Charles, do your best." Adrian sighed, then patted the other person's shoulder, turned around and started walking towards the back of the passage. Behind him, he chanted the same spell again and the magic power fluctuated like A gust of warm wind blew over Adrian's exposed skin, and the passage under the Ecasta Plain extended several meters further forward.
"How's the progress?" "It's okay. I'll take a rest to recover my strength. Now it's Ciel's turn." Adrian returned to the back somewhere where they had deliberately opened up a wider resting space, where there were more people waiting. There were about ten other apprentices, with candles burning, they drilled many holes in the ceiling leading to the ground to ensure the air circulation inside the long passage, and a loud sound came from a direction not far away leading to the outside. , a tall figure walked over.
"Hey, boss." The apprentices greeted Henry. Perhaps it was the sage's appearance similar to that of the Northlanders and his standard Sivaliya language that made them feel quite friendly to him. But that's it, it's only on a friendly level. Henry himself always speaks in a gentle manner, and he can answer some questions that even the magician apprentices can't understand, which makes these magician apprentices to some extent. He felt mysterious, and because the passage was narrow, he took off his armor and only wore simple clothes. The tattoos on his neck that no one could decipher but everyone could feel the subtle magic fluctuations made him curious. Together with the sense of mystery, these people finally had a little respect for him.
"Thank you for your hard work. Those who have run out of magic power should go back and replenish their physical strength first. The salary has been calculated for you. Just pay with books and materials." The sage nodded to them and heard that he could get books. Many of the mage apprentices, including Adrian, who had been complaining before, looked genuinely excited. Although they were dirty, they still looked energetic.
"Thank you, boss, but we are not tired yet. This consumption of magic power is nothing!" There must be a brave man under a heavy reward. The temptation of rewards is irresistible to humans, and magicians naturally cannot escape this level. , but rushing forward is not a good thing. Henry waved his hand: "Wait, wait until we have reinforced this section of the passage before continuing. You guys have a good rest." He said this, and then waved his hand behind him. Let a group of Avenela's soldiers walk in holding the wooden supports that had been prepared in advance.
"——Uthea!" The moment he walked over, there was another collapse in front of him. The elemental spells shook very quietly. The magic power traveled through the soil and destroyed its structure before falling naturally. It didn't need anything at all. With a heavy impact, several meters of passages fell back to the ground.
"Char, how's it going?" Henry raised the torch forward to illuminate the passage that extended for a short distance in front of him, while the Avenella militiamen behind him put down their wooden stakes and started using their portable The small shovels they carried compacted the soil that had fallen and accumulated on both sides as much as possible around the passage. After stabilizing the structure of the wall, they put the supporting wooden piles on top, but it did not look like digging. The miners would stick to the cave wall, but keep a certain distance.
"Almost, boss, but there are some troubles ahead." Charles turned around after hearing the voice and took off the scarf on his face. Henry stepped on the scattered soil and bent down and walked forward. When he felt that Charles The coolness in the area where he was standing immediately understood what the magician's apprentice was referring to - the sage frowned: "Water, the groundwater from the Galil River has seeped here." He said this , and Charles nodded, as if assuming that the other party was also a magician, he continued: "You also know that only one type of elemental magic can be used at the same time. It needs to be done in advance after the soil is mixed with too much water. If the water is drained, the efficiency of the excavation will be greatly reduced. If the spell is cast by force, not only will the effect be poor, but it will also drain the magic power and cause the whole person to enter a weak state because it takes a long time."
He said this, and Henry didn't mind the probing meaning in this shrewd guy's words - curiosity is the nature of the mage, and it was natural for this man to use some words to test him. The sage neither affirmed nor denied this. He just nodded, then waved to the militiamen behind him. After explaining a few words in Avenela that this section required manpower to dig, he faced Charles again. Said: "Go and rest, it's almost over."
Henry said and walked back behind him with Charles. Excavation of the water-containing part was a bad thing and a good thing at the same time, because it meant that they were not far from Wolf Castle - the interior of the castle was For those who have their own wells, when considering the location for defensive battles, they chose a place with the most abundant groundwater seeping from the Galil River. Although in order to achieve their goal, they must dig upward for a while, but no matter what, this at least proves that they did not make any big mistakes in the direction.
"Does the boss want to dig directly into the castle? Forgive me for showing off, but there are heavy stone slabs on the soil surface inside the castle." Charles continued to test, but Henry shrugged and did not answer him. The sage glanced at this mage apprentice. He was young, only in his twenties. The intelligence and agility shown in his words and deeds proved that he was probably from a relatively wealthy merchant family in Sivalier - no. They are nobles. The higher the nobles in Sivalier go, the worse they become from generation to generation. The interests of those noble children are all in politics and internal fighting, and they have zero interest in exploring magic or any other knowledge.
'Have even such a person fallen into trouble in Avenella? '——This is what Henry thought when he first saw Ciel when he went to the mercenary team to search for suitable candidates. Although magicians and magic are mysterious and indeed powerful, in a certain sense , it is not as popular on the West Coast at least in this era as people think.
One of the most important things that limits the status of a magician is talent. Silvalier claims to have a thousand magicians, of which only qualified "quasi-apprentices" actually account for the vast majority, and these people are restricted by their families. Due to the conditions and the conservative spread of knowledge in this era, many people really only stay at the level of quasi-apprentices throughout their lives, and have never been able to reach the level of being truly recognized by the Magic Association and become a magician apprentice.
As for those who become magician apprentices, most of them have slightly better family circumstances. They received some teachings from a formal magician during the quasi-apprentice stage, and were recommended to obtain the real magician apprentice mark—— But that’s about it.
The so-called "Master leads the door, and practice depends on the individual." In this era when books are very precious, unless you are very close relatives, there are very few magicians who are willing to teach you what they have learned throughout their lives in a true sense, so these large numbers of magicians Master apprentices can only carry out mercenary missions or other tasks to earn money to buy the books needed for learning from their mentors.
——This is very realistic. After all, no one has the obligation to spread knowledge to everyone, and knowledge such as magicians can really be transformed into weapons professions. It is not a good thing to limit this kind of knowledge.
But to some extent, it also makes those high-level magicians richer and richer while most people can only struggle to survive and find jobs.
It is true that the ability of elementalists to use magic is more powerful than that of ordinary common professions, but this power is subject to many restrictions. In addition to environmental factors, a very important point is the magic itself——
The power of a magician comes from the relevant magical knowledge learned, and the knowledge is either taught orally or exists in books. In this era when books are very rare, knowledge means value - the rarer it is, the higher the price.
What can really be spread out is some basic magic knowledge, which results in the apprentice class being very similar in level. They all learn the same bad spell control methods. This spellcasting method is extremely particular about the medium when operating. As the range increases, the consumption of magic power increases linearly. And if the spell cannot be released successfully and effectively, the continuous consumption of magic power will also put a great burden on the heart. .
For example, if an elementalist apprentice consumes 5% of the magic power when using the simple magic of fireball to shoot a distance of 10 meters, then the magic power consumption will double for every half distance increased - and be subject to Due to the influence of humidity in the air and a series of other things, the result of this spell may be very different from what was expected.
If the fireball spell is to be shot 100 meters away, the consumed magic power will directly affect the heart and blood flow throughout the body, leading to sudden death, shock or deep weakness - and at this distance, well-trained archers use high pulling force A long bow can do this, and it can still attack continuously.
The methods used by apprentices cannot be used after becoming a formal magician. Every formal magician has a more effective plan summarized by himself, which can make the magic's attack power more powerful, farther away, and more varied. end. These people are also the source of people's impression of noble, elegant, knowledgeable magicians. But unfortunately, all of these people understand how valuable the magic operation method they have summarized is, so no one is willing to publish it.
Even if it is passed on to entry-level disciples, extremely strict rules will be followed to avoid spreading it to outsiders.
Therefore, when using magic, the vast majority of magician apprentices can only choose to contact the medium with their bodies to effectively save magic power. This method is also limited by their poor physical ability and their inability to afford armor. restrictions, resulting in extremely low efficiency in actual combat. Most of the magician apprentices wandering around can only be like the lady Henry and Mira met during their past missions in Sivalier, using magic more as a reliable, silent and effective intimidation. A tool for surprise attacks, rather than a means of direct combat.
The situation is difficult - but who is not like this?
In any case, our Mr. Sage saw the special role of these magician apprentices - when Archduke Leski, Edward and Charles conducted a brutal feint attack on the surface to attract the attention of people inside the castle, they detoured to the town. Among them, they started digging a tunnel in a hidden alley.
We are only a dozen meters away from reaching Wolfsburg——(To be continued.)
