In the early morning, there was a slight mist in the forest. The temperature in Northern Europe dropped significantly in September, so the three of them had to take out their warm clothes from the bottom of their bags and put them on. Two or three months ago, they could only wear simple slim-fitting jackets, but now they have to add one more.
Take the young porter as an example: in addition to the linen shirt he wears as underwear, he wears a slim wool coat with a linen lining sewn on the inside. This kind of jacket is an integral part of formal wear and can be worn only as an outer layer when the weather is hot. Most of the citizens, such as the middle class and aristocrats, who do not need to work all day, will wear it. Those who do not wear this and directly expose the loose linen shirt are mostly the lower working class.
In addition, because the weather has turned colder, a heavier, loose woolen robe was added to the coat. Although the Suomir people had superior cold tolerance, they caught themselves a cold due to their careless show of force and would only become a drag on their companions.
The front of the robe is still open because the weather is not that cold yet. These garments that use wool as the outer fabric have very good waterproof effects, so the robe itself is sufficient as the outermost layer of clothing.
It has the same positioning as a cloak, but compared to a thicker cloak with better thermal insulation performance, a relatively close-fitting robe with sleeves is more flexible.
When winter really comes and the first snow falls, most people will put their wool cloak on the outermost layer and be fully armed.
But that's enough for now.
What Henry and Mila wore was somewhat different from Galeva's. Their woolen robes were replaced by cotton and linen padded coats. This was a very common attire for combat professionals. The price is not expensive but the defense effect is equivalent. If the highest level layer has 30 layers of linen and is sewn firmly with wax thread, swords and arrows that are not polished to the level of blowing and breaking hair will not even be able to penetrate it.
Because of its high quality and low price, this is the first choice for many young girls who want to join the mercenary profession. However, this kind of cotton armor made of multiple layers of fabric is too thick and stuffy. If it is not cut well, it will be as difficult to move as if you were wrapped in a quilt, and it will lead to the death of the wearer. Therefore, if one can have iron armor, people who wear it will generally reduce the number of layers, or even not wear it at all.
This coat from The Maiden and the Sage of Luan falls into this unpretentious type, with only nine layers. It can withstand being cut by blunt knives or scratched by various thorns when traveling in the jungle. It is suitable equipment to be paired with Brigandine-style plate armor.
This is the first time the two of them have officially worn this kind of coat except for trying it on. Because it was summer when we set out, and the well-made brigandine-style plate armor had cushions everywhere to prevent cuts, there was no big problem simply wearing it outside of regular clothes. Although it is easier to suffer various injuries without a cushioning layer against blunt objects, due to the exquisite craftsmanship of the dwarf master, this hard and curved armor itself can absorb a considerable amount of force.
Of course, in the long run, the best way to avoid being hit is to try not to be hit. After all, no armor is invincible.
When it comes to the profession of armorsmith alone, dwarves are indeed the best. Although they are equally good at weapons, the top craftsmen among humans are still capable of forging weapons of the same level as dwarves. But when it comes to armor, humans have never been able to compare with dwarves.
But this problem is also related to the mixed composition of metals.
If you ask a layperson who is not a combat professional, what the top armor should look like. He will definitely tell you that it is invulnerable and extremely strong - this is naturally the goal pursued by armor. However, a detail that only experts know is that armor is often deliberately made to be lower in hardness than swords.
It’s not that it’s impossible to achieve, it’s just that it’s not necessary.
Because the fundamental purpose of wearing armor is to protect one's own life. Hardness is naturally one of the pursuits. The reason why materials such as brass are eliminated in today's world of steel is because they have low hardness and will be broken down. But at the same time, if the hardness is too high and faced with extremely strong impact force, the armor worn on the body will become a weapon and damage the wearer's body.
——"The critical value of miracle" is what the dwarf craftsmen call the armor they make possesses "characteristics" that human armor craftsmen cannot copy.
The hardness is up to standard, and ordinary attacks can't even leave a mark. However, if the impact force exceeds a certain value, it will no longer resist, but will deform and absorb the impact force. The wearer is saved at the cost of damage to the armor itself.
Armor ruins lives. This is the core concept of high-quality armor design.
The reason why exquisite weapons and equipment have such appearance always has its own core reasons. Many laymen don't understand these points, but when they see the finely crafted details, even if they don't understand, they will subconsciously conclude that "this is very high-quality equipment."
Because biological instinct tells them that these carefully designed and produced equipment will be more able to save their lives than crudely made things.
The so-called judging people by their appearance is actually the case.
The water vapor in the oncoming fog was cool, and the three of them were walking on the country road at a low speed.
Although the fog is not very thick, not taking unnecessary risks is the secret to living a long life.
From this point of view, adventurers are also an industry with extremely high standards for brain selection.
People can always only see the few people who stand at the top and gain both fame and fortune, but ignore the countless stepping stones below them who broke into the industry with just their passion and eventually died without a trace of their bodies.
He who dares to do what others dare not do is a risk-taker.
But this is not because of the fearlessness of ignorant people who do not know the risks, but because they still move forward after analyzing clearly with a cautious and calm mind.
None of them spoke. As they advanced, the number of weeds and stones on the roadside began to increase, giving the appearance of a deserted place that was not often traveled.
The reason for silence is vigilance. The Luoan girl hung her light crossbow and long sword within easy reach, but she did not cock them. Because keeping it in a tight state for a long time can cause damage to the weapon or accidentally trigger the weapon and injure a partner.
Galeva behind him was even more so. The young man almost had nervousness written all over his face. Under the warm woolen hat, my hair, which had grown a little longer during the trip, became damp from sweat and mist. He kept his hand on the handle of the one-handed knife, ready to pull it out at any time.
The only one who still seems calm is, as always, our Mr. Sage.
The reason for Mira and Galeva's tension is obviously related to the current environment.
——This is a trail used by smugglers in the past. The sage spent a little more money when buying bread and found out about it from the baker.
After all, he had been away from this land for quite a long time. Even if you have a good memory and have a general direction, there are still some things you need to ask the people who actually live in this land.
The reason why the trails are no longer used by these petty thieves is that more terrifying entities have appeared.
I think this has always been the case. Public security agencies tend not to punish such "little evils" too harshly. Therefore, no matter how many troops there are to maintain law and order in the local area, they always appear in endlessly. On the contrary, when a more terrifying "great evil" appears, they disappear very wisely.
And this so-called great evil is the exiled magician.
"..." Galeva, whose soles were on the road, looked at the tattered clothes that appeared from time to time on the roadside and the fragmented human skeletons underneath, and couldn't help but swallow his saliva.
Although the scale is only one thousandth of the size, the management structure of the Magician Association is similar to that of the mercenary union - there are levels and qualifications, and benefits are obtained at the cost of assuming certain obligations to abide by the rules.
And if there are rules, there will be people who violate them. The ones who were eventually removed from these taboos were the exiled magicians.
Their reputation among the people is extremely bad, because these people have gone crazy in order to pursue the ultimate in their hearts. They have no regard for the morals and values of human society, and will not hesitate to kill people or even massacre villages in order to verify their magic.
And many of the unburied skeletons beside the path the three of them were walking on belonged to these exiled magicians.
You don't need to be a sage to know the reason from the traces of magic left on the damaged clothes and the dead vegetation nearby.
It's obviously an internal fight.
"Enterprise is a human advantage, but blind enterprise is the same as arrogance." Henry looked at the skeletons, and there was almost no emotion in his heart.
They continued to move forward slowly, and the scenery along the way did not change much, but as the belated sun finally rose, the fog finally began to dissipate.
When the morning passed in silence, and it was close to noon, they finally walked out of this area covered by forest.
"Huh--" A gust of wind blew immediately, and then the sparkling lake and the huge island in the center appeared in the field of vision.
The island in the middle of the lake, which is almost as big as the sea, is surrounded by deep lake water. Because it is too deep, the color of the lake water here also shows a scary deep blue. Looking down from where the three of them were standing, there were huge moose skulls mixed in among the debris washed up by the waves, proving that there were some kind of aquatic creatures in the lake that were big enough to prey on them. .
The place where dragons fall.
This is what the Suomir people call this area.
It expresses the essence of this island in the middle of the lake in a concise and yet poetic way.
This is the place where the legendary dragon Rumi Qi, the protector of the country, died in Suomir.
The island in the center of the lake, which is deep and vast and inhabited by ferocious beasts, is still an existence that is out of reach for humans. Its only entrance is a bridge built on the north, which was once guarded by the Great Swordsman and is now guarded by a branch of the Dragon Wing Knights.
With an impenetrable gate and a heavily guarded forbidden area, the exiled magicians who fought on their own would naturally not choose to force their way in.
Therefore, most of them chose to try to land on the island secretly from the south where the three Henrys were currently, but so far, no one has successfully landed.
Most of the dragon feathers that exist on the black market and are used by members of the Dragon Wing Knights are scattered feathers collected on the mainland next to the island.
In the past, when the Great Swordsmen were in their heyday, guards were not only present at the northern entrance. It was said that they had fought alongside the White Dragon and regarded these scattered feathers as sacred objects. Even touching was prohibited, so the entire area could only be defended.
Ironically, it is precisely because of this rigidity that many scattered feathers were eventually acquired by exiled magicians and merchants and nobles who pursued novelties and rarities.
Mira and Galeva both looked at Henry.
After hearing the story he told, the two already knew the relationship between the two. Rumi Qi once did many deeds to help mankind, but after her death, the things mankind did could not be said to be full of gratitude.
Humans are a race that is good at self-deception and always find ways to find excuses to justify their actions.
Things like this are, at best, a good use of resources, but when your old friend's remains are sought after as collections and exhibits, if they are not strictly protected, they may be hung up in the hall of his home by some wealthy imperial businessman.
Anger is a natural emotion, and it may be mixed with a bit of helplessness.
Dragons are aloof beings, and because of this, not only exiled magicians, but many ordinary people also have the urge to obtain part of the remains.
Just like the garrison soldiers of Talwa Suta have "special treatment" for "mercenaries who do well".
The sage said nothing.
"How to get there?" The Luoan girl looked back at Galeva, and then asked.
Even if the relationship is very close, the natural obstacles before them will not change.
They don't even have a boat, and the dragon-winged knight guarding the gate on the other side will definitely not let them pass. That's why Henry chose to take this path directly.
The sage exhaled, then dismounted and took off his leather gloves.
"Step back a little and dismount to catch them so as not to be frightened." He said this, then looked around, and finally found an ordinary-looking black stone on the ground.
"It should be this one." He said and walked over.
"——" He walked over silently, and the runes on the skin under the armor lit up one by one. Henry's eyes glowed with dazzling blue light. He squatted down and stretched out his hand to press on the stone, and then the ground suddenly appeared. A huge shock.
"Papa papa -" The birds in the forest flew up in panic, and the two horses and Galeva were also a little panicked, but under the control of the little unicorn and the Luoan girl, they finally did not deviate from the route. Fall down.
The huge amount of magic power made Mira feel that her magic pool was also affected. She felt a little uncomfortable, but this only lasted for a moment, because the magic circle activated in the next second consumed all the magic power.
"Bang! Kakaka—" The advanced magic originating from the elves has surpassed the limit that any human earth spell can currently achieve.
The bridge made of stones and soil rose up from the ground before their eyes and stretched hundreds of meters away to connect to the island in the middle of the lake.
Huge pillars rising from the bottom of the lake caused waves to appear throughout the southern side of the lake.
The moist mud was mixed with many small fish and shrimps that were still trying to get back into the lake, and the stirred up mud made the blue lake start to become turbid.
"Hiss—!" The giant beast in the lake, frightened by the silence, slapped its tail. Mira and Galeva only took a quick glance and held their breaths at the huge size under the lake.
The sound of a large amount of lake water flowing quickly turned into a "tick-tick" sound. The pillars made of wet mud and the bridge deck made of dry mud were perfectly combined to form an arch bridge.
"Huh--" the sage breathed out, but the bridge made of magic still adjusted itself as if it was intelligent, and the combination of gaps made the bridge deck smoother.
"To be honest, I originally thought that the teacher was omnipotent enough." The girl Luo An was a little stunned.
"This is not my doing. It is a ready-made magic circle made by the Druid. I only activated it at best. Well, the bridge can only last for about 15 minutes. Let's go quickly." Henry said, Such a huge movement would obviously alert the Dragon Wing Knights stationed on the other side, but when they took a detour and rushed here, the bridge would no longer exist.
The three people and three horses quickly hit the road. As long as they couldn't resist looking at the deep lake below due to the wide bridge deck, they wouldn't feel any panic. The inner tension urged the next group of people to walk very fast. They quickly crossed the distance, and when their feet stepped on the solid ground again, the Luoan girl and the young porter both walked out with long steps. Take a breath.
"Then how to go next? This island is so big, I can't see a road in front of it -" Mira looked around. They were coming, but there was only a gray-white cliff in front of them, and dense mountains on both sides. The bushes looked very difficult to walk through.
"Do you still remember what I said before?" Henry looked back at the two of them.
"Cognitive interference array."
"This is a super-large version of the small magic circle I have. The entire island itself is a magic circle." He spoke, his tone still seemed calm, but it seemed a few lower tones: "It's Erica. made."
"After all, I just want to rely on the faith of the great swordsmen to defend this island."
"Even I can't speak with such confidence."
"Ordinary people cannot access the truth of this island. The northern entrance is actually a labyrinth of inducements. If someone breaks through, or the guards are guarding themselves, they will only take a detour in the labyrinth and eventually return to the starting point. ."
"Clang--" with a sound, the sage pulled out Kramer from the saddle bag.
"Because the meaning can be interpreted as 'opening the road to Utopia', why don't you use this as a key?" He muttered to himself, shook his head, and then thrust the sword towards the cliff.
"You are really a guy who likes to play these tricks."
"Snow White"
"Bang-boo-!!"
The dazzling light only flashed in front of the three of them, causing Mira and Galeva to subconsciously protect their eyes with their hands.
When it finally disappeared, the two of them immediately felt that the air around them had become warmer.
The crisp chirping of birds sounded in the distance, and they slowly blinked their eyes to gradually adapt again, until their unfocused eyes could finally see everything clearly.
"So beautiful..." Such words came out of his mouth involuntarily.
The previous gloomy island appearance completely disappeared, and they entered another completely opposite world.
What they saw in front of them was an endless wilderness. The entrance where they were standing was located at a high place, and there was a slope going down and then they went up again.
"Hoo——!" The wind blowing was slightly warmer than the outside world, making the Luoan girl's white hair flutter gently. The sun shines on the earth, butterflies with blue wings dance gracefully, and the entire earth is covered with countless flowers.
There were many wild animals roaming around, and the distant green trees sparkled in the sun.
And in the center, a giant dragon skeleton with white feathers curled up on the ground like a cat, sleeping quietly.
It made people hold their breath involuntarily, for fear of disturbing her sleep.
"Ah." Henry suddenly spoke in a low voice, and both Mira and Galeva looked at him.
"Speaking of you, you are called the White Dragon of Ice and Snow."
"But I like this kind of weather."
"long time no see."
"Old friend."
