With confusion, Lu Ang headed towards the southern area of Golden Halberd City, which was the direction he came from before.
The area here is much larger than the aristocratic district, castle district, and church district in the north combined. The houses are scattered in a well-proportioned manner, most of them are two-story small buildings, and a few are one-story bungalows.
The people living here are ordinary people, but the closer you get to the north, the more exquisite and beautiful the houses are, and the clothes of the owner of the house are more exquisite, and they look a bit aristocratic.
After staring at a few for a while, I confirmed that some of them were minor nobles such as Lords, some worked in noble houses or castles, and some were nouveau riche businessmen.
Further south, it is even more lively and can be roughly divided into residential areas where residents live, commercial areas lined with shops, and production areas with many small factories and workshops.
Lu Ang focused on the production area. There are wine shops with countless wooden barrels, dyeing workshops with pools of various pigments, animal-driven mills for fine grinding of wheat, and... wait! What's this?
Lu Ang stopped and saw a few strong men, under the command of a young man in overalls, assembling iron pipes and a heavy iron stove. Then someone added coal to it, burning the stove red. The water vapor dispersed like mist, and the hammer was swung by the curved rod, hitting the red iron ingot heavily.
Isn't this just a steam engine? It’s also used for blacksmithing!
Is the level of science and technology in this world already so high? The technology tree of the steam engine is all clicked!
After watching for a while, Lu Ang discovered that those strong men should be the blacksmiths of the original blacksmith shop. This simple steam hammering machine was made by the young man in overalls.
The clothes of this young man are very different from others. The overalls are made of leather and look like work clothes. The upper body is a shirt, which looks quite thick. There are two pockets on the chest, one of which has a pen. , there is a brooch pinned to the top of the other. The pattern of the brooch is a group of flames with a gear in the middle. He also holds a notebook in his hand with detailed engineering drawings on it.
This guy looks like an engineer! Maybe the arcana in this world is different from what I imagined?
Lu Ang was not in a hurry, and just watched the young man tinkering in the blacksmith shop. His command improvements made the hammer swing more powerful and stable, which attracted all kinds of cheers, exclamations, gratitude and admiration from the blacksmiths until the evening. .
After the young man said goodbye to the people in the blacksmith shop, he mounted his horse and headed in one direction. Lu Ang followed leisurely behind him.
Not long after, the young man came to an empty place, which was the southwest corner of the city, exactly at the two ends of the city's central axis with the church in the northeast corner.
Like the church, this place has high walls, but the ones guarding the door are not knights, but four giants who look like they are made of steel.
There is also a long sign hanging on the wall next to it: Golden Halberd City Arcane Academy.
Lu Ang did not follow because he "saw" a semicircular, barrier-like thing above the academy.
He didn't know enough about arcane magic, and he didn't know if this barrier would detect people in the space phase state. He no longer planned to take risks, but flew straight into the air.
Looking down at the city from the air again, the memory of the journey gradually became clearer, and the situation of the entire city was clearly imprinted in his mind.
It's okay. It's not too dangerous. There are some dangers in the castle of the city lord. Other places are considered safe. The academy is also far away from the castle. As long as you don't cause trouble, there should be no problem.
…
The remaining two days were spent shopping, mainly in the commercial street. There was a mess of everything, fruits, snacks, jewelry, cloth, foreign potions, wild monsters... and various hotels that were full of people. , which is full of young people who have come to take the entrance examination for the Arcane Academy.
According to the news that Lu Ang heard in the hotel, the Golden Halberd City Arcane Academy was just built last year, and now there are only a very small number of students in it. This year is the first large-scale enrollment of the academy.
Moreover, the enrollment range is very wide. Anyone under 25 years old or over 10 years old, who can afford the test fee and tuition fee, can participate. It is said that at least 200 people will be recruited this time.
In and out of words, these people all have a longing for arcana and a desire to become arcane.
It can be seen that the status of the arcanist profession in this world is still very high.
However, after listening to it for two days, Lu Ang still didn't understand what the college's entrance test was testing and what content it was assessing.
All I know is that you need to pay 15 gold coins to take the test, and the annual tuition is 220 gold coins. Accommodation and food expenses are extra. The price is high and very unfriendly to civilians.
After walking around the streets for the past few days, Lu Ang also had a certain understanding of prices in this world. A ten-pound bag of finely ground flour only costs five or six copper coins. One hundred copper coins is one silver coin, and sixteen silver coins are just that. It's a gold coin.
The fifteen gold coins for the test fee alone are enough for the living expenses of an ordinary civilian family for a year.
However, I heard from some people that after taking the test, if the results are good enough, the tuition fee can be reduced and even the living expenses can be slightly subsidized. It is said that this is the unified rule of arcane academies in other cities.
Many people are daydreaming, imagining that they are some kind of genius that only happens once in a century.
This test made Lu Ang a little worried. He was planning to go to school in person. He wanted to discuss and communicate with others, ask the teacher if he had questions, and enjoy a good campus life, instead of just being a transparent teacher. ghost.
He was worried that his identity as a foreign foundation-building monk would be discovered during the test, and then he would be hunted down by a group of great arcanists.
Fortunately, he heard that the entrance test would last for three days and he could take it every day, so he planned to take a look at the content of the test before making any plans.
After thinking about it, Lu Ang didn't stay at the hotel for long. They were all ordinary people. Some were children of rich peasants in the countryside, concubines of minor nobles, children of businessmen, descendants of mercenaries... some had a small amount of money, but not much. News channel, but very narrow.
Therefore, Lu Ang returned to the Hank family's manor and planned to check out the college's entrance test results with Viscount Lawrence's daughter. After all, he was a middle-class noble, so he must be better informed.
One night passed in a flash, and early in the morning, Viscount Lawrence led four family knights to escort his daughter to the Arcane Academy.
The place was already crowded with people, and it was noisy and chaotic. Fortunately, there were fully armed knights leading the way. Viscount Lawrence and his daughter quickly squeezed to the front of the line.
Looking at the front circle of the team, they are all noble children accompanied by their parents.
Not long after waiting, the gate of Arcane Academy opened and the barrier disappeared. Under the guidance of the armored puppet, the parents were stopped outside and the candidates filed out.
After taking out fifteen gold coins from the exquisite wallet and paying, Audrey walked into a hall.
In the center of the hall are two arcanists in robes, next to a crystal ball on a high table.
(End of chapter)
