The Holy Land, also called the Holy Land by the Nosers, is a legend passed down by the Nosers since ancient times. According to legend, the ancestors of the Nosir people were once given a sacred task, which was to protect the safety of a sacred place, draw strength from the holy place, and pray for its protection. But after so many years, that holy land has disappeared, or in other words, no Nosir people can find that place anymore. They have cut off their connection with that place, so they can only rely on their own strength to survive in the harsh snowy mountains. .
However, they did not give up their pursuit of this holy land. Later, the Nosir people continued to search in the high mountains of the Andachel Mountains, looking for the origin of the holy land, looking for the place where the holy land existed, and hoping that I can find the sacred place again and regain the protection of the sacred place. No matter how much suffering they have experienced for thousands of years, the Nosir people have never given up on this goal. Regardless of men, women, old or young, they have worked hard to find any clues about that holy land, and even searched for this holy land for a long time. The persistence has formed a habit among their ethnic group.
Their efforts finally bore fruit - according to the elders of the tribe, they initially discovered some stone pillars. Those stone pillars made of unknown methods still maintained their connection with the Holy Land. Every North who came into contact with the stone pillars The Er people can sense the existence of the Holy Land through them, and can use these stone pillars to resonate with the Holy Land and listen to the inspiring voice of the Holy Land. Overjoyed, the Nosier people began to search for more stone pillars in the mountains, hoping to record these stone pillars and preserve and protect them as their clan's last hope. But the sparse number of people in the clan and the vastness of the mountains have become the biggest enemies of this task. Even after such a long time, they have not found many similar man-made structures. Even the ones they found before have faded over time. They were gradually damaged over time, some lost their previous functions, and some were gradually buried in the snowy mountains and could never be found again. Therefore, after a long time passed, the clan's original great pursuit of the Holy Land gradually turned into a search for the "Shadow of the Holy Land" - their name for those stone pillar-like devices - and then slowly in this form It has been passed down, from habit to custom, then to rules, and finally to a trial for young people - the gradual decline of the Nosier tribe has made the elders in the tribe no longer able to support this task, so Whenever they need to pass on this task, they often rely on the current young warriors, trying to use this method to let these young people train themselves in the process of constantly searching for new "Shadows of the Holy Land" and become the new members of the clan. hope.
Many young warriors fell in this task called a trial, but they still worked tirelessly as new pioneers in the mountains, confirming the news that a certain stone pillar was still alive, or discovering a new "holy place" The existence of "shadow". The coordinates handed down by the Nosir people to record the locations of stone pillars in the Andachel Mountains have been circulated for a long time. However, due to various reasons, the number of these coordinates has not increased much with the passage of time. Instead, because The recent bad weather has delayed the start of a new round of trials.
However, the existence of the sacred land is still the greatest dream in the hearts of all Nosir people, especially the young people of the Nosr tribe, and Yat is no exception. But according to his own words, now he wants to use his own power to discover the place that the tribe has not discovered for a long time, and not as a young man from the Nosir tribe who has completed the trial mission, but as an adventurer. Or, let that piece of land that only exists in legends truly appear in front of the world.
"Do you believe what that young man says?"
It was late at night that day, and Duan Qing and others still did not have time to get back to the excellent haven when they set foot on the snowfield before dark. However, if they had to settle for the next best thing, they could still find a place where they could spend the night - —With the young man from the Nosir tribe’s only understanding of this place, they found an ice bear’s cave in a remote place, and then... had sex with the ice bear hiding inside. In one battle, it took a lot of effort to drive them out and seize the nest.
After that it was time to take a short rest and recharge. However, the necessary vigil is still necessary. God knows whether other beasts and monsters will find this place with the same idea as them. In that case, not only will they not be able to have a good rest, but they will even have problems surviving.
Duan Qing had already concluded that night vigil work was boring, so in order to eliminate this problem, he proposed that two people should guard the entrance of the cave while the others rest. Make a rotation. It was already late at night, so no one else had the energy to raise objections, but this did not rule out their agreement out of concern for safety - if a monster really came to this ghost place, one person could Can't cope.
At this time, Duan Qing and Xueling Huanbing were guarding the entrance of the cave. Duan Qing, who was leaning on the edge of the rock wall, suddenly raised the previous question.
"It is impossible for an ordinary person to make up such a perfect lie in a short period of time." The woman in the black cloak bent her knees and sat on the other side of the cave entrance, and replied in a calm voice: "Not to mention what that person has just experienced. A huge mental shock.”
"Hmm...Is it just because of this?"
"...Okay." Xueling Huanbing sighed: "According to my impression... people from the Nosier tribe don't lie."
"An honest race, huh?" Duan Qing expressed his doubts with his nose, then touched his chin and thought: "In other words, the existence of that holy land... is it true? "
"Although it may be just a legend,... the credibility is indeed very high." Xue Ling Huan Bing nodded slightly: "Especially for us."
"You mean...the cave?"
"There are artificial creations here, which we have seen a long time ago, and... based on the situation in the previous cave, the possibility that they exist in Falling Star Mountain is... very high. "
"You mean...that sacred place is inside that cave?"
"I didn't say that." The woman raised her head and glanced at the man standing on the other side: "It's just a guess. The cave is huge. Last time and this time, I didn't fully explore the cave. Especially ..."
"The upper and lower parts." She stretched out a finger and pointed at her upper and lower parts.
"The clues that young man provided us are very limited." Duan Qing looked deep into the cave where they were, where someone was snoring while sleeping: "The history he told us can only prove at best. The existence of a certain ancient ruin is real, and there are almost no other clues.”
"No, if you think about it carefully, there is still some."
"Oh?" Duan Qing crossed his arms curiously: "Tell me about it."
"For example..." The woman glanced at Duan Qing again, then silently lowered her head and analyzed: "That sacred land is the place of faith of the Nosier people. According to the previous description, it is called It’s not an exaggeration to say it’s the place of origin.”
"In other words, this race...may be a race left over from an ancient era?"
"Yes, and judging from the existing history of the free world, the possibility that they belong to the Magic Empire era is quite high. Because the existing excavated ruins are almost all products of the Magic Empire era."
With the development of the Free World game to this day, the biggest gains that players as adventurers can get are often from exploring ruins from all over the world. They can discover many powerful artifacts and equipment from the ancient magic empire, and can Find many secrets belonging to the era of magic empire during your adventure. As for fighting against the institutions and monsters in the ruins, as well as many entanglements with existing NPC forces, they are also important channels for players to gain - no matter how bad it is, they can still complete the tasks, thereby gaining a lot of experience, and then use them to This experience can be used as bragging rights, not only to show off one's power in front of other players, but also to bluff more NPCs, thereby obtaining more clues to the ruins and commissioned tasks. As for why these ruins are almost all the ruins of the ancient magic empire, many players have not thought much about it, but those hardcore players who enjoy studying history have given answers, and the conclusions they came to are quite reasonable. : Judging from the current history, the Ancient Magic Empire once ruled the Free Continent for a long time, and it was a repressive rule, so most of the history and civilization before that have been covered.
"Ha, a race that advocates magic?" So Duan Qing clapped his hands and shouted, "Why do I not believe it so much? Just those stupid big black guys who only rely on muscles and don't distinguish between good and evil?"
"Perhaps they were originally warriors guarding some place, or perhaps they have lost their magic ability. After all, so much time has passed..." The woman frowned and said, "Also, their skin color is plateau red, not black."
Pfft, please don't be so serious, okay...
Forcibly suppressing the urge to laugh, Duan Qing put his hands on his back again: "Okay, okay, whatever you say is what you say, but..."
"What does it matter?"
"If they are the ancient relics they are guarding, then..." the woman re-entered into thinking: "It is worth considering what the place they guarded before and the place they yearned for later."
"Item? Artifact? A certain place? Or even a certain person? There are so many possibilities..."
"Well...it should be impossible for humans..."
"Hey, don't underestimate the imagination of those designers, young people." Duan Qing shook his finger: "I remember there was a game called "No Man's Land", which also had a task of 'finding ruins', then The penultimate step inside, the person you are looking for in such and such a place, isn’t it actually just a person in the end..."
"Okay, okay." The woman stretched out her hand to interrupt the other party: "I know you are very knowledgeable, so don't show off. In short, this place...should be impossible."
"How can I see it?"
"Don't they have stone pillars as induction terminals?" the woman said: "Based on my guess, that holy land must have a huge stone pillar, or similar artifacts, as a computer switchboard or something..."
"Hehehe..." Duan Qing laughed disdainfully: "I believe Christo wouldn't come up with such a stupid design."
"Then you should tell me." The woman finally became angry: "What will that holy land be like?"
"Well......"
Duan Qing touched his chin again: "If you want me to say it, it should be... just a place."
"a place?"
"Yes, it is a place in the ordinary sense." Duan Qing spread his hands and explained: "Maybe it is a mountain top, a plain, a grassland, nothing... In short, it is a place in the literal sense. place."
"It's just a monumental place... maybe there's nothing there."
"No enterprising spirit." The woman commented: "I really doubt how you found the Emerald Tower before."
"You'll find it if you keep going forward." Duan Qing smiled: "I have a normal mind, and you have to know..."
“How many adventurers—or players, in other words—explore unknown places with full hopes, but in the end their joy is in vain.”
"You still don't believe the holy land that Art described?" the woman asked in a low voice: "Those so-called shadows of the holy land can't be fake, right? They even reacted..."
"I won't believe it easily until I see the appearance of those so-called Holy Land Shadows with my own eyes." Duan Qing had a serious face, but the next moment he laughed again: "And you know, you can't Just believe what those stupid guys say."
"Why are you so dark..."
"No, no, no, that's not what I meant. What I meant was...those clans with little knowledge may have misunderstood something. For example, that stone pillar is some kind of magic that is left over and can also react. The circuit then lit up for some reason. As a result, the warriors in the trial happened to see it and thought it was reacting to them..."
"Huh?" The woman looked at the other party amusedly: "Can you explain this?"
"I have always had a big brain." Duan Qing gestured to his head, and then put on a straight face: "But if it has been like this for thousands of years, then the possibility of such an accident is very small. .....Since it may be true, then the location of that sacred place is highly debatable."
"Didn't Art say he knew where it was?"
"Him? It's better to rely on yourself than to rely on him." Duan Qing looked into the cave again: "Even if what he said is true, his cowardly character will definitely not be reliable when it comes to danger, so from now on, we will This cumbersome factor has to be taken into account.”
"and......"
He turned to look at the dark night sky, where the wind and snow were still howling.
"Wherever that place is, it's never going to be a nice place to be."
***************
Early the next morning, they set off again.
The wind and snow were still very strong, but it seemed to be lighter than yesterday. According to Art, this was God finally showing a little mercy and reducing his anger. But in Duan Qing's words, the weather change at this time is more like a sign of a change in their luck.
Because judging from yesterday's experience, their luck was really bad.
"Are you sure you want to climb this snow hill?"
Looking at the large steep snow slope in front of him, Nan Tieshan couldn't help but ask the Nosier tribesman next to him who suddenly stopped them shortly after setting off. The latter shrank his neck, and then blushed a little. He shouted: "My memory is not wrong, I remember... I remember..."
His voice became softer again: "I remember that there are places on this place that the tribesmen discovered before..."
Those are the stone pillars called sacred shadows... Duan Qing raised his head and looked at the crumbling snow slopes under the wind and snow, patting the snow on his body, and at the same time, he was moving. My own body: "What the hell, it's not where I'm going anyway..."
Thinking of his previous promise, Nan Tieshan also started to move: "Since my brother said so, let's climb up, hum! How can a mere small snow hill stop me..."
The woman next to him didn't speak, and just walked forward on her own - it seemed that she also agreed.
"Hey, hey, I haven't said I really want to climb yet." As the original proposer, Duan Qing, who was about to leave, became embarrassed instead. He scratched his frozen hair, looked around at the terrain of the snowy hills, listened to the movements up and down, and then muttered in a low voice: "This, this, this... this can't be What's the problem?"
There was a slight vibration ahead.
Several players who had not yet officially set off stopped in shock - at the top of the snow slope, a large snowball rolled down the slope in the direction where they were.
"Is this the legendary..." Duan Qing murmured as he looked at the big snowball and the entire slope that was about to collapse with the snowball.
"A crow's mouth..."
