High Above

Miles was returning from the surrounding Knight Manor carrying firewood and a bag of charcoal fire.

No one cared what was in his arms, because everyone knew that this purple-haired young man had good swordsmanship, and dead people in hilly areas was nothing to worry about.

To the west of the gathering place, a rickety grass and wood hut is his current residence. The owner of this house was once an old mountain hunter who broke a leg. He was attacked by a monster bear during a big hunt and shot. He pierced his companion's ankle, allowing him to delay the monster and survive.

Because of the attack on his companions, the tribe cut off one of his legs and threw him outside the mountains to die. However, he struggled to survive until the eve of winter this year with his archery skills that could shoot birds and penetrate people's throats.

After his death, Miles used his sword to seize possession of the shack.

During the fight, he killed three Westerners who were also refugees and intended to kidnap Cynthia to coerce him. He did not show any mercy because they were 'fellow countrymen'.

And the effect of establishing authority is very good.

"elder brother?"

After entering the shack, the man heard the weak voice of a girl. The girl with light orange hair was taking care of the fire in the house.

When she saw Miles coming back, she turned her head and said with a smile: "The fire is not out, the water in the kettle next to it is warm, drink it quickly."

"Take a sip first, don't catch cold." Miles leaned down and hugged Cynthia, and then began to add wood flowers to the ashes of the nearly extinguished stove: "Is no one coming?"

"No." The girl shook her head: "It's been too cold recently, and no one dares to come out."

Because there is no firewood and the air is humid, the fire will go out quickly if no one takes care of it, and starting a fire is troublesome. Coupled with Cynthia's physical condition, being blown by the cold wind when going out will be simply destructive, so Miles can only The girl stayed in the shed.

Of course, he is not that stupid, thinking that killing people to establish prestige can deter a group of lawless madmen.

Therefore, in the past few times, Miles went out on the surface, but actually stayed beside the house. All the refugees who sneaked close to the shack were killed by him with his own hands, and their heads were hung under the eaves nearby. These heads are now in the wind. It was shaking, intimidating everyone.

When everyone knew that the girl in the shack was the most important person to Miles, no one dared to take Cynthia's mind.

It’s not surprising for such a young swordsman to know that his sister had an accident and massacred the entire village. And those knights in Nauman City would only praise Miles for his good kill if they knew this. Could it be that they really expected it? Can you use a little girl to force the swordsman to put down his weapon?

Even if it were possible, they wouldn't dare to gamble. After all, no one cares about their lives except themselves.

It is precisely because Miles knows this that he behaves cruelly and coldly to the outside world.

"Live with the sword... Hey. Live with the sword."

After filling up the fire and starting to cook the soup, the young man's eyes reflected the swaying fire and he sneered in his heart.

Being naive about your past self.

In Azure City, when Miles fantasized about wandering outside and earning a living with a sword, he never thought that wandering would be so difficult.

At that time, adventure in his heart was about gratification and grudges, about floating clouds and long winds, about riding a horse and holding a sword under the sun, killing evil and killing enemies.

But that's fantasy. Life is always so difficult.

Today's meal was soybean soup. Miles and Cynthia quietly drank a small can of overcooked bean soup, and then stayed silently next to the stove to rest.

It is a bit strange to say that since the two of them escaped from Azure City and came to Nanling, they have not been sick, nor have they been particularly tired. They are not even very sensitive to pain... But this Not an absolute good thing.

One time while walking on a mountain trail, Cynthia's arm was pricked by thorn grass, but Cynthia herself didn't feel anything. Miles only discovered that the girl's arm had been covered with large blood scabs at night, and Cynthia's little His face was also pale, and he realized something was wrong when he walked unsteadily.

This kind of abnormality is really hard to reassure. Miles also tried to cut his fingers with a knife. He was shocked to find that he had actually lost the perception of a lot of pain.

There is a power that resides in their bodies, allowing them to walk all the way from the Western Border to the South Ridge without fatigue or pain... It allows a girl under ten years old to withstand all the hardships along the way, but it also allows people to gradually Losing control of your own 'life'.

"A curse...or a blessing. But we can't continue like this."

The cold wind whipped against the hayloft outside the window, Cynthia had fallen asleep, and Miles sat silently in front of the fire.

He hadn't slept properly for a long time. Perhaps because of his psychic powers, his spirit was not exhausted, but his brain and body were in urgent need of rest.

"The anomalies in Cynthia and I need to be solved as soon as possible by ascendants and even psykers... I have probably awakened my psionic powers, so it shouldn't be difficult to find a job."

Miles thought quietly in his mind: "The question is how to prove this? My psychic powers can only be used in times of danger. For example, if Cynthia is almost hit by a falling branch, the branch will deflect towards me, and my The physical quality will also be strengthened - if it is not a danger, but an ordinary little squirrel throws a pine cone, this psychic power will not work."

"Am I going to let others shoot arrows at Cynthia? This is absolutely not okay... I don't even understand the nature of my psychic powers, how can I use Cynthia as a prop!"

But here's the problem - without psychic powers, Miles is just a young swordsman who can deal with those refugees and wanderers. If he really wants to be valued and hired based on his skills... he still lacks a lot of skills.

Winter is half over, but there’s still half to go. Even if spring comes and Miles goes to work in the city to earn money, it will take a long time to save up enough to pay for the consultation fees for the Ascended psykers to look at their physical problems.

In the middle, there are really too many possibilities, too many accidents will happen, and if something goes wrong with Cynthia, Miles will never forgive herself.

The destruction of his hometown, the death of his mother, the passing of those who were kind to him and his final entrustment... Heavy pressure accumulated on the young man's shoulders, making him feel like half of his body was buried in the earth and it was difficult to breathe.

What exactly is going to happen in the future? Without much life experience, he can only take one step at a time.

Or...

Waiting for a small miracle.

Or it is the necessity of cause and effect.

The next morning, Miles went out to see if he could catch two fish in the surrounding river nests, or go to the dense forest outside the hills to catch a few hares and pheasants, but he realized that almost all the people in the bitter cold village were Everyone became excited and gathered at the head of the village.

He couldn't help but frown slightly.

The Fellini brothers, who were forced to flee here from the southeastern provinces to hide their debts due to loan sharking due to gambling, came; they stole the silver tableware of their knight lord and were branded and exiled. Tommy was next to him; they lost a lot of money because of the food disaster, and their wives and children were separated. Old Cheetorn, whose house had also been taken away, was there... as well as some outcast mountain men and other Westerland refugees whom Miles was not familiar with.

Almost everyone in Kuhan Village who could walk and had some skills gathered at the entrance of the village, looking at a group of fully armed knights with a rare look that could be described as eagerness and desire.

"What happened?"

Miles found a familiar face with whom he had a relatively good relationship and had exchanged food and medicine, and asked him what happened.

"You weren't in the village yesterday, were you?" And the cobbler was not afraid of Miles, who acted very viciously. After all, the average person in Bitter Cold Village died at one time.

He explained to the young man: "Yesterday, the Lian Territory...oh, now it's called the Xia Hui Territory. In short, there is a noble master who wants to recruit people to open up the mountains in the west, provide food and tools, and also have simple tents - if If you can build a house by yourself, then the house is yours, and you have priority in using the reclaimed land."

"If you think you have the strength, you can cooperate with the knights to destroy the surrounding monsters, and you will be rewarded based on your merit. At least the price they said is very fair."

"Yesterday they also went to other refugee villages to inform, so they gave everyone one day to think about it - the result is obvious, who can refuse?"

"ah?"

Hearing this good news, Miles was shocked: "Is the Lord's head okay? Half of our village is unlucky, and a quarter is a loser who has ruined his life. People, and a quarter of them are simply criminals who have not been caught...you want us to open up wasteland?"

——Are we so honest?

"yes."

The cobbler also lamented: "No matter what you did in the past, you can forget about it, and you can start from scratch... To be honest, it really gives people like me a chance to start over."

This honest tanner had never committed any crime. He was simply poor and unlucky. When he was boiling water, he burned down his own house and his neighbor's house, not to mention all the furs that his customers had left waiting for him to be tanned. He had to pay his neighbors for playing with eggs, because his relatives were having a hard time due to the food disaster. The cobbler didn't want to be kicked out and lose all his love, so he simply came to the hilly land to gamble his life for the whole winter.

If you can survive the winter, you can still make a comeback. If you can't survive this winter... then leave your bad luck to the next life.

Now it seems that his luck has bottomed out.

"I didn't say anything about you."

Miles scratched his head with his left hand, but subconsciously clenched the sword at his waist with his right hand: "I mean, isn't the lord afraid of people like us... cheating him of money and food without doing anything?"

"Are you funny, Miles? Do you know why our village only has bad guys who cheat ordinary people out of their money and idiots who are cheated out of their money? Because the grass on the graves of people who dare to cheat nobles out of their money will be two feet high!"

The cobbler looked at the young swordsman with a strange look, as if looking at a fool: "Xiahui Territory is the territory of the mountain nobles - now it is the holy land of their Dragon God envoys... People like us who are more capable than us dare to Are you playing tricks on them?"

"Do you remember the original owner of your shack, Old Parr? He was just an ordinary mountain hunter, but he could draw a bow and shoot a squirrel on a tree with his eyes closed."

"Don't talk about those little villains like them. Even you, are you still planning to escape the pursuit of the mountain people after committing crimes in the mountains?"

really.

Miles thought about it and felt that this was indeed the case - he was a noble lord, and he had knights as guards. How could the most ferocious thugs, robbers and criminals be as ferocious as the Ascendants?

In front of the Ascended Nobles, no matter how bad a thug he is, he can only farm the land honestly... That's not the same kind of creature at all!

And... to open up wasteland?

At least it's better than staying in a bitter cold village and waiting for winter to pass to try your luck...at least you can work and get paid a month or two earlier!

Doing what came to mind, he returned to the shed and told Cynthia the news.

The brother and sister immediately signed up.

During the registration process, Myers also noticed something interesting.

Although everyone in this group of knights knew that they were members of the Xiahui Leader, they themselves claimed to be members of the Chongling Sect, or the Star Soul Sect.

This sect has two core doctrines, 'Protection' and 'Revenge'.

Shelter, in essence, puts the blood family first, encouraging people to take care of the elderly, treat children well, make families happy, and bravely protect the 'life' they want.

Revenge, as the name suggests, means fighting against all enemies who dare to endanger people's happy lives and inflicting just punishment on them.

The name of Star Soul is essentially the world view of the Chongling Sect: they believe that everything in this world has a soul and spirituality, whether it is machinery or rocks, humans or insects - it sounds very similar to The teachings of the 'Psychic Machinery Church' and the 'Ten Thousand Souls Palace' must actually have been borrowed from part, but the core teachings of the Star Soul Religion have their own unique derivation.

They believe that even the group of 'human beings' and even the 'terrain of Terra' beneath their feet also have a vague 'collective soul'.

Their names are ‘Soul of All Beings’ and ‘Heart of Terra’.

In the souls of all living beings, there is all the wisdom and memory of mankind since ancient times; and in the heart of Terra, there is all the knowledge and liberation that all living beings need.

The two of them are the 'true spirits' worshiped by the Worshiping Sect - the essence of protection and revenge, and the 'sacred ritual' that brings them closer to the souls of all living beings and the heart of Terra.

The Dragon God is the power of the earth, the Dragon God is the spokesperson of Terra, and the true dragon itself is an incarnation of the soul of all living beings and the heart of Terra in heaven and earth - so the Dragon God belief is the star soul of Chongling!

According to the people of this sect themselves, if you practice to a certain level, you can even talk to the dead!

When he heard this, Miles' heart suddenly moved slightly.

"Talk to the dead..."

The young man closed his eyes slightly, and he could feel Cynthia's little hand holding his hand a little harder.

Yes, even though his reason told him that this sect was lying and exaggerating... he was still tempted.

No, not tempted.

It's desire.

Even if he knew there was no hope, even if he knew what he wanted to do was impossible... he still wanted to see his mother again.

"elder brother……"

Miles heard Cynthia's whispered call. He was silent for a moment, and then laughed: "Of course. Cynthia, we will try."

"But if it doesn't succeed in the end... don't be sad."

"Yeah." The little girl nodded seriously. She rubbed her eyes and said nothing more.

The knights themselves attached great importance to the teachings of the Chongling Sect and even publicized it. However, the people in Kuhan Village did not care about this. They only saw the favorable conditions for land reclamation.

The knights are also aware of this, but they still insist on preaching-no one cares, they themselves have to put on the most formal posture.

According to them, the reason why they recruited pioneers from various places was to build the sect's base from scratch.

Miles can actually understand this completely.

Although there are only four major orthodox religions on Terra that are officially recognized as orthodox religions, local beliefs, national beliefs and cults have always emerged in endlessly - especially in places on the edge of civilization like Nanling, one or two new sects and new beliefs pop up from time to time. It's really an everyday situation.

Especially among the mountain people. Although everyone believes in the Dragon God, there are different opinions on how to believe in it. Basically every tribe is different. This is why the mountain people feel more and more divided in recent years.

There are only Dragon God messengers. Only the messenger of the Dragon God can reunite the core of the mountain people's faith and regain unity.

And it just so happens that the lord of Xiahui Territory is the young genius who is now famous throughout Nanling, the messenger with dragon blood, Ian Yinfeng.

Therefore, Miles believes that there is definitely support from the lords behind this sect, it is very formal and can be trusted.

Moreover, unless the young lord died suddenly and suddenly, it was obvious to the naked eye that it had a bright future.

"Finally, something good is going to happen..."

With this in mind, Miles and many other refugees who wanted to start a new life and were willing to take risks to open up in the mountains followed the land reclamation team of the 'Chongling Sect' and embarked on the road to the mountains.

On the other side of the road, a small carriage watched these teams from a distance.

The winter sun seemed dimmed by the cold wind. The middle-aged nobleman with black hair and blue eyes was sitting on the side of the rather inconspicuous carriage. He raised the baffle and looked thoughtfully at the migrating group.

"interesting."

Viscount Tymor Decas murmured to himself: "After gaining the apparent leadership, he immediately began to reform the mountain people's teachings, regained control of the interpretation of the dragon god's faith, and then used a brand new term to integrate the mountain people's teachings. The consensus of the people - protection and revenge, all living beings and the earth, what a perfect doctrine."

This imperial aristocrat who was born in the Imperial Noble Hall obviously knew very well about the actions of Xia Hui Ling and the Chongling Sect during the recent period, so he clapped his hands and exclaimed: "This is what we should do - no, we can only do this! If we want to reunite the scattered mountain people who have just fallen into civil strife, we must have a new faith to guide their spirits and souls!"

"The ancient dragon god belief is outdated. In this case, it is better to deconstruct and strengthen the meaning of the earth dragon again!"

"The Dragon God we believe in is a real dragon, but it is not just a real dragon, but an endless vast mountain range, this infinitely thick land!"

Exhaling a breath and staring at the crowd of pioneers in the distance, Viscount Ducas nodded solemnly: "The importance His Highness and the Second Prince place on this young man is indeed reasonable. This experience and ideas in establishing a sect are of great significance to us. Very instructive.”

"It must both sink and elevate - it must be easy for people to understand, but it must be deep enough for people to examine and deconstruct. It must make people feel proud of their beliefs and have the confidence to preach to outsiders."

"Well... His Highness's career just needs this kind of experience in teaching, which is almost starting from scratch."

Taymo Dicas, a member of a small noble family in the imperial capital, once worked in the noble court and was appreciated by the eldest prince of the empire, Carlos Sertal. ) serves as a committee member.

In the imperial capital, with such a background and position, he can be regarded as prestigious... If he has the third level, he can even be regarded as a semi-big man, and the whole family is proud of him.

Theoretically speaking, it is impossible for a person like Viscount Ducas to come all the way to Nanling for the honor of a country noble... But because of the instructions of the eldest prince, and the name of this country noble is 'Yi' Well', so he set off without any complaints.

In fact, Viscount Ducas has always had a very high opinion of Ian: a future master of alchemy, even a master craftsman, the founder of new armor and alchemy techniques - this alone is enough for him to come and establish a good relationship in person.

But along the way, he heard a steady stream of news related to Ian, and Viscount Ducasse's evaluation of Ian also continued to rise.

Not to mention anything else, just the fact that Ian seized the Xiahui Territory, declared that he was the Dragon God's messenger, and really led the mountain people to defeat the rebels and construct knights supported by Feiyandi is enough to represent that Ian is today He is the "real powerful aristocrat" in Nanling, second only to the Marquis of Barton - his territory is actually the entire Beisen Mountains, and his subjects are all the mountain people.

There is nothing better than this for a marquisdom.

But the problem is that as an actual outsider, an envoy of the Dragon God who is 'airborne' without any 'foundation' within the mountain people, how can Ian truly grasp the 'potential' of his territory in the future?

It is impossible to rely solely on the support of the Afud tribe, or to rely on Xia Hui to rule the entire land and rule all the mountain people, right?

Viscount Ducas walked slowly along. In addition to greeting the nobles along the way and local noble leaders such as the Marquis of Barton, he also wanted to wait outside to see how Ian would deal with this sensitive person. question.

And Ian used a combination of grain trading and new beliefs to hand over an answer sheet that even he was amazed by.

——Is this really a decision that a sixteen-year-old can make? Or is there guidance from Marquis Barton or Elder Manya behind him?

Intellectually speaking, it is definitely the latter. But Dicas knew very well that it was best not to treat this kind of genius with common sense, who could advance to the second level at a young age and design new armor and alchemy skills on his own.

"He may be the future 'Grand Craftsman' of our empire."

Dicas gave Ian a very high evaluation in his heart: "And my task is to try my best to win him to His Highness's camp. Although the second prince is one step ahead, he cannot give what His Highness can give." price."

“Financially, we’ve always been well-funded.”

"Master, will you continue to follow this team?"

In front of the carriage, the accompanying knight asked about the next move.

Viscount Ducas shook his head slightly: "I won't follow. Let's go back to the convoy - Baron Silver Peak (Archomont) is waiting for our arrival. There are also many foreign guests waiting for our experience."

"Let's set off and lead toward Xia Hui."

Terra 774, January 29, afternoon.

Viscount Taimo Dicas, an official of the Imperial Nobles' Department, and a group of representatives from the Chamber of Commerce came to Xiahui Territory.

They brought medals, wealth, orders, contracts, and imperial rewards.

And most importantly...

The ‘goodwill’ of the eldest prince of the empire, Carlos Sertal.

Ian's thoughts on this are simple.

"It's worth waiting so long."

Looking at the smoke and dust raised by the distant motorcade, Ian, who had been working hard for a long time, took a long breath and showed a kind smile from the bottom of his heart.

"Kaizi, we are finally here!"

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Some of the background settings are written by me. Do you really want to keep them?