Soul of Burning Steel

Starfall 833, April 17th, morning.

This day is a dark day for the mages belonging to the empire.

Because their incomparably great Emperor, His Majesty, was in a very unhappy mood.

Very, very unpleasant.

Centering on the three magic fortresses around the Holy City of Three Mountains, the space-time fluctuations caused by the teleportation spells came continuously, and hundreds of teleportations took place in just the time for ordinary people to eat breakfast. After a while, the empire in the morning There were many more spellcasters in robes with tired faces on the street.

They came from all over the country in a hurry, and belonged to the mages of the empire, including members of the dragon disaster detection team as far as the South China Sea, explorers who went deep into the black forest, and researchers who were nested in the laboratory, and even stationed in the southern fortress. Many of the mages accompanying the army also came back.

After all, the Royal Mage Association of the Empire includes all the mages in the entire empire. It can be regarded as the top five spellcasting organizations in the entire Mycroft Continent. In terms of personnel size alone, it even surpasses the Seven Luminaries Council in the Eastern Plains, second only to the Heavenly Continent. Only some members of the tower gathered, and the number of its high-level spellcasters exceeded two hundred, and these mages, without exception, all walked in a hurry and gathered towards the Palace of Morlaix.

The black mist riot that occurred in the second underground laboratory last night destroyed most of the Avenue of Truth, thousands of civilians were displaced, and many precious spell experiment reports were corroded and disappeared. The direct economic loss exceeded 800,000 imperial gold coins, and the indirect loss was irreplaceable. It is estimated that most of the responsibility belongs to Hasu, the gold-level mage in charge of the second laboratory, and his disciples and partners, but there is no doubt that other mages present are also jointly and severally responsible.

Although the emperor's anger was mainly on them, the subsequent reform of the Mage Association was closely related to all mages.

The Royal Mages Association is an old organization with a history of more than 500 years. There are many factions and powerful forces in various places. Even if Israel wants to take this opportunity to rectify, it is impossible to complete it in an instant. You know Most of the mages who stay in the imperial capital for research are relatively easy to control. Most noble mages have their own mage towers and territories, and even colleges. Most of these mages simply accept the topics and tasks given by the association. , After finishing, they can freely carry out their own research. In terms of freedom, they are much higher than their colleagues in the imperial capital.

But no matter how free they are, these mages are all receiving research funds and special subsidies from the association, which is also a large amount of funds for the empire. For example, there is research on the power core of airships, just this one project, the empire threw nearly 4 million gold coins to the research offices around the country, not to say that it feels bad for the money, Israel mainly noticed that the recent association mages have begun to have some problems with the tasks assigned by the empire. Casual feeling, exemplified by Hasselblad's experiment blunder, was something he decided to change.

The specific content of the reform is still being discussed in the Holy Emblem Hall, but many association mages who are studying abroad or inspecting have quickly sent representatives to attend the meeting. They are either worried or excited, it doesn't matter how natural it is There are, but most people only care about one thing, and that is whether their research funding will be cut.

But none of this had anything to do with Joshua who was about to leave the imperial capital.

After a late dinner last night, the warrior and Nostradamus met the emperor again.

The meeting was very concise. Israel, who had followed the incident the whole time, expressed his praise to Joshua. However, due to the tight schedule, he did not say any more nonsense, but prepared to give the soldiers the rewards they deserved.

"I heard that you also have a dragon."

Shenghui Hall, in front of the throne, when the majestic emperor talked about his own dragon, his originally angry face relaxed a lot. His eyes seemed to be looking into the distance, and he nodded with a smile: "They Although they are a bit vicious, as long as they get close to you, they are very cute guys."

"yes."

Joshua nodded in agreement, the fact is true, but Hei's way of getting close to him is to lick him with his tongue. This bad habit cannot be let go: "It's just that the size is too big, so I can't keep it with me all the time."

Hearing a trace of pity in the soldier's voice, Rin who was standing by the side immediately became alert, and after a while, Hotaru also reacted, the silver-haired girl frowned, and whispered to her brother: "Master has never given black people Have you cleaned the scales?"

"I haven't prepared food for it. Think about it carefully, we did all these jobs."

"He seldom even takes black for a walk...if he really takes it everywhere..."

The atmosphere of guard spread, and the two looked at Joshua vigilantly.

"Really? Yes, yours is a sea dragon. I remember it is the blood of a black dragon. It is indeed a troublesome thing to not be able to fly."

Not paying attention to the whisperings of the young girls, His Majesty the Emperor nodded thoughtfully, and said softly to himself: "My dragon has always followed me, it has the blood of the Infernal Dragon, and its body temperature is very high. It is also difficult to carry around, but it is an astral dragon after all, there is always a solution."

"Gu Long should be similar."

After thinking for a while, Israel seemed to have decided on something. He stretched out his hand, and opened a small space-time passage, and then groped for something in it. While groping, the emperor shook his head and said, "Time is too long." Too hasty to thank you properly, but Sir Radcliffe, I think you will like this."

After speaking, Israel took out a pendant with a strange shape, and Joshua took it.

This pendant is about the size of a person's fist. It is V-shaped and silver in color. According to the feel, the warrior believes it is made of mithril. There are light blue magic light patterns flowing on it, which obviously contains powerful power.

"The shape-changing pendant, even a giant dragon can use it... This is just a small thank you from me personally. The empire will never treat meritorious ministers badly. This time you solved the black mist incident of the Royal Mages Association, and they will naturally To express a little gratitude, treat it as interest."

While Israel was talking, he and Nostradamus looked at each other, and the two nodded at the same time, as if they had reached a consensus. Afterwards, His Majesty the Emperor continued to say in a serious tone: "Due to the temporary I lost my skills and couldn’t handle plague-related experiments, so I decided to send a research team headed by Tamara Moore, the leader of the third research team, to Moldavia to conduct plague research there.”

Joshua was not surprised at this point, because Nostradamus had said it before, but now he just relied on His Majesty's mouth to confirm this matter.

At this time, the old mage looked very happy. He stroked his beard and nodded with a smile, and sent the entire third research team to Moldavia. The research on the plague was naturally one of them, but how can something like the plague of evil gods be possible? In the main city without any professional mage lab? This is naturally not possible, and it just so happens that there is a spell laboratory that fully meets the requirements near Winter Castle College in Nissier Snow Mountain.

Of course, this has nothing to do with the recent lack of Mage teachers in the College of Wintercastle. It is definitely not because of this that Nostradamus deliberately won the opportunity to let his old friend temporarily leave the imperial capital full of undercurrents. It's normal to do anything outside of research. There are adventurers, mercenaries, and even killers. How normal is it to be a teacher.

The matter was almost over. After dealing with these matters for the time being, Israel said that he was a little tired. He had to hold meetings with mage representatives from various places during the day and needed to take a break for the time being. Nostradamus said that he would stay Coming down to attend the meeting, there is no way to go to the Northland for the time being, but he has already informed Moore that Joshua only needs to find the other party.

Next, is to say goodbye.

The affairs of the imperial capital have come to an end for the time being. At this time, the soldiers are preparing to return to Moldavia through the portal set up by Nostradamus in the Mage Association.

And behind him, there are fifteen senior mages wearing gray hooded robes, talking in low voices among them, discussing their own mission.

But no matter who it is, they all show great respect to Joshua, even to Hotaru and Rin, everyone is very polite.

After all, they are all mages, and they are all very smart people. The strength and means of fighters are obviously beyond the scope of what they can handle. So instead of showing the arrogance of mages, it is better to be a little gentle and show your kindness. Of course, this It may also be because of Joshua's abyss of charm, everyone forgot what to say when they saw his face, how could they become arrogant.

Even Moore didn't say much. This friend of Nostradamus stood silently behind the soldier, as if he was still recalling the dream he saw at night.

On the side, the silver-haired girl was holding the V-shaped shape-changing pendant, fiddling with it curiously, but no matter how she played with the silver pendant, the magic power contained in it did not leak out at all.

"Master, what exactly is this thing for?"

After trying for a long time, there was no result. Hotaru couldn't help but feel a little discouraged. She handed the pendant to Rin, let the black-haired boy try it, and asked Joshua herself.

The soldier was waiting for the portal to open. When he heard the girl's question, he couldn't help feeling a bit difficult to answer.

"I have used the shape-changing pendant before. It is used to pass through narrow stone crevices and passages when taking risks. Generally speaking, it is to change the size of a person while maintaining the proportion. "

Joshua also used similar things in his previous life. It was usually used to clear some special dungeons. For example, in the missions of the Fairy Kingdom, he had to use the Shape-changing Pendant to get smaller. Those cute little guys hate it the most. The only difference is the huge difference in body shape.

, but the pendant given to him by Israel is obviously different from the ones used by the warriors before. The magic power surging on it is more surging. Indeed, as His Majesty said, even with the anti-magic power of a giant dragon, this pendant is also effective .

"But what's the use?"

Thinking of Israel's subtle expression, Joshua couldn't help but frowned. If it's just to make Hei smaller so that it can be easily ridden and taken to various places, there should be no need to hand it over to him so carefully. A pendant like his, does it have any other special functions? After all, the Diamonds had a legendary pact with goblins, so it wouldn't be surprising if it was any different.

Shaking his head slightly, the soldier temporarily ended his association.

The space-time door in the center of the hall opened, and the faint blue light illuminated the entire side hall of the Mage Association. A transmission channel directly connected to the Northland slowly expanded until it was large enough for a carriage to pass through.

"Everyone, get ready to go."

Shaking his head and dispelling the distracting thoughts in his mind, Joshua, as the leader, walked through the portal first after greeting him.

But what passed into his ears were bursts of ear-piercing screams.

It is currently the year 833 of Starfall. If the time I wrote before is wrong, then I must have made a mistake. The current one shall prevail.

It’s still too early for the dragon disaster to end, Yuannan is still fighting, and it’s just a stalemate at the moment, otherwise how would the plague come next...