The Mysterious World Under Steampunk

Sylvia looked at the girl lying next to the fire, listening to the alertness and thoughts in the other person's heart, and constantly familiarized herself with her new abilities.

During the period of crossing the Petain Mountains, while training her control, Sylvia was also training some power-use skills taught by the mysterious existence on the top of Truber Mountain. These skills are from some abyss upper races The basic skills that should have been mastered a long time ago, but her situation is special, and she didn't know it until now.

For example, the peeping ability she uses on this girl now is a technique often used by the upper races of the abyss to spy on people's hearts. This technique is also the most practical skill of the abyssal races. What is more interesting is that the derivative ability of this technique is an ability called Wanwuyan. Once this ability is mastered, language is no longer needed, and ideas and opinions can be transmitted directly through the spirit, and even some plants that are considered to be incommunicable And lower creatures are also able to communicate and even control.

After learning about the skills that this abyssal race can use, Sylvia immediately took it as the first skill to master, focused on training, and in just a few days, she was able to use it initially, and the effect was not bad. At least everything this woman thinks in her mind after she wakes up can be easily peeped by her.

As for the girl, after waking up, she immediately judged from the clothing features of herself and Leo that she was not from the Principality of Russ, and then deduced that she was from the Otter Federation, and thought that the two of them might be spies, and She is also planning to look for opportunities to counterattack and other series of thoughts and actions, which Sylvia appreciates quite a bit, because even people who have undergone rigorous training may not be able to do it. After waking up from a deep coma, Immediately make a correct judgment on the current situation.

In fact, Sylvia didn't intend to save the girl just now. In her opinion, it is enough to block those crazy Jerry mice from eating the girl with her dragon breath, and there is no need to bring the girl to the bonfire He came here to find a burden for his future travels, but Leo seemed to have some idea about this girl. He took the girl to the bonfire and poured her two bottles of wizard medicine to restore the girl's various injuries.

Sylvia didn't think that Leo's actions were just out of kindness. She felt that there were other reasons, so she waited for Leo's explanation, but after Leo gave the girl two bottles of wizard medicine, he fell into the depths again. In deep thought. Even if he talks to him himself, he won't get any useful answer, only a vague response.

Sylvia is already used to this, because Leo has been in this state since leaving the top of Trube Mountain. At first, she thought that the mysterious existence of Trube Mountain had done something in the Holy Deed, Let the two of them not only forget each other's identity and origin, but forget more important things, but she checked her and Leo's body repeatedly but found nothing wrong, and Leo was awake when he was awake. , also said that her recent deep meditation is to figure out some problems, so that she doesn't have to worry.

Although Leo has stated that he has no problems, and the journey after that is indeed as he said, Sylvia always feels that Leo has changed. This change is not physiological, but more The change in mentality is like having more worries.

Sylvia didn't ask any more questions. She felt that if Leo wanted to tell him, he would naturally tell her. There was no need to ask any more questions. All she had to do was to take the two of them through the Betain Mountains according to the original plan. , go to the Purifying Fire Holy Master Country on the other side to take the train of the Continental Railway, go to the largest port city in the New World and take the ship to the Old Continent.

For the two demigods, crossing the Petain Mountains was not a difficult task. Except for the blizzards that appeared on the snowy mountains all the year round, which caused them a little trouble, they never encountered any obstacles.

However, when they crossed the Petain Mountains and reached a virgin forest in the territory of the Papal State of Russ on the other side, they encountered a strange phenomenon they had read about in books before, the Russ Rat Surge.

Because it is only separated by a mountain range, when the great plague of the Ruth Rat Tide broke out, the Ott Federation also paid special attention to this matter. Publishing houses and newspapers in the Federation took advantage of this enthusiasm and published a There are a lot of newspapers and books with relevant content, so the information Leo and Silvia saw is quite complete.

Although the Ruth Rat Surge has not erupted for a long time, after reading the relevant records, Leo and Sylvia think that it is only a matter of time before the Rus Rat Surge breaks out again.

The reason why they made such a judgment is entirely because the Principality of Russ has always had an ambiguous attitude towards the Jerry rat that caused the rat tide. Jerry rats, but they also attach great importance to the various values ​​​​of Jerry rats. Nearly 80% of the country's income in the entire Duchy of Ruth comes from various products derived from Jerry rats. Therefore, in order to allow Jerry rats to survive better , They even drove away and killed the only natural enemy of the jerry mouse in that area, a raptor called the rat eagle, so that the jerry mouse had no natural enemies in that area and could reproduce wantonly.

Although a large number of jerry rats are hunted and killed in the hunting season of the Duchy of Ruth every year, there has never been an accurate statistics on the number of jerry rats killed and the reproduction of jerry rats themselves, so it is very likely that the jerry rats The actual number far exceeds the number announced by the Principality of Russ.

This is like a time bomb buried deep in the ground. Normally, no one will notice it, even stepping on it, but once it is detonated, it will be a catastrophe for the people around. Great disaster.

What's interesting is that when Leo and Silvia entered the Principality of Ruth Cult, they casually mentioned the Ruth Rat Surge, but they didn't expect a rat swarm to erupt in front of them, making Xi Sylvia almost wondered if they were inspired by some kind of strange ability such as divine words by that mysterious existence on the top of Mount Truber.

Although the Rat Surge of Ruth is very terrifying, it is a disaster for any country and ordinary people, but for Leo and Sylvia, these crazy Jerry rats are no threat at all. Sylvia's slight leakage of the dragon's breath has already made these Jerry mice get rid of their madness and return to their timid nature.

The abnormality of these jerry mice also aroused Leo's curiosity, which made him break away from the state of contemplation for a while, and caught a few jerry mice casually, and studied why these special timid rats became so crazy.

As a result, he accidentally discovered some interesting things. He found that the reason for the jerry rats to go crazy and form a rat swarm was not just because of scarcity of food, a large population, and the spread of hunger in the rat population as those researchers said. , eventually causing the rat population to go crazy for food, and the rat tide also broke out.

The real reason seems to be that the jerry rats, which only grow in this area, have a hive group consciousness similar to a life community. Although this hive group consciousness is still very weak, and it can even be said to be incomplete, its essence is similar to those of those There is no difference in the hive consciousness of the life community.

The bigger problem with Jerry Mouse is that this kind of hive consciousness does not have a core of consciousness, that is to say, there is no control system to adjust the strength of the hive consciousness, which directly leads to the fact that all the hives are connected together because of the hive consciousness. The jerry mice in the world are all suffering from the same turbulent thinking flow. The simple thinking of one or two jerry mice will not cause mental problems, but hundreds of thousands, millions, or even tens of millions of simple thinking will gather together It was enough to form a mental shock, that is, because of this continuous mental shock, all the jerry rats fell into a frenzy, which eventually led to a rat wave.

Although Leo is not a good-hearted person, if he can solve a human disaster without affecting his itinerary, he will not be stingy with it, but the problem is that this unprecedented hive consciousness makes He couldn't do anything.

According to the normal situation, he can directly destroy the core of the hive consciousness to solve the rat tide, but the problem is that the hive consciousness of the jerry rats does not have a core, and it is useless to eliminate one or two jerry rats , unless it is to kill all the jerry mice.

In the end, Leo could only choose to be a bystander, and help as much as he could when passing by the rat tide-affected area, but what he didn't expect was that soon there would be things that he couldn't be busy with. I met a girl from the Principality of Russ who was hunted down by the rat tide.

Originally, Leo and Sylvia had the same idea, to disperse the rats and save the girl, but then the girl's abnormal reaction at the moment of coma made him interested, so he moved the girl to the campfire , After feeding two bottles of medicine and checking his body, he found that his guess was correct, which also made him think about what to do next.

Sylvia didn't know what Leo was thinking about at the moment, how to deal with the girl who had just been rescued, she just found that Leo didn't seem to be thinking for a long time this time, and he recovered quickly.

"Have you figured it out?" Sylvia couldn't help the curiosity in her heart, and asked while handing over the freshly baked food.

"What do you want to understand?" Leo was stunned, puzzled.

Sylvia was also puzzled, "Is that what you were thinking after leaving the top of Mount Truber?"

"I'm not thinking about anything, I'm just sorting out..." Leo got stuck in the middle of speaking, then frowned, and asked, "Do you still remember the appearance of the mysterious being on the top of Truber Mountain, Is there any relevant information such as origin?"

"I don't remember!" Sylvia couldn't help smiling when she saw that Leo had only noticed the abnormality now, and said, "You forgot, we have a contract with that unknown existence, as long as we leave the top of Truber Mountain, we will Forget what that mysterious existence is."

"I didn't expect the power of this contract to be so strong, but..." Leo was about to sigh for something, when he was taken aback for a moment, and then an inexplicable smile appeared on his face, and said: "Although the power of the contract is very strong, it's a pity There are loopholes."

"There are loopholes?" Sylvia was stunned.

"Look for yourself," Leo reached out and tapped Sylvia's forehead, and passed on a piece of information retrieved from the database.

I saw that this document records in detail all the processes before and after Leo and Sylvia climbed the mountain, including the people and things they met, including what happened on the top of Truber Mountain, and it is also mentioned in this part Elder Karitas and images associated with them.

After Sylvia saw these things, the power of the Karita Magic Sacred Deed did not reappear to erase this part of the memory. She was also a little surprised and asked: "What's going on? Why do you still remember these things?" ?”

Leo explained: "It's very simple. What is mentioned in the Karita Magic Sacred Book is to eliminate the memory related to him, but the problem is that the data I have stored in the database is not counted as memory by me. It can be seen that the card The execution of the Rita Demon Holy Deed needs to be based on the executor's own cognition, and if he has a different cognition of something mentioned in the contract, then there will be loopholes in the contract's execution."

"Did he not discover such a big loophole?" Sylvia asked.

"Didn't you say that he is a heterogeneous member of the Carita demon group?" Leo smiled and said, "I don't think he has signed holy deeds with many people."

Hearing this, Sylvia couldn't help laughing out loud. Although this explanation sounds absurd, it might not be impossible if you think about it carefully.

After laughing, Leo took a bite of the barbecue in his hand and continued: "I have been sorting out the knowledge given to me by the Karita Demon these days. Although there is nothing I want most in it, those about the World Tree Knowledge is also very precious, but it's too messy, and I don't know if He has buried any traps in it, if we don't organize it clearly, if we just follow the knowledge, there may be problems."

Sylvia nodded in agreement, and then asked curiously: "Is the knowledge you want the knowledge of the Supreme Council of the Universe at the top of the World Tree?"

"Yeah!" Leo nodded.

Sylvia encouraged: "If we have a way to safely pass through the foggy area of ​​​​the branches, we may be able to reach the top of the tree, and then you will be able to see the situation of the Supreme Council of the universe with your own eyes."

"Let's hope!" Leo didn't seem to have much hope.

After eating the last bit of roasted meat in his palm, Leo wiped his hands, walked up to the little girl, helped her up from the ground, and sat next to a fallen wooden stake, then checked her body again, Then he asked in Rus dialect: "What's your name?"

"My name is Penistan." Knowing that she has no ability to resist now, Penistan can only answer honestly.

Leo was silent for a moment, then asked: "Then let me ask you, Penistan, are you willing to be my student?"