The sun is high

Sally was indeed very curious about her mentor's past and the friends he mentioned.

At first, she thought that the friends Meyer mentioned were just individual friends living in distant cities or countries. Perhaps they were elites in various fields with extraordinary connections and influence, but their number was ultimately limited.

But gradually Sally discovered that the concept of "friends" mentioned by Professor Meyer was not limited to this.

They are indeed scattered all over the place, but there are definitely a lot of them.

They seem to exist widely in all walks of life in Fanen. Some are town officials, some are ordinary academy mages, and some may just be ordinary teachers, miners, waiters or newspaper clerks...

In short, according to Sally's own observation, these "friends" of Meyer can always give him the necessary help at critical moments. If it were not for their help and cover, I am afraid that she and her mentor would never have the chance to embark on this journey. The train had already been overtaken by the mages of the Plateau Council.

"Professor, I'm a little curious. Green Harbor is relatively far from Salem City. Why do we need to take a detour there? And Salem City is also a bit far from the seaside, right?"

"Ha, great question."

Meyer straightened his hat with a smile. He hadn't trimmed his beard properly for a while, so the beard on his mouth seemed to be growing wantonly. But he didn't care. He just stretched out his hand and pinched his beard: " Cuiqing Port...well, Cuiqing Port, it has always been a commercial port. Generally, there are no military ships docking, and there are relatively few troops stationed there. However, there is a very famous ship repair workshop here. "

Meyer flipped through the newspaper and finally found a barely usable small map in a corner. Then he explained on the map: "We went there mainly to give Salem The survivors in the city are looking for a way out, here, look..."

Meyer drew a small black dot on the map with a pen: "It represents the city of Salem."

Later, Meyer drew a circle on the seaside south of Salem City: "Here is the Principality of Bult on the plain."

He connected the two locations with a straight line: "Sally, as someone who grew up in Salem City, you have never been to the sea, right?"

"Of course not, professor... But I have heard businessmen say that if they have a large amount of goods to transport, they will indeed choose the port of the Bult Principality. There is a convenient road between there and Salem City for quick access. Only a few Only a few people will choose the scattered southern town ports.”

Meyer nodded, and then he drew two strokes to circle the entire area south of Salem City except the Principality of Bult.

“That’s this area, right?”

He tapped the map lightly with the tip of his pen: "The war is still going on. Votel's army is already the actual controller of this area, and the navy of the Bult Principality is also constantly retreating... But this does not mean, Hayne and Votel will prepare an escape route for the survivors in Salem City... As I said before, the so-called Salem City Emergency Committee is just a temporary organization established hastily to 'solve the problem'. It’s unstable and very susceptible to certain views and opinions.”

"Once the war situation changes, or some more serious new situations arise, the survivors in Salem City may still fall into despair, and our Mr. Sugar Ernst is also very likely to It may become a key target for some people.”

As he spoke, Meyer extended an arrow downwards from the black spot in Salem City. Then, he extended another arrow from the sea south of the Votel Kingdom, probably at the location of Emerald Port: "So we need to find a safe way for these people in distress and our friend. If they encounter something unexpected after escaping from Salem City, we need to be ready to take the refugees through this southern part of the country. area, and preparations for departure from coastal ports.”

Sally said anxiously: "But there are still many people in Salem City..."

"It's okay, we can also find many ships."

Meyer paused, then lowered his voice: "It could even be..."

Sally's eyes widened.

Although her teacher's last word did not make a sound, Sally could still distinguish what he said based on the other person's mouth shape.

What Meyer just said seemed to be "warship"?

…

Xiuge has never been so sleepy.

A long time ago, he was already in a state of limbo.

But whenever he wanted to open his eyes or shake his head, a strong dull pain lingering in his skull would come out directly, as if a large amount of flowing mercury had been poured into his brain. Even if he just moved his eyelids, he would feel... Brings a series of pain.

In this dull pain, the shadow of the huge black sun that he had glimpsed before he fell into coma continued to appear, and every time its shadow flashed through Xiuge's mind, it would bring him great shock and excitement. Frightened.

The moment before he looked up at the sky, he always felt that he was mentally prepared for the appearance of the black sun and its existence itself. However, when he actually saw the huge black celestial body with his own eyes, Xiuge realized See how terrifying the so-called black sun is.

It was too huge and too close.

It seemed as if it would be ruthlessly crushed to the ground in the next second.

This feeling was completely different from the black sun he had glimpsed in those fragmented dreams in the past. For a moment, Xiuge even felt that his body and spirit would be drawn into the chaotic light and shadow in the center of the huge darkness, and be directly torn into pieces.

In this painful trance, the faint smell of magic incense floated over, and then, Shuge's familiar healing magic power emerged from all around, and the soothing life force poured into his body like a clear spring. So the dull pain lingering in my mind was somewhat relieved.

Finally, Shuge opened his eyes.

However, what caught his eye was not a quiet and gentle female mage.

Xiuge first saw a small incense burner that was constantly swinging from side to side above his head, and the person holding the incense burner was an extremely huge body.

Because of the backlight, Gerald's big face looked even more ferocious and ugly, and even his grinning expression looked like he was really about to eat someone.

"Hey, you're finally awake! I have to use incense to think, not just healing magic!"

Gerald let out a dull laugh, then looked around, hung the incense burner on the wall next to the bed, then lowered his head and asked, "How do you feel? Can you get up?"

Seeing Shuge nodding, he stretched out his hand, slowly "lifted" Shuge up, and stuffed a pillow behind his back. At the same time, Gerald explained: "You fainted outside for no reason. Fortunately, someone found you in the corner, otherwise you might have frozen to death!"

Xiuge breathed a sigh of relief. He felt that his nostrils, corners of his eyes, and cheeks were a little uncomfortable, so he reached out and touched them, and as a result, some of the bright red color was rubbed off.

"This is?"

"When I found you, your face was covered in blood, and there were blood stains on your eyes and nose... The magic power was also very disordered. Fortunately, there were no other problems."

With that said, Gerald stretched out his hand to ring the magic bell on the wall, and then stretched out his hand to pull over a basin: "It's still warm water, so I won't help you wipe your face, so as not to rub your face off."

"Thanks."

"Don't thank me, but thank me for these oriental incense. It is said that they are rare items from overseas oriental countries. This small furnace can burn dozens of gold coins!"

Xiuge smiled and put his hand into the basin, took out a wet towel soaked in warm water, wiped it slowly, and said with a smile: "Money is of no use now."

"You're right, you're right."

Gerald stood up and walked around the room for two steps. Just as he was about to ask something, the door to the room was pushed open, and then the female scholar Justina hurried in. She saw Xiu Ge Zheng was slowly cleaning the blood on his face, and it seemed that there was nothing wrong with it, so he breathed a sigh of relief.

Gerald had a good grasp of human relations. Seeing that Justina seemed to have something important to discuss with Shuge, he moved his steps directly, lowered his head and squeezed out of the door.

When the guy closed the door smoothly, Shuge even saw Gerald winking at him, looking extremely vulgar, and he didn't know what nonsense he was hinting at.

Naturally, Justina didn't know Gerald's expression when he left. She directly pulled the chair over and sat in front of Shuge: "Mr. Ernst, how do you feel now?"

"It's okay...it's just that there are some minor problems with the magic power in the body."

Xiuge said casually. He put down the towel, fumbled for his pocket watch from the side and took a look at it. He found that it was already past noon. This meant that he had been unconscious for more than six hours because of looking at the black sun, so He asked, "Where is the Hermit Jeant? Where has he gone?"

"The Mystery of the Eye of Mer finally received a message from Merlin Lehe again."

Justina said in a slightly excited tone: "Goddess Mel, Merlin Lehe finally responded positively to our request and affirmed our measures and persistence in the city. At the same time, they also informed us to go to the south side city. The door is receiving a batch of important supplies, and Hermit Jeant is presiding over this matter... It is said that there are many new weapons from the Kingdom of Walter inside."

Xiuge raised his eyebrows in surprise. This is indeed very good news. There are not many materials available in Salem City, and those important magic materials, weapons and ammunition are extremely scarce. If it is not repairing Under Ge's "bringing in", the Legal Committee Station and Iris Street have reached a cooperation. I am afraid that these poor mages will completely run out of materials to maintain the station's protection rituals.

Xiuge leaned his body on the pillow behind him and asked: "In other words, the city is finally starting to prepare to take some measures?"

"I think so."

Justina nodded: "This is good news for everyone, but in order to ensure stability, Hermit Jeant did not disclose the news to everyone, but only informed General Boots of the relevant matters. .”

"The right choice."

Xiuge nodded: "We cannot control everyone's thoughts and emotions. It is more important to maintain overall stability."

Then he looked at the female scholar in front of him: "However, Master Justina, you came to me in such a hurry, shouldn't it be just to inform me of these things?"

"of course not."

At this point, Justina's whole expression and state changed. She looked at Shuge seriously, and then said: "Mr. Ernst, I am curious, what exactly did you experience late at night? Why did you walk out of the room alone and fainted outside..."

Xiuge frowned: "Didn't I tell you? There is something wrong with the magic power."

Today is different from the past. He doesn't want to be caught by others asking questions. He has no need or reason to tell others his secrets and details.

However, Justina shook her head and said: "I know it is not appropriate to ask this question, but when I did a magic test for you, I found that Mr. Ernst, the magic disorder in your body is related to what we are studying. Some samples are similar..."

Hearing this, Xiuge narrowed his eyes slightly: "What do you mean?"

"Please don't be nervous, I'm just stating some results and findings of our research."

Justina made a comforting gesture: "I am the only one who knows these signs. No one, including the hermit Jeant, knows about them... Of course, if Mr. Ernst thinks that this kind of discovery should not exist, You can also choose to deal with me here, after all, you saved my life."

The two sides looked at each other for two seconds, and then Xiuge shook his head: "It's not to this point, Master Justina. Please tell me what you found. I will make a corresponding judgment after listening."

So Justina cleared her throat, and then she said: "In order to facilitate the study of the samples, I personally classified their status and performance. Most of the time, their shapes are similar to silt. Here At this time, the magic power flowing in their bodies is the slowest, so I call this state a 'steady state'."

"And when they realize that prey is nearby and take the initiative to take hunting actions, the magic power in their bodies will begin to stir, but at this time, the flow of magic power is still quite regular, and they will change and imitate the characteristics of some other creatures. , such as claws, limbs, mouthparts, etc... I call this state the 'waking state'."

Justina paused, then she slowed down her speech: "The third state is more special. We noticed that when they began to try to change themselves into humans, elves or goblins, and longed for When they communicate with us, their magic power fluctuations will become chaotic, messy, and irregular, which is completely different from the symptoms that our casters experience due to abnormal changes in magic power and overdraft."

"I call this third abnormal state the 'mimicry state', and the magic power in your body, Mr. Ernst, was very, very close to this third state."