Chapter 188: Entering Gray Fern Town
, the spider girls continued to chase for a distance, encountering several trade convoys on the way, but found nothing.
Even though Feliti used her spiritual nose technique many times, she still couldn't smell anything about Fingart. It seemed that this person had completely disappeared from the previous Green Shell Lobsterman convoy.
This made Felicity crazy and said, "Sister Grace, is there really nothing we can do now?"
"Didn't the mistress give you any tracking witchcraft or something like that?" Did you find the other party directly?"
Grace also had a gloomy face. Although she ordered the pursuit all the way to the west, she was actually not 100% sure that the other party was heading towards Gray Fern Town.
And as the team leader, she obviously has the greatest pressure on her shoulders.
Hearing Felicity's question, Grace shook her head and said, "Normally speaking, with the tracking compass given by the mistress, it should be easy to locate the precise location of the Nightmare Mirror." "But the other party
also I don’t know what method was used to almost completely isolate the aura of the Nightmare Mirror, and now the tracking compass has no movement at all."
Grace took out a small, palm-sized round compass from her arms, with markings all around the compass. There are large and small scales, and in the middle is a short piece of hair about ten centimeters long.
As Grace inputs her spiritual power, her hair becomes increasingly black and shiny. It seems that there is some kind of magical power, and it begins to rotate 360 degrees continuously, as if trying to point out the direction.
But after spinning for a while, the hair slowly slowed down.
Nothing!
Just when the two were at a loss what to do, Yirenai, who had been silent next to her, thought for a while and said, "It seems that the other party must have cast some kind of witchcraft that can isolate the smell, or it may be some kind of isolation witchcraft.
"By the way, Grace, you have Mistress's hair here. As long as you take off a little bit, you can use the Bloodline Tracing Technique. You can track all the spider women under the Mistress. You might as well let me try the Bloodline Tracing Technique. " "
After a slight hesitation, Grace agreed. The reason for her hesitation was that using the blood tracing technique would consume the mistress's hair.
A minute later,
the three of them looked at the mistress's hair that had grown to nine centimeters long, all with solemn expressions.
The blood tracing technique also yielded nothing!
The view returned to the wilderness near the Green Shell Lobsterman trading convoy.
Richard's master and servant waited quietly for all the spider girls to leave.
At this time, Stephana and Fingart dared to speak, only to hear Fingart praise softly: "Master, you are so wise. Without your foresight, your humble servant Fingart might have to die." Encountered a misfortune."
"What Fingart said is absolutely right, Master, you are so smart," Stephana said coquettishly as she looked at Richard with charming eyes.
"Stop! Stop it, that's enough for you two, stop flattering us. We have more important things to do."
After saying that, Richard led the two of them, under the cover of the concealing cloak, from the first horn From the cargo pile at the lizard and the third one-horned lizard, Stephana's hair and the light green patterned box were retrieved again.
Although the two of them still couldn't understand the meaning of Richard's operation, they didn't have any doubts in their hearts this time.
After all, the arrival of three high-level spider women just now has fully proved that Richard's judgment is completely correct.
"We can't take it lightly now. It's far from Gray Fern Town. Even if we move forward at full speed, it will still take two or three days." Richard originally planned to come to Gray Fern Town.
Under the cover of their cloaks, Richard and the others continued to rush towards Gray Fern Town, overtaking many trade convoys heading to Gray Fern Town along the way, and also encountered several teams returning from trading in Gray Fern Town.
"Fingart, give me another scale."
"Yes, Master."
"Stephana, give me a drop of blood and put it on this hair."
Following Richard's instructions, both of them put the scales and hair on their hands. It was handed over to Richard.
Richard placed the scales, the blood-stained hair, and the light green patterned box in the three convoys heading east and returning.
After a long time,
looking at the drop of bright red blood, the three Grace girls were trembling with rage!
This. This was once again fooled by the opponent!
This is simply worse than killing three women!
If they encounter a strong enemy and crush them in terms of strength, they will find it easier to accept it, but this time, they are being pinned to the ground and rubbed in terms of intelligence.
This was really unacceptable to them.
Half a day ago, Felidi's Spiritual Nose Technique and Irene's Spider Woman Bloodline Tracing Technique both pointed to this location.
So, they spent half a day galloping all the way and turned back again, and what they got was this result.
This makes Grace, who has always been able to control her emotions better, explode!
——And
once again watching the spider girls speed away, Richard finally felt relieved. Not far ahead was Gray Fern Town. Presumably the spider girls were not so bold as to chase the gray dwarves into the town.
In less than half a day, after the master and servant climbed a hillside, a small town located on the plains came into view.
I saw that there were rammed earth walls several meters high around the town, surrounding the entire town.
Since Richard and the others were on a hillside, looking down from above, they could clearly see the rows of houses in the town, revealing several main roads. The roads were bustling with people coming and going.
The architectural style of the houses here is quite simple, solid and practical. They are all made of hard rock, which is in sharp contrast to the elegance, complexity and beauty of the night elves.
This is also the first time that Richard has experienced gray dwarf-style architecture.
After entering the town, Richard discovered that the people he saw in the distance were actually not humans in the ordinary sense. There were not only gray dwarves and ordinary humans, but also many strange-looking races. Fingart This kind of fish people is also relatively common, as well as lobster people, lizard people, etc.
Almost all the races unique to the Underdark can be seen in the town, which opened their eyes to Richard and Stephana.
From this point, it can be seen that the overall atmosphere in the gray dwarf-controlled area is relatively open. At least on the surface, the gray dwarves are open to different races.
This also makes Gray Fern Town, which is only the size of a small town, relatively prosperous in trade, with a variety of goods for sale.
In contrast, the night elves have strict level barriers.
Murlocs like Fingart, even though they have the strength of a third-level wizard apprentice, are just a vassal race in terms of status, far inferior to the spider knights of the same strength, and even inferior to the status of ordinary shadow stalkers.
This made Richard immediately develop a certain fondness for the gray dwarves. Such a free environment is very suitable for him to settle down in a short period of time. At least the pressure to integrate will be much lighter.
Since Gray Fern Town is an area controlled by the gray dwarves, Richard specifically focused on the appearance and characteristics of the gray dwarves.
For example, the gray dwarf guards in chain armor were only as tall as Richard's chest, but they were all tall and powerful, and most of them were armed with heavy weapons.
Moreover, I listened to Fingart's introduction along the way. Gray dwarves were once a branch of surface dwarves thousands of years ago. Later, after a series of major events, the gray dwarf race came into being.
Their racial characteristics are great strength. The strength of adult gray dwarves is several times that of ordinary humans. They also have strong resistance to dark elements. This is the same as most species living in the underdark. At the same time, they are second only to night elves. element affinity.
Therefore, among the gray dwarves, the probability of a wizard appearing is also very high.
Compared with the dwarves on the surface, the gray dwarves are equally proficient in forging, but each has its own characteristics. The gray dwarves are proficient in rune forging.
This made Richard raise his eyebrows and said with interest:
"Fingart, are you talking about rune forging?"
"Yes, master."
"Pick what you know and tell me about it."
Regarding rune forging , Although Richard had seen introductions about gray dwarves in the Ignis School before, the specific contents were briefly mentioned. For example, the rune forging technique was only mentioned briefly.
After listening to Fingart's explanation, Richard basically understood this rune forging technique. During the forging process, some witchcraft runes with specific functions are inscribed on it. Obviously, the more advanced the skill, the more witchcraft runes can be engraved. If there are more, the weapons or armors will obviously be more powerful and more diverse.
To put it simply, the gray dwarf's rune forging technique combines forging and inscribing witchcraft runes, and after at least thousands or even tens of thousands of years of evolution, it has become a special skill.
After a while, Fingart took the curious Richard to a blacksmith shop in Gray Fern Town.
I saw that work was being done in full swing inside the shop, and the sound of "ding, clang, clang" was endless. A small gray dwarf dressed as a blacksmith's apprentice was controlling the blower, while several shirtless and powerful gray dwarf masters were working. Beside the fire, weapons, armor and some daily iron tools are being forged.
The entire blacksmith shop was divided into two parts. One half was used for forging, but a smaller half was used for inscribing runes. A gray dwarf with a white beard was carefully inscribing on the blade of a knight's long sword. With burning runes.
Although in Richard's eyes, it is not difficult to draw this burning rune, it is drawn on a flat surface, such as the ground. But to engrave it on a knight's sword and continue to have an effect like the other party did, he is currently unable to do this.
Because the long sword will wear and tear, once it is polished with a whetstone, if it is drawn on the surface of the knight's long sword with ethereal ink, obviously, as the pattern is destroyed, the burning rune cannot be used.
But gray dwarves can do this by using the special skill of rune forging.
This is just an ordinary gray dwarf town blacksmith shop with such strength.
Richard felt that if he could study the secrets, it might be of great benefit to the production of alchemy bombs and low-level witchcraft. Stephana also looked at the busy group of gray blacksmiths in front of her with curiosity.
After a while, she noticed that there were many weapons engraved with runes hanging high around the walls of the blacksmith shop.
This almost blinded Stephana.
You know, if this were on the surface, these would be low-level and intermediate-level witchcraft props.
She finally understood why the gray dwarves, who seemed weak, could fight with the night elves for thousands of years without deciding the outcome.
In Richard's view, the widespread popularity of this kind of rune forging technology has given the gray dwarves, whose number of wizards is obviously inferior to that of the night elves, a different way of utilizing elemental energy, allowing them to compete with the night elves, who are more powerful overall. contend.
Over thousands of years, this kind of rune has been widely used and practical, which interests Richard very much.
This reminded Richard of a sentence from his previous life, which was to read thousands of books and travel thousands of miles.
The same is true for the path of a wizard. It is very important to broaden one's horizons by seeing different races and civilizations, thereby continuously improving one's knowledge.
After thinking about it, Richard turned to Fingart and asked: "By the way, what is the currency used by the gray dwarves here?"
"Master, there is a currency unique to the gray dwarves here, but please don't worry, the magic stone is here. It's universal."
Richard nodded. It seems that the acceptance of extraordinary powers such as wizards is higher here than on the surface. Magic stones can be used in daily transactions. This may be caused by the harsh living environment in the Underdark. .
In comparison, ordinary humans on the surface are more like living in a garden well protected by wizards.
He casually bought a knight's sword with burning runes engraved on it. He observed the runes on it with interest, why it was said to be runes and not a witch formation.
That's because the witch array is generally composed of multiple runes, and at the same time, the array pattern is drawn as an energy supply channel, which generally requires external energy supply, such as high-level magic stones or the core of extraordinary creatures, etc.
Because runes have a single function, they are generally triggered directly by the holder's mental power and do not involve issues such as energy supply.
"Master, after listening for a long time, I still don't understand. What is the difference between this rune forging technique and the production of our witchcraft props? It sounds like the process of making witchcraft props." "We also need to smelt
. Metal just doesn't use the forging method like the gray dwarves. We human wizards use more alchemical methods to smelt metal." Richard
glanced approvingly at Stephana who asked the question, and explained: "Yes. , generally speaking, they are almost the same, but the biggest difference lies in the inscription of the witch formation."
Richard took out the Ice Guardian from his waist and took out this masterpiece from the elf craftsman in the North. , handed it to Stephana, and then handed her the newly purchased knight's sword engraved with burning runes.
"Look carefully for yourself to see the difference."
Stephana first took a closer look at the Ice Guardian. This weapon is made of cold iron mixed with a hint of gold. It is said to be the standard weapon of the Elf Queen's personal guard.
As a top-level witchcraft prop, there is a witchcraft circle on the front and back of the sword hilt. The sword is equipped with the ice-based zero-level witchcraft Deep Winter Cold and Gradual Freeze respectively. In the center of the witchcraft circle, there is a small light The blue frost stone supplies energy, and at the same time, the witch formation is slowly absorbing the free water element particles around it.
When Richard was just a wizard apprentice before, his mental acuity was not enough to detect this, but now, he can clearly feel that the two witch formations at the hilt of the Ice Guardian sword have been absorbing water element particles. And convert it into ice element particles.
"Hey, I noticed a difference. The positions of the witch formation are different." Stephana said excitedly.
"That's right."
"We mostly design the witch formation on the hilt of the sword, but the gray dwarves' rune forging technique engraves runes on the sword. This is a special skill. And What?"
"Although the triggering methods are the same, the gray dwarf's knight's sword focuses more on the holder's own mental strength level, while the Ice Guardian can exert the power of top-level witchcraft items as long as it can be triggered." Stephana said with a frown.
Richard nodded. This was just an appearance. Although Stephana said so much, she actually didn't get to the point.
"Yes, so there is a very big difference between the two."
This is why Richard is quite interested. For those who have an inspiration panel, as long as there is a clear path for improvement in rune forging, it is only a matter of time before they become a master-level rune forger.
After the master and servant walked out of the blacksmith shop.
"Fingart, find a hotel. Let's rest for a day. Wait until tomorrow and go shopping again." Richard turned to Fingart and said to him.
"Yes, my master! There is a Delicious Spore Hotel here. It should be regarded as the best hotel in Gray Fern Town." Fingart replied respectfully.
"The specialty food of this store is stewed spore of dark scale salmon. It is extremely delicious. I recommend the owner to try it."
Fingart is quite familiar with Gray Fern Town.
Therefore, after listening to Fingart's introduction, Richard immediately nodded and said: "Okay, then let's go to this one." They ate and slept in the
open air all the way. Although the physical fitness of the three of them was far superior to ordinary people, they still needed to take a break at the right time.
After a while, the three of them came to the two-story stucco house with the words Delicious Spore Hotel (gray dwarf characters) hanging on it. As soon as they entered the hotel, Richard and others smelled a special fragrance, which was quite tempting.
The empty hall was almost full of guests, with only a few tables still empty.
Fingart spoke familiar gray dwarf language and ordered food at the front desk.
After a while, a large plate of some kind of plant roots that exuded a rich burnt aroma and looked like roasted sweet potatoes was served.
Just listen to Fingart's introduction: "Master, this is one of the staple foods of gray dwarves, called purple leaf potato, a crop that only needs a trace light source to grow well." Richard nodded, purple leaf potato, it sounds
like The name is also very similar to the sweet potato. I pick up a fist-sized purple-leaf potato tuber. The moment I break it open, the aroma is overflowing. When I bite it, the taste is similar to that of the sweet potato. It is rich in starch and can be regarded as a large quantity. A filling staple.
Before I had eaten two bites of purple-leaf potatoes, I saw an iron basin the size of a washbasin, brought up by a gray dwarf aunt. A half-meter-long dark-scaled salmon was clearly visible in it, and there were densely sprinkled cherries the size of cherries on top. of spore particles.
Spores are the seeds of ferns. The spores in front of you look extremely green and delicious.
Richard drank it in one gulp, his eyes lit up, and he felt that the taste buds on the tip of his tongue were surrounded by a deliciousness that he had never tasted before. This deliciousness seemed to be mixed with the pure aroma of spores and the deliciousness of fish meat, and produced a certain kind of deliciousness. A strange chemical reaction.
When it came to the main course, several people immediately started to get excited. Maybe it was because they hadn't eaten serious dishes in a few days, and the three of them tasted like a whirlwind.
The last thing served was mushroom soup, with various round mushrooms, rod mushrooms, scallop mushrooms and other mushrooms floating on it. It also tasted extremely delicious.
As early as the first time he came to the underground, Richard discovered that green plants in the dark area were extremely rare, and most of them were plants that did not require a light source, or only needed a trace amount of light to meet their growth needs.
Many plants underground have evolved various forms of energy conversion processes. Richard has seen more than one geothermal hot spring with various unknown tall plants growing densely. This is a typical example of treating geothermal energy as light. Being able to use it means that you have found the energy source for your own growth.
Although the food underground and on the surface are very different, each has its own unique taste.
"(Grey Dwarf) It's so refreshing. I haven't had this dish for a long time!"
Richard didn't pay attention at first, but the other party's call immediately attracted his attention, because he felt the subtle spirit. The power fluctuation is subtle but very condensed.
At the dining table nearby, I saw an old gray dwarf with rosacea also ordered a pot of stewed spores of dark scale salmon and was slurping up his food.
With him, there were two twin gray dwarf girls who looked exactly the same. They were young and well-behaved. They should be considered pretty among the gray dwarves. They were feeding the old gray dwarf man one spoon at a time.
After a brief glance, Richard felt surprised in his heart. Unexpectedly, this old man with an unattractive appearance was actually a formal wizard. Although the other party tried his best to cover it up, Richard could still detect the slight leak from the other party, which was at the level of a formal wizard and was extremely condensed. Fluctuations in mental power.
You know, I just wandered around Gray Fern Town for a while, and I only met one wizard-level master, and according to Fingart, that was a gray dwarf commander stationed in the town.
Pretending to turn his head casually as if nothing had happened, Richard could sense that the identity of the other party was not simple.
However, although Richard withdrew his gaze, the old man with rosacea on the side quietly stared at Stephana.
Since entering Gray Fern Town, although Stephana has been wearing a hood and half mask, her curvy figure and exposed red lips have attracted many people's interest.
However, after most people felt the aura of the third-level wizard apprentice level of the fishman Fingart on the side, no one dared to harass him.
Every move of the rosacea-nosed gray dwarf old man had already fallen into the eyes of Richard. After thinking about Stephanna's special status, especially since this was a gray dwarf-controlled area, Richard was not willing to make extraneous matters and said: "How about it?" , if we’re full, let’s go back to the room and rest.”
Seeing that Richard and the others were about to leave, the rosacea-nosed gray dwarf seemed unable to hold on any longer, and immediately stood up and said to Richard and the others: “
(grey dwarf language) Wait a minute. Wait, these friends!"
However, Richard obviously pretended not to hear and continued to move forward, while Stephana and Fingart were stunned for a moment when they saw their master like this, and ignored each other.
"(Akkadian) This strange wizard, please wait a moment."
Richard was stunned, stopped, turned around and carefully observed the strange gray dwarf wizard in front of him.
Obviously, this old gray dwarf wizard with a dark red rosacea nose seems to have seen his own strength. It would be inappropriate to pretend to be deaf and dumb.
(End of chapter)