After handing over the matter of the perfume workshop to Huggins' Security Bureau, and repeatedly emphasizing the importance of secrecy, Todd held a three-hour meeting with the academy in Twilight.

The leader of the Academy, Master Terrence, was ill, so Elijah, the rumored genius scholar, attended the meeting.

Before the formal meeting began, Todd chatted with the man in his early thirties alone for dozens of minutes. To his horror, the tall and handsome scholar did not at all look like a commoner born into a family of shoemakers, but more like a son from an aristocratic family.

The other party's logical thinking and values, in Todd's view, are incompatible with the oppressive Middle Ages.

Elijah longed for the glory of Gutero on the one hand, and on the other hand, he denounced the darkness of the current world. His knowledge covered philosophy, art, physics, chemistry, law, and other disciplines, and while exchanging knowledge, he also gave Todd a detailed introduction to the political environment and religious ecology of the continent. There is no doubt that this is a good politician, artist and scientist. But leaving these outstanding points aside, to the secret headache of the monarch of the Twilight Kingdom, Elijah greatly admired the revival of humanism between the lines, and this contempt for authority and enthusiasm for democracy even made people smell a hint of danger.

In the following meeting, Todd discussed with the scholars of the academy about the future development of the Twilight Kingdom.

After receiving assurances that Todd would not be punished for his words, scholars spoke freely, focusing on the boundaries between religion, kingship, and democracy.

After this conference, Todd received the support of the academic school and received praise and praise from many scholars. The king himself, on the other hand, relinquished some of his power and arranged for some scholars with real talents to come onto the stage of the kingdom.

Among the transfers of power were Todd's newly established institution, the Patent Office, and a law overseen by many factions, the Patent Law.

At first, the law didn't attract much attention from the residents of Twilight City, until the verdict of the first "patent infringement" case officially attracted everyone's attention.

A scholar named Pascal from the holy city of the East invented a thing called "mercury thermometer" based on the principles of thermal conductivity, specific heat capacity, expansion coefficient, etc., after spending thirty bronze stars to register a patent. The merchants of Twilight City created a large number of imitations based on the prototype of the mercury thermometer without permission.

After collecting evidence and investigating, the businessman's actions were determined to be infringing. Based on the profits from the sale and the quantity of the product, the patent office demanded that the merchant pay Pascal a large royalty and led to an out-of-court settlement between the two parties.

After this incident, there were some subtle changes in Twilight:

1. The residents of Twilight City gradually became aware that patents are an intangible property, and people began to learn to respect intellectual achievements, and more and more people went to colleges and libraries to try to learn and understand science.

2. Inventions and creations are no longer unorthodox, and it is not uncommon for scholars with major inventions and prototypes in their hands to live like kings at home on patent fees.

3. Relying on 20% of the patent income and new trade goods such as perfume, the treasury of the Twilight Kingdom was once again full, and the financial crisis was solved.

Fourth, with the help of power games and patent gains, Todd gained the trust of the vast majority of scholars, and tied these skeptical people to religion and royal power to the chariot of the Knights of the Twilight.

After this series of actions, Todd finally had the time and energy to refocus on the military.

On a warm winter afternoon, Todd sat on the throne, looked at several reports on the table, and raised his head to look at Cumberland: "The barbarian army on the Moon Creek Plain has increased to 12,000 people?"

"These people can't all be called armies, a considerable number of them are the old and weak women and children of the northern barbarians, and although they are not as strong as adult men, they are also a problem to gather. Cumberland touched a faint scar on his chin and said to Todd in a strange tone: "I am more worried about the barbarian wizards and war beasts than the number of the barbarian army. ”

"Wizard, war beast?" Todd laughed unconsciously as he listened to Cumberland's words.

In this other world, he had never seen magic and magical beasts, and thought that those so-called witchcraft were just tricks to pretend to be ghosts. But after a moment, Todd saw only seriousness in the other person's face.

Cumberland brushed his knuckles over the scar, "Thirty years ago, I was a midshipman who once followed my commander through the Overwatch Valley to attack the barbarian army transporting sacrifices. After three days of traveling, my knight group encountered a barbarian sacrifice group of only 100 people. We designed an ambush circle and made some traps out of pointed logs and boulders......"

Hearing this, Alfonso, who was sitting next to Cumberland, twisted his body unnaturally, as if he had some different opinions on the knights' use of ambushes and traps.

"In that encounter, the Knights took the lead, and we were condescending, killing nine barbarians in the first wave of attacks. But then, the nightmare began......" Cumberland's beard shook slightly, and the look on his face Todd confessed that he had never seen before: "There was a woman of no age, heavily protected by the warriors of the Barbarian Sacrifice Order, dressed in a cloak made of crow feathers, holding a strange wooden staff in both hands, and shouting strange words to the heavens. After that......"

Todd watched Cumberland gasp for breath and whispered, "After that?"

"Those barbarian warriors in the sacrificial group have swelled their bodies and alienated limbs, turning into lightning-fast werewolves and infinitely powerful bear people. ”

Todd's eyes widened in disbelief: "Are you sure?!"

The old knight nodded: "Your Majesty, if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I would never have believed that scene." For quite some time, that battle became my nightmare every night. But fortunately, in the more than ten years of fighting against the barbarians, I have only met the barbarian wizard once. ”

Wizards, werewolves, bearmen?

The more Todd thought about it, the more puzzled he became, and judging from his experience in the other world, magic and witchcraft he had never encountered. But according to Norse mythology and the dialogue of "Jingsu", these supernatural things may have a reasonable explanation.

Putting the wizard's affairs aside for the time being, Todd turned to Cumberland and asked, "So what's the matter with the war beast?"

Cumberland gestured a distance with his hand and said slowly: "In the tribes of the barbarians, there are often some strange beasts. Some of them resemble cows, but their bodies are as hard as iron and they can spit fire, some are like birds, but their wings spread out up to five meters and their beaks and claws are like sharp blades, and some of them resemble lions, but their blood is poisonous and their roars can make people faint......"

Todd's eyes straightened, listening to this description, it was simply a collection of Warcraft.

"The most frightening thing is a war beast called the 'Thunder Beast'. I haven't seen it, but it's rumored to be tens of meters high, with two long teeth that are curved and sharp, and can destroy the strongest walls of the city!"