The altar under the roar of purple lightning, the strangely shaped stone pillars on the altar, the stump in the middle of the stone pillars, and ......

That book!

Rod remembered the place he had seen in his coma after his first drowning, the altar.

Fighting back to his dizziness and vomiting, Rhodes struggled to his feet and ran towards the altar.

There must be some secret there!

Rhodes thought so, the place he saw in his last coma was definitely not a dream.

The purple lightning flickered continuously, accompanied by thunder, and the eardrums were painful. The appearance of the altar gradually appeared in the light of purple lightning as the distance increased.

This pyramid-shaped altar has a continuous upward staircase around it and a square platform at the top.

One step, one step.

Rod didn't understand why he came to this place in a coma, if it was a dream, why he was panting, and he clearly felt the soreness and tiredness of his muscles. If it weren't for a dream, how did he get to this place?

Looking up, the steps were very long, longer than the last time.

How so?

"Am I mistaken?" Rod wondered. But the feet did not stop at all, and climbed step by step.

After walking for a long time, almost halfway through, Rhodes suddenly stopped.

"What's going on, why, so ...... Struggling?" Rod clearly sensed that something was wrong this time.

Last time, Rhodes easily walked to the square platform at the top, and saw the strange stone pillar array, the ancient tree stump in the middle, and a book that was glowing. And this time, as if there was glue under my feet, I couldn't climb the broken steps at all.

Bang!

In an instant, lightning and thunder roared, and the wind was so strong that it almost blew Rhodes into the air.

Rod lowered his center of gravity and opened his eyes with difficulty, revealing a slit, and then, he felt a chill on his neck and head, and a crackling sound filled the world.

It's raining!

Big, big, big.

Rhodes had never seen such rain, and the rain, like stones, fell on him and cracked, and Rhodes remembered when he had strayed into the fountain as a child and was drenched.

The rain almost made him unable to open his eyes.

From top to bottom, the rain continues to wash, and the water flows downward, like the water of the Lancang River, slapping the broken rocks, from the Himalayan mountains, rushing down.

In this world, everything you see is water.

I don't know how long it took, but the rain stopped.

Purple lightning and thunder are no longer as crazy as before.

Rod slowly got up, countless water dripping down his hair, chin, and clothes, like a homeless man who had just fallen into the water and was scooped up. Rhodes sat on the steps, thinking about when he was going to get out of this place.

"Huh?" Rhodes was sitting on the steps, and the more he looked at the steps, the more wrong he became.

“1,2,3,4........”

"What?" Rhodes stood up, looking at the steps going down, and then at the steps up. "Excuse me?"

That's right, Rhodes counted more steps than he had originally climbed.

So the original impression of the steps was not so many right, and he was not mistaken.

Thinking of the heavy rain just now, Rhodes thought of a possibility.

"Is this altar ......," Rod mused, "underground?"

Stepping down from the altar and pausing at the first step, Rhodes tugged at the wet dirt with both hands.

"Sure enough. ”

Rhodes' conjecture was not wrong.

Gasping for air, this building is definitely much bigger than what you can see now, and God knows how much of this broken altar is still buried underground.

"Dirt, dirt, where did all this dirt go?" Rod thought to him.

"If the rain goes down, the soil washes away and falls lower with the flow. Rod turned his mind again and began to analyze.

knelt on the ground and watched for a long time by the electric light of purple electricity.

"The terrain is not inclined to the distance, where is the water and soil?" Rod couldn't figure it out.

"How do I get out of this place?" Rod suddenly realized, as if he was trapped here.

Waiting to be woken up by Jack? If that's the case, I should have woken up a long time ago, last time, last time.

......

Last time, it seemed to be awakened by lightning......

"No!" Rhodes looked at the purple electricity above the altar, the feeling of that electrotherapy, do you want to do it again?

"Don't do that, Gan!" Rod stomped his foot angrily.

Two hours later......

Rod gritted his teeth and used his hands and feet together, climbing the steps with difficulty, the higher he went up, the harder he worked, Rod felt that his whole person seemed to be sucked, the farther away from the ground, the greater the suction, like a magnet. The ground is like a big piece of iron, and it is like a piece of iron.

Rod's hands burst out with green tendons, his muscles were tense, the front end of the steps that his fingers had climbed onto was pale and bloodless, and his hind legs kicked the steps hard, climbing up step by step, so that the bones made a clicking sound.

"Whew. Rod collapsed on the steps, exhausted.

Rod felt like he couldn't breathe, as if he had pressed a big rock on his chest, and the muscles in his whole body trembled, and he couldn't squeeze out any more strength. The broken capillaries under the skin seep through the pores and ooze a drop of blood.

Rod still didn't get to the top of the square platform......

"Damn, just a little. Rhodes looked at the few steps left, his eyes full of despair.

Electrical, conductor, lightning strike. Rhodes was still wondering if he could cause a lightning strike even if he didn't reach the top.

Rhodes tried to induce the magic, and he drew an array of water magic with his fingers dipped in the spilled blood, but the water magic showed no signs of being induced.

Gan!

Rod scolded in frustration. Can't you use your magic, or is your magic sense too low to trigger?

"Walter, Wendy, Farr, Rand. Rod chanted softly, trying to draw water, wind, fire, and earth in turn.

"Electricity!" Rhodes' eyes lit up with hope again, and he hurriedly activated the magic power to activate the electric magic, and a flash of electric light flashed in Rhodes' fingertips,

Strictly speaking, electro-magic is not part of the canonical magic sequence. The origin of the world is divided into six elements: earth, water, fire, scenery, and darkness by magicians. It was only by chance that Rhodes discovered that he had this ability, which he called electromagic.

The thunder and lightning on Rhodes' fingertips gradually took shape, and a trace of lightning bloomed in Rhodes's hands, gathering more and more, gathering more and more brightly.

Finally......

As if being guided, purple lightning gathered directly above Rhodes. In the midst of the dull thunder, a thick white electric light in the center struck Rhodes with a piercing power.

The night was gone, and the world that Rhodes felt turned white. He felt as if he had been evaporated, shattered into countless pieces, and countless lightning bolts connected between the fragments, slowly splicing, shattering, and splicing......

——————————————

——————————————

Suddenly opened his eyes, the feeling of jolting and shaking, the sound of small horse hooves. Rod knew that he was lying in the carriage ahead.

"Are you awake?" Jack picked Rhodes up and leaned against the side of the carriage in a comfortable position. "How do you feel?"

"I'm feeling okay, how long have I been asleep?" Rhodes asked.

"You've slept all day, and you're going to scare us to death when you pass out, and we thought you were wounded by an arrow. Jack said.

"Oh, I'm fine, I'm just, I'm just a little dizzy. Rod said.

"I said you magicians, every day you know to stay up late to read books and study some strange magic, which is like us warriors, who eat and sleep enough, and have a strong body, even if you don't sleep for three days, you will never faint. Blackbeard said from the front.

"Okay, Rod this time, but he has made a great contribution and saved a lot of people. Jack looked at Rod approvingly and said. "I didn't expect your command skills to be so good, and you can still find the enemy's position, if it weren't for you, everyone in our team would have died except for the three of us. ”

"It's nothing, I'm just playing tricks, by the way, the others?" Rod asked.

Jack was silent, his head bowed, and after a long time, Blackbeard spoke, "Two guards died of excessive bleeding, and the arrows were poisonous, and we did our best." ”

Rod was also silent, "It's all my fault." ”

Jack closed his eyes, and his voice trembled a little, "No, how can I blame you, it's because I'm not strong enough to protect them." If only my strength improved faster......"

Blackbeard's words floated slowly: "The duty of the guards is to guard, they were originally arranged by the master to protect you, not to mention that when you first left York City, your combat power and combat experience were not enough, and you need the protection of the guards. ”

"But ......," Jack said through gritted teeth.

"No, Jack, you should be older...... Blackbeard said as he flicked the reins, "rack", and sped up.

The early morning sun shone on the earth. The snow on the branches melted into droplets, dripping down.

"Smack. "A tree has fallen again. Jack under the tree gasped slightly, clenched his fists. His naked upper body, his muscles shining in the sun, the dense magic array on his back connected his left and right arms and vertebrae, attracting a trace of black qi from his arm into his spine, and then turning into black qi oozing out from the pores of his muscles and dissipating into the air.

"Come to dinner, Jack. Rod said to Jack, who was holding a book in his arms, to Jack after training.

"Good. Jack replied, "Rod, I notice you've been getting a little stronger lately, have you been exercising?"

"Nope. Rod replied without looking back.

"Eh, wait for me, wait for me. Jack grabbed his clothes from the treetops next to him and chased after Rod.

"Is it stronger?" said Rhodes as he took the burnt jerky by the fire and took a bite. He actually knew that his body had indeed changed a little.

He obviously felt that his body was much healthier than before, and his spirit was much better, as if he had endless energy, if the current Rod did not use magic to fight with the previous Rode, then the current Rod could probably fight five. And most importantly......

Rod's left hand condensed a cloud of electric light in the sleeve of the robe he was wearing, like substance, and the purple lightning was particularly dazzling. Maybe it's ten times stronger, Rod thought silently.

"Hey, guys. Blackbeard stood up and clapped his hands, as if something big was going to be announced.

"The weather is getting warmer, tomorrow, it's the New Year, we will leave immediately after this breakfast, hurry up, we can rush to the next village before dinner, we will celebrate the New Year in the village. Drink enough, everyone!" Blackbeard waved excitedly, and the rest of the guards cheered happily. His face has also regained some color.

"Blackbeard overseers, I, I didn't bring any money. One of the guards said awkwardly.

"Who wants your stinky money? This is a big man's head, let's eat and drink at public expense!" Blackbeard flashed a slap in the face, and the guard's helmet clanged, causing everyone to laugh.

"Go back, we'll send double the money, and each of us will have twenty gold coins!" Blackbeard announced another piece of good news, and the guards cheered even louder, as if they had completely forgotten the hardships and tiredness of the journey, and the near-sightedness of death and resurrection.

The guards' spirits were unprecedentedly high, after all, twenty gold coins might be enough for their poor family to live a lifetime, and this might just be the money for a piece of Jack's clothes.

"If money makes them happy, I want them to go back the way they came, Blackbeard, okay?" asked Jack in the carriage as a puff of smoke faded away from the window, where they had just eaten.

"No, the lord's rules, Edwin's rules, you know. Blackbeard replied. Then, as if he remembered something, he muttered for a long time, and Blackbeard said firmly, "I promise, I will protect the young master on the way back to Black Mountain." ”

"You promise?" Jack stared at Blackbeard's back with a determined look in his eyes.

"I swear in the name of House Edwin!"

The carriage pulled out long wheel prints on the long path, the messy hooves of the horses crushed the snow, and in the melted snowdrifts on both sides of the path, a few new shoots drilled out, and the new shoots stained with a little snow water shone dazzlingly in the sun.

As if to herald hope, it is rising......

As the sun sinks into the distant mountains, the sound of horses' hooves sweeps over a low bridge, and from the source of the creek, a peaceful village is brightly lit and lit up, as if welcoming the New Year.

Next to a small building, the village chief warmly received Rhodes and his party, saying that there had been no caravans in this village for a long time, and caravans used to come to rest.

"We ...... Not a caravan, just passing by. Rod said embarrassedly.

The village chief smiled and waved his hand, "It's okay, it's okay, as long as someone comes, we are very welcome, outsiders can always bring a lot of new things to us." Our favorite kind of bard is coming to us, tonight is the New Year, you can stay in this building next to me, hungry, come on, come on, the meal is just ready, let's eat together. ”

The villagers next door to the village chief saw that Rhodes and his party also came out to say hello, and when they learned that it was a passing convoy, they also warmly presented homemade snacks and snacks to express their welcome.

"Brother, brother. A little girl tugged at the corner of Jack's coat, "This." The little girl pointed to a butterfly ornament hanging from the tree.

Jack smiled and hugged the little girl, and the little girl stretched out her little hand to catch the butterfly, squinting happily and smiling, very happy, very happy. Then, when Jack was also smiling happily, he hugged Jack's face and kissed him.

"Hmm?" Jack wiped the saliva from his face, causing everyone around him to laugh. Seeing the people around him laughing, Jack suddenly laughed stupidly as well.

"It's been a long time since Jack has laughed like this. Blackbeard took a drag on his cigarette, and a smile appeared on his lips.

The whole village was peaceful, and there was a tempting aroma from the hall of the village chief's house, and then the village chief came out and warmly invited everyone to go to dinner first, and then come to listen to what the convoy saw and heard along the way with the villagers.

When I entered the restaurant, there were two large tables in the middle, full of all kinds of food, and the aroma was fragrant.

The village chief beckoned everyone to sit down, took out their home-brewed wine, and placed it next to everyone's seats.

"Come, come, welcome to our village, praise God, toast to the prosperity and peace of the village!" the village was full of glory and raised a glass happily.

Cheers !!

Everyone's cups collided in the air, and the clock struck midnight.

It's New Year......

The sound of fireworks outside the window resounded in the sky, and Rhodes looked at everyone's hearty smiles and felt that the moment was so beautiful.

"I wish time had been frozen at this moment. I'm homesick~" Rod muttered, the corners of his eyes already wet......