Lin An walked among the towers on the south side of the inner fort. 「」

The atmosphere of the fortress is always similar, and the main building materials of Ma Pei are mainly blue gray and dark black, hard and cold, full of military solemnity and solemn atmosphere. There is often only a small space between the towers and the one that looks up to the corner of the sky that is trapped overhead.

And the weather here is also very different from that of Rock Fort or even Grant:

The sky over the ice fields is always gray and dark, and there is hardly any time of the year when the low clouds are seen to disperse.

The call of a hurricane resounded over the fort all year round, and even in the summer, it was only a little less snow, and the sky was a little brighter during the day, even if it was sunny. And the cold and cold are 100 years old, like the hand of death, holding a sickle at any time to harvest the lives of the weak.

There is no more severe and cold place on the entire continent than the latitude zone where the first line of defense is located.

However, the most harsh environment, the people who can adapt to it, are often the best - they are not necessarily comparable to the plain and elite of the Royal Knights, but they are always the most tenacious, the most adaptable, and the most determined to survive.

Moreover, ordinary soldiers are different from those slaves at the bottom, they still have hope, as long as they survive the three-year service period, even if they no longer serve after leaving the battlefield and retire directly to their hometowns, they can often get the favor of nobles or localities, and become a small town garrison or noble escort or something - in Merlin and its subordinate countries, the normal soldier's service period is eight to ten years, five years north of the Gunt Line, and three years in the first-line fortress of Mapei. 「」

Therefore, the faces and spirits of the soldiers that Lin An saw here were different from those slaves he saw near the warehouse.

They were dressed in thin leather armor with thick fur underneath it. The thick beard covered his face, and the few places that were exposed were prematurely carved with deep marks, but his expression did not seem to be sluggish and desperate, despite his uneasiness and apprehension about the war. Disciplined in their duties, they seem to be hopeful of victory in the war, as alive as the clattering footsteps they walk and the white breath they exhale.

"The world is impermanent. For these lower-level soldiers, the high-level struggle, in fact, is very far away from them, but it is often the direct result of the struggle they have to endure...... No matter what the outcome is after a few days, but the legendary level of power ...... Hmph, even if it is a **division-level power, once it is not controlled. How many of these lives are still alive today? ”

Seeing the soldiers walking in front of her, Lin An felt heavy.

But she knew that there was nothing she could do about the situation, and that it was the big guys on the flying boat who could really make the decisions. And she is still surviving in the cracks, trying to get a favorable situation for herself and her dear friends in this situation, which is already her limit.

She was now no different from the soldiers, except that she was alone and somewhat abrupt - the fort was very guarded, and she encountered three sentry posts and patrols on her way back, about once every five minutes on average, and was stopped in the middle to ask for her identity, but with the token given by Burren, she did not arouse any suspicion.

Actually, even if there is no token of Chamberen. It wasn't a big problem for her, otherwise she wouldn't have been able to hear from Chamberlain or even meet him directly.

She passed through the sentry posts as usual, and her keen spiritual power could feel the pulsation of magic that ordinary people underground could not feel, and it ran regularly, like a large net shrouded in the surface of the entire fortress.

Ma Pei serves as the center of the first line of defense. It has a strong protective force.

This underground magic circle is the foundation laid by the mage ancestors thousands of years ago, and the strong people stationed in the fortress for thousands of years have modified and strengthened and expanded the mold again and again on this basis, so it is a composite magic circle composed of many magic arrays, and the main magic circle concentrates on guarding the central place in the fortress, and the power of the entire compound magic circle is connected to envelop the entire fortress. 「」

It's just that the operation of the magic circle also needs energy, and there are many elemental pools that draw energy, and it is said that they can be built to build, the larger the magic circle, the more precious and superior materials are needed to build the elemental pool, and the elemental pool usually needs to accumulate energy, after all, there was no elemental spring generated nearby before.

The current magic circle is not fully opened, and only the protection and vigilance functions in a few important places are activated, but even so, Samuel also avoided several important places in the fortress when she took her to invade the fortress, and it is likely that she had suffered from the magic circle before.

At this time, although the overall protection of the fortress magic circle was not opened, but when the war came, the vigilance function was turned on as a whole, otherwise Lin An would not even need to use the "Illusion of Aegis", for mages with various means, it was impossible to prevent them from invading and obtaining intelligence with the vigilance of manpower alone.

At least in the first-level spells, the charm of humans, the primary disguise technique, and the invisibility technique can all be easily achieved.

But under the protection of the entire fortress vigilance circle, abnormal spell fluctuations are easy to detect, and Samuel should have an enchanted prop that shields spatial teleportation fluctuations, so he has nothing to fear.

And the illusion solidified on the "Illusion of Aegis", the hidden spell fluctuation is only a basic necessary condition, and only when the mental power acuity above the ** master level can it be possible to perceive the abnormality. 「」

The place where Burren is located is not a hub, but it is also inside the inner fort, and Lin An needs to detour some places and routes to get back to the tower where she and Samuel are hiding.

In the process, the flow of magic underground helped her a lot.

The more frequent and complicated the flow of magic power, the closer it is to the heavily guarded central place, Lin An's naturally strong spiritual power is very advantageous in this situation, and many dangerous places are avoided according to the direction of the magic power of the magic circle.

Otherwise, with her first time coming to Ma Pei, walking alone in a strange fortress, even if she is a mage with various means, it will not be so easy to find someone here.

The tower of the hiding place is already in sight.

The tower, built near a small warehouse, appears to have been abandoned, with mottled facades and a height that is unremarkable under the spires of the towers farther away.

It's also part of the Inner Fort, but it's already on the edge, and only a team of guards passes by when it's half magical, and the humble tower is almost empty, so Samuel chose it as his hiding place. 「」

The real hideout was located in a corner room on the third floor, and Lin An estimated that this was a common place for Samuel to stay when he lurked here, because it was well furnished, at least there were beds, tables and chairs, and people could live there.

When he returned to the tower, it was already past the brightest time, indicating that the time had passed noon, and Lin An had been away for about half a day.

The spiral of the tower is in disrepair, and there is a sound of emptiness when you walk it.

Before ascending to the third floor, Lin An took out the Ermo Stone from the Mithril Arm, and the stone was blue at this time. Her heart skipped a beat, and she used her mental power to perceive it, and found that she couldn't perceive Samuel's location.

There are two possibilities for this scenario:

One is that Samuel is already a hundred miles away, but like her, he doesn't want to be known about his whereabouts, so he puts the stone into the space before leaving the hundred miles range to shield and isolate the induction of another Ermo Stone, so the Ermo Stone is blue;

The second is that he is still within a hundred miles, but there is another Ermo stone in the space, so the stone is blue, but he can't be contacted.

There seemed to be no difference between the two, but the fact that the Ermo Stone was blue made it impossible for Lin An to guess whether he had left the range of a hundred miles.

Glancing at the blue-black Ermo Stone, Lin An put the Ermo Stone back into the space.

"So careful, even if it looks crazy, it's crazy and sensible...... This kind of person is the most difficult to deal with. Lin Anxin thought.

But when she twisted the doorknob and saw a figure in the room that shouldn't have been there, she was truly surprised.

Samuel stands in front of the windowsill.

The light is not bright, but the side of him is obliquely shaped into a long and sexy silhouette, and the slightly dim light magnifies his demonic nature, revealing a sense of danger that is not revealed.

Lin An looked at the figure in front of the windowsill, she remembered that when she passed downstairs under the windowsill, she looked up and didn't notice Samuel's existence.

But looking at Samuel's posture at this time, the time he stood in that position was not short.

Lin An didn't think about what spells Samuel used - there were many spells to deceive vision, and she didn't use mental power to perceive just now - but was thinking about the flavor of Samuel's move:

In other words, her actions may have been expected by him.

The silhouette heard the noise and looked towards the door, the long silver-purple hair hanging down his shoulders, as enchanted as his purple eyes.

“…… Hmm, surprised? He asked slowly in a smiling tone.

"No,"

Lin An said lightly, walked in two steps, and closed the door with a slight sideways backhand, during which his eyes did not leave Samuel, "It's just that I have always felt that Shun Lì was a little too much, but now I finally have a reasonable explanation." ”

Samuel chuckled, "Aren't you worried about your little friend's safety?" ”

"Is it necessary?"

When her mental power reaches her level, she can sense whether anyone around her is using spells to track and peep, and she can still do it, not to mention-

"My actions are not harmful to your plans, otherwise you wouldn't have deliberately given me the opportunity to indulge me in doing this—some kind of process, and our purpose is the same, isn't it?"

Samuel's expression moved slightly, revealing some true feelings, raised his eyebrows and looked at Lin An fixedly for a while, and laughed again.

"I've really guessed a lot of my thoughts...... Little thing, it seems that I did underestimate you! ”

"You've never been a person who sits still, and this feeling of dancing on the tip of a knife must be more familiar to you than I am. It's a wonderful experience that can last a while, but not a lifetime - I don't think you like the feeling of being threatened all the time,"

Lin An shrugged his shoulders and smiled lightly,

"—and so it happens, that's what I thought."

(To be continued) (To be continued.) If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendation and monthly passes, and your support is my biggest motivation. )