More than 100 miles southeast of the mainland, in the depths of the long sea, the island of "Capeland" has been thrown behind the ship, and a medium-sized sailing ship flying the royal golden book coupon flag of San Jose and a golden book coupon in the magic fire is sailing in the long sea at high speed by the invisible wind.

At this moment, the depths of the long sea are calm, but the sails of this ship are bulging, and an invisible and mysterious wind direction pushes the sailboat to sail. At the bow of the ship, a mid-level magician, sat cross-legged on the deck with his eyes closed, his long golden hair all standing straight up towards the sky.

Inside the cabin, Archmage Merlin was sitting upright at the table, looking through the mage information on the table. It had been a few days since the island of Cape Land, and the ship did not head towards the mainland, but along the coastline, all the way to the north, and not far ahead, it was almost to the mouth of the Morro River.

Archmage Merlin looked at the information in front of him and fell into deep thought.

On the page in front of me, I saw a strange purple handwriting, a few lines of text: "Lolita Lane, female, 19 years old, proficient in mental magic, high acuity, high control, high intensity, dark tendency, moderate." Plasticity, extremely high!"

Grand Magister Merlin, after reading for a long, long time, then stretched out his left hand, rubbed it a few times above the page, the purple font began to change, a few lines of text flew into the air, reassembled, and the font color changed from purple to black, and then everything returned to calm. Merlin closed the scroll, got up, and put it away.

"Doo", there was a soft slamming sound on the hatch.

"Come in!" Merlin replied.

A middle-aged mage pushed open the hatch, he was wearing a gold-rimmed white robe, he was a high-level mage. "Lord Archmage, there is still about a day's voyage to the mouth of the Morro River, please prepare. ”

Merlin snorted, indicating that he understood. The middle-aged mage then turned around and pushed the door out.

"Wait. Merlin called out to the middle-aged mage: "This time in the mage trial, there are not many good seedlings, and the only one worth paying attention to is the female apprentice of Setie." ”

"You mean, the princess?" the middle-aged mage thought for a moment.

"Hehe, Benin is also interesting, so inexplicable, we have an extra princess in San Jose, either he is old and confused, or he is not pure-minded. ”

The middle-aged mage bowed, "Archmage, please instruct me on how to do it now." ”

Merlin didn't squeak, and after a long time, he said slowly, "Ignore her for now, pay attention to it, after all, it's still young." ”

"Okay!" the middle-aged mage replied, and left the cabin.

"The team is not easy to bring, the mainland is really lively now. In the cabin, where no one else was present, there was a deep sigh from Master Merlin.

On the island of "Cape Land" in the depths of the long sea, several high-level mages led by Mage Setie gathered to discuss the newly discovered clues. When Archmage Merlin left the island, he had already suspended the investigation and taken most of the mages with him, and now the island was mainly left with a few new mages and their guides.

According to the newly discovered evidence, it can only be proved that outsiders have been on the island, and there is no direct confirmation of whether it is related to the theft. And the words Dark Rise found on the sails, no one knows what it is.

Privately, Rise of the Darkness could be a slogan, or it could be the name of an organization, or a code name for someone. In short, there is a lot of speculation.

After a few more days, after this incident, Lolita, persuaded by Feida and Koster, changed her mind about staying on Cape Land Island to practice magic, and decided to return to Kyoto City with Kostifida. Mage Set, it seems, received new instructions from the court magician, and did not return with everyone.

Under the wind of Lihai, the same royal light boat, the same young mage when he came, came to Haijiao Island to pick up everyone and return to the mainland. This time, there was no nervousness in the face of trials, and even Lolita seemed much more cheerful. After saying hello to the young mage, he got on the boat, which caused the young mage to be excited.

The young mage's name was O'Quinn, and he was twenty-six years old, a typical San Jose native, with beautiful blonde hair and blue eyes as deep as the sea. O'Quinn was a very cheerful young man, and Kerst even remembered that when he came, the fellow actually found himself to inquire privately about the princess's preferences.

Soon after getting on the boat, the mages gradually became less interested, probably thinking about the island, and almost hid in their rooms. Only Koster seemed to have nothing to do, so O'Quinn, who was also idle on the ship, chatted with Koster.

It turns out that O'Quinn is not really a mage, he is a "Gruul" (Note 1). Gruul is a special human term used to refer to humans who have an affinity for magic but lack the mental power to unleash it.

During the Magic Empire era, Gruul appeared at about 1 in 1,000 mages, and it didn't seem to be related to bloodline, but rather to be purely random. At that time, Gruul was considered a worthless and wasteful resource, so Gruul's fate was very miserable.

Fortunately, it's the Second Age now.

In the official records of the court magicians of San José, there are only three appearances of Gruul. Therefore, when it was discovered that O'Quinn was a Gruul, Archmage Merlin seemed to be more surprised than shocked. You know, the magicians of this era are eager for more research materials, and where else can there be better research materials than Gruul.

As a result, Groul O'Quinn, who was originally a gangster in Kyoto City, was brought into the team of court magicians by Archmage Merlin.

"So, what do you mean by magic affinity can't be cast?" Kerst wondered.

O'Quinn gave a simple example, "For example, you know the magic lamp. This magic tool, researched by the court magicians of San Jose, allows ordinary people to trigger the magic power through a small mechanism, and the magic lamp will light up, right? ”

Koster agreed.

"However, if the size of the magic lamp is infinitely larger, such as large enough to hold as many magic elements as this ship, because you don't have a magical affinity, you can't make the magic lamp light up without the right magic time to activate the mechanism by relying on the ingenuity of the mechanism alone (Note 2). ”

Kerst didn't understand at all, and he began to doubt his IQ a little.

Luckily, O'Quinn was a patient man, and he explained the principles of magic to Kerst again. Magic is the use of mental power to rearrange and combine magical elements, and magical affinity determines your observation acuity, allowing you to cast spells at the most opportune time. Magical tools are actually precisely designed mechanical mechanisms to arrange magical elements instead of mental power.

When the number of magic elements is small, the mechanical mechanism uses the infinite trial method, and in a short period of time, through multiple attempts, it finds the right combination to trigger the magic, such as the hedron of the magic lamp. But when there are too many elements of magic, the chances of trying them become infinite.

"So you mean, that's when someone who can sense the magical element is needed to activate the mechanism?" said Koster hesitantly to Oquin.

O'Quinn patted Koster on the shoulder, "Clever, Lord Koster. "At this time, magic affinity is needed, so a person like me who has a magic affinity but can't use mental power to perform magic has become the perfect candidate for experimentation.

In fact, after so many years of research, the court magicians of San Jose have only broken through the volume of magic tools to the size of a table, and no matter how large they are, the magic mechanism is powerless.

General Koster looked at the sails suspiciously, and was surprised to find that the sails were full of sails pushing the ship at full speed. Kerst stretched out a hand, but felt a completely opposite sea breeze, and he stammered in shock, "This, this, this." ”。

O'Quinn laughed, "This wind is magic wind, and this ship is a magic ship." As for me, I'm naturally the one who handles this ship, hahahaha. ”

It was then that Koster understood what Grull really meant. Even if he can't cast magic, in the eyes of magic researchers in this era, O'Quinn is also the treasure of court magicians.

Kerst also chatted with O'Quinn about what was happening on the island and the appearance of the dark mage, and O'Quinn suddenly realized that it was no wonder that the mages were more serious when they got on the ship. As for the attitude of the dark mage, Kerst did not expect O'Quin's reaction to be particularly strong. He actually gritted his teeth and kept spitting, "These scum." ”

It turns out that Grull like him was not treated as a human being in the era of the Magic Empire. Many of the discovered Gruul were strangled by the ruthless Imperial nobles after they were discovered, in the name of maintaining the purity of their bloodline. These are all recorded in detail in the materials left behind in the Great Library of San Jose, and Master Merlin once told O'Quinn in detail.

And as the dark mages who claim to be the heirs of the Magic Empire, O'Quinn certainly won't have a good face for them. Dark mages who are fighting to restore the glory of the Magic Empire, and Gruel is no different from trash in their eyes. No wonder O'Quinn was so angry.

The design of the magic sailboat is quite ingenious, O'Quinn only needs to control the magic mechanism when driving the boat, and then the ship will follow the set route and go straight all the way. During this time, O'Quinn has the option to control the mechanical mechanism to adjust the speed of the voyage to suit the wind and waves of the long sea.

For the rest of the time, O'Quinn was an idler on the ship.

After O'Quinn told him the secret of the magic ship, Kerst has been studying under that sail, and Ferda has come over a few times, only to see a piece of wood in front of the sail, and can't help but laugh at Kerster, "You can't use magic anyway, why are you studying so seriously." ”

"Actually, I think the path of the court magician may be the right one. Didn't Mage Sayty say it before, he didn't know the meaning of the future of magic. In fact, I think that this magic ship is the way out of magic. ”

Note 1: Gruul is a term left over from the Magic Empire, used to refer to people who have a magical affinity but do not have enough mental power to cast it. People of this bloodline are quite scarce, and their existence is sad.

Note 2: Magic timing is a term left over from the Magic Empire that refers to the casting of magic. Actually, this statement explores the nature of magic.