Winter is here.

The fog that covered the entire north-central region arrived as expected, and the lingering fog and increasingly cold breath began to envelop Aldernan, and in a pale gray mist, the magnificent imperial capital became blurry and hazy, and the world was like a water-soaked oil painting, and everything was no longer so distinct.

The Obsidian Palace stands high in the fog, like a giant forged by a monolith, overlooking the capital of the Empire.

Rosetta Augustus unfolded the letter in front of her, reading each line with a calm expression.

Ferdinand Wendell stood at the Emperor's desk, and he saw that above the letter was the insignia of Cecil's imperial sword and plough, the insignia itself neatly and beautifully lined with horizontal grids on the paper.

It took Typhon's ruler a long time to read the not-so-long letter, and then with a slight mutter, he whispered, "The tuition fee has finally become acceptable. ”

"This is a good start, Your Majesty." Peddinand said in a deep voice.

Rosetta nodded slightly: "Gawain Cecil believes that it is necessary for the two countries to establish deeper exchanges - the old era of confrontation with knives and guns should be over, and a more prosperous and affluent society is the real thing to pursue in this era." ”

Ferdinand quietly looked at his sovereign: "Your Majesty, what do you think?" ”

"At least one thing I agree with is that the old times are indeed over," Rosetta seemed to have a smile on his lips, "and we need to do something more appropriate to the new era......

"Captain Cecil has been emphasizing that his new empire has a friendly and open new system, so what do you think...... Will they welcome some guests from Typhon? ”

Pei Dinan was silent for a few seconds before he said slowly: "Then you will only know if you try." ”

With a smile on her lips, Rosetta reached out, pulled out a piece of letterhead from the side, and wrote a powerful line of words:

To Emperor Cecil:

I admire your insights, I agree with your understanding of the times, and perhaps it is time for us to discuss how to ...... in this new era

The tip of the dipping pen moved on the paper, the sound of the brush gently dancing in the quiet study, and in this quiet atmosphere, Ferdinand turned his eyes to the window, and saw that the fog that shrouded Aldenan was surging slightly in the sun, like a silent and gentle sea, and the golden gold of the sun slowly rose and fell on the surface of the sea.

There was some kind of unnatural smell mixed in with the fog, and Mary couldn't help but sneeze when the smell wafted in.

The black-haired female apprentice stood at the intersection in front of Viscount Hermir's mansion, her brows furrowed, watching the wisps of mist drift slowly in her sight, and the smell mixed in the mist affected her mood.

The smell might not have been so unbearable, but Mary's nose was sensitive, and she felt that the smell was like some kind of noxious smoke, spicy with a slight stench.

She looked up and saw an even thicker fog above, the sun shining through the fog, the light diffusing and weak, and the obsidian palace in the distance stood in the fog, only a faint outline could be seen.

The fog that enveloped Aldernan resembled an oppressive and deep sea, filled with unpleasant smells, bustling and affluent, but in winter it seemed far less comfortable than the wind and sunshine of its own homeland – at least there there was no mass of chimneys that constantly emitted exhaust fumes.

The female apprentice waved her hand and summoned a breeze shield to block the components of the mist that seemed to be harmful to health, and a slightly envious and submissive voice came from the side: "It's still a spellcaster like you, and the flowing air will obey your orders." ”

Mary turned her head and saw that she was talking to a squire in a smock—a squire sent by Viscount Hermir to accompany her, and the humble man would listen to him until the Mentor returned.

But Mary was not used to this kind of assignable status, nor to the compliments of others, she just shook her head, and said in an equal tone, "But if it weren't for here, I wouldn't have had to make a shield to filter the air at all—this should have been the freshest time of the year." ”

The attendant smiled helplessly: "...... Alas, there is indeed something strange in the fog this winter. ”

"But I remember that it wasn't like that last year," Mary recalled, when she had just arrived in the Imperial Capital with her mentor, "and not the year before. ”

"If you had been to the Imperial Capital earlier, you would have been even more surprised at what this winter has to offer," the squire spread his hands, "We locals know better what has changed here. ”

Mary looked at the attendant and said casually what she had heard: "I have heard that the strange smell in the fog is due to the chimneys, the ignitary acid plants, and the smoke from them cannot be dissipated, so it becomes a foul-smelling fog. ”

The squire smiled wryly and shook his head: "You can say this, but we don't dare - the factories are run by grown-ups, and they don't like to be talked about their machines and chimneys. ”

Mary's thoughts flooded with thoughts, as if she wanted to say something, but not far away, the door of the mansion had opened, and the old mage in black robe had stepped out of it.

The young female apprentice immediately left her attendant behind and stepped forward to meet her mentor.

"Mentor, are we going straight home?" Mary asked respectfully, holding Daniel's arm.

"No, go to the Engineer's Guild and get some stuff first," Daniel glanced at his apprentice, "it's okay, know to turn on the Breeze Shield, or you'll get sick sooner or later in such bad weather—your mind can't turn a corner." ”

Mary lowered her head, but neither argued nor frustrated, but smiled faintly.

She could barely remember how long it had been since her mentor had "criticized" herself in such understatements.

Riding in the limited edition of the Empire's magic car, Mary and Daniel set off for the Imperial Engineers' Association, where Mary couldn't help but mutter, "The winter here is not as cold as the countryside, and there is a choking fog." ”

Daniel glanced indifferently at the female apprentice who was complaining, and spat out a few words: "Not on the stage." ”

Mary quickly shrunk her neck and made a respectful appearance of listening to the lesson.

But instead of lecturing her as usual, the mentor remained silent for the next few seconds, and Mary couldn't help but look up curiously, only to see the mentor quietly watching her.

She was a little confused, but didn't dare to ask, until Daniel took the initiative to speak: "Mary, do you want to go back to the country?" ”

"Me? No, no," Mary was stunned for a moment, then waved her hand hurriedly, "I just ...... Just casually, mentor, I didn't think ......"

Daniel looked at the somewhat flustered female apprentice with a calm face, and only shook his head to interrupt the other party when the other party was busy explaining: "I found your parents. ”

All Mary's movements and words froze for a moment, and she looked at her mentor a little sluggishly, first for a few seconds to understand the other's words, and then for a few seconds to think about what kind of expression she should make—she felt that her expression must be funny, because she could feel her face stiff, and she didn't even know whether to be happy or sad, as if she were listening to an unfamiliar concept, but it was related to herself.

Her parents.

Her parents, who had completely forgotten what they looked like.

"They're in the country, and they're not too far from that town. They've moved since you got lost, but it's hard for civilians to move far even if they do, and as one of the Empire's Chief Mages, it's not hard for me to find them," Daniel continued calmly, "You also have an older brother and an older sister, but that older brother of yours died of the plague a few years ago, and your sister is married, but she doesn't have children yet. ”

Mary looked at her mentor steadily, at the old man, who had been twisted, cold, tyrannical, and terrible for many years, and as he calmly talked about these things concerning her, and in those tawny eyes there was no longer the slightest coldness or loss of control, where only her own bewildered face was reflected.

She muttered, but she didn't even know what she wanted to say: "Mentor, I...... I don't know ......."

Daniel interrupted her again: "If you want to see them, I'll pick them up, and if you want to go home, go back." ”

“…… I do not know. ”

This is a weak and unorthodox answer, if it were placed in the past, it would definitely be exchanged for severe reprimand and even punishment, but today's Daniel only nodded faintly: "I understand - I'll give you time to think about it." ”

Mary lowered her head, and after a long silence, she finally spoke again: "How have they been all these years?" ”

"Didn't go hungry much."

"That's good."

Daniel looked at Mary for a long time before muttering, "Not on the stage." ”

After saying this, he withdrew his gaze, as if he no longer paid attention to Mary's movements, while his spirit slowly sank, and while maintaining his basic attention and reaction to the real world, the old mage quietly connected to the hidden mental network.

In the psychic network, the dream city created by the Eternal Sleeper is sunny and the weather is clear.

The breeze blew through the wide streets, blowing the golden leaves on the side of the road, and the curtains that hung down from the palaces and towers swayed in the wind, showing a gorgeous texture, and Daniel, a middle-aged elegant mage, appeared in the streets, walking forward with the flow of people.

His spiritual tentacles had spread, stealthily connecting the minds of nearby Cultists of the Eternal Sleeper, extracting the latest and most useful information.

Most of the information was filtered out by him: there were too many boring Eternal Sleepers posting meaningless content in the ever-growing network, which made the clergy in charge of the network complain - the great master called this kind of nonsensical content "water stickers", and although Daniel could not understand the meaning of the words coined by the Wanderer, he could tell from the attitude of the master that it was not a compliment.

Daniel was said to be interested in the fact that the priests responsible for managing the flow of information were already figuring out how to control this flood of meaningless information, but before that, he had to complete the tasks assigned by his master.

Stripped away from the meaningless information, he focused on the recent operation of the psychic network and the recent activities of the Order of Eternal Sleep.

He "heard" and "saw" some intelligence:

The activities of the Order in the Cecil Empire are becoming more and more difficult, and the ubiquitous magic monitoring towers and more and more sheriffs are squeezing the living space of the illegal transcendents;

The Archbishops of Nightmare at the top have recently conducted a new round of computing power collection, and a large project seems to be needing more computing power to sustain it, and there are some middle and lower level Eternal Sleepers discussing this matter, who seem to feel that this kind of command to collect computing power has become more frequent recently, and complain a little about it;

The Children of the Storm had made one last contact with the land shortly before, and then had been completely silenced;

There are eternal sleepers lamenting that the situation in which the three major sects stood together in the past has fallen apart at some point, and that the changes in the world are beyond expectations;

Information crossed through Daniel's mind and vision, and he walked down the street with a calm face, as if he were just an ordinary passerby.

A golden leaf fell from nearby and swirled behind Daniel, flipped in mid-air, and suddenly became pitch black, revealing countless jagged cracks around the edges, and then vanished.

But no one seems to have noticed this "imperfect scene".

There was also meaningless information floating up from the group of nodes that I don't know, and Daniel casually glanced at this "water sticker" message.

It seems like it's just some boring rumors, or strange anecdotes—

Some anonymous cultists mentioned that the psychic network has recently had some strange phenomena, and claimed that while wandering in the dream city, they suddenly encountered an abnormal void, and some said that while walking on the road, they suddenly saw the person in front of them disappear out of thin air - not a broken line, but as if they were swallowed by something out of thin air, and some believers believe that they have lost some memories of the connection after leaving the network......