Mary departed with a look of confusion and a hint of carefully hidden anticipation, while Daniel stood silently on the dimly lit staircase for a long time, his once burly body now rickety and wrapped in a black robe, the artificial nerve cords extending from behind the cervical vertebra vibrating in the black robe, making a very slight sound, he was like a faded oil painting blending into the dark background, his shriveled face was full of cracks left by time.

But after standing for a long time, the faded painting was reinvigorated, and Daniel blinked, nodded slightly in the direction Mary had left, and then turned around, little by little, towards the height of the Mage's Tower.

He remembered the time when he had not completely become hysterical, nor was he emotionally out of control due to neuromodulation surgery, he was awake most of the time, and he still retained the last trace of kindness to his apprentice.

Then, frustration in his quest for magical truths crushed him, and the Sleeper's neurosurgery and brainwave techniques transformed his mind into a monster that lost his ability to maintain sobriety and control his emotions in exchange for knowledge that was forbidden by cultists......

But in recent times, his sanity and self-control have returned—not completely, but partially.

Daniel walked up the long spiral staircase to his room on the upper floor of the Mage's Tower, where he opened the dark wooden door and stepped inside.

The room was furnished with all sorts of furniture to suit the preferences of an elderly mage like him: sturdy wooden tables and chairs, carved bookshelves and shelves, iron candlesticks and alchemy platforms, and a magic brazier in the center of the room that controlled the entire mage's tower. In addition to these furnishings, all the exposed walls, floors, and roofs in the room are painted with strange and mysterious symbols and patterns.

It was not the dream circle of the Eternal Sleeper, nor was it any kind of rune system known to the world, and even the pretentious royal mages in the imperial capital would not have the privilege of accessing these incredible things.

These symbols and patterns are given to them by their "masters", and their power is far beyond the comprehension of the human mind.

Daniel didn't know the principles behind the symbols and patterns, he only knew that they were of great benefit to him.

After closing the door, the old mage went to the brazier in the center of the room, sprinkled a handful of spices into it, and then relaxed in the reassuring incense, and perused the symbols in the room as if they were works of art.

Those complex and strange symbolic patterns seem to be incomparably complex, giving people the feeling that even one more glance will be maddening, but in fact they have the opposite effect, surrounded by these symbolic lines, Daniel only feels that his heart is quickly filled with positive and high-spirited power, a voice like a gentle ocean wave echoes in his head, he feels himself sinking into the gentle water, countless pleasant thoughts and thoughts emerge, little by little healing his badly torn and deformed soul, It even physically healed his nervous tissue.

He thought that the injuries located deep in his nervous system would never be cured - it was the "gift" he received when he was bewitched by the Sleeper many years ago, due to the outdated technology and his own operation mistakes at that time, the process of nerve cord connection left a huge hidden danger, maddening noise and faint stinging pain tormented him for more than ten years, and directly led to his paranoia, but these injuries were healed by some complex and strange "pictures...... This has to be said to be a miracle that only the owner can create.

Daniel slowly enjoyed this pleasant atmosphere, but he still remembered his master's warning, and when such a strange thought as "do you want to dig up big squid" suddenly popped up in his mind, he immediately cut off this state of addiction and came to his senses in an instant.

This is one of the reasons why he locked them in his room after receiving these "gifts" and kept them out of contact with his apprentices: although his master did not give orders in this regard, he felt that those apprentices who were not determined to come into contact with these symbols and patterns might not be able to break free on their own as they did, and perhaps they would be directly guided by the thoughts in their minds and jump into the sea and drown.

After regaining consciousness, Daniel turned his attention away from the patterns—it was not difficult to resist the power of them after getting used to them—and remembered what his apprentice Mary had told him, and the orders his master had given him, and walked to a magic circle in the corner of the room.

He connected his nerve cord to the nodes on the magic circle and began to call the unspeakable "master......

……

In the southern border of Ansun, in the lord's mansion in the main city of Cecil, Gawain had just finished reviewing a report document from the Kant region, he stretched his waist, and was about to reach out to take another document, but his movements suddenly stopped.

Hetty, who was standing at the desk because of the delivery of documents, noticed it and immediately asked with concern, "Ancestor, are you okay?" ”

This "Cecil Butler" was a little worried, after all, the old ancestor was too old, and although he still looked fierce on the outside, he might twist his muscles when he stretched his waist......

Of course, she didn't dare say it casually - that's what Rebecca would do.

As a mature and steady housekeeper, Hetty would only worry silently in his heart, and then secretly add an extra bone broth to his ancestor's dinner.

Gawain could never have imagined how many strange thoughts were hidden in the mind of Hetty, who was usually calm and elegant, and he just waved his hand: "It's okay, I just want to meditate suddenly...... You just go and fetch Amber and let her keep it. ”

"Amber should be in the CIA, I'll be here to stay," Hetty said, frowning slightly, "I've heard Amber mention that you occasionally meditate out of the blue...... Is it a health problem? ”

"Health-wise? Oh, of course not," Gawain was stunned for a moment, then waved his hand with a smile, "I'll let you know in the future." You can keep amber guard, don't let anyone disturb you, and if there's an emergency, you can pat me the shoulder. ”

"Yes." Hetty lowered her head, replied earnestly, and silently decided in her mind that she would go and tell the kitchen to add another egg to the ancestor's dinner.

Gawain, on the other hand, had already begun to empty his mind, and after a while, he had already entered the hidden space that was "stolen" by himself in the area between the psychic networks.

The old mage Daniel was already waiting in the space, and when he saw Gawain appear, he immediately stepped forward and bowed deeply: "My lord, I'm sorry to disturb you suddenly. ”

"It's okay," Gawain waved his hand, creating tables and chairs in the space, and was the first to sit down, "Sit down—what's going on?" ”

During this time, although Gawain has focused most of his energy on integrating and governing the Southern Territory, he has not forgotten about things outside the Southern Territory, especially the Eternal Sleeper Network, which has always been the object of his attention. It's just that the Eternal Sleeper has been relatively quiet for a while, and there have been no major changes in the network, so he basically just checks the news online step by step, and then gives Daniel some tasks to study, research, and steal technology.

He didn't expect this old mage to take the initiative to contact him.

Daniel cautiously sat down opposite Gawain and pondered his vocabulary and said, "So, my lord, one of my apprentices stumbled upon the news that the ruler of the Typhon Empire...... It's possible that you're researching the Magic Net, or you're researching technology related to the Magic Net. ”

Gawain controlled the surprise in his heart and responded seemingly indifferently, "Oh? ”

"Rosetta?? Augustus issued orders to recruit mages, and the orders were posted even to remote towns closer to the border, and the talent he recruited was rare—people who required some knowledge of ancient Gondor magic techniques and were familiar with self-charging circles, so I thought of your 'magic web'. ”

When Gawain promoted the magic network to the outside world, in order to promote it, he once called the magic network "a lost technology from the ancient Gondor Empire", which he also mentioned to Daniel.

"Learn about the magic techniques of Ancient Gondor, and at the same time be familiar with the self-charging circle...... It is indeed uncommon. Gawain touched his chin and said with a slight groan.

Gu Gangduo's magic technology is a "high-end field" in the eyes of magicians, basically only mages with a certain amount of talent, origin, and strength are qualified to study and master a little fur, and the self-charging circle is the low-end chicken rib field in the magic array technology......

It's almost equivalent to finding two people in the Chinese Academy of Sciences who are good at cross talk.

Even in the northern magic kingdom Violet, I'm afraid I can't find a few mages who are not so mainstream.

Is that any wonder that Rosetta?? Emperor Augustus would have issued recruitment orders to the outside world while he had the Royal Mage Society at hand, and even posted them to the backwoods - among the eccentric and isolated mages, there might be a few people to be found in this area.

Unexpecting that the "advertising words" he had made up at random in order to promote the magic net would mislead the ruler of Typhon in a misleading situation, Gawain couldn't help but feel a little funny in his heart, and as for the "speculation" Daniel said......

He had few doubts, and from the recruitment information released by Rosetta the Great, he was 90% sure that Typhon's ruler was interested in the "magic web".

This was to be expected.

Because he had never hidden the information of the magic web—and Cecil's rise was so striking that he couldn't hide it if he wanted to.

Long before the outbreak of the Southern War, the information of the Demon Web had been transmitted to the Holy Spirit Plains and the Eastern Realm along the trade routes, and after the outbreak of the Southern War, Typhon would definitely pay attention to all the news related to Cecil - as an ancient and powerful empire, they must have intelligence channels within Ansu.

Daniel carefully observed Gawain's face and asked tentatively, "My lord, what do you think ......?"

"Very good news, calculate the time, they should also find out the information of the war in the southern border of Ansu, if Rosetta?? Augustus is really a man of great talent, and he must have been very keen in this regard," Gawain nodded and said with a nonchalant expression, "Remember what I taught you in the first place?" ”

"Yes," Daniel nodded immediately, "and I've already implemented the magic web in the lab, and I've also implemented several basic mechanical ......."

"You've made your mark in the Order of the Sleepers, and as a full-fledged mage, it's almost time for you to become the technological star of the Typhon Empire."

Daniel's face was solemn, he seemed to have been waiting for Gawain's words for a long time, so he immediately nodded: "Follow your will." ”

"This is how this is settled," Gawain continued, "since you are here this time...... By the way, tell me about the recent changes in Typhon. ”

。 m.