Cecil Territory, deep in the fortress of disobedience, southern region.

The light of the portable magic crystal lamp illuminated the dimly dark passage of the ruins, and as the light advanced, the crisp sound of the boots stepping on the stone floor broke the silence of the corridor that had remained unchanged for thousands of years.

A soldier wearing light armor walked out of the corner of the corridor, the armor on this soldier was not the same as the armor of most combat professions in this era, it looked like a close-fitting soft leather armor, but it was covered with strong steel plates in key positions such as chest, waist and abdomen, and on the soldier's back, a small "bag" that seemed to be a miniature version of the combat backpack could also be seen, and on the soldier's left wrist, you could also see a device that looked like a light military magic terminal.

This outfit is like a lightweight version of Cecil's current standard infantry set.

The soldier wore a strange helmet on his head, the full-coverage helmet was made of metal, not only covering the entire head, but even the eyes were covered, and on the visor, which was supposed to have a viewing slit, only two dark red crystal lattices could be seen, like some kind of goggles, or viewfinder, at this moment, this "goggles" made of crystal were emitting a faint red magical light.

The magic crystal light that illuminates the corridor is emitted from the front of the military magic guide terminal equipped on the soldier's left hand - the magic guide terminal with high versatility can be installed with a variety of expansion modules, and with the simplification of the low-level magic array by the Rune Research Institute, after the original version of the heat ray gun, modules such as force field shields, arcane missile launchers, and electric energy lances were quickly developed, and the lighting devices with simpler structures and lower energy consumption have of course become the standard configuration of the magic guide terminals. The Magic Crystal Lamp, which has a constant glow and is not as easy to extinguish and cause misfires as torches, is a must-have feature for exploring dark areas.

The soldier swept the corridor in front of him with the light in his hand, and then pressed it on the temple of the helmet, and the crystal "goggles" that glowed red dimmed and gradually became transparent ordinary crystals, and a deep voice came from under his visor: "No anomalous magic reactions. ”

More footsteps came from behind, and more than a dozen soldiers with the same equipment walked out, the light of the magic crystal lamp made this section of the corridor as bright as day, and then Thorderlin, dressed in a hunting suit, walked among the soldiers, the high-ranking ranger looked at the soldiers' clothing and actions, and nodded slightly: "Yes, keep it this way, and explore cautiously." Dom, how does it feel to use goggles? ”

"Pretty ...... Wonderful," Dom was the soldier in charge of the reconnaissance just now, he shook his head and touched the crystal in front of his eye with his hand, "It turns out that this is the vision of the mages when they observe the magic......

Thorderlin glanced at the soldier: "I didn't let you sigh about this. ”

"Yes!" Dom hurriedly straightened up, "The vision is very clear, and I can see the obvious flow of magic, but there are many light spots jumping around in the field of vision, and it will be very uncomfortable to watch for a long time...... And this helmet is a bit stuffy. ”

"This is a test item, everyone's helmet has different nuances, I'll record the questions you ask and go back and have the technicians revise them," Sölderlin nodded, "Let's move on." ”

"Yes!"

The soldiers responded in unison, then formed a queue to explore and continued cautiously down the hallway.

Thorderling was still at the back of the line, wary of dark corners where the lights couldn't illuminate.

With his strength as a high-ranking ranger, this position is enough to take care of the entire team - even in the event of an emergency.

Looking at the "Steel Rangers" in front of him, who were equipped with various magic weapons, and were completely different from any regular troops of this era in terms of shape, combat methods, and action patterns, the high-level rangers were full of emotion in their hearts.

The weapons and equipment of these soldiers are all newly designed, and these things have been tested and verified in the laboratory before they can be actually dressed - due to the existence of such a master metal craftsman as Nicholas Egg, such sophisticated equipment is incredibly fast from production to testing, and some of the equipment of the Steel Ranger is actually a modification of mature technology already in the territory, so these verification equipment is quickly in the hands of the soldiers.

According to Gawain, industrial production in the territory should not rely too much on the ability of Nicholas Egg, but should achieve self-sustaining of the industrial chain and achieve "detachment" (although no one knows what that "plug-in" means), but Nicholas Egg is still an indispensable help when trying to produce some samples or equipping special units such as the "Steel Rangers".

It was thanks to the efforts of Nicholas Egg that Sölderlin was able to see his Iron Rangers fully armed so early on (although several key pieces of equipment are still under development and are not yet finished), and see the incredible power of these so-called "Wizard Arms".

Now, he fully understood why Gawain was obsessed with making massive, cheap, and usable magic devices for ordinary people...... It turned out to be really passable.

While he was thinking, a soldier's report came to Thorderlin's ears: "Sir, there is a separation gate ahead, it is very large, and there is a residual magic reaction, it may ...... Probably a Class I gate! ”

Thorderling immediately looked up at the passage ahead.

At the end of the wide, ancient but still sturdy ancient corridor, a black gate that has lost its power can be clearly seen blocking the path ahead.

Thorderling remembered the information he had when he handed over to Byron - in this ancient "fortress of disobedience", there are various isolation corridors and isolation gates, these gates are divided into three categories according to their function and size, Class III gates are ordinary doors in various areas of the fortress, usually the entrances and exits of various rooms, most of which have lost power, but because of their weak strength and simple structure, they can be cracked (or destroyed) by technology; Class II gates are used to separate the various areas of the fortress, these doors are larger and stronger, but the backup energy is basically still running, and most of them can be opened using the unlocking method provided by Carmel; Class I gates are the largest gates located on the main aisle......

Only a few have been found so far, located in the entrance hall of the ruins, and they are the entrances and exits to the Fort of Disobedience.

Toldling's eyes became serious, and he waved his hand for the soldiers to move closer to him, and then led the way to the gate.

When he got close enough, he was more sure of the soldier's judgment—

The door is large, located at the end of a large corridor that appears to be the main passageway, and an ancient authentication device can be seen next to the gate, and the entire door appears to be cast from purple steel......

This is not an ordinary gate used to separate areas, but a main isolation door.

Did they reach the southern end of the Fortress of Disobedience?

It's over so soon?

Thorderlin was a little surprised, he knew that the scale of this fortress was huge, and there were unknown areas hidden in the depths of the endless dark corridors, so he was ready to act in it for a long time when he set out to explore, but today was only the sixth day he had entered the fortress, and there were still four days before the limit of the week - he had reached the southern end of the fortress?

"Stay vigilant - lights, illuminate all dark places, odd-numbered members, open the detection eyepieces, even-numbered teammembers, aid in observation."

Thordrin quickly issued a series of commands, and the soldiers quickly responded, and all corners of the wide corridor were illuminated by the bright glow of the magic crystal lamp, and Thordrin walked alone to the heavy, ancient purple steel gate, looking up at the inscription on the door.

The ancient Gondor text, recognized by Sölderlin, has a line of signs on the gate:

"Ahead, Shadow Laboratory."

Another experimental field across the gate?

Thorderling looked at the purple steel gate in front of him with some surprise and curiosity, and then immediately realized the unusualness of this so-called "Shadow Experiment Field".

Separating the Shadow Proving Ground from the main body of the Fortance Fortress is a "Class I Gate", an extremely sturdy gate that could theoretically act as the main portal of the Fortress, with extraordinary magical resistance!

With the experience accumulated from seven hundred years of traveling around the continent, Thorderlin immediately made a judgment on the door in front of him: although the scale is very similar to the entrance and exit of the fortress, this door is probably not the southern boundary of the fortress, but should only be an extra strengthened protective barrier, opposite this door, is another important area of the fortress of disobedience!

"Sir, do you want to try to open this door?" One soldier asked, the soldier's eyepiece glowing with a dark red, "There's still magic flowing through the gate, and the curfew doesn't seem to be broken." ”

Thorderlin thought for a moment and shook his head decisively: "Leave a mark on the map, leave a magic net unit and lighting lights here, and go back." Come back when you're ready. ”

"Yes!"

The soldier complied, and Thorderling turned his head and took one last look at the purple steel gate.

He actually wanted to know more than the soldiers what was on the other side of the door, but he hadn't forgotten that it was just a drill exploration mission - he took the Iron Ranger trainers to explore the ruins on the one hand for training and on the other hand to test those newly designed equipment, which was already quite a bold action, because even with the technical power of Nicholas Egg and the care of him as a high-level ranger, the soldiers who used the test equipment still had to take a lot of risks. The danger and sudden equipment failure in the ruins was considered by everyone from the beginning, so before leaving, Sölderlin received an order from Gawain - to explore for a week at most, to explore an area at most, not to enter the high-risk area, and to retreat first in case of battle.

Now faced with the unknown situation of the "Shadow Experimental Field", he decided to temporarily retreat according to Gawain's order, and report the situation here to the top after returning, and then prepare to come back.

It didn't take long – it took the team six days to get here, but that's because the road was still being mapped, the forks in the road were explored, and the guiding lights were set up, and a day would be enough if they were to go back and forth at full speed.

……

At the same time, in the study of the Cecil Lord's Palace, Gawain finished reviewing the documents, and he leaned back in his wide chair, and after making sure that no one should disturb him during this time, he slightly cleared his mind and sketched out in his mind the communication channel with the monitoring satellite.

Surveillance footage from the synchronous orbit slowly emerged, forming a stable picture in Gawain's conscious world, and within that bird's-eye view, he clearly saw the mountains and plains of the northern region of the Loren continent.

He began to zoom in and out of view, fine-tuning the area he was looking at from the satellite.

His vision swept over the southern border of Ansu, and then slowly moved in a northeasterly direction, gradually passing over the Glenn Territory and crossing the eastern border of Ansu......

The image stopped moving, zoomed in, zoomed in, and on a small plain with a relatively gentle terrain, he saw a slightly blurred fortress standing on a stony terrace.

Fort Treaty.

Gawain changed his posture and began to patiently adjust the picture of the surveillance satellite that was slightly out of focus due to aging.