The first snow of winter has finally arrived.

Fluttering snowflakes fell from the lead-gray sky, gently covering every inch of Cecil's land, and all the bell towers, roofs, walls, and watchtowers, were covered in a layer of white in a very short time, and in this boundless and gentle snow, the boundaries between heaven and earth, between city and wilderness, between houses and streets, all boundaries were blurred.

Tyr squirmed cautiously to the porch, she poked her long tail out of the porch, and quickly poked the not-so-thick layer of snow under the porch with the tip of her tail, and then a visible tremor spread all over her body along the tip of her tail - Miss Kraken shivered vigorously and directly withdrew her tail into a ball: "Frozen dead!" I don't go out in this kind of ghost weather! ”

However, Rebecca stood in the middle of the courtyard and waved back to Till: "It's rare to have a holiday today, you can try it!" Snowball fights are fun! I've loved snow since I was a kid! ”

In Cecil, people have eight days a week, and Saturdays and October are days off, but Rebecca hasn't taken a vacation for a long time due to the progress of a large number of recent research projects, and this belated first snow finally gave her a reason to take a vacation, and it also reminded her of the happy days when she was a child playing in the snow - although she has grown up, although the world has been turned upside down, snow is snow, as always, it is happy.

Born in the depths of the sea, Tyr couldn't understand Rebecca's source of happiness, this was her second winter on land, and the snowy, frozen, and water-inactive season was no fun for her: "Isn't it just a snowball thrown at each other—you humans have loved to throw things around since you started throwing stones, and I can't understand this love cry...... And if you're going to have a snowball fight, at least wait for the snow to stop, and that's what you're going to do with this little snow......"

Miss Kraken said as she tried harder to clump her tail up, and tried to retract her upper body back into the ball formed by her tail, "I'm sleepy, I want to go back to sleep......"

However, before she could finish speaking, a small cold snow ball suddenly flew into the air and smashed firmly on her head.

"Wow!!" Till's hard-fought balance was shattered in an instant, and the coiled tail ball almost rolled backwards, "I didn't even say I would play!" ”

"It's not me!" Rebecca also saw the snow ball on Tiel's face, and quickly waved her hand, "The snowball is ...... from other directions"

Before she could finish speaking, another snowball flew out of thin air from the corner of the courtyard, this time smashing firmly on her head.

“…… Amber!! ”

Tyr finally screamed, and her scream alerted Rebecca, who was still in the clouds, and the two of them looked up together and looked in the direction where the snowball was flying - where a handful of snow was condensing out of thin air, and a sneaky footprint was stamped on the snow......

In the first snow, which was still falling, a small scuffle unfolded in the courtyard of the Lord's Palace.

"It's nice to be young......"

Behind the floor-to-ceiling windows of the study, Gawain withdrew his gaze from the courtyard below and sighed softly.

Pitman sat in a chair on the side of his desk, took a sip of hot tea, and raised his eyelids to look at Gawain, "Your physical age is only thirty-seven years old—still quite young. ”

"Thirty-seven is not a good age to have a snowball fight with the juniors in the yard," Gawain returned to his desk, sat down in his wide chair, and casually picked up the teacup in front of him, "It's good to drink tea in the study." ”

Pitman smiled: "It's a pity that it's a sloppy old man sitting across from you." ”

Gawain didn't answer, but took a slow sip of hot tea, then looked at Pittman's face that seemed to maintain a hippie smile in any situation, and after two seconds of staring, he said, "I heard that you solved the technical problem that Kamel had - that thing is called artificial neural cords, right?" ”

"That's right, the product of the combination of druid technology and alchemical engineering, ordinary people can't think of that kind of thing."

"Ordinary druids can't think of anything like that," Gawain said in a calm tone, "it's the technology of the Eternal Sleepers, strictly speaking, the neural connection technology created by the fallen druids of the Society of the End of All Things, and then passed on to the Eternal Sleepers, who then improved it by the biochemical engineers of the Eternal Sleepers. ”

Pittman's expression finally changed for a moment, and then he shook his head with a helpless smile on his face: "I thought you didn't know this - since you do, why don't you tell Kamal?" Is it just for me to say it? ”

"No, I don't like to test or investigate my subordinates in this way, and the current situation is just an accident for me," Gawain said frankly, "The reason why I didn't tell Kamel is because this technology is inhumane, and it has huge risks: implanting artificial neural cords can drastically alter the personality of the receptors, and there is even a risk of mental collapse." ”

“…… Indeed, artificial neural cords are a very uncontrollable thing," Pitman nodded, "It seems that you do know a lot of secrets about the Eternal Sleeper and the end of all things...... I'm curious, what do you think of them after being exposed to their knowledge? ”

"They have technology that is so advanced in a particular area that they seem to have a sense of mission, and I suspect they even think they're saving the world – and that's in some of their big plans. But this can neither change the fact that their methods are evil, nor can it prove that their aims are correct," Gawain said, placing his teacup on the table and unhurriedly, "if the direction is wrong, the more knowledge there is, the more reactionary it is, and if the means are wrong, the more effort there is, the more evil it becomes." ”

Pittman's eyes changed a little at that moment, and Gawain couldn't tell what the specific cause and content of the change was, but at this moment, he did feel that Pittman's disguised hippie smile and cynicism had subsided for a moment, and a heavy and lonely temperament appeared on the little old man—but only for a short moment.

"You're right, the direction and the means ......," Pitman smiled, his smile full of self-deprecation, "talent does exist, some people are born with ease to do things that others can't - you pointed out the key so simply, but it took me most of my life to stumble to understand the meaning of your two sentences." ”

"These words are not created by me, they are the wisdom of those who came before me, I just borrowed and transformed," Gawain said, with a serious expression on his face, "Pittman, it's time to be open and honest." ”

Pitman met Gawain's gaze, and after a few seconds of silence, he finally spoke in a low voice, "I am the withered priest of all mortality, and I was. ”

And so it was.

Gawain breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, it was not once or twice that he had doubts in this regard, but Pitman did not take the initiative to speak, so he did not take the initiative to ask, and today, with the opportunity of "artificial neural cord technology", his suspicion was finally confirmed.

However, before he could speak, Pittman had a final word: "At the same time, I am also the Nightmare Mentor of the Eternal Sleepers—I was." ”

Both a believer in the Society of the Dead and a member of the Eternal Sleeper?!

This was completely unexpected, and he looked at the wrinkled little old man in front of him in shock: "You joined two sects at the same time?!" ”

"It's the death of everything that joins first," Pitman shook his head, "it was when I was very young - to be honest, I did want to be an orthodox druid in the first place, and I really am the Heart of the Woods School, but fate is such an unreasonable thing...... There was a famine in the town, it was due to the erosion of magic, the regular druid spells had no effect at all, even my mentor ran away, and everyone could not do anything until an alien druid solved the problem, so I followed the new druid and became his apprentice - I later learned that he was the herdsman of all things. ”

"And then you joined the Society of the End of Everything?" Gawain looked into Pittman's eyes and couldn't hide his curiosity, "Then how did you join the Eternal Sleeper?" ”

"I originally thought that the technology of the Society of the End of Everything would heal the land, solve the famine, and allow me to learn real knowledge, but then I found out that they were just a bunch of crazy people, so I took the opportunity to join the Eternal Sleepers - in the memory tank of the Eternal Sleepers, there is the richest knowledge in the world, and although I am not good at dream spells, I am interested in their other knowledge......"

"And then you find out that they're another bunch of lunatic," Gawain knew that Pittman's experience in his youth could never be so simple, but apparently the other party didn't want to go into such detail, so he skipped the topic, "You're out of the Eternal Sleeper?" And then what? ”

Pittman spread his hands: "And then?" Then I met a crappy thief and followed him to adopt a half-elf who was chattering and disrespectful. ”

Gawain was dumbfounded, and then smiled: "I thought you were going to join the Children of the Storm, after all, you have joined two of the three sects." ”

Son of the Storm......

Pitman's face showed a look of memory for a moment, and then he shook his head with a wry smile: "I really looked for them, but I couldn't learn to swim, I got seasick, and more importantly, I couldn't eat sashimi, so I didn't make it." ”

Gawain: "......"

This seemingly unserious, cheating, and skinny old druid, who is an old and disrespectful old druid, once had a magnificent life.

Although Gawain was indeed a little interested in Pittman's unknown and magnificent life, looking at the other party's appearance, the little old man was obviously trying his best to avoid that period of life, so he just nodded: "You are out of them now." ”

"It's been so many years," Pitman said calmly, "to be honest, I almost forgot that I was one of them, and I was so startled by the transhuman who exploded on the docks that I thought they had finally come to the door—and it turned out that it was you, the historical figure who came out of the legend, who caught their attention more than a little person like me, who defected halfway." ”

"One thing I'm curious about, are you really just a third-level low-level druid?" Gawain looked Pittman up and down, "Your real ......"

Pitman smiled indifferently: "Two defections, there is a price to pay - now I am indeed just a third-level low-level druid." ”

“…… I see. Gawain accepted the other man's statement, and outside the floor-to-ceiling window behind him, there was the sound of increasingly lively laughter in the courtyard.

He asked, "Does Amber know about your past?" ”

"She doesn't know, and I don't want her to know," Pitman shook his head, "Joining the Dark Cult twice is not a glorious experience, and although I don't think I've done anything harmful, I still want to isolate my past from Amber's life - her life should have nothing to do with this darkness, she should be carefree, unconcerned, not to live a life of fear, and be well trained and educated......"

"Let's put it this way, she takes picking the lock of the sliding door as a daily routine, and will go to other people's ancestral graves to pry the coffin board, I think you and her adoptive father may not have a good education for her......"

Pittman thought for a moment: "...... There is some truth to what you say. ”