When he first arrived, Lu Xiao's understanding of the situation in Paris was limited to the small amount of information that Mario provided him before he set off from Italy.

As Vincent noted, in France, where freedom and romance were celebrated, the Assassins were recognized like never before, and the Brotherhood's power was rarely balanced with the Templars.

During the Middle Ages, the control of the Catholic Church was unprecedented, and even the choice of kings in certain countries was influenced by the will of the pope.

It was during this period that the Templars secretly forged an alliance with the Holy See, and the Templars were behind several Crusades.

The weakness of the Italian Assassins was not unique, and the Templars, who controlled official power, suppressed the Assassins throughout Europe, with the exception of France.

Vincent did not have the habit of arranging music like the traditional aristocracy, and his family should have risen only in the last generation or two.

He gave Lu Xiao a detailed description of the current situation in France in as brief a language as possible.

In a word, the Paris Brotherhood, led by Vincent, hoped that Lu Xiao would sneak into the Louvre and steal the Holy Sword by taking advantage of the fact that they and the Templars were holding each other down and both sides were understaffed.

It may not sound difficult, but as one of France's landmarks, the Louvre is naturally very well defended.

The Louvre was built in 1204 and has been used as a royal palace by the French royal family since Charles V.

Since Charles V, many generations of French kings have funded the intermittent construction of the Louvre, and the interior decoration has been updated countless times, and the interior of the palace is extremely luxurious.

However, the strange thing is that in the 350 years after Charles V, the French royal family gradually stopped living in this palace due to the frequent addition of the Louvre, but straightened the Palace of Fontainebleau, which was originally used as a palace.

Although the Louvre was snubbed by the French royal family, the palace was not completely abandoned, but was restored to the function given to it when Philip II first built it, and used it to store valuable treasures belonging to the royal family.

Before Lu Xiao left for the Louvre, Vincent also told him bad news.

"It's not just us who have called for help, but the Templars have also made a move, and they have brought in a mysterious figure in the Holy Roman Empire who is known as the 'Sage' by the local church, and you must be on the lookout for his presence when you enter the Louvre in search of the Holy Sword."

"Sage?"

Lu Xiao's brows twitched, 'It can't be the kind of sage I thought, right?' ’

Lu Xiaotong played many generations of Assassin's Creed, and he still retained a deep impression of the title of Sage.

The name "Sage" originated from Assassin's Creed, Black Flag, when the Sage was a Welshman named Bartholomew Roberts.

There is also a Sage John Standish in the Black Flag modern episode, as are Jacques de Molay and François Thomas Germain mentioned in the subsequent Assassin's Creed: Revolution.

According to information provided by Aletya, all Sages have the same soul sleeping in their bodies, which originates from the conspirator Juno's husband, the Isu Aita.

While the Isu civilization was researching how to defend itself against the Tybar, Aita volunteered to be a test subject for his wife, Juno.

This experiment was inspired by Juno's stealing of Consus's technology, and she planned to transfer Aita's consciousness into a more resistant synthetic compound, allowing the Isu to gain immortality in another way.

As long as they were able to escape the devastating coronal ejection, the Isu were able to break away from the man-made synthetic medium in which they were hiding, and use the instruments buried deep in the ground to create new bodies for themselves, completing the reboot of the Isu civilization.

There was nothing wrong with the idea itself, the problem was with Juno.

The half-technique she had obtained through the abduction of the pit had become problematic, and Aita had died as a test subject.

Rather than despair, Juno surreptitiously manipulated the human genetic code, implanting a recessive trigger that randomly activates and alters an individual's genetic structure.

Once a newborn is "lucky" to trigger Juno's DNA mechanism, his appearance will gradually change to Aita's appearance, and this set of recessive DNA will gradually instill in him the memories of Aita in the past as the person grows up.

Under the influence of Juno's recessive genes, these Aita "larvae" possess concentrations of Isu DNA that far exceed the limits of humans, reaching up to 10%.

The high concentration of Isu DNA has given these people some supernatural abilities that are different from ordinary people, such as a powerful sixth sense, and epochal knowledge derived from Aita's memories.

Some of the juveniles are driven insane by the memories of Aita instilled in them at every moment, and those who survive this period will be called "Sages" by the Assassins and Templars of the present day because of their unique abilities.

Each generation of Sages inherited the memories of Aita and had a different personality, having joined the Assassins and assisted the Templars.

According to the secret records of the Italian Brotherhood of Assassins, at least seven Sages have appeared to date.

The first recorded sages came from the Sumerian civilization, when Gilgamesh ruled the city-state of Uruk.

Later, the saints appeared in Babylon, Xiongnu, India, Byzantium, Maya, Mongolia and other countries.

The most recent record is from France in the 13th and 14th centuries, when the Sage was named Jacques de Molay, Grand Master of the Templars, who was one of the first wields of the Sword of Eden.

Under Vincent's arrangement, Lu Xiao temporarily settled in the mansion of the Messier family, silently waiting for the night to come.

During this time, Lu Xiao first took a nap to recover the physical strength and energy consumed during the long journey.

After breaking free from a deep sleep, Lu Xiao began to think about the true origin and purpose of this person known as the Sage in a light sleep of meditation.

'The last Sage was the Templar Grand Master Jacques de Molay, wielder of the Sword of Eden, and now there is another German known as the Sage, or is it a simple coincidence that he has come specifically for the Holy Sword, right?' ’

Thinking of the sage François Germain who fought against the Assassin Arno Dorian during the French Revolution, Lu Xiao raised his vigilance.

'It seems that the process of obtaining the holy sword will not be so smooth. ’

……

When Lu Xiao finished recuperating, Paris had already entered the twilight hour, and night was gradually falling.

During this time, Lu Xiao asked Vincent about the approximate location of the ashes of the saint "Joan of Arc" that year, and under the puzzled eyes of the other party, he went to the Seine alone.

Lu Xiao is no longer a rookie, and after completing a number of difficult missions for the Assassin Brotherhood, his reputation has become very resounding among the Brotherhoods across Europe.

After Lu Xiao returned from a solo outing, Vincent didn't talk nonsense, and immediately summoned the Brotherhood's assassins to set off to provide support for Lu Xiao's infiltration into the Louvre, and did his best to contain the Templars' manpower.

At night, the Louvre is still lit up inside and outside, and the area of this splendid palace is patrolled by a large number of heavily armed French soldiers.

Although the defense of the Louvre is tight, because the French princes and nobles will add to it from time to time, the overall structure of the Louvre is not considered in terms of preventing incursion, and many places have left loopholes.

Successfully entering the Louvre through one of the secret passages told by Vincent, Lu Xiao used the pitch-black color of Altaïr's armor to unwittingly avoid the sight of the guards and weave through the Louvre.

'Bingo~'

After entering the inner hall of the Louvre, Lu Xiao relied on the resonance between the Eden artifacts to see the quaint long sword displayed in a large number of royal treasures at a glance.

But at the same time, when he opened the eagle's pupil, he also noticed something unusual.

Although he couldn't sweep the exact location of the enemy, Lu Xiao's powerful sixth sense, which originated from the Isu bloodline, was frantically alerting him, and there were people nearby who were strongly hostile to him hiding in the shadows.

Lu Xiao licked her slightly dry lips under the hood, pulled the corners of her mouth and smiled, "Let's play hide and seek, Mr. Sage." ’