~-~> In the memory of any Tyre, the Coral Witch had never met a young man alone, and had a long conversation for nearly a night. So when it was reported that Shatiri was going to meet with the young psychomancer Muhadi alone after defeating the Witch King's coalition, the men of the city, including a small number of women, were jealous of Muhadi's death. In the streets and alleys, all kinds of rumors circulate from time to time, and exaggerated stories and gossip spread faster than fleas.

The Psychic Warlock remembered how much envy and anger he had seen in the eyes around him when he walked into the palace. If sight could kill, he must have died more than a hundred times. The long staircase of the palace seemed to have no end, and so did the messy thoughts in his head.

He couldn't remember exactly how he had been picked up by the guards to get into the Coral Witch's reception room, but he remembered the setting. Elegant tapestries, mosaic-patterned carpets, tables and chairs carved from obsidian, as well as artwork donated by aristocrats and Menderes tableware from the Witch Dynasty.

The furnishings in the room are exquisite and elegant, with a cultural heritage. But compared to the beauty of the Coral Witch, it is so overshadowed. No amount of adjectives can depict that unearthly look, and no matter how many times he has met her, Muhadi can always find something new in her.

If it weren't for this sensitive moment, the Psychic Warlock would never refuse to talk to such a beautiful mage. But now, in the face of the other party's question, he felt like he was on pins and needles, and the invisible pressure made his throat dry.

"Again, how did you defeat Hamanu?" she asked in a soft, concerned tone.

Muhathir repeats the familiar lie, remembering only how you and Kotander used that weapon against the Witch King, and he can't remember what happened after that. I don't have any impression of how the Witch King was defeated. When I came back to my senses, it was already over. ”

Did she believe her own rhetoric? Muhati muttered to herself, what would she do if she didn't believe it? Among the revolutionaries, Aikis, Rikas, Ctesian, and even the mysterious merchant Fovard, their thoughts and actions could be measured. Only the person in front of her can't, as if the psionic energy has no effect on her, if she tries it forcibly, she may be burned by the strong arcane power.

You know, psychic abilities have a very old history, and sometimes they can be more powerful than magic. The human heart is the most elusive, isn't it?" said the Coral Witch, as if to explain it to Muhadi. "It's a miracle, a man who believes in miracles. ”

"Some people, including some councillors, have bad assumptions about you, and since ancient times, only one person can easily crush the witch kings. The elves call him the Great Enemy, the dwarves call him the Exterminator, and they call him the Demon King. He is the primordial warlock, Rajat the propagandist of war. Coral Witch said. "Those people think that you may have obtained some ancient artifact made by him, or even seen him in person, otherwise it would not be so strong. ”

Muhati was a little nervous in his heart, "This is impossible, the primordial warlock has been eliminated a long time ago, and Rajat has never seen anything with him, and he doesn't even know what he looks like." ”

"Some people will say that you don't even know what he looks like, so how can you be sure you haven't seen him?" Shatiri smiled lightly, and the whole room seemed to suddenly brighten up. "I don't believe you sue the people who doubt you. It was also believed that the rule of the Witch King could not be overthrown, until a fledgling young female mage did so. It's a miracle, isn't it?"

Muhati was glad that the other party thought so, nodded and agreed, "A living miracle." ”

The female mage changed the subject. "Sometimes, though, prejudice is hard to reverse. At this critical juncture, I think it's better to let you leave Tyre for a while. ”

This is not surprising to Muhadi, Tessian became king, and the conflict with Shatiri and Rikas will only intensify, and at this time the undercurrent of Tyr is surging, and it is indeed not suitable for him to stay longer. It is easy for people with good intentions to find a way to attack themselves and use them as a tool to influence the political situation.

You can go back to the tribe. Muhati nodded. "Since our victory over the coalition, many of the tribes that had fled had previously moved back, and fighting for water and pastures has helped the pro-Tyre tribes to profit. ”

Coral Witch shook her head, "No, you have a more important mission. ”

Muhathir wondered, "What is that?" ”

They talked as they walked. The mage stood up and waved her hand, and one of the walls of the room opened, revealing a secret passage.

Muhadi followed the female mage and entered the secret passage.

"This is where Salafist is trained," Shatiri said, as they entered an underground hall. "This place was originally built by the Witch King, but after the revolution, they dug deeper to create a larger space. ”

"It's just training mages and internal guard anti-rebel forces, it doesn't seem to be necessary for such a big place. "Muhadi is strange.

"It's not just a training ground," Coral Witch explained calmly. "This was built in consideration of the failure of all the people and the capture of Tyre by the Witch King. Originally, it was planned to set up an unprecedented huge magic array here, and once the Witch King seized the palace on the ground, he would blow it up and let the Witch King die in the flames. ”

"Thankfully, it didn't come in handy. ”

Shatiri led Muhadi into the deep tunnels below the hall, where there was no light, and it was very dim. Fortunately, the Coral Witch has constant arcane vision, and Muhati has synaesthesia, so it doesn't matter.

There is actually a large facility under the tunnel, walking in the passage, looking down from the window that opens on the side, there is an enclosed space, and a giant egg-shaped device floats in the center of the space. Several figures came and went near the Dome.

"What is this?" asked Muhadi.

"The facilities of the ancient halflings. "But it's also a little bit related to your next mission. ”

Muhati didn't understand what the ancient halfling had to do with him, but the Coral Witch didn't give him a chance to interject. "In the ancient days when Attas was still a blue planet, the halfling civilization was prosperous, powerful, rich, and fulfilling. Although they have no magic, they have advanced biotechnology and psychic abilities, and on top of them, they have built the most magnificent kingdom in the history of Attas. ”

"There is only poetry left to describe the Athas of the Blue Age. At that time, the whole planet was covered in oceans, cities made of coral reefs were streets formed by rivers, and halflings supported gondora and walked through their solid, musical-like buildings, in harmony with nature. ”

"This dome is a creation left over from the Azure Age. They unexpectedly appeared while digging the ruins of Tyr. She continued. "It's called the Creator's Egg, and there used to be many of them, and halflings used it to nurture new life. It is said that the first humans and elves were born from such a dome. ”

The walkway is built around the huge facility, and you can see the whole of the dome. It was about a hundred feet tall, transparent throughout, and inside was a large container filled with liquid like elixir. Muhadi couldn't see how this thing could make life, and he didn't understand what the ancient halflings did to make other lives.

"Who are those people?" Muhadi said, referring to the figures near the Dome, which could not be felt by the spirit from such a distance, but there was a dangerous aura in the minds of those people.

"Starch Spencer sent the druid, and your friend Camilla was among them. ”

She's not a friend. "What are they doing here?"

"The Great War lent them this egg in exchange for the help of the druids. Coral Witch said. "Do you know what this egg is used for?"

"I don't know. ”

"According to the ancient halfling theory," Shatiri began to explain. "The mystery of any life is hidden within itself. There is a wonderful substance in the body of living beings that they call life matter, which records the whole message of a life. It is this substance that determines the genetic characteristics of species and defines life. ”

Deoxyribonucleotide?The word suddenly popped into Muhadi's head, could it be that the ancient civilization of Atki actually knew about this thing?

"The Starch Spencer sent a druid, a direct descendant of ancient halfling biotechnology. From their thoughts, you can see the thoughts of those halfling biologists back then. Shatiri said. "Halfling biologists in antiquity believed that medicine was harmful, that it poisoned the entire population of halflings. ”

Muhati also knew more or less about the terrorist ideas of the Druids of the Starch Spencers. In general, these druids admired evolution and despised the weak. In their view, medicine is a tool for the protection of pathologies, it slows down the process of natural selection, it is anti-natural and should not exist. This kind of thinking has also been rampant on the planet, and believers say that the Black Death killed 25 million Europeans, but gave immunity to most of those who survived. The cold virus once hit the Australian aborigines hard, but the Australians who have survived to the modern age are no longer afraid of colds. HIV has killed more than 36 million people, but due to the foolish interference of medicine, the population of human beings carrying disease-resistant genes has never been able to make up a majority.

Muhati could not say that he was afraid of this idea of the Sdach Spencer Druid, but he was still a little disgusted in his heart. I know that medicine is harmful, but what does it have to do with these domes?"

"Ancient halflings believed that the high level of civilization had hindered the process of natural selection, and the noble race of halflings had stopped their evolution. So they have to use artificial means, with their own hands to forcibly promote the evolution of the race. ”

"They built countless of these domes, and then left the body to cultivate the life tissue of the halfling. Let these organizations fight against all kinds of diseases in the treacherous environment simulated in the Dome, and multiply from generation to generation. The strongest and most viable organization is ultimately selected. Re-analyze its living matter, so that the product of the advance can be obtained. ”

Muhati nodded and understood, this is too similar to the cutting-edge biology on Earth. For example, this is to culture human cells in vitro, multiply with various viruses and bacteria, and finally select survivors who are naturally selected. In this way, powerful genes are obtained, which can be used to strengthen the human race itself. I didn't expect that the halflings on Atas had reached such heights, so how did their prosperous civilization fall in the end?

I have heard that the major event that ends the blue age and opens the green age is called the red tide. Muhathir said, "What's going on with the red tide, does it have anything to do with these eggs?"

"Nobody knows. At the end of the halfling society, there seems to be a marked fragmentation, and the historical record is interrupted. Coral Witch looked thoughtfully at the Dome and said. "In short, it is certain that some halflings tried to use the Creator's Egg to create new basic creatures and double the organic matter that the Atas Sea could provide, but in the end, they failed. ”

The basic organisms that Shatiri said are the basic ones of the food chain. In the Teal Age, it refers to organisms with the ability to photosynthesize. They convert the energy contained in sunlight into energy stored in organic matter and are the building blocks of ecosystems. The greenery in modern Atas is almost extinct, but the strange thing is that the ecosystem does not seem to have collapsed, I don't know why.

"Red tides are a kind of progressive algae that they have created, and the halflings were counting on this organism that can use sunlight efficiently to greatly revitalize the oceans and provide more room for marine life to survive. Unexpectedly, as soon as the red tide was released, it devoured the other qiē life forms in a terrifying degree. Turning vast swathes of the ocean into the Dead Sea and extinct life. ”

"At that time, many halfling cities were destroyed, and many of the permanent creatures they created with the Creator's Egg also fled to the outside world. Most of these creatures are extinct, and the rest are the intelligent beings and wilderness monsters that Atas has today. ”

When you reach the bottom of the secret passage, you can clearly feel that the surroundings have become gloomy, and this place is at least five hundred feet deep from the ground. Muhadi felt as if he had stepped into an ancient world, and every object and wall around him was ancient and incredible, belonging to the blue Atas that it once was.

"To fight the Red Tide, the halflings used what little strength they had to build the Fortress of Purity, not knowing how such a strange thing could work in an era when there was no magic. But history records that the Pure Fortress can draw on the power of the sun. When it was activated, the people of the earth did not see the sun for nine hundred and ninety-nine days. Finally, relying on the power of the fortress, the red tide, which depended on sunlight for its livelihood, was extinct, and the halfling civilization survived. But the blue planet is gone forever, the oceans have shrunk dramatically, and the sun, which once shone white, has become the dark red it is now. ”

"Sounds like a cautionary tale," Mohamad commented. "This Creator's Egg is unimaginably dangerous, what did the Starch Spencers send druids do with it?"

"I don't know, since Tessian became king, he has declared that everything that is going on here is classified. His Starch Spencer sent druid assistants in charge of a qiē, and no one knew exactly what they were doing now. ”

The Starch Spencer sent druids ...... Muhati thought of the druid faction that had caused a headache, and instinctively felt that what they were going to do was definitely not a good thing. But now Tyr is in ruins, full of enemies, both light and dark, and they can't take care of them.

"Later, new civilizations arose, and old ones were forgotten. The halflings gradually withdrew from the stage of history, and the Pure Fortress became a mystery in history...... "Finally at the end of the secret passage, Shatiri opened a secret door sealed by magic. “...... Until today. ”

Behind the door is an obsidian obelisk, smooth as a mirror, carved with a quaint map. Although he couldn't read the words, the psychic mancer recognized that this thing was anything unusual.

The Coral Witch pointed to a random curve above and said, "This Rosetta Stone was recently found in Tyre. The Guardian Mages confirmed that the line on it was the coastline of ancient Atas. Across it to the west, there is an endless sea of salt. There is no life, no magic, only ancient sea basins thousands of meters deep, covered with a thick layer of salt. ”

"Pure Fortress, right on this island. She pointed to a small dot on the obsidian map as white as cream. "There are thousands of palesans from the ancient coastline, and from Tyre there are the remains of two ancient cities. After entering the Salt Sea, you also cross a dry trench and then travel south across this huge submarine mountain range. ”

"It is said that the Pure Fortress still retains an unimaginable amount of ancient power. Whoever gets it can easily cross the power of the Witch King. Shatiri said. "It is impossible for any Witch King to be unmoved when he hears this news, especially at this time of his miraculous victory over the coalition army, which makes the remaining Witch Kings in the desert feel terrified, and they have any secret weapon to strengthen themselves at any cost. ”

I'll give you a task," she said in a more solemn tone. "Travel to Atki, the city of psychic magicians. Once there, the first thing you need to do is talk to the leader of the Psychic Warlocks. Tyr is willing to work hand in hand with Atki. ”

She shook her head, "Second, I want you to leak out the location of the Pure Fortress." This will drive the Witch Kings crazy and take their attention away from Tyr for a while, so that the city will have more time to recuperate. Please, for Tyr. ”

Seeing such a beautiful female mage pleading with him, Muhadi carefully chose his words, "If the Witch Kings learn the news of the Pure Fortress, aren't you afraid that they will get the power in it?"

"The Salt Sea is a forbidden land without any life, and no life means no magic. Even the Witch King, in that kind of place, is not much different from ordinary people. Coral Witch said. "If you can make the minds of the Psychic Warlock Guild neutral, then there's no reason to fear that the Witch Kings will get the first shot. ”

"When you return from Atki, you will organize a team of elite men to cross the Salt Sea and finally enter the Pure Fortress first. ”

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Just after the festival, happy Eid al-Adha everyone.

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