Wayne looked at Marco and raised an eyebrow, so, you went back to the house?

Before I could say it, I accompanied Lydia to ...... last night Marco glanced back, then at Lydia.

Lydia looked at the two suspiciously, what are you two playing dumb riddles?

Wayne and Marco shook their heads at the same time, no.

“……”

Lacey patted the table and glared at them, "I don't need to explain the importance of this investigation, right?" When is it, be serious for me! ”

A few people stood honestly, "Understood." ”

"Marko, you take Lydia to stay at the Secret Division."

"Huh?" Marco grimaced, he was just thinking about following along to see the city-state circle.

"Lydia isn't familiar with the work of the Secret Division, so you don't want her to die in the first investigation, do you?"

"I see, Captain Lacey."

Lydia asked suspiciously, "What first time?" ”

Marco sighed helplessly and pulled her back to his desk, ready to give her a brief explanation of the logistics department's first test of the investigator.

Lacey didn't care about the two of them, and briefly talked about the situation of the city-state circle: "That circle was built by the Crane side after the establishment of Chartrand, and it has been more than a hundred years. ”

"I have the impression that there has never been any problems, and it was also activated during the forbidden event that went out of control. This time, the above will agree to our investigation request, and there is also a purpose to check the circle. ”

"Check?"

Wayne looked left and right, and asked helplessly, "Captain, we are not familiar with that magic circle, what kind of inspections should we do?" ”

Carly was clearly still confused, and he was not yet familiar with the process of the investigation.

And Tina...... She has no concept of understanding and not understanding at all, she does what she says, and says it directly if she can't do it.

"There will be professionals coming and cooperating," Lacey smiled mysteriously, "and our main task is to investigate whether anyone has done anything in the circle in this parasitic case." ”

Professional ......

Wayne nodded thoughtfully, is it a wizard, or is it some other transcendent who specializes in rune circles?

Lacey didn't explain more, and instead admonished: "The location of the city-state circle is the core of Custer, so you can't be sloppy. ”

"So when you got there, you all cheered me up and did the investigation that should be done. The council and the council of nobility aren't going to give us a second chance, you know? ”

"Understood."

"Alright, get ready, Yegor will come and take us there later."

After Lacey arranged the work, he began to check the equipment on his body, as well as the various potions that needed to be prepared in the box.

Wayne returned to his seat, but he didn't have to prepare, he had already checked what needed to be checked when he went out in the morning.

His attention was all about the knowledge of runes in his mind.

Rune Circle......

Rune circle is an important branch of rune literature, which not only involves each rune, but also includes the combination of runes, the collocation of nodes and textures, the integration of rune effects and so on.

Runic arrays that can be arranged in large city-states usually have three basic capabilities: detection, attack, and defense.

It is mainly to monitor large-scale disasters, such as bone eater parasitism, widespread pollution, etc.

Attacks are self-evident and are powerful forces that can deliver a fatal blow to a powerful calamity or aberration.

Among them, the detection alone includes monitoring runes such as perceiving abyssal creatures, aberrations, and high-pollution characteristics.

Especially for the distortion that has been transformed by pollution, it can be accurately located almost at the first time.

This is also the reason why Wayne can often see the city guards transporting the corpses of the deformed species in the morning, which are all solved by the transcendents who are on duty at night after being discovered by the city-state circle.

If yesterday's speculation came true, it would mean that some of the runes in the city-state circle responsible for detecting creatures in the abyss were problematic, or someone had tampered with them......

Knock, knock.

At this moment, there was a knock on the office door.

Wayne's spiritual perception was already in his mind giving him some feedback from people outside the door.

Female, 1.58 meters tall, weighs about 95 pounds, has a round face, short hair with glasses, a long skirt, well, and is a little fat.

85，58，89…… Hiss.

"Please come in."

"Captain Lacey, I'm not late, am I?" I saw a girl with glasses peeping in.

Wayne looked at her a few times, and it was indeed as perceived, the figure was very material, but the dress was very ordinary.

He has short brown hair, big eyes, a small nose and mouth, and fair skin.

"Alicia, the time is just right." Lacey got up and invited her to sit next to her, "Yegor's bastard hasn't arrived yet, we'll have to wait." ”

"That's good," Alicia patted her chest, relieved, "I thought I was going to be late." Lydia, Marco, meet again. ”

"Alicia, long time no see."

Alicia?

When Wayne heard her name, he was not impressed, thinking that it was the person who was proficient in the rune circle and cooperated with them in their investigation.

Looking at her, she doesn't look like a wizard......

And Marco and Alicia obviously know each other, but they are not familiar with each other, it should only be to the extent that they can greet each other.

Is it also an aristocrat?

Thinking like this, he continued to learn the knowledge related to the rune array, hoping that it would be of some use in the investigation work later.

Least...... At least be able to read most of the runes, right?

"Are you ready?"

It wasn't long before Yegor, dressed in the uniform of the head of the investigation department, pushed the door open with a cigar in his mouth.

"I'll be waiting for you."

"Sorry, I'm sorry, Balatz was too verbose and delayed."

Lacey didn't believe his excuse and beckoned to Wayne and them, "Let's go, let's go." ”

"Okay."

Immediately afterwards, a group of six people, led by Yegor, rode the mechanical wheeled car of the secret division and headed towards the junction of the Natoli and Basil neighborhoods.

There......

Wayne felt familiar when he heard the address, and when he arrived at his destination, he found that the core of the circle was located above the city that never sleeps.

Is it a coincidence?

"Alicia, is Lord Nifa okay lately?"

"I'm sorry, Minister Yegor, but I haven't seen my teacher for a while. The last time we met, she said that she would cooperate with Director Ales to be busy in the detention area for a while. ”

Yegor nodded and said casually: "I've heard Balatz say that it seems that there is a problem with the magic circle in the detention area and it is being repaired." ”

"Yes."

Wayne pulled Tina quietly after him, looking at the extremely ordinary three-story building, which looked a lot like his residence on Golden Street.

If it weren't for someone leading the way, he could hardly believe that the core rune circle of the entire Caster city-state would be in such a place.

But soon, he found it simple.

After three inspections, they were led by the guards into an elevator-like mechanism and all the way down.

After descending a distance of about a hundred meters, they came to the core of the rune circle, a huge space comparable to that of the city that never sleeps.

Surrounded by black-armored guards, they guarded a stone tower in the middle.

[You have been scanned by Amirkar Doragnir's psychic perception. Reward: +1 Survival Point. 】

【……】

[You have been scanned by Samjan Tovani's psychic senses.] Reward: +1 Survival Point. 】

Wayne glanced at the dozens of prompts on the panel and didn't pay any more attention, but counted the guards around him.

One, two, three...... There are a total of 300 guards.

Although he didn't know the strength of these guards, their equipment was much more elaborate than the watchtower guards he had seen yesterday.

Muskets, shields, turrets, and ...... Well?

Mental perception not getting any feedback?

Wayne's gaze looked at the stone tower in the middle, did the rune circle still have the ability to shield perception?

Tut.

In such a heavily defended place, could anyone really manipulate the rune circle of the city-state without alerting the guards?

"Please, there are scholars in charge of the rune circle on the first floor of the stone tower, and they will answer your questions. But ......"

The guard lukewarmly reminded, "According to the order, you only have one hour, please leave regardless of whether there is an investigation or not." ”

Yegor said lazily: "The rules, we know them. ”

After speaking, he took a few people from the investigation department and walked straight to the stone tower.

That's when Wayne noticed his feet.

As he walked on the smooth pavement, the sound of clanging made him realize that it was not paved with slate, but metal.

Sal metal?

He looked at the metal pavement coated in black paint, and already sensed that there were dense rune lines and nodes.

Six-sided, nin-nine, twelve-sided...... Twelve-pointed star?

In this core place, the outer circle is a twelve-pointed star, and the inner is a nine-pointed star, and when you reach the bottom of the stone tower, you can already see the nodes of the six-pointed star circle.

It turns out that the rune circles of the city-state are overlapping combinations......

Wayne looked around thoughtfully, it was indeed a very complex structure of the magic circle.

After entering the stone pagoda, I saw an old man wearing monocles, wearing a black robe, and dressed as a scholar.

"Minister Yegor, I'm Lin Qiaoa, who is on duty today, please show me the application documents."

"Excuse me, Professor Linchoa."

The laziness on Yegor's face was rare and retracted, and he respectfully handed over the parchment in his hand.

Professor?

Wayne looked at the old man curiously, with an unsmiling expression.

"Come with me." Lin Qiaoya glanced at the application documents, turned around coldly and walked back.

"Captain, who is this?"

Lacey explained in a low voice, "The professor at Custer School is a scholar who specializes in large rune circles. ”

"Not only that, but he is also one of the few rune experts in the entire Shatlan Kingdom."

Alicia also came over, with a little reverence on her face, "He and his teacher are very good at runes. ”

"Is there a wizard who is powerful?"

"Wizard ......"

Alicia smiled for a moment, "It's not a direction, Professor Lin Joya is studying the basic theory of runes, and wizards are good at spells." ”

"Their research and use of rune arrays may not surpass that of teachers."

"Oh." Wayne nodded, unconcerned about her displeasure.

For each city-state, the wizarding school was a different system from them.

Apparently they prefer to trust scholars who live in the city-state all year round, rather than wizarding schools that only sell potions, machines, or various rune items.

After a few people passed through a dark corridor, they entered the core of the real magic circle.

I saw a large circular room, the walls and floor were made of silver-white Sal metal, not only smooth and flawless, but also shining with crystal light under the illumination of those rune lines.

In the center of the room, there was a huge circular platform, the surface of which was densely engraved with various rune nodes, and a striped path extended in all directions.

At the same time, around the high platform, there were several scholars dressed the same as Professor Lin Qiaoya, holding magnifying glasses in their hands, checking the nodes and patterns of the circle little by little.

"After receiving the notice from the council, we have already begun to inspect this rune circle." Lin Qiaoya explained, then stretched out his hand and gestured, "You can also start." ”

Lacey patted Alicia on the shoulder, "Let's get started." ”

"Hmm."

Alicia cautiously walked up to the platform, approaching the core area of the circle little by little, holding a larger magnifying glass in her hand to examine the runes.

Lacey also took Wayne and the others around, asking each of the scholars who were working, hoping to get some useful information from them.

"Professor Linjoya, is there anything special going on here lately?" Yegor saw that the others were starting to work, and he was not idle, and asked casually.

"What do you mean?"

"For example, if there are people who have been polluted, if there are scholars who have been working here for a long time suddenly disappearing, or if there is a big change in temperament, or if there are new people who have just joined here, and so on."

Lin Joya glared at him, "You mean to suspect that we people are suspicious?" ”

"Of course...... It's not,"

Respectfully, but in professional matters, Yegor did not budge, "But you must also know what happened yesterday, right?" ”

"Parasite things?"

"Well, I wonder if you can tell me why the rune circle didn't detect anything abnormal?"

"This ......"

Lin Joya was speechless, no matter how annoyed he was to be suspicious, but judging from the results, the rune circle did not detect the existence of parasites.

Even now, nothing has been found......

"So, just question, think again?" Yegor didn't continue to dwell on it.

"Recently, two scholars have taken long vacations,"

Lin Joya thought for a moment and said, "One of them is going to Crand to attend the latest research conference on rune literature, and the other is going to the city-state of Andrea to purchase some teaching materials. ”

"What about other than them?"

"My student Mikus just passed the interview and joined the work of the Guardian Rune Circle."

"Oh? When? ”

"Ten days ago," Lin Joya looked at him dissatisfied, "do you think my students are more suspicious?" ”

"I'm sorry," Yegor shook his head, "Whoever is a student, as long as they have recently entered here, will be investigated. Anything else? ”

"No, just the three of them...... Well, there's one more. ”

Lin Joya thought of something, hesitated and said, "Just the day before yesterday, the wife of a scholar was polluted by the red moon......"

"Oh? What about the scholar? ”

"He was on duty yesterday, and he just went back to rest today."

Yegor nodded, "Later, I will trouble the professor to help provide some information about these people, and we will conduct a routine investigation of them later." ”

“…… Good. ”

Not to mention Yegor's side, one of the scholars that Wayne approached did not get any useful information.

I only know that the rune array has been operating normally recently, and the positioning of the aberration is very accurate......

After taking a brief note, Wayne looked at Carly Lacey and the others who were still chatting with the scholars, and after thinking about it, he began to look around at this rune array.

Compared to the simplicity of the mechanical puppet, the core nodes and patterns of the city-state magic circle were dozens or hundreds of times more complex, and it was almost impossible for him to understand its composition and runic effects with the rune knowledge he had now.

But this did not prevent him from combining the rune knowledge in his mind and verifying it.

Can't form a rune circle, can't you look at the picture to identify?

Detect where the runes of the creatures of the abyss are......

Wayne slowly searched for this part of the rune node, since he didn't find those parasites, if there was a problem, there was a high probability that there was a problem with this part of the rune.

Attack runes aren't, this should be elemental spell runes, right?

It looks like a fireball with patterns and rune nodes, but it's significantly more complex than a fireball.

Defense Runes, Spiritual Shields, Solid Hearts, Elemental Shields......

Detect the rune, find it!

Wayne's heart was shocked, and he finally found this part of the rune, and there was a fan-shaped area near the high platform.

Perceiving runes, so many rune nodes?

One, two, three...... fifty-four

There are 54 rune nodes responsible for monitoring the city-state alone, which is terrifying.

"Do you understand these runes, too?" Alicia, who was busy on the high platform, noticed his arrival and asked in a low voice.

"I don't understand." Wayne shook his head dryly, "What about you, what did you find?" ”

"No," Alicia shook her head as well, "these rune nodes are much more complicated than I thought, if only the teacher were here." ”

"It's up to you now, come on."

Wayne encouraged her, glanced at the core runes on the platform, and focused on detecting the runes.

The lines of these fifty-four rune nodes are intertwined, and it will take a lot of time to figure out what they do.

At this moment, a mechanical voice sounded, "Level 1 Calamity Wave Detected, Location, 75 Ruhr Block." ”

Well?

When Wayne heard this information, his heart moved, and he carefully observed the rune nodes on the ground, and there were just a few flashes of 4 rune nodes......

He looked at the runes, checked them again, and found the rune node that detected the aberration.

As long as one detection rune is confirmed, the others can be split.

A minute later, Wayne found the rune node that detected large attack fluctuations.

Then there are the monitoring runes of the outer circle nodes that have been destroyed......

After removing the other detection runes, only twelve rune nodes remained in front of him.

Detect only twelve abyssal creatures?

Wayne crouched on the ground, carefully observing the rune nodes, detecting the Abyss Demon Worm, the Fire Demon, the Plague Knight, and the Shadow Demon......

Didn't detect a rune node for the Bone Eater?

Wayne double-checked, frowning and getting up, certain that the rune nodes didn't have the ability to detect bone eaters.

How can it be?

At this moment, Alicia said happily, "I found it." ”

Wayne turned his head to look at her, and at the same time, Yegor and the others, who were communicating with the scholars, also gathered around.

"Huh? Got it? Lin Joya walked up to the high platform and asked, "What is wrong?" ”

"Here!"

Alicia pointed to the core rune circle, one of the runes in a circle with twenty-four rune nodes, and said, "I found that it didn't have a pattern to pass through. ”

A few people looked in the direction she was pointing, and saw that it was a rune that shimmered with a faint white light.

"I'll see."

Lin Joya took out a magnifying glass to carefully observe the appearance of the rune, and muttered in his mouth: "Number 13, there are 12 stripes in the design, and the effect is to stimulate the attack rune......"

"How? Is it not enabled? Alicia looked a little smug.

“…… It is true that it is not enabled. ”

Lin Joya hesitated and nodded, "The lines connecting it have been moved. ”

"Professor, does it affect the effectiveness of detecting bone eaters?" Wayne asked.

He had already looked at the core rune nodes and was sure that none of them belonged to the Bone Eater Detection, so he asked.

"No, its function is to open the attack spell of the rune circle."

"Huh?" Yegor asked suspiciously, "What about detection?" ”

"I don't know...... But the mere fact that this rune has been passed shows that your suspicions are correct. Please also give us honest feedback. ”

"I don't need you to say that, we will naturally report the results of today's investigation."

Lacey began, "I also wonder if the Bone Eater has been manipulated to detect the effects of the Bone Eaters, which is the focus of our investigation. ”

“…… Presumably. Professor Lin Joya lost the confidence he had at the beginning, and now things have developed beyond his expectations, which caught him off guard.

"Alicia, check again and see if you can find that rune."

"Yes, but time ......"

Yegor said without hesitation: "I'll go and apply for a report now, since it has been determined that there is a problem here, presumably the people above will agree to an in-depth investigation." ”

"Okay, I see." Alicia nodded, "I'll continue to check." ”

"Please."

After Yegor left, Professor Lin Joya also explained to the scholars and left in a hurry, saying that he was going to inform the guards outside of the discovery of the discovery here, so that they could strengthen their vigilance.

Wayne didn't stop at the high platform, but looked around the room.

Anyway, he had already made sure that the rune that detected the bone eater was gone, and the rest was waiting for Alicia to confirm the result.

[Because your origin is more than 30, you have successfully resisted the erosion of the power of the origin of desire.] Evaluation: It's still the origin of familiarity, the familiar taste...... Special Rewards: Survival Point +5, Spirit Level +1, Tenacity Level +1. 】

Well?

At the farthest point from the exit, Wayne saw such a hint on the panel.

Here, it will be affected by the origin of desire??

It's a chapter today, and I'll add more tomorrow.

(End of chapter)