Following in Andrew's footsteps, fifteen teenagers walked deeper into the island.

Purgatory Island is an irregular circular island about eighty miles in diameter. More than two-thirds of the island is covered by virgin jungle.

Vast expanses of primeval jungle stretch from one end of the island's shoreline to the depths of the island.

This jungle is like a product of the Jurassic era of hundreds of thousands of years on the earth, full of jungle giant trees, those tall trees towering into the sky, the tall canopy is like a big umbrella covering the sky, three or five people can't hug it. Everywhere there are protruding roots, vines and plant roots.

These tall trees are the main tree species on Purgatory Island, the Fog Cedar.

It is a water-based magical plant that absorbs water from the air and releases a large amount of shaped water mist to regulate the humidity of the surrounding environment. They mingled with the rotten fumes above the Sea of Death, producing an even larger white smoke that enveloped the entire island. Only at noon when the sun is blazing will Purgatory Island be freed from the fog and reveal its hideous face.

Due to the steaming of the fog, people's vision was greatly obstructed, so after walking into the jungle for about 500 meters, the teenagers realized that there was still a castle standing in the jungle in front of them.

The castle is a large area, and in the center is a tall tower that stands like a sharp sword, overlooking the world.

When he led the boys to the castle, he was greeted by two teenagers of about sixteen years old at the door, and one of them stepped forward, put his right hand on his chest, bowed respectfully, and said, "Lord Andrew, you are back." ”

Andrew said coldly: "Thack, did anyone make a mistake when I was away?"

The boy named Zake hurriedly said, "No one dares to go against your will, Lord Andrew." ”

"Very well, Heather, tell them what this place is, and the rules of it. ”

"Do as you command, Lord Andrew. ”

Another young man, Cisher, replied respectfully.

Listening to Cisser's statement, Gong Hao finally understood where he had come.

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To understand the existence of Purgatory Island, one must first understand the history of magic in the Wind Continent.

Since someone in the Wind Continent accidentally discovered the existence of magic elements and successfully resonated with the surrounding magic elements through their own power, thus creating the first human magic and becoming the first human magician in the Wind Continent, the history of the use of magic in the Wind Continent has developed for 6,000 years.

In the 6,000-year history of human magic, more than 3,000 kinds of spells have been created, dozens of factions have been divided, and the subdivision of magician types and levels has gradually moved towards a systematic level, making the entire Fengming Continent a typical magic continent.

However, magic is not something that everyone can learn, and a person without talent, no matter how hard he tries, will not be able to become a good magician. Through thousands of years of research in the Wind Continent, it has been discovered that there are almost one person out of every 10,000 who can truly learn and use magical powers. And there is only one person in every 100,000 people who have outstanding talents and can master high-level spells. Someone who can invent and create new spells may not be one in a million.

Lineage has become an important criterion for determining whether humans have the ability to learn magic, and the probability of a magician's descendants becoming magicians is much greater than that of ordinary people. As a result, the concept of blood is deeply ingrained, and the spirit of nobility is deeply rooted in the hearts of everyone on this continent.

It is believed that the world is inherently hierarchical, and that anyone who has the blood of a magician is born a nobleman.

However, there is no shortage of rebels in humanity, and there are always people who try to break through the shackles, break the conventions, and break through the cages that shackle them.

About a thousand years ago, a man named Georgie Lamburn persistently pursued the mysteries of magic even without the power of the elemental communication. Through tireless efforts and research, he discovered that resonating with the elements of magic and borrowing their power was not the only way to use magic. There are also many ways in which humans can borrow elemental power, so that ordinary people can also have the power to use magic.

This discovery caused a sensation at the time, and many people who aspired to magical powers continued Georgie Lamborn's research, and eventually formed a systematic and massive magical project, which is the origin of alchemy.

Unlike magicians, alchemy does not use spells with its own powers. They use their knowledge to collect all kinds of rare materials and make all kinds of magic items to achieve their goals. If a magician is a powerful being, then an alchemist is a great engineer who designs and manufactures all kinds of magical instruments to complete people's constant pursuit of quality of life............

If the existence of magicians is the pinnacle of primitive force in the wizarding world, then alchemy is the mainstream direction of technological development in the wizarding world. The latter is far more socially significant than the former. It allows ordinary people to grasp the power of magic and promotes the rapid development of society as a whole.

The common denominator of both material and magical technologies is that they never stop deepening their understanding of the world in which they live, and use this understanding to transform it into inventions that can serve humanity. And when civilization develops to a certain extent, it becomes a competition between human beings and other living beings for natural resources.

A normal magic potion may require destroying at least ten demonic plants and killing five demonic beasts to craft. People only use what is useful to themselves, and what is useless to themselves is to abandon luxury.

In the craziest era of alchemy, a large number of primeval jungles were cut down by people, and demonic beasts were killed, except for a few extremely dangerous areas where top-level demonic beasts lived, wherever human footprints could reach and could be destroyed, people almost never let go.

They take as much as they want, and never give.

Large puppets were created for war, various puppet samurai sprung up, each weapon was imbued with magical powers, and the samurai fought with scrolls and potions...... Any great invention is always the first to be used in war, depleting each other, invading, grabbing resources, destroying production, annexing land. For example, if a large amount of Adamantite or Mithril is found in a certain place, there will be a situation in which various countries compete for each other, mining and refining at the same time, and at the same time consume through war, wielding various resources to their heart's content.

During those crazy years of the Hundred Years' War, alchemy became the criterion for determining the strength of a nation, and the huge magical war puppets were far better to use and affordable than those unruly magicians. However, after the Hundred Years War, people found that the once rich continent had been shattered into ruins by the war. There are fewer and fewer materials that can be used for alchemy, a large number of demonic plants have died, and various demonic beasts have disappeared from people's sight. One by one, the primeval jungle disappeared from the surface, and in its place were large ruins made up of abandoned puppets, golems, magic golems, and other alchemical items.

People have always spared no effort in the destruction of ecological resources, whether in the past, in the present or in the future. To some extent, it represents the level of scientific and technological development of a world - the greater the damage to the natural ecology, the higher the scientific and technological achievements.

However, as resources were exhausted, alchemy, which lacked materials and could not carry out a lot of experimentation and production, gradually lost its former glory. It was discovered that the magicians were still an irreplaceable force in the continent, and the alchemists were beginning to be useless.

Since then, alchemy has gradually declined. Some powerful alchemy techniques have also been lost.

Although alchemy has declined, some countries with strong expectations are unwilling to give up their yearning to regain the glory of alchemy in the past......

About twenty years ago, a merchant ship belonging to the Kingdom of Reims inadvertently entered the Purgatory Island, hidden in the mist, while entering the Sea of Death.

On this island, they found the long-lost primeval jungle and all kinds of rare magical beasts.

They found that there were about 8,000 species of creatures inhabiting Purgatory Island, including nearly 2,000 species of demonic creatures and plants. Due to the fact that Purgatory Island has been hidden in fog for many years, the island is very little known to the world, and its environment has been almost untouched by outsiders. At present, there are about 300 kinds of magical beasts living on this island, which have become extinct in the Wind Roaring Continent.

The leader of the caravan reported the discovery to the king of his country, and a huge plan was born.

King Strick V of the Reims Kingdom personally invited Patrick Hines, the best alchemy master in the country at that time, and asked him to go to Purgatory Island immediately, build an alchemy castle, and make the Sea of Death under the jurisdiction of the Reims Kingdom a forbidden place on the grounds of protecting the lives of the fleet.

On Purgatory Island, Hines was helped by the entire kingdom to develop various war puppets for the kingdom of Reims. War puppets are extremely rare in today's continent due to the extreme scarcity of resources. And the existence of Purgatory Island has given the Reims Kingdom a chance to revitalize.

From this day on, Hines devoted himself to the study of alchemy, which he loved most, providing a large number of war equipment for the Reims Kingdom and studying various lost alchemy techniques with the help of the Reims Kingdom.

Ten years later, the Kingdom of Reims successfully defeated two neighbors who were originally stronger than him, and became one of the three great powers of the Northern Continent of the Wind Continent, and Stricker VI was crowned emperor and became the Reims Empire.

Twenty years later, Patrick Hines has become the most feared master alchemist on the continent, mastering at least thirty or more lost alchemy.

———————————————————

"So this is the Empire's alchemy experimental ground?" a teenager exclaimed, but with a bit of excitement in his tone.

To be able to work in the core secret of what makes a country quickly strong must be excited for every teenager, and everyone whispers. Some even fantasize that they might be able to learn some profound alchemy spells, so that from now on, they can also soar.

But Gong Hao's heart sank in an instant.

After all, he is not one of those simple teenagers, but from the information age of the explosion of information, and his understanding of human nature is far stronger than that of these children.

Coming to such a high-stakes place usually means only one outcome – they never want to leave the island again for the rest of their lives.

Did he travel into this world to be a prisoner?

And for some reason, there was a faint feeling in his heart that was even more bad, but he couldn't say it for a while.

"Master Hines is the supreme master of the Alchemy Castle, and his will is our destiny. Below Master Hines, there are two assistants. They are Lord Andrew and Master Piel. You've already seen Lord Andrew, and he's in charge of the servants. Mistress Pierre is primarily responsible for the management of apprentices. ”

Pointing to the tower behind him, Heather said, "Master Hines and Master Pierre live in that tower, and they usually don't come out. Normally, you don't see either of them. All the instructions are given by Lord Andrew, so we just have to do what Lord Andrew tells us to do. ”

"May I ask what is the difference between an apprentice and a servant?" asked a young man curiously.

"The apprentice is the assistant who is responsible for participating in the experiments, design and manufacturing of the master, and the status is much higher than that of us servants, the number is not large, about ten or so, and they are the best alchemy apprentices selected from all over the empire to participate in it. And the work of a servant, that is, a person who does all kinds of chores, is an assistant to an assistant. There were about sixty servants in the castle, and each one had a lot of work to do. Thack and I are the chief servants, and you are usually under our command. ”

Sark took a step forward: "Alright, now everyone counts, from left to right." Follow me with the double number, and follow Cisher with the single number. We're going to take you where you need to do things, and from now on, you're going to work hard and don't upset the adults, understand?"

"Understood. All the teenagers shouted at the same time.

After explaining a few things that should be taken care of, Heather and Thack divide the new teenagers into two groups and bring them into the castle.

In the center of the castle is a large open field. Countless young servants dressed in white were busy with their work.

The targets of their work are unknown creatures who are kept in cages.

A praying mantis-like creature wielded its scythe-like arms and hissed sharply from inside the cage to the people outside, swinging the arms and the magic barrier on the cage glowing white from time to time.

A huge snail was lying lazily in its cage like a hill, and with its breathing, a burst of freezing cold mist appeared.

A three-eyed cat jumped up and down in its cage, its howl vibrating like thunder, but it couldn't penetrate the soundproof barrier laid out outside the castle. Locked in the iron cage next to it was a dragon-like creature covered in thick scales, spitting flames that made people shudder to watch.

To Gong Hao's surprise, he didn't find any information related to these creatures from Xiu Yiglaire's memory, that is, most of these magical beasts were some endangered creatures.

The castle was surrounded by puppet warriors in iron armor, exactly the same as the middle-aged man's belt. The main defense force of the entire castle is composed of these puppet warriors. They are not beings in the true sense of the word, but they are very powerful and always faithful to their masters.

After arranging for the other teenagers to do things, Cisher led Gong Hao to a flower shed, where some strange potted plants were planted that Gong Hao had never seen before. There are even some plants whose branches and leaves are swaying around, as if they are as agile as human hands and feet.

"Glare, from today onwards, you are in charge of the collection of materials for Area 13. Heather said to Gong Hao.

"What should I do?" asked Gong Hao.

Heather casually pulled out a plant from the pot beside him, and the rhizome of the plant grew like a doll, with hands and feet, and a face with uniform facial features.

"It's called weeping grass, and its cry is annoying. Heather said, and then gently pinched the cheeks of the rhizome doll with her fingers, and there was a row of sharp teeth in the gaping mouth.

"The saliva of weeping grass is an excellent dissolving solution. Pinch its face and take a few drops of saliva, just like I do now, but be careful, its teeth are highly toxic. If you get your finger bitten by it, you're dead. Don't drop too much every day, or weeping grass will die. So saying, Heather took a few drops of saliva from the bottle, and stuffed the weeping grass back into the pot, shoveled it up again, and covered it with dirt, and the crying stopped.

Next, Cisher explained the characteristics and precautions of various magic plants to Gong Haoyi one by one.

There are about forty species of plants in Area 13, each with its own unique nature, each with its own purpose. In addition to the weeping grass, there are at least five demonic plants that are extremely lethal and require great care to fiddle with them.

"Okay, I've told you all about the purpose, maintenance and methods of these magic plants, it's not complicated, it's not simple, have you remembered them all?"

"Yes. Gong Hao nodded.

"Well, every morning an apprentice will come here to pick up the materials you collected the day before, you can just give the materials to him, and he will tell you what the materials need to be prepared for the next day, and you will continue to prepare the next day's supplies as instructed. Your room is number 13, which matches your management area. As long as you do what you do, then you can arrange the rest of the time. There is a canyon to the east of the castle and a lake to the west, both of which are forbidden places, and the tower where Master Hines is located is only accessible to apprentices and a few adults. Other than that, you can go anywhere else, but it is recommended that you do not go out of the castle, because the castle is protected by an enchantment, and outside the castle there are many terrifying monsters. Don't think about running away, just concentrate on your work, understand?"

"Understood. Gong Hao nodded.

After thinking about it, he suddenly said, "Heather, can I ask you a question?"

"Say it. ”

"I remember you said that the number of servants here is about sixty all year round, is that true?"

"Yes. ”

"But I've heard that the Empire sends a batch of servants to Purgatory Island every month. ”

"That's true. ”

"Where did all those people go?"

"There are often people who make mistakes, and Andrew will take those who make mistakes and never see them back. Andrew said that they didn't work hard, so he didn't want them to work here, and sent them to work somewhere else. ”

Gong Hao's heart fell to the bottom in an instant.

Sending a group of young servants who don't work hard every month to work elsewhere, and then transporting a group of new servants every month, I am afraid that this kind of lie can only deceive these children who are not deeply involved in the world.

Gong Hao said in a low voice: "So, fifteen people were taken away by Andrew last month?"

"Yes, so fifteen people came in this month. ”

"How many people does Andrew take each month?"

"I'm not sure, I've only been here for four months, and the number of people is different every month. Last month, a chief servant made a mistake and was taken away by Lord Andrew, and I took him on top. Speaking of this, Heather frowned: "You said that you only ask one question, Hue Igler, you asked too much, let's do a good job." ”

"Okay Cisher, I'll get it done. Hope you are too. ”

"What do you mean?" Siser paused, not understanding the meaning of Gong Hao's words.

"I mean...... Good luck. ”