Chapter 1165： Memories of victoria

Victoria first used a very impressive and general description to describe the way the Violet Kingdom selects "gifted people", so that Gawain had a general impression in his mind, and Heidi on the side spoke after listening: "I have heard of this kind of'choice', and I also heard that this kind of'choice' is not always there. In the older ages, the Violet Kingdom was more closed than it is now, and there is no such talent for choosing from the continent of Loren. The tradition of apprenticeship mentoring-it wasn't until about six hundred years ago that an enlightened prince of secret law set this precedent..."

"Yes, that was six hundred years ago," Victoria nodded. "That is the period after Anzu's founding was stabilized, and the originally highly enclosed Violet Kingdom suddenly announced that it would open up their magical knowledge-press What they said was in the "mage's own way." Then the Violet Lorewalker and the'receiver' who acted publicly began to appear in the northern part of the mainland.

"According to our family records, these masters with advanced magic skills caused a lot of turmoil in the northern region at that time, especially among those extraordinary people who chase magical mysteries and ancient knowledge... as we know. After the collapse of the Gondor Empire, the magical civilization of mankind was severely damaged. The magister system that was heavily dependent on the Deep Blue Well disappeared overnight. The surviving spellcasters urgently needed to re-establish it without the Deep Blue Well. A reliable magic system. However, for traditional wizards who rely on experience-trial and error-accumulation to improve their knowledge, how difficult is it to build such a system? Therefore, in the hundred years after the founding of Anzu, the human wizards It's like groping around the stone wall in the dark, unable to do anything..."

It is true-Gawain thought to himself, although all he has experienced in his mind is the short memory of the first ten years of Anzu Liguo, what he has seen and heard in those ten years is enough to make him understand the scene described by Victoria. In fact, the Cecil family's ancestral training "Knights are better than mages" was spoken under the background of the era-because the knights were indeed better than mages...

After all, except for a few freaks like Snow Wild, the mages of that year were basically half disabled.

Victoria didn’t know the thought that was turning in Gawain’s mind. She just continued: "...It was in that situation that the wizards of the Violet Kingdom suddenly appeared in the north of the mainland. Their appearance made the human wizards 600 years ago. We saw a certain brand new possibility-brand new magic knowledge, the mysterious and ancient violet system, various self-sustaining magic circles that can operate without the deep blue well... It was still broken after a century of repairs. As far as the human magic system is concerned, the knowledge brought by the violet mages is almost like some kind of... miracle.

"It was also from that time that the Violet Kingdom began'communication' with the mainland of Loren. According to them, it was a'mage-style communication', obscure, secretive, following ancient rules and traditions, like a trickle. To pass on knowledge and shape a new inheritance system for wizards. They select apprentices with outstanding talents from the north of the mainland-most of them are humans, but occasionally there are minority groups such as elves and dwarves, and bring them back to the island to teach them. The selected knowledge left, and at the same time, they continued to send scholars to the human world. Some of these scholars became the guests of various mage organizations in the northern region of the later generations, and the rest were basically recruited by the royal family and nobles to become the Anzu royal family mage The Association's'Foreign Advisor'...

"Whether you want to admit it or not, these envoys from the Violet Kingdom and the magical knowledge they bring have greatly changed the pattern of spellcasters in the northern region, and have long-term influence on the reconstruction process of the magic system of the Anzu Kingdom and the small northern countries— -In the following six centuries, this influence has gradually spread to the entire human world, as well as other countries that are more closely connected with human nations.

"And this has further established the influence of the'Secret Magic Society' in the caster community, allowing such a mysterious organization of wizards that is far away from the continent of Loren and almost never reveals their true face in front of the nations of Loren. The lofty status of the association-even because it is more mysterious, the "charm" of the secret magic will be more "charm" in the eyes of the caster than the association of astrology masters, you know your majesty, the mages... just like this mysterious feeling. "

Speaking of this, Victoria stopped, seeming to be sorting out her thoughts, and then continued: "To this day, the traces of influence left by the'violet magic system' in Loren's modern magic system are still visible everywhere, such as traditional communication. Spells, anti-gravity spells before the improvement, old self-charged magic circles, etc.-Although most of these things have been improved by the Rune Institute and the Magic Technology Institute, they are in their original form. In fact, they are all closely related to the Violet Kingdom."

Listening to Victoria’s narration, Gawain subconsciously moved his fingers and rubbed his chin. He gathered this information in his mind and gradually abstracted it into a macro picture, and gradually frowned: "I always thought that the violet kingdom was isolated from the world. The connection with the mainland of Loren is very alienated, and I did not expect that they would have such a profound impact on Loren... This sounds even like a long-term and comprehensive infiltration. In theory, the Violet Kingdom can even be established on the mainland of Loren. A force that is sufficient to contend with the local regime-even if they don't, they are enough to stifle the lifeblood of many local mage organizations."

"You are right. In fact, you are not the only one who worried about this. The royal family in the Anzu era, Typhon's Wizard Association and some scholars who left names in history have also expressed similar views, but the problem lies in this: Six Hundreds of years have passed, and the Violet Kingdom has really been hiding from the world to this day. Except for the small-scale coastal trade and those traveling masters, they really... didn't cross the line in one step."

Gawain raised his eyebrows subconsciously, he didn't speak, just listened to Victoria to continue.

"The activities lasted for six hundred years. Of course, the northern countries are not blind. Many people are paying attention to the every move of the violet mages, including our family-but the mages seem to really just come here to travel and In addition to academic exchanges and short-term employment, they do not participate in politics, intermarriage, military employment, establish any organization affiliated to the Violet Kingdom, and do not develop any personal power in the Loren continent, except for academic exchanges and short-term employment. As soon as the prescribed length of travel time arrives, he immediately withdraws and leaves. Even if a royal family once solicited eternal titles and large fiefdoms, it would not be possible to keep any of them..."

"This... is indeed a bit powerful..." Gao Wen couldn't help muttering, "On the contrary, it makes people care more..."

"Yes, but it doesn't matter whether they are acting like this," Victoria nodded. "Of course, there are people who guess that they are good at disguising and hiding purposes... But for six hundred years, countless pairs of eyes were staring. , None of the wizards from Violet showed any footwork, which in itself is equivalent to some kind of'iron proof'."

"This can only show that their goal is indeed not to intervene in the forces of Loren Continent, but it is hard to say whether this goal is really limited to studying abroad, this country is too mysterious...mysterious to the level of fear," Gawain touched his chin, his face cautiously said, and then suddenly raised his head to look at Victoria, "Can you tell me more about your childhood experience? How did you get selected? What methods did they use to attract the selection" The gifted?"

"The process of selecting seeds in the Violet Kingdom has always been a mystery. They have never disclosed specific criteria." Victoria shook her head. "You know, the city of a thousand towers is like the kingdom of heaven or the goddess of magic in the minds of believers. The temple has an extraordinary status, and it is the lifelong dream of many mages to be selected by them-this means a'must pass' to high-level and even legends.

"No matter how mediocre the mages who returned from the city of a thousand towers were before, they are all high-level starters after they come back. Therefore, some people have always wanted to find the selection criteria for the Violet Kingdom, and there are even some secret societies who have hollowed out their minds to send apprentices to the Violet Kingdom. However, no one has ever succeeded in finding this rule. Their selection seems to be given priority to casting talent, but there have also been cases where farmers with mediocre aptitudes suddenly encounter'receivers' in the fields. Most of the time they only choose Young people, but there will also be older people entering their apprenticeship list, and there are even rumors that they will take away kobolds and wild goblins from the wilderness...Of course, these rumors have no credibility.

"All in all, I don’t know why I was selected—I just remember that one day, a wizard suddenly visited Winterhold, my father received him, and the wizard took out the mark of the Violet Kingdom, and A "Large Library Entrance Certificate" waiting to be signed. My father and mother talked with the mage for a long time, exchanging some enrollment details and contractual content. Finally, they consulted me. After I nodded, I became a preliminary apprentice."

Gao Wen looked at the female grandfather in the holographic projection somewhat unexpectedly: "On one side is the heir to the Duke of the North, on the other side is a foreigner who suddenly came to say that he wants to enroll students, and the next learning process needs to travel to a foreign country and close management... Your parents agreed? Isn't this a bit sloppy?"

"Because this happened more than once," Victoria said lightly, "In the six hundred years, five members of the Wilde family have become apprentices in the city of a thousand towers-although the enrollment of the Violet Kingdom is very important to the entire group of wizards. It is a very rare opportunity, but if we look at it in the history of several centuries and the scope of the entire northern border, this kind of thing has actually happened many times, and we are no stranger to it.

"Secondly, the'selection' of the Violet Kingdom is not mandatory. In fact, compared with the traditional process of selecting apprentices by the mage, the invitation from the city of a thousand towers is so gentle and relaxed to an incredible degree that you can refuse at will, Regret, even if you have arrived in Violet territory, as long as you want to go home, they will immediately send you back. In addition, they have a very very detailed... According to our current statement, it should be called "Enrollment Agreement", which is detailed It stipulates the food and lodging standards, health protection, round-trip time and course content for freshmen, just..."

Victoria thought carefully about how to express it, and finally put his hands together: "It's very formal, very formal."

"Regular...well, I still think it's not right, there is a big problem," Gawain sighed, "but you can go on-what happened after the'admission'? How did they bring the apprentice to thousands The city of towers?"

"It is rumored that Violet’s receiver will pick up the selected apprentices with a flying boat that shuttles in the dreamland and the star sea. When all crew members are dreaming, the boat will drive by itself and cross an invisible sea horizon, and fall into one. In the cave covered by the aurora, and arrived in the courtyard of the prince of secret law in the early morning of the next day..." Victoria said, the corner of her mouth was slightly tilted, "very romantic and'magic' fantasy, but it is a pity that the real situation is far better than That's much simpler.

"They use an ordinary passenger ship to pick up people. That ship is much behind our current magic warship. The apprentices usually gather in a small town in the north. After boarding the ship, they can pass through Violet and Los Angeles in less than half a day. The small strait between the mainland of Lun—the restaurant on the ship is pretty good. I still have an impression of this.

"After crossing the strait, ships full of apprentices will dock in a seaside city. The location of the specific port is different from time to time. I remember that I arrived in a small city called'Plandel' back then. It's rainy...very unusual weather in the north.

"After a short break, we met the messenger of the city of a thousand towers. I remember that she was a very kind old lady. She was responsible for guiding the new apprentices to the hinterland of the Violet Kingdom... I remember that old lady said that, it was' The real and eternal violet kingdom'..."

"The real, eternal kingdom of violet?" Gawain immediately noticed these unusual words, his eyes became serious, "Why do you say that?"

"She didn't explain it, maybe she explained it later but I don't remember it anymore," Victoria shook her head. "But I still remember the emotional expression she said at that time... it was a deep and nostalgic tone, just It seems that she is not referring to a country that is still thriving, but a place that has been destroyed and can only be remembered forever..."

"...This is a very important clue, I will write it down for the time being," Gawain nodded, "What happens afterwards? You were taken to the city of a thousand towers? How did you get there?"

"We were taken outside the city. There was no road outside the city leading to the hinterland of the kingdom. Only the endless dense forest and the fog permeating the forest were visible, and the old lady told us-the violet road is not there. Extending in reality, it connects cities in a higher dimension, and if you want to go to the city of a thousand towers, the only way is to find those hidden paths in the fog..."

Heidi, who was silent on the side, finally couldn't help but speak: "So, after the apprentices come to the Violet Kingdom, they first need to face some kind of test. Only those who pass can actually reach the City of Thousand Towers?"

"No, only the local mage apprentices need to take this exam. We can go directly in because we paid for the extra tuition-this is the old lady's original words."

Gao Wen: "..."

Heidi, who was next to him, couldn't help but tremble at the corner of his mouth: "What then?"

"Then she took us through the thick fog-that's all I remember."