In the second second after the mysterious silver-haired girl named Morningstar disappeared, the whole world returned to normal.
The wind in the forest started to flow again, the obscured aura environment returned to perception again, the light and shadow in the dense forest flickered, and once again returned to the state of darkness near dusk but not completely dark. The Ranger soldiers who had not been seen before are now The surroundings were alert, these concentrated soldiers seemed to never leave from beginning to end, and still maintained the position and posture at the last moment in Maggie's memory, and no one noticed anything unusual in the forest.
The great adventurer Modil was standing in front of Maggie, with a mysterious and complex rune array woven in his hands, and seemed to have just reached the last step of the memory extraction technique.
However, in the next second, Modil, who should have been unaware, blinked suddenly, and then the rune array in his hand suddenly changed the layout, and the almost formed memory extraction technique was forcibly reversed by the legendary magician. It became a kind of mental protection spell. Maggie felt the magic in the air stir and converge at a terrifying frequency, and was forcibly suppressed and reshaped by the powerful force. Her spirit was instantly protected by layers. , At the moment of mental retardation, she heard Modil's voice directly in her mind: "What's the matter? I just felt that there was another consciousness in your mind...but I didn't seem to catch the intruder."
At this moment, Maggie deeply realized what kind of a powerful legendary spellcaster this seemingly harmless and always cheerful old man in front of her eyes was actually, and only less than a hundredth of a second appeared in her mind. "Consciousness injection" actually failed to escape the old man’s perception. The opponent even built layers of defense in her mind at the moment she perceives the vision—this even ignored her own powerful magic resistance and dragonborn. Mental strength!
No wonder the girl named "Morning Star" came and went in a hurry, it seems that even if she stays for another moment, Modil can pull out her spiritual projection and imprison her!
Fortunately, everything was a false alarm. Maggie quickly settled her mind and responded in her mind: "Don't worry, I'm fine, the uninvited guest has already left."
Then she blinked to show that her control over her body was as usual, and her consciousness and body were in the same state. She waited for Modil to breathe a bit of relief before she explained: "There was indeed an'invader' just now. , I’m not sure if the other party invaded my memory or interfered with my perception...Mr. Modil, I need to sort out my thoughts a bit."
Under Modil's eyes that became serious in an instant, Maggie quickly organized her thoughts and organized her language. She recalled the entire process of the "communication" just now, sorted out all the suspicious and important details, and only then Her own experience was eloquently—from the emergence of the memories that Modil led her to, to the mysterious figure descending, the surrounding environment fell into a vision, and then to the departure of the uninvited guest, she suddenly awakened herself.
The whole storytelling process did not last long, but Modil became more and more frightened as he listened to it. Even the nearby Rangers who were on alert were also affected—these are the elite of the elite, from training to equipment. Soldiers with impeccable combat experience, but they don't know anything about what happened just now. Although this is indeed beyond the ability of conventional soldiers to cope, it is enough to shock them.
"She claims to be a senior cadre of the Shadow Affairs Division of the Military Intelligence Bureau? And she also explicitly mentioned the name'Amber Director'?" Modil stared, the old mage has been in the world for a lifetime (or maybe more than a lifetime). Bizarre things are one of the few in his experience, "Are you sure you read it right? Is that emblem really from the Military Intelligence Bureau?"
"I confirm that the insignia is correct—and the insignia issue is actually secondary. The important thing is that if the other party lied on this issue, it is really unclear," Maggie frowned, although she returned to the real world, she was at this moment The confusion in her thoughts has not diminished but increased instead, "She has very obvious non-human qualities... skin color, pupil color, breath, these can't be hidden, she doesn't seem to intend to hide, if she really wants to make up an identity for herself , Then how to make up is better than saying that I am an officer of the MIB...
Speaking of this, she frowned, her tone a little uncertain: "And I don’t know if it’s an illusion. When she mentioned the title of'Senior Operator', she seemed to express a sense of pride, just like this The identity is not only true, but also honorable...Mr. Modil, you have never heard of this'Shadow Affairs Division', have you?"
"Of course I haven't heard of it. How can I know things that you don't even know?" Modil spread his hands and looked helpless. "You don't know my situation. I am at best the Grand Archon of Victoria. I’m afraid I don’t know anything about the upper echelons of the empire better than the clerks in the government affairs office.”
What the old man said was the truth. Of course Maggie knew it. She could only shook her head: "The girl who claimed to be the'Morning Star' made me feel very strange, and I have seen many strange races in this world. It even includes Miss Tyre who will suddenly come out of the tap and Mr. Nicholas who rolls down the **** after catching a cold. But the'breath' of Morningstar that is not like a human or even does not belong to the real world is my first time. I feel it. There are many things that seem contradictory and weird in what she said... I even think she is pretending to be mysterious, but the information she revealed is very important."
"Indeed, even if she was pretending to be mysterious, she was pretending to be mysterious when she mentioned Ms. Ye... contacted the ancient gods, and a little bit of God in her words is not a problem," Modi Er squeezed the beard on his chin, his eyes gradually serious, "Anyway, everything that happens today must be reported to the Imperial Capital. Your Majesty Gawain must know about this...especially the'message' that Morningstar asked you to pass on."
"Do you really want to spread this message?" Maggie seemed a little worried. "The origin of the morning star is a mystery, and the purpose is unknown. The message she wants to deliver comes from a more mysterious ancient god. In this'oral message' There may be something we mere mortals can’t perceive... some kind of'element', you know, the power of the gods can even be hidden in words and cognition..."
"...That also has to be passed on," Modil thought for a while, with a firm tone, "On the one hand, I don't think it is necessary for Ms. Ye to throw a trap in this way at the time. After all, all the clues prove that he is a sober. And a friendly righteous God, and he was clearly on our side during the Battle of Talash; on the other hand, even if there is power in this speech and cognition, I don’t think His Majesty Gawain will be affected by it... He is Gawain Cecil, the **** of death cannot take him away, the evil **** cannot defeat him, the **** of war is dead under his gunfire, I heard that even the real body of the dragon **** has no influence on him—Ms. Ye in a sentence How much power can you put in your words?"
The old mage’s evaluation of Gawain carries a strong and unobtrusive impression of reverence, but anyone who knows this great adventurer knows that he has always regarded the pioneering hero as an idol, and Maggie said Of course it was not surprising. She just nodded, approved the old man's judgment, and then said: "Then we should continue to explore the'stone pile' four kilometers away as planned?"
"...Continue," Modil thought a little, nodded and said, "We need to find a safe place to spend the night before the sun sets. The open terrain near the rock pile is better than the deep shadow of the dense forest."
"Understood," Maggie nodded immediately, and then turned to greet the Ranger warriors who were on guard nearby, "Go ahead-pay attention to avoid areas with unusually dense shadows on the road, and don't stay under the tree canopy for a long time. Any abnormal perceptions should be reported immediately. "
In this Violet Island operation with strong shadow power, many things must take into account the special and weird environment here. When personnel move, they should avoid too strong shadows as much as possible, and do not let their bodies stay in one place for a long time. Be sheltered by a tree canopy, and even when camping, you must try to avoid the forest area. It is best to camp on the open ground where the starlight can shine. Although the faint starlight can not dispel the darkness, at least in the place where the starlight shines, it is "dark". The power will fade a little bit more or less.
These are the experiences that Modil, Maggie and others sum up along the way.
Ms. Ye is not hostile to the real world, and there are no traps or beasts on this island to choose people to eat. However, the ubiquitous shadow environment itself is a danger to mortals, although there is no evidence to prove that it is in the dense forest. The shadow of "cannibalism", but when passing through the shadowy area several times before, the soldiers who were accidentally covered by the shadow for a long time felt the inexplicable "gaze" or "sense of pulling" from the shadow. These The soldiers' reports made the entire team act more cautiously.
But this caution does not unduly affect the speed of the team—the well-trained special warfare soldiers march quickly in the dense forest, and there are also Maggie, the humanoid dragon and the legendary mage, Modil, who violently opened the way in front. The squad moved extremely fast, and before the sun set, before the deep night fell, they arrived at the predetermined location, the edge of a clearing in the forest.
Under the strong evening light, the shadowed forest appeared as if a piece of it had been dug out of thin air, and a large-scale flat clearing appeared, and a bunch of things that looked like some kind of weird totem, as if they were carved by a lot of precision. The "stone pile" formed by the pile of stone pillars stands quietly in the center of this open space. The pile of stones is about tens of meters high. These cultural styles are completely different, yet mysterious and long-lasting "architectural" styles.
This is undoubtedly an artifact.
And on the ground around this pile of rocks, there are soft white sands. Almost the entire open space is covered with this white sand. The black soil in the forest not far away presents a distinct state. This white sand made Modil unable to help. Reminiscent of the endless desert in the Kingdom of Shadow God-but he did not feel the extraordinary breath from the sand and dust under his feet, nor did he feel the divine power from the pile of rocks in front of him.
"This is the'weird boulder' mentioned by the reconnaissance plane..." Maggie raised her head and carefully stared at the large stone pile in the middle of the clearing. "Sure enough... it's a man-made object. This is what you saw in the eyes of the mage before?"
"That's right," Modil nodded slightly, and walked forward slowly as he said, "This kind of rock piles are distributed in the forest, and may even be distributed on the entire Violet Island... They are separated from each other. It's far away, the distribution seems irregular, and there is only bare open space around the rock piles, but I always feel...they are connected to the violet kingdom that has completely disappeared."
When the mage’s eye (heavy armor type) was investigating the depths of the island before, Modil discovered this kind of randomly distributed megalithic “buildings” in the forest area. At that time, he became curious about these weird things. It is a pity that Mage’s Eye is a summoned object with limited functions after all. It is difficult to perform delicate and complex exploration tasks, so in the end he didn’t figure out what the origin of this thing was. He can only judge from the appearance that it is a man-made object—now , He finally had the opportunity to investigate in detail.
"Explore the surrounding environment and set up trigger warning runes," Maggie told the rangers who followed. "Contact the rear command and say that we are going to camp at Point 3."
After the soldiers took the order, she stepped to follow the adventurer who was walking towards the rock pile, and at the same time, while looking at the rock pile, she asked in a low voice, "What do you think this thing is for?"
"It looks like some kind of magic device...a magic device with an unheard of style," Modil said of his first feeling, "I have never seen this kind of thing, but it feels a bit familiar to me. …I’m not talking about their appearance, I’m talking about their'breath', as if I had dealt with this kind of breath, but I don't remember it at all."
"Do you feel familiar, but don't have the corresponding memory..." Maggie thoughtfully, she knew that this great adventurer had a memory problem. This is not the first time that this kind of "feeling familiar but unable to recall" It happened, but this time she suddenly had other thoughts, "Your familiarity...could it come from the'other side'?"
"On the other side... Are you saying'the other me'?" Modil was startled. He once mentioned to Victoria about talking to "Wild" in a dream, when the dragonborn lady was also there, so It is not surprising that the other party thinks of this, and when the other party reminds him, his thoughts can't help but shift to this side, "It's really hard to tell..."
While talking, he sighed a little: "Think about it carefully. As I get closer and closer to the center of the Violet Island, I seem to be getting closer to the'boundary'... I often have strange dreams in the past two days. Seeing some life that is related to myself but can't remember at all and lacks real feeling, maybe I and the "other me" are so close that our memories are gradually infiltrating each other..."
"... Isn't there any problem with this?" Maggie looked at the adventurer a little worried, "Maybe you should..."
"What should it be? Should I stop?" Modil laughed. "Victoria tried to persuade me to do the same, but she couldn't even persuade it.
"Don't worry, Maggie, I know what I'm doing-I'm uncovering a new secret. I like to uncover all kinds of secrets the most in my life, but it's the first time I have revealed the secret to myself. Experience is not something everyone can have."
While talking, he waved his hand and wandered to the edge of the huge rock pile: "Come on, as the first group of explorers to visit here, we should focus on the things in front of us, such as studying this stuff in the end... This thing is shining!"
(End of this chapter)
Please remember the domain name of this book's first publication:. _wap.