Chapter 104 Be confident, you are a connected person!
Matthew pushed the door open and walked through the garden to the door. Sure enough, he found Rhaegar shouting there.
He didn't open the door.
Instead, he said to Rhaegar through the fence:
"Let's talk about the sword oil tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. I will go to the Lord's Mansion to find you."
Rhaegar slapped the vertical railing:
"You open the door first. Besides the sword oil, I have something very important that I want to discuss with you in detail!"
Matthew stared at him and suddenly smiled:
"You did it on purpose, right?"
Rhaegar said confidently:
"Why do you say I did it on purpose? I didn't know Sif was in your house."
Come on, don't bring it upon yourself.
Matthew didn't bother to argue with him, silently opened the door and let Rhaegar in.
"Come in, but you have to find a place to sit first. After I finish teaching Sif, I will talk to you about the sword oil."
Rhaegar didn't answer, just hummed twice and entered the door impatiently.
However, as soon as he entered, he saw Sif looking at him with righteousness.
A sly smile suddenly appeared on Rega's face:
"Sorry, honey, I forgot that you had class at Matthew's house today."
As he said that, he shamelessly went to sit next to Sif.
At this time, Peggy brought a cup of hot coffee and a cup of lemon tea from the kitchen.
Rega naturally took the cup of coffee and took a sip:
"Thank you, your craftsmanship is pretty good, much better than our Mrs. Wesley's."
Peggy stared at him.
Rhaegar felt furious behind him. He hurriedly put down the coffee in his hand and apologized again and again:
"So this cup is not for me? Sorry, sorry."
Paige's soul fire calmed down a little.
But the next second.
She saw Rega naturally take the cup of lemon tea and take a big sip, and said while drinking:
"So this cup is for me!"
"Wow! It tastes really good."
See this scene.
Sif's two little cheeks bulged even more.
Paige also looked like she was about to take action.
Fortunately, Matthew caught her in time.
He knew that Rhaegar was here to cause trouble for him.
But because of the fact that he came to help out a while ago and the tax-free policy, Matthew didn't care about anything as long as it didn't affect his class.
At the moment, he ignored Rhaegar, who was sitting like an old man, and continued to tell Sif the history.
It's strange to say.
It was a one-to-one lesson before, and Xifu looked uneasy.
Now that Rhaegar was around to interfere, she became very serious.
She took a small pen and carefully wrote down every important point Matthew said.
I finished talking for a long time.
Sif suddenly raised a question:
"Matthew, why do many people from the evil camp always appear stupid in history books?
I mean, they may not be really stupid, but many times the decisions they make clearly have better options.
I found that there are many similar records. In those historical stories, the protagonist who plays the role of justice often only needs to use a little strategy, and the big bad guy from the evil camp will be fooled.
If these were not all solid historical facts, I would suspect that the bards were just fabricating them to fool us.
You should have seen a lot of bad guys, are they really that stupid?"
about this issue.
Matthew pondered for more than three minutes before slowly giving his answer:
"Put aside the relativity between justice and evil in the division of camps, and aside from the survivor bias caused by the compilation and selection of historical stories, I can give you a relatively certain answer - yes, we are in the process of life and adventure.
, most of the evil camp characters I encounter are not smart.”
Sif held her chin with one hand and said curiously:
"Why? Are people from the evil camp born stupid?"
Matthew shook his head:
"No, I think the root cause of this is lack of education."
While he was talking, he noticed that Laila, who was listening in the corridor, could not help but walk over.
Matthew motioned for her to sit down, and then said without hesitation:
…
"Most members of evil organizations are not very smart characters, that's obvious.
The organizations I'm talking about include groups such as warlocks, arsonists, blighters, scarlet letter hunters, and natives of the underworld.
The common feature of these members is that they have a certain amount of extraordinary power, but they seriously lack the knowledge to control this power.
Taking the Scourge Order as an example, I once killed a gnoll warlock named Edson.
He is a fourth-level warlock and is really powerful. If he is smart enough, I may suffer a big loss.
But fortunately, he is just a jackal.
And I am a human mage who has received sufficient education.
Just because I can defeat him doesn't mean that I'm inherently better than him as an individual.
It's because of my background that I completely overwhelm him.
Just imagine it.
If you were a gnoll, what could you do?
Can you do better than Ederson?
Maybe you think you can, then we can deduce it——
If you are a talented jackal, born in a barren underground tribe, your parents are no different from other jackals. They gave you life and they love you very much, but none of them
Maybe I'll leave my job to be with you.
When you were born, they had to hunt and fight day and night.
The only ones accompanying you are the gnoll cubs who know nothing about this world like you.
Fortunately you are smart.
When other brothers and sisters are just learning to crawl around, you have already imitated your parents and started wielding swords and guns.
Your talents continue to be realized. You learned to hunt at a very young age, and you have an innate talent in the way of killing.
While your brothers and sisters are still bullying fungi, you can already fight hand-to-hand with underground lizards.
When you get bigger, even adult gnolls can't beat you.
Your parents are very happy at this time, they are proud of you and start to listen to your opinions more.
Your brothers and sisters are also surrounding you, and gradually, your family has become a force that cannot be ignored in the Gnoll tribe.
It just developed smoothly.
A few years later, you became the leader of that tribe and the supreme ruler of the small jackal society.
All gnolls must obey your orders.
The power in your hands makes you feel satisfied.
But what then?
You will find that from birth to becoming a tribal leader, you have only learned to hunt and fight.
No one in this tribe can teach you more advanced knowledge.
Even those elders will only teach you how to identify herbs, how to heal wounds, and at most they will teach you a secret recipe for having more children.
There is nothing else.
magic?
Impossible, that is a talent field that only jackal warlocks are qualified to get involved in.
One day.
An evil being has visited your tribe.
Facing the shadow of evil, you have only two options: obey or be killed.
You have chosen to obey as a matter of course.
The evil being was very satisfied and sent his blessing.
So you suddenly become a powerful sorcerer, and you gain supernatural power, the magical power you dream of.
Then you suddenly realize that magic is so simple!
But no one can remind you that magic also has skills.
To control these extraordinary powers requires more knowledge.
If there are no adventures, you will never have access to this information in your life.
You can only rely on your own understanding and experience to explore and eventually form your own magic system.
This system is like a small shabby house with air leakage from all sides in front of the formal spellcasting system, while the latter is a fortress with a solid foundation and is as immovable as a mountain.
But you don't know.
You are very proud.
You feel like you are invincible.
With this magical power, you begin to stand out in the Underdark, and you begin to come into contact with the societies of other races, including human societies.
If you are lucky enough to live to a very old age, then you do have the opportunity to make up for the disadvantages of your birth and improve your cognitive level after coming into contact with human society.
But unfortunately, most jackals don't have such an opportunity.
quickly.
The evil god who gave you power ordered the establishment of a powerful sect, and you are the patriarch, commander-in-chief, and vanguard of that sect.
You are ecstatic about this and feel that you are about to reach the peak of your life.
But what you don’t know is——
When you lead the coalition forces recruited from the Underdark to leave the tribe with their own evil intentions, the look you look back may be your last look;
When you walk through the long gravel corridor, choked to tears by the light coming from the surface, and feel extremely excited, you don't know what kind of enemy you are about to face in front of you.
In other words, what you are facing is not a specific enemy.
It is a tentacle of human civilization.
Even if you are lucky, you will encounter some small villages when you arrive on the surface. After you burn, kill and loot for a period of time, you will encounter well-trained cavalry, fully armed soldiers, and generals who are proficient in tactics.
There are also archmages who have received systematic education from the Seven Saints Alliance.
They have magic power that is not inferior to yours, as well as crushing spell-casting skills.
Now, do you think you still have a chance of winning?
Do you think you can do better than Ederson?
The answer is of course no.
Even if it were me, if I couldn't reincarnate into a jackal with my current cognitive level, my final fate would probably be similar."
…
After listening to this long paragraph.
The living room was quiet for a long time.
Xifu nodded in understanding:
"I seem to understand a little bit."
Rega no longer cares, he looked at Matthew with twinkling eyes.
Laila was even more thoughtful.
Matthew took a sip of water and said gently:
"The story of the jackal is just a microcosm. In fact, many people in the evil camp are not inherently evil.
Their origin determines that they lack choices, and it is also their origin that determines that they do not have the opportunity to acquire more advanced knowledge.
The knowledge here does not only refer to spells. Spells are only a part of knowledge. They are very useful, but they are not omnipotent.
As far as I am concerned, these enemies who have not read books and lack education but control powerful forces are not scary at all.
Because even if they do evil, it's hard to really do anything big."
"I see!"
Sif's eyes suddenly shone brightly:
"No wonder that in history, the great demon kings who can cause huge damage are usually not from the evil camp. Except for those who are born with supernatural powers, most people who become demon kings through their own efforts have almost all received a good education and have a good education.
All of them have experience working in decent and large organizations!”
"Some of them are mages who defected from the alliance, some were originally scholars who studied knowledge, some were paladins who were once famous but quickly fell into decline, and some were archdruids who had been in close contact with nature for a long time but fell into the embrace of darkness... So, these
The villains who come from a privileged background and possess knowledge are the most terrifying, right?"
Matthew looked at Sif with some surprise.
This child's critical thinking ability is quite remarkable, and he can actually draw inferences from one instance.
"Indeed, for example, this time I went to the south and fought against a Dragon Cult wizard named Blinken. He is the most difficult enemy I have ever encountered. That guy was an outstanding member of the Seven Saints Alliance. This kind of
Humans are much more difficult to deal with than jackals."
Matthew sighed.
Sif held her chin with both hands regretfully and said:
"But why do they turn to evil?"
Matthew didn’t want to go any further on this issue, so he spoke vaguely:
"People's hearts are always complicated."
"Anyway, you can sit here now and easily and happily comment on the stupidity or cleverness of characters in historical stories, all because you have a good background.
I think you have never engaged in any production work since you were born. This is also incredible for many children from poor families.
There are many children in Rolling Stone who go to work in textile workshops at the age of seven or eight. Although there is a public school in the town, not everyone has the opportunity to study off-the-job.
All of this is thanks to your father, who gave you such a privileged life.
You have to learn to cherish it."
Rega was very pleased with what he heard, and his old face turned red.
Facing Sif's grateful gaze, he actually tilted his head in embarrassment.
Laila looked at this scene with great envy.
Matthew walked over and patted her shoulder gently, then said to Sif:
"That's it for today's class. What I've said should be enough for you to digest for a while."
After speaking, he looked at Rhaegar:
"Next, let's go to the next room and talk about sword oil."
…
finally.
Rhaegar's sword oil also failed to appear on the Oak Chamber of Commerce's first batch of goods list.
Matthew found out after talking in detail.
This guy's sword oil is actually handmade by himself. The raw materials are expensive and the cost is high. The key is that the stability is still questionable!
Although Rhaegar vowed to ensure that the effect of his sword oil would be explosive.
But Matthew still rejected the lord's enthusiasm for the sake of the Oak Oak Chamber of Commerce's sign.
Of course, he still said it very tactfully:
"Your sword oil does have merit, but I'm afraid it will be difficult to find a suitable buyer in the market."
"First of all, soldiers usually can't afford such expensive things. They value cost-effectiveness more, unless you can reduce the cost to 1/6 of the current price - which is obviously impossible."
"Mages can enchant weapons by themselves, and they won't use something as greasy and dirty as sword oil."
"Only warriors with considerable wealth and status are qualified to use this level of auxiliary props, what do you think?"
After hearing this, Rega felt a little defeated and couldn't help but muttered:
"Can't you try it?"
"My sword oil is not selling well locally, but what if it is very popular in the market in Cordo City?"
"In this way, I will give you the first batch for free, regardless of the cost!"
Matthew sighed:
"Then give me two bottles to try."
Rhaegar couldn't wait to hand two bottles of sword oil into Matthew's hands.
Seeing that there was no label on it, Matthew couldn't help but ask:
"What are these two bottles of sword oil used for?"
Rhaegar said proudly:
"One of the bottles of sword oil is a special attack on marine life, which can cause additional damage to marine life."
Matthew's eyelids twitched:
"Next time we go there, we will not only cooperate with Yu Lian, but also prepare to contact Naga. Are you sure you want to put the sword oil for the special attack on Naga on the shelf?"
Rega was stunned for a moment:
"Yeah?"
"Then there is another bottle, the effect is special attack on undead creatures."
Matthew said helplessly:
"There are almost no undead creatures near Kordo City. Moreover, I am a necromancer. Are you sure you want me to sell items that can be used against me?"
Upon hearing this, Rhaegar quickly took back the two bottles of sword oil.
But he still refused to give up and said:
"Then I'll change it to two bottles next time."
…
Early next morning.
Four o'clock.
Crucible roof floor.
"Ronan! Needless to say, the mastermind behind this must be Ronan!"
After hearing what happened to Matthew as he traveled south, Taling 177 said categorically:
"That old boy is very bad. He can definitely do this kind of thing. Think about it, if it wasn't Ronan, why would Blinken run away when he saw you?"
"Because he is someone who has been here before. He probably worked as a white glove for Ronan in the alliance before, but later defected and became a black glove."
"When Blinken saw you, it was probably like he was looking in the mirror! He must understand the twists and turns of the alliance better than you do. When you grow up a little more, you will be Ronan's new white glove!"
Matthew thought this guy was talking nonsense.
But he also really thought about the possibility that the mastermind behind this was Master Ronan.
That's why he came here today and told Talling 177 most of the details about his journey south.
Seeing Matthew frowning.
Taling said in surprise:
"You're not really ready to kill your family out of righteousness, are you?
Um, did my joke go too far?
Don't worry, kid, Ronan knows nothing about life and death. His talent in necromancy is about the same as your talent in divination.
However, this matter is indeed worthy of vigilance.
Dragon Mountain Ash can be used to create something more terrifying than a dracolich.
I don’t know which old immortal is doing something.
All in all, the upper echelon of the alliance is in complete ruin.
How about we form a new alliance where "the alliance must die"?
I will be the boss, and I will lead you to the alliance headquarters - the Far North Floating City!"
Matthew smiled and shook his head:
"Thank you, but I'd better join the Seven Saints Alliance first."
Tarling then took out a form, placed it in front of Matthew, and asked him to fill it out:
"It is an idea to attack from the inside, but you must be careful not to be assimilated by them. I am very optimistic about you, Matthew."
"After filling out the form, remember to write down the names of Ronan and the emperor of the Crucible House - 177 in the recommender column."
"After I submit the form, within one to two weeks at most, someone will come to Rolling Stone Town to find you. At that time, you will complete the Seven Saints Alliance's entry assessment at your own home."
Matthew was surprised and said:
"Go to my house? Aren't you usually going to the branch of the Seven Saints Alliance in a certain city? I thought it would be most convenient to conduct the assessment in the Crucible House."
177 said casually:
"It's just a process, can they still prevent people recommended by Ronan from entering the alliance?
Be confident, you are a well-connected person!"
After hearing this, Matthew felt deeply about the corruption of the alliance system.
Then I happily filled out the form.
"Done."
177 took away the form and said to Matthew excitedly:
"The guy you asked me to train last time has been made submissive by me. Do you want to go over and have a look?"
Troll Sinvark?
Matthew nodded:
"Of course, I was just going to ask you when you can take him away."
"You can do it at any time, he's very well-behaved now."
177 proudly thrust a hard object into Matthew's hand: