Chapter 111: Mordencan's Scalpel and Entry Assessment
…
The plan proposed by Matthew was actually not a rare thing in previous lives. This idea of artificially creating fire breaks was mostly used to deal with wildfires.
But for the continent of Irondor, where civilization is developing slowly, this way of thinking is undoubtedly subversive.
He had not seen a similar template among the several solutions proposed by the Seven Saints Alliance before.
So when Matthew said these words, the expressions of Rhaegar and Old Faron were full of absurdity.
Their lips parted and closed, as if they wanted to refute, but could not find a suitable reason.
Finally, Rhaegar answered cautiously:
"Based on my shallow knowledge of magic, I can't judge the feasibility of your plan yet. I have to ask a few more people, at least after consulting Zeller, before I can give you an answer."
Matthew nodded.
It is normal for Rhaegar to have such a reaction. This is his territory after all. If he messes around, he will just pat his butt and leave.
The lord is the most responsible person in Rolling Stone Town. It is related to the safety of the territory. Every decision he makes must be made with caution.
"Don't worry, I should be able to hold them off now."
Matthew said confidently:
"If you are worried about the "Scorched Earth of Death" ritual, I can also set up a small experimental field first to let you see the effect of the ritual."
While the two were talking.
Richard's elegant figure appeared on the hillside in the distance.
He walked expressionlessly, holding the end of a rope in his hand, and one person after another was tied to the rope. These people were reluctant to leave, but they did not dare not to leave.
The awkward look looked like a group of little sheep being grazed.
Matthew counted.
There are a total of eleven members of the Silver Frost Brotherhood, half of whom are arsonists and the other half are gangster swordsmen.
At the same time, he also noticed that the leader named Selentek who had made provocative remarks before was not among them.
It seems like he ran away?
Richard led the group of people to Rhaegar and handed the rope to a guard next to him.
"Except for the one named Setrunk, the rest are all here."
Richard picked up the cane on the ground and flicked the dust off it.
Rhaegar smiled and said:
"Let him run away? It's okay. These few people are enough. I am going to hand them over to Baiyan City. The average bounty in Baiyan City will be lower than that in Jade Cangting, but it is still a considerable income. When the account is paid, I will
Zeller will be given to you."
Richard didn't respond.
He doesn't seem to care much about money.
So Rhaegar repeated Matthew's plan just now.
Richard looked shocked after hearing this.
Rhaegar asked:
"How's it going? You think it's unreliable too, don't you?"
Richard shook his head:
"At least it's more reliable than the plan proposed by the leader of the Seven Saints Alliance back then."
The boss of the Seven Saints Alliance?
Matthew asked curiously:
"Which Tongtian mage proposed a strategy to deal with the Death Mark? Why didn't I find relevant content in the information given to me by the alliance?"
Richard looked at the traces of the dead that were constantly shaking out sparks from a distance, and said with emotion:
"That was many years ago. At that time, there was a Master Tongtian who was very keen on dealing with the Mark of the Dead mess.
She was busy for many years and after trying many solutions without success, she finally came up with a very amazing coping strategy.
It was a super spell called "Mordenkainen's Scalpel".
The spell level is level seven, which is the so-called divine spell. Only mages with a level of twenty-eight or above can cast it.
It is said that the principle of this spell is to summon a huge pair of scissors, cut open the earth, dig out the traces of the dead, and then throw them into the star realm.
Well, I have a familiar mage in the alliance, and he described it to me like this at the time."
Matthew was also shocked when he heard this.
A spell of this level is equivalent to reshaping the plane!
Not to mention the final effect, just cutting open the earth can easily cause the collapse of the energy field and the outbreak of space-time turbulence.
By then, perhaps if the Mark of the Dead cannot be thrown into the star realm, there will be an extra piece of star realm ruins in the center of the continent of Irondor.
This plan is much more ruthless than his!
Although others could not understand what the seventh-level spell meant, they knew from the tone of Richard's description that this plan was absolutely dangerous.
"and after?"
Rhaegar asked nervously:
"When did this happen? Why didn't I know there was such a plan? How did it get stopped later?"
Richard said:
"This plan has not been stopped, it is just that it cannot be implemented due to practical factors.
In fact, Master Tongtian had already made all preparations at that time.
Because this spell requires three divine mages to work at the same time, she and the other two Tongtian mages in the alliance also said hello.
You know, there were only three divine mages at level 28 or above in the alliance at that time.
These three are also called the Big Three, and they are the real big shots.
When the three giants join forces, not to mention the increase in Ain, even Tianlun Palace will be shaken.
But when it finally came time to implement it, the other two Master Tongtian suddenly regretted it for some unknown reason.
It is said that they feel that the risks of doing so far outweigh the benefits.
So the plan came to nothing.
But since then, Master Tongtian has had some problems with her mental state. She always felt that the other two giants were targeting her.
Not long after, she broke away from the alliance and went to the north alone.
Then she founded an organization that we are familiar with——
Worship the Dragon.
The mage's name is Isabel, and Mr. Ronan is probably most familiar with her.
After all, he is one of Isabel’s most proud disciples, and even Mr. Ronan’s wife was chosen by Ms. Isabel for him.”
Speaking of which.
Richard looked at Rhaegar with a smile and joked:
"I heard a while ago that you were going to trouble the Dragon Cult. I thought the mayor of Rolling Stone Town was about to change hands. I even prepared the new mayor's election manifesto. I didn't expect you to be alive.
return."
Rega immediately showed fear.
He patted his chest:
"Fortunately, I was lucky on this trip and didn't have a real confrontation with the Dragon Cult. According to you, if I really kill that Blinken with my great power, there will be Master Tongtian waiting for me behind? Wait a minute.
, in that case, Blinken is actually Ronan’s junior brother?”
Richard shrugged:
"I don't know about this. There are too many scandals in the league. I have tried my best to turn a blind eye over the years. I just want to remind you that Ms. Isabel still has a lot of influence in the league - even if
Ronan, I’m afraid he won’t openly disagree with her.”
As he spoke, he looked at Matthew approvingly:
"But the plan you just proposed is logically correct. It's amazing that you can come up with a better solution than the Divine Mage, even if it just slows down the expansion of the Mark of the Dead. No wonder Ronan values you so much. I
My suggestion is that you can give it a try.”
Matthew said a few words modestly, and then asked again:
"By the way, that guy named Setrunk, do you know where he comes from?"
Richard's expression immediately became a little weird when he heard this.
He looked a little confused.
Several seconds passed.
Then he sighed deeply and said:
…
"I was planning to tell you about Setrunk. It was a bit hard to tell you, but considering the safety of Rolling Stone Town, I still can't hide it——
You may have heard that many years ago, a massacre occurred in a village called Baiyang Village in Jade Cangting.
Afterwards, the Shadow Leopards responsible for the investigation discovered that only one human child, adopted by a wood elf, survived in the entire village.
He was only about six or seven years old at the time. He hid in the heart of a banana tree and survived.
Jade Cangting has gone through many investigations.
The suspect was eventually pinned on Sener, the then leader of the Silver Frost Brotherhood.
The reason is that Sen'er was found to be active on the border of Jade Cangting at that time, and the timeline of the Baiyang Village massacre also perfectly matches the timeline of Sen'er's promotion to the legend.
At the same time, Sener happened to advance to the notorious "Scarlet Letter Hunter".
One of the advanced conditions for this legendary evil profession is to massacre villages or cities.
So Sener undoubtedly took the blame.
To this day, Jade Cang Ting still believes that Sener did that thing back then.
But in the circles of the shadow world, the news I received was somewhat different.
Rogues all said that Seir's advancement ritual resulted in the massacre of an entire gray dwarf city.
The name of that city is "Bander", and it was once a famous commercial city in the Underdark.
Later, it perished overnight. Some said it was Sener who did it, while others said it died from dragon fire.
Anyway, no one can tell clearly.
But if you want to choose one of the two crimes of the Baiyang Village massacre and the massacre of the gray dwarf city to be pinned on Sener.
I will definitely choose the latter.
As we all know, the quality of the advancement ceremony determines the power of entering the legendary path.
I have dealt with Sener, and he is an out-and-out bad guy, a scumbag, and a beast.
He didn't have any psychological burden when he slaughtered the old, weak, women and children, but Baiyang Village was too weak for him. It was so weak that if he slaughtered the village to enter the legend, he would only be able to obtain one domain at most.
This is also not in line with the strength that Sener has shown after the legend."
…
Having said this, he paused and seemed to be recalling more content.
Matthew looked at Richard:
"What about the human child next?"
Richard said calmly:
"He was sent to the royal city of Emerald Cangting. After living for a period of time, it is said that he finally left Emerald Cangting because he could not adapt to the living environment there, and has not been heard from since.
Almost a few years later.
Sener, who has been promoted to the Scarlet Letter Slayer, has a little follower beside him.
He claimed to be a disciple of Seir, and his name was Setrunk.
A few years later, he left Sener and worked on several cases on the East Coast alone.
Jade Cangting has placed a separate bounty on him, the amount is 30,000 gold coins, second only to the notorious Sen'er. It can be said that this guy is a complete lunatic, a murderer and an anti-human being.
But I still can't do anything to him."
Speaking of which.
Richard's tone became particularly sad and self-reproaching.
Matthew had already reacted:
"So it's not that he ran fast, but that you let him go - do you have a relationship with Setrunk?"
Richard didn't deny it.
He just turned around silently:
"That's another story... I just remember that when I held him, he was just a little baby in swaddling clothes."
"I'm sorry, I don't want to recall those things anymore. I can only assure you that I have warned him, and Setrunk also promised me that he will not enter the territory of Rolling Stone Town again."
"If he breaks his promise, I will deal with him personally."
Having said this.
He tapped the top of his cane lightly, his back straight:
"Well, gentlemen, there should be nothing going on here. Please allow me to leave early. The five-member committee will discuss several issues tomorrow morning."
"By the way, you should be careful with these people. Although Setrunk swore to me, I can't guarantee that he doesn't have other plans for these people."
Richard pointed specifically at the group of tied up brotherhood members and reminded them.
Rhaegar's expression was serious:
"I understand what you mean. Next, I will strengthen the supervision of the prison."
Matthew nodded.
The fraternity men scrambled to get into the prison.
It’s not like I’m just here to eat and drink for free.
…
After Richard left.
Matthew continues to pay attention to the situation of the Mark of the Dead.
A few days later.
He stayed in a cabin in the forest.
Since he no longer has to go to work to catch fish, he has a lot of time to plant trees, learn spells, and prepare forbidden rituals while paying attention to the Mark of the Dead.
After being choked by the undead.
The ash creatures in the Mark of the Dead have always been tepid.
With the perfect cooperation of Renesmee and Bing.
No Ash Warrior survived for more than 8 seconds.
After the second day.
The refresh frequency of Ash Warrior is greatly slowed down.
On the third night.
Under a round of brutal killings by the undead.
Not to mention the slow-refreshing Ash Warrior, even the Ash Pawn that refreshed a second ago is nowhere to be seen.
Afterwards, Matthew observed for two more days.
It was discovered that the ash creatures really no longer appear.
This made him somewhat regretful.
finally.
He counted the trophies and found a total of 28 soul crystals. Matthew rewarded them based on their merits, and Renesmee and Abing each received two.
A Bing was fine.
Renesmee received the reward, her loyalty suddenly increased to 90, and she also shared a new ability with Matthew.
"Deck pace: When you walk on a deck that is violently shaken by violent storms, you have the same balance as walking on flat ground."
This ability is pretty good.
It can be used when Matthew goes to sea later.
Except for Matthew.
Rhaegar and his Lord Guards have been maintaining high-intensity patrols around the Mark of the Dead in the past few days.
As of now.
The Ash Lord's first round of attack has been neutralized.
Matthew is also making good progress with the forbidden rituals.
"Scorched Earth of Death" is actually a very simple ritual. Its taboo is that no normal person or organization will allow a necromancer to transform the earth into soil similar to the negative energy plane in his own territory.
It only took him two days to master the essence. What he lacked was actual combat experience.
And against the backdrop of everything going smoothly.
The slow progress of Malicious Transfiguration seems a bit glaring.
The current Matthew can probably only handle creatures that are about the same size as a goat——
For example, a pig dog becomes a pig dog covered with wool.
This progress is obviously still a long way from true malicious transformation.
So after he studied the ritual of scorched earth of death, he immediately threw himself into the embrace of transfiguration.
Matthew spent a lot of money this time.
He bought three goats and took them with him.
The purpose is just to further feel the breath of the goat.
The afternoon of the fourth day.
Matthew has just finished planting today's oak trees and is playing in the forest with the goats.
suddenly.
The bell on his waist jingled.
This is a low-level spell that he successfully mastered in just half an hour recently——
"Bell Technique".
The purpose of this spell is a reminder or notification within 20 kilometers.
Usually only very important things.
Peggy would ring the bell at home in Rolling Stone to notify Matthew.
At this moment, Matthew did not dare to neglect.
Say hello to a knight responsible for tracking the Mark of the Dead.
He rushed to the town in a hurry.
…
"Entrance examination? Is it so sudden?"
In the living room, Matthew looked at the man and woman on the sofa in surprise.
The man's name is Fandral and the woman's name is Alice. They claim to be the examiners of the Seven Saints Alliance. Matthew has seen their magic certificates and there is no problem.
"I just came back from outside, can you let me take a shower first?"
Matthew asked.
Fandral, who has blond hair and a warm smile, smiled and replied:
"Sorry, this is the rule of the alliance. The entry assessment must be completed unexpectedly without the knowledge of new members. You can make some preparations, such as drinking a cup of tea to calm down, but taking a shower is not necessary."
As he said that, he took out his staff and cast "Innocence" on Matthew.
Matthew looked down and found that he had a completely new look.
Seeing that Fandral and Alice were serious, he said nothing.
"I'm ready, do you have any requirements?"
Fandral said affectionately:
"You just need to tell the truth, and we will write down appropriate comments on your answer. In the end, our superior mage will give you a score. This score will not only determine whether you can join the Seven Saints Alliance, but will also affect you.
The first graded title after joining the alliance."
Said.
He patiently explained to Matthew the league's internal job title system.
From bottom to top, there are five levels: D, C, B, A, and S.
Except for S level, each level is divided into two levels: 1 and 2.
Only S-class has three levels: 1, 2, and 3.
In this system, the lowest is D1 and the highest is S3, for a total of eleven job title levels.
The job rank determines a mage's status and resources in the Seven Saints Alliance.
When coming into contact with some confidential information, job title level is also extremely important.
After listening to Fandral's explanation.
Matthew, who was still a little nervous at first, immediately relaxed.
Although the other party did not say it clearly, if it was uncertain whether he could join the alliance, there was no need for Fandral to go to such trouble to explain the job title level to himself.
Combined with the words of Taling 177.
Matthew realized that Fandral was hinting to him that the entry assessment process was just a formality.
Then his whole body relaxed.
At this time, the lady next to her with brown hair and slender eyes also asked in a gentle tone:
"Can we start? Mr. Matthew."
Matthew nodded:
"You ask questions, Ms. Alice."
Alice asked the first question:
"I found in your resume that you are a necromancer, but after communicating with your summon, that is, the tauren lady, I learned that you are currently learning malicious transformation. How are you doing?
"
Matthew showed a wry smile and answered truthfully:
"My talent in transfiguration seems to be relatively average, and I haven't fully mastered it yet."
Alice nodded, and then she spread out a piece of paper in front of Matthew, and what was written on it could be clearly seen by Matthew——
"Although Mr. Matthew is a necromancer, he also has a longing for other spells. He often uses his free time to learn spells in other fields, such as malicious transformation.
According to my observation, Mr. Matthew's malicious transformation technique has reached the level of proficiency, which is rare among third-level mages in the alliance."
Matthew looked a little ashamed of himself:
"W-Isn't this not good? My transformation skills are average."
Alice looked at Matthew naturally:
"Your malicious form is a goat, right?"
Matthew nodded.
Alice said cheerfully:
"The next step is spell practice time. Please use Malicious Transformation on it. We need to evaluate the effect of your spell."
Matthew followed her hand and pointed towards it.
As a result, a confused goat was discovered.
He hesitated for a few seconds.
He raised his hand and cast a malicious transformation spell on the goat.
boom!
The spell failed.
The latter remained motionless.
Fandral exclaimed:
"What an excellent malicious transformation technique. I can't tell the difference between it and a real goat!"
Alice also quickly wrote:
"I have seen with my own eyes that the target hit by Mr. Matthew's spell is exactly the same as a real goat. Considering his age, this is really rare. He is indeed the candidate highly recommended by Mr. Ronan."
Next they asked Matthew a few more questions.
No matter how Matthew answers.
What they wrote on paper was full of praise.
Until Alice asked the last question:
"What is the magic ritual you are currently studying or completing?"
Matthew still chose to answer truthfully:
"The Scorched Earth of Death, a ritual in the realm of the dead."
Hear this.
The eyes of Alice and Fandral became serious for the first time.