For Mario, who has been fighting for many years, fighting with the Pache family is nothing new. Both sides have their own victories and defeats, but usually it is not to the point of breaking the bones.
The capture of the opponent's five artillery pieces this time was a complete surprise. The Pazzi family did not expect that Monteriggioni suddenly had a sharpshooter, and they were caught off guard and suffered heavy losses.
For Mario, the precious trophies captured were not as important as Lu Xiao himself. The Brotherhood, which was struggling step by step under the intimidation of the Templars, was in great need of potential rising stars.
Lu Xiao had revealed his ambition to Mario when they first met. After completing his studies, he planned to return to his hometown in the far east to avenge the tragic death of his family at the hands of the Templars.
Mario didn't know that this was just a story Lu Xiao made up casually. In order to keep Lu Xiao as much as possible, he decided to spend some money to retain and win over him.
In the study room of Auditore Manor, Mario dismissed all the servants and closed the door tightly.
Mario took off the black cloth covering the wall, and a flat board with sparse book pages on it appeared in front of the two of them.
'These pages...'
Lu Xiao's eyes flashed vaguely, and he knew what Mario wanted to show him.
The contents of the pages pasted on the wooden boards vary. Some of them are just plain text, while others have strange and weird graphics drawn on them.
"These are the ancestral legacies that the Italian Assassin Brotherhood has been seeking."
Mario solemnly explained: "They are the handbooks left by the great assassin mentor, Altaïr Ibn Harald. It is said that they contain a lot of knowledge related to the Pieces of Eden."
"In the 12th and 13th centuries, the Assassin Brotherhood flourished in the Middle East, and Masyaf Castle was the active center of the Brotherhood at that time."
"Although the Templar Crusades of the Eastern Expedition were repelled many times, the Mongols finally defeated Masiyaf, Altaïr's Codex fell into the hands of Genghis Khan's descendant Kublai Khan, and Marco Polo spent all his time talking.
Only then did I get the note from him."
"After a period of twists and turns, the Codex and other legacies of Altaïr circulated back and forth between multiple assassins, and finally passed to the hands of my great-grandfather, Domenico Auditore."
"Unfortunately, the Temple Knights also learned of the existence of the Codex at that time, and sent a large number of people to try every possible means to snatch Altaïr's inheritance."
"In order to prevent the important legacy of his ancestors from falling into the hands of the enemy, Domenico scattered and buried the Codex throughout Italy, and built a church beneath the Auditore Manor to store another important legacy of Altaïr.
."
While talking, Mario tried to pull out a book from a row of large bookshelves against the wall. After a slight sound of machine operation, the row of bookshelves suddenly began to move, revealing a secret passage hidden at the back.
"Follow me."
Mario used flints to light the torches on the wall of the secret passage one by one along the way. Through the gentle slope that wound down, the two of them arrived at a spacious underground hall.
There are seven exquisite stone statues standing in the hall. The front of the central statue is blocked by multiple metal railings. Inside is a set of exquisite black leather armor inlaid with silver metal.
Mario opened his hands and introduced to Lu Xiao, who looked astonished: "These statues are all great pioneers who have made great contributions to the Brotherhood."
"From left to right are Hulangar, Darius, Wei Yu, Altaïr, Amunet, Iltani and Leonius."
"My great-grandfather designed corresponding tokens for each assassin statue. Only by collecting all six tokens can the central railing be opened and the armor made by Altaïr in his later years be taken out."
Mario walked to the railing and knocked lightly. "I have tried various methods to force open this railing before, but I don't know what material my great-grandfather used. No sword can hurt it."
"Giovanni and I spent a lot of time looking for tokens in Italy when we were young, but in the end we all came back in vain. When we reached middle age, we were trapped by the many official duties of the Brotherhood and had no time to go out to look for them."
"Perhaps you can fulfill our regrets, collect all the pages of Azar's Codex, find all six tokens, and take out Altaïr's armor."
"It is said that the ancient knowledge obtained by Altaïr from the Pieces of Eden was used in the manufacturing process of this armor. It is indestructible to swords and extremely light. It is the perfect equipment for assassins who move lightly."
Lu Xiao raised his head and observed the seven statues from left to right.
Needless to say, there is Altaïr in the center. The entire Assassin's Creed generation is telling his story. His in-depth research on the Apple of Eden left a lot of valuable knowledge for future generations of assassins.
Most of the other assassins were unknown, and even Wei Yu, who was obviously Chinese, had difficulty making Lu Xiao resonate, but the names Darius and Amunet aroused his interest.
Darius appeared in "Assassin's Creed: Odyssey" and was the first person in history to use the Hidden Blade.
With this unexpected pocket weapon, Darius successfully assassinated the Persian Emperor Xerxes I. The hidden sword was passed down from generation to generation and gradually became the iconic weapon of the Assassin Brotherhood.
His son later married the demigod Kassandra, and after many generations of blood inheritance, a great assassin was born who was also engraved as a statue.
There is another statue not far away - Amunet, her original name was Aya.
Aya, like her husband Bayek, was one of the founders of the Hidden Ones, the predecessor of the Assassin Brotherhood.
'Demigod...'
Thinking of Cassandra, Lu Xiao sighed in her heart.
Kassandra is the granddaughter of the legendary King Leonidas of Sparta. With the help of one of the Eden artifacts, she is still alive today, silently witnessing the development of history and the changes of the times, and even survived until the Assassin
The modern world of Creed.
Because she has the important task of being a messenger, she can only be a spectator of history and cannot personally intervene in it.
The so-called demigods actually refer to humans who have inherited a high concentration of Isu blood.
The Isu people are the first civilized race on earth and are called forerunners and pioneers by later generations. Some humans even call the Isu people gods.
The Isu people have a triple helix DNA structure, which is very different from the double helix of humans. They have longer lifespans and stronger physical fitness than humans.
Compared with the five senses that humans have, the Isu people have one more sense, which they call themselves "knowledge".
Interpreted in human understanding, the "knowledge" sense should be described as powerful inspiration, which is the so-called sixth sense.
Human descendants who inherited the Isu bloodline also partially inherited this ability. Eagle vision is one of the manifestations of the sixth sense.
On the other hand, only those with a high concentration of Isu blood can perfectly control the Pieces of Eden and unleash the true power of these ancient artifacts.
The reason why Mario was able to escape from the temptation and control of the Shroud of Eden was not because his will was stronger than other controlled mercenaries, but because the Auditore family was also one of the people who inherited the Isu bloodline.
As a descendant, he is highly resistant to the side effects of the Artifact of Eden.
As a traveler from another world, Lu Xiao naturally does not have Isu blood, which will add a lot of difficulty to his world mission of collecting the Pieces of Eden.
'It's best to get Altaïr's armor as soon as possible.'
In this era where cold weapons are still prevalent, Altaïr's armor, which is invulnerable to swords, is undoubtedly a major boost to Lu Xiao's follow-up actions.
If Lu Xiao remembered correctly, the six Assassin tokens needed to obtain the armor were stored in six Assassin tombs.
These tombs are scattered throughout Italy, and Lu Xiao's next destination, Florence, happens to have two of them.