Chapter 1165 Victoria's Memories

The latest website: Victoria first used a very impressionistic general description to describe the way the Violet Kingdom selects "talented persons", so as to give Gao Wen a rough impression in his mind, and Hetty on the side listened He opened the mouth and said: "I have heard of this kind of 'selection', and I also heard that this kind of 'selection' did not always exist. In the older era, the Violet Kingdom was more closed than it is now, and there is no such thing as Loren. The mainland has a tradition of selecting gifted apprentices to guide—it was not until about six hundred years ago that a certain enlightened prince of secret magic created this precedent..."

"Yes, that happened six hundred years ago," Victoria nodded, "It was already after Ansu Liguo stabilized, and the originally highly closed Violet Kingdom suddenly announced that they would open their magic knowledge to the outside world—according to They said that they used 'the mages' own way.' Then there were violet travellers and 'receivers' who were openly active in the northern part of the mainland.

"According to our family records, these masters who mastered profound magical skills caused a lot of commotion in the northern region, especially among those extraordinary people who pursued magical mysteries and ancient knowledge... As we know , when the Gondor Empire collapsed, human magic civilization was severely damaged, and the magister system that relied heavily on the Deep Blue Well disappeared overnight. The surviving spellcasters urgently needed to rebuild without the Deep Blue Well. A reliable magic system, but for traditional mages who rely on experience-trial-and-error-accumulation to improve their knowledge, how difficult is it to build such a system? So in the hundred years after the founding of Ansu, human mages It's like groping for a stone wall in the dark, at a loss everywhere..."

Indeed——Gao Wen thought in his heart, although what he experienced in his mind was only a short memory of the first ten years of Ansu Liguo, but what he saw and heard in those ten years was enough for him to understand the scene described by Victoria, In fact, the Cecil family's ancestral motto "Knights are better than mages" was spoken in the background of that era - because knights were indeed better than mages back then...

After all, except for a few freaks like Snow Wilder, the mages of those days were basically half disabled.

Victoria didn't know what was going on in Gao Wen's mind, she just continued: "...It was under such circumstances that the mages of the Violet Kingdom suddenly appeared in the north of the mainland, and their appearance made the human mages six hundred years ago They saw some brand-new possibilities—new magic knowledge, the mysterious and ancient violet secret art system, various self-sustaining magic circles that could operate without the Deep Blue Well...they were still dilapidated after a century of tinkering at that time The knowledge that the Violet mages brought to the world seemed like a kind of... miracle to the human magical system.

"It was also at that time that the Violet Kingdom began to 'communicate' with Loren Continent. According to them, it was a 'mage-style communication', obscure and secretive, following ancient rules and traditions, like a trickle Pass on knowledge and shape a new mage inheritance system. They select talented apprentices from the north of the mainland—mostly humans, but occasionally there are minority groups such as elves and dwarves, and bring them back to the island to teach them. Selected knowledge departs,

At the same time, scholars are constantly being sent to the human world. Some of these scholars have become the guests of various mage organizations in the northern region, and the rest are basically recruited by the royal family and nobles, and become the "foreign consultants" of the Ansu Royal Mage Association. ...

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

"And this has further established the influence of the 'Secret Society' in the caster community, allowing such a mysterious mage organization that is far away from the Loren continent and almost never reveals its true colors in front of the Loren kingdoms to have the same power as the Silver Empire astrologists. The same lofty status as the association—even because it is more mysterious, the "charm" of the Arcane Association in the eyes of spellcasters is even greater than that of the Astromancer Association. Your Majesty, you know that mages... just like this mysterious feeling. "

Having said this, Victoria stopped, as if she was sorting out her thoughts, and then continued: "To this day, traces of the influence left by the 'Violet Magic System' in Loren's modern magic system can still be seen everywhere, such as the traditional communication Spells, anti-gravity spells before improvement, old-fashioned self-charging magic circles, etc.-although most of these things have now been improved by the Rune Research Institute and the Magic Technology Research Institute, their original forms In fact, they are all closely related to the Violet Kingdom."

Listening to Victoria's narration, Gao Wen subconsciously rubbed his chin with his fingers. He gathered the information in his mind, gradually abstracted it into a macro picture, and gradually frowned: "I always thought that the Violet Kingdom was isolated from the world. The relationship with Loren Continent is very alienated. I didn't expect them to have such a profound influence on Loren Continent... This even sounds like some kind of long-term and comprehensive penetration. In theory, the Violet Kingdom can even be established in Loren Continent. A force that is strong enough to contend with the local regime—even if they don't, they are enough to strangle the lifeline of many local mage organizations."

"You're right. In fact, you're not the only one who was worried about this. The royal family in the Ansu era, Typhon's Mage Association, and some scholars who left their names in history have also expressed similar views, but the problem lies in this: six A hundred years have passed, and the Violet Kingdom has really been living in seclusion until today, except for the small-scale coastal trade and those wandering mages, they really... have never crossed the line."

Gawain raised his eyebrows subconsciously, but he didn't speak, just listening to Victoria's continuation.

"Continuing activities for six hundred years, the northern countries are certainly not blind. Many people are paying attention to the every move of those Violet mages, including our family—but those mages really seem to come here to travel and Those who spread magic, except for academic exchanges and accepting short-term employment, they do not participate in politics, do not intermarry, do not accept military employment, do not establish any organizations affiliated with the Violet Kingdom, and do not develop any personal influence in Loren Continent. As soon as the stipulated travel time limit is up, they will immediately withdraw and leave, even if there was a royal family who once recruited them with eternal titles and large fiefdoms, they will not be able to keep any of them..."

"This... is indeed a bit powerful..." Gao Wen couldn't help muttering, "It makes people pay more attention..."

"Yes, but whether they care about it or not, that's how they act," Victoria nodded. "Of course, some people speculate that they are good at disguising and hiding their purpose...but for six hundred years, countless pairs of eyes have been watching , the mages from Violet have not shown any signs, which in itself is equivalent to some kind of 'iron proof'."

"This only shows that their goal is indeed not to meddle in the power of the Loren Continent, but it's hard to say whether this goal is really limited to study tours. This country is too mysterious... so mysterious that it makes people dread it." Gao Wen rubbed his chin, said with a serious face, then suddenly raised his head to look at Victoria, "Can you tell me about your childhood experience? How were you selected? And what methods did they use to guide you to be selected?" Gifted'?"

"The selection process of the Violet Kingdom has always been a mystery, and they have never made public the specific criteria," Victoria shook her head, "You know, the City of 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 road" to high-level and even legendary.

"No matter how mediocre the mages who returned from the city of thousand towers were before, they all started at a high level after returning, so some people have been trying to find the selection criteria for the Violet Kingdom, and even some secret organizations have racked their brains to open up ways to send apprentices to the Violet Kingdom. channel, but no one has ever successfully found this rule. Their selection seems to give priority to spellcasting talent, but there have also been incidents where farmers with mediocre qualifications suddenly encounter 'receivers' in the fields. Most of the time they only choose Young people, but also older people into their apprenticeships, and there are even rumors that they will take kobolds and wild goblins from the wilderness... Of course, these rumors have little credibility.

"In short, I don't know why I was chosen-I just remember that one day, a mage suddenly visited Winter Castle, my father received him, and the mage took out the mark of the Violet Kingdom, and A 'Certificate of Enrollment in the Great Library' waiting to be signed, my father and mother had a long talk with that mage, exchanging some details of enrollment and contractual content, and finally they asked for my opinion, after I nodded, I became a pre-apprentice."

Gao Wen looked at the Grand Duchess in the holographic projection with some surprise: "On one side is the heir of the Northern Duke, and on the other side is a foreigner who suddenly came to say that he wants to recruit students, and the next learning process will require going to a foreign country and closed management... Your parents agreed? Wouldn't this matter be a bit hasty? "

"Because this kind of thing happened more than once," Victoria said lightly, "During the six hundred years, five members of the Wilder family have successively become apprentices in the city of a thousand towers—although the 'recruitment' of the Violet Kingdom is important to the entire group of mages. Speaking is a very rare opportunity, but if we look at the history of several centuries and the scope of the entire northern border, such things have actually happened many times, and we are no strangers to this.

"Secondly, the 'selection' of the Violet Kingdom is not mandatory. In fact, compared with the traditional process of selecting apprentices for mages, the invitation from the City of Thousand Towers is so gentle and relaxed that you can refuse it at will. Go back, even if you have already arrived in Violet territory, as long as you want to go home, they will send you back immediately. In addition, they also have a very, very detailed...according to what we say now, it should be called the "Enrollment Agreement", which contains details It stipulates the board and lodging standards, health protection, round-trip time and course content for freshmen, just..."

Victoria thought carefully about how to express it, and finally threw up her hands: "It's very formal, very formal."

"Regular... well, I still think it's not right, there's a big problem in it," Gawain sighed, "but you can go on - what happened after the 'admission'? How did they bring the apprentices to thousands of From the Tower City?"

"It is rumored that the usher of Violet will pick up the selected apprentices with a flying ship that travels through the dreamland and the sea of ​​stars. When all the crew members are dreaming, the ship will drive by itself and cross an invisible sea level, crashing into an In the cave shrouded by the aurora, and arrived at the courtyard of the Prince of Secrets in the early morning of the next day..." Victoria said, the corners of her mouth slightly twitched, "It's very romantic and 'magical' fantasy, but unfortunately the reality is far worse than that. That's much more austere.

"They use ordinary passenger ships to pick up people. That ship is far behind our current magic warships. Apprentices usually gather in a small town in the north. After boarding the ship, it takes less than half a day to pass through Violet and Los Angeles. The small strait between the continents of Lun - the food in the restaurant on the ship is not bad, I still have the impression of this.

"After crossing the strait, a ship full of apprentices will dock in a certain seaside city. The location of the specific port is different every time-I remember that I arrived in a small town called 'Prandelle' that year. It was cloudy and rainy... very uncommon weather in the north.

"After a short break, we met the emissary of the City of Thousand Towers. I remember it was a very kind old lady. She was responsible for guiding the new apprentices to the hinterland of the Violet Kingdom... I remember the old lady said so, it was' The real, eternal Violet Kingdom'..."

"The real, eternal Violet Kingdom?" Gao Wen immediately noticed these unusual words, his eyes became serious, "Why do you say that?"

"She didn't explain it, or she may have explained it later but I don't remember it anymore," Victoria shook her head, "but I still remember her emotional expression when she said this...it was a deep and nostalgic tone, just As if she was referring not to a country still thriving, but to a ruined place that can only be remembered forever..."

"...This is a very important clue, I'll keep it in mind for now," Gawain nodded, "What happened next? You were taken to the City of Thousand Towers? How did you get there?"

"We were taken outside the city. There were no roads leading to the hinterland of the kingdom. The only place we could see was the endless dense forest and the mist that permeated the forest. The old lady told us that the road to Violet was not there. Extending in reality, it connects various 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..."

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

"No, only local sorcerer apprentices need to take this test. Because we paid extra tuition fees, we can go in directly-this is what the old lady said."

Gao Wen: "..."

Hetty next to her couldn't help but tremble at the corner of her mouth: "And then?"

"And then she took us through that fog — that's all I remember."