Chapter 377 Solderin's Exploration

? Cecil's territory, the deep part of the rebel fortress, the southern area.

The brilliance of the portable magic spar lamp illuminated the dim and dark passageway of the ruins. With the advancement of the light, the crisp sound of the boots stepping on the slate floor broke the eternal silence of this corridor for thousands of years.

A soldier in light armor came out from the corner of the corridor. The armor on this soldier was different from the armor of most combat professions in this era. It looked like a soft leather armor close to the body. However, key positions such as the chest, waist and abdomen are covered with sturdy steel plates, and on the back of the soldier, you can also see a small "bag" that looks like a reduced version of a combat backpack. On the soldier's left wrist, you can also see To a device that looks like a light military magic terminal.

This outfit is like a lighter version of the current Cecil's standard infantry suit.

On the soldier's head is a strange helmet. The full-coverage helmet is made of metal. It not only covers the entire head, but even the eyes are covered. On the top, only two dark red crystal lattices can be seen, like some kind of goggles or a viewfinder. At this moment, this "goggles" made of crystal is emitting a faint red magic light.

The magic spar light that illuminates the corridor is emitted from the front of the military magic terminal equipped with the soldier's left hand. The magic terminal with high versatility can be installed with various expansion modules. The simplification of low-level magic circles has continued to deepen. After the original heat ray gun version, modules such as force field shields, arcane missile launchers, and electric long guns were quickly developed, with simpler structures and lower energy consumption. Of course, cheaper lighting devices have also become the standard configuration of the magic terminal. The light is constant and bright, and the magic spar lamp, which is not easy to extinguish and cause fire like a torch, is a must-have feature for exploring in dark areas.

The soldier scanned the front corridor with the light in his hand, and then pressed it on the temple of his helmet. The crystal "goggles" that glowed red then dimmed and gradually became a transparent ordinary crystal. A low voice came from under the visor: "No abnormal magic reaction."

More footsteps came from the rear, and more than a dozen soldiers with the same equipment came out. The light of the magic spar lamp made this section of the corridor bright as day, and then Solderling in hunting uniform walked among the soldiers. , the high-level ranger looked at the soldiers' clothing and actions, and nodded slightly: "Yes, keep this state, and explore forward cautiously. Dom, how does it feel to use the goggles?"

"It's...it's amazing," Dom was the soldier in charge of the investigation just now. He shook his head and touched the crystal piece in front of his eyes with his hand, "So it turns out that when mages observe magic power, this is the field of vision... …”

Soldering glanced at the soldier: "I didn't make you sigh about this."

"Yes!" Dom hurriedly stood at attention,

"The field of vision is very clear, and you can see the relatively obvious flow of magic power, but there are many light spots jumping around in the field of vision. It will be very uncomfortable to watch for a long time... and this helmet is a bit stuffy."

"This is a test item. Everyone's helmets have different nuances. I will record these questions you raise and go back and let the technicians modify them," Solderling nodded. "Let's move on."

"Yes!"

The soldiers responded in unison, then sorted out the advancing exploration queue, and continued to walk cautiously along the corridor.

Soldrin was still walking at the back of the line, alert to the dark corners that the lights couldn't illuminate.

With his strength as a high-level ranger, this position is enough to take care of the entire team - even in an emergency.

Looking at these "Iron Rangers" equipped with various magic weapons, from the shape to the fighting style to the action mode, which are completely different from any conventional arms of this era, the high-level ranger was filled with emotion.

The weapons and equipment of these soldiers are all newly designed, and these things have undergone a series of tests and verifications in the laboratory before they are actually dressed - thanks to the existence of a master metal craftsman like Nicholas Egg, this The cutting-edge equipment is incredibly fast from production to testing, and some of the equipment of the Iron Rangers are actually modifications of mature technologies already in the territory, so these proven equipment quickly reached the hands of the soldiers.

According to Gawain, the industrial production on the territory cannot rely too much on the ability of Nicholas Egg, but should realize the self-sustainability of the industrial chain and achieve "break-away" (although no one knows what the "plug-in" means), but in Nicholas Egg is still an indispensable help when trying to make some samples, or configure equipment for special units like the "Iron Ranger".

It is also because of the efforts of Nicholas Egg that Soldering could see the fully armed appearance of his steel rangers so early (although several key equipments are still under development, and there is no finished product at present), And see what incredible power these things called "Magic Arms" have.

Now, he can fully understand why Gawain is obsessed with creating a large number of cheap magic devices that can be used by ordinary people. This road... is actually achievable.

While thinking about it, a soldier's report sounded into Soldlin's ears: "Sir, there is an isolation gate in front of it, it is very large, and there is a residual magic reaction, maybe... it may be a Class I gate!"

Soldering immediately raised his head and looked at the passage ahead.

At the end of the broad, ancient, but still solid, ancient corridor, a black gate that had lost its power could clearly be seen blocking the way ahead.

Soldering remembered the information he had obtained when he handed over to Byron before - in this ancient "rebellious fortress", there were various isolation corridors and isolation gates, and these gates were divided according to their functions and sizes. Type III gates are ordinary gates in various areas of the fortress, usually the entrances and exits of each room. Most of them have lost power, but because of their weak strength and simple structure, they can be cracked (or destroyed) by technology; Type II gates are It is the isolation gate used to separate various areas of the fortress. These gates are larger and stronger, but the backup energy is basically still running, and most of them can be opened using the unlocking method provided by Carmel; Type I gates are the largest, The gate on the main passage, this gate...

Only a few have been found so far, located in the entrance hall of the ruins, they are the entrances and exits of the Rebellion Fortress.

Soldering's eyes became serious, he waved the soldiers to move closer to him, and then walked ahead to the gate.

After getting close enough, he was more sure of the soldier's judgment——

This door is very large and is located at the end of a large corridor that is suspected to be the main passage. An ancient identity authentication device can be seen beside the gate, and the whole door seems to be made of purple steel...

This is not an ordinary door used to separate areas, but a main isolation door.

They have reached the southern end of the Fortress of Rebellion?

It's over so soon?

Solderin was a little surprised. He knew that the fortress was huge, and there were unknown areas hidden in the depths of the endless dark corridors, so when he set out to explore, he was ready for long-term action in it. , but today is only the sixth day he entered the fortress, and there are still four days before the limit of one week's exploration time - he actually reached the southern end of the fortress?

"Stay vigilant - lights, illuminate all dark places, odd-numbered team members, open the detection eyepieces, even-numbered team members, aid observation."

Solderin quickly issued a series of instructions, and the soldiers responded quickly. The corners of this wide corridor were then illuminated by the bright radiance of the magic spar lamp, while Solderin was I came to the heavy and ancient purple steel gate alone, and looked up at the inscriptions on the gate.

The ancient Gondor script, which Solderin recognized, was marked with a line on the gate:

"Ahead, Shadow Experiment Field."

Opposite the gate is another experimental field?

Soldering looked at the purple steel gate in front of him with some surprise and some curiosity, and then immediately realized the unusualness of this so-called "Shadow Experiment Field".

What separates the "Shadow Experiment Field" from the main body of the Rebellion Fortress is a "Type I gate", an extremely strong gate with extraordinary magic resistance that can theoretically serve as the main gate of the fortress!

Relying on the experience accumulated in seven hundred years of traveling around the continent, Solderin immediately made a judgment on the door in front of him: Although the scale is very similar to the entrance and exit of a fortress, this door is probably not a rebellious fortress. It should be just a layer of extra-strengthened protective barrier. Opposite this door is another important area of ​​the Rebellion Fortress!

"Sir, do you want to try to open this door?" a soldier asked, with a dark red light flashing in the soldier's eyepiece, "There is still magic flowing in the door, and the access control doesn't seem to be broken."

Soldering thought for a while, then shook his head decisively: "Leave a mark on the map, leave the magic net unit and lighting here, and then return. Come back when you are ready."

"Yes!"

The soldier obeyed, and Solderin turned his head to take a last look at the purple steel gate.

In fact, he wanted to know what was on the other side of the door more than the soldiers, but he did not forget that this was just a rehearsal exploration mission - he took the trainers of the Steel Rangers to explore the ruins on the one hand for training, on the other hand for the purpose of Testing those newly designed equipment is already quite a bold move, because even with Nicholas Egg’s technical skills and the care of a high-level ranger like him, soldiers who use test equipment still have to take great risks. The situation of encountering danger and sudden equipment failure in the ruins has been considered by everyone from the beginning, so before departure, Soldering received an order from Gawain - to explore for a week at most, and explore one area at most , Do not enter high-risk areas, and give priority to retreat in case of battle.

Now facing the unknown "Shadow Experiment Field", he decided to follow Gawain's order to retreat temporarily. After returning, he first reported the situation here, and then prepared to come again.

It didn't take long—it took six full days for the team to get here, but that's because the road was still drawing maps, exploring forks, and setting up guide lights, and one day would be enough to go back and forth at full speed.

...

At the same time, in the study room of Lord Cecil's mansion, Gawain finished the work of reviewing the documents. He leaned back on his spacious seat and made sure that no one would disturb him during this time, and then he relaxed his mind slightly. , Outline the communication channel with the monitoring satellite in his mind.

The surveillance images from the synchronous orbit slowly emerged, and formed a stable image in Gawain's conscious world. From the top view, he could clearly see the mountains and plains in the northern area of ​​Loren Continent.

He began to zoom in and out, fine-tuning the area of ​​the satellite view.

His vision swept across the southern border of Ansu, and then slowly moved toward the northeast, gradually crossing the Ge Lanling, and crossing the eastern border of Ansu...

The picture stopped moving, and gradually zoomed in and zoomed in. On a small plain with relatively gentle terrain, he saw a slightly vague fortress standing on a stone platform.

Contract Fort.

Gawain changed his posture to a more comfortable position and began to patiently adjust the image of the monitoring satellite that was slightly out of focus due to aging.