Qin Lun carefully looked at the horned eagle below him. The feathers of this large bird were dark green, with two forked gray horns on its head, a sharp beak and sharp claws. Adult hippogryphs have a wingspan of up to five meters and a broad back that can accommodate saddles and can ride up to two people.
Hippogryphs are known as air carriages. They are strong, fast and powerful enough to transport all kinds of goods and passengers. Some races will also train them to become combat airriders, whose combat effectiveness is slightly inferior to that of Griffins.
These specially trained horned eagles are very smart and can follow the flight path back and forth by themselves. Their saddles are strapped with strong leather straps that completely immobilize the rider, and any adventurer without a fear of heights can ride a horned eagle.
Because Qin Lun and his party were in a hurry, they did not take the two-person ride, but each with a horned eagle, trying to reach Candlekeep as soon as possible.
Looking down from the sky, Qin Lun saw that most of the creatures on the ground were the size of ants, and the river was like a crystal water line, shining silver in the sunlight. With the breeze blowing, I just feel refreshed for a while.
It's a pity that this novel trip ended in just over three hours, and soon a piece of blue appeared on the distant horizon. It was the color of the sea, and they were at last on the shores of the Sword Coast again.
"Islands?" As the Hippogryph approached the coastline, more than thirty islands of various shapes appeared on the sea.
Most of these islands are steep cliffs covered with lush vegetation and trees. There are dark and hideous reefs everywhere under the cliff, and dark red coral clusters can be seen under the surrounding water.
I'm afraid this place is not reachable by fishing boats, because there is no place to dock and go ashore, and the irregularly distributed reefs are enough for any adventurous boat to sink to the bottom to feed fish, and only flying mounts can land on these cliff islands.
The island closest to the mainland coast of the small archipelago is the largest among them. Although it is surrounded by steep mountains on all sides, the top of the cliff is very flat. There stands a huge six-sided bastion. This should be the famous Candle Castle. .
In fact, apart from the island where Candlekeep stands, there are also many mage towers similar to lighthouses on other islands. Although their heights are not the same, sometimes you can see the flashing magic halo, which is a protective cover commonly found in mage towers.
On the way to Candlekeep, Linda introduced these mage towers to everyone.
The six tall towers on the hexagonal walls of Candlekeep are the mage towers exclusive to Candlekeep, while the mage towers on these islands around Candlekeep are only partly owned by Candlekeep, and the other part belongs to certain archmages who cooperate with Candlekeep .
For various reasons, these archmages did not intend to stay in Candlekeep for a long time, so they only signed ordinary cooperation contracts with Candlekeep. They provide Candlekeep with varying degrees of service in exchange for the knowledge they need.
Some of this service is defensive work, while others simply provide property and research results.
With Linda as the guide, the seven hippogryphs lined up neatly, circled over the archipelago for a week, and then landed towards the island where Candlekeep is located.
Because the sky above Candlekeep is surrounded by a certain range of air-forbidden magic circle, except for some flying mounts with special markings, other horned eagles cannot enter it. They can only land at the foot of the island's cliffs, surrounded by a dozen large eagle stables and visitor registries.
The difference between the island where Candlekeep is located and other islands in the archipelago may be that it has an artificially paved gravel road. This stone road spirals upwards around the cliffs of the island and ends at the main entrance of Candlekeep.
The stone road is not wide, it can only accommodate three people in parallel, and it is not allowed to ride any mounts here, you can only go up the mountain on foot. According to Linda, this is to pay homage to this temple of knowledge.
Except for Linda, everyone started to climb the mountain with a curious mood. The stone road was not long, and after about half an hour, everyone saw the giant bastion at the end of the road.
Unlike what you see in the sky, when you stand at the front gate of this stone castle named Candle Castle, you realize how huge and magnificent it is.
The walls of the bastion are made of large blocks of white jade-like stones, and the whole body is almost seamless from top to bottom, smooth as a mirror. Because the entire fortress is covered with a compound protective magic, there is no living environment for fungi and insects on the city wall, which is similar to the eternal purification technique, and there is no need for manual cleaning at all.
The city wall is more than 50 meters high and about ten meters thick. There are square colored crystal windows in the middle and upper part, and the top is a conical dome covered with glazed tiles. There is no female wall in the usual sense.
According to Linda's private introduction, the outer city wall of Candlekeep not only serves as a city wall, but also has two rows of opposite private rooms in the middle, which are mainly the residences of researchers and guards. After all, it is impossible to live in the Central Library as the main library. so many people.
The main entrance of the castle is very majestic, about ten meters wide, and is composed of two ten thousand-jin gates, which can only be opened with huge winches and iron chains. It has four side doors on each side. The main door is closed most of the time, and both visitors and internal personnel need to enter and exit through the side door.
There are two steel golems with a height of more than five meters at the side doors on both sides. These golems use magic crystals as the driving core, and are endowed with a certain amount of artificial intelligence by the rune master. The golem has no facial features, and is only inlaid with a flashing green image spar, which is equivalent to the function of eyes.
At the left and right ends of the city wall, two mage towers whose lower parts are connected to the city wall soared into the sky, with a height of nearly hundreds of meters, which was completely different from what everyone saw when they were on the back of the horned eagle.
Seeing the strangers approaching, one of the four golems walked towards them with heavy steps. Linda hurried forward, took out the nameplate she just got at the registration office at the foot of the mountain, and handed it to the golem to scan.
Although the little girl is also considered as an insider of Candlekeep, these steel creations don't know how to show friendship, they don't have a nameplate, and after three warnings, they will launch an expulsion attack.
Let the golem examine the visitor's nameplate, and the side door of Candlekeep opens automatically. When passing through the side door, everyone looked around curiously.
After entering the interior, they found that Linda was right. The city walls of Candlekeep were indeed different from ordinary city walls. There was a wide porch behind the side door, and there were rooms with closed doors on both sides. It didn't look like the interior of the city walls at all.
"Linda, you're back!" A group of people followed Linda not far away, and a surprised greeting came from the opposite side.
It was a female mage wearing a black robe and a monocle. Her hair was disheveled like a chicken coop, and she held a large stack of books in her arms. Although the robe on her body was not dirty, it was wrinkled and ugly. The thick glasses at the bottom of a beer bottle made her look like she was wearing a brown eye patch. That image was really rustic and sloppy.
"Dear Ms. Leni, I'm back!"
To everyone's surprise, facing this thin and shapeless female mage, Linda, who had been careless all the way, as if she didn't care about anything, bowed down respectfully and shook her back vigorously. The little hand behind her gestured for everyone to salute with her.
Qin Lun and the others were not idiots, so they immediately bowed to salute with understanding.
"Okay, Linda, since you're back, hurry up and see your teacher, he seems a little angry."
Ms. Leni freed one hand, waved it nonchalantly, and continued walking forward with the book in her arms. Because the books in her arms were stacked too high, blocking her view, from time to time she could see her feet churning, but every time she wobbled and regained her footing, it was very worrying to watch.
"Linda, is that Ms. Leni..." Mustasia asked tentatively.
"Ms. Leni is one of the eight great readers of Candlekeep, second only to the guardian of the annals and the first reader, and the seventeenth prophet and great sage in the history of Candlekeep!" The corners of Linda's mouth twitched. Pumping, said expressionlessly.
Hearing Linda's words, everyone couldn't help but twitch their faces, and felt that a great image of kindness and humility collapsed in their minds...
However, as Linda walked along the way, everyone noticed that the passing scholars didn't seem to pay much attention to their appearance, and some scholars even wore a set of patched robes.
Most of the researchers in Candlekeep are magicians. Naturally, they are not short of money, but are too lazy to go shopping in mainland cities, and devote all their time to their favorite careers.
Of course, it's very rare to be as slovenly as Ms. Lainey. A nerd is nothing, but if a nerd is added with the attributes of a house girl, it becomes one of the most terrifying creatures in the world.
"Where are we going next?" After walking for a while, Qin Lun was the first to break the silence.
"I'm going to see the teacher first. Have you seen the magic gate in front? There is the toll office of Candlekeep. If you want to enter the underground labyrinth to borrow the long-distance teleportation array, you have to pay a large fee." Linda pointed Said an elliptical magic door like a water mirror one hundred meters ahead.
"Pay the fee? We came with you, do we also need to pay?" Mustaxia asked strangely.
"Of course, the rules of Candlekeep are no exception for the guardians of the volume. I have no right to waive your fees!" Linda blinked slyly, "Okay, I'll go first!"
The little girl ran away like a gust of wind, leaving a group of people looking at each other in blank dismay, feeling a little bad.
"Ahem, Mustasia, this operation is mainly based on your Harper Alliance. You should be rich, right?" Qin Lun looked at the highland elves expectantly.
"Ah? Don't you have any money?" Mustaxia's beautiful eyes widened, and she stared at Qin Lun innocently, "Don't lie to me, when you left the troll's claws, I saw you take out Gave Rick and Seaver a bunch of Fortune Gold Coins!"
"Hehehe, I'm in trouble!" Qin Lun turned to look at Hill and Rand, and the three smiled wryly.