Confusion and dizziness again, as if thrown into a drum and rotated a hundred times, and as if the world itself was spinning without moving. After a series of bizarre hallucinations, he finally touched the solid ground again.
This is the fifth time in a row that he has entered a new strange environment, and Jenkins feels a stronger sense of dizziness. But the good news is that the surrounding environment perceived by the skin is neither humid nor cold, nor hot nor particularly dry.
Except for some strange smells in the nose, the temperature and humidity here are really impeccable.
"Is this the smell of wax? Or am I smelling it wrong?"
On the contrary, Miss Elf is very adaptable to space transfer, so she was able to help Jenkins, who was still a little dizzy, to sit up. Before looking at the dark surroundings, he still touched his pocket first as usual, and as expected, he found a brand new coin.
The brand new coin is still the same size as the sin coin, because it is related to [Phantom of Reality], so it is a golden gem coin. On the front is the emblem of [True Illusion], and on the back is the image of a dragon spreading its wings. If Jenkins is not mistaken, judging from the dragon's physical characteristics, it is the silver dragon Anastasia.
"What is this? It's beautiful."
Miss Syluff also saw this in the dark.
"I don't know what it is, but it will probably be useful."
He shook his head, feeling that he had almost recovered, he tossed the coin and grabbed it and took it back to his spirit, before finally standing up to check his surroundings.
The current environment is undoubtedly indoors, and it is dry and warm indoors. And the smell of wax that Jenkins smelled was right, because there were countless wax figures of people standing around them.
The proportion of the wax figure is one to one with that of a normal human body, and due to the exquisite workmanship, each one looks like a frozen living person. This realism even made Jenkins and the elves a little worried that the wax figure would move in the next second, but at least so far, this worry is unnecessary.
This should be a certain wax museum. If you look carefully, there are name tags under the feet of those wax figures. But because only the names of the people were written in the common text of the eighteenth century, and there was no other identity information, Jenkins couldn't recognize who they were at all.
The wax museum is probably huge, at least they can't see the surrounding borders. It was very dark here, except for a huge square table with four corners in the center, a candlestick was placed in the center of the table, and two long and one short candles stood on the candlestick, providing some light.
In addition to the candlesticks, there are other messy things on the table, just what Jenkins observed, there are manuscript paper, letter paper, various pencils, measuring tapes, knives and so on.
On the four sides of the table, there are four statues standing on each side. Judging by the surrounding wax figures, they should also be wax figures, but under the dim light of the candles, three of them are undoubtedly metal statues, and the last one is half wax and half metal. He is alive. Knowing that it must have an unclear relationship with the difference engine.
"Wait... the three statues at the table?"
He remembered what he saw when he ventured into the first floor of the metal black tower when he rose up. At that time, the tower was filled with white light, and there were only three metal statues of the king around the table.
"This corresponds to [The Uncrowned King]?"
Although the three metal statues he saw at this time were not Salhi II, Queen Isabella, and Tarquin the Proud, Jenkins still believed in his own judgment. After all, when the first floor of the tower was raised, there was a high probability that this huge paradox had not yet fully formed, so what I saw at that time was naturally different from what it is now.
"Go and have a look."
Jenkins said to his companion, and the elf wanted to return the sword brought out from the last trick to Jenkins. That sword is a Class B extraordinary item. Although I don't know the specific characteristics, special items in the weapon category are undoubtedly extremely powerful.
"You take it first."
Jenkins told her that he was actually unwilling to add more luggage.
Among the four statues beside the table, the half-wax half-metal living statue is a female priest wearing a robe. The remaining three pure metal statues are one female and two male. Among them, the female is old, and the other two males are middle-aged and close to old. They are all wearing luxurious dresses, which can easily be associated with the nobles. .
Seeing Jenkins and Miss Syluff approaching, the living statue spoke while looking at them:
"It turned out that two people came to me."
The voice matched the appearance of the priestess quite well.
"Is it only me that you received the news?"
Jenkins asked, and the other party obviously didn't want to talk to him:
"The rules are simple."
The voice of the living statue pointed to the table indifferently. The various papers and tools spread on the table were immediately moved to the side of the table as if pushed aside by an invisible hand. At the same time, the candlestick in the center of the table also took off out of thin air and floated above the table. In this way, a third of the center of the table was exposed:
"Let's play cards, win or lose. If you win, I will allow you to leave."
"Playing cards? Shall we both play with you?"
Jenkins wasn't surprised that something like this happened, since he had a similar experience in the Flame Paradise.
"The two of you use a set of cards together to decide how to play the cards. What we want to play is the kingdom card. These three statues represent three different kingdoms. Now first choose which side you want to represent."
"Can we know the specific play of the 'Kingdom Card' you mentioned?"
"No, please choose which side you will represent first?"
"Well, what does this represent?"
Jenkins points first to the female form, to the left of the living statue.
"Located in the middle of the continent, the most populous kingdom has a stable order, a prosperous economy, and rapid advances in steam technology; however, its food production is low, it relies heavily on imports, and natural disasters often occur."
"what about this?"
This time ask the statue of the male figure facing the living statue.
"Located in the northern part of the mainland, the kingdom with the largest land area has a strong army and rich mineral resources; the natural environment is harsh and the labor force is insufficient."
"What about the last one?"
And finally the one to the left of the living statue.
"Located in the southern part of the mainland, it is a kingdom with the most abundant natural resources, with many cultural and natural landscapes; the domestic political situation is unstable, and due to historical reasons, the military is the weakest among the three kingdoms."
The introduction of the Three Kingdoms has a strong sense of déjà vu, but if you think about it carefully, there are still many differences from the real Three Kingdoms. Maybe this introduction refers to reality, but it is definitely not exactly the same as reality.
"Is there any difference in choosing different kingdoms? I still want to know how to play this card."
Jenkins asked again, but the other party was determined not to answer his question. And because Miss Elf doesn't understand contemporary politics at all, Jenkins finally chose the middle kingdom with a huge population and a queen.
After all, he is only the most familiar with this country.
After the selection, the two unselected metal statues took two steps back and stood together with the wax statues around them. There are two extra chairs at the table facing the living statue. After Jenkins and Miss Syluff sat down, the metal statue of the queen on the left hand side of the living statue moved, stood behind Jenkins, and even put her hand on the back of Jenkins' chair.
"So what are the rules?"
Jenkins observed the metal statue representing the queen from the corner of his eye, but he didn't feel suspicious except for the exquisite craftsmanship.
"With 10 years as the limited time, different events will appear in the Kingdom every quarter."
A stack of cards with a black background appeared on the left hand side of the living statue, the number of which exceeded one hundred:
"Every season comes, I will randomly choose to turn over a black event card, and you need to give a way to deal with it. Maybe it's just a food shortage, but it may also be a disaster."
But no cards appear in front of Jenkins and Genie:
"So, I just need to talk?"
If so that's great, he's good at it.
"No, your life experience will be transformed into policies, your views on right and wrong will affect the survival of the kingdom, and your knowledge of history and civilization will become a force."
A stack of white cards appeared in front of the sitting Jenkins and Miss Syluff respectively. The stack in front of Miss Elf probably did not exceed 100 cards, which is not bad. After all, although she is a ranger in the Evergreen Forest, she The culture class is not a failure.
She turned her head to look at the stack in front of Jenkins again, and then opened her mouth slightly. There were more problem cards than black:
"The newly born world tree is in the material world. Are they actually politicians or historians?"
Miss Elf guessed.
"The problem cards in my hand may be repeated, and the cards in your hands may also be repeated, but each card can only be used once. There can only be one problem card played by me in each season, but you can use as many cards as you want. Combination of cards to deal with."
Jenkins and the elf picked up their own cards. The first card Jenkins saw was [Maintain Stability]. He blinked, and then looked at the second card. It was still the tenth card. It was [Food Increase Method] , and then there are cards such as [Personal Force] and [Compulsory Education].
"It's all a broad description, without specific policies and practices?"
He thought about it, and then turned sideways to look at the cards in the elf's hand, and saw that the top two cards were [Procreation Method] and [Basic Mystery].
"Elves also have birth-promoting methods?"
Jenkins asked Miss Syluff in a low voice, and showed her the cards in his hand by the way.
"During the decades when I was still in school, the birth rate dropped year after year. In addition to praying to the Lord to bless us, the royal family also promulgated laws to encourage births. I remember that at the beginning it seemed... Every time each family had an extra child, a reward of One hundred years of limited freedom to hunt."
Miss Syluf's words are not at all different from the "mysterious and elegant" impression that elves leave on people in the material world. Instead, Jenkins seems to have seen the lights of the elves living in the forest.