Graycastle Dawn City, Star Observation Deck.
After the fall of Tifeko, the name of the royal capital was no longer here. The Dispersive Star Master thought that there would be a turmoil, but the order of the city did not change much. People are still busy with their lives - farmers ploughing the fields in the suburbs, masons repairing damaged city walls, blacksmiths pounding on the armor of shops, and patrols continue to play a game of cat and mouse with the black street refugees, at first glance , it remains one of the most prosperous cities in the kingdom.
Of course, it is not completely unchanged. For example, every day people leave the old capital and go to the west to seek new opportunities. And the old rival of the Astrology Association, the Royal Capital Alchemy Association, moved out of Dawn City. Now the palace is replaced by a group of little-known nobles, who have been fighting for the land and power left by the old nobles all day long, completely throwing the sages aside. No one inquired about the fate of the kingdom, and no one foretold the fortunes of the future.
If it wasn't for the officials left by His Majesty Roland who would regularly allocate a sum of food and golden dragons to the Astrology Station, I'm afraid the apprentices would have dispersed long ago.
Fortunately, they can still maintain the operation of the association.
As long as the horoscope exists, the mission of the maesters will not end.
"Always look up at the stars".
The sun slowly sinks into the mountains to the west, and the sky turns from orange to dark red, and finally to a deep purple... After night falls, the astrologers' work is just beginning.
A windproof oil lamp was lit on the high platform, and the apprentices carried out the stargazing instruments from the warehouse—they had to be very careful, the careless person who damaged the instruments would face double punishment of whipping and deduction of salary, especially the few His Majesty Roland The star-gazing instrument sent is the treasure among the treasures.
When the Dispersive Star Master first got these instruments in a wooden box, he didn't take them too seriously.
It is true that His Majesty had promised to bring more advanced star-gazing tools to the Astrological Society, but the production of the instruments was an extremely complicated process. It is different from the shoddy observation glasses. The movable mechanism inside the barrel that can adjust the distance can give the most skilled craftsmen a headache for half a month, not to mention the polishing of the crystal lens. A stargazer takes about a year from material selection to completion, and it costs about a hundred golden dragons.
If there is anything in common with the learning of the sages, it is that both are very expensive, but the products obtained by alchemy are often welcomed by nobles and wealthy businessmen. Astrology is not so lucky, so generally only Only the capital of a country has the financial resources and manpower to build an observatory. As far as he knew, the border town of the western border was still a dilapidated and barren land two years ago. Even if a lot of money was plundered by fighting around, who would be willing to give these golden dragons to irrelevant astrologers
But when the wooden box was opened, Dispersion Star was dumbfounded.
It was the first time he had seen such a star-gazing tool—different from the bamboo-like instruments used by the association, its metal barrel was about the size of a bucket, and the glass mirror embedded in it was so bright that it could illuminate people. If you look closely, you can't find a single polished scratch.
And its movable mechanism is also quite cleverly designed. It is only a thumb-sized knob at the end. Just squeeze and rotate it gently to adjust the distance of the lens, and it does not need to be locked again after adjusting the distance. It is very easy to use. convenient.
His Majesty Roland sent three batches of six new stargazers one after another, and gave them an easy-to-understand name: "Astronomical Telescopes".
Since I used Dispersion Star once, I no longer want to look at those old-fashioned instruments.
The remaining five telescopes were naturally handed over to the five most experienced astrologers in the astrological platform.
"Teacher, all the star-gazing instruments have been placed in place." The eldest disciple Yunhui reported.
"Have the star distinction been made?"
"Yes," he glanced at the record book in his hand, "Scholar Tianmang Xing in charge of the North 1st District is ill today, and the one who replaces him is the Master Void Star."
"Then light the spark and start stargazing," ordered the chief astrologer.
"Yes!"
The brazier in the center of the astrological platform is raging with flames, which symbolizes the brightest morning star in the night sky, and the astrologers standing around the brazier are its companion stars. In the sky, it became a whole with the stars in the sky.
In addition to the valuable stargazer, another thing that takes time to cultivate is the person who looks up to the stars.
All they can rely on is their own eyes.
Therefore, if you want to become a qualified astrologer, you must learn how to protect your eyes. Dispersion Star is fifty-five years old, but his eyesight is still better than most young people in Dawn City.
This is not an easy task.
After being screened to become astrology apprentices, the only things they can see at night are the stars in the night. It is absolutely forbidden to read books under oil lamps or candles. In addition, they are not allowed to go out at noon during the day to avoid eye irritation from strong sunlight.
The food will also be changed accordingly. The first is to eat animal offal and eyeballs, and the second is to not eat fish and spices. According to the knowledge handed down from astrology, eating more blood food can make the eyes brighter, but fish is watery, and spices are earthy, the former will destroy the fire element in the terrestrial blood food, and the latter will make the eyes dusty.
Dispersion Star persisted for more than forty years.
He believed that the human eye had a limited time.
In order to use it as much as possible for stargazing, the rest of the time he has few books or astrological charts - the constellations are already firmly imprinted in his mind anyway.
The maester turned his eyes to the viewing port—it was like a small tube, standing at the end of the thick barrel.
Apparently, there is a slanted mirror in it, so that the light can be folded into his eyes.
Fun and practical tips.
Although astrologers understand this principle, they have never thought of using it in a stargazer.
Now it seems that it can indeed greatly improve the stargazing environment, at least when looking at high-level star areas, there is no need to hunched over.
Since the telescopes sent by His Majesty Roland are far better than the old-fashioned stargazers, all the association has to do is to re-observe and map the existing star regions. Since using these six astronomical telescopes, they have discovered several more Ten previously imperceptible dark stars.
The scattered stars swept across the area he was responsible for familiarly. Although the constellations formed different shapes with the changes of the seasons, it might be difficult for a beginner to grasp, but for him, their light was like the light on his face. As kind as the stripes.
After observing the first constellation, just as he was about to move the telescope, an insignificant light suddenly caught his eye.
In an instant, the maester felt his blood coagulate.
He held his breath and focused all his attention in that direction.
That's not an illusion...
A dim star is hidden between the six stars and the blazing star, and its light is so weak that it seems to be extinguished at any time. But what is clearly different from the surrounding stars is—
It's red.