Starfall 837, January 21st.
If we talk about the southern city of New Moldavia, we have to talk about the huge factories that stand on the edge of the city, the extremely prosperous commercial and trade area, and the warrior branch campus of Winterfort College, the 'Champion College' .
Because Moldavia officially has a complete industrial system such as [mineral production] [material processing] and [light and heavy industrial production chain], its production cost is extremely low. A large number of goods produced in the magic factory are directly transported to In the commercial district of Nancheng, these goods produced at extremely low prices can be sold for sky-high prices that are nearly ten times more than their cost in the hands of enthusiastic merchants.
Even so, for those cities without magic energy factories, these products are definitely of high quality and low price.
However, if you ask a random passerby about the most worth-seeing places in Nancheng District, no one will recommend the business district and factories. These locals and foreign businessmen will all tell them in unison that when they come to Moore, A trip to Davia would be incomplete without a visit to the 'Champions Academy'.
A city that prospered because of a legendary strongman would naturally develop in the direction of the legendary strongman. In addition to factories and magic equipment everywhere, the thing that attracted the most attention from outsiders was the rumor that there was Earl Radcliffe himself. The Academy of Winterkeep teaches courses in person, and as the warrior branch of the Academy of Winterkeep, the 'Champions Academy' has become one of the local landmarks second only to the giant lord statue.
Champion Academy is the largest building complex in Nancheng District, covering an area of 110,000 square meters, and even has a huge underground part. The training grounds and student dormitories behind the towering academy castle are arranged in an orderly manner, mixed with gardens, fountains and simple buildings. The self-service medical center can ensure that every student injured due to competition and training can receive rapid treatment. In this luxurious academy, there are more than 1,800 rigorously trained combatants who are receiving advanced training. Intense training.
And today, in this well-known academy, shrouded in the aura of a legendary powerhouse and well-known to everyone, countless young people with nervous and expectant faces are ushered in. They are either accompanied by their parents, or accompanied by female companions, or... They are alone, but no matter what, it can be seen that these people are more or less full of fighting spirit and possess some extraordinary power.
This is the first large-scale external enrollment of Champion Academy in the year 837. The enrollment conditions are extremely loose. As long as you are under twenty-five years old, pass political review, or have the recommendation of a specific local Moldavia person, you can They all have the possibility of passing the test to enter the school, which naturally attracts countless young people who are eager to learn under the legendary powerhouse.
And Priest is one of them.
Today is when Priest takes part in the Winterburg test. This young man with a rough face and a vaguely ferocious look looks quite nervous at this time. He stands alone in the crowd, with his hands and knees unable to restrain himself. He was trembling slightly, and the situation gradually improved after he took several deep breaths and looked at the photo of the girl in the necklace on his chest.
This is not to blame Priest, because he has added too much burden to himself... In order to let his sister Britney live a better life, in order to live up to the expectations of the factory owner, in order to reverse his own destiny as an ordinary person -The most important thing is that in order to open up his own future path, this man will never allow himself to make any mistakes.
"I will succeed."
Ignoring the strange looks from the people around him, Priest clenched his fists, closed his eyes, and whispered to himself: "This is not difficult. Compared with the original, it is just a small scene."
Don't be nervous, Priest. You have fought against dragons, and have overcome plague and death. It is just an ordinary academy test. There is no reason for you to lose to these guys who have never seen life or death.
Opening his eyes again, Priest looked at the bustling crowd in front of him. At this time, he had completely calmed down. He was full of confidence again - not only because of the hard training in the past, but also because of Priest. For Te's recent efforts, you must know that the factory owner, the dwarf Ronde, specially gave him seven days of leave to recharge his batteries at home, exercise and review his homework every day.
Yes, review your homework. Different from professional colleges in other places, in Winterfort College, whether it is the spellcaster department, the combat professional department, or the additional clergy department, you must learn a lot of additional knowledge. Literacy is only the foundation. It is said that any Anyone who can graduate from the academy can easily write a paper of more than 6,000 words. This advanced skill is more than enough to work as a clerk for a big noble, regardless of his own combat effectiveness.
And all this is because of what the legendary strongman, Lord of Moldavia, Joshua Van Radcliffe said in his New Year's speech in the year 837 of Starfall.
"-You cannot underestimate wisdom, and you must never underestimate fighting. The two complement each other and are the essence of human progress."
The majestic man stood on the high platform of the inner city square, with a ferocious black dragon lying beside him. The warrior said to all his people in a calm and low voice that could be heard clearly no matter where he was: “A land that separates scholars from warriors will only have cowardly souls and foolish struggles.”
Ding dong, ding dong, just as Priest was still recalling the scene that silenced the entire city, the bell on the top of the college castle rang, and a group of tall knights wearing gray magic armor opened the castle door. When Prester began to check the review documents and recommendation letters of each candidate one by one, he knew that the test he had been waiting for for a long time had officially begun.
"Name, age, occupation, place of birth."
"Priest O'Mini, twenty-one years old, factory worker, Southern Frontier Province of the Empire."
After a long queue, Priest finally arrived at the review office. The leader was a gray-armored knight with a scar on his face. After a simple question and answer, he accepted the letter of introduction and then seriously I read it again.
"It's a letter of recommendation from Ronde... go in."
After confirming the identity of the Priest factory worker, the gray-armored knight in charge of the inspection showed a subtle smile. He patted the other party's shoulder with his heavy steel gauntlet: "Come on, I hope you can help Moldavi." Contribute to Asia’s prosperity!”
"certainly!"
Priest tightened his grip on the necklace on his chest. This action seemed to give him endless motivation. The next moment, he strode towards the examination room inside the castle.
—Half a day later.
The tired Priest walked out of the castle gate with a slightly confused expression.
Success or failure? Is what I just experienced an illusion or reality
Priest didn't know all this, but he did the best he could.
This test is very new to most of the participants. It starts with a two-hour written test. In the first half, the participants need to answer basic history and geography questions about Mycroft Continent, as well as some Regarding simple questions about World of Warcraft, Priest, who had reviewed this part in detail, wrote like a breeze and completed it quickly.
But the next question is a bit beyond the outline. It requires participants to write down their ideals and tell why they want to join Winterfort Academy and what their purpose is. The last big question is to ask the participants how they would use this power if they became extraordinary, and what is their understanding of the nature of this extraordinary power.
There is no doubt that many people are not prepared for this, and the same goes for Priest, but unlike other people who don't know where to start, he only thought for a moment and then continued writing smoothly.
The man is not stupid, of course he knows the purpose of these questions - the first part is to check the basic knowledge and common sense of the participants, but they are not qualified in this aspect and can only be called fools, while the second part is to observe the participants' personality and common sense. The purpose is that people with abnormalities will be eliminated. The last part is to observe the psychological conditions of the participants again from the other side. Therefore, Priest did not write many fancy words, but just expressed his ideals from the past. The insights extracted from the experience are written in plain language.
"Become a strong man who can protect his family and lead them to live a better life. Extraordinary power is my tool. It is no different from the equipment I use to produce goods and the knowledge in my mind, and does not require special treatment."
However, this is the Battle Academy after all, so after the written examination, Priest entered the illusion and conducted a six-hour continuous combat test. During this period, he used various mist provided in the illusion to Fighting various monsters in swamps, dense forests, deserts, coastal areas, and islands in lakes was just a piece of cake for Priest, who had actually fought the green dragon on the southern border of the empire. After that, in addition to being mentally exhausted, his body was even a little unfinished.
But the test is over.
After the test, Priest returned home and celebrated his efforts by eating and drinking with friends who were waiting for his test to be over. Then, Priest continued his ordinary life, working in the factory in the morning, and picking up his younger sister Britney, who was studying at a universal school, home in the evening. He just waited for the notification of the college test to arrive.
"Priest, come here quickly!"
Time flew by. A week later, while Priest was working in the factory, he suddenly heard the factory owner Ronde shouting his name excitedly. He temporarily stopped what he was doing, and then followed the sound to the factory gate. Then, the man, who was still wearing work clothes, looked at the tall gray magic armor knight in front of him and the package in his hand in shock.
"Congratulations, Mr. O'Mini, you passed the test of Winterburg's 'Champions Academy' with excellent results. Here is your package. Please open it now. I will teach you how to use it."
—Did I pass the test? !
Immersed in the surprise of passing the test, Priest subconsciously followed the instructions of the gray-armored knight and opened the package handed to him. What appeared in his palm was a blue stone, like a pure sapphire. The crystal is roughly in the shape of a rhombus, with extremely complex cut surfaces on the surface. It can be seen that there is fluorescent light flashing in the center of the crystal, as if there is a Möbius strip-like rune formation that is rapidly rotating and releasing light.
"Relax your mind, concentrate your will to touch it, and leave your own mark."
The gray-armored knight slowly guided Priest. There was a little envy in his eyes, but he quickly returned to normal. The knight said solemnly: "This is the latest universal magic device developed by Wintercastle Academy. You can call it information." Terminal 0.9 beta version, the official version has not yet been tested and launched, but the basic network has been set up within the college.”
"Praise the Lord, and feel honored. You and others who have joined the academy are the first users of this terminal."
…
"Joshua! What are you doing? The server is about to crash. Hurry up and reinforce it!"
"Tsk, Nostradamus! Why are you telling me this? Aren't you and William responsible for maintaining the stability of the mental network? And where is Barnier? Why hasn't his rune program been finished yet?"
"Yesterday he said he found a program error and worked overtime all night to correct it. It seems that the correction is not finished yet!"
"I'm just saying that it's unreliable for you to create a batch of information terminals in such a hurry. Can't you wait until the experiment has made more progress?"
Northern Empire, Moldavia, Winterfort Academy in the Nissian Snow Mountains.
In a huge steel laboratory located at the top of a snow-capped mountain, the nervous voices of several legendary powerhouses echoed back and forth.
At this time, Joshua strode to a huge rune crystal core that was twenty-five meters long and covered in blue. The magic projection of No. 3 was floating beside him. The warrior frowned at this time. He frowned and asked in a low voice: "No. 3, see where the server is overloaded. I'll modify it."
"This is it."
No. 3 raised her head, glanced at the rune crystal that was quite similar to her body, and then pointed to a place where the light gathered: "The runes in this place are more seriously entangled, and the load is very heavy."
Hearing this, Joshua didn't have any nonsense. He aimed at the place pointed by No. 3 and input some steel power to fine-tune the material structure. Soon, Nostradamus' voice of relief could be heard: "Okay, the link between the mental network and the magic network is restored to stability, just wait until Barnier finishes writing the program."
"You guys..."
Joshua, who felt that he had become an underhand maintenance worker, said angrily, but then he sighed: "It's my fault, I said too much at once... With the knowledge of the two worlds blending together, it's no wonder these legendary mages are so excited. .”
Things started more than a month ago.
Starfall 836, December 15th, the legendary strongman of freedom, the rune controller Barnier and the mind master William and the three legendary strongmen of the Northern Empire, Israel, Nostradamus and Qiao Xiu Ya contributed an extremely important piece of news, which was the existence of the 'Magic Network' located above the Mycroft Continent.
This is an extremely ancient network that has existed for thousands of years. It is rooted in the energy cycle of the entire world. If Barnier and others hadn't traced back through the link of the Titan Soldier, even the legendary strongman would have been almost unable to The discovery of it may be due to the fact that the network of the legacy of the Glorious Era is very well preserved. It is itself a huge database, which stores many secrets. However, with the current research of the legendary powerhouses, there is no way to dig out these secrets.
However, Joshua said that even if the secrets cannot be unearthed, the network itself has countless possibilities. The warrior used the star sea world, the atrium and the spiritual network of the mother tree as examples, and even used the development of the Internet in his previous life. After deducing, he showed the future he knew to the four legendary powerhouses present: The development of the network means the sharing of information, which will undoubtedly bring about an era of information explosion, and the information explosion will bring The most basic benefit is the popularization of knowledge.
There may be a lot of false things on the Internet, there may be a lot of lies and bragging, and there may be a lot of worthless junk information, but as long as there is a will, anyone can learn an extremely rich knowledge from it.
This immediately attracted the interest of Israel and Nostradamus, who wanted to popularize extraordinary powers. Barnier and William, who had always liked to search for all kinds of ancient books and secret information, also became interested. The experienced people even He quickly found other ways to use the network, which is real-time communication between various places. Under the magic of transmitting information at the speed of light, communication within the Mycroft continent can be carried out almost without delay. This is very important for the command of the army and the adventure. Communication and sharing between teams, asking for help and rescue can all play a huge role.
In addition, there are many benefits of the Internet. Joshua did not describe them one by one, but just gave a general outline - probably when he opened a martial arts gym in the past, he made the mistake of being a teacher again, and the warrior accidentally said it. There are so many that we even proposed a new concept: Since we don’t have enough materials to use the Magic Network on a large scale now, we can build a large server based on the Creeping Forest in Moldavia as a signal relay. , utilizing the power of the magic net in a small area.
This is indeed an idea with nothing wrong. The only thing Joshua did wrong was to misjudge the leisure level and mobility of others present - whether it is His Majesty the Emperor, the old mage, or the legendary mage duo, they have all been idle recently. Feeling panicked and having far greater mobility than ordinary people, Joshua raised the possibility. They planned to do it directly at that time, and after Joshua had just finished building the empire's void battleship production line, he was once again pulled to build China Unicom. Magic Web's super server.
"I'm really bothering you this time, No. 3."
Thinking of this, Joshua couldn't help but turn his head and glance at the highly intelligent artificial intelligence girl beside him, and said softly: "I'll keep you working with me."
"No trouble, no trouble!"
Are there still jobs like this? I'll get some more! No. 3 shook his head quickly with a smile on his lips.
The establishment of the Magic Network server this time is really thanks to No. 3. As an artificial intelligence, No. 3's own rune crystal body is actually a large-scale information management center. As long as it is slightly improved and some detection of the Magic Network is loaded, With the signal equipment, an information processing matrix can be successfully constructed, so if Joshua wants to make changes to this rune crystal server, he needs to check it with No. 3.
The workload of this 'slight' improvement is really beyond the imagination of many legendary strongmen. Just a network for the students of Winter Castle has left Barnier, who is responsible for writing rune programs, mentally and physically exhausted. He and Black Mist He didn't seem so tired when he was fighting for control of the mist. Although Joshua, who had to fine-tune the system at least hundreds of times a day on the server, seemed to be in good spirits, he was actually already irritable and wanted to find someone to compete with.
"It's actually fine now."
On the side, William, who was observing the mental network conditions between the students of Winter Castle and the Magic Network in real time, seemed to want to comfort everyone. He said comfortingly: "Think about the White Tower in the Sky, the Holy Mountain in the Far Sea, the entire Northern Empire, and even the people in the future. If all humans, elves, and dwarves join this network, the server load at that time... right? We are pretty relaxed now."
"Shut up." "Please silence."
Although he reprimanded William in this way, Joshua was actually looking forward to the future growth of this network - now is the beginning, so it is natural that legendary experts like them are needed on the front line to sense the magic network and set up servers. But in the future, more mages and technicians will take their place, and even go further than they expected.
Just like now, in version 0.9 of the information terminal, there are only task sections and forums within Winterfort Academy. The task section was designed by him through some information from the system to replace the credit tasks within Winterfort Academy. System, if current college students want to receive tasks, they no longer need to go to the central hall of each major college. They only need to click on the task section. Credits do not need to be calculated by many instructors in sequence. The rune programs written by Barnier will naturally accumulate automatically. .
The forum section is an information exchange center proposed by the soldiers. The specific usage is to post ordinary posts for many students to exchange information. Although the server has only been launched for a few days, the number of various posts has already Reached an astonishing number.
Although most of them are ordinary commemorative posts for completing missions, there are also a lot of essential posts that describe in detail how they completed the mission, and the characteristics and key points of the monsters are also clearly written. And this This is the original intention of the soldiers to establish this forum - knowledge is something that can only be valuable if it is diffused. Only by communicating with each other can civilization develop rapidly.
-In the foreseeable future, psykers in the West will be able to communicate directly with the Mages Association in the East. The ancient psychic powers will usher in new blood, and the emerging magic will also be supplemented by ancient knowledge. Some fighting spirit and combat skills that have gradually fallen behind will also be rejuvenated after being supplemented by other knowledge. It will be a feast for everyone in the world. As long as everyone is willing to share, then everyone can get what they want. everything of.
Perhaps, Israel, Barnier and others do not know what changes their actions will bring to the world, but Joshua is different. He knows that the network he single-handedly advocated and created will How valuable is it
"I'm really looking forward to it. This is completely different from the previous life, the future of the new Mycroft world."
And at the same time.
In the boundless heaven, the stars of the multiverse world began to twinkle in the dark void here, and the brilliance of the great demon tide became thicker and thicker. At this time, it finally penetrated into this semi-independent plane hanging above Mycroft's world.
"The time is coming, the light of the demonic tide has begun to shake the foundation of the plane."
A long sigh with echo appeared faintly in the center of this world.
"The gears are returning to their places, and the legacy is being revived... Although it is hundreds of years late, the glory of the Era of Glory finally shines on the Era of Starfall."
"Tell Eagle that the coming of the gods is coming."
"We will be back soon."
Originally, the plot of setting up the academy server could have been written in several chapters, but I felt it was a bit watered down, so I condensed it into two chapters.
(End of chapter)