Chapter 355 Virtual Realm Theory
The dim light of dawn pierced the eastern sky, casting a holy and hopeful light on the snow-covered Pompeii village.
When Luo Yan and his party returned to the village with their sleeping children, the miller and his wife, who had been awake all night, were the first to rush out.
When he saw the sleeping boy in Finick's arms, the weather-beaten middle-aged man could no longer suppress his emotions. He cried loudly with his wife, knelt in the snow and thanked everyone.
Shameless Ilara stepped forward quickly, comforting the couple and helping them up from the snow.
Looking at this kind girl, the poor lady moved her lips as if she wanted to say something, but in the end her trembling lips just squeezed out a submissive "thank you" and hid the shame in her eyes.
The crying woke the child.
The boy looked around blankly, and after a while, he probably cried out as he recalled yesterday's nightmare.
The cry at dawn alarmed the villagers in the village.
After hearing that the heroes had triumphed, they had been worried all night and walked out of their homes one after another, surrounding the adventurers who had saved the village.
Their faces were filled with gratitude, joy, and a hint of imperceptible guilt.
The old village chief held Fenick's hand tremblingly and said excitedly.
"Heroes! Saint Sith... You are the heroes of Pompeii!"
"No, we actually..." Fenique blushed and wanted to explain that it was actually Mr. Colin's guard who did it, but the villagers did not give him a chance to speak.
In fact, it doesn’t matter who does it.
The most important thing is that the nightmare that has plagued Pompeii Village is finally over, and they no longer have to worry about the madwoman coming to the village from time to time to kidnap children.
"You actually killed that witch!"
"Thank you so much!"
"Praise Saint Sith, praise the Emperor, praise you who swore an oath to them, you are true knights...Thank you, we no longer have to worry!"
On the one hand, they were happy that they could be saved, and they were happy that the lumber camp they relied on for their livelihood had been recovered; on the other hand, their hearts were filled with fear and apologies.
They knew very well that out of selfish motives, they did not reveal the terrifying legend of "Green Fang" Hekajelin, but only vaguely called it "Necromancer", for fear that these young adventurers would give up.
No one cares about them.
That was the only straw they could catch.
Now that the heroes are back, this not only makes them relieved, but also allows the guilt to be quietly covered up in the ecstasy.
The villagers took out the best rye bread, preserved bacon and ale at home, and forced it into the hands of these young heroes without explanation.
These things can't be sold for much money, but they are all this poor village has.
However, facing the tsunami-like enthusiasm of the villagers, the four Finnicks seemed particularly embarrassed.
If it were not for Mr. Colin and his powerful guard, they would have been just bones in the army of the undead. They both deserved this heavy praise and found it ironic.
"No, no, everyone is too polite, we can't accept this..."
Fenick scratched the back of his head in embarrassment, smiled and declined the food from the villagers. Barrett and Leo just smiled honestly, not knowing what to say.
At this time, the miller came over and solemnly handed a heavy bag of money to Finick's hand.
"This is the agreed reward and a little bit of our thoughts... For the sake of Saint Sith, please don't refuse!"
Some of the money in the purse is silver coins, but most of them are copper coins. The well-educated Ilara counted them carefully, totaling 55 silver coins and 74 copper coins.
Fenick carefully counted out twenty silver coins, added ten more of his own "big money", squeezed through the crowd and walked to Mr. Colin, handing a total of thirty silver coins into the latter's hands.
This is the agreed reward.
Luo Yan accepted it happily and handed the money bag to Sarah who was standing aside.
Although thirty silver coins are no different to him than stones on the roadside, they are the fruits of his labor and their meaning is different.
“Sir, what are your plans next?” Barrett mustered up the courage, stepped forward and asked.
Luo Yan thought for a moment and then spoke with a smile.
"I don't have anything special in mind. Let's take a rest today. Anyway, the registration for the apprenticeship exam does not end today. It will be the same tomorrow if I think about it."
Taff has fallen asleep in Sarah's arms.
She could sleep better than a child when she entered the hibernation period. Just now, the villagers were shouting with gratitude like a tsunami, but they didn't pull her out of her dream.
The four young adventurers looked at each other and nodded.
Fenique walked up to the village chief and politely declined the latter's invitation to the banquet. Then he joined Luo Yan and his party and returned towards the traveler's camp.
The villagers watched them leave until their backs disappeared at the edge of the snow, and then they dispersed from the entrance of the village.
From the beginning to the end, neither Luo Yan nor Fenike mentioned that the villagers deliberately concealed information.
The four young people may have understood in their hearts, but they all chose silence tacitly.
They may have grown more this night than they have in the past...
…
The group of people returned to the lively traveler camp, surrounded by a noisy atmosphere, but this atmosphere could not infect Fenick and others who had just returned from the line between life and death.
Their hearts are still extremely heavy.
After experiencing the brutal battle and witnessing the tragic end of "Green Teeth" Hekagelina's desire to go crazy, everyone was thinking about something.
· Xuebang...
· The holy land they had longed for seemed to be cast a shadow overnight.
Even Ilara, the only one in the four-person team who can use magic by her own strength, cannot optimistically believe that her talent is stronger than that of the witch.
Just at the entrance of the camp, hunter Leo suddenly stopped.
Fenick and others took a few steps forward, only to realize that he had not followed, and couldn't help but look back.
Leo stood there with a smile that he had never seen before. That smile contained both reluctance and relief of letting go of everything.
"Finik, Barrett, Ilara...Thank you for accompanying me along the way. I...don't plan to take the Xue Bang exam." Facing the three companions who were walking along, he whispered what he had been considering along the way.
At this moment, his eyes no longer hesitated.
"Leo...are you serious?!" Fenick was shocked. He walked back to Leo quickly, unable to believe his ears.
The same goes for Barrett, who even stepped forward anxiously and grabbed his shoulders, trying to shake this guy with a broken brain to wake up.
"Are you crazy? We've all come this far... We're just short of the last step! Why give up now? You're at least more talented than me, right?"
Leo's eyes can even see the squirrels scurrying into the bushes fifty meters away. This is undoubtedly a sign of affinity with the wind element.
It was not like him, but when he was napping, the flames on the water stove were bigger than before, and he almost set the house on fire. To this day, he still wondered whether it was just his father who saw the time wrong, and it was actually just him napping for too long.
"Yes, Leo, hold on a little longer!" Ilara also urged anxiously, "Didn't we agree to become magicians together?"
Leo smiled sheepishly, feeling that he was a bit useless for giving up halfway.
But he has no intention of changing it.
His eyes swept across his three sincere companions, and finally fell on Mr. Colin and the powerful female guard not far away who had been silent.
Looking at his friends again, he said frankly.
"Hekagelin is not a good person, but she is indeed a genius. You have also seen the research results she left in the cave."
The three fell into silence.
Seeing that no one answered, Leo continued.
"Even a genius like her ended up as a human being and a ghost in the end. I suddenly felt that Xuebang may not be as heaven as we imagined."
He looked at his hands, which were a pair of calloused hands that had been drawing bows all year round.
He suddenly smiled and said with relief.
"I seem...I really don't have that talent. Maybe Saint Sith sent me to the mortal world and never thought that I would become a magician. Moreover, I don't envy them very much now. If the opponent is not those skeletons, but a gray wolf or a bear, I am confident that I will never lose. In fact, I don't need to fight the necromancer at all. That thing never appeared in my hometown."
He found that he began to miss the forest in his hometown, the wind blowing in his ears while chasing prey, the bowl of sweet pumpkin soup, his father's stern but caring eyes, the girl who suddenly covered his eyes from behind when he was wiping his long bow... and that innocent but not beautiful smile.
That kind of unknown life once disgusted him to the extreme, but at this moment, he missed it so much that he wanted to fly back to them immediately.
There is nothing wrong with being unknown.
They met too many adventurers along the way who were eager to make a name for themselves, but in the end they turned into despicable and shameless villains.
Let alone gaining the favor of Saint Sith, if these guys are reincarnated as pigs in the village of Pompeii in their next life, that would be because Saint Sith is too merciful.
...In the end, the so-called extraordinary power is nothing more than an "extraordinary person" riding on the necks of a group of "ordinary people". Successful people will maintain this system, and some people who cannot stand this system, after gaining strength, will just use a more barbaric and cruel method to torture ordinary people who have no ability. "
“I even think that it would be better if there were no extraordinary beings in this world. Anything that magic can do can be done with hands...” Leo shrugged his shoulders and suddenly smiled freely, “You just think I can’t eat the grapes and say the grapes are sour, but this... is really not the life I want.”< br/>
"Having this magnificent adventure is enough for my ordinary life."
The reason why he longed to become a magician was because he naively thought that he could change the world through magic and become a hero in people's eyes.
But now he understands that a person can't actually change anything at all. In the end, he can only decide what kind of life he leads.
legends are in stories, only life is your own.
Finick, Ilara and Barrett looked at each other, speechless for a moment.
They could not refute Leo's words, because they had also witnessed the tragedy of Hekagerin and what she did after falling into madness.
Luo Yan, standing aside, showed an intriguing smile.
This young man has a good understanding, and he has seen through the essence of extraordinary power at a young age - the so-called extraordinary power is a kind of power that gathers the strength of everyone and then tramples them underfoot. If everyone can use magic, then the magic itself will fail.
Unfortunately, this kind of insight is meaningless.
Because the desire to become "extraordinary" is itself the broadest basis of public opinion in the world, and it is an order that was born before the First Era.
Even though the villagers in Pompeii seemed to have no establishment, they were all within the system, so once Hekajelin went crazy, they would be the first to be targeted by the wand, instead of going to the mage tower or the lord.
However, Luo Yan also admitted that Leo's choice was a kind of transparency. When nothing can be changed, "lying flat" is a smart choice.
As long as you don't have ambitions beyond your capabilities, you won't be instigated by careerists like yourself to run around, and you will have the opportunity to spend your life leisurely, whether in hell or in the empire.
Although this is not in his interest.
"Are you really not thinking about it anymore? This is your dream." Finick put his hand on Leo's shoulder and asked the last question seriously.
Leo nodded, his eyes serious as never before, and he held the hand that fell on his shoulder.
The remaining three people stood at the entrance of the camp, looking confused.
"Mr. Colin," Fenik adjusted his mood, stepped forward and said to Luo Yan, "We plan to go to the Adventurer's Guild to cancel the mission first, and then... go to the tavern to celebrate last night's victory and see Leo off. Do you want to come together?"
Luo Yan looked at several young people with complicated moods, smiled and shook his head: "You go ahead, I'm a little tired and want to take a rest."
He would only make them feel awkward if he was around them. Besides, he didn't know them very well. He just met them by chance during the trip.
Fenick nodded and continued cautiously.
"Okay, then... we'll wait for you at the door of the pub tomorrow morning? We made an appointment to register at the border registration office together, do you remember?"
"Of course, I wish you have a good time." Luo Yan nodded in agreement.
Taph, who had just woken up, looked very interested and was about to give them some ideas. They could go to the camp to find the girls wearing sheepskin coats to do their favorite things.
This kid is also quite interesting. On the one hand, he laughs at the fact that hairless monkeys are in estrus all year round, but on the other hand, he is obviously more interested in mating than just academic research.
Just like a primary school student who has just learned dirty jokes.
It's a pity that due to the master's order, it only let out a long "croak" when it opened its mouth.
Thinking that the young dragon was saying goodbye to his group, Fenik and the others were stunned for a moment, then nodded politely, and then left first with heavy steps.
Looking at their desolate backs, Tafu looked as if she had eaten a fly. Looking at the deflated Taff, Sarah couldn't help but curled up her thin lips.
Her laughter always comes from inexplicable places.
"It's time for us to leave."
Luo Yan smiled faintly, took Sarah and Taff into the bustling camp, and went straight to his tent.
At the entrance of the tent, the two clay golems were still standing motionless, exactly the same as when Luo Yan just left here.
When they saw their master coming back, they respectfully stepped aside to make way for the respected Lord Demon King.
"Sarah, I'm hungry, let me eat below."
"Yes, Lord Demon King." Sarah respectfully accepted the order, and carried Tuff, whose face changed slightly, to go outside. Soon there was the sound of beating eggs.
Luo Yan sat down at the table, and with a wave of his hand, the shabby notebook found in Hekajelin's lair appeared in his hand.
As I opened the notebook, I was greeted by the smell of damp ink and a faint smell of blood.
The first half of the note, written in neat and neat handwriting, records in detail the orthodox magic knowledge that Hekajelin learned in Xue Bang, including element theory, spiritual meditation, rune structure, etc... The lines are full of longing and hope for the future.
Luo Yan noticed that there was a line of beautiful handwriting on the title page of the note - "Dedicated to knowledge and the great cause of magic."
Objective evaluation, her academic attainments are good, and if the compatibility of knowledge is ignored, she can be admitted to the Demon King Academy based on her strength.
However, when Luo Yan turned to the second half, his painting style changed suddenly.
The handwriting began to become wild and twisted, like wildly growing poison ivy, filled with various taboo necromancy studies, complaints about failed experiments, and vicious curses on the school. Some passages were even made by scratching the paper with fingernails and then smearing it with blood... By this time, she must have been mentally disturbed, and she was completely different from the hopeful young man before.
But no matter what, this notebook is an excellent trophy.
Although the magical theories of Hell and Empire are different, they are fundamentally the same. They just use different languages and grammars to describe the same abstract object.
As an outstanding graduate of Demon King Academy and a mature necromancer, Luo Yan naturally saw through the fatal flaws in her research at a glance - especially the theory about soul suturing, which was a complete replica of the Lich's soul upgrading ritual, and a replica of the old version a thousand years ago.
This is undoubtedly suicide.
However, Luo Yan also obtained a lot of first-hand information about Xuebang's internal courses and knowledge system from his notes.
Just like Hell cannot learn Holy Light Magic, the magicians in Xuebang are also unable to freely explore the knowledge of the soul realm, so they can only find another way to find an explanation consistent with the teachings of Saint Sith through theological means.
It is precisely for this reason that the "Holy Energy School" is ahead of the Soul School and the Spiritual School in the field of soul.
This Hekajelin is an apprentice who belongs to the Holy Energy School - he studies under the sage candidate, Professor Uriel Ackley.
When he turned to the last few pages of his notes, his movements stopped.
The handwriting here has returned to a little more graceful, and it seems to have been written by Hekagerin when his spirit was a little more stable.
She recorded some of the knowledge she heard from her mentor in a reminiscing tone, and this included the most cutting-edge research direction of Xuebang - "Virtual Realm".
“…The instructor accidentally mentioned during an experiment that the top secret of Xuebang is about the exploration of the world outside the world. He told us that in our world, in addition to the earth under our feet, there is also the earth outside the earth, which is called "void". In front of the void, we are like the bottom of a well. The frogs, the cicadas on the trees... everything about us is worth mentioning in front of it."
"Chaos is not the only thing in the void, there are many relatively "harmless" alien planes in the gaps of the endless sea of chaos, and we are probably just one of them."
"The magicians in Xuebang dare not discuss this matter openly, but they all agree with it tacitly. They have seen many things they have never seen before in the virtual world, including boxes made of cement, flaming arrows, ferocious-looking walking dead, or lizards traveling in silver sailboats... No matter where there is war or peace, whether it is prosperity or decline, whether there are people or not, they will tell these things that have not been favored by Saint Sith. The planes are collectively called "virtual realms". "
"My mentor talked about the excitement and told us that their ultimate goal is to try to open a stable passage to these "virtual realms". Although our physical body may not be able to pass through that door, we can learn from it and understand a new power system that is not available in this world, so as to make up for or even break through the shackles of the "soul level"..."
At the end of the note, Hekajelin seemed a little excited, as if he was recalling the turbulent years when he and his predecessors pursued their dreams and explored the sea of the virtual world.
Even if she becomes a monster, she cannot go back.
…The person who led this research was none other than Professor Uriel Ackley of the Holy School, my former mentor...I hate everyone, but I have never hated him. It was he who led me to open the door to the truth. Even if there is one My soul is burning out, and I also hope that his teachings can shine in this land, so that our hard work will not turn into insignificant dust."
Luo Yan closed the note and tapped his fingertips lightly on the cover. The light of the magic lights in the tent shone with interest in his eyes.
"...I didn't expect that the ambitions of the magicians in Xuebang were greater than I imagined."
They are not just studying magic, they are actually trying to shake the foundation of the rules of the entire world.
The demons of hell have come a long way in portal technology, but the magicians of the empire have actually begun to explore the "different world"... although their physical bodies seem to be unable to get through.
The only uncertainty now is whether the other side of the virtual realm is another planet in the same starry sky, or another completely different universe.
This may help him understand the nature of the planet Kaa.
"Yuyou, this journey is getting more and more interesting."