above the ring

Chapter 8 The Wandering Merchant Ka Lie
The old knight staggered away with his horse, and they took the loa fruit that Lear had given them.

Lear's words may have greatly shocked the old knight's beliefs, or perhaps they did not cause any ripples in his heart.

Even Lear himself didn't feel that this sentence was really useful.

Everyone is their own hero, probably only living in this peaceful society in reality is meaningful.

In the borderlands, there are no real, living, self-aware civilians for a long time.

Even the strong-willed knights, many of them were immersed in madness, raising their swords to kill people according to their instincts, and dancing their swordsmanship according to their physical memory.

In the course of the game, killing these people can obtain runes. Although the power obtained through rune ingestion is powerful, it also has many side effects.

When people are not eating, rune can still keep the body full of vitality. But this is not a good thing.

Eating and drinking water are ancient behaviors engraved in blood genes for living beings. They are the ability of all things in the world to be close to nature and feel the survival ability of nature. It is also a way to relieve spirit and stress. If you keep suppressing this If there is no function, then some more terrible desires will arise, because there is a vacancy in the heart that needs to be filled.

For example, the demihumans who "rebelled" against Moen City.

"Where there is oppression, there is resistance." In fact, this sentence does not apply to the "big" event that happened on the Weeping Peninsula. It is not so much that the demi-humans in Moen City rebelled because of the noble humans under Gregor's command. The consequences of enslavement, rather, are more like a group of bloodthirsty beasts whose IQs have dropped and lost their minds.

They just need a reason to vent their desire.

The sludge monsters all over Moen City prove this point.

Sludge monsters will only appear in the darkest corners of the world. They often appear with the appearance of the dead, and also with the appearance of the defiled.

Going to the south of Moen City this time, the old knight should be in bad luck. Although his fighting skills are still good, but the ants kill elephants, as long as he is a human, there will always be a moment of fatigue.

However, Lear was also planning to head south. Although the journey was far away, in his plan, he still wanted to visit the sword mound of the hero in Moen City.

That is the undead warrior who lives for revenge and dies for revenge.

Speaking of which, the average combat effectiveness of individuals in the sub-human population is actually not strong. Whether it is able to fly in the sky or run on the ground, their strength is not very good. Apart from the fact that the appearance of clusters may bring disaster, there is basically nothing unique. The only place to be careful is that the red-haired lion is mixed.

As one of the partners of the Furnace Knights who killed the Quartet in the last era, they used to be a family of mixed race knights full of honor. Now on the Weeping Peninsula, there is only this crazy lion hybrid left, but it In the combat skills of wielding the great sword, there are still shadows of the sword skills of those furnace knights back then.

Compared with the big tree guards, Lear still thinks the furnace knights are more handsome, but the furnace knights are pitifully rare now, and it is not easy to find them.

It is said that the Furnace Knights were loyal to Godwin the "Golden", and they disappeared after Godwin's death.

Lear remembered that there was a sealed prison above the storm level, and there seemed to be a furnace knight sealed there, um, you can take a look when you turn around.

Watching the old knight go away, Lear looked north and walked through the golden forest. Lear came to the ruins of a cathedral.

This church has no statues that should be enshrined, and the scale is very small. Maybe the gods who were worshiped here have long since died or been sealed. The dilapidated church is now just a temporary residence for wandering merchants.

Outside the church, there are several wooden signs in the shape of a crucifix. At the junction, this symbol actually represents the Eternal Queen Malika, which is the appearance of Queen Malika with her hands tied on the arc of the rune and her head bowed. , The wooden plaque made according to this pattern is engraving a humanoid body, but the workmanship is rough, and the humanoid figure in the middle cannot be seen clearly.

The figure in the middle was thin and thin, not as thick as a thigh of Lear's. It was impossible for him to think that it was a human corpse.

Oh, this wandering trader is living there now, wearing a little red hat, a thin figure, and an old man with white beard and hair.

A wandering businessman, Kalie, a rare good man in the borderlands.

Every time other Dharma players see him, they seem to be a little kind, not for anything else, mainly. Well, this guy is the witness when the players met their wives for the first time.

Witness of love, no matter in reality or in the game, this is a very important position.

Of course, it's hard for Lear to empathize.

It's a pity that Lear didn't see the Snow Witch's visit in the night of this church, the first episode and the second episode.

Later, I found out in some analysis videos that if I wanted to meet Lani who called herself "Rena" in the Church of Airey, I couldn't enter the round table hall, and I would go back to the Church of Airey after getting the spirit horse to kill time. Probably because of the mismatch between Melina and Lani.

Cough cough, Lani seemed to be jealous and said.

Who is Melina?Lear hasn't met her yet, but since he is familiar with the plot of the game, he can meet her at the blessing point outside the storm level, and he can even get his beloved horse from her.

Now, he really wanted to meet the little witch who had four small hands, two delicate faces, and who was arrogantly hiding her real name and sitting on a high place.

It seems that you have to get the spirit horse first. It is said that Torret, the spirit horse, is teacher Lani, the riding horse of the previous Snow Witch Lena. In the world, become a "spirit horse" that can walk the two worlds of the spirit world and the junction.

And the adventures of the players in the junction officially begin from this moment.

Lear shook his head, carried his helmet, and walked into the church.

Wearing a red hat, Ka Lie, who had just picked up an erhu-like instrument, looked warily at Lear who entered the church.

"I heard the noise outside the church and the wailing of war horses. You are a real strong man, but I don't have what you want here."

The dialogue is completely different from the plot.

The blessing point in the church did not radiate the light of guidance. At least, the next blessing scene that Lear saw from the beginning of the guide was not here, but the next blessing point that skipped here.

This made Lear feel a little strange, as if something was different.

"I don't want to beat you. After all, I just beat that knight and I'm still a little tired. I just want to find a place to rest."

Lear could only say so, trying to lower Kalie's guard against him.

"Huh——" Ka Lie seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, "Some time ago, Greck's soldiers came here, and they seemed a little violent and crazy. Although I'm not too afraid of one or two people, there are a lot of them after all. "

"Are Grek's soldiers around here?"

"Yes, in the woods to the northeast, they seem to be exploring a cave, trying to get some supplies from it, but they seem to have failed, and instead lost a lot of people."

"Northeast direction? That's the path to the storm level, right?"

"Yes, through the near forest, you will reach the checkpoint. Are you going there? There is the quarter of Grek's soldiers, led by a powerful knight, and their troll servants are stationed there, You have to be careful."

"I know."

Lear turned his head and touched the blessing point located in the center of Airey Church.

Without any more hints, it seems that this is not an important place.

"Uh, are you a fader?"

"Hahaha, no, no, no, I'm not a fader. Although, I can touch blessings and plunder runes, but I'm really not a fader, I'm just here to travel."

"Huh? Haha, uh, yes, yes. Well, then I think we can do a business."

Ka Lie grabbed the erhu in his hand.

"Business, what business?"

"You may not be able to see that I am actually a merchant. If you have enough runes, you can buy some things from me."

Lear walked up and came to Kalie, and in the dark, a force made Lear feel the existence of Rune.

Although rune likes to be close to living people, if the corresponding method is not used to transform the rune into strengthening its own power, then rune is just a substance attached to the living body.

Lear hadn't felt their existence before, but now, he felt it, and also found that he could materialize runes with one thought, and then deliver them in one go.

Thinking of this, he raised his hand, and dots of golden light appeared in his hand.

"Is this the rune you're talking about?"

"Yes, it is."

"What is the use of this thing?"

The real fader must know the purpose of this thing, but since Lear has chosen to disguise, he is ready to pretend to the end, and maybe he can get Kale's words from here.

"This is the common currency of the borderlands. After the Fragmentation War, those rare ores are no longer enough to bear the value of the currency, and runes... Moreover, this is also a very important thing. No matter who it is, they want to Want him."

"For example, can you strengthen yourself?"

"When, of course. You know that."

"I don't know, but I got these runes from the body of an 'attached' nobleman who wanted to fuck me, so I wondered if this is a substance that can be used for strengthening .”

"Noble limbs! Uh, I'm sorry, you are indeed a powerful fa.uh, traveler. You are right, rune is indeed a substance used for strengthening. His power is neutral and gentle, very good Use. Have you seen the forging table over there? There is a forging stone there, using forging stones and runes, plus the skill of blacksmithing, can strengthen weapons. I also heard that this thing can be used to strengthen yourself, but, Many people say that this method has side effects, and I don’t know how to strengthen myself, so I don’t know more about the uses of Rune.”

"Understood. All right, let's see what you have here, um, is there anything you can recommend?"

"it is good"

Ka Lie dug out his accumulated commodities from the box behind him, which were roughly divided into four categories: materials, equipment, consumables, and special items.

There are not many materials, except for the Roya fruit that is everywhere in Ningmgfu, it is mushrooms, meat slices and other foods. The actual materials for making are basically not in Kalie's hands.

In terms of equipment, apart from a large leather shield that is common in Ningmgfu, there is a complete set of well-maintained chain leather armor suits. It seems that the style does not fit the opponent's figure. He should have picked it off from someone. , and the time distance should not be too far away.

There are quite a lot of consumables, besides common consumables such as arrows, crossbow bolts, torches, and throwing knives, there are also several pots with cracks on the surface, which are also included in the category of consumables.

Among the special items, a few pages of parchment caught Lear's attention. Some of the parchment recorded the production formula, but some pages were clearly marked as notes or diaries written by unknown people. It's just a leather bag of unknown purpose, and a well-made telescope tube.

"I recommend you to buy this, the tool leather bag. With that leather bag, you can make some simple props by yourself. If you want to adventure in this land, you need this kind of thing, and this thing is indeed quite useful. I can earn a fortune if I sell it. But my original intention, um, I still hope that an important guest like you can live in peace."

"Okay, just buy a tool bag, give me a torch, and I want the telescope too."

"A total of one thousand runes. Your offer is really generous. Thank you for listening to me. I am very happy with this business."

Lear got 100 runes from the descendants of the "leg grafting" nobles, and the puppet soldiers in the cave gave him 3500. Fan Lei actually had a lot of runes, [-], more than that of the grafting nobleman. If you want more, it seems that Fanlei himself has plundered runes.

How to put it, with more than 6000 souls, he is now considered a rich man in Ningmgfu.

"Here, I'll give you two hundred more."

"You, you are"

"Ask you some questions, it should be fine."

"Of course, I, I must say what I know."

Lear was sitting on the ground leaning on the bonfire of Galley, and he was very close to Galley, which made Gallet a little nervous again.

"where are you come from?"

"I was born in a wandering nation, and I was traveling while doing business. Since the shattering of the Elden Circle, the minds of the people in this land have been somewhat abnormal, but those faded people all over the border allowed me to get rid of The situation of no income. If you are going to travel, I suggest you also do like me, take some goods with you, well, you can also sell to those faders."

"Oh~ this is a good way, by the way, do you know the big tree guard nearby?"

"You mean the knight in golden armor who fought with you just now?"

"Correct."

"I don't know his origin. He has been wandering around here all the time. From the storm checkpoint to the edge of the beach, he is in the range of his activities. Although he has never returned to Stonewell City, he still serves King Gregor. , he guards this area and specializes in hunting faders. During the day, the light of the golden tree shines on this land. This knight's sanity is quite normal. He will come to me to exchange runes for some food to satisfy his hunger. And at night, he will tie the faded ones he caught to wooden signs, cut open the wounds, and let their blood flow down until they are completely dead."

"Did you see it with your own eyes?"

"Yes, I saw it with my own eyes."

"Those wooden signs are full of corpses?"

"They are all corpses. You may not be aware that faders who have been strengthened by rune power, when they die, most of their bodies will be turned into fly ash due to the power of rune, leaving only a small part of a lot of rune." The power of En is fused in the blood, and bleeding will also cause the power of Rune to be lost."

"So, the old knight...is he a madman?"

"There are no normal people in the borderlands anymore, sir, that knight is still awake for at least half of the time, and most of Greik's soldiers can only act on instinct."

"A miserable world. Do you know how this world became like this?"

"To be honest, Mr. Traveler, I don't know, but what I do know is that the Fragment War has brought serious disasters to this land. Not to mention, the battle between the Valkyrie and Lataen alone is Turning the vast wilderness of Gaelid into a scarlet wasteland, death and decay are everywhere, and corruption is born, and it has almost become a dead place."

"Well, half of the wasteland world is worth visiting. What about Nimforge, there is no corruption here, and it's quite beautiful."

"Sir, in fact, Nimforge is also experiencing corruption, or to say, 'decay' is more appropriate, the storm level is just dilapidated, and the ruins were all caused by the battle between Grek and the Valkyrie before the level. However, in Stonewell in the north, the once magnificent castle of Nymforge is now covered with black thorns, and the black thorns that appeared from the inside of the castle are about to turn it into a terrible place of death."

"what reason."

"Many people say that the bloody and horrific crimes of murder that Grek used to create all of this, because the black thorns started to grow from the day he lived in the castle."

"Then do you know what's under the castle?"

"I don't know, sir, I've never been in a castle."

"Well, I see. I'll give you another five hundred runes, and give me your few pages of parchment. I just need notes."

"Okay, okay."

Lear put away the parchment and stood up.

"I will come again in the future, remember to replenish."

"Uh, well, then, I'd like to thank you for coming."

"Good talk, good talk."

Carrying a helmet, a shield on his back, and a sword on his waist, Lear walked out of the Church of Airey, and looked back at the curved wooden signs at the door of the church.

Lear could clearly feel the despair in the darkness.

I thought that the old knight, who also advocated glory and faith, could be considered a good person, but his actions also made people feel terrible and fearful.

Lear didn't know whether what Kali said was correct, after all, almost everything in the dream was not expressed in the game.

Anyway, let's go to the storm level first.

Meet Melina first.

If the bottom of this world is so hopeless, then... well, I really don't want to have this dream anymore.

PS: Change first and then change.

(End of this chapter)