The wizard starts by trimming the donkey's hooves

Chapter 335 Approaching (Two chapters in one)

The border of the province of Münster, the Dragon's Tooth Pass.

I saw two people running quickly, and behind them, there were dozens of staggering humanoid monsters chasing them.

If you look closely, you can see that the bodies of those dozens of humanoid monsters are all covered with colorful mushrooms. At the same time, there is also a yellow-green foul-smelling gas filling the air.

The two people running in front are the two survivors of the "Black Sword" team who did not enter the mine to explore, the third-level wizard apprentice Medeiros and the sword and shield knight Luka.

"Mederos, there are more and more of these damn things."

"Yesterday, we successfully killed more than a dozen of them. I didn't expect these monsters to become more and more troublesome now!"

"Why hasn't the support from the branch arrived yet?" Luka, the great knight of sword and shield, said tiredly while running quickly.

The two of them have already released the two blood falcons for communication.

Even if something might have happened to the first one, it is impossible for both of them to have accidents. The news must have been conveyed.

"Not so fast! In the Munster branch, the captain's strength is already top-notch. Do you think it would be useful even if we send several other Diamond-level teams?"

Medeiros looked solemn as he spoke while running away quickly relying on the Swift Wind.

"This..." Luka's face darkened when he heard his companion's words. Although he didn't want to admit it, what Medeiros said made sense.

"It is highly likely that the branch is waiting for support from the imperial capital."

"But I believe it should be soon. At least, the vanguard should be soon!" Medeiros didn't know whether he was talking to Luca or to himself, he just heard him muttering in a low voice.

Since the day before yesterday, these humanoid monsters covered with fungi have begun to appear from time to time in the mines. When they discover human villages, they immediately launch attacks.

This also allowed the two of them to see the entire process of the villagers being transformed into humanoid monsters.

The third-level wizard apprentice Medeiros named these infected people xun people, which means spore people or mushroom people.

After these ordinary villagers were infected and went in and out of the mine several times, the number of mushroom people became fewer, but the strength of the mushroom people that came out again actually increased slowly.

But the most troublesome thing is its high infectiousness.

If you engage in close combat, you will quickly be infected by the yellow-green mist emitted by the opponent.

Fortunately, if I stay far enough away, I can still barely resist it with the physique of a great knight.

Otherwise, Luka would have been killed in the previous small-scale battles.

This also made Medeiros and Luca conclude that there must be some source of infection in the mine, considering that there was a sealed door inside.

Therefore, they were almost certain that there was a 90% chance that there was something wrong with the sealed door in the mine.

This also explains why the captain 'Black Sword' Guerrero, whose strength had reached the quasi-legendary level, was unable to make it out alive.

"Fuck! There's one in front too." Luka, with sharp eyes, immediately reminded.

"Turn left!" Medeiros shouted.

"Oh no, there are also some on the left. They have surrounded us!" Luka said with a pale face.

Just as the two men were looking panicked, wondering whether they should give it a try, suddenly, the humanoid monsters stopped and quickly returned the same way.

This made Medeiros and Luca a little confused. They looked at each other, not knowing what was going on.

"Boom!"

The two suddenly felt a vibration under their feet, and then a sound like a landslide came from the direction of the Adachi Mine.

Even though the two were several kilometers away from the mine, they could still clearly see a large amount of smoke and dust suddenly erupting from the ground, followed by a huge dragon rushing out from the ground.

"hold head high!!!"

The giant dragon roared loudly, and thick yellow-green gas lingered around its body.

A large number of mushroom people emerged from the hole in the ground, some of which were as big as ogres.
"This must be the source!!" Medeiros said in shock as he watched the scene.

"I understand! Those mushroom people come in and out to infect humans just to provide energy for this giant dragon."

"Mederos, look at the direction the other party is flying." After hearing what Mederos said, Luka suddenly thought of something and his face looked extremely ugly.

"Not good! It's heading towards the city of Brightsin County!"

“I know it’s going to continue to recover.”

The two of them suddenly changed their expressions!
-
Munster.

On the way back to the mansion from the church, Ryan did not chat too much with the beautiful woman. Instead, his face remained solemn.

Because Bishop Theon and Brandoer both agree that even if the Emperor can recover, the situation will not be much better than it is now.

According to the statement within the Goddess Church, "The catastrophe has come, and only the most devout believers can obtain the Goddess's blessing."

Originally, Ryan thought that since he had changed his job to 'King of Thousand Blades', it shouldn't be a big problem for him to deal with some risks in the short term.

But now it seems that the future situation may be more difficult than he imagined.

"People without thought, he must worry about."

"We must not slack off on improving our strength."

After returning to the mansion, Ryan took out the third and last thing given to him by Mentor Mogaro - the parchment scroll of the iron combat puppet - from the drawer.

"It is almost impossible for a Dragon Vein Wizard to meet the job transfer requirements in a short period of time. However, I wonder if the Battle Puppet can find another way as I thought."

Ryan's eyes flickered.

He was deeply impressed by the effects of the morning's revitalization technique.

The object he animated in the morning was just a piece of metal that he could easily deform. According to the level, it was just a dummy. But this time it was different. It was a precisely made puppet.

Ryan was quite looking forward to the combat puppets made and assembled of metal.

At the same time, he also wanted to verify several ideas in his mind.

Ryan spread out the parchment scroll, and a complex and sophisticated blueprint of the parts of an iron combat puppet appeared before him.

The drawings mainly include the specifications, sizes, materials, etc. of the feet, legs and torso. It seems that because it is a combat puppet, there are no palms.

Extending from the right forearm is a blade axe, which has both the stabbing ability of a sword and the chopping ability of an axe, while the original position of the left hand is replaced by a heavy tower shield.

Normally, the production of this iron puppet would take about three months if it were done by a master blacksmith, and there was a high probability that problems would arise during assembly, such as due to poor precision.

Even for a rare metal wizard, it would take at least three or four days to complete one.

However, for Ryan, a "freak" wizard whose innate magic is metal transformation, the difficulty of making it is not much more difficult than making a complete set of knight's plate armor.

Ryan took a quick look and started making it.

Since it was the first one, Ryan used the two iron shields hanging on the wall in the study as raw materials and quickly deformed and made it.

About half an hour later, all the parts of an iron combat puppet were completed.

After spending some time assembling it, Ryan looked at the combat puppet that had taken human form and smiled.

"Activation!"

As Ryan chanted the spell and pointed his finger, the iron combat puppet quickly climbed up from the ground. It seemed that because of its movable joints, it was much more flexible and fast in movement.

This made Ryan raise his eyebrows and nodded with satisfaction.

If the previous activation technique performed on the metal dummy consumed one unit of mental power, then this time, when the target of the activation technique was the iron combat puppet, the mental power consumed reached three units.

"This activation technique is rather peculiar."

"This is completely different from the normal witchcraft where the mental energy consumption is basically fixed."

This made Ryan understand more deeply the words in the note of the activation spell: "This spell is a guided spell. The casting time and mental energy consumption depend on the complexity and size of the object."

"Also, judging from its speed, we know that the Iron Skin Battle Puppet is quite powerful."

"According to the principles of puppetry, after performing the Activation Technique on the Iron Combat Puppet, it will be considered a success."

At this time, the system prompt suddenly sounded:
[You have studied the Iron Combat Puppet, and your understanding of it has improved! ]

[You have learned a new skill - Iron Combat Puppet]

[Your skill Iron Combat Puppet is upgraded, experience value +1]

At the same time, a new icon has been added to the Warhammer Wizard (Legend) panel, next to the sorcery 'Activation'.

The pattern on the icon is almost a picture of the Iron Battle Puppet.

Ryan focused his attention on the line of small words below the new icon:

【Iron Combat Puppet lv1】

Iron Battle Puppet Level 1 Effect: A small battle puppet that is endowed with primary intelligence and mobility through the animation technique.

(Note: The overall combat power of the Iron Golem is related to its material.)
(Note: The level of Ironhide Combat Puppet is synchronized with the level of Activation Technique and cannot be directly increased by adding points.)
"Hmm? Interesting. Is the Iron Combat Puppet a separate skill?" Ryan was slightly stunned when he saw the system prompt, but soon laughed.

“There is no experience bar.”

Ryan noticed this immediately. After level 1, there was no content in brackets, that is, there was no experience bar.

"That's a good thing, because in this way, I only need to improve the magic of Animation. This saves a lot of skill points in disguise."

After completing one, Ryan continued to make it according to his long-standing idea.

Only this time, he changed the material.

This time he made it out of hardened adamantium.

Thanks to his previous experience, he was able to produce the experience faster this time.

Twenty minutes later, Ryan had completed a combat puppet with a shell made of hardened adamantium.

Thirty-five minutes later, another combat puppet made of demonized thorium was created.

After the three combat puppets made of different materials were completed, Ryan thought about it and took the iron combat puppet to the training room on the first floor.

He wanted to test three combat puppets made of different materials to verify his guess.

When Ryan walked into the training room, he didn't expect that there were already three people inside. They were Angus, Neoro and Vieri from the team.

When they saw Ryan coming in with three things that were obviously puppets, several people were stunned.

Ryan smiled, it seemed that he didn't need to test it himself.

"It's just right that you are all here. Let's try out the effect of my battle puppet."

"Captain, is this a combat puppet? It's rare." After looking around the iron combat puppet, Neoro marveled.

Because most wizards specialize in elemental witchcraft, such as fire and water, and rarer ones include earth, ice, etc.

In other words, the pursuit of powerful destructive power is the goal of most wizards.

Only a relatively small number of people would spend their time researching potions, training pets, or making puppets.

"Captain, could it be that you made these three puppets yourself? I haven't even seen the production nameplates on them." Neolo asked suspiciously.

Although he knew that his captain was a metal wizard, he felt that his captain would not spend time and effort to create such a puppet. He hadn't seen him forcing them to practice extraordinary combat skills every day.

"Yes, I did it myself."

"Hmm?" The three looked at Ryan in surprise, their eyes revealing a kind of incomprehension, as if to say, 'What, Captain, are you interested in making puppets again?'

"Who will go first?" Ryan was looked at strangely by the three men, so he stopped worrying about this question and asked immediately. "Let me try first!" Vieri looked at the three puppets and was also quite curious, so he immediately rushed to speak.

Ryan nodded, and immediately brought forward the original version of the iron combat puppet and stood it in the center of the venue.

"Whoosh!"

The iron combat puppet stepped heavily and rushed towards Vieri quickly.

"clang!"

Facing the iron combat puppet's right-hand chop, Vieri first carefully swung his sword with both hands to parry, but the next second, his face relaxed and he quickly counterattacked.

"Dangdang! Chi!"

After two consecutive attacks were blocked, Vieri went around to the side of the iron combat puppet and chopped it down, splitting the waist of the iron combat puppet immediately.

However, even though it was damaged, the iron combat puppet was still fearless and launched an attack on Vieri.

"Oh no! Oh no, captain, I chopped it off." Vieri took two steps back and shouted.

"It's okay, just a test." Ryan waved his hand and said.

He didn't mind the damage. His main focus was on the performance of the Iron Combat Puppet just now.

"It has the combat power of a regular knight, no obvious weaknesses, and is fearless. It is equivalent to the combat power of a senior knight. As expected, at the level of a regular wizard, this iron combat puppet is basically useless."

Ryan was thinking, and at the same time, he walked forward and put his right hand on the damaged area. The next second, the iron sheet was restored to its original state.

"Captain, puppets don't fight very well. I can beat ten of these by myself."

"Oh? Then try this again."

Ryan smiled and waved his hand, and a dark silver combat puppet walked onto the field.

"Huh? Different color? Different material?" Neoro narrowed his eyes and quickly discovered the difference.

"Ding Ding Ding!"

At this time, the battle in the center of the venue had already begun.

In less than half a minute, Vieri's consecutive slashes hit the surface of the hardened platinum battle puppet, but after sparks flew, only a shallow mark was left.

"Break the limit! Whirlwind Slash!"

A few minutes later, Vieri, who was a little embarrassed, launched a series of bursts and used his secret skills before he barely cut off one of the arms of the hardened platinum battle puppet.

"hu~hu~"

"Captain, why is this puppet so hard?" Vieri took a breath and asked in surprise.

"Could it be hardened refined gold?" Angus on the side walked forward and touched it, saying in astonishment.

"Ok!"

"No wonder! My goodness, Captain, you used so much hardened refined gold to make a combat puppet, it's too extravagant!" Vieri's eyes widened.

You know, many great knights don't have a set of knight suits made entirely of hardened platinum, but their own captains have already started using it to make puppets.

"Captain, this one...could it be demonized thorium?" The Marquis's son Neolo asked as he looked at the familiar metal color.

"Yes." Ryan smiled and nodded.

"Hiss~" The three of them took a deep breath, with expressions of disbelief on their faces.

"You guys train first, I'll think about it for a while."

Ryan walked aside, thinking about the combat power just demonstrated by the hardened platinum combat puppet.

"Super strong defense and fearlessness, equivalent to the combat power of a peak knight. Facing an opponent who can't use witchcraft, it is comparable to the level of a beginner knight."

"Sure enough, different materials have very different combat effectiveness."

"In addition, ordinary iron combat puppets are not useless. If there is a powerful bomb, once combined, it will become a powerful weapon - a self-destructing combat puppet."

"One isn't enough? Then ten, or even more."

"By the way, the notes on the battle puppet say that it is synchronized with the level of the activation technique. So what will the effect be after the activation technique reaches level 2?"

After all, activation is special and is a rare type of guided witchcraft.

Ryan thought back to the guided witchcraft he had mastered, the only one before was 'Scorching Touch'.

Out of curiosity, he decided to add a little to see the effect.

As points were added, the Activation Technique was instantly upgraded to level 2, and a memory of the Activation Technique training flooded into Ryan's mind.

After Ryan came to his senses, he immediately checked the changes in the description of the Activation Level 2:
Effect of Activation Level 2: Consumes a certain amount of mental power, activates mysterious energy particles, and gives life to a certain humanoid or animal-like dead object, giving it primary intelligence and certain mobility, which lasts for one hour.

"Huh, the duration has been increased from half an hour to one hour?" Ryan's eyes lit up.

"Other wordings have also changed. A certain degree of action seems to be stronger than simple action."

"Interesting." Ryan nodded.

Immediately, Ryan performed an activation spell on the hardened adamantium combat puppet, and then issued some simple instructions.

He found that the mental energy consumption of the LV2 activation technique had increased, and the agility of the hardened platinum combat puppet had also been greatly improved.

At this moment, there was a sudden knock on the door outside the training room.

"Boom boom boom!"

"Please come in."

The person who came in was Olena, the deputy minister of mission hall affairs.

She smiled and nodded to Neoro and the others, then walked up to Ryan and said:

"Mr. Ryan, the Federation's delegation will be arriving soon, and the Executive Office has notified you that you can set off now."

"So soon? Okay, Master Olena, let's go over there now."

On the carriage.

"By the way, Mr. Ryan, there is one more thing. The Duke of Munster has asked Admiral Edward to hire you as Munster's chief security adviser." Olena
"Admiral Edward meant for you to decide on your own regarding this matter."

Chief Security Advisor?
Ryan nodded, looking thoughtful.

He had previously worked as a security consultant for a trade zone, so he knew that a consultant was basically a sinecure.

The main responsibility is to handle special incidents or emergencies occurring in the urban area after receiving relevant requests for assistance from the Administrative Office.

But in fact, Ryan's own family lives in Munster, and he was almost always the first to participate in previous attacks.

In other words, for Ryan, it doesn't really make much difference whether he holds both positions or not.

In addition, it was also a thank you to the Duke of Munster for the mansion he had given to him. Ryan thought about it, nodded, and said:
"In that case, I agree."

Since Ryan's new mansion was located in the aristocratic district, it only took ten minutes for the carriage to reach the airship docking platform.

At this time, the square of the airship platform was already crowded with people. A red carpet was laid on the ground, and guards of honor and military bands were arranged on both sides of the crowd.

The Duke of Munster and Admiral Edward, surrounded by another old man in gorgeous clothes, stood at the front of the welcoming crowd.

"This is Duke Victor from the Imperial Capital. He is also the person in charge of the delegation sent by the Imperial Capital to welcome the Eagle Federation." Olena on the side whispered to Ryan.

Ren nodded.

He didn't squeeze to the front, but stood at the back of the crowd.

Ryan didn't really like this kind of welcoming and seeing off, but he was looking forward to seeing how the people from the Federation would be different from those from the Empire.

"Look, is that the one?"

A middle-aged noble pointed to a certain place in the sky and spoke in astonishment.

This couldn't help but make several nobles nearby frown slightly. After all, such shouting and yelling was too rude among the nobles.

However, when everyone looked up, they couldn't help but look surprised.

Ryan couldn't help but look in the direction of everyone's gaze, and couldn't help but feel a little surprised.

I saw an extremely large airship flying towards this side from the distant sky. In contrast, the escorting team of griffin knights looked like flies flying around a cake.

Ryan had never seen such a large airship before. By comparison, it was about ten times the size of the Imperial military airship he had previously ridden.

As the airship gradually approached, a buzzing sound came from far away.

"What's that sound? It seems to be coming from the airship." A noble asked in confusion.

"I don't know. I've never heard such a noise before. It seems to be very regular." Another noble shook his head and said.

Ryan raised his eyebrows.

He was very familiar with this vibration sound. In his previous life, the cars that shuttled through the busy streets like the wind, and the low hum of their engines were much more pleasant to hear than this.

Obviously, the airship should be equipped with some more primitive power device.

"Could it be a steam engine?"

Ryan's heart trembled, and he couldn't help but guess.

When the airship was about to arrive in Munster, the oppressive feeling like a small mountain made many of the waiting nobles change their expressions.

"The Eagle Federation split from our empire hundreds of years ago. Has it developed to this extent now?" exclaimed a noble.

"This airship is so huge. It is more than three times larger than the largest cargo airship I have ever seen in the Empire." Another noble was also shocked by the size of the Federation airship.

And Ryan could understand even more.

The huge air bag is like a full ellipsoidal cloud. Its surface is grayish white and should be made of some special fabric that is extremely tough and strong.

The huge ship-shaped cabin hanging below has a brassy metallic texture.

With Ryan's excellent eyesight, he could see the densely packed rivets and large brass plates covering the surface of the cabin.

Just in terms of the solidity and craftsmanship of the cabin surface, it has surpassed the Empire by a level.

Moreover, at the rear of the cabin, there were two huge bronze exhaust pipes, spewing out large amounts of white steam.

At the same time, there is a huge propeller at the tail, which is different from the one used on ships. This one is much larger.

The buzzing sound just now was the sound made by the power device that turned it.

"It's a steam-powered device indeed!" Ryan thought to himself.

At this time, the old man in fancy clothes next to the Duke of Munster snorted and said:
"The Federation is a group of arrogant people who want to defeat dragons and gods by studying the technology of the ancient Goblin Empire."

"If the Imperial Dragon Knights were not busy, how could they get the chance to show off like this?"

Ryan glanced at the old man and thought, the Imperial Dragon Knights are very powerful, but most people are probably still unclear about the significance of steam power.

And he naturally knew that steam power was a symbol of the "First Industrial Revolution" in the previous life.

As the giant airship slowly came to a stop, the band began to play.

Just as the welcoming ceremony was about to begin, suddenly, Colonel Stanley, with a solemn face, walked in quickly, came to Admiral Edward's ear, and whispered a few words.

On the other hand, the Duke of Munster's personal guards also came quickly to report!
Immediately, the expressions of both of them changed!
(End of this chapter)