On the Seven Towers

Li Jia was riding a horse trotting along the creek. He was wearing a leather riding suit, holding the reins with both hands, and his hips were raised slightly with the ups and downs of the horse's back. Apart from black hair and black eyes, he is no different from the knights of this era.

Along the way, he would occasionally meet a ragged farmer or a village girl, who bowed his head and bowed humbly to him. In the first few days, he got off his horse and tried to persuade them to stop being so respectful and restrained, but all he got were looks of fear and confusion. Later, he gave up and at most nodded to the other party, regardless of whether the lowered head could see his greeting.

This place is closer to the center of the kingdom, but the people are far less wealthy than Floro Town, let alone Suero, where merchants gather. Li Jia asked Selinda this question, and Selina looked disgusted when she gave the answer: Floro Town is located on the border, the folk customs are strong, and it is difficult to collect taxes. Her lazy father spends many years in the royal capital and resort estates. Damn it, I haven't collected taxes properly for many years.

Occasionally, he would think of the first time he met Selinda. She was so sunny, cute, lively and confident, just like a country beauty in a chivalric novel. However, the reality is so cruel, this kind of character will only appear in stories. , or some boring female knight pretending to be one.

After seven or eight days, the negotiations progressed slowly. The count avoided talking about many specific issues and only entertained him with good food and accommodation. Li Jia felt like he was waiting for someone. Li Jia can only spend time on riding and magic every day. As a result, his riding skills have improved a lot, and his magic level is improving with each passing day.

In the count's small castle, Selinda has her own study room, which collects many books on magic. Every night, she takes time to guide Li Jia in learning spells. Although the magic knight is not a real mage, he is Li Jia's guide is still enough.

The practice of magic is nothing more than two things: cultivating mental power and learning spells.

Li Jia is about to reach the bottleneck of concentration and has entered the final stage of conceiving spiritual consciousness. What he is currently practicing is Selinda's mysterious condensation technique "Fire Wind Technique". When practicing this secret technique, the magician must stand facing the wind and use his mental power to split the oncoming wind. Li Jia rides a horse and runs fast every day just to practice his secret skills. According to Selinda, when you can't feel the flow of air while riding a horse, your spiritual consciousness will be born.

In the past, no matter how hard Li Jia tried to control his mental power, the progress he felt every day was limited. But today, Li Jia clearly felt some breakthroughs. He found that he could break the breeze in front of him and let them blow to both sides. He's almost done.

He was so happy that he galloped further away.

Li Jia didn't know that Selinda and Count Arias were looking at him from a distance in front of a window in the castle.

Seeing him riding away, the Earl withdrew his gaze, looked at her daughter's face and smiled: "It seems that you really value him. The Gale Wind Technique is something that your grandfather paid the boss's price for."

"Secret techniques are dead, they are valuable only when used on people." Selinda replied coldly, "Do you remember how long it took me to concentrate?"

"Three years?"

"Three years, five months and four days! Do you know how long it took him to reach the concentration bottleneck? One month! Most of that month he was still fighting and traveling!"

The Earl shrugged and said: "He comes from the magician's castle. He must have received concentration training before, but he just missed a breakthrough."

"No, absolutely not! Do you think I can't even tell this? He has no formed mental power at all, not even a magic apprentice! I tested him myself and I can feel it!"

The count became serious: "You have never told me such an important thing."

"When have you ever cared about these things?" Selinda asked with a sarcastic look, "I have limited talent in magic. Three years have proven that I can't go very far on the road of magic. But one month! Do you understand? Do you understand what this means? Who in those towers succeeded in concentrating for one month? Master Icasa of the Tower of Spiritual Eyes was labeled as having unlimited potential."

"You are so excited, my good daughter. Genius is as far away from a real big shot as the earth is to the moon."

"But he is a hundred times more likely to become the moon than others, and ten thousand times more likely to be you!"

"Your father will be sad if you treat him like this." The count put his hand on his forehead sadly, and said with a grimace: "But since he is a genius, why hasn't he been discovered by those magicians? You have Never thought about this problem?"

"There are fools who mistake treasures for stones everywhere! The nobles of the kingdom are especially good at doing these things." Selinda's expression seemed to say, you are also such a person, "But this is not important. What is important is that he is now A magician, a magician who may enter the holy realm, and he listens to me. But since you are willing to talk to them, why are you still delaying it? Li Jia has the authorization of the magicians, and he also submitted it to the other party. opinions, but you don’t know what you’re doing.”

"You young people are just too anxious. If the falcon flies too fast, it will miss the rabbit. In fact, I do it for your own good. You see, now you have a lot of time together every day, cultivating a relationship with the future genius holy magician. This Isn't that what you want?" the count joked.

"It's true that a dog can't change its habit of eating shit." What Selinda hates most is that every time she talks to the Count about serious matters, he will lead him in an inexplicable direction, which makes her feel a great sense of powerlessness and frustration.

"I'm going to practice my sword." She stopped looking at him, turned and left the room. When she was going out, she saw Pinto walking towards the door and saw her bowing respectfully. But with her head held high, she didn't even pause for him, and just ignored Pinto and left.

"It seems that the information is almost collected. Let's talk about it." When Pinto spoke, the count seemed to have changed. Although he was still a little frivolous on the surface, there was something else in his expression.

"Yes, sir." Pinto didn't take out any manuscripts and spoke entirely from memory. What he said was naturally all kinds of information about the school.

While listening, the count walked to the closet, picked up a glass wine bottle, and poured the slightly shining rainbow fruit wine into a goblet. These are all the good things that have appeared in Suero in the past two months. Earl, who has always enjoyed being first, naturally has to catch up with this trend.

"...They opened up a large number of new fields near Black Mountain, and for this purpose they sent troops to exterminate two goblin tribes... According to their person in charge of agriculture, something called 'fertilizer' will be used in the fields in the future. . It is said that it is a magic item configured by magicians that can increase food production. However, no one has seen that thing..."

"They have built several workshops that can produce bricks, iron, and this thing called glass. These workshops are very large, and many people come in and out of work every day, but the most critical steps are... There are few locals involved, so it’s hard for us to find out what’s inside. Suero’s sources are all from them.”

"Their trade is huge, not only because of the new products, but also because of the help of two business families. Many goods have been sold to the royal capital and the empire."

"At least 80% of the local villagers in Floro have already submitted to the magician's management. Most of them are farming, hunting, mining, or serving as soldiers for them. Their army is very well organized, and the most elite warriors use a A magic weapon called "five or six and a half" that has a very long range."

"'Fifty-six and a half'? Well, Irus said it. That should be the model of the gun." The count finally spoke.

"We got this kind of... gun from a horse thief under Cadiz, but we haven't found a way to use it yet. There seems to be something missing. However, that Li Jia must know. Do you want it? Test him."

The earl drank a glass of wine, shook his head and said: "As long as they continue to use the new weapons, we will always understand them. I know the virtues of this continent best. You can't live without fists. But magic cannot be allowed The divisions know that we have any connection with Cadiz’s actions, and you must cut this off completely.”

"Except you and me, everyone who knows these things can only go and talk to the God of Nature."

"May they rest in peace. As for Li Jia..." the count smiled, "leave the future holy magician to my dear daughter."

"The slaves that were kidnapped by the two magicians Xiao Chen and Luo Ling have now settled down near Black Mountain. These people seem to be quite content with the status quo, and there are no signs of riots for the time being. Our people have been deployed, but The slaves are now under strict guard and cannot send out the news. Judging from the news outside, it seems that the magicians are still discussing how to deal with them. "

"This Xiao Chen, and Luo Ling...how strong are they?"

"Xiao Chen must be a very powerful magician, especially good at spiritual magic. It is said that when quelling the slave uprising, he could deal with hundreds of slaves with one move. As for Luo Ling, a magic knight under Viscount Irus was She was defeated easily, and several slave merchants who negotiated with her said that she secretly used frost magic during a negotiation, but it is difficult to guess what her strength is."

"I heard that these two people are very young?" The Earl sat on the chair and leaned on the back of the chair and asked thoughtfully.

"Yes. Everyone who has met them feels that they are powerful and have unlimited potential, including Master Ikasa."

"Infinite potential again? So many potentials all at once?" The Earl thought for a while and asked, "Pinto, tell me, based on this information, what do you think is the best way to handle the relationship with them?"

Pinto seemed a little hesitant, "I...I think..."

"Say, it's okay."

"Gather all your troops and destroy them!"