When the villagers heard this, they finally put their minds at ease and cheered, "The Governor is wise."
After temporarily requisitioning the village chief's house as Natasha's makeshift clinic, Dick asked the village chief to arrange for everyone in the village to come for examination to see if there were other people infected with the cold.
After learning that there was a cure for cold syndrome and seeing Jasmine eating lard bread with full energy, the villagers naturally no longer had any doubts and actively lined up in front of the village chief's house.
After resting in the village for a night, Dick called a team together early the next morning and, led by Robert, a local, headed towards the valley woods east of the village.
There was a low-lying depression there, but it did not form a swamp or lake with accumulated water. Instead, it was covered with a pine forest.
Jasmine went to the woods on the morning of the first heavy snowfall in the area.
Although the little girl is young, she is a good tree climber. She takes a basket to pick pine cones. If she is lucky, she can find bird eggs or food reserves stored by squirrels in the tree holes.
And it was in this forest that the little girl saw something strange.
A "white frost tree" that looks very abrupt in the dark green pine forest.
When the little girl saw the strange tree, she couldn't help her curiosity and wanted to get closer to take a look. However, before she even touched it, she suddenly felt a piercing chill.
She thought she had encountered a ghost and ran back to the village in fear.
As a result, heavy snow fell quietly in the evening of that day, and Jasmine felt that her body was getting colder and colder. No matter how she warmed herself by the fire or how thick the quilt was, it was of no use, and she soon fell into a coma.
If Dick had not sent out a liaison to confirm the situation of each village after the snow, and the liaison Robert sent to Kevin Village happened to be Jasmine's biological brother, the unconscious Jasmine would most likely have been burned to death by the irrational villagers as a disaster.
This incident made Robert very scared, because if the villagers really wanted to burn his sister to death, his parents would most likely come into conflict with other villagers and might even be beaten to death.
If villagers help each other, it will be a good year without any disease or disaster!
Robert was very grateful to Dick for this and felt that it was the Governor who saved his entire family's lives.
"Sir, the pine forest is ahead."
Following the direction of Robert's finger, Dick saw some dark green tips poking out of the snow in the vast white sky and earth. They were pine trees, and the snow on the tops easily fell off, revealing their original color.
Dick looked from afar and did not see the "strange white tree", but as a magician, he could clearly sense that the magical elements around him were very active, and from time to time snowflakes would condense out of thin air instead of falling from the sky.
This is the special phenomenon that occurs when the ice element is overactive. Dick reached out and caught a very neat snowflake. It fell on his palm, but there was no sign of melting. It was as hard as a piece of plastic, emitting a chill that ordinary snowflakes did not have.
"Sir, if we go any further, it might be dangerous."
A local magician who was accompanying them carefully reminded him, and Dick nodded.
He did not show his true strength to his colleagues, but he showed off a little bit of his skills to show that his strength was not just the "low-level" shown on his certificate, so that these people would not dare to look down on him.
It stands to reason that these magicians of insufficient level cannot handle the elemental vortex, but Dick still specifically called them to act together. The main reason is that magicians are naturally sensitive to magical elements. Although they cannot handle the problem, they can at least effectively expand the search area during the dragnet search phase.
To put it bluntly, they are used as "human detectors".
"All teams proceed according to the plan. If you find any, fire magic bullets into the air and send a signal."
Including Dick himself, there were a total of five magicians present, divided into five groups to carry out the search. Each team moved forward in unison, judging the distance between each other by whistling, and maintaining a distance that allowed for quick support.
The team led by Dick is located in the center because he has the strongest mental power and the highest sensing ability.
After he entered the pine forest, he could clearly see that the concentration of ice elements here was getting higher and higher, and it was becoming more and more active. If ordinary people accidentally entered such an environment, they would easily get cold syndrome.
The properties of magic elements are similar to those of radioactive substances in some aspects.
Except for the magicians, all ordinary soldiers in each search team wore fire element amulets, which could effectively resist the invasion of ice elements.
Normally, magic amulets were very expensive, but Dick's action this time had the support of the Marquisate of Uren. In order to publish his research paper based on his professional title, Hughie took the initiative to become their financial sponsor and sponsored them with a total of fifty fire element amulets.
Of course! Hughie's father was not willing to be taken advantage of, so he agreed that the amulets were only borrowed and would be returned in the best condition possible in the spring of next year.
Walking at the front of the team, Robert touched the amulet hanging on his chest lovingly, thinking that it was a really good thing. Just by wearing it, he felt warm all over. The Governor also said that this thing could resist the invasion of ice elements and ensure that they would not be infected with cold.
"Governor, it would be great if this amulet could be given to everyone in Laguge!"
Hearing Robert's sigh, Dick just smiled and said nothing.
He didn't tell the young man that the amulet of single element resistance on his neck was worth fifteen years of his military pay. In terms of price alone, it was already a luxury item.
In addition to relying on the territory's location to engage in commerce, the Uren family's main business is magic props, which they have turned into a brand and are known as the "jeweler of the magic world."
But Huey once told Dick that it was not impossible to mass-produce magic tools. If aesthetics were not a consideration, the production of the "base" would be fine whether it was cast or stamped, and the runes could be printed with woodblocks, with higher precision and accuracy.
In the early days, some summoned earthlings had done this before, and they also used assembly line production as a reference. At the key step, the magician only needed to inject a very small amount of mental power into the magic stone to activate the enchanted runes on it, and a usable magic item would be completed.
But all the merchants and workshops that made magic items in the empire did not do so later. Instead, they all chose to go the "luxury" route, and poisoned the unlucky guy on Earth who first came up with the idea of industrial mass production. They continued to add all kinds of fancy decorations to magic items that actually had no practical use, just because they could sell them at a high price!
This empire, which is rotten to the core, is like this in many areas. It's not that it can't be done, but that it must not be done.
After silently sighing at the huge profits in the magic item industry, Dick turned his attention back to the current task, because his sense was getting stronger and stronger that they were heading in the right direction and were getting closer and closer to something.
However, at this moment, the team to the right of Dick's team suddenly blew a sharp whistle, and then an orange magic bullet flew into the air.
A long whistle plus a magic bullet, this is an emergency signal for help when the team is attacked.
Based on the location of the magic bullet, Dick guessed that the team in trouble on the right was only about a hundred meters away from them. He could hear shouting and killing, but the view was blocked by the trees.
Upon seeing this, Dick immediately wanted to lead his team to the rescue, but before they could set off, there was a long whistle and magic bullets flying into the air from the left, and it was a distress signal sent out by both teams at the same time.
In less than a minute, three teams were attacked one after another. Dick was slightly stunned, but soon his expression changed. Because he could clearly sense that the "thing" he was looking for suddenly moved and was running towards them at a very fast speed...
The author says:
Author's words: I would like to recommend Comrade Lao Kang (Cambronne)'s "Comics: The Crystal Palace Starting from Tifa". The title of the book succinctly explains the tone and theme of the entire book.
But I want to complain about this person, this old comrade (sigh)! He is too scheming (speaking earnestly)! He was the one who tricked me into coming to Young Dreams, and he was also the editor-in-charge. He told me to be more restrained in the beginning, not to be too eager to create color, to pay attention to the mood, and to do it step by step. Then I really believed him (shamelessly passing the buck), and as a result, I was restrained in writing (nonsense), and he could write as much as he wanted (this is the truth), you should criticize him!
023. Actually, Governor, I am also very good at fighting.
Vibration, from far to near.
Between the branches of the forest, a huge figure at least seven or eight meters tall could be vaguely seen running towards them. The bowl-sized pine trees were as fragile as dry straw in front of it, as if they would shatter into flying sawdust at the slightest touch.
Seeing this, several soldiers who were accompanying him drew their swords and stood in front of Dick, ready to fight the incoming enemy. However, from their obviously trembling bodies, it was not difficult to see that they were all afraid at the moment, but they did not abandon their leader and run away.
Ayane, who was on the same team with him, was also a little nervous. She held the sword tightly in one hand and held it loosely with the other, ready to carry Dick and run away at any time. This thing was beyond her ability, and she was not sure she could win.
Dick, who was observing the soldiers' reactions, nodded silently. He was very satisfied with their performance and thought that he could not let his loyal subordinates be used as cannon fodder to die!
"Stand back and focus on me."
Dick said as he pulled out a staff from his space bracelet. This staff was different from the flintlock staff he had used before, and looked more like a short cane, which Dick poked directly into the ground.
The orange-yellow crystal at one end of the handle immediately emitted a dazzling golden light, forming a cylindrical high-level defensive barrier with a radius of three meters with the staff as the center. The elemental composition of the barrier was earth attribute, and the defense level reached level VI. The defense effect was impregnable!
At this time, the giant shadow had already rushed to them, and everyone could see the appearance of the monster clearly. They all showed expressions of inexplicable horror, because this thing looked so terrible!
This monster has a roughly human-like shape, but its body is made up of various animals, and the parts it is made of are very strange. Its left arm is made from the body of some unknown animal and the head of a wild boar, while its right arm is a whole huge horse leg. Its body and head are even more disorganized.
It is just like a naive child who disassembled some animals made of plasticine and put them together randomly to create this capricious work. The hands are not hands, and the feet are not feet. There is an indescribable distortion and weirdness to it.
"What the hell is this!?"
"I haven't seen it! But... but it looks a bit like the mountain goblin in the legends of the older generation!"
"Troll monster?"
As the only local from Laguge present, Robert grew up listening to various ghost stories told by the older generation.
In places like this with harsh climates, high mountains and dense forests, local legends are often half true and half false. They do exist, but in the process of being passed on, they are constantly distorted and changed due to oral transmission from person to person, and gradually deviate from the original appearance of things.
Dick really didn't know what a "mountain monster" was, but the monster in front of him was obviously not a natural creature. It seemed that other teams around him had sent out distress signals because they had encountered similar monsters, which meant that there was more than one monster.
Moving its huge body, the mountain demon swung its horse-like right arm on the barrier, causing a huge vibration that made everyone in the barrier somewhat unsteady on their feet, but fortunately the barrier was solid.
Dick, on the other hand, observed the monster's body leisurely, and then continued to take out magic wands one after another from his space bracelet, and soon he had stuck a bunch of them on the ground in front of him.
Looking at this pile of "sticks" made of different materials, Ayane was a little confused.
After all, she had only been in this world for a short time and did not know her master well enough. She only knew that the child was a magician, and she had heard from several seniors privately that his level was not low.
Facing the terrifying mountain monster, Ayane felt as if she was facing a great enemy, but she saw that her master only frowned but showed no fear at all. This courage alone made her look at him with a new respect. Now, seeing him fiddling with something slowly there, it also aroused her interest.
The mountain monsters outside were still attacking the barrier like crazy, but Dick had already followed his own fighting habits and placed seven more staffs in front of him, plus the one that released the barrier, for a total of eight.
Several soldiers were also surprised, because in their simple traditional cognition, generally speaking, a magician should only have one staff, at most a spare one. But their governor used eight!
Is this intended to be used as a spear and thrown out as a disposable throwing prop?
Dick was too lazy to explain to them at this juncture that this was one of several combat modes he created based on his own conditions - positional warfare.
Because of his extraordinary mental power and the fact that he is a person who traveled from Earth, Dick had to use some Earth thinking to interpret the magic knowledge of this world when learning magic. The combination of the two gave him some very unique insights into magic.
This can be said to be his second "golden finger". The summoned earthlings traveled through time in the flesh, but they did not have the talent to learn magic. The aliens had the talent to learn magic, but they followed the traditional model. Without the knowledge and thinking patterns of the earth to provide them with some alternative ideas, they could only follow the rules. Ordinary magicians could not perform any eye-catching and fancy operations.
So when Dick discovered that so-called magic can actually be understood in disguise as programming, that is, using magic elements to write a piece of executable code on the spot, many things suddenly became simple for him, a senior coder who had most likely died suddenly at work in his previous life.
So, relying on his extraordinary mental strength, which was equivalent to having a large enough memory, Dick figured out a set of secrets that could run multiple magic spells at the same time.
It's like other people's single-core single-threaded, but he can run multiple threads at the same time.
After learning that his beloved disciple had mastered such a magical skill, Dick's mentor, Glendor, once found Dick and reminded him earnestly. With his self-created skills, theoretically speaking, as long as it was a fair one-on-one duel, Dick would be invincible among his peers.
But the reality is different from a spell duel. Dick might encounter a shameless sneak attack, a siege by a large number of enemies, or even his opponent might directly pull out an artifact-level magic item and kill him instantly.
The master specifically told him this so that Dick would be modest and not cause trouble just because he had a powerful skill, because in actual combat there is no fairness or justice.
Dick's understanding of this is to emphasize the importance of firmly grasping the key points.
My master told me to be careful of "Lao Liu", so why don't I just become Lao Liu?
Therefore, Dick developed different combat modes for some common combat scenarios. Positional warfare is just a relatively "stable" way of fighting among his many fancy operations.
The core idea of this tactic is to transform into a fixed turret. The staff is an essential medium for the magician to cast spells. You need to prepare as many staffs as you want to cast spells at the same time. In addition, some special staffs will have a significant bonus effect on different elemental magics.
Like the pile in front of Dick, they are all bonus wands of different elemental types.
By the way, the talents of magicians in this world are not limited to elemental types. It is up to the magicians to choose and major in one or two elemental types of magic.
Of course! These staffs were very valuable. As Dick was an unpopular bastard of the Duke's family, he might not be able to afford any of them even if he saved up for three years with his meager pocket money.
Fortunately, the Imperial Capital Magic School where Dick studied was a prestigious aristocratic school that gathered wealthy children from all over the country. In order to stimulate students' enthusiasm for learning and resolve personal grudges, the school allowed magic duels, and the winner could take the loser's staff.
It was hard to judge the level of the children from wealthy families, but the staffs they were given were all top-quality products. So Dick, who was invincible in duels of his peers, used his classmates as wholesalers of staffs and went to them to "stock up".
Looking at the pile of magic wands in front of him that symbolized Dick's glorious achievements, he was in a trance and couldn't help but recall the "gloomy and howling faces" of their original owners falling on the duel stage.
After the position is arranged, it is his turn to start "performing".
"Let me take a good look at what can restrain you."
When the mountain monster tried to hit the barrier with its head, which was invisible, Dick touched a purple staff in front of him, and a chain lightning appeared out of thin air, hitting the mountain monster hard, emitting sparks and arcs, and knocking it back on the spot.
But Dick could tell at a glance that the goblin had not suffered any obvious damage, and he quickly stood up and rushed forward again.
So Dick danced with his hands, like a musician playing the piano, and his fingertips moved back and forth between the staffs. He alone exerted the momentum of a magic team, and cast all kinds of mid- and high-level spells at the opponent without any effort, and actually beat the mountain monster back step by step.
Several soldiers were stunned for a moment. They did not expect the Governor to be so fierce. It was also the first time that Ayane had a direct understanding of why her colleagues called their Lord "magic turret".
Under Dick's continuous magical bombardment, the mountain demon's body began to show signs of collapse.
Dick found this monster very strange, no magic of any kind could cause significant damage to it, its body seemed to be able to absorb magic damage. But because Dick had many tricks, almost all the intermediate magic of each element, the result was an unexpected chemical reaction.
The guy's body suddenly swelled up and then exploded on the spot.
Seeing that the Governor had killed the monster with magic alone, several soldiers immediately transformed into qualified members of the atmosphere group and began to cheer.
Dick made another round of attacks with his sword, confirming that the thing was indeed immobile, then he withdrew all his staffs, took out a bottle of mental power recovery potion that tasted almost the same as the beef, and drank it while moving closer to observe the mountain monster's corpse.
Dick was not excited about killing a mountain monster, because this thing might just be an ordinary soldier, and who knows how many more of them might be hiding in the woods ahead.
At this time, Bai Qiangdai came over on horseback. She was from the outermost team on the left wing. Her team had not been attacked, so she quickly supported the team nearby where Xia was. After quickly dealing with the monsters, she rushed to check on the situation of Dick's team in the center. Only then did she discover that they had also been attacked, but Dick did not call for help. Instead, he dealt with the enemy by himself.
"Master! Are you okay?"
"It's not a big problem. What about you? What kind of enemy did you encounter?"
"It's hard to describe what that thing looks like..."
