Chapter 66: Interlude
The Crusader shelling from the foot of the mountain had continued unabated for a full week.
During this time, the members of the Azure Longsword mercenary group had little to do. After all, when warfare escalated to the level of mortars and projectile spells, the role an individual could play was quite limited.
So Asker had everyone on a professional player’s daily training schedule, including positioning, timing, and micro-management.
As part of the agreement from the other day, City Lord Appius soon sent two items.
The first was a Wizard’s Circlet. It was made of gilded brass with a circular base, inlaid with thirteen emerald green Philosopher’s Stones.
These stones had a special magnetic field that could slowly replenish a Transcendental’s depleted spirituality when worn. In fact, it was said that the magic tide’s magnetic field, which enveloped the entire planet, originated from the massive amount of Philosopher’s Stones stored within the planet’s crust. However, this mineral was buried too deep, making it too difficult to mine from the surface. Therefore, the Wizard’s Circlet had a nickname in the forums of Asker’s past life: the “RMB Circlet,” a symbol of prestige that only the most dedicated (and wealthy) players could afford.
Although Appius had specified that this was a gift for his beloved granddaughter, Theodora, Asker knew that it was intended to help master the Undead Phantom Sword.
As long as Peggy wore it, her endurance in practicing “Steal” would be greatly enhanced, without having to worry about spiritual depletion.
Grinding and spending were the only two ways to increase strength. Now that Peggy had both, if she still couldn’t learn Undead Phantom Sword, it could only be said that she had no affinity for this sword technique.
The other item was a precious original copy of “The Song of Roland.” Roland was Charlemagne’s chief paladin, and this epic poem recorded the events of his life, said to contain the secrets to learning the “Holy Sword.”
It was said to, however, no one had actually discovered the secret—at least not the NPCs at this point in time. In his previous life, after it fell into the hands of players, the hidden secret was discovered almost instantly.
After all, players were magical creatures who could stay online 24/7 without sleeping, running between game forums, Tieba, and Weibo. They could even discern countless clues and details from a single poster released by the official planners with their Leeuwenhoek-like observation skills.
They quickly discovered that as long as a Transcendental possessed the supernatural ability of the “Will” Sequence, they could obtain the knowledge of the Holy Sword from this book.
The “Holy Sword,” also known as “Charlemagne’s Holy Sword” or the “Indomitable Holy Sword,” had the “Will” Sequence as its transcendental threshold. The higher the Transcendental’s Will Sequence, the greater the power of the Holy Sword they could unleash.
So Asker gave this book to Eleanor, after all, she was currently the only one with the “Will” Sequence.
As for whether she could learn this Transcendental sword technique, Asker wasn’t hopeful, at least not in the short term, judging from Peggy’s struggles.
In the main plane outside Furnace Island, due to the increasingly frequent Crusader bombardments, many buildings in Olympia had begun to shake and collapse, causing panic among the people.
Many citizens even gathered day and night at the entrance to the barracks floor, waiting for the day when the Crusaders really broke into the city, so that the Azure Longsword mercenary group inside could protect them and escape.
Hood was also having a hard time at the entrance, trying to calm the citizens and prevent them from panicking, while also guarding against some agitated individuals from rushing in.
Some people, seeing that he was an underage boy, were very rude to him, telling him to get lost and leave, saying they wanted to find the Azure Longsword inside to save their lives.
Annoyed by being pushed around, Hood simply brought out the Sabre Turret with wheels from the workshop. Now no one dared to speak harshly to him.
After all, truth could not be twisted with words, and the turret was equivalent to truth.
As the siege bombardment intensified day by day, intermittent gaps began to appear in the scale-shaped magic circle jointly maintained by the mages.
Seeing that Olympia’s defenses had begun to weaken, the morale of the Crusaders in the camp at the foot of the mountain immediately soared. King Boniface of Thessaloniki even gave a passionate speech in front of the army, declaring that Olympia, a city of sin under God’s watchful eye, would soon be purged by the brave and fearless Crusaders!
The Crusaders excitedly banged their firearms against their shields and cheered loudly – however, firearms and spears were different after all, resulting in a dozen accidental discharges on the spot. King Boniface on the stage thought he was being targeted by a sniper and was instantly tackled by several bodyguards around him.
On the other side, Viscount Joel, the newly appointed front line commander, found Alfred in the rear camp with a bottle of wine.
“Alfred! My friend! The defenders of Olympia are about to collapse… Wait, what are you doing?” He asked drunkenly.
“Returning to the Holy Solomon Empire, of course!” Alfred didn’t even look up at him, just continued packing his luggage, putting away his valuables.
“My dear friend, even if you’ve been dismissed by our respected King, why should you leave the East in a fit of pique?” Joel laughed heartily. “What about your fief and manor in Macedonia? Your factories and investments? Can you bear to leave all this wealth behind and go back in such disgrace?”
“What else can I do if I don’t go back? Stay here and wait for death?” Alfred said angrily.
“Wait for death?” Joel said in surprise. “No way. Since you’ve lost your military position, His Majesty will definitely not blame you afterwards… What good would that do him?”
“Foolish Joel, you understand nothing.” Alfred looked at him with disdain. “Do you know about the magic tide? Do you know about the transcendental riot? Sometimes I truly admire you mortals, living in this world in a daze, ignorant and fearless even in the face of death.”
“Uh…” Joel was speechless, hiccuped, and watched Alfred zip up his suitcase. Then he asked in confusion:
“Transcendental riot? You mean…”
“There’s no time.” Alfred interrupted him impatiently. “I said from the beginning that we had to quickly capture Olympia within a few days and control its city defense magic circle. Did anyone listen to my advice?”
“Now it’s been almost two weeks, and I’m truly impressed by you idiot nobles. I don’t know if Olympia can be captured, but the Crusader knights here, eight or nine out of ten, will surely die.”
“That Boniface is just an opportunist, a pawn of the Church, and he doesn’t even know it. Pawns are meant to be discarded, but I’m sorry, I don’t intend to stay on this sinking ship any longer. I have to go and seek refuge first.”
He roughly pushed Joel aside, grabbed his suitcase, and strode out the door. Joel stumbled from the push, shivered in the cold wind, and suddenly sobered up.
He and Alfred had been classmates at the Holy Roman Military Academy, so he knew his friend’s character well:
When Alfred proudly said, “This will work,” it most likely wouldn’t;
But if Alfred said, “This won’t work,” then it would almost certainly fail.
In short, Alfred’s judgments were like a reverse oracle, a walking jinx.
The more Joel thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong. Although he didn’t know what was wrong, it was precisely because he didn’t know that it was terrifying!
He shivered in the cold wind and immediately returned to his tent in the barracks, asking his adjutant to take over his military duties starting tomorrow.
Yes, he would say that he had caught a cold and couldn’t fight, and would temporarily return to the rear base to recuperate.
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