Page 6
Perhaps his half-baked anti-reconnaissance skills really worked, or perhaps the Inquisition had no time to pay attention to a little wizard apprentice like him, because he had not encountered any pursuers so far.
But even so, the journey can only be described as difficult.
Accustomed to the convenience of modern life, Lynn suddenly came to this place that resembled medieval Europe. The contrast almost made him collapse.
After all, there are no mobile phones or computers here, no familiar family or friends, and no hot breakfast in the morning. I can only eat a piece of hard-to-swallow black bread with water...
The only thing to be thankful for is that he has all the memories of his original body, Carl, and understands the language and writing of this world. He is also quite skilled and can intimidate some short-sighted thieves so that he doesn't die on the road.
After several days of torture, Lin En reluctantly accepted the fact that he had traveled through time, and this was already the second day since he arrived in the town of Ur!
Out of caution, Lynn did not rush to look for the whereabouts of other wizard apprentices. After discovering the marks left by the other party, he returned secretly, spent a day familiarizing himself with the terrain, and purchased a dozen new flints and a bag of black bread.
A few days of life on the run made Lynn a little nervous, but after getting to know the town of Ur, he immediately understood why Johnny chose this place as the venue for the rally.
As a small commercial town on the border of Nordland, the people coming and going here are mixed, and there are often caravans coming and going. One or two unfamiliar faces will not attract too much attention.
As Lin En thought about it, he reached out and took the mortar beside him, put the flint that had been broken into blocks into it, and then used a small wooden stick to grind it into fine powder.
During the time of entering the town of Ur, in addition to looking for marks and familiarizing himself with the terrain, Lin En spent the rest of his time making white phosphorus!
White phosphorus is a single substance of phosphorus with the chemical formula P4. It appears as a white or light yellow translucent solid.
There are two commonly used production methods.
One method is to mix calcium phosphate, quartz sand and carbon powder into a mixture, heat it to 1400 to 1600 degrees Celsius, and then pass the generated phosphorus vapor into cold water to solidify it into white phosphorus.
The second method is to isolate the air, heat the red phosphorus to 416 degrees Celsius, and then cool it to sublime.
However, in this world without an industrial system, similar to ancient Europe, it is not easy to find all these raw materials in a short period of time.
Although 071 had shown him some ancient and "convenient" methods of extracting raw materials, Lin En had no intention of using them unless absolutely necessary.
Fortunately, Lin En soon discovered a surprise. The surface of the flint he had used was mixed with some red phosphorus!
This is not surprising considering that red phosphorus is a highly effective flame retardant and was used in the manufacture of matches in the last century to improve their safety performance.
It seems that the natives of this world have discovered the element phosphorus, but their application is still very crude.
Under the constant grinding of the wooden stick, the flint fragments were gradually decomposed, and after removing some impurities, only clumps of red powder were left...
He didn't have any professional instruments in his hands, but his magical power was much more useful than those scientific instruments!
[Hand of the Mage]!
Lin En's mind moved, and the dense red phosphorus seemed to be inspired by something and automatically floated up. Then, under the effect of [Elementary Material Deconstruction Technique], it was deconstructed into a basic molecular state...
Chapter 9 White Phosphorus and Spell Slots
Lin En was fully focused, trying to empty the air around the red phosphorus as much as possible while using the principle of accelerating the movement of molecules to increase the temperature.
More than ten seconds later, wisps of white mist drifted out, gathered together under the restraint of magic, and then quickly cooled and solidified into a ball of translucent yellow powder.
This is white phosphorus!
Knowing how terrifying this thing was, Lin En didn't dare to touch it with his hands. He held his breath the whole time to maintain the [Mage's Hand] and put the collected white phosphorus into the bag that originally contained the [Red Fire Embers].
This storage bag, which is specially used to store magic materials, has a very good insulation effect and can effectively prevent white phosphorus from spontaneously igniting...
After doing all this, beads of sweat had already appeared on Lynn's forehead.
Completing such a tedious process was somewhat difficult for Lin En, who was still a wizard apprentice. If it weren't for the mental fusion during the time travel that greatly improved his control over magic power, this attempt would probably have ended in failure.
Fortunately, everything went as he expected.
Lin En put the storage bag away, and recalled the horrifying scene in his memory of the raging fire of white phosphorus burning the earth, and he couldn't help but shudder.
I just hope I don't need it...
As a man who grew up in a peaceful era, Lin En still has great respect for life, but he also knows that in this alien world where human life is worthless, in order to protect himself, he can only let his friends die rather than me...
"071!" After doing all this, Lin En silently shouted in his heart.
This has become his daily routine ever since the intelligent computer was forced to shut down five days ago.
Obviously, there was no response this time.
If it weren't for the magic power in his body slowly dissipating and being used to supply energy to the intelligent computer, Lin En would have doubted whether 071 had disappeared completely.
The intelligent brain is an important reliance for him to survive in this strange world. The fact that it can greatly improve his thinking ability after connecting to the neural network is enough to help him escape from many crises.
Not to mention that in that special state, he was able to transform magic power into elements and release magic without preparing materials in advance.
Thinking of the scene where his mentor Kelu performed the second-level magic [Mass Ice Blade], Lin En had a vague guess in his mind that the ability to use magic power to transform elements might be the key to distinguishing between a wizard apprentice and a formal wizard!
He was very sure that Carl, as an apprentice, was absolutely incapable of doing this, and there was no relevant memory in his brain. It was probably because of the mental fusion after the time travel, coupled with the help of the intelligent brain, that he was able to temporarily break through this layer of shackles...
Lin En pondered and entered into meditation, and the extremely magical elemental world appeared before his eyes again.
But at this moment, Lin En's attention was focused on the strange rune floating in his sea of consciousness.
Inside the strange rune are countless tiny dots and lines, arranged in a very special way, which looks delicate and beautiful.
Lin En tentatively touched it with his mental power, and the rune instantly lit up.
Then, Lin En realized that the magic power in his body was reduced by one tenth at this moment. When he opened his eyes, a diamond-shaped [Ice Blade] appeared in his palm.
"This is a bit like... a spell slot?"
Lin En touched his chin and quickly thought of the spell slots mentioned in the book "Element Analysis".
This is also an ability only possessed by formal wizards, which can greatly increase the casting speed.
In general, the process of constructing spell slots is a bit like programming work in the previous life. You set various parameters in advance, and then press the confirmation button when needed to export the results immediately.
So the arrangement of this rune probably means: one equal part oxygen + two equal parts hydrogen + reduced molecular speed + special configuration = Ice Blade?
Well, I have to say, this is very scientific!
Lynn tried several other magic spells with great interest, but surprisingly no new spell slots were formed.
After thinking about it, Lin En quickly guessed the reason. In order to construct the corresponding spell slot, he would probably need to perform a complete cast of a first-level magic without the aid of spell materials.
Thinking of this, Lin En had no choice but to temporarily give up the idea of continuing to solidify his spell positions. Without the support of the auxiliary intelligent brain, there was still a big gap between him and a formal wizard.
Lin En looked up at the sky outside. It was probably time to meet those wizard apprentices...
Today is Monday, and also the last day of the appointment!
……
The Drunkard Tavern is located in the most prosperous area of Ule Town.
If Lin En hadn't followed the secret marks all the way here, he would never have imagined that Johnny would choose this place for the meeting.
And seventeen coppers is exactly the price of a glass of Guluo wine!
Is this considered darkness under the lamp?
Lin En secretly complained in his heart, but as soon as he opened the door, his brows couldn't help but frown.
As a gathering place for the lower class, the interior of the Drunkard Tavern was very lively. The roaring fire dispelled the cold night wind, and the space of less than 100 square meters was packed... The wooden floor was covered with wine stains and vomit, and the strong fishy smell almost suffocated Lin En.
At the long table at the entrance of the tavern, a drunken halfling saw Lin En coming in at a glance. Seeing that he was young and a stranger, he shouted loudly with ill intention.
"Boy, why don't you come and have a drink with me?"
Lynn turned his head and looked at the drunken halfling with a probing look.
Halflings are a species unique to this continent. They are called this not because they have only half a body, but because of their short stature, about half the height of an adult, like a dwarf.
However, these people are not the product of genetic defects, but another real ethnic group. Each halfling is strong and powerful, with muscles all over their bodies as if they were born naturally, a bit like the dwarves in previous Western fantasy works.
I just don’t know what the body structure and genetic composition of these halflings are like, and how they are different from humans.
Lin En's instinct as a data storage clerk is stirring...
The drunken halfling shuddered under Lin En's inquiring gaze, and felt a chill running up from the soles of his feet to his heart.
Five years ago, in Nordland, he had a meeting with the notorious Skullcutter Luke.
He was a vicious thug who took great pleasure in cutting people into pieces.
Lin En's gaze was very similar to Luke's at that time. In his eyes, he seemed like a corpse waiting to be dissected...
Chapter 10 Carl, why did you betray us?
quack……
Suddenly, a clear crow's cry interrupted the two people's gaze. Lin En withdrew his gaze with regret and looked in the direction where the sound came from - a palm-sized gray crow was standing on the counter, staring at him intently.
[Drunkard] The owner of the tavern was a typical Gwitt businessman, with an air of shrewdness and mercenary. After hearing the crow's cry, he couldn't help but stop wiping the wine glass, grinned with a mouthful of yellow teeth, and greeted warmly.
"What a rare stranger! Welcome to the Drunkard Tavern... Is there anything I can help you with, my guest?"
"A glass of Guluo wine, of four years' vintage, should cost seventeen Secas copper coins, if I inquired correctly." Lin En walked straight to the front of the stage and arranged the copper coins in his hand on the table in 50:50:70 equal parts.
The tavern owner looked at Lin En with scrutiny, his eyes lingering on the long sword hanging at his waist, his expression unchanged. "That was last year's standard. Now... it has to be sold for twenty-one coppers!"
Lin En was stunned for a moment, and before he could answer, the beautiful female customer next to him pursed her lips and said jokingly, "Old Hawke, you are not fooling the newcomer, are you? How come I didn't know that the price of your Guluo wine suddenly increased?"
As she spoke, the female customer looked at Lin En with interest. Although a cup of Guluo wine at seventeen coppers was not considered a luxury item, few people in the Drunkard Tavern would be so generous.
Especially since he was young and handsome, with solid muscles, he shouldn't be the type that only looks good but is useless...
Old Hawke didn't care about the woman's sabotage and grinned. "Two cargo ships capsized in the harbor this year. The raw materials for Guluo wine are scarce, so they are always more expensive..."
Lin En frowned and spoke again, "But I only have seventeen Secas copper coins!"
The young female drinker's interest in Lin En dropped by half upon hearing this. It looked like he was just another poor guy who was squandering his savings just to have a sip of good wine.
"Then I suggest you change your taste..." Old Hawke shrugged. "Of course, if you are interested in making some extra money, I can help you. Lame Lord is in need of a guy who can do some private work for him recently. He is always generous and generous!"
Cripple Loud? Lin En raised his eyebrows. During the time he stayed in Wuer Town to gather intelligence, he had heard this name more than once.
The rumors about the other party are not very good...
"Great, I'm just looking for a suitable job." After a lot of thought, Lin En nodded and agreed.
Old Hawke swept the copper coins on the table into his pocket, asked the waiter in the tavern to take over his job temporarily, then looked at Lin En and spoke again.