Surviving The Fourth Calamity

Chapter 914: Chapter 710: A Cold Winter, a Prelude to War

Edna touched her hair, planning to learn these beautiful hairstyles well... Next time she goes out with her friends, she can braid one just as pretty for the ’Old Age Striking King’.

But it can’t be exactly the same; although she didn’t quite understand ’Cunlü’s’ words, she realized a little, cute hairstyles are not very suitable for the Striking King.

But that’s okay, she can practice in the dream anyway... Edna’s teacher created a very peculiar dreamscape, anything she can imagine can be created, even a dummy is no problem.

Edna squinted and smiled at the Striking King, it’s just... her friend’s strength is a bit too strong, when she just pinned her down, Edna felt she couldn’t move at all... No wonder many people dodge her when she looks for duel partners in the plaza.

Edna just couldn’t understand why a normal Teraxil priest wouldn’t boost their own strength attribute: the ’Old Age Striking King’ is the only priest who would vie with warrior professions for strength potions. Moreover, she’s very wealthy... She’s an existence that has somehow created powerful resentment out of thin air, and has even been openly criticized on forums for these things.

But this lady always believes that if you have the ability, you should have more money than her... She’s never taken any of Hill’s or Fran’s shop’s stable-priced goods, what she takes to auction, who has the right to tell her what to do with it?

Isn’t there a rich lady who spends stamina potions to feed her own rabbit? She always drinks them herself!

However, the ’Old Age Striking King’ in front of Edna is actually quite restrained... To her, even in-game minors shouldn’t be able to speak vulgarly in front of Edna, especially given that this girl is genuinely cute and obedient, making her feel the rare joy of having a sister.

How could she be a bad example for her own sister! Clearly knowing that free-type NPCs in games can be heavily influenced by players, she absolutely doesn’t want... to cultivate another version of herself... She’s quite self-aware, but she was born with a bad temper, something she can’t change.

Having a little tail behind her for this period, the archbishop who can’t casually curse has no choice but to turn anger into strength, knocking a few more heads! Yet, her animal companion has been a huge help to her, each of the pup’s actions can dissipate her pent-up anger instantly, especially when going all-out after Edna returns home at night, truly accumulating enough patience for the next day.

But Little Edna only knows that her friend’s big rabbit is cute, cuddles are so comfortable, and the other wolverine is loyal and reliable, always accompanying her whenever she leaves the safe Central Island, even willing to carry her on its back.

Never seen this big guy fart in an enemy’s face in a disgraceful way...

But she will see it sooner or later.

Both the wolverine and its master are not very patient... Although Edna has learned many things, her life experiences are still not enough.

The shocking lessons will happen sooner or later, after all, winter is coming soon, during the conflict with the half-orcs, the Undead Tribe’s ways will definitely open her eyes.

The current warm-up arena only teaches the little girl the techniques of battle, not the passion for battle.

Hill, who had long forgotten about midnight and was buried in copying books, finally remembered Luskan when the first snowflake in Agleya drifted down.

During this period, the elven coalition army from Mulan has already set up their camp on a long, narrow island outside Luskan’s port.

So far, they’ve been fairly honest... It seems Hill’s warnings were quite effective.

Nonetheless, even after Hill’s blunt warnings, the elves chose to confront the half-orcs in Luskan... Prince Ramriel, who is currently in charge, seems to be a pretty competent leader.

Unlike the ancient elven nobility, who only thought of fleeing overseas, he has a more proactive attitude toward the Ferun Great Land, and seems to be of the new faction of elves who hold a causal perspective. This class of elves always felt that the current downfall of Toril’s elves was due to the ancient elves driving out the giant dragons and rescuing Toril from their claws, then for tens of thousands of years, only knowing how to take from the world without making any real contributions in return.

However, the sacrifices and devotion of the predecessors have only been enough to maintain the prosperity and strength of the elves for tens of thousands of years, and when humanity’s contributions to the world surpassed that of the elves, the World Will turned its blessing towards humans.

If the elves want to return to the historical stage of Toril, they must first contribute to the entire world and let the world recognize them as a part of Toril again... They can’t possibly be even inferior to giant dragons.

Searching through his past memories, Hill indeed recalled that the prince later established a nation on the northern border, almost standing at the forefront to protect the entire Ferun Great Land from the mindless and murderous half-orcs.

However, a hundred years later, Prince Ramriel could basically only take away the most loyal supporters of the Moonflower Royalty, probably just a few hundred elves, and the only advantage is that there are no ordinary elves who cannot fight... The result of the Sorrowful Queen holding on for another hundred years was that the Royal Fleet and some younger elf nobility all left, and the lower-level elves either bowed to those nobles or went away themselves.

Prince Ramriel always disagreed with his mother’s compromising attitude. Although the elves greatly praised her sacrifice, he never believed that at the critical moment, many would be willing to endure alongside her.

The prince’s reputation was not good, also because he often clashed with the queen.

But in truth, many people could understand the queen’s stubbornness and patience: The Moonflower Royal Family sacrificed too much for Eternity Island, and the Sorrowful Queen simply couldn’t easily leave this place that had devoured several of her children, especially those princesses who just disappeared. The queen even refused the call of the Elven Pantheon to wait for news of them... She has actually entered a state of silent madness, only wanting to see a result.

Hill really wanted to know what kind of result the information he gave Prince Ramriel had caused... The Sorrowful Queen must already be in the Outer Planes by now, but it’s uncertain if she would directly confront the evil witch and the demon-ruled Mark City... That city, the most powerful stronghold of evil power in the Outer Planes, is not so easy to handle for an elf at the demigod level.

He can only wait until the world settles down completely before inquiring about the connections in the Outer Planes... the Undead Tribe can appear in Teraxil because of the presence of the Temporal Artifact, which also suppresses their upgrade speed.

Otherwise, Hill wouldn’t be so eager to find opponents for them, as the lengthy upgrade time can easily make some people abandon this game for places with a greater sense of achievement.

But if there are always heated battles and interesting, lively plots, most people can still tolerate the need for leveling.

Fortunately, what Toril lacks most is neither battles nor fun.

Hill silently copied books, estimating that before the Dead of Winter arrived, he could copy two more shelves... After all, he had to be extremely careful, as Fran demanded Hill’s handwritten copies. The Alchemist Master must be very familiar with every book here, and any mistake would be noticed.

As Fran said, although there are many books here, many are actually outdated spell theories. Hill couldn’t help but criticize them in his heart while copying... But these spells, thousands or even tens of thousands of years ago, were the most advanced ideas of their time.

Fran wanted Hill to remember the environment under which these mages proposed such ideas, and why they became outdated notions after thousands of years.

Was it because the world changed, or because the original ideas were wrong... But if they were wrong, why could spells based on these erroneous ideas still establish normal magic models?

Only by figuring these things out... can Hill move further in the world of magic.

Hill copied meticulously, ensuring not a single word was incorrect. The books here may be outdated and erroneous, but none are worthless.

Though he always wanted to slack off, he clearly understood Fran’s intentions: For Fran, who views magic and alchemy as life itself, finding ways to guide Hill on the path of magic research is his genuine affection for his descendant.

So Hill only planned to move to Luskan when the Dead of Winter arrived, to avoid being caught off guard when the half-orcs descended.

This winter, there’s no need for the Winter Maiden to work hard to lower the North’s temperature. As soon as the snow falls, the temperature has almost reached the extreme cold period... And this temperature is a premonition of the Dead of Winter’s arrival.

In fact, most experienced individuals could tell from this summer’s extreme heat that the winter would be very cold... It’s said that in Neverwinter and Deepwater City, even the price of firewood has tripled.

Agleya City wasn’t affected as severely by the weather due to the Puzzle Lock, but the lock can only raise the temperature by one level, not ensure there isn’t any cold.

However, since there aren’t many people in Agleya City, and the houses are made of thick stone, Lynn just encouraged citizens to stock up on firewood for themselves. Anyway, since their lord had no interest in collecting a firewood tax, no one in Toril would bother to rescue those who still refused to make the effort.

Yet Hill didn’t expect the temperature to drop so quickly... White mist appeared at the edges of the Puzzle Lock, instantly turning Agleya into a city shrouded in fog.

This was a phenomenon not seen in previous Dead of Winter periods, and it had been snowing only for a few days, with at least a month to go before the Dead of Winter officially arrived!

Hill quickly packed his belongings, sent the bookshelves back to the Magic Tower at Purwell’s, then walked from the sky courtyard to the opposite side, gently knocking on Fran’s door: his grandfather had been immersed in the world of magic for a long time, ignoring worldly affairs for quite some time, fortunately, his life golem was particularly capable.