Chapter 1 Carpenter Hornburg and Li Ang's Conversation

While Carpenter Hornburg was talking with Li Ang, Bob had already returned with a carriage. Several players and the search and rescue team arrived at Antimony Town, and with Carpenter's introduction, they met the town mayor and expressed their desire to visit the church.

Having captured the Children of the Forest and with the guarantee of Carpenter Hornburg, a local wealthy merchant, the mayor naturally agreed to their request.

Li Ang instructed Bob and Frederick to cooperate with the Antimony Town garrison to send the Children of the Forest to prison, while Smoker guarded the Forest Witch. He, Julia, and John went to the church and replaced the magic mirror with ordinary mirror shards.

After obtaining the second magic mirror fragment, the item gained a new ability:

[Effect: Detect Magic. Consumes psionic energy to scan for psionic fluctuations within a cone-shaped area ahead, marking them directly in the field of vision. The angle and distance of the cone depend on the amount of psionic energy consumed.]

The new effect was quite good. The players tested it and found that the magic mirror fragment could now detect even the faintest psionic fluctuations up to two kilometers away.

It could also directly mark the source of the psionic fluctuations in the field of vision for up to ten minutes.

This was like detection + scanning + lock-on tracking.

Whether used for chasing or escaping, it could be effective.

Li Ang kept the second magic mirror fragment.

The group stayed in Antimony Town for one night and extracted a lot of information from the Forest Witch. Unfortunately, the witch's story was the same as the players' speculation.

The spellcasters in this world truly relied entirely on innate talent, similar to superpowers. It was only applicable to individuals, and there was no way to learn or promote it.

The method of cultivation was roughly learning how to control this energy.

However, the Forest Witch's knowledge of potions was genuine.

These potions were not like those described in fairy tales, which could make people grow or shrink, or directly turn into rabbits, but were more "realistic."

There were things like relieving fatigue, accelerating wound healing,

Enhancing energy, strengthening the body,

Dissipating willpower, causing people to tell the truth in a semi-conscious state.

The old woman had hidden a lot of herbs, plant seeds, and cauldron tools on her person. Li Ang had her refine many of the potions that could cause spellcasters to lose their abilities, enough for Hans and Gretel to use for a long time.

Then, he had her write down all of her knowledge and took away all of her tools, even her dirty coat.

Fortunately, Li Ang still had some integrity in the end. Under the desperate persuasion of his teammates, he didn't make Old Dorothy wear a maid outfit, but instead had her put on an ordinary linen cloak.

The next morning, Li Ang went to Carpenter Hornburg's mansion, gave him the potions, and explained his plan to go to Morley, a city in central Lune—the city where the next magic mirror fragment was located.

Carpenter Hornburg said that he wanted to go with the players and was willing to pay for all expenses along the way.

He was originally going to the big city to seek help from the dignitaries he knew and ask for advice on how to solve the problem of his children becoming spellcasters—

All spellcasters had to register with the official departments, and unregistered spellcasters would be hunted down by the authorities.

Carpenter Hornburg did not intend to register, but wanted his children to take the potions for a long time until they lost their talents.

Also, so many lumberjacks and Children of the Forest at the scene had seen Hans and Gretel release their abilities.

And these Children of the Forest would be handed over to the official departments for interrogation in the future.

Carpenter Hornburg was worried that the news would leak, so he went to the big city in advance to find some dignitaries,

Explain the situation and ask senior officials to help him block any potentially leaked information without going through registration.

Therefore, the wealthy Carpenter Hornburg took out two of the latest steam locomotives he had just purchased this year (unique to the Kingdom of Lune, with a steampunk design, slightly faster than horse-drawn carriages), and took Li Ang and others to Morley, a city in central Lune.

————

The feeling this city gave Li Ang and the others was completely different from Hamelin and Antimony Town.

If the small town was still stuck in the more primitive and backward idyllic Middle Ages, then Morley City was about to become the prototype of a modern city.

The road was paved with cut stone tiles, streetlights stood on the roadside, horse-drawn carriages and convertible steam vehicles drove on the streets,

Gentlemen and ladies wore Victorian-era clothing, and most people carried umbrellas—the city's sky always remained gloomy, and there were occasional showers. The rain hitting the skin even caused a burning sensation.

This was probably because a large number of modern factories were located in the west of the city.

Since the major kingdoms had environmental protection and energy conservation awareness earlier than the real world, the pollution emissions from these modern factories were not so exaggerated.

However, the black smoke billowing from the chimneys still blackened the sky, the air was filled with a slightly pungent smell, and the waterways and rivers in the city also had a not-so-obvious pale green color, with few live fish to be seen.

The players were quite emotional. In a world so dominated by PC sentiments, they could still see such familiar pollution emissions.

However, Carpenter Hornburg was not surprised.

Her Majesty's environmental protection slogans were just slogans. Ordinary people could not resist the matches, soaps, glass, and cement produced in modern factories.

There was no doubt that this large modern city had stronger defenses than Hamelin or Antimony Town, as could be seen from the towering city walls and the burly soldiers on the walls.

Li Ang and the others used the magic mirror's Detect Magic effect outside the city and found that there were multiple psionic fluctuations in the city, with the most concentrated around the city hall.

According to the map, that place should be the Kingdom of Lune's official spellcaster department, right next to the church.

In this environment, it was quite difficult to sneak into the church and steal the magic mirror fragment. A little carelessness and they would be discovered by these spellcasters.

Even if the players had many methods and trump cards, they couldn't guarantee that they would be able to break out of the encirclement—what if these spellcasters had reinforcements?

Therefore, after discussing, the players checked into a hotel near the cathedral in Morley City in the evening, and continued to interrogate the Forest Witch, Old Dorothy.

They also entrusted Carpenter Hornburg to see if he could use his connections to find dignitaries to arrange for Li Ang and the others to enter the church alone.

If Carpenter Hornburg failed, then Li Ang and the others would have to think of other ways.