In Daniel's eyes, the young Aldernan noble has changed so much now-

Viscount Hemil was full of energy, young and proud. After grasping the first ray of wind of the magic industry with his sharp eyes and flexible thinking, he quickly rose to become a hot figure in the imperial capital. His factories and investment entities were spread throughout Aldernan, and even extended to several cities in the central region. At that time, he was like a rechargeable arcane crystal, emitting strong light at all times, and there was endless energy released inside, without fear or retreat from the outside world.

However, now, all the light of this viscount seemed to be restrained. He hid all his sharpness, as if he was hiding in the dark night. He curled up in his "fortress" that had been much deserted, observing vigilantly that this world that was no longer safe for him - it was not yet decadent, but it was not far away.

And all this change was just the result of last year's winter.

Daniel sighed a little in his heart. Of course, he knew the reasons for these changes, and also knew that Viscount Hemil's performance now is completely in line with normal logic, but this result was not something he liked - it has nothing to do with "private friendship". The most important reason is that he has devoted too much effort to this Viscount. He guided a little noble who was originally everywhere in Aldernan and had no fame except for socializing and feasting step by step. It is not easy to enlighten himself to become an investment giant. The trust established from the beginning is even more unreplicable capital. If this Viscount fell like this... the loss would be too regrettable.

"Mr. Viscount, maybe I say that to you some 'outsiders don't know the heat and heat'," the old wizard looked at Hemil, and after a brief consideration, he spoke, "But I think the most important thing you should do now is to go out and return to the field you are good at and active, to expand the production capacity of the factory, to expand your own influence, to invest in things that were urgently needed after the war, and to revitalize the economy with the royal family... Let's be optimistic, and you will find that now is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, Mr. Viscount."

Hemil looked at the old man who seemed to be always full of wisdom. After a long time, he said to himself softly: "Be more optimistic... But for me, it is really not easy to be optimistic..."

He turned around and looked down at the deserted street outside the balcony. The wine glass in his hand leaned forward to point to the mansions that have changed hands or are about to change hands: "Master Daniel, look at that house... a once prominent family, a history of hundreds of years, but they stood in the wrong team, and chose to stick to their stupid 'principles' when they should not confront the royal family. The Obsidian Imperial Guard took them away.

"And just a wall, another mansion, an equally prominent family, loyal knights and generals, they stood in the right team, but they went to the front line of the Winter Castle - the crazy gods took away most of their family members, and now there was only a lonely and helpless old woman with a girl who was just ten years old. I went to visit the child, and she had no idea why her family had encountered such a fate.

"Master, let me admit that I am a coward - of course I understand your kindness, and more importantly, what you mean by "a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity", but I was really scared this time. Perhaps we shouldn't live too flamboyantly in this world, especially when I have a title that has been passed down from my ancestors and will continue to be passed down.

"Of course, I will still manage my current industries in the imperial capital, my textile factories, rune foundries, printing factories and plantations outside the city... They are now the foundation for my family and I to settle down, but I plan to transfer the rest. I have found buyers, who are very interested in factories in the central region, and after taking these industries, I will probably sleep more peacefully."

Daniel looked at Hemier calmly. After a long time, he sighed softly and raised his glass to signal to the viscount: "Well, this is your decision. Mr. Viscount - everyone has ambition. But I have to remind you that in the current situation, in the current situation, in the urgent need of economic revitalization, His Majesty urgently needs nobles to express his attitude, and in the situation where the empire urgently needs more investors and emerging industries, people like you who are already important in the emerging magic industry suddenly choose to sell their industries and retreat to the second line... Is it really a good thing?"

Viscount Hemil was stunned for a moment, and his expression suddenly changed slightly: "...What do you mean?"

"I am not as good as you in investing in factories, but I am somewhat confident in my life experience," said Daniel calmly. "In my opinion, the royal family now needs a 'wise' noble like you to show their attitude. Mr. Viscount - don't think that the 'test' is over, it is still there, and always is there."

The young viscount was stunned, and the expression on his face finally became more complicated, and his voice was even a little bitter: "So, am I guilty of being a coward?"

"You are not a coward, you are just giving up on yourself. Unfortunately, people in high positions do not have the qualifications to give up on themselves," Daniel shook his head. "In addition, from the perspective of His Majesty, what he hates is not a powerful person with outstanding abilities, because no one in this country is more eye-catching than him, nor is it a fool who is mediocre and incompetent, because he does not need to waste any time on fools. What the rulers hate is always something that is out of control.

"A person who crosses the boundary with his own credit is of course lost control - but the person who escapes at the battle also loses control."

Viscount Hemil's face became particularly ugly: "I..."

"I'm just a reminder," Daniel put down the wine glass in his hand and stood up from the sofa. "Please consider your decision carefully, Mr. Viscount."

...

The figure of the instructor appeared outside the car door. The young female mage Mary quickly reached out and opened the car door on one side, allowing the old mage to get into the car. She noticed that the expression on the instructor's face was a little serious, and she couldn't help but ask casually: "What happened?"

"Nothing, just a young man will mature from today," said the old wizard, shaking his head, and casually instructing another apprentice in the front row to drive the vehicle, "go to the Royal Mage Society."

Mary was confused, but the instructor occasionally said something inexplicable and never explained it to the apprentices. She had long been used to it, so after nodding, she focused on what she had been immersed in before - a note was spread out on her knees, and the snow-white paper was filled with various marks, which looked neither like a mathematical formula nor a magical method.

"What is this?" Daniel noticed the things on the apprentice's legs and couldn't help but frown and asked, "Where did you copy the graffiti?"

"This is a very popular text puzzle in the Labor Association recently - it has actually been spread for a while, but we are too busy recently and have not paid attention to these trends," Mary immediately pushed the notebook to the instructor and said seriously, "Do you know Cecil's 'listening plan'? Their antennas received a mysterious signal, which is the unknown symbols transmitted from the signal. The scholars over there believe that this symbol is a certain text. Now the Cecil Empire has announced them. I hope that anyone among the members of the alliance can crack the secrets behind these texts. The Obsidian Palace also issued a corresponding reward..."

"Are you asking for someone who can crack these words..."

Daniel nodded in a clear way - of course he knew about this. As one of the essential Cecil technicians, he got the news from the internal network not long after receiving the mysterious signal from the Solin Hub. However, Mary has low authority in the neural network, so she didn't know about it. The only surprise to the old mage was that the master was so unhesitant when he decided to announce these mysterious "symbols"... How long has it been shared by the relevant information through the official channels between Tifon and Cecil?

But this is a good thing - since the information has been transmitted through official channels, it means that he can openly study these "mysterious words" like graffiti in the future. To be honest, these mysterious symbols with unknown sources are still very attractive to a scholar, even if Daniel is not very proficient in cryptography and philology.

Anyone who sees this message can receive cash. Method: Follow the WeChat official account [Viewing the text base].

Some thoughts quickly turned around in his mind, and the old mage's eyes fell on Mary's notebook again. After seeing the dense marks left by the apprentice, he couldn't help but frown: "Have you written so many marks...has you developed what you have learned?"

Mary scratched her hair with a little embarrassed, and her originally messy black hair suddenly became even more messy: "Sorry, tutor, I... don't know enough about the fields of text and passwords. The so-called research is just to write and draw casually when I get angry, and there has been no progress yet."

"This is normal. If an outsider like you can get any results in the research in the morning, the experts and scholars who have invested in it may jump off the city wall together." Daniel casually said, and his eyes just swept away what the apprentice looked like at this moment - wearing a robe that had not been changed for a long time, and it was still the kind of old-style robe that was not very beautiful. His hair was tied up randomly by a simple headband. The loose hair was probably a few more strands than the tied hair. Without makeup, he didn't know how to put on makeup at all. Moreover, because he often stayed up late to read books, his eyes were covered with blood.

This is his most talented apprentice and the apprentice who has been with him for the longest time... However, it seemed that it was not until this moment that he really paid attention to the way this young girl looked in life.

"Teacher?" Mary noticed the old mage's gaze and suddenly became a little nervous, "Is there anything wrong with me?"

"Instead of spending so much energy on a field that you are not good at, you might as well pay attention to your image like a normal woman," Daniel said casually, while a little doubting whether this was a word he could say. Some words his master often said to others on weekdays naturally came to his heart, "You are so old..."

Mary was shocked: "Guide... the tutor?"

"It's nothing, I mentioned it casually," Daniel waved his hand immediately, but couldn't help but say something more, "I just remembered Windsor...you don't want to be like her."

President of the Royal Mage Society, Ms. Windsor Mapel?

Mary was stunned for a moment and suddenly remembered that the amazing figure was actually one of the apprentices of the mentor. And as such a young legendary extraordinary person, her talent was obviously far beyond her. Although the mentor had no longer recognized the other party's apprenticeship on the surface, in the eyes of outsiders, this master-apprentice relationship was something that could not be denied.

Such an excellent person... Why would the tutor suddenly say that he shouldn't be like her?

The young female mage was confused again, and vaguely, she seemed to hear the tutor's words: "I am forty, but I am not married yet..."

...

In the neat, bright and extremely spacious magic experiment field, Windsor Mapel, who was commanding the scene, suddenly sneezes hard.

Waving her hand to let the assistant beside her continue to work, she released more than a dozen instantaneous diseases, strengthening the body, blessings, curses, and resistance-like spells to herself. After confirming that there was no problem with her body, her attention returned to the round platform in the center of the indoor test site.

In the focus of the light, the surface of the mysterious runes was emitting a slight glow. Inside an energy shield with powerful protection, irregular iron-gray metal fragments were floating out of thin air. The iron-gray fragments were obviously part of a larger metal structure, with traces of violence being torn and smashed on the edges. On several major fractures, some dim glow was still spontaneously evacuating from the inside of the fragments, as if they were wandering around those fractures, and they were clearly destroyed.

This striking feature illustrates one thing: this seemingly ordinary piece of metal is by no means an ordinary thing.

In fact, it is indeed extraordinary - this thing is one of the armor fragments scattered on the earth after the fall of the God of War. Considering that the God of War is just a hollow armor, this fragment can even be regarded as the "body wreckage" of the god in essence.

At this moment, more than a dozen royal mages in robes were busy around the fragments. A complex structure of magic circles floated in the air around the platform. There were many altar-like devices inlaid with crystals, magic stones and precious magic metals surrounded the platform, monitoring them and suppressing the various forces emitted by the fragments.

"President Windsor," a mage wearing a dark blue gold patterned robe flew over from the platform and landed in front of Windsor Mapel. "It can be confirmed that this fragment should come from the position of the God of War's helmet, and the energy released from the fragment fluctuates smoothly, which can indeed be used as a guiding medium."

Windsor Mapel nodded with a solemn expression: "How is the directional resonance of its guide...how is it?"
Chapter completed!