Winter City.

The bright sun shone on the white marble of the luxury residences in the Noble Quarter, as well as on the shabby huts and damaged tents of the slums.

Thorne leads Andrina down the muddy dirt roads of the slum.

There were some poor poor people on the roadside, their faces were yellow, their eyes were dull, and they were dressed in tattered clothes, like walking dead.

When they saw Thorne and Andrina approaching, the timid hid in the shadows, and the daring stretched out their slightly trembling, skinny hands to them.

Their arms are so thin that they can't hold their hands up for a few seconds.

Thorne gestured to the sorceress shrouded in a cloak beside him, and then pulled her to speed away.

"Where are we going?" As the disgusting smell decreased a lot, Andrina, who was covering her mouth and nose, finally couldn't help asking Thorne, who had been silent all the time.

"Let's go down town and have a look." Thorne stopped and replied.

"What are you doing there?" Andrina's little face hidden in the hood froze for a moment, as if remembering something, and then she became interested and asked.

"Actually, I don't know. I just feel that there is something waiting for me there. I want to go and see what it is." Thorne was silent for a while, shrugged helplessly, and said to her with a smile.

He was telling the truth.

The purpose of coming to Winter City is to be attracted by the light of the wizard tower.

As for what he was going to do here, in fact, he was also very confused. He could only walk straight towards the lower city just like when he first came to Winter City.

It was the same at the beginning. The first person he met when he arrived in Xiacheng was the old man who taught him the Nine Swords, so he was going to go again to see what important discoveries he made.

Of course, he still has to take Anderina to the Wizard's Tower, which is considered to have completed their trip this time.

"Okay, I just happened to go back and have a look. I was in a hurry last time, and I didn't have time to take away a lot of things." Andrina smiled and told Thorne what she thought.

"Don't have such high expectations, maybe your tavern has long since turned into ruins." Thorne patted her little hand and hit her at an inopportune time.

"How can you know if you don't go to see it?" Andrina snorted softly and replied indifferently.

Thorne smiled, but did not answer, but looked at the surrounding environment.

In the shadows of a hut he saw a woman hanging her laundry to dry, and when the woman noticed him and Andrina, she carefully hid herself in a darker place.

Thorne understood why she did this, because in the slum he had been to, the two of them were strangers, and their clothes were too precious and too mysterious for this slum.

Therefore, in such places, strangers usually represent danger, which is an instinctive means of self-preservation.

Of course, this doesn't mean that some thieves' unions won't stand up and ask them for protection money, but they prefer to bully outsiders.

"Thorn, have you noticed? Many people in other parts of Winter City are packing up and leaving here. Why don't people in the slums have this kind of consciousness." Andrina was also looking at the surrounding environment, He couldn't help but ask his inner doubts.

Because she saw a little girl in various patched clothes appearing not far ahead, playing with a toy similar to a bamboo dragonfly in her hand. The most important thing is that this little girl with a thin face and yellow skin smiled very much. Happy, with joy on his face that represents happiness and contentment.

"They have nowhere to go except here." Following Andrina's line of sight, Thorne also noticed the child not far away.

This child is about eleven or twelve years old. Although he looks malnourished, he is quite handsome.

He watched for a while, his expression changed, and he walked over with Anderina.

"Children, it's so dangerous outside, aren't you afraid of encountering bad people?" Thorne walked over to the little girl, bent down and asked with a smile.

Although he didn't know much about the dirty business in the slums, he at least knew that at this time, a small child, especially a girl, was definitely dangerous here.

"I'm not afraid. There is a paladin sister here to protect us, and no one dares to bully me." The little girl looked at Anderina with her bright big eyes, and then disappeared into the alley with cheerful steps. .

Paladin sister?

Thorne was stunned for a moment, and the paladin girl who said goodbye to him half a year ago appeared inexplicably in his mind.

Then, the two moved on.

Just go through the slums and you'll reach their destination, the Lower Town near the Sea of ​​Radiance.

"Where did you come from, where are you going?" Suddenly, a young man's voice came from the shadows of the alley. His voice was full of jerky pride and a trembling fear.

Immediately afterwards, a tall and thin young man blocked the way of the two, holding a notched iron sword in his hand, which was covered with ashes from the bottom of the pot.

I saw him wielding an unruly 'sword technique' against the air like a neurotic, as if this would bring him strong courage.

"Where did you come from! Where do you go!" Seeing that the two were silent, the young man said louder, pointing his sword at both ends of the alley.

Thorne shook his head slightly, motioning Andersina to step back behind him.

Andrina pulled down the hood on her head a few times, trying to hide her face in the shadows, and then watched Thorne's performance quietly.

However, what surprised her was that he did not choose to do it, but took out a gold coin from his pocket and threw it at the feet of the arrogant young man.

When this young man who usually drank water from the sewer and found food by eating garbage heaps saw such a shining treasure, he couldn't hide his surprise and excitement, but he quickly regained his composure and looked at him with a superior attitude again. Thorne, who was throwing gold coins, scolded, "It's not enough!"

Thorne threw another gold coin to his feet. The coin happened to stand on the muddy dirt road. He spread his hands and looked helpless: "That's all."

"Don't blame me for being rude if I search your body and find out that's not the case at all." The young man threatened viciously.

However, he looked at Thorne's figure and was silent for a while, and finally withdrew his raised footsteps, and suddenly chose to bend over to pick up the two gold coins that had been dropped on the ground, and said loudly: "I tell you, next time you should bring more The money comes to me, now get out!"

After speaking, he was the first to disappear into the shadow of the alley.

"Let's go." Thorne continued to lead the way.

"Thorn, I want to go to the temple area." Andrina hesitated, and suggested to Thorne the thoughts that flashed in her mind.

"No problem, I'll accompany you to the Temple of Knowledge?" Thorne replied without hesitation, and then confirmed.

"Yeah." Andrina smiled as she met Thorne's gaze.

Temple District, the temple of Ogma, the **** of knowledge.

This shrine, shrouded in divine light, is like a library, filled with acolytes who study knowledge and various books, maps, and scrolls.

There is a strong smell of books everywhere, as if to make people addicted to the ocean of knowledge.

"Welcome back again, Ms. Andrina, may the **** of knowledge protect you." Seeing the two people entering the hall of the temple, a high-ranking priest of the temple of knowledge was startled, and immediately took the initiative to greet them.

"Hello, Archbishop Sandrod, praise the **** of knowledge." Andrina bowed slightly and saluted.

Thorne, who was following behind him, looked at each other lightly.

This is a priest in a white shirt and trousers, with a brocade waistcoat over his upper body, and his shirt has wide sleeves but is tied at the wrists.

What surprised him most was that the other party's brocade vest was painted with many hieroglyphs, symbols, runes, and symbols of magical power and arcane meaning, which ran through the realms of all ages throughout the continent, and were then covered with golden weave. All the markers are stitched together.

Ogma.

A **** of inspiration, invention, and knowledge, also known as the Namer and Lord of Learning.

He is an absolutely neutral and powerful deity.

It is said that there is a myth about the beginning of the world among the followers of Ogma, the **** of knowledge.

Not long after the creation of the entire Toril universe and the birth of the Earth Goddess, a traveler (planeswalker?) ventured to this place from a very distant land.

When the traveler came to this world, he found that the new world was chaotic, many new concepts were still changing and forming, and these constantly changing concepts needed to be settled and fixed.

So the traveler defined and named each concept over the next long years. The name given by the traveler generated power, and fixed all the originally elusive transformation concepts, which formed the materialized natural world.

This traveler is Ogma, the **** of knowledge, the binder of all knowledge, who brings order to the chaotic world.

This legend also explains why Ogmar is called the Namer.

Thorne followed Andrina's footsteps to the statue of the God of Knowledge. Although he did not believe in this god, out of respect, he bowed to him, bowed his head slightly, and stayed where he was.

Andrina gave him a deep salute and whispered a recitation:

"Idea has no weight, but it can move mountains. Idea has no power, but it can command thousands. Idea has no power, but it can destroy empires. Before anything can exist, Idea must exist. Knowledge is the greatest power of mortals. , Arming yourself should be knowledge, not scrap metal. Power itself is not scary, what is scary is its owner..."

I do not know how long it has been…

Thorne, who had been silent for a long time, walked out together under Andrina's gesture.

The high-ranking priest of the God of Knowledge stared at the backs of the two leaving, and paid more attention to Thorne for a while, then turned around and stood in front of the statue of Ogma and began to pray devoutly.

"The age of contempt is coming, and the wrath and vengeance of the godslayer is coming."

In the devout prayer of the high-ranking priest, after an unknown time, a voice that sounded in the bottom of his heart awakened the priest.

"My lord!"

The high-ranking priest showed a look of surprise, and immediately knelt down to the statue.

"The inheritance of knowledge is more important than everything, take them away quickly..."

At this time, the tall statue was vaguely plated with a layer of golden light. Even if the high-level priest bowed and bowed his head, he still felt that a pair of majestic eyes seemed to be watching from the distant kingdom of God.

"Leave quickly..." As the golden brilliance of the statue gradually dimmed, the high-ranking priest looked at everything around him with a nostalgic look and smiled bitterly.

...