The two girls' shawls had two silver tassels at the neckline, and on the back was the shield-shaped labyrinth pattern of the Sika branch. As for the apprentice's upper arm, there should be the teacher's coat of arms to prove that they belonged to the apprentice. Of course, if the teacher didn't have a personal coat of arms, it was normal for it to be empty.
Hallumi and Kaya's upper arms were empty. But it wasn't that Lin didn't design a coat of arms for himself, it was just that the girls thought it was too ugly and refused to use it.
It was not compulsory for the apprentices to declare that they were apprentices. It was obvious that they wanted to prove who their backer was; they didn't want to show it sometimes because the teacher had too many enemies and wanted to avoid trouble, so they hid this layer of relationship.
As for someone's personal symbol, it was an eight-bit pixel-style three-headed monkey image. In fact, the name he used in the labyrinth and the three-headed monkey image came from an early computer game on Earth.
And he used this name because when he met the mage who had helped him for the first time, the mage introduced himself, "Good day, I'm Charlie Richard."
At that time, someone's first thought was — if you're Richard, then I'm Gablash. Then, the name he used in the labyrinth was settled.
Although he didn't have the chance to say the classic line, "I'm a mighty priate!" After all, they were different professions. But using the three-headed monkey as his symbol could be considered as making up for his feelings.
Yuan Shilin only had a small shawl with golden tassels, and the two golden tassels at Fen's neckline were a little dazzling. Generally speaking, the identity of a great mage was not necessarily recognized in another branch. And to be recognized as a great mage, one had to have the corresponding merit. In addition to the great merits one had done that could be passed to the new branch, one had to do something that was enough to be recognized in the new branch.
So before being recognized by the new branch, most great mages would untie a golden tassel after crossing the branch as a sign of respect.
But some mages with a more flamboyant personality would also tie two golden tassels and appear in a branch that they had never visited or not yet been recognized. In addition to showing that they also had the confidence to become a great mage in the branch, it was more or less a little provocative.
Fen was still wearing the two Golden Tassels, and she did not remove one of them. Lin guessed that the former Demon King didn't know about this habit of the Mystic Land. Or rather, even if he knew, he wouldn't care.
However, Lin, who was in the know, did not intend to remind him. On one hand, he hoped that Fen's identity as a Great Magic Caster would be enough to shake up the crowd. Furthermore, as a Lich, the Demon King who started the Dark Age, Fen should have no problem becoming a Warlock Saint, let alone a Great Magic Caster.
It was just that she wasn't famous enough yet. Whenever she mentioned Demon King Tikal, she would be infamous. In order to be recognized as a Warlock Saint, one's reputation was also a very important factor. Therefore, Lin decided to settle for the next best thing. He believed that it was only natural for a Lich to become a Great Mage. He did not stop Fen, and appeared in front of the people of Mountain Edge City with the two golden tassels.
Compared to the cities managed by the nobles, the cities managed by the mages were not as strict in terms of defense. Therefore, they passed through rather quickly. Basically, the soldiers guarding the gates took a look at those who wanted to enter and collected taxes based on the number of people. If there were goods, they collected taxes based on the number of carts. Of course, the goods here did not matter if the owner intended to sell them or if, like Lin and the others, they were brought in with all their belongings.
The two girls riding the horses dismounted. This was the rule when entering the city. The driver did not need to dismount. Someone was responsible for instructing the soldiers. Hallumi took the initiative to take this job and familiarly interacted with the soldiers.
Most of the soldiers guarding the city gate were ordinary soldiers, even though this was a city of mages. If there were mages guarding the city gate, it usually meant that something big was about to happen, or had already happened.
A group of ordinary soldiers would not make things difficult for people who were Magic Apprentices and above. This was especially true for the soldiers who were on routine patrol. When they saw the beautiful woman sitting lazily in the back of the carriage with the two golden tassels tied to her chest, the group of soldiers lined up to welcome the group into the city after collecting the taxes. They did not dare to be negligent in the slightest.
As for the cost of entering the city, it varied from city to city. However, there would always be a notice board at the checkpoint, clearly stating the cost per person and per carriage. This was because there had been stingy mages or powerful warriors who claimed that the soldiers at the checkpoint were raising the price. They did not want to be cheated, so they shamelessly entered the checkpoint. In order to avoid such disputes, there was such a compromise. After all, it was impossible to let a great mage guard the gate.
However, when paying the taxes, Hallumi still grabbed an extra handful of danba (copper coins) and gave it to the soldier guarding the gate. She asked, "Are there any comfortable inns you recommend?"
The newcomers asked about the non-confidential geographical location of Mountain Edge City. This could be considered as extra income. Therefore, the soldier collecting the taxes was not pretentious. After taking a few for himself, he passed the rest to his companions. He replied with a smile, "Follow this road into the city gate and turn right at the second intersection. The Song of Pigeons will warmly welcome all friends from outside the city."
"Thank you." After bowing politely, Hallumi led the horse into the city gate.
Mountain Edge City was the first city that Lin and the others entered after crossing the Doomsday Mountains. It was also the busiest one. However, for the group of people who were used to the bustle of Five Union City, the "bustling" scene of Mountain Edge City was still a little lacking.
It was easy to identify the pedestrians on the road. Those who walked proudly in the middle of the road must be mages and a small number of magic apprentices. As for the ordinary people living in Mountain Edge City, as well as most of the magic apprentices, they walked on both sides of the road timidly.
This difference in class was just like the Five Union City that Lin Gang had lived in when he first came to the maze. In the country of mages, those who did not have an official identity were like second-class people. Those apprentices who dared to stand shoulder to shoulder with official mages were mostly people who had strong backing and were quite talented.
There was nothing wrong with this. In a world that valued individual strength, the scene in Mountain Edge City was the norm in the world of the maze. The abnormality in Five Union City was because of the booming business. The mages had to rely on the ordinary people who outnumbered the mages in many things. This was why the two classes of people were slightly closer to each other.
Of course, there was also a situation where the apprentices dared to walk in the middle of the road, just like Hallumi and Kaya were now serving the mages. Hallumi was leading a horse in each hand, while Kaya was leading a horse and a mule, following behind the carriage. Lin drove the carriage slowly toward the place that the girl had asked about.
Along the way, Lin and the others attracted the attention of the crowd. This was not surprising. On one hand, it was not a common sight for mages from outside the Basque region to pull a carriage full of belongings. On the other hand, it was Fen's stunning beauty, her identity as a foreign archmage, and the colorful magic aura around her. All of these stimulated the primitive desire of the people — greed.
The reason why no one dared to act rashly was that the two golden tassels on Fen's great chest played a big role.
It was true that the archmages recognized by other regions did not have the same treatment and recognition in the local area. However, the purpose of this rule was to prevent people who were not familiar with the archmages from being misled and misjudged their strength.
If they were to carry out some difficult tasks, a little misjudgment could cause a huge loss.
However, this did not mean that those who were not recognized as archmages by the local area could be bullied by anyone. If someone insisted on being recognized as an archmage by the local area, no one would have much of an opinion. The local concept that outsiders were not allowed to bully the locals, so the locals had to be united did not exist in the world of the maze mages.
Therefore, even if they noticed this group of newcomers from outside the city and were tempted by the wealth they showed, the local bosses of Mountain Edge City only mobilized their own forces to investigate this group of people. On this unknown undercurrent, Lin and the others successfully found the inn that the guard introduced — the Song of Pigeons.
The guard was indeed used to seeing all kinds of people. He knew very well what the person who asked the question wanted and gave the most appropriate answer. The Song of Pigeons was an inn provided for caravans, not for ordinary adventurers. The main difference was that the former needed a warehouse to park the vehicles, while the latter only needed a place to rest and eat.
The Song of Pigeons was an inn run by a half-elf couple. Most of the people who helped inside were half-elves. And judging from the characteristics, the other half of their blood was not necessarily from humans. Therefore, it had nothing to do with the traditional impression of the elves, such as being handsome and so on.
This was also one of the things that Lin did not understand about the maze world. According to the biological knowledge of earth, there would be reproductive isolation between different races, which meant that they could not reproduce. Or the hybrids that were occasionally born would lose the ability to reproduce. For example, mule, lion, tiger, and other man-made hybrid creatures.
But there seemed to be no such restriction between the homo sapiens in the maze. No matter how humans and elves, humans and half-orcs, orcs, dwarves and goblins, goblins and elves, no matter how they mated, they could produce offspring and even maintain the ability to reproduce.
But this did not mean that the races in the maze would cause chaos in appearance because of such random mating. The racial characteristics of the offspring of different races had their own rules to follow. Goblins and half-orcs had the strongest genes. No matter what race the mother was, the offspring would still look like goblins or half-orcs.
Orcs and humans' genes were second. As long as the other half was not goblins or half-orcs, the offspring would at least retain a small portion of their racial characteristics and look like an orc or human. Elves and dwarves' genes were the weakest. As long as the offspring were mixed-blood for more than two generations, the characteristics of their races would be almost impossible to see.
If mixed-blood were to combine, at most, the characteristics of both races would be retained. It depended on which side was stronger. And the weaker side would become recessive genes. In the future, one of the offspring might show signs of atavism.
The genes that were stronger than all the other races were the dragons. Not only homo sapiens, but as long as it was a creature, it could produce offspring with the dragons and retain some of the dragon's characteristics. This was something that humans, elves, goblins, and half-orcs could not do.
At least the centaurs were not born from humans fucking horses, and the orcs were not born from homo sapiens fucking animals or being fucked by animals. Winged horses were not born from horses fucking birds, and griffins were not born from lions fucking eagles …
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