There was a lot of information on the bulletin board, but not all of it was new. Some of the old papers were covered with new things, and some of the old papers had faded due to the wind and sun. The content on them was blurred, and it took a lot of effort to read them.
The literacy education and town notice system that Emperor Rosetta had implemented were good things, but there were also a lot of problems. Because there was only one way to disseminate information, no matter if it was the new policies of the upper echelons or the miscellaneous affairs of the town, they would all be posted here. Moreover, no one had considered the issue of timeliness. Often, the emperor's decree would be followed by a notice to clean up the silt, and the notice to purchase new grain would be placed together with the notice to distribute grain seeds a few months ago. It was not easy to distinguish between the two.
In fact, finding useful information from these messy messages was indeed a skill. Moreover, as far as Mary knew, the literacy education was not that effective. Most of the civilians did not have enough spare energy to learn how to read. Even if they did learn how to read, they would not be able to learn much from the inattentive teachers who only attended classes for a few copper coins every day. Therefore, there were not many people in the town who could read the bulletin board.
The messy content on the bulletin board, coupled with the low literacy rate of the civilians, had even given birth to a new profession: 'Announcer.'
If someone wanted to find useful information from the messy bulletin board, such as a farmer who wanted to know the latest purchase price of a certain crop and when it would be purchased, they would have to give the soldier a copper coin, and the soldier would read out the useful information to the person.
Of course, some information would be worthless once it was disseminated. Moreover, the more literate farmers were likely to find the useful information themselves and tell others. Therefore, on the one hand, the soldiers only saw the 'income' as a side income. On the other hand, they would deliberately soak and dirty the information that would attract the most inquiries when they posted the bulletin board, so that the civilians who wanted to know the price of goods or employment information would have to pay a copper coin to inquire about it.
However, none of this had any effect on Mary. As a mage, she had the ability to easily read everything on the bulletin board and discern them clearly. Moreover, she didn't really care about the timeliness of the information. Everything on the bulletin board was very interesting to her.
There was no such thing as a bulletin board in the village at the foot of the mountain.
"Recruiting mages …" The young female apprentice read through all the notices with great interest. In the end, her eyes fell on the notice that was recruiting mages. She could see that it seemed to be recruiting for some research project, but this kind of information itself was unusual.
The recruitment notice was posted in the town … Emperor Rosetta seemed to want to select a group of talents from all the mages in the Empire, and the scope of his recruitment was really wide. In this kind of rural town, the mages who could see the notice were at most two or three level mages, right?
However, Mary immediately thought of her mentor. That terrifying old magician was probably an exception. He lived in seclusion in such a remote place, but his strength was unfathomable. It was said that her mentor also lived in the Captical. She wondered if he would be interested in His Majesty's recruitment.
The young female apprentice left the notice board and continued to wander around the bustling town square.
The minstrel's poem is exciting to listen to.
The circus clown's performance is impressive.
Even if it was just a few crappy craftsmen, Mary was still mesmerized by the few straw and woodcut ornaments they made on the spot in the plaza.
Therefore, when she finally woke up from these things, the golden-red light of the setting sun had already shone on the rooftops at the edge of the square.
Looking at the golden-red light of the setting sun and the townspeople and performers who were leaving the square, the poor young girl finally panicked. She had completely forgotten what her mentor had told her to do!
Mary broke into a run and rushed to the shop next to the square. The only thing she was thankful for now was that she had been holding the bag in her arms. If she had been too immersed in the entertainment in the square and lost the potion materials that her mentor had specially instructed her to buy … Her mentor would definitely pull out one of her tendons and feed it to the bloodthirsty daemons in the mage tower!
Finally, luck favored the girl. She managed to buy the last set of spellcasting materials before the shop closed. When she came out of the shop, the sky was almost completely dark.
Looking at the last ray of light in the sky, Mary couldn't help but tighten the old black robe she was wearing. Traveling at night was not a wise choice, especially when there was still a two-hour mountain road between the town and her teacher's Mage Tower. Even though she was an official spellcaster, the mountain road in the dark was still filled with danger.
However, the old magician's anger was more terrifying than the slippery mountain road and the daemons hibernating in the dark.
Mary secretly regretted her carelessness today. She checked the bag in her arms again and finally walked out of the town.
Her mind was still replaying the news she had seen on the bulletin board, but after setting foot on the mountain path, she threw all the random thoughts aside.
Summoning a Flash Magic Ball for illumination, preparing a defensive spell for protection, and grasping the short sword for protection in her free right hand, the female apprentice trudged along the dark mountain road. Cold winds blew in from the mountain road at night, but Mary didn't dare to divert her attention to maintain an extra layer of wind barrier. When traveling in the wild, it was common sense for mages to conserve their mana as much as possible. As long as the external environment wasn't so bad that it affected their judgment, they shouldn't be overly concerned about comfort.
Finally, just before midnight, the dark and gloomy spire appeared in her sight.
Mary was cold and hungry, but she finally made it back to the mage tower before the collar around her neck turned into a red-hot iron ring.
The door of the mage tower opened automatically, and the gatekeeper silently let the female apprentice into the tower. As the heavy door closed with a muffled sound, the mountain wind and the stars outside were blocked out.
The Mage Tower was still eerie and deathly silent. It was as oppressive as a cage, but Mary still let out a long sigh of relief after she entered the door. She tiptoed towards the stairs leading to the upper floor, preparing to put the things she bought into the warehouse before her teacher found out. Then, she would hide in her room. But just as she took two steps, her body stiffened as she stopped.
The gloomy, solitary old sorcerer stood at the top of the stairs, silently blending into the darkness like a sculpture. The sound of the artificial nerves wriggling through the fabric and sweeping across the floor was as eerie as the sound of countless poisonous snakes slithering together.
Mary seemed to have forgotten how to speak. She stammered, "Mentor … I …"
A bright bolt of lightning struck her shoulder before she could finish her sentence. Along with the sharp pain came the old magician's gloomy voice, "Why are you so late?"
The lightning pierced through the simple robe that had almost no protection and charred a piece of flesh. However, Mary, who was already used to such punishments, immediately suppressed the trembling of her body and voice. She lowered her head and said, "I was delayed in the town."
She did not use the excuse of "the mountain road is difficult to walk on" to explain. She had experience in this. Her mentor was very knowledgeable in the field of neurology and brainwave manipulation. Those wriggling nerve cables could not only be used to connect to a mysterious mental network, but also to detect lies. The last apprentice who lied in front of her mentor almost died on the experiment table. She did not want to test the old magician's mood at the moment with her own life.
The old magician Daniel stared at Mary with his gloomy eyes. He waved his hand, and the package in Mary's arms flew to him. After checking the contents of the package, he looked up again and said, "Remember, if you delay the experiment given by master, I'll use you as an experiment material!"
Mary bowed her head and made an obedient look. "Yes … Yes!"
She knew that the old magician had a mysterious master. She also knew that the mysterious and powerful master had given a series of orders to the old magician. Researching new nerve connection technology and brainwave amplification technology was part of the orders. It was also because of these tasks that the old magician had been frequently sending his apprentices out to collect materials recently.
Mary did not dare to ask about the secrets behind the research, nor did she dare to ask about the name of the mysterious' master '. She was very clear about this: An existence that could make such a terrifying teacher so fearful was definitely not someone she could easily come into contact with. Perhaps even the slightest bit of information would be enough to bring her a fatal disaster.
Looking at the cowering female apprentice, Daniel frowned and suddenly said, "What did you see in the town?"
Mary did not dare to tell the details of her stroll. Instead, she said something that might make her mentor less angry. "… I was reading the notices in the town … I want to know if there's any useful information …"
Daniel snorted. "Hmph, then what useful information did you see?"
"His Majesty the Emperor is expanding the school … and recruiting volunteers …" Mary immediately told him everything she had seen. She also put the most important piece of information at the end. "Oh right, His Majesty is also recruiting mages. It might be the Royal Mage Society that is expanding their manpower. Teacher, you …"
Before she could finish her sentence, she did not dare to continue because she saw the expression on the tutor's face suddenly become gloomier than ever before. That gloomy expression was almost overflowing with undisguised resentment, but the tutor spoke after she stopped. "Continue — why does the emperor want to recruit mages?"
"Maybe … Maybe it's a research project …" Mary stammered. "The specific content is not written, but it requires … requires knowledge of mathematics and magic circles. It also requires knowledge of self-recharging … self-recharging magic circles …"
The gloomy expression on the old magician's face suddenly changed.
He frowned and seemed to be deep in thought. As Mary waited in fear, he whispered to himself, "… Could it be that the Empire is researching … Master might be interested in this information …"
Mary lowered her head and listened. She was not interested in the old magician's master at all. She was hungry, sleepy, and nervous. She just wanted to go back to her room as soon as possible.
The old magician finally woke up from his thoughts. He looked at his apprentice who was still waiting at the bottom of the stairs, and a trace of absent-mindedness flashed in his eyes. Then, he recovered his clarity.
He waved his hand. "Go back to your room."
Mary bowed deeply as if she had been granted amnesty. Just as she was about to leave, she heard her mentor's voice coming from the stairs. "… There is a plate of muffins on your table. It's for you."
Mary looked up in shock, as if she thought she had heard wrong.
However, the old magician just waved his hand. His artificial nerves had quieted down. His voice was full of impatience. "Today is your birthday."
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