Quadruple split.

Chapter 2394 A Little History

three minutes later
East of Savage Highlands, [Loya] tribe, outside the open-air arena

"Hello, I am the head of the Archaeological Association's seventh large base in the Savage Highlands, Percy Clark Scheller, and one of the initiators of this commission."

Unlike the azure robe with a strong academic atmosphere and a huge emblem of the Archaeologists Association on the back, Ms. Peschi's outfit today was quite dashing. She wore a pair of goggles that covered most of her face like a mask, and a leather robe with a lot of pockets, 60% of which were stuffed with various ingenious devices. She wore a snow-linen short shirt, tight pants and short boots that made it easy to move. She also carried a multifunctional container that looked like a mountaineering bag on her back. Although her tone was gentle, she extended her right hand to Gu Xiaole in a very friendly manner: "Although it's because of Sister Ye Ge's face, I still want to thank you for coming here to help."

"You are too polite, sister. I am Gu Xiaole, just call me Xiaole."

Gu Xiaole smiled and shook hands with Pei Xi, the curve of her mouth filled with friendliness and kindness: "I am also a colleague of our [Archaeologists Association] over there. This time I came here not only to help Xiao Ge, but also to broaden my horizons. Hey, apart from anything else, I feel that my trip was not in vain just by looking at your outfit, sister."

Largo, who was standing at the back because he was too tall, finally got a word in and asked curiously, "Yeah, why are you dressed like this... why do you look like..."

"Advanced Armored Archaeologist Suit."

Pei Xi let go of Gu Xiaole's hand, raised her head slightly and nodded to Largo, "And it's a new model produced last year. Whether it's appearance or consumables and supplies, it's greatly improved compared to the previous generation. In addition, although this windbreaker looks thin, the lining is made of very expensive 'Golden Snow Silk'. Not only is it very protective, but it also has two additional enchantment areas on the inside. The enchantments on mine are heat insulation and protection."

Largo was stunned for a moment, then smiled bitterly and said, "It's impressive, but I'm more curious about why you have this special equipment. From what I've observed, this should be the kind of ration that only senior armed archaeologists can apply for, right?"

"It's a long story."

Peschi glanced at Largo and said calmly, "After leaving Loya, I had an extremely long and terrible time due to some unexpected accidents. It was also during that time that I realized that degrees and certificates cannot solve all problems. In fact, they cannot even solve most problems. So after repeated consideration, I spent a short time to take the [Level II Armed Archaeologist Certificate]. Later, because of my outstanding performance in many tasks, I became a senior in just a few years."

"what!?"

Largo, who had a fairly comprehensive understanding of the [Archaeologists Association] and was very clear about what the title of "Armed Archaeologist" was, was stunned at the time. He looked up and down in disbelief at his childhood friend who was dressed like an official but was only an apprentice thief... or a ranger, whatever. Anyway, he was not strong at all: "Is this true?!"

Frankly speaking, it's no wonder that Largo showed such an inexperienced expression. After all, in his impression, those armed archaeologists who were considered heretics in the [Archaeologists Association] were completely different species from serious academic experts like Peshi. Just as ordinary people could not imagine that a 2-centimeter-tall soft and cute loli would take out an M2 Browning machine gun (※M Machine Gun, a large-caliber heavy machine gun that can effectively target light vehicles and ships) from under her skirt, Largo could not imagine that Peshi would have a Level II armed archaeologist certificate.

So what exactly are armed archaeologists?

In a nutshell, he is a domestic thug!
As we all know, the [Archaeologists Association] has never been an organization that excels in combat power. For a long time, although its scale has grown to a considerable extent, spreading across the entire continent and having a certain degree of influence in various fields, in terms of "hard power", which is also the most important for an organization...even a neutral organization, they are really a bit inferior.

It is precisely because of this that the Archaeologists Association has always maintained very good relations with organizations such as the Mercenary Guild and the Adventurer Guild. After all, there is never a lack of various crises in the field of "archaeology", and no matter what form of research is to be conducted, ensuring the safety of researchers is the most important thing.

However, although most mercenaries, adventurers and even employees of gray organizations such as the Thieves Guild perform their duties well, because many archaeological activities are too dangerous, they often face life-threatening situations, so there are also many second-rate people who abandon their employers and flee for their lives in crises, resulting in vicious incidents in which a large number of professionals from the Archaeological Association are wiped out.

The worst of these was the Westmarch incident that occurred in the Moon of Light in the year 5992 of the Holy Calendar. In that incident, the Archaeologists Association lost more than three digits of core personnel in the Westmarch ruins at one time, including the son of the then president of the Archaeologists Association, Trist Nefa, the top-class explorer Terry Nefa.

The tragedy happened because the most prestigious legendary mercenary group in the continent at that time, the "Witchers", made a serious mistake. They repeatedly ignored the warnings and acted on their own while protecting the professionals of the Archaeologists Association, and eventually triggered a destructive trap that could have been completely avoided. In an instant, a large number of irregular gravity flows generated out of thin air tore dozens of people to pieces.

Not only that, with the activation of the first trap, the entire ruins seemed to come alive and began to pour out the anger of its creator on the uninvited guests. It only took twenty minutes to reduce the number of Demon Hunters by more than one third due to their full resistance.

However, at this moment, the deputy leader of the [Witcher], Aldo Azmo, who was in charge of the team at the time, made a terrible decision. That was to abandon the experts of the Archaeological Association who were trying to crack these traps behind them, and lead the elite mercenaries to "evacuate" the ruins.

The situation at the time was that members of the Witcher were dying every minute, and although the members of the Archaeologists' Association managed to open a passage, they were unable to immediately decipher the 'lock' left by the creator, so only an emergency escape passage was opened at the first time. Not only that, because this passage was opened with temporary authority, it could only be open for fifteen minutes, and the emergency escape devices inside had all been damaged.

In this situation, according to the assessment of Terry Nefa, who was the team leader at the time, even if they gave up attacking the ruins immediately, normal people like them would definitely not be able to escape to the outside of the ruins on foot within fifteen minutes, so they decided to give up the means of attack and retreat, and led their colleagues to fully operate the panels full of lost texts, trying to lock the traps that were killing people crazily.

According to Terry's prediction, if things go as smoothly as they did when they unlocked the crappy emergency escape passage, then in about ten minutes, more than 50% of the deadly traps will be forcibly locked, and within an hour, the area will be able to temporarily return to normal.

According to Eldor's prediction, if they continued to hold out for ten minutes, the number of people left alive in the Elite Second Regiment of Demon Hunters he led would probably be less than one-third. Under such circumstances, it was clear that it was his own negligence that led to such a result. Eldor, who knew that he would be liquidated as long as the retreat was completed, began to have evil thoughts.

For example, the emergency escape passage opened by the Archaeologists Association could not be used to transfer those experts and scholars with poor mobility if the escape device was broken, but what if it was me? What if it was my brothers?
You know, as the most powerful mercenary group in the Innocence Continent at that time, even the Elite Second Group of [Witcher] had more than ten epic masters, and the other members were all high-level peak masters or even half-step epic masters!
In this situation, let alone the fast-running Ranger, Rogue, and Druid professionals, even the mysterious professionals with poor physical fitness such as Mage, Summoner, and Cleric would be able to leave the damned Wesmache ruins within fifteen minutes!
Of course, this kind of thing is an extremely evil act that is absolutely not allowed in terms of principle or morality. If the matter is exposed, it will not be as simple as being nailed to the pillar of shame, but...

Aldo, who knew very well the level of the people behind him, also knew that if it weren't for these people, those members of the Archaeological Association who were clumsy and talkative would be 100% dead!

So, although he knew by heart the principle of 'accepting the escort commission, although you can give up the 'cargo' if necessary, but you must ensure the safety of the employer even at the cost of your own life', Aldo, who had no intention of dying with anyone, made up his mind and told everyone his plan within a minute through a lot of covert gestures and code words.

Regrettably, as a direct group of Eldor, its will was 100% implemented even though it had already completed the stage of eliminating dissidents.

then……

Accompanied by a sharp whistle, before the people in the Archaeologists Association could react, the mercenary group members who were originally stuck in the front actually withdrew in unison, and the leader who had always been at odds with Terry even raised the corner of his mouth with a sneer as he passed by him.

The result of this "betrayal" was that the experts of the Archaeologists Association accidentally activated a large number of dangerous traps. Although the Second Regiment of the "Witcher" fought hard to the end, they were finally wiped out first under the indiscriminate attack. In order to hand over the information they had sorted out to the Archaeologists Association, Eldo led his men to persist for nearly half an hour under such circumstances, and only ordered to evacuate after all the information was collected.

The bad news is that this lie successfully deceived everyone, including the president of the Archaeologists Association who had lost his beloved son.

The good news is that in the year 5997 of the Holy Calendar, five years after the [Wesmache] incident, the Archaeologists Association actually reached a cooperation with the City of Miracles, and a team of archaeologists, led by its president, Trist Nefa, with a size of about fifty people, once again went deep into the blocked [Wesmache] ruins under the protection of a legendary sage and more than twenty great magicians.

6◇9◇Book◇Bar

In the process, they found a large amount of information that should have been "organized and packaged up and taken away", saw a large number of corpses that were well preserved due to the characteristics of the ruins, as if they had just died, and found a phonograph crystal in the arms of Terry Nefa.

Terry's 'last words' lasted a total of twenty minutes.

The first five minutes were everyone’s last words and goodbyes.

The fourteen minutes in between were about the control specifications, decryption procedures, reset methods, and a large amount of extremely valuable intelligence that had no time to be sorted out.

At the last minute, as if he didn't know what to say, Terry briefly talked about how the "Witcher" abandoned him and others and forcibly evacuated from the emergency escape passage. In the end, he said that if his father heard this message, he should continue to organize people to conduct in-depth exploration of "Wesmach" as soon as possible and put those unimportant trivial matters aside or simply forget about them.

And Drizzt Nefa did exactly that. Under the somewhat surprised gaze of the Seventh Seat of the Council of Truth, he put away the phonograph crystal, helped his son close his eyes, and immediately organized his companions to rely on the important conclusions of those fourteen minutes and successfully gain control of more than 20% of the middle section of the ruins.

Finally, after two months, the [Great Ruins of Weismacher] was finally completely conquered by the Archaeologists Association, and this achievement not only filled the historical gap of about two centuries in the northeastern continent in a certain period of history, but also harvested a large amount of material that has been confirmed to be extinct. In addition, there are many exquisite alchemical props and magical occult research notes. These achievements once became the hottest topic in the entire Innocence Continent during that time.

But in the very end, after everything was settled, the Archaeologists Association suddenly said that in order to thank the City of Miracles for its help, they would add an additional 20% of the materials obtained from the [Wesmache Ruins] to the originally promised 30% reward, and were willing to share all their occult research notes with the City of Miracles.

On the night when the seventh seat of the Truth Council, the creator of the mainstream magic of the Fire Elemental School, [Flowing Flame Dance], [Flowing Fire Sage], completed the transaction with the Archaeologists Association -

After a truth meeting that lasted about seventeen minutes, the [Parliament of Truth] of the City of Miracles announced to the entire continent that it would issue a [Kill Order] to the mercenary group [Witchers], which had a very plain name and was signed by all twelve members of the Parliament of Truth.

The next day, when the mercenary union clerks were still queuing in front of the teleportation array, a total of 1049 people from the mercenary group "Witchers", including logistics members and external liaison members, were killed.

At noon on the same day, the owner of the Wanderer Hostel was invited to the City of Miracles for the first time, and before leaving, he received 1049 soundproofing enchantment scrolls as a gift. From then on, the Wanderer Hostel and the City of Miracles officially began to interact.

On the same evening, the [Archaeologists Association] publicly recruited for a new position - armed archaeologist.

Chapter 2385: The End