The Wizard's Secret Journey

Chapter 233 Camp (4k)

Lynn stepped off the Black Falcon, instructed the Golden Thorn apprentice to wait outside the watchtower for the time being, and then went inside with Samuel.

The Silver Ring Watchtower 16-8 is about ten meters high, but its widest base diameter is only three meters. Not counting the spire, the narrowest part at the top has a diameter of only one and a half meters, which can accommodate at most two wizards.

It has the consistent style of Silver Ring Academy's creations, with a simple gray-black exterior that has a certain camouflage effect, while the hollow interior is filled with a large number of complicated decorations.

However, this time these decorations are not only for aesthetic purposes, but also part of the complex functional modules inside the watchtower.

The cloud-like patterns can unfold a tension field platform inside the completely hollow watchtower when needed, allowing the flying wizard to stand at any height within the watchtower without having to maintain flight magic continuously. The inlaid exquisite crystals not only provide illumination but also create projections, displaying the external environment monitored by the watchtower, and so on.

In summary, this Silver Ring Watchtower may seem simple, but it is actually a genuine Tier 2 Wizard Tower. Even Lynn at his current level would need to put in some effort to understand its Tier 2 structure.

Retracting his scrutinizing gaze, Lynn gently tossed the watchtower hub in his hand. The translucent crystal spontaneously floated and flew towards the top of the watchtower, quickly embedding itself in the pre-reserved groove at the top.

A moment later, the spire lit up with a silvery-white light, which cascaded down like a waterfall, and after several cycles, gradually turned into a constant dim light.

A connection also clearly appeared in Lynn's mind. With a thought, the crystal on the tower wall in front of him immediately projected a screen, which clearly showed the current situation of the watchtower and its surroundings.

Lynn and Samuel checked carefully and confirmed that everything was normal. Then, following the instructions, they granted Samuel the same level three privileges and strode away from the watchtower to arrange for the wizard apprentices to report for duty.

Each recruited apprentice must report to the watchtower upon arrival. If they fail to do so within a week of the stipulated time, they will be considered to have evaded recruitment and will be wanted by the Silver Ring Academy.

Although it's still early before the apprentices' designated time, reporting in isn't just about reporting in; it's also the process of binding the Golden Thorn apprentices with sentry tower permissions, so it's best to do this as soon as possible.

Of course, the Golden Thorn apprentices do not have level three access, but level four access.

"Samuel, I'll leave the apprentice registration to you. I'll go scout the area." Lynn, standing to the side, thought for a moment and said that arranging apprentice registration didn't require two first-tier wizards.

“Okay.” Samuel nodded.

Lynn rose from the ground and gradually ascended into the air, taking in the surrounding scenery.

As seen on the projected map, this is the only hillside for miles around.

The north side of the hillside is the ruins of the Grey Forest Ruins, which look close, but are actually several kilometers away.

Lynn gazed silently at the vast Black Moon Ruins.

It is said that the Ash Forest ruins suddenly "surged" up from the depths of the earth one day.

The earth shook violently that day, the commotion could be seen for miles around, and the dust storm it stirred up took several days to completely dissipate.

It is also said that the outer ruins of the Ash Forest are worthless; all treasures have been eroded by time into rough stone and earth. Only the few buildings still intact in the very center of the ruins truly contain priceless treasures.

Before the appearance of the Graywood Ruins, this place was just a vast wilderness.

Because of its remote location, harsh environment, and scarce resources, it is almost deserted, with only some caravans passing through.

The only thing worth mentioning is that about two hundred kilometers to the south, there is a second-tier wizarding school.

Of course, the second-order school called Berry has now been "incorporated" by the Silver Ring Academy, and the materials for building the watchtowers were transported through the Berry school.

Perhaps the guardian wizards being recruited now are also members of the Berry School.

"A treasure appeared right at my doorstep, and I could only watch..." Lynn slowly withdrew his gaze.

It goes without saying that the Berry School would be unhappy.

But no matter how unwilling or reluctant they were, under the Silver Ring Wizard's attitude, they were like ice blocks in the sunlight, unable to even stir up a ripple of resistance, and melted into warm water.

Lynn turned his head and looked in another direction.

The hillside is bordered by forests on the east and south sides, but the forest area on the east side is not large. A few hundred meters away, there is just ordinary barren grassland, and further ahead, there are undulating slopes.

The forest to the south is vast, stretching as far as the eye can see; it was originally the Green Lake Forest.

To the west lies a large flat area with excellent visibility; one can even see another nearby watchtower, number 16-7, in the distance.

At the foot of the hillside, a river meanders from east to west, which can be used as a place to fetch water.

After surveying the surroundings, Lynn had a better understanding of the situation. Seeing that the Golden Thorn apprentices had not yet finished reporting for duty, he went to the bottom of the watchtower to carefully examine the power supply module buried deep within.

When this watchtower was built, perhaps because the wizards were in a hurry, they did not connect the watchtower's energy module to the magical energy vein at the bottom of the hill.

Therefore, the watchtower's current energy source is either free magic energy in the air or readily available magic stones.

'I guess they only made the most common model in order to mass-produce the watchtowers as quickly as possible, without optimizing them for the actual environment,' Lynn thought, planning to add the ability to draw magical energy from the magic stone veins on the hillside to the watchtowers later.

The watchtower can maintain basic operation by drawing magic energy from the air, but it must use magic stones to power it when operating at full power.

This second-tier watchtower, besides its powerful detection capabilities, also possesses defensive capabilities. With sufficient magical energy, it could easily create a second-tier protective shield to shelter all Golden Thorn apprentices.

Therefore, whether for personal safety or to save magic stones, connecting the sentry tower's power supply module to the magic energy vein is a decision that is entirely beneficial.

Moreover, it's not difficult at all; it's a piece of cake for Lynn, and it won't damage the watchtower.

Lynn will also build a simple magic-gathering array on the hillside later; he can do it while he's at it.

After observing all this, Samuel also took care of the apprentices' registration.

"Shall we organize the apprentices to start building the camp?" Samuel asked as he approached.

“Okay, let them go logging first, and we’ll discuss the camp construction plan later.” Lynn nodded and added, “Let’s log eastward, that way we can clear out the surrounding forest and get a better view.”

The only structure Silver Ring Academy provided for this outpost was the outpost itself. If they wanted to live here long-term, building a sturdy and reliable camp was clearly essential.

“Okay.” Samuel nodded, then sighed. “I wonder how long we’ll have to stay here.”

Lynn did not answer, feeling somewhat worried as well.

A casual summons from the Silver Ring Wizard felt like an unbearable boulder on the heads of ordinary wizards like them.

"In any case, let's plan the campsite first."

Lynn shook his head, summoned the watchtower projection, and controlled it to display a 3D map of the area around the watchtower.

Samuel nodded and relayed the order to cut down trees to the Goldthorn apprentices outside via the watchtower.

Communication is also one of the functions of the watchtower. On a larger scale, it can establish a wide-ranging communication network with other watchtowers, outposts, camps, and fortresses—like Silver Ring City. On a smaller scale, within its coverage area, it can also be used to transmit information to any wizard, which is quite convenient.

After doing all this, Samuel turned around and, together with Lynn, examined the projection of the hillside in front of them.

The hillside slopes from north to south, and the top is not large. The only suitable area for setting up a camp is a small area next to the watchtower.

“The camp must be built around the watchtower, preferably in a circle with it as the center, so that it will be easier to activate the protective barrier later.” Lynn pointed to the projection and said, “However, it seems that the space on the top of the slope is not enough. We will have to make room for more in a while.”

“Yes, repairs aren’t difficult.” Samuel nodded, agreeing with Lynn’s decision.

"In addition, I plan to build a magic-gathering array around the watchtower. To save costs, I plan to integrate the array nodes into the camp buildings, so I need to plan ahead."

"A Demon Gathering Spell Formation?" Samuel was initially surprised, but he quickly recalled Lynn's work modifying the Black Falcon at the Silver Ring base, and then it didn't seem so strange. He nodded and said, "You're definitely better at spell formations than I am. You arrange it. I trust you."

Lynn nodded, carefully observing the hillside, when suddenly an idea struck him.

"Do you think we should build the camp inside the hillside?"

Samuel was taken aback: "You mean, hollow out this hillside?"

“There’s no need to hollow it out, just carve out a suitable cave.” Lynn shook his head. “This hillside is quite large, enough to hold ten thousand people, and we only have a hundred.”

"But why build it inside the mountain?" Samuel asked, puzzled.

“Because it will be safer and more discreet,” Lynn said matter-of-factly.

In my past life, most of the shelters were located underground, mainly because they were safe enough.

Ten meters underground is enough to withstand most ordinary explosions, and even a nuclear bomb can withstand an explosion tens of meters underground.

When he, Felicity, and Durant went to explore the world of moss, Durant set up such a camp, which is enough to prove its usefulness.

“It would indeed be safer, but—” Samuel hesitated, “underground life is never as convenient as living above ground, because it is far more oppressive, and staying there for a long time can easily lead to mental problems.”

"Moreover, there is a magical energy vein beneath this hillside, so whether a suitable cave can be dug out is still unknown."

Lynn hadn't expected Samuel to object, but he quickly realized that not everyone was as cautious as he was.

The task of guarding the Graywood Ruins is indeed bound to be dangerous, but not dangerous enough to make others think they should live underground.

Lynn remained silent, unable to find a good reason to refute Samuel.

After a moment of contemplation, he suggested, "Why don't we let the Golden Thorn apprentices vote on it?"

Samuel gave him a surprised look, but finally nodded: "No problem."

……

As expected, the final vote resulted in most of the Golden Thorn apprentices choosing to establish their camps on the surface as normal.

Lynn was only the main person in charge of this recruitment, but he was not a dictator. Under the joint opposition of Samuel and the apprentice, he had no choice but to give up his more secure idea of ​​digging a tunnel.

After some research, Lynn and Samuel finally finalized the plan for the entire camp.

Overall, the camp is circular as originally envisioned, and is roughly divided into two parts—the outer functional area and the core residential area.

The functional areas include a kitchen, a water room, an activity room, and so on, which can meet the daily needs of wizard apprentices, while the core living area is a place for sleeping and meditation.

In addition, it is worth mentioning that there is a small blank area on the north side of the core living area of ​​the camp, which is also the side closest to the Greywood Ruins.

That was the parking area Lynn had planned for his Black Falcon.

After careful consideration, he decided to live directly on the Black Falcon.

This not only saves the effort of building a dwelling, but also makes it safer.

After all, everything on the Black Falcon was readily available and of quite good quality.

With a plan in place, everything becomes simple.

Thanks to the wizards' powerful productivity, the entire camp, capable of supporting a hundred people for an extended period, was completed in just three days.

This was even without Lynn and Samuel being heavily involved.

On the same day, Lynn, who was once again immersed in the research on the Black Falcon, also made a new breakthrough in the Black Moon Rune.

In the Black Falcon's meditation room, Lynn examined the emerald green leather wristband in front of him.

He has disassembled the wristband, revealing its complex internal structure.

At its very core is a small patch of pale gold.

This spot is the core rune area of ​​the Black Moon relic known as the "Healing Wrist".

Perhaps it's because I accumulated a lot of experience from researching the second generation of Wuji.

Lynn successfully extracted the Black Moon script from the Healing Arm after only three days of studying it!
'The Healing Arm is indeed of significantly lower quality than the second-generation Traceless Arm; not only is it a level 0 witchcraft item, but its core rune is also just a single black moon character—Heal.'

Lynn carefully examined the core runes and tried to trace them with the mithril beside him.

A few minutes later, he successfully replicated the deformed black moon character "Heal" from the core rune area.

Lynn then created the original Black Moon text "Heal" on the side, comparing it little by little.

"These changes... still don't reveal any pattern."

Lynn pressed his temples, feeling a slight headache.

The same applies to the second generation of Wuji. Although there are three black moon characters, the pattern of change for each one is different.

With a sigh, Lynn remained calm, turned and left the meditation room, heading outside the camp.

He arrived at the edge of the camp as usual, gazing at the distant gray forest ruins, the thoughts that had been lingering in his mind for the past few days resurfacing once again.

Should I try to activate the Black Moon Spirit Body's active sensing?

(End of this chapter)