The black sun hangs high

Chapter 224 Bold Idea

The bodies of mages have generally been influenced and modified by magic, so their physical constitution is often superior to that of ordinary people.

Therefore, nourished by numerous healing spells, the mage Justina, who had been unconscious for a long time, finally slowly woke up. In order to ensure that her eyes could adapt to the light, Hugh left only the dimmest crystal lamp and opened the tightly closed ward door.

Although Hugh did have some things and questions he wanted to confirm with Mage Justina, he also knew that someone who had just woken up from a long coma was probably not thinking clearly yet. Justina needed to rest fully, so Hugh decisively handed over the follow-up matters to Gene and the other members of the Legal Committee.

As for the guarantees and promises made earlier, the sword-wielding hermit Genet promptly fulfilled them.

After confirming that the hidden dangers in Justina had disappeared, he took Hugh back to the previous hall and announced the good news that Justina was about to awaken to the other waiting mages.

When the mages heard Genet's words, a hint of excitement finally appeared on their sorrowful and tense faces. This was the only good news they had been able to receive in the past period of time.

Based on this, Hughes put forward some of his own ideas.

"I wish to use your 'Eye of Mel' arcane artifact."

Hugh said to the group of mages, "In the city of Seren now, the 'Eye of Mel' should be the only communication device capable of transmitting information to the outside world, right?"

However, upon hearing Hugh's words, everyone fell silent again. Then, a middle-aged mage wearing thick glasses stepped forward, coughed twice, and said, "It seems that Mr. Ernst's understanding of the 'Eye of Mel' is rather limited?"

Hugh laughed: "If I really knew so much, then you should be the ones who are afraid, right? Please explain directly; this is very important for my next thoughts and plans."

The middle-aged mage nodded, then explained, “'The Eye of Mel' is indeed a large-scale communication cipher. In the past, the branches of the Law Council scattered throughout Vain would set up such ciphers to maintain close contact with Mellinler. At the same time, we could also send messages through the 'Eye of Mel' to other Law Council locations or other ciphers belonging to the same system... In fact, all the Eye of Mel ciphers are one; they all belong to a large and stable magical ritual.”

"I understand now. This is why the 'Eye of Mel' can transmit magical messages quickly and accurately. It's because all messages and magical correspondence are transmitted within the same mystical system."

"exactly."

The middle-aged mage agreed with Hugh's assessment, sighing, "And this is precisely what makes us feel...helpless, because the main control of the 'Eye of Mel' has always been with Mellinler and..."

At this point, the middle-aged monk's emotions clearly fluctuated violently; his voice trembled slightly, as if he was unwilling to say anything more.

Then, Genet, who was in charge temporarily, continued, "Since the day of the peace celebration, we have been trying to communicate with the outside world and have been sending messages to Merlinle. At first, we were able to receive responses from Merlinle... As required, we need to hold our ground, gather the refugees, receive the supplies provided from outside the city on time, and find the weaknesses of those monsters."

Hughes noticed a mocking smile appear on Genet's scarred, menacing face: "Unfortunately, apart from the first request, we failed to fulfill the rest. Later, supplies ran out, and we received no further instructions from Merlinle. Upon investigation, we discovered that the mastermind behind the 'Eye of Mel' ritual had suspended a significant portion of the ritual's authority within Seren City..."

Genet's tone and voice were very calm, like a stagnant pool.

However, beneath this stagnant water, Hugh sensed a surging undercurrent. Clearly, the decisions made by Merlinler and the Legal Committee had severely harmed these spellcasters. Even Gent, the sword-wielding hermit most loyal to the Legal Committee, was now feeling dissatisfied and angry.

Those who stay here and persist in their fight are brave.

However, active dedication and sacrifice are two different things from passively accepting betrayal and abandonment.

Even this sword-wielding hermit felt intense bewilderment, anger, and disappointment when he learned that Merlinle had unilaterally cut off their access to the "Eye of Merlinle" ritual. This action was completely contrary to the dogma of the faith in the goddess of magic.

Despite hearing this terrible news, Hugh remained calm. He looked at the middle-aged mage who was in charge of maintaining the ritual and asked slowly, "So, the 'Eye of Mel' here has completely failed?"

"No, to be precise, we can still send messages out, but the first recipients of these messages will definitely be Mellinler and... if they don't want our messages to be transmitted, they can simply eliminate them."

The middle-aged monk said sadly, "And before that, we had sent countless messages to Merlinle, but they seemed to have completely abandoned us and did not respond to any of our communications."

Hearing this, Hughes grinned: "So, they can actually receive messages from here, right?"

"In theory... that's right."

"that's enough."

……

At three o'clock in the morning, Hugh, who was resting at the Law Committee’s residence, was notified that the mage Justina, who had been unconscious for a long time, had finally woken up. After figuring out what had happened, the magic scholar immediately asked to meet with Hugh.

Hughes was naturally pleased with this.

So he temporarily interrupted his process of "digesting" his memories of Berva and quickly categorized and organized the complex memories from Berva.

Among these memories, Hugh focused on the content related to the Black Sun Society, including the distribution of members of the Black Sun Society throughout the city of Seren and some special rituals and magic they might use.

This included the method by which Burva and his companions "ambushed" the mage Justina. It was a lost magic developed by the mages of the Dark Abyss History Society. They had inscribed these spells in a spellbook beforehand and had Burva and his companions carry it with them when they entered the city of Seren. Therefore, Burva and his companions had a very limited understanding of the principles behind it.

"Judging from the usage and activation process of this magic, it does indeed fit the style of the Dark Abyss Court... using artificially created Dark Abyss offspring as a medium for casting the spell, injecting their power into the human body, and triggering a series of changes..."

Hugh briefly reviewed the situation, then shook his head: "Incomplete magic and incomplete casting medium, no wonder Justina was able to hold on for so long..."

He put on his coat, took the Black Sun Scepter, and followed the female mage who had come to inform him to Justina's ward.

When Hughes pushed open the door, the sorceress Justina was slowly eating.

The food she ate was nothing special, just magically created water and bread. Although these things tasted terrible, they were extremely helpful for a spellcaster who had just awakened. Hugh himself had received this treatment after escaping the city of Seren.

As Justina's good friend, the sorceress thoughtfully tied up her loose hair to make Justina feel a little more refreshed and comfortable. However, this hairstyle made the scholar, who had been unconscious for a long time, look even thinner.

The mage, who had lost an arm, gave a gentle smile the moment she saw Hugh. After Hugh sat down in the chair beside her bed, Justina sat up straight and bowed to Hugh with difficulty: "Thank you for your help, Mr. Ernst."

Hugh accepted Justina's thanks, and at the same time, he summoned a mage's hand to gently support Justina's shoulder.

He did not have the habit of having a patient bow to him.

“Madam, you should know that I helped you not for your gratitude, nor for the promises made by the Hermit Genet.”

Hughes put his cane to his side and asked, "I think you already know the general situation, right?"

Justina wasn't surprised by Hugh's direct attitude. She nodded slightly, leaned back on her pillow with her water glass, and said, "Yes, but I didn't expect things to deteriorate so quickly. If I had completed the research sooner and shared the results with others, perhaps things could have been different?"

"It's not too late."

Hughes smiled and said, "Since Ms. Justina is in such a hurry to see me, she must have some important ideas to discuss with me?"

The one-armed female mage nodded seriously, then turned to look at her friend, who understood and immediately left the room, closing the door behind her.

A few seconds of silence fell over the ward. Then Justina turned her gaze to Hugh's face, carefully examining the young man before speaking, "Back in Merlinle, my main research focus was on magical creatures and summons... Therefore, after those monsters appeared, I immediately requested that Genet and the others collect enough samples for my research."

“These monsters weren’t particularly strong when they were alone; they were more like some kind of ferocious, greedy shapeshifter, so I quickly managed to get the first batch of samples.”

As a professional scholar, Justina's thinking was very clear. Although she had just woken up, she was already able to concisely explain what had happened before.

She recalled, "Initially, I thought these monsters were likely special magical beasts that were summoned or created by some kind of large-scale ritual or evil magic, but I soon discovered... they were really quite different."

“I obtained four different samples in total. The first batch of samples had only eaten some animals and insects, so they were able to mimic the corresponding characteristics. The second and third batches of samples…”

Justina's eyes flickered twice: "I'm sure it's not just simple imitation. They're learning, they're growing... These beings that we call sludge and monsters are intelligent. When I harm one sample in front of another, they even show emotions like anger and agitation."

“I realized that these beings are capable of having emotions, and as they continue to digest their prey and understand the instincts and memories that originate from their prey, they themselves are constantly changing; they are… they are perfecting themselves.”

Justina took a sip of water, caught her breath, and continued, "I've always believed that different magical creatures should be dealt with in different ways. Now that they have developed intelligence and ways of thinking that are similar to ours, we can no longer fight them the way we fight wild beasts."

Hearing this, Hugh nodded slightly: "You announced this idea to the other mages in the camp at the time, right?"

Justina sighed: "Yes, but that was just a preliminary idea. I was conducting more experiments at the time, and as a result... I didn't expect that those madmen had already infiltrated our ranks."

"This at least shows that you're on the right track."

Hugh offered a word of comfort, then asked, "I'm curious, ma'am, what kind of experiment were you conducting at the time? What could possibly make these guys abandon their covert operations and expose their identities to launch an attack on you?"

“I noticed that these monsters do not actually distinguish between groups and individuals. There is a subtle and strong connection between them, which may be magic or something we cannot understand... This allows them to share power, knowledge and memories with each other.”

Speaking of her research findings, Justina's expression became serious: "I believe that when these monsters come together, they are like an innocent child who has countless knowledge and memories, but is completely unable to judge right from wrong, nor does he know how to use them."

"The minds of innocent children are always simple. As long as... as long as we can find suitable ways to guide them, or 'instill' certain ideas that are beneficial to us into them, and make these ideas generally accepted by them, does this mean that we can directly..."

Justina stared intently at Hugh, and in a weak voice uttered her incredibly audacious idea: "Control them?"

(End of this chapter)