The black sun hangs high

Chapter 348 Daydream

"what?"

A strange shadow flashed by and startled the young villager, Luther, who had been extremely relaxed. He sat on his bed, staring blankly at the corner of the house.

After hesitating for a full two seconds, he finally reacted and reached out towards his bedside.

His village was very remote, with dense forests on both the north and south sides. As a result, it was common for wild animals to run into the village. Luther was already very familiar with this situation, so like the other villagers, he would keep some basic self-defense weapons in his room.

Soon, he silently pulled out a very old-fashioned double-barreled crystal gun from the darkness.

Outdated craftsmanship, simple and crude design—these are classic products from those unscrupulous alchemy workshops.

Luther was well aware of the true power of this weapon. It was very unstable and, although it could fire inferior crystal bullets, it was very difficult to hit the target. However, for those beasts who feared loud noises and bright lights, such a gun was sufficient.

By this time, Luther had sobered up considerably. His hands were trembling slightly, but he remained relatively calm. The shadow he had just seen looked very thin and long, so Luther judged that it was probably not a wild boar that had run out of the woods, but rather a lost wild dog or a hungry wolf.

He steadied his breathing and heartbeat, controlled his trembling hands, and finally took out two slightly pitted crystal bullets from the small bullet pouch hanging on the side of the double-barreled crystal gun. After successfully loading the two bullets into the crystal gun, he stood up from the bedside.

Luther held his gun in one hand for protection, while using his other hand to reach for an old crystal lamp mounted on the wall above the bed.

A moment later, the dim light illuminated most of the room, and all sorts of shadows intertwined and overlapped in this limited space, mottled like the patterns left by sunlight after passing through the tree canopy.

"Ok?"

Luther looked around, somewhat puzzled.

He didn't see anything noteworthy. The room looked no different from usual; there were no wolves, dogs, or wild boars. The floor wasn't clean, but there were no animal footprints either.

"I think I really drank too much..."

Luther shook his head in confusion, but out of vigilance, he still carried his weapon and searched the other end of the room. After confirming that there was nothing unusual in the room, he completely relaxed and turned to check the door lock.

Just then, a loud, crisp sound suddenly came from the other side of the village.

That was the sound of a crystal gun.

To be precise, it was the sound of the crystal guns of the village hunters. The weapons these hunters carried were completely different from the intimidating ones in his hand. They could kill not only wild beasts, but even some dangerous magical creatures on the spot.

"What, is there wild animal there?"

Luther was a little stunned. Before he could react, several more gunshots rang out in the distance. It seemed that there was more than one hunter who had been alerted!
However, following the series of gunshots was an extremely shrill scream, which lasted only a moment before being swallowed up by the echoing gunfire, like a candle flame being extinguished in the darkness.

"..."

At that very moment, a faint intuition hidden within Luther's body made him turn around, and this action allowed him to see an incredibly bizarre and terrifying scene.

He saw that right behind him, in the corner he had already checked, a long and eerie shadow was slowly emerging from the gap between the walls.

Almost in the blink of an eye, the shadow broke free from the darkness clinging to the wall and took on a real form. Its head was as long as its body, making it look like a stretched-out wolfhound or a close relative of the dangerous crocodiles that lurked in the river.

Slender, wriggling tentacles extended from its slightly open mouth, constantly twitching, instantly reminding Luther of insects that suck the blood of humans and animals.

Even more terrifying were the blood-red, jewel-like eyes embedded on either side of the head. They were so dense and cold that simply looking into them was enough to make one's breath catch and one's body go cold.

"Ah...ah..."

Luther made an incomprehensible sound from his wide-open mouth, and then he saw the shadow that seemed to be hovering on the edge of reality and nightmare slowly approaching him.

Driven by fear, his fingers slammed into the trigger of the double-barreled crystal gun in his hand.

His shooting skills and experience were so poor that, with his finger unconsciously pulling the trigger, he fired two bullets from the crystal gun one after another. The loud noise almost shook Luther himself, and the inferior firearm and inferior bullets created a thick cloud of smoke in the house.

Through the drifting smoke, Luther noticed that the terrifying shadow in front of him seemed to have disappeared.

"I broke it?"

The thought flashed through the young villager's mind, but the next moment, he heard a chilling, screeching sound.

That was the sound of sharp claws gently scraping against the wooden wall.

It was right next to my ear.

"Do not……"

He instinctively wanted to shout, but before he could make a sound, a dark shadow exuding a chilling aura suddenly emerged from the corner of the wall next to him.

The long, narrow head split open in the middle, and then Luther saw once again that terrifying maw filled with sharp teeth and tentacles.

Darkness enveloped him, and in the moment he lost consciousness, he heard the sound of teeth clenching and his skull cracking.

……

"Clap!"

Once again, enthusiastic applause rang out in the grand hall. It was already late at night, but the meeting showed no signs of stopping. Over the past few hours, these participants from different countries and with different races and ethnic identities had engaged in a very heated discussion on several important and fundamental issues.

Although these speakers, representing different countries, positions, and organizations, mostly have drastically different or even contradictory and conflicting opinions, they share a relatively unified view on a certain issue.

"The black sun in the sky is a hidden danger, as are the Black Sun Society and the Kingdom of Saint Steel, which is controlled by the Black Sun Society. All three need to be addressed."

As for how to solve it, who should solve it, and to what extent it should be solved, these are the issues that are worth debating and arguing about.

Hughes was not surprised by this situation.

The consensus was reached because different races and nations have now witnessed the dangers that the Black Sun Society and the Black Sun may bring. Among them, the Kingdom of Hein, which is adjacent to Saint Steel, and the Kingdom of Wotel and the Kingdom of Delan, which are close to the rugged hills, are deeply aware of this.

But this kind of thing is like people from different regions and with different cultural backgrounds discussing the issue of eating. They all know they need to eat, but they always tend to argue about "what to eat".

Weilin frowned, picked up her water glass, and gulped down two mouthfuls.

She had just spoken on behalf of the Dawn Society and a group of scholars who had traveled on the Windless Cruise. During those ten-odd days of travel, the Dawn Society had basically reached a consensus with these scholars who had witnessed the dangers of ancient creations. Everyone agreed that advancing research on those ancient beings was the top priority.

Only by further understanding the specific nature of these looming threats and the essence of the power of those so-called ancient deities can we better choose specific countermeasures.

This was also the first resolution at this important meeting to receive an overwhelming majority of votes and be declared passed.

Led by the Legal Committee, and supported by the Dawn Society, the Council, and other affiliated societies of the Mage Tower, a new Academic Committee will be formed to concentrate the strength of scholars, relevant intelligence, and resources as much as possible to conduct a comprehensive study of these looming threats.

“I even think that this kind of thing doesn’t need to be discussed in a meeting at all…it’s a waste of time, but I really didn’t expect that even on such an issue, someone would vote against it.”

Weilin put down her water glass. Her voice was a little dry. The long speech she had given earlier had left her feeling tired. Reading from a script was really not something she was good at.

The inexplicable dissenting votes made her even angrier.

For a few seconds, Verin even had the urge to directly use Merlinle and the Wall of Flames and the Pool of Cold to cover certain corners of the venue.

Hearing Weilin complain like that, Hugh reached out and grasped her half-empty water glass. Then, with a slight movement of his magic, water shimmering with a faint magical glow was quickly added to it.

Hugh's magically created water had been optimized countless times before. Now, the water he creates is not only perfectly drinkable, but it can even bring a refreshing feeling to one's throat.

After that, he turned around and gestured to the members of the Dawn Society who were responsible for recording the details of the meeting. Soon, Richard handed him a piece of paper covered with writing.

Hugh picked up the paper and glanced at it a few times, then smiled and said, "Those who have objections should all be from this group of people... well, several research societies and laboratories funded and controlled by the Giant Ear Goblin Merchant Guild, and of course, several mage associations with deep-sea mage towers on their names."

"The Goblin Merchant Guild... I can understand why they don't support me."

Vera took two sips of the magical water in her glass. The cool magic within the water soothed her throat, making her feel much better. Then she asked in confusion, "But why are those mage tower societies opposing it? The goblins pursue profit, do they pursue it too?"

Hugh shook his head: "I think this isn't a problem of interests, but rather a matter of beliefs and values... Look, do these names look familiar?"

Vera leaned over curiously and glanced at the paper in Hugh's hand. Soon, her brows, which had finally relaxed, furrowed again.

She did see several familiar names.

"The Gift of Mel Mage Society, the Sinar Mage Society..."

After reading these names, Virin couldn't help but sigh. As a mage who had once made "evil magic" her main subject, she was quite familiar with these names.

Vera said in a low voice, "These societies... especially 'Mel's Gift', have always opposed the Legal Committee's research into 'evil magic'. They believe that this is dross and a threat that has already been rejected by the Goddess of Magic, and there is no need to risk picking it up again."

At this point, she gritted her teeth: "My teacher and I have met some of them, and it's no exaggeration to say that their fanaticism for the goddess of magic even surpasses that of those sword-wielding hermits."

“The goblins are easy to deal with. The headquarters of these merchant guilds are all located in Water and Delan. In order to further alleviate the conflict and promote cooperation, they should all take similar actions in this regard.”

Hugh replied in a deep voice, "As for these societies... they're almost developing into churches of the goddess of magic within their spheres of influence. The Legal Committee will probably have to figure out a way to deal with this. We can't let these guys go from one extreme to another."

The two discussed for a few more minutes, when suddenly another argument erupted from ahead.

Speaking on the podium at this moment was a high-ranking naval officer from the Kingdom of Hein, who was presenting a proposal on behalf of the Kingdom of Hein—to combine the naval forces of various countries to build several ports and islands of the Kingdom of Hein into interconnected and stable defensive lines and outposts.

It's obvious to anyone with eyes to see that this proposal is aimed at the Kingdom of Saint Steel. Although on the surface, the Kingdom of Hein's naval power is fully capable of gaining the upper hand in the current confrontation with the people of Saint Steel, the Kingdom of Hein has stated that what needs to be considered now is no longer just the size of the fleet.

They believe that the potentially terrifying risks in the ocean and the unknown methods of the Black Sun Society could overturn the balance at any time.

This proposal drew opposition from many of the coastal principalities of the plains.

It would be strange if they didn't object.

In the previous war, the fleet of the Kingdom of Hein was like a terrifying iron hammer, while the fleets cobbled together by the Duchy of the Plains were like iron plates that could only take a beating. Although the fleet of the Kingdom of Hein also suffered considerable losses, the battle line that advanced at an extremely fast speed was enough to say a lot.

Now, let these duchies, who have just suffered a great loss and are eager to completely dismantle the navy of the Kingdom of Hein, cast their votes in favor...

This is simply wishful thinking!

(End of this chapter)