Pivot of the Sky

Since Amon's departure, the catastrophe in Duke Town has begun. Just three days after Amon left town, the first dead teenager in town, the son of the missing samurai Ma Qi, was only fourteen years old, just like Amon. Three more children died within a month, the youngest being twelve years old and the oldest not more than fifteen years old, all boys.

The town's priest and doctor Xiao Gu had nothing to do with it, because all these children, without exception, died of a violent illness and were examined later with therapeutic magic, only to find that their veins seemed to bear an unbearable shock of power. Xiao Gu supposedly assumed that it might have been because they were not adults and had studied the mining techniques of Duke Town in private.

The mining technique in Duke Town looks simple, as if anyone can get it, but the unconscious consumption is almost unbearable for minor children, accumulating to a certain extent, hidden dangers will suddenly erupt, and it is too late to wait for the onset. Aristotle explained to Amon the spiritual origins of the ancient Oracle, which was indeed protecting the inhabitants, but Aristotle was not aware of the beauty of this mining technique.

Xiao Gu and Dusty had no way to punish the townspeople, and it was pointless to ask them if they had not been granted the patron saint's permission as soon as the children had died; the families who had suffered the tragedy themselves would not admit it, and there was no proof of anyone. Of course, there are more than a few families who let their children learn mining techniques privately. Everyone seems to know, but nobody says anything.

The reason for this is, I'm afraid, Amon.

Amon, only fourteen years old, not only has mastered the mineral craftsmanship handed down from generation to generation and has been able to successfully mine the Divine Stone, but has also been fortunate enough to acquire so many Divine Stones, including a blue Divine Stone envied by Lord Xiao Gu. If Amon can do it, why can't his own kids?

Boys in Duke town have helped adults in their families pull windboxes and carry ore since they were little children, much stronger than their average peers out there. Amon doesn't seem to be the most robust of them all, he's just the son of an old drunk who's forced to burden his life ahead of time. It is not clear, however, that the old madman has given Amon a strange spring bath for more than two years.

Unfortunately, of course, and fortunately, not all children will die, some will not learn, and a few are fortunate enough to learn the mining skills of Duke Town in advance. People like this naturally don't say it, and they don't publicly tell people that the stones are mined by children.

Simple ignorance and ignorance are often only a line apart, and many people even unnamely expect that their children will be able to mine special magic stones like Amon. The townspeople are also talking privately about the fact that Ammon may have also mined a sacred stone called the Tears of the Gods, which is invaluable.

The adult from Wang Du announced publicly that miners who exploit the tears of the gods will be rewarded by the kingdom, but will also suffer the harshest punishment if they dispose of themselves.

The inhabitants of contemporary Duke town have never heard of the tears of the gods, not to mention the stones, except the old lunatics, Dusty and Xiao Gu. I don't know who was the first to implicitly suspect that such a stone can only be mined by children. Otherwise, after all these years so many people have mined so many stones, why did only Amon get it?

This speculation gradually became a plague-like rumor in the town of Duke, and people were talking privately but never publicly, finally leading to a continuous tragedy.

Legend has it that the message of the goddess Mu Yun to protect the goddess here is false, but people ostensibly have more respect for the gods. Xiao Gu, the priest, is unprecedented in reverence, and he doesn't dare to raise his eyes to speak.

The old madman became more insane than ever, waving his staff in front of the Temple of Mu Yun and shouting to himself: "This is a place disgusted by the gods and will be punished by them.... that god is so cruel! But, people, what are you doing? ”

Nobody cares about the old lunatic's nonsense and walks around when they see him. Dusty and Xiao Gu are not good enough to leave him alone, everyone treats him like he's crazy anyway. But the tragedy in the town of Duke continues, with several more boys dying without signs of brutal illness.

Don't people really understand that mining techniques may not be suitable for minors? Everyone knows more or less, but there are other children who are lucky enough to succeed, not just Amon, so the tragedy of others is seen only as unlucky. Cautious people warn their children to be careful and to be aware of their physical feelings at all times without being too reluctant, but not to dispel the idea of letting them learn skills.

How many children in Duke Town have studied mining techniques privately while underage? The answer is all boys over the age of 10! That's what we all do, and there's no reason why anyone shouldn't. It's already a semi-public secret, and people just try to be careful not to let anyone catch evidence, especially Mayor Dasti and Lord Xiao Gu.

It was already difficult to stop the spread of the disaster, and the town of Tuk, although not small, was home to more than 2,000 inhabitants, and its mining skills had been handed down from generation to generation in a closed environment.

Hot summers arrive, particularly hot this summer, when many people do not sleep in the house at night, but in the yard or in the square, sleeping in the grass or wooden slabs until dawn. One night, people sleeping outdoors suddenly felt a hint of cool, opened their eyes and touched their bodies, and unexpectedly found a fine rain wire floating in the air.

Duke Town can hardly rain a year, especially in summer, which is the dry season of the calendar year, and it hardly ever rains, and everyone is happy to cheer.

The rain hasn't stopped after dawn, and it's getting bigger and bigger, with raindrops sprinkling on dry land like water curtains. The clouds of the sky are invisible and cover the black firewoods to the west and the Syrian desert to the south. People are getting more and more excited and gathered in the Temple of Mu Yun to thank the gods and hear cheers at any time, because it rained heavily and didn't stop for a day or night.

Such a rain can pour out the surrounding barren land and desert, and when the rain clears, the desert will grow out of the grass and will be suitable for many sheep this year. This has happened before, but it took years to encounter such a heavy rain, which has always been regarded as a gift of the gods.

As if the gods had heard the prayers of the townspeople, the rain had not stopped for three days and three nights. Some people are getting a little nervous, because it's something they never remember.

The trenches in the blackfire jungle have been filled with water, the lowlands of the tunnel have been submerged, and more floods have flowed down from the Assyrian plateau in the north, passing through the blackfire jungle approaching the town of Duke. The town is surrounded by muddy deserts, swampy jungles and plateaux with running water.

When people finally realized it was bad, they suddenly heard the thunder coming from the sky. Looking out over the mountains of the Syrian plateau, already covered by thick clouds, a ray of electric light flashed between the tumbling clouds. The people here have hardly ever heard of thunder strikes and somehow have an unspeakable fear.

Nobody cheered any more in Duke Town. Everyone hid in the leaky house and prayed to the gods, hoping that the heavy rain would end soon. But the rain did not stop as people hoped. After the thunder sounded, it had been raining heavily for three days and three nights, and suddenly it became a pouring rain, as if the sky had been ripped open with a huge mouth.

……

When the thunder sounded, the chief priest of the Temple of Syria, the Eighth Great Mage, Singh stood on a high wall, looking in the direction covered by low clouds and raging lightning, muttering to himself: “Nietzsche, is this the catastrophe you predicted? Is it really here? But why are you still in Duke? ”

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