Free Chapter 0270: Mystery Competition

Four days later.

After passing through seven public cities along the way, the airship finally stopped at the Guat Port in the Wendu area.

Going further west, they would have to cross the vast primeval forest with no people. The small airship he was riding now could not bear such a difficult task. In order to successfully reach the area ruled by the Silver Alliance, he could only switch to a more solid aerial fortress - a floating warship.

So when Grimm took Alice and Kirby down from the airship on the plank, they were shocked by a terrifying giant ship not far away.

This was a huge warship with a black body, which was more than ten times the size of an ordinary airship. Three tall masts were distributed in the front, middle and back of the hull. Although there were canvas similar to sails on them, Grimm could feel that they were definitely not driven by wind.

Grimm had good eyesight. Even if he was half a mile away, he could still clearly see that the masts were engraved with many strange runes and magic lines of unknown purpose. Moreover, the mast reflects a cold and cold metallic luster under the sunlight, giving people an unbreakable and solid feeling at first glance.

There are countless portholes on the shuttle-shaped hull, but they are all covered by thick metal plates, and the secrets inside cannot be seen. However, based on Grimm's experience in his previous life, a strong ship has always been inseparable from cannons, and that may be the firing point of this floating battleship.

The only thing that is unknown is what kind of war wizard weapon is hidden inside.

There is also a two-story ship building on the hull, but it is not used for living. Instead, it looks like a platform for wizards to fight and cast spells.

The entire black floating battleship is quietly moored on the high ground. From a distance, it looks like a terrifying steel behemoth entrenched there, giving people a sense of coldness and power.

This is probably the floating battleship prepared by the Silver Alliance to cross dangerous waterways!

When Grimm turned his eyes away from the floating battleship, he realized that the place where the flying ship landed was not a city, but an airport dedicated to transporting materials and personnel.

Along the edge of the forest, you can see rows of huge and thick wooden houses, with countless humans and strange-looking alien coolies carrying goods in and out. Obviously, that is the storage warehouse of the airport. On the side away from the forest, there are rows of stone houses. In the open space in front of the stone houses, there are many wizard-like guys looking at this side and pointing, as if talking about something.

In the center of the airport, there is a pointed stone tower standing tall, with mysterious runes shining on it. A series of hidden reconnaissance waves slowly sweep through the void, and the farthest distance can reach the forest more than ten miles away.

Guard tower!

The internal space of this tower is too small to accommodate too many wizards, nor can it accommodate large war wizard weapons, so it is mainly used for warning and exploration.

And 5 miles behind, you can see the rolling black forest.

This is already the edge of the human settlement area in the central part of the continent. There are no signs of human reclamation activities in the surrounding forests, let alone any large settlements. However, there are still sporadic hunting teams and adventurer teams active in the edge of the forest, and occasionally some wizards looking for materials will appear here.

Just as Grimm was slowly browsing the airport, a low and hoarse voice sounded beside him.

"Welcome, Lord Grimm!"

Grimm turned around and immediately saw the wrinkled old face of Angus Wizard.

"It's nice to see you again." Grimm smiled and nodded.

"Your Excellency has just arrived, so you should find a place to rest first! The boat ticket to the Sky City has been arranged, and we can set off in three days." Compared with before, Angus Wizard was obviously much more polite.

"Isn't there a floating battleship there? Why wait so long?" Grimm asked curiously.

"The floating warship is ready, but there are not enough wizards!" Angus explained simply: "The route through the Sky City has undergone thousands of years of changes. Although the distribution of monsters along the way has been basically figured out, there are still dangers. So for the sake of safety, each floating warship will stay in this airport for a few days and will not set off until there are enough wizards."

"Sufficient number of wizards?" This is the first time Grimm has heard of this: "How many will there be?"

"Generally speaking, sixty wizards are enough. If you meet some high-level wizards on the way, it won't be a big problem if the number is a little less."

Grimm couldn't help but secretly gasp when he heard this.

Sixty wizards?

The wizards of the entire Salupo family probably can't reach this scale, and a floating warship needs so many wizards to pass through once. And as far as he knows, such a floating warship needs to pass through once every half a month.

From this calculation, the number of wizards traveling between the two places every year is simply an unimaginable number!

Seeing Grimm's surprised expression, Wizard Angus smiled with understanding.

"Don't be surprised. When you go to the Sky City, you will be even more shocked. The number of wizards there will be beyond your imagination. Come on, I have arranged a place for you to rest. You should wait here patiently for three days. In three days, a new airship will arrive here, and the sixty wizards needed will be gathered by then!"

I see!

After understanding the whole story, Grimm put his worries aside and brought Alice and Kirby to the row of stone houses under the guidance of Wizard Angus.

The residences here are also very simple. In each stone house, there is only a wooden bed and a simple set of tables and chairs, and there are no extra furnishings. Of course, if you don't like this place, you only need to walk 20 miles to the east, and there is a small human city with all kinds of entertainment facilities.

However, Grimm didn't want to have fun. As soon as he settled down, he took Wizard Angus into the secret room to talk in detail.

After all, he didn't know the specific situation of this trip to the Sky City. When he got there, he didn't know what he should do and how to do it. This is too passive for Grimm, who always likes to plan before acting!

If it was just to help the Byron family where Wizard Angus was, win a small game, he wouldn't have to care so much. But now he wants to keep Kirby in the Sky City, so the more he knows about the situation there, the greater the chance of success.

Through the endless narration of Angus the wizard, Grim finally understood the basic governance structure and rules of the Sky City, and also had a preliminary understanding of the so-called competition.

In the description of Angus the wizard, the Sky City is a wizard city floating in the sky. The entire city is distributed in a circular ladder, which can be roughly divided into three parts: the inner ring, the middle ring and the outer ring.

Among them, the inner ring is an area that only senior members of the Silver Alliance are allowed to enter, and the main control core of the Sky City is located there. And there are also the Prophet Tower, the Vortex Tower and the Obelisk, which are famous throughout the Wizard Continent, as well as the desirable Storm Fortress.

The only way to enter there is to join the Silver Alliance and become a member of the Parliament gloriously, otherwise it will be difficult to step into it for a lifetime!

As for the middle ring, it is the main activity area of ​​the ordinary members of the Silver Alliance and the esoteric wizards. Only wizards recognized by the Silver Alliance can settle and study there.

As for all the commercial activities of Sky City, they are concentrated in the outer ring, where non-alliance members are also allowed to settle and open shops. However, the qualification of shop operation is assessed every 10 years, and the assessment method is a fair and reasonable mystery competition.

There are many ways to compete in mystery, including competitions between pharmacists, competitions between alchemists, and competitions between puppeteers... As long as it is covered by the mystery wizards, similar competitions can be found in Sky City.

In addition to the shops that Sky City operates and opens, the number of shops that can be sold to the outside world is limited. So rare goods are in great demand, and the highest bidder wins! Any wizard family or organization that wants to win a shop in Sky City must try to win the mystery competition to be eligible to stay here.

Every existing shop must accept the challenge of outsiders in the year of competition. Both sides invite mystery wizards and then compete fairly. The winner stays, and the loser leaves Sky City sadly!

The Byron family's shop in the outer ring has a long history of more than 70 years. It is also a major way for their family to continuously obtain high-level wizard resources, and it cannot be lost easily.

This year, the Byron family's shop was strongly challenged by a family called Greto. As the challenged, the Byron family has the initiative to choose the ultimate competition project. And their choice this year is undoubtedly the puppeteer competition.

This is actually a trick that the high-level of the Silver Alliance deliberately played to improve the status of the ultimate wizards!

In this way, any wizard family or organization that wants to enter the Sky City can only work hard to cultivate a powerful ultimate wizard. If you really can't cultivate it yourself, or simply choose to hire an ultimate wizard in the Sky City.

In this way, the status of the ultimate wizard has risen. Many talented but cash-strapped ultimate wizards can also use this opportunity to obtain enough resources to continue their research.

However, this will also make those wizard families who are willing but unable to do so suffer.

After all, if you want to cultivate a qualified ultimate wizard, whether it is an alchemist who can refine magic items or witchcraft equipment, or a pharmacist or a puppeteer, the expenses are not something that a small family can support.

Most of the ultimate wizards are honed through thousands of failures, and the resources lost in each failure are a staggering and terrifying number.

chapter;