Chapter 162 Ancient Times

Despite Becky talking a great deal about the female marshal along the way, Hao Ren wasn't very interested. In his opinion, it had nothing to do with his mission, and he didn't think he would have any interaction with a female hero from another world.

But regardless of whether he was interested or not, he still learned a lot about the legendary female general, Ophra.

Speaking of that female general, it's necessary to first mention the so-called "Ancient race." This was a new term Hao Ren had heard only tonight. Because he couldn't find an excuse to directly inquire about information on the Ancient race, he could only roughly infer the situation of this race based on Becky's description. The Ancient race seemed to be a special race that was almost the same as humans, and they lived with humans most of the time. They were few in number, scattered all over the world, and had no cultural system of their own. It could be said that they were a race that had been completely assimilated and coexisted with humans. The biggest difference between the Ancient race and ordinary humans was that they had long lifespans and were excellent in combat. Their qualities far exceeded those of ordinary people, from body to spirit. In history, many members of the Ancient race became heroic figures remembered by history. Ophra was just one of them, and she was the most famous one in recent centuries.

Beyond that, Hao Ren didn't know the origin of the name Ancient race or why they possessed such characteristics.

Marshal Ophra was the most active descendant of the Ancient race in recent centuries. Her initial activity was hundreds of years ago, when the monarch of Holletta was the "Iron-Fisted King" Gadon III, famous in later generations. When Gadon III was crowned king, the Kingdom of Holletta was undergoing a crisis-ridden transformation and upheaval. This oldest kingdom on the continent was facing the impact of modern alchemy and new academic trends. The newly emerging private alchemical workshops' research and production models were challenging the old royal magical research institute. More and more advanced technologies began to be created by the people rather than controlled by the royal mage team. This led to the opposition between the nobles and the new middle class at that time, and also produced the opposition between the new nobles and the conservative nobles among the nobles—such a situation was inevitable when an overly old and huge feudal dynasty faced large-scale social progress. At the same time, the newly emerging small countries around the Kingdom of Holletta adopted various new technologies and social forms at an extremely fast speed. In a very short period of time, they left this ancient and bloated old kingdom behind—at least in terms of the tech tree.

The Kingdom of Holletta in those years was not as gentle as it is now (at least they appear to be very gentle on the surface now). At that time, Holletta retained the nature of the strongest country on the continent and an old hegemon, and had many enemies around it. Therefore, after Gadon III was crowned, he faced the biggest crisis the kingdom had ever faced: the old ruling class within the country was splitting, the social order was gradually out of the control of the royal family, the rigid royal advisors were at a loss in the face of new social problems, and at least a dozen emerging technology countries around the kingdom were preparing to team up to flatten his royal city.

Ophra appeared at that time.

There are many versions of the legend in later generations. The process of how a new king and an Ancient race commoner met and became staunch comrades-in-arms is always a topic that historians and playwrights enjoy talking about. Becky, as a die-hard fan of Marshal Ophra and a standard gossip girl, advocated the playwrights' version: Gadon III, in his prime, inspected his kingdom, seeking a good way to resolve the domestic turmoil. He traveled to the east of the kingdom and was ambushed by hostile forces in a premeditated assassination attempt.

At that time, Marshal Ophra, who was still an ordinary adventurer (the adventurers and solo mercenaries of that era were not as clearly distinguished as they are now), stepped forward at a critical moment, fought side by side with Gadon III, and saved the fate of the entire kingdom.

The ambitious young king and the maiden knight with superb skills who was waiting for a wise monarch to appreciate her had a fateful encounter, and from then on they walked side by side, cutting through thorns and thorns in the kingdom's turbulent times. Gadon III rejected all opinions and, under the pressure of the old nobles, knighted the maiden knight without noble blood as a new noble and handed over his kingdom's blade to this confidante. One was ambitious and talented, and the other was skilled in military affairs. They thus quelled all the crises in the kingdom, resolved the domestic opposition, established a new ruling order through exploration, and suppressed all the surrounding hostile forces.

From that day on, Holletta Kingdom's famous Iron General began to guard this land, and it has been as long as four hundred and thirty-five years.

And any qualified playwright knows that something else should have happened: Gadon III and Ophra were dating from the first episode, and they didn't get together even after forty levels. The ending of the story is that Gadon III was old and dying, lying on his sickbed and holding Ophra's hand to entrust his orphans: "My reign should come to an end in these two days. You must watch my son be crowned king..."

Since this story was told by Becky with shining eyes, Hao Ren felt that the last part was probably written by a street writer who was not afraid of death. It may be widely circulated among those unmarried female mercenaries, but if you dare to talk about this in the court, you will be punished at least with a shot before questioning.

In short, Hao Ren learned about the glorious deeds of that female Marshal Ophra, and knew that she was the most legendary female hero in this country. As a descendant of the Ancient race, Ophra had served as the kingdom's marshal for more than four hundred years. She had gone through several ups and downs and more than a dozen monarch transitions. She was still the first military officer of Holletta and the martial arts teacher of every crown prince—which Hao Ren thought was incredible. He found it hard to imagine why such a fierce person could wholeheartedly serve a dynasty for four hundred years without moving, and it was also hard to imagine why the Holletta royal family could maintain absolute trust in Ophra during more than a dozen monarch transitions. Perhaps this female hero did have something to do with that ambitious and talented Iron-Fisted King back then.

The group witnessed the dispute between that female marshal and the parish leader today. They seemed to have disagreements on matters related to the Holy Relic Orb and some religious interpretations, but unfortunately, Hao Ren didn't know where to start investigating the reasons for a while.

The group rested in Leyton Town for one night, and set off for Lake Heinze early the next morning.

The town's curfew was still in effect. The energy stored in the underground facilities of the church, coupled with the church mage group stationed here, was enough to ensure that the shield over the town would last for a long time. It was unknown how long this curfew situation would last. Hao Ren was quite concerned about those troublesome rock giants. He didn't know if the local Knights could solve this kind of incident, but the parish leader seemed quite confident, and he probably had already notified the superior parishes through church channels of the anomaly that had occurred in this area. Soon, the huge national machine and religious forces would be put into operation. It was better to trust the ability of those big shots to deal with crises.

Ordinary horses were easily affected by magic and became startled and irritable around Lake Heinze. Therefore, Hao Ren and the others left the rented horses in the town. There were also horse team transfer points in the town specifically for mercenaries, so there was no need to worry about those livestock. The group stepped onto the avenue from the west exit of the town, and they could only walk for a long distance next. Fortunately, it was quite close to the destination, and it wouldn't be too far to walk.

"Ahead is the Twisted Woodland," Becky was still walking at the front of the team. She pointed to the purple-red color in the distance and reminded loudly, "Everyone, be alert. Try not to use magic after entering. If you encounter a magical beast, try to end the battle as quickly as possible. Most of the monsters inside are very sensitive to magic, and it's easy to gather a large group of them."

"Got it." Hao Ren agreed. Lily and Vivian beside him had been in their transformed states since leaving the town. It was necessary to be vigilant further ahead, where dangerous magical beasts roamed. Vivian's bats hovered more than a hundred meters above the team, monitoring the way forward, while Lily sniffed around to confirm if there were any suspicious smells nearby. Nangong Wuyue looked at Becky, who was leading the way at the front, and recalled the scene of seeing two teams of injured mercenaries withdrawing from the direction of the woodland when they left the town in the morning: "Speaking of which, you don't have to follow us. It would have been considered completing the commission if you brought us to Leyton Town."

"You want to say it's dangerous ahead, right?" Becky certainly knew what Nangong Wuyue meant, because she also saw those colleagues who had just withdrawn from around Lake Heinze. "I asked, and they just encountered ordinary magical beasts and accidentally suffered a little loss. The situation around Blood Lake is not as bad as the parish leader said. Besides, I always keep my word. I said I would take you to the lake, and I will definitely take you to the lake—I also want to try my luck to see if I can find any treasures by the way."

Hao Ren smiled and decided to bring this honest girl a tablet computer next time he came—anyway, Raven 12345 would reimburse him.

After entering the Twisted Woodland, Hao Ren immediately felt that the atmosphere around him was different from the outside.