The Petland Highlands are the main component of the Highlands Province, and are also the origin of the name of this province. This highland occupies almost 90% of the entire province, and only 10% is woods and plains scattered among the highlands.

Due to the complex topography of the Petland Highlands, there are not too many cities in the Highland Province. Most of them are built on the few plains, or on the flat areas on the highlands that are even rarer than the plains.

Similarly, this is a province with almost no food output. Most of the food is imported from other provinces. What supports the lives of local residents is the unique livestock industry of the Highland Province, as well as various mines scattered throughout the highlands.

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I led the troops and trekked on this highland that had just revealed its face to us. The majestic Jackdaw Mountains in the distance were clearly visible. The peaks with snow stains all year round stood quietly, and further down were the green trees.

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To be honest, the situation in Highland Province is worse than I imagined. From the day before yesterday when I walked out of the forest to today, I haven't seen any human gathering place.

The troops have almost finished their rations. Fortunately, they have encountered many wild yaks unique to the Highland Province and killed a lot of meat. So there are no big problems for the time being.

But continuing like this was not an option after all. I looked at the sun that was so close and emitting heat, and sighed.

At the rear of the army was a carriage that was moving hard. There were almost no well-maintained roads in the Highlands Province, and it was simply difficult for the carriage to move forward.

I took out the map, looked at it, and called Joseph, "We have to find a suitable place to build a new hiding place," I said to Joseph, who was unshaven in front of me and could hardly recognize the handsome boy from more than 20 days ago.

, "We still have to find a city or a village."

"I have sent out scouts, sir," Joseph scratched his messy hair, "but the highlands are full of peaks and hills, not to mention the Jackdaw Mountains in the distance. I think there may be gathering places in the bottom plain.

Be more sexual."

"I know too," I shook my head unhappily, "but that would lose the biggest advantage this highland brings to us."

"Then we can only look forward to good news from the scouts." Joseph said with a bitter look on his face.

I'm not surprised that he would say this. This map of the entire empire is too vague to describe the Highland Province. There are indeed small dots of cities on the map, but there are no other reference points except the Jackdaw Mountains.

Having said that, the map can still provide us with a general direction, and the rest depends on scouts or more detailed maps.

I don't have a more detailed map, so I can only do what Joseph said and look forward to good news from the scouts.

The only good thing is that Reza and his Dragon Pride Division chose to camp on the plain near the Silent Forest, and they did not dare to follow the mountains of Petland Highlands.

The troops marched in this mountainous area for another morning, during which Joseph got me a horse from somewhere. I originally thought it was inappropriate, but looking at the non-commissioned officers and Joseph's unyielding eyes, I finally accepted it.

This horse.

I have to say that with a horse carrying me, the journey was indeed much easier. The troops continued to march in formation, and I sat on the horse and began to feel the energy in my body.

In the more than a month since I became a knight, I have been dealing with all kinds of enemies almost constantly, and I have never been able to do knight-related exercises as Knight Cid said.

In addition, I have neglected the training of runes and the exercise of brain strength for too long. Now is a good time to exercise again.

This is not to say that I have gained nothing from the battles in the past period. At least I can feel that my magic power is much more abundant than before.

I could vaguely feel something different, like a threshold, but I didn't know how to cross it.

Unfortunately, this is not a magical story novel. For a knight like me, there is no skill in the story that can be automatically developed by just reciting the formula.

After I decided to settle down, I would continue to exercise my muscle strength as Knight Cid said, and at the same time continue to abide by the knight's virtues.

Oh, by the way, I need to eat more meat. I thought of the large group of yaks I just killed. This shouldn’t be a problem.

After checking the knight part, I started to check the rune magic part.

As much as I hate to admit it, my rune skills have almost never improved since Trazo's death.

Five years have passed, and I still only know two first-level runes: the energy arrow rune and the primary shield rune.

I don’t think runes are bad, or these runes are useless, but when I use runes to fight arcane mages, the pressure is indeed much greater than before. This is a very headache.

Problem.

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to master the third type of rune so far. Maybe after returning to the kingdom, I have to go find Merlin. He and the fairy are both powerful rune masters, so I should be able to gain something.

Another regret is that the real names of things I know seem to be stuck on three types: fire, wind and water.

Although I have always wanted to master the name of the earth, which would make it easier for me to fight against Peach, unfortunately the earth has never been able to let me do so.

I know that this kind of thing cannot be rushed. The feedback I received from my previous communication with Dadi was always vague, resulting in my inability to understand the nature of Dadi.

Fortunately, the strength of a rune master consists of three parts: the learning of runes, the mastery of the true names of things, and the accumulation of brain power, that is, spiritual power.

I haven't made any achievements in the first two yet, and I still have the stupidest trick to exercise my brainpower.

While riding the horse, I once again learned the Rubik's Cube training technique that Terrazo taught me, but this time it was a seventh-level Rubik's Cube and a lower-level Rubik's Cube, which was no longer difficult for me.

It is worth mentioning that this is much more difficult than the previous restoration. I still have to separate part of my consciousness to control my horse.

Time passed quietly in this boring and high-intensity exercise, and soon the moon hung above my head. I shook my head and dismissed the Rubik's Cube that was being restored again in my mind, and a long-lost feeling of exhaustion came to my heart.

This is a kind of mental exhaustion, but it's not the same as overdraft. It's fatigue caused by training, more like the fatigue you feel after chopping firewood all day, or after a vigorous exercise.

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I stopped the marching troops and got off my horse. In addition to endless fatigue, I also felt a sense of nostalgia and joy.

Since training at Tradrona, I haven't experienced this feeling of exhaustion and adequate training for many, many years.

As I walked in the camp, I thought of the smiling old man with a white beard and a white robe in my memory, and tears fell quietly for no apparent reason.

I covered my face so that others could not see the tears on my face, then slowly walked to my bed and lay down.

There were bright stars above my head. I watched them twinkle and flicker, and I thought of Sally's smiling face again.

I remembered that I was sitting with her in the courtyard of the church, and she pointed firmly at the stars in the sky, pretending to be nonchalant and told me that those were her mother and brother.

I looked at the sky, at the stars that kept twinkling, and at the brightest ones among them. I felt like I was punched in the stomach. Ignoring the resistance of the armor, I curled up into a ball as hard as I could.

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I covered my face, my shoulders twitched violently, and I bit my lip tightly with my teeth, not even noticing that it would bleed.

Only in this way can I prevent others from hearing my sobs and seeing the tear-stained face behind my hands.

I don’t remember how long I cried, I just remember that I fell asleep vaguely in sadness, and when I was woken up by Joseph, it was already the early morning of the next day.

I stood up, took off my gloves, and rubbed my eyes with my hands for a while. I guessed they must be red and swollen.

"Good news, sir," Joseph came over with joy as the troops just started marching, "The scouts discovered a small town in the north, and a city a little further to the west, and the outskirts of the city.

of the few farmlands.”

"It seems it's time for me to appear," I smiled, "but we have to take the troops first and find a suitable hiding place in this mountainous area. I also need to use the carriage."

Joseph nodded, so the troops no longer continued to advance, but instead looked for large naturally formed caves among the nearby cliffs, which could be used as our future hiding place, or fortress, in the East Petland Highlands.

The efficiency of more than two thousand people was very high, and soon shouts came from not far away.

Joseph and I hurriedly ran towards the place where the cry came from. Many soldiers had gathered here, poking their heads around a dark cave.

"Report the situation, soldier!" Joseph beside me shouted, and all the soldiers turned around and gave a respectful military salute.

"Reporting to Sergeant Joseph and Sir Lancelot, we found a cave here," the soldier closest to us put down his saluting hand and began to report, "The cave looks very big, but I am not sure whether it exists inside.

Danger."

"This is easy to solve," I smiled, "I'll just go in and see for myself. It just so happens that I haven't been active for a long time."

Needless to say, Joseph, the soldiers seemed to be very familiar with my strength, so to my surprise, no one present expressed any objection or concern, but quickly made way for me.

"Auir!" I summoned a small ball of flame, letting it float in mid-air, and walked into the cave alone.

This is indeed a very big cave, and the flame above my head can only illuminate a small area around me. Places a little further away from the flame begin to become dim, until it becomes completely dark.

I carefully pulled out the broken steel, holding a small ball of flame in my left hand so that I could use the rune technique at any time, and continued into the deepest part of the cave.

It turned out that my worries were in vain. It took me nearly an hour to explore this vast cave. There were no dangerous creatures or ghosts in the cave, but to my surprise, I

I found a lot of furniture made of stone and decorated with metal, including quite a few beds, some closets, tables and stools, and a metal sliding door on the ground that led to nowhere.

This is not surprising. Of course I know what it is. In fact, anyone who has read some historical materials can recognize it. This is a cave dug by dwarves. In the entire Velodima continent, only dwarves are like this.

Architectural style.

Dwarves were originally a large race on the continent of Velodima. This is irrefutable. Many dwarf ruins have been found all over the world.

But they seemed to have fought with some hostile races and had all perished before humans arrived, leaving only the ruins of these magnificent underground cities.

Many of the current steam technology and scientific inventions in the empire were obtained from these dwarf ruins. In order to commemorate these dwarves, all countries on the continent, except for the Federation, agreed to call the era when the dwarves died out the First Era.

Today, it is the second era.

In the Bard College, the study of the archeology of the First Age and the culture of the dwarves has always been a popular course. Maybe now you will not be surprised why I know so much about the dwarves.

This means that there is very likely a dwarf city beneath this land. Of course, it is now a ruin. If this city can be found, it will be a great fortune for me and this team.

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Thinking of this, I put away the broken steel, used flames to light all the braziers and wall lamps left by the dwarves, and then hurried out of the cave. Outside the cave were Joseph and the soldiers who were waiting anxiously. When they saw me coming out, they all

He breathed a sigh of relief and then cast a curious look.

"We are developed!" I took a deep breath and began to tell them about the situation in this cave in detail.

"Oh my god," Joseph swallowed hard, "you mean there is probably a magnificent city down here, and it all uses the steam technology of the empire?"

"Yes," I nodded, "I will go to the nearby town to inquire about the situation first, and see if I can get some food in exchange. You bring all the soldiers into this cave. There is a sliding door on the ground, which I guess leads to

A lower dwarven city."

I looked at him seriously when I said this, "I need you to organize people to open this door after settling the soldiers, and continue to explore downward, but you must be careful, safety always comes first."

Joseph nodded, and I motioned to the soldiers who were waiting here to enter the cave as the first batch, and told them to clean up the dust a little. Then I hurried away with Joseph to coordinate the other soldiers.

The news of the discovery of the dwarf ruins quickly spread among the soldiers. These soldiers were no longer the superstitious guys in the kingdom who changed color when talking about steam. This news undoubtedly greatly improved their morale.

Most of the soldiers quickly unloaded the ammunition from the carriage and carried it into the cave by manpower. The remaining soldiers entered the cave earlier and began to divide the areas in the cave under the command of the commander.

"I'll leave this to you," I glanced at Joseph, "I'm going to drive the carriage to the town now. We don't have much to eat."

"Be careful." Joseph nodded and didn't say much.
Chapter completed!