Iron Powder and Spellcaster

He woke up from a deep sleep and saw a humanoid creature crawling into his bedroom through the window.

The reason why I use the term humanoid is because the thing that crawled in was completely black and had a weird posture. Under the moonlight, only its limbs and head could be vaguely distinguished.

The humanoid object also noticed that the owner of the bedroom was awake and turned to look over.

Looking into each other's eyes, Winters lost all sleep in an instant.

He immediately jumped out of bed and grabbed the Dussac hanging on the closet door.

There was only a moment of time left for him to think. No matter whether it was a person or a monster, he had to get the weapon first.

Winters drew his sword and rushed toward the humanoid creature. The creature was forced to retreat into the corner. As he retreated, he drew a short blunderbuss from his waist and pointed it at Winters' head.

Not a matchlock gun, but the short blunderbuss with a strange mechanism used by the assassins on the dock, the spring gun that the cripple said.

Winters recognized the musket and stopped abruptly.

Just as the humanoid creature was about to pull the trigger, when it saw Winters stopped, it loosened its finger and threatened in a low voice: "Don't move, don't make a sound, or I'll beat you to death."

As soon as he opened his mouth, the other party revealed his information: he was not a monster, but a human being, and she was a woman. Although the other party tried his best to lower his voice, he still couldn't cover up the female voice.

"Don't... don't shoot. There are guards downstairs, and you can't escape even if you shoot." Winters pretended to be panicked.

In fact, only Aunt Marita lived downstairs. Apart from four family members, there was only one live-in servant that Kesha brought from her natal family.

Mammy is almost fifty years old and has basically no fighting ability. Winters is just bluffing.

"You will be dead by the time the guards come up." The woman, wearing a black tights and covering her face with only two eyes exposed, held the spring gun firmly with both hands, and the muzzle never strayed away from Winters's. Head: "Put down the weapon."

Winters found that the more critical the situation seemed, the clearer his thinking became. The other party spoke for the second time, revealing more information.

The presence of the guards did not make her feel uncomfortable, which meant that she knew the family's military background.

But she didn't know that there were no guards at Serb's house, which showed that her intelligence was not in-depth, and she might only know some content that could be obtained through public channels.

"Don't kill me. There is some money in the purse on the table. If you want it, take it all." Winters threw the Dussac knife to the ground obediently.

He tried his best to appear weak and cooperative, but his thoughts about counterattack never stopped for a moment.

He tried his best to recall the structure of firearms: muskets generally have a short delay from pulling the firing rod to igniting the gunpowder, and there is also a short delay from igniting the gunpowder to the projectile coming out of the chamber.

Watch the opponent's movements and dodge laterally in advance to avoid vital parts. As long as the opponent misses a shot, he will immediately subdue him with his strength advantage at close range.

But Winters didn't want to use this method unless absolutely necessary, because it was too risky. It was best to find some way to divert the other party's attention first.

What can divert the other person's attention?

Flying arrow technique? The ten steel cones are on the desk, next to the woman.

Is there any other method? Winters thought hard.

"Don't you recognize who I am? Mr. Montagne." The woman in black changed her tone of voice, as if she was flirting. But the spring gun in her hand was held firmly.

Winters shook his head, realizing that the other person had figured out his name.

The woman in black said bitterly: "Half a month ago you burned my hair on fire."

"Is it you?" Winters lost his voice. He never expected that the female thief that night would actually chase Hai Lan.

"It's me." The female thief said with a sneer.

Winters felt strange: "You go to the military academy to steal things, and I am responsible for patrolling. It is my duty to stop you. There is no personal grudge between us, right?"

"Who did you say stole things? I took back my family's property from the thief!" The woman in black was obviously stung by the word 'stealing' and became a little emotional.

After blurting out this sentence, she realized her gaffe and pretended to be angry to cover up: "I haven't settled the debt with you for burning my hair off."

"Then you set my hair on fire once?" Winters spread his hands: "And you wanted to kill me then, but you didn't allow me to defend myself? You stabbed my arm with the knife, but it hasn't grown back until now."

"You Alliance soldiers deserve to die," the woman in black said bitterly. She realized that she had been talked out of too many words by the other party, so she went straight to the point: "Give me my things back, and I won't kill you. Let's make it clear."

"What?" Winters felt cold, but he still lied calmly.

"Where's my dagger?"

"What dagger?" Damn it, Winters had already given the dagger to Elizabeth, but he couldn't involve his sister now.

Elizabeth was sleeping soundly in the room a few meters away. Who knew what this madwoman would do.

"Don't pretend to be stupid. I went back and looked carefully that night, but I couldn't find it. You must have picked it up."

"You lost the dagger and asked me for it?" Winters noticed that the woman in black's logic was somewhat contradictory. When the woman in black escaped that night, she threw the dagger at Winters in order to delay her escape.

If she valued the dagger so much, why would she use it as a throwing knife?

"Mr. Montagne, you don't seem to understand the situation. Now it's not me asking for it from you, but you have to hand over my things in exchange for your own life." The tone of the woman in black began to become cold: "If you If you don't cooperate, I don't mind beating you to death first and then looking for it myself. Hand over my dagger!"

After the last experience, Winters had no doubt that the woman in black could kill him without hesitation.

The woman seemed to have no mental barriers to taking a life, and during the encounter that night she aimed every stab at Winters.

But Winters' reason is warning Winters: Even if you give everything back to the woman in black, the woman in black will still shoot you in the head and disappear.

The point is what the woman in black really wants. Is it a dagger? Obviously not. If she really cared about the dagger, she wouldn't throw it.

Asking for a dagger? Winters shook his head in his mind and muttered: "But I really didn't pick up the dagger... I only picked up a few things."

The bait has been hung.

"What?" The woman in black said in a cold tone.

The fish bit the hook.

"A small notebook." Winters had completely seen through the woman in black's mind - what she really wanted was the blank notebook.

The dagger was just a cover. If Winters handed over the dagger obediently, he would not refuse to hand over another thing. The woman in black can retrieve the notebook with just a casual word;

If Winters refused to return the dagger, the woman in black would not reveal what she really wanted.

Ignorance is not the biggest obstacle, arrogance is.

The woman in black underestimated Winters. She felt that it was easy to hide her true intentions in front of this immature young man, and she would pay the price for it.

"Where is it? Show it to me." The woman in black's tone was still cold, but Winters had heard something different.

"It's in the bag on the table behind you," Winters said nonchalantly.

After hearing this, the woman in black immediately wanted to turn around and look for her, but suddenly stopped. She still held the spring gun firmly in both hands and pointed it at Winters, not giving Winters any chance to make a surprise attack.

She tilted her head and signaled to Winters: "Go over and bring it to me."

"Can't you just get it yourself?"

"Do not talk nonsense."

Winters slowly walked to the desk, looking very reluctant, and the woman in black never left his side with her gun.

But in fact, the woman in black's idea was exactly what he wanted, and Winters never expected to distract the other party's attention in this way.

Winters put his right hand into the bloodstained satchel and touched the notebook a few times, but did not take it out.

The woman in black watched Winters put his hand into the bag and froze, and kept urging: "Look for it quickly."

"Is this what you want?" Winters asked the woman in black with a smile, taking out the notebook from her satchel.

Winters' smile looked crazy under the firelight. Along with the smell of burning leather and smoke, the blank notebook that the woman in black was willing to risk her life to get was burning.

When Winters got the notebook, he immediately unleashed his magic without reservation, using his fire spell to ignite it.

The woman in black opened her eyes wide and let out a shrill scream.

It's now!

Winters ducked forward and rushed towards the woman in black like an arrow from a string.

The woman in black's attention was no longer on Winters. It wasn't until his hand was on the barrel of the gun that the trigger was pulled.

A huge gunshot echoed throughout the house, and there was a bullet hole in the wooden ceiling.

Winters, who was behind him, pushed the barrel of the spring gun up, knocking over the woman in black. He used his weight to press on the woman in black and restrained her.

But at this time, the woman in black lost her previous fierceness and cruelty. She was like a helpless little girl, struggling, crying, and shouting: "Fire... put out the fire quickly..."

Winters had no time to notice the emotional changes of the woman in black at this time. He still vividly remembered the scene of the other party's violent murder. Winters did not dare to be careless and carefully searched out all the weapons carried by the female assassin.

After searching the body, Winters pulled off the sheets and tied the female assassin tightly.

The woman in black let out a heart-rending wail, and even Winters could hear her despair and resentment. She murmured like a madman: "I'm going to kill you... I'm going to kill you..."

Antonio, who was awakened by the sound of gunshots, hurried to Winters' bedroom with his sword in hand. When he opened the door, he saw his nephew riding on a dark thing with a bedsheet and who didn't know what he was doing. There was a fire on the ground, and he quickly stamped it out with his feet.

After putting out the fire, he realized that the dark thing on the ground turned out to be a person.

"What happened?" Antonio was unusually calm.

Winters, who was sweating profusely, gasped and said: "Thief, this is a thief and a killer, chasing him from the federal provinces to his home."

The female family members were also woken up. Elizabeth watched with wide eyes as her brother carried a man in black to the bed. Kesha wasted a little time by lighting candles.

When there was light in Winters' room, Kesha saw the figure of the man in black clearly, and she exclaimed: "This is a woman!"

"Female thief, female thief, female assassin." Winters replied.

The tied up female assassin suddenly screamed: "I'm going to kill you!"

Both Kesha and Elizabeth were frightened by this sad curse.

"Save it!" Winters picked up the pillow towel and stuffed the female assassin's mouth tightly.

This time the woman in black could only make a whining sound. She struggled desperately, but her hands were tied behind her back and her legs were tied up, so she was just fluttering back and forth in vain.

Antonio quickly cleared his mind and calmly took over the command: "Elizabeth, accompany your mother back to the bedroom. Don't worry, there's just a robber in the house."

After arranging the female relatives, Antonio pointed at the woman in black and said to Winters: "Let's carry this female thief to the basement first. Don't stay on the second floor and disturb your aunt and sister."

Aunt Marita, who lived on the first floor, was also awakened. When she saw Antonio and Winters carrying a man in black who was resisting desperately from upstairs, she kept exclaiming: "Oh my God, my God." ,What's going on here……"

"Aunt Marita, please hold the lamp for us and go to the basement." Antonio interrupted Auntie.

Aunt Marita, who was still in shock, walked in front holding an oil lamp and kept mumbling: "Oh my God, my God."

The female thief in black was carried into the basement storage room, and Winters briefly explained what happened to Antonio.

The two men discussed it and both agreed that although there were still many doubts about the whole matter, it was best to hand the woman over to the sheriff now.

Send her to jail first, and then interrogate her slowly.

Winters, who had just returned to Hailan for a few days, didn't know anyone, so Antonio rode to find the sheriff, while Winters stayed at home to guard the female thief in black.

The woman in black no longer struggled uselessly, but anger was burning in her eyes as she stared at Winters.

If eyes could materialize, Winters would have thousands of holes in his body now.

"Who is this person?" Elizabeth couldn't bear her curiosity and secretly ran to the basement. This girl was surprisingly brave. She stood on tiptoes and peered over Winters' shoulder to secretly look at the woman in black.

"Get out, get out." Winters pushed Elizabeth out of the storage room: "He's just a thief... If there's anything interesting about it, wouldn't it be for you to accompany Kesha?"

"Does your aunt still need me to accompany you? It's enough for her to accompany me." Elizabeth pouted dissatisfiedly: "I'm not here to give you something."

Elizabeth handed the woman in black's spring gun to Winters. In fact, she was either here to deliver something, or she found an excuse to run away from her mother and ran to the basement to watch the fun.

"Okay, I received it, please go back to the second floor." Winters said helplessly.

"And this." Elizabeth handed Winters a small folio with the outer cover burnt black, "It's almost burned out."

It's the little notebook that the female thief wanted. The paper is layered one on top of the other, making it difficult to burn through. Although Winters used all his strength to burn the fire, only half of the book was left after burning for a long time.

Winters smiled bitterly and shook his head: "I really can't figure out what this woman wants with this blank notebook."

Opening half of the notebook that had been burned to black charcoal, Winters was surprised to find blue writing appearing where there was no word.

Lieutenant Colonel Field's words echoed in his mind: Some people write messages in a way that cannot be seen. This method is called steganography... Steganography is a mystery... Commonly used methods are nothing more than water and fire...

So that’s it!

The contents of this notebook are written in invisible ink and will only appear after being roasted by flames.

Winters turned to the first page of his notebook, and there was this paragraph written on the yellowed paper:

"To my dear Mary

You are the fire that warms my skin

You are the clear water that satisfies my desire

you are my light

you are my Everything

When you leave, my life no longer has any meaning

——AL.D.L.”

This is a sad love poem, as if a man is crying for the departure of his lover.

But at this moment, Winters felt as if he had fallen into an ice cave when he saw this poem.

It was midsummer now, but he truly felt that his limbs were cold, and the air exhaled from his lungs seemed to have frozen into ice.

Even when the dagger was only one finger away from his neck, even when the oarsman grabbed his thigh in the cabin, even when a musket was pointed at his head, Winters had never been so scared.

With trembling hands, he turned down two more pages.

This page is a simple drawing with the title:

"The fourth improved spell talent testing device"

Scroll down a few more pages:

"Identification of the Essence of Sound Spells"

Winters reached out and grabbed Elizabeth. He felt dizzy now and had to hold her up to prevent her from falling.

There can be no mistake.

AL.D.L is the abbreviation of Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier.

Marie de Lavoisier was the wife of General Antoine Laurent.

The L letter he saw at the end of his notebook stood for Lavoisier.

This small notebook is the lost research notes of Antoine Laurent.

And he burned it with his own hands.

"Fuck!" Winters blurted out.

I'm so sorry everyone, I'm really ashamed, thank you everyone for reading this. Although I think the main plot has already begun, in fact, the main plot in the introduction should only appear from the beginning of this chapter, that is, "a man with mass-produced magic warfare tools learns the nature of magic." I often review what I have written before, and every time I feel a childish aura that makes me want to bury my head in the sand. If I were asked to write again, I would probably let the content of this chapter appear before Chapter 5 (face covering). I would also like to thank all the book friends who have read this. Don’t worry about this research notebook, half of it is left2333

Thank you to book friend 20170726153222839 for your recommendation vote, thank you to book friend 20181013204343295 for your recommendation vote, and thank you to book friend Social Justice Lao Wang for his recommendation vote. Thanks to book friend Social Justice Lao Wang for the reward.