Infinite Sun in the East China Sea

Chapter 295 The Wizard's Scheme
Xu Feng originally did not intend to negotiate with Zoro, the second-generation Dark Lord. The Dark Faction in this world was too weak. Before he even exerted his strength, Zoro, the strongest in the Dark Faction, had already begun to beg for mercy.

How can we possibly beat the East American team if we're on the same side as these weaklings?!

But Zoro gave too much.

In short, this Dark Lord will impart all his knowledge, including black magic, primarily necromancy; forging techniques for creating extraordinary items, primarily rings of power; and biological modification techniques, primarily orc modifications.

It's worth noting that Sauron's primary god before joining Morgoth was Aul, the god of craftsmen... well, Saruman was too.

He was among the strongest of the lesser gods, the Maiar.

Overall, Sauron's magical knowledge is second only to the Valar of Valinor, and he may even be stronger than some of the Valar.

Perhaps only Aulius, the god of craftsmen, could provide so many benefits if he came out of Valinor.

The only problem is that most of the information is not written down, so Zoro could only provide one-tenth of the information in Dogur.

During their discussions, the remaining data was to be delivered through Palantir Crystals (also known as True Knowledge Crystals).

The Palantir crystals were made by Fëanor, the Noldor master craftsman and creator of the Silmarillion.

These magic orbs have two main functions: first, crystal holders can communicate with each other; second, crystal holders can observe distant targets.

At the end of the Second Age, the Númenóreans brought seven Palantir crystals to the Middle-earth. Over three thousand years later, three of them have sunk into the sea or rivers and their whereabouts are unknown.

The remaining four Palantir crystals are in the hands of Sauron, Saruman, the Lindon elf, and the Gondorian vizier.

The easiest Palantir crystal to obtain is the one in the Kingdom of Gondor. Out of fear of Sauron, the Kingdom of Gondor has banned the use of Palantir crystals and sealed them away.

In fact, even without the deal with Zoro, Xu Feng still planned to get a Palantir crystal.

This treasure represents yet another method of investigation.

Most of the time, the outcome of a team battle is determined by the strength of reconnaissance ability—even if the Reincarnator enhances the ability to kill enemies as soon as they are seen, they still need to 'see' the enemy in order to win.

The East China Sea team has many reconnaissance methods, but you can never have too many.

Of course, even the Palantir crystal in Gondor was kept in a very secure place, placed in a box sealed with magical power, and could not be found by ordinary means.

Fortunately, this tight surveillance was full of loopholes in Xu Feng's eyes. After using the virtual illusion to extract information from those key figures, he obtained the Palantir crystal from dozens of kilometers away.

"Another treasure perfectly suited for those who control mental power!"

Xu Feng held up the crystal and exchanged a few words with Zoro before tossing it to Xiangzi: "It can amplify the range of mental energy scanning, improve the accuracy of mental energy perception, and may even penetrate mental energy shields for vague perception. Our advantage in intelligence has been enhanced once again."

"Won't using the True Knowledge Crystal in this world be affected by Zoro?" Shoko asked with some concern.

"Ah."

Xu Feng nodded and said, "When we use crystals in this world, you will stay by my side."

Xiangzi, holding the crystal, asked thoughtfully, "Zoron seems genuinely intending to share everything he knows. He's being so generous; there must be some hidden scheme behind it, right?"

"Of course there's a conspiracy!"

Hsu Feng confirmed her guess: "That knowledge is poisonous!"

"Once you learn necromancy, you lose all respect for corpses; once you understand black magic, you become increasingly indifferent to life..."

"The knowledge Sauron provided is indeed very useful, but as you get to know more and more of it, and master it more and more deeply, you will slowly become a member of the dark side! That Sauron guy, he intends to make me his subordinate, like those Ringwraiths."

"The premise is that we stay in this world forever, but we are reincarnators..." Xiangzi laughed, "So, his plan can only be said to have been in vain."

Xu Feng shook his head: "It wasn't a complete waste of time. If he hadn't backed down, I would have really beaten him to death. Although he can be reborn deep in the earth after death, dying once would still be quite damaging to him."

"Alright, the East America team will arrive in three minutes. Xiangzi, use the True Knowledge Crystal to fully utilize your mental power to scan and search for areas where mental power is blocked."

"East America team... I'm really curious how strong this team with a higher rating than us will be."

While Xu Feng was making meticulous arrangements for the team battle, the bait team at the landing point was already in place.

Fifty-six minutes ago.

Led by the country dog ​​Big Yellow, the elf-created human Ice arrives at Bag End, the home of the protagonist Bilbo Baggins.

A group of dwarves were happily enjoying a meal in this warm and comfortable little house, while the host, the hobbit Bilbo, looked on helplessly at these uninvited guests, like an outsider.

When the knocking sounded, Bilbo thought it was another dwarf or a group of dwarves.

To his surprise, a graceful elven girl stood outside the door... He ignored the wooden beast disguised as a withered old man.

"Good evening, Mr. Bilbo Baggins, good evening, Mislandil."

Myslandir is the name Gandalf is known to elves and some humans.

After bowing, Bing'er said ambiguously to Gandalf, "I'm sorry, we seem to be a little late."

Bilbo was still confused, but Gandalf seemed to remember something and waved his hand, saying, "No, no, we arrived too early."

"And Thorin Oakenshield, the organizer of the team, has not yet arrived."

Just then, a deep, questioning voice came from not far away: "Gandalf, I don't recall that elves would be part of the expedition to Erebor in our previous discussions."

The dwarf prince Thorin Oakenshield arrived late.

He looked displeased upon seeing Bing'er.

While the appearance of elves may be helpful in human society and in the elven realm, it tends to alienate dwarves... Thorin Oakenshield, in particular, dislikes elves.

Gandalf opened his mouth.

He hadn't expected that an elf would appear in the human mercenary group he had originally 'arranged'. Although the girl didn't seem like an elf to him, she looked exactly like one.

This left him speechless for a moment.

“Prince Thorin, your dwarves alone cannot defeat the dragon Smaug,” Ice replied calmly. “That is precisely why our team must help you.”

“A dragon?” Bilbo Baggins heard a term from a story.

He realized something from their conversation.

Bing'er glanced down at the hobbits, then looked up at Gandalf: "Mithlandir, isn't it inappropriate to send people who know nothing about the specifics on a dangerous journey?"

Gandalf coughed twice, somewhat awkwardly. The question was too righteous and serious, and besides, he had indeed been a little unethical in forming the Lonely Mountain Expedition.

Bilbo is a perfect fit for the expedition; he could even determine the success or failure of the Lonely Mountain Expedition.

Bilbo's adventurous nature, inherited from his mother, also led him to choose to join the Lonely Mountain Expedition.

But this does not mean that Gandalf could arbitrarily decide to let Bilbo join the extremely dangerous Expedition to Lonely Mountain when Bilbo knew nothing about it.

Thorin, having also learned some of Bilbo's situation, questioned him with even greater displeasure: "Wizard, you once told me that Bilbo was a very good thief, didn't you?"

Gandalf had clearly lied to him.

Not long ago, the wizard told the dwarves that Bilbo was an excellent thief and that he would be hosting a banquet to invite them.

The dwarves felt at home when they arrived at Bag End because of what they had said.

The information gap made the dwarves' actions tonight seem incredibly rude, but the responsibility does not lie entirely with the dwarves.

Thorin was the leader of the Lonely Mountain Expedition, but it was Gandalf who organized the expedition, and Gandalf had his own motives in helping Thorin reclaim Lonely Mountain.

The wizard went to great lengths to organize this expedition.

But the moment the elven girl appeared, the cobbled-together team nearly fell apart.

Gandalf put his hand to his forehead, pondering with distress how to maintain this army.

At this moment, Bing'er sighed softly and looked at Thorin, saying, "Bilbo isn't the only one who knows nothing about the specifics! Prince Thorin, Mithrandir must be hiding many things from you. This expedition to Lonely Mountain is far more important than you imagine."

Thorin paused for a moment.

Does this elf believe he also knows nothing about the specifics?
Bing'er continued, "Prince Thorin, I will now tell you why Gandalf and we will help you, and Mr. Baggins. If Gandalf thinks you are important in this expedition, then you will certainly play a very important role. You should know the significance of this expedition."

Bilbo paused for a moment, then led the group of people confronting him at the door into Bag End.

After Bing'er entered the room, she politely greeted the other twelve dwarves.

Then, she took out a map of the Middle Continent from the backpack on Big Yellow's back and spread it on the Hobbit's dining table. This map was prepared before the reincarnators entered the Middle Continent world, and it had been preliminarily confirmed by a linear long-distance scan of mental energy before Bing'er took it out.

Aside from being several times larger than the original setting, the Central Continent is basically the same as the map in other aspects.

"The forest in the south of Gushan was once called the Great Green Forest, but it was renamed the Dark Forest by darkness."

Bing'er pointed to Dogurdu in the southern part of the Dark Forest, "If we look at this matter alone, it's difficult for us to analyze where the dark force that is eroding the Great Green Forest comes from."

"But if we also consider an event from three thousand years ago, then the identity of the master of the dark power is self-evident."

Her slender fingers slid slowly across the Anduin River, not far from Dogur, and finally stopped at the Golden Iris Marsh.

Before anyone else could react, Gandalf had already fully understood what Ice was saying—darkness and evil had truly awakened!
Moreover, he woke up earlier than he had expected.

Two thousand years ago, the Dark Lord Sauron had already been lying in wait!
At the end of the Second Age, Sauron was defeated by a combined force of humans and elves and died at the hands of Isildur.

But Isildur was tempted by the One Ring and refused to destroy it. In the end, he was attacked by Orcs on his way to the Kingdom of Arnor and died in the Golden Iris Marsh.

Dogurdu is located downstream of the Golden Iris Marsh.

Sauron occupied that place so he could search for the lost One Ring nearby!
Gandalf suddenly realized that the most urgent task was to attack Dorguldu... Sauron was still occupying it, probably because the One Ring had not yet fallen into his hands, but he must not be allowed to continue searching for the One Ring in the Anduin River Valley with impunity.

Looking at the bewildered dwarves, Bing'er said softly, "Whether you believe it or not, a great battle between good and evil will take place in the near future."

"It may be decades later, or it may be centuries later, but it is almost destined to happen."

"Fortunately, the Misty Mountains, which run north-south, divide the western part of Middle-earth into two parts. There are several areas in the Misty Mountains that small groups can pass through, but very few areas that large groups can pass through. The southern pass is defended by Rohan, so there is no need to worry about the dark army passing through here before Gondor and Rohan fall. But the forces of good are weak in the north of the Misty Mountains."

"Lonely Mountain is small, but its strategic location is very important. As long as a powerful enough army occupies Lonely Mountain, it will be difficult for the dark forces to cross the Misty Mountains from the north."

"In this way, the entire area east of the Misty Mountains can serve as a relatively stable rear area, and the rear areas such as Shire, Blue Mountain, Valley of the Dark, Linton... can send troops to support the eastern battlefield without any worries."

"On the contrary, if Smaug is left on Lonely Mountain, it will become the vanguard of the dark forces, bringing calamity to large areas east of the Misty Mountains."

Bing'er sighed, "The reason we helped you rebuild the dwarf kingdom is very simple: to let you fight against the orc army and the humans who have submitted to darkness in this strategic location, and to stop those evil forces from moving westward."

Thorin took a deep breath and stared at Gandalf.

The wizard was puffing on his pipe, offering no rebuttal and tacitly accepting Bing'er's analysis.

The entire plot of The Hobbit series is Gandalf's plan for the War of the Ring.

His arrangements were very successful.

Although Thorin Oakenshield died in the Battle of the Five Armies, Gandalf didn't care whether Thorin could become the king of the kingdom below the mountain; he only cared whether the kingdom below the mountain had a king at all.

Thorin's cousin, Dawn Ironfoot, became the rightful King of the Dwarves of Durin after Thorin's death, and the rebuilt kingdom beneath the mountain quickly grew in strength.

Thanks to Gandalf's arrangements, during the War of the Ring, the dwarves of Lonely Mountain, the men of Dale, and the Elven kingdom of Mirkwood united to hold off Sauron's large army on the northern battlefield, a battle no less intense than the one between Gondor and Rohan.

"So, this expedition is to protect the Shire?" Just as the atmosphere became incredibly somber because of these words, Bilbo clenched his fist, stepped forward, and said, "If you don't think I'm too weak, I'll join this team."

Hobbits enjoy a peaceful and tranquil life, but they can also display remarkable perseverance and courage in order to protect it.

A white-haired dwarf also spoke up: "The elf lady's words are very direct, but doesn't that also prove that she will spare no effort to help us rebuild the kingdom below the mountain?"

Being taken advantage of isn't necessarily a bad thing.

"Besides, how could we possibly refrain from retaking Lonely Mountain just because we're afraid of the future orc army?!"

If anything could unite the conflicted elves and dwarves, it would be the orcs.

And so, this team, which was on the verge of falling apart, was suddenly brought back together.

Now, their purpose has changed completely. It is no longer to obtain the gold in the lonely mountain, but to reclaim and defend their homeland!
Gandalf noticed this change and looked at Ice with a smile.

After the meeting, he asked with some doubt, "Miss Julia, if I remember correctly, your mercenary group has a lot of people, right?"

Bing'er nodded and replied, "Yes, our commander has already gone to Changhu Town."

"On the one hand, the commander will prepare logistics in the town closest to Lonely Mountain. If we have enough time when we get there, we can first rest and replenish the lost supplies."

"On the other hand, if Smaug cannot be killed at Lonely Hill, he will inevitably retaliate against Lake-town near Lonely Hill. Therefore, the commander will prepare dragon-shooting crossbows there to meet Smaug off."

(End of this chapter)