Chapter 381 The Ruins of Shining City
“That’s right.” Mage Laurian, who deliberately kept a distance from the Prince of Shadows, said to Brian, “I am planning to use the magic light curtain to purify the Phayling Demon Sunflower and release it. Negative energy."
"Since it is for purification, why not purify it at the source of the negative energy?" Brenas asked in confusion, "Instead, purify it in the middle, even if you completely purify the energy here. , will eventually let the energy from the source flow over and continue to invade your valley."
Brian also nodded secretly, agreeing with the Prince of Shadows.
The elf elder’s method does treat the symptoms rather than the root cause.
This is the same as cutting off the water with a knife, and the water will flow again. Only by cutting off the water at the source can the negative energy that has eroded the Everesca Valley be completely eliminated.
However, when faced with this question, he did not ask as stupidly as Brenas.
Because he believed that a powerful elf mage like Laurian could not understand such a simple truth. He must have his purpose in doing so.
"What do you know." As expected, Master Laurian snorted coldly, without giving the Prince of Shadows a good look, and said:
"The only way to cut off the source and Everesca is The connection between negative energy and the twelve peaks in our elven territory that are responsible for guiding the Mystery Barrier can exert their greatest power without any scruples. This way I have the opportunity to guide this energy to the place of origin and bring it to the source. Its total elimination.”
"That's it." Brian glanced at the elf elder in surprise. He didn't expect that the other party would engage in such a big battle here.
Isn't this equivalent to mastering the power of twelve wizard towers at once, which is more than enough to deal with an elder-level Felin Demon Sunflower.
"So..." He looked into the depths of the passage shrouded in magical light, pondering for a moment, and then expressed his inner doubts, "This passage also leads to the hiding place of Felin Demon Kui. "
"This is strange to me." At this point, Brian looked at Master Laurian in confusion:
"I heard it from the mouth of the crowned one, Ilseveri. As you know, the Everesca Valley where Master Laurian lives is known as the 'last refuge of the elves'. The powerful Mystical Barrier has made the territory disappear forever from the sight of the world like a paradise. At least I am. Before entering the fog, there is no clue, so why are there so many passages to other areas..."
In order to save some face for this elf elder, he did not say the next sentence: 'Are all the elves asleep? Even our own yard was almost dug through, and so many secret passages were created without even realizing it. What qualifies as the last refuge? '
Even if Brian didn't ask directly, the elf elder couldn't help but blush with embarrassment, and then explained to him with evasive eyes:
"You don't know something, this is my place. No one is allowed to trespass into the resting place of the elven ancestors. We never thought that the enemy would dare to attack from here."
He glanced at the ghost prince who was laughing secretly, and then continued:
"Naturally, I didn't pay much attention to this place, so this gave this group of daring thieves an opportunity to take advantage of. They used the devouring magic of Felin Demon Sunflower to quietly corrode the Mystery Barrier. .”
Only a ghost can believe this if you say it.
Brenas glanced at the elf elder suspiciously and thought to himself.
Although he knew that the elf elder was sarcastic about him again, he did not refute it.
After all, after I accidentally came to the elf cemetery, as a dossier scholar, out of professional habits, I did intend to study the unique features of this ancient elf cemetery.
Who would have thought that before he could put his thoughts into action, he would be overwhelmed by the opponent's overwhelming magic. If he hadn't reacted in time, he would have been seriously injured even if he didn't die.
In this regard, Brenas could only secretly rejoice at his good luck.
If this mage noticed it when he just opened an elf tomb, the misunderstanding would be serious.
“Then do you know the Crazy Olga Silla?” Brian recalled the words of the elf elder and asked another topic.
Obviously, he did not believe the unilateral explanation of the old elf man. He always felt that the other party was deliberately concealing something and did not tell the truth to him.
In any case, this is the burial place of the Evriska Elf Clan, and it is also regarded as a forbidden area that no one can easily set foot in. How could it not be shrouded in the mysterious barrier? within the range.
You know, any intelligent race pays special attention to the burial place of the deceased, even the elves who claim to be able to return to the beautiful country of Avandor after death are no exception.
How could they not even know that their ancestors’ purpose was discovered? If their ancestors in the country of Avandor knew that their descendants treated their funeral affairs like this, they would probably leave Avandor on the spot. , opened the coffin board, and taught these unscrupulous descendants a lesson.
So, he believed that there must be a hidden secret, and it was even related to the crazy Oga Silla.
After all, he personally heard from Elder Dakarsan of the Tower of Windsong that the place where Ojasla fled was Evereska, so he associated the two things together, and Take the opportunity to ask Master Laurian.
Faced with Brian's inquiry, Master Laurian was unwilling to answer at first.
But when he thought of the crisis Evriska was facing and the help he needed, he was silent for a long time, and finally sighed helplessly and chose to tell the truth.
“If my prediction is correct, Sir Brian must have made a guess.” Master Laurian said slowly, “Yes, the passage here is indeed related to the madman Olga Silla. "
"In the year of the destruction of the tomb, a group of dwarves from the Strongshield clan living in the Cormanthor Mountains, completely ignoring the long-term ban of our elves, actually dug a deep tunnel under Myth Drannor. , and the excavation of these dwarves in restricted areas also directly caused the collapse of some almost forgotten tombs. Most of them belonged to some ancient or long-lost families. Some elven families were extremely angry about this, with thousands of strong shield clan members. The dwarves were exiled from Mis Drannor."
He restrained the lavender magic halo shining around him and told everyone:
"Ms. Ogathra was excavated by the dwarves. In the tunnel, she found the "Black Forbidden Book". Ignoring the warnings of the Elder Council of the Tower of Windsong, she resolutely chose to translate this evil book. Not only did she predict the Black Chronicle, but she also personally completed a book called "One Night" The book "Thousand Petals" reveals a series of future conspiracies of the lost lady Shar against the goddess of magic Mystra."
"What about her?" Brianus couldn't help but ask, "Have you ever read "A Thousand Petals of a Night" written by Olga Sla?"
Brianus remained silent, because the elf mage The story just told was basically consistent with his conjecture, and the next content was what interested him.
Faced with the inquiry from the Prince of Shadows, Master Laurian didn’t even bother to look at him, and continued:
“As a lady who keeps secrets, how could the Lost Lady allow the material world to be destroyed? Mortals spread their secrets. Besides, the power of the gods is not something that we mortals can blaspheme at will. After Ojasla translated the "Black Forbidden Book", she was cursed by the Lost Lady through the mark of this book. She was horribly injured and fell into a state of near-insanity and madness.”
“Ms. Ojasla tried to commit suicide to end her fate of being cursed and driven crazy. , the curse cannot be lifted by suicide, and the priests of the Seldarine gods cannot save her. The curse pollutes her soul like tarsal maggots, leaving her unable to live or die, because every time she tries, They all ended in failure, as if she was born to bear this curse, perhaps forever.”
"With no way to avoid it, she came to us through her remaining rationality." Master Laurella glanced at the two of them and continued, "It is said that during the period when she was cursed, she still relied on others to become strong. With his willpower, he discovered the ruins of an ancient floating city from countless ancient histories and obscure dark knowledge.”
When they heard about the ruins of the floating city, Brian and Brenas were stunned. The crowd, bracing themselves and pricking their ears, was obviously very interested in the relics of the Netherese era.
"Is there a way to relieve Ms. Ojasla's curse in the ruins of the floating city?" Brian was the first to ask his doubts.
“I don’t know much about this.” Master Laurian shook his head, thought for a moment, and said:
“I only know that Ms. Ojiasla briefly mentioned it to me before leaving. , she said that during the Netheril period, this floating city ruins housed the largest temple of the sun god Amaunata. She tried to find the remaining power of the sun god from the ruins of this temple, and use the power of light to purify the lost. The Lady's Dark Curse"
Hearing this, Brian turned his attention to Brenas beside him.
As a survivor of the Netherese era, he should know this floating city best.
“This floating city is called the City of Glory, and it is also the city of faith of the sun god Amaunata.”
Brenas did not disappoint him, he just flashed his eyes a few times and recalled The name and general information of the floating city was given:
“Its owner is the great arcanist Ellando. He is not only one of the few great arcanists in the creative field, but also the sun god Amaunata. The most devout believer.”
"As for other detailed information, I don't know much about it." Brenas shrugged helplessly and said with a smile:
"Because it is the highest among all the floating cities and is also the one closest to the sun. Floating City, those of us who study shadow magic, are the least favored by the Sun God Priest."
"So, Glory City is also the floating city that suffered the worst, right?" Here, Brian's expression changed, as if he was making a joke unintentionally.
As far as he knew, although the twelve-ring magic of Karsus's Apotheosis of Gods caused the destruction of the Netheril Empire, there were also a few that flew too high and fell to the ground before they hit the ground. The second-generation magic goddess Mystra, who had regained her divine power, caught her and landed safely on the ground.
The cities captured by the goddess of magic were Noria, Ellens and Harundas that had long been buried under the wind and sand of the Enook Desert.
Brenas claimed that Shining City was the highest flying floating city, but why wasn't it caught by the goddess of magic?
It can be seen that the demise of Netheril may still contain many shocking conspiracies.
Because with the demise of Netheril, the powerful sun god Amaunatar eventually fell.
You know, the sun god Amaunatar was one of the greatest gods in the ancient Netheril era.
Because of his legal priesthood, he even has the right to judge whether the gods of the Pantheon have neglected their duties. He can be said to be the first god under the god ‘Io’.
But such a powerful god unexpectedly died inexplicably after Karsus released the Divine Conferment Technique.
As for how the sun god Amaunata fell.
One of the most accepted theories is that when Netheril fell, Amaunator's worship base shrank to the middle and lower classes of Netheril.
Eventually, these people also voluntarily gave up their faith in Him.
They believe that when Netheril encountered disaster, Amaunator was like a distant bystander, cold and heartless, and deliberately did not take any action to prevent the disaster.
Many scholarly studies have shown that those who abandoned their belief in the sun god were right.
The reason why Amaunata was indifferent was because he was in the lawful neutral camp when Netheril was destroyed, so he had no legal basis to save the people of Netheril.
According to the sacred contract, magic is the domain of the first goddess Mythril.
He has no right to infringe or interfere. He can only be an indifferent melon-eating crowd, watching his believers disappear one after another like dumplings.
As a result, as Amaunata's group of worshipers disappeared, his faith continued to shrink over time.
Gradually, He dropped from the position of powerful divine power to weak divine power.
In the end, due to his inability to maintain his sacred realm, he fell and became a corpse in the star realm.
And his priesthood is basically divided between the three mountains of the lawful camp: Tyr (strong divine power), Heim (medium divine power), and Thom (weak divine power).
What is interesting is that as another powerful god, Lathander, the Lord of the Dawn, is known as the other side of the sun god Amaunata.
In Lathander's priesthood, there is no such thing as the sun.
I am afraid this is also the reason why Shar, as the goddess of the night, is so powerful, because in the realm of the gods, there is no sun priest to interfere with the darkness.
"I don't know about that." Faced with Brian's teasing, Brenas shook his head.
When Brian came back to his senses, he looked at Master Laurella again and expressed his guess:
“So, in order for Ms. Olga Sla to purify her body, Curse, you violated the rules of the elves and allowed her to break into the tomb where the ancestors were buried. Am I right?”
“Your guess is right. When the lady learned that the location of the fallen city of Glory City might be at the deepest part of the tomb passage, I opened the door for her." Master Laurian admitted frankly that the expression on his old face was not regret, but regret and regret. ：
"I didn't expect that not only would she not be able to get rid of the curse of the Lost Lady, but she would also attract the Felin Demon Sunflower, which would bring unimaginable disaster to Evereska. I really..."
"That's it. , Now is not the time to lament life, Master Laurian." After understanding the ins and outs of the entire incident, Brian interrupted the elf mage and said calmly:
"What we need to do now is. Find the madman Ogathra as soon as possible, and destroy the Felin Demon Sunflower that emits magic-devouring energy, and give you Evereska elves a peaceful and stable sanctuary."
Then you can continue to hide here. Lie down here, Brian thought. Of course, he didn't say this.
"Lead the way." He gestured.
Master Laurella calmed down, and the lavender magic halo enveloped his body again, and began to take the initiative to lead Brian and the two to the place where the Glory City fell.
In the dark tombs, illuminated by the lavender magic halo, Brian and others moved forward in silence. They did not encounter any danger along the way, and only the sound of slight footsteps echoed slightly.
“Bang!”
Suddenly, the ghost prince Brenas, who was looking at the elven tombs in a daze, seemed to have kicked a tilted tombstone, and he was caught off guard and almost fell to the ground.
"Huh?" Then, he glanced around and looked closely, vaguely seeing a weapon half-hidden in the mud. It looked like a two-handed long sword. It was beautifully shaped and its lines were full of ancient elves. artistic sense.
He was about to pick it up and check it, but suddenly he felt the elf mage leading the way cast a pair of angry eyes at him. He could only look at it regretfully and continue to follow the two of them.
In fact, as a dossier scholar, he is still very interested in the elves' tombs.
Besides, there are still elven graves from the Crown War period here. If we can dig two and study them carefully, we might be able to learn about the long history of the elves' victory over the dragon.
"Boy, I'm warning you!" The Elf Mage, who was still a little uneasy, said coldly to the Prince of Shadows, "This cemetery has been burying people of my Elf clan since the end of the Fifth Crown War. , If you dare to have an idea here, I will make sure you never come back."
"I understand, you don't need to remind me," Brenas looked back with regret.
Obviously, although he wanted to check every graveyard over and over, he also knew the consequences of doing so, and naturally he would not lose the big for the small. Then he looked at the elf mage and retorted:
< br> "By the way, you'd better not call me kid. After all, I'm afraid you're not much older than me. You can't be too anxious about your appearance and act old in front of me. Don't you? Don’t you feel embarrassed?”
“Not at all, because at least I’m much more pleasing to the eye than an old monster like you who likes to be cute.” Master Laurian said angrily. The 'young' Prince of Shadows couldn't refute and closed his mouth.
But Brian ignored the two of them, because his eyes were attracted by the undead creatures gradually appearing in front of him, as well as the juvenile Felin Demon Sunflower.
The presence of monsters wandering around means that they are about to reach their destination.
These weak monsters pose no threat at all to the three legendary domain spellcasters. They can be easily eliminated with simple low-level spells. About half an hour later, the three of them finally found a passage and arrived near the ruins.
However, what disappointed Brian was that the ruins did not have any architectural shape at all. What appeared before his eyes were only broken masonry and broken stone pillars.
This scene full of vicissitudes of life seemed to prove to him that this place was probably the ruins of a floating city.
So, under the leadership of the elf mage, they cautiously entered a passage that seemed to collapse at any time.
The entire entrance is tilted slightly, as if it had shifted in an earthquake or suffered some other massive trauma.
After narrowly passing through the passage, a wide square opened outside the porch. Its marble floor was covered with cracks and a pile of rubble stood on the square.
Countless stone pillars carved with exquisite patterns have broken or collapsed on the ground, proving that this was once an important circular corridor.
The moment Brian stepped into the underground square, he immediately felt a strong rush of chaotic energy, causing his professional characteristics of a chaos scholar to become active involuntarily.
On the contrary, the wizards Brenas and Laurian seemed to have suffered a magical backlash, and their expressions became a little ugly. It was not until the elf wizards gradually exaggerated the energy of the lavender magic halo around them that they finally Feel much better.
Then, the three of them looked at each other and walked towards the place where the chaotic energy was the strongest without hesitation.
After a while, they came to the end of the square, in front of a ruins piled with broken bricks and rubble.
In the center of this hill stands a golden tower that is still intact.
The three of them walked carefully to the tower.
The hollow columns of the tower have descended into the deep darkness, and a waterfall falls from the break on the north side of the tower into the dark abyss below, rising into a cloud of mist and spray.
The tower's inner floors have disappeared, leaving this empty cylindrical shaft.
But below their broken edges can be seen sprouting masses of smooth moss and vines that thrive in the moist environment.
"What are those?" Brenas suddenly saw two glowing spheres in the shimmering bacteria and asked subconsciously.
Brian also looked over and carefully observed that the two energy spheres about half a meter in diameter were golden and lavender respectively, and the connection was a crackling dark purple energy thread.
A dizzying vortex appears in the center of the deep purple energy ball, like the bloody mouth of an abyssal beast, trying its best to swallow the golden sphere, but always fails because of this.
"I remembered it." Brenas, who was deep in thought, suddenly said with a slightly excited expression: "This is the Mysel energy core of the Glory City. If my prediction is correct, this tower should be the energy center of the Floating City. "
"Then why is this Miser energy core so small?" Brian asked.
“That’s because the power source of Radiant City is the power of the sun god Amaunata.” Brenas replied, “A few centuries ago, although the energy from the deep magic network only played a supporting role, It is also an indispensable existence, which is why the Miser Energy Core has not been damaged yet."
"In other words, there should still be a trace of the Sun God Amaunata in this Miser Energy Core. Divine power." Brian expressed his guess.
“This should be the reason.” Master Laurian nodded thoughtfully and then said:
"Otherwise, why Ms. Ojiasla is looking for the Glory City? It is most likely to use the magical power of the Mithron Core to get rid of the curse of darkness for herself."
"Obviously, her plan should have failed. "Yeah." Brian frowned. At this moment, he could already feel that the source of the chaotic energy was the lavender light ball in the tower well.
And this ball of light is trying its best to swallow the Myser energy core with divine power.
“There is no failure!”
Suddenly, a cold voice came from the depths of the tower well, which shocked everyone and cast spells to float in mid-air, while keeping distance from the tower. , observe the situation inside.
At this moment, everyone saw that the lavender light ball put away the crackling silk thread, then floated out from it, flickered slightly, and turned into a black teardrop-shaped creature at a speed visible to the naked eye.
It has three smooth heads with no eyes, two huge arms like dead branches spread out from both sides of the body, and another one grows out of its back.
Each arm torso supports three smaller arms equipped with clawed three-fingered hands.
Each of the nine small hands is covered with multiple small eyes.
The head in the center seemed to be staring at them with eyeless eyes.
Its big mouth with teeth suddenly opened, and its hair resembled a crazy roar.
Then, in the blink of an eye, the head seems to change - the roaring head is relegated to a secondary position, while another takes the dominant position in the center.
The dominant head said in a cold female voice: "Laurien, the dark fortune teller knows why you came. You violated the rules of the Evriska elves to live in seclusion. The entire clan is destined to pay a heavy price for this!"
"Are you Ms. Oga Sila?" Master Laurian asked in disbelief with a hint of shock on his face when he heard the familiar voice. : "Why did you become like this?"
"It's not!" Before the monster could speak, Brian said calmly, "It's a combination of a madman and a philim."< br>
"That's right, just as you said." The monster's third head took the dominant position and sneered again and again:
"That stupid elf tried to fight against our Felin Demon Kui, and this is what she paid The price is now only one step away from swallowing up the Mysterious Barrier in the Everesca Valley, which is to wait patiently for your arrival, and then let you meet your tragic fate!”
As soon as he finished speaking, all the eyes on the monster's claws spurted out strange dark purple energy, and then the energy condensed together and turned into a rapidly rotating vortex about one meter in diameter, wildly devouring the magic energy floating in the air.
In an instant, Brian noticed that the magic energy in the air had become thinner, and even the lavender magic light curtain around Master Laurian became much darker.
“This is the best attack method of Felin Demon Kui: the spell whirlpool, everyone, please be careful!” Brenas immediately reminded with a solemn expression when he saw the spell released by the monster:
< br>
"It will continuously absorb our magic energy until it can't cast a single spell. Let's fight it quickly. We must not drag it out like this."
"A quick fight?" Felin Demon Aoi's ugly chrysanthemum-like mouth showed a disdainful sneer, "Little Prince of Shadows, your ideas are so naive. Today I will replace the lost lady Shar, starting with you, to help her clean up some Netheril." The last remnant..."
"Then just stick to the original plan." Brian was too lazy to pay attention to the trash-talking Felin Mokui. He calmly took out his staff and looked straight ahead. A monster with changing heads.
While heading to the ruins of Shining City, they had made a plan in advance against the Felin Demon Kui. Although the scene that appeared in front of them was somewhat different from the plan, there was generally no change. .
Hearing this, the two nodded at the same time.
Master Laurian immediately retreated behind them, held his breath and began to connect the twelve peaks of the Everesca Valley through his thoughts to mobilize more energy.
In an instant, the lavender magical halo shining around him began to gradually expand.
And Brenas summoned two ultra-small structures to surround him, each shining with light representing divine and arcane energy.
Although he did not take the initiative, he watched the monster's every move with vigilance.
Brian launched his attack without hesitation.
——"Arcane Storm!"
——"Arcane Sequence!"
——"Arcane Master!"
——"Secondary Magic Matrix! ”
——“Mayoufu Meteor Swarm”
.........
With the invisible strong wind rising in this square filled with ruins, in the blink of an eye, the energy condensed from the chaos of the four elemental planes surged out like a wild horse. came out, interweaving a howling arcane storm, sweeping towards the Felin Demon Sunflower in the distance.
Immediately afterwards, fist-sized bolides, trailing slender tail flames, densely covered the opponent.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!..."
In an instant, brilliant magical flames and surging arcane storms intertwined with the secret shield temporarily held up by Felin Demon Kui. Above, a violent trembling sound erupted.
At the same time, the spell vortex summoned by Felin Demon Kui suddenly doubled in size, swallowing up all the spells he released like a whale sucking a cow.
The gorgeous magical flames dissipated, and the Felin Demon Sunflower with a lavender shield shining all over her body appeared in front of Brian and others safe and sound, with the primary and secondary positions of the head changed again. Although there were no eyes, it was It feels like a malicious look full of mockery.
Looking at the scene in front of him, Brian felt a little unbelievable. He didn't expect that his best attack could be defused so easily.
Although his original purpose was to test the other party's reality, seeing the effect caused made him a little depressed.
However, he was not frustrated by this. Instead, he directly used his arcane fire and began to face the terrifying opponent in front of him.
After all, his and Brenas's mission was to drag each other down, and the real killer move still relied on the huge energy transferred from the twelve peaks by Master Laurian.
Just when Brian used the arcane fire that shone with blue and white flames, the Felin Demon Kui opposite noticed it and couldn't help but exclaimed: "What a rich energy! Could it be? Silver fire? No, it's cursed fire. That's not right. Cursed fire is red. What on earth is this? "
"No matter what it is!" Another head grabbed the position and said greedily. :
“In short, the energy contained in this flame is countless times more precious than the divine power contained in the Miser Energy Core. I have a hunch that as long as we swallow it, our strength will not only be restored immediately When you reach your peak state, you will even be promoted to a new level, and then you will have more say in the memory tower!"
"What are you waiting for, act quickly!"
After saying that, Felin Mokui directly took back the head that had been guarding Master Laurian from beginning to end, and began to launch an almost crazy attack on Brian.
——"Spell Fang!"
——"Magic Absorbing Cone!"
——"Kiriya!"
Accompanied by Felin The small eyes on Mo Kui's paws flashed with various flickering lights.
Hazy tentacles covered with sharp fangs, like long whips striking through the air, cone-shaped energy bodies condensed from pure magical energy, and countless tears composed of cloud-like steam. The flying objects mixed together and turned into energy clouds like waves, rolling towards Brian.
Faced with this situation, Brenas controlled the two ultra-small structures around him to hold up a golden-blue shield composed of the two energies of divine and arcane magic. He took the initiative to stand in front of Brian.
When the overwhelming spells of Felin Demon Kui fell on the shield around the Prince of Shadows, he immediately felt the terrifying corrosive energy, devouring the energy of the shield at a speed visible to the naked eye. As for him, he had to frantically inject mana into the shield to resist the impact.
"Are you poking the hornet's nest?" Brenas said with a bitter smile to Brian while resisting the spell attack of the Felin Demon Sunflower with difficulty, "This is simply an irrational attack. "
"It can be seen from this..." Brian looked at the crazy Felin Demon Kui and expressed his guess:
"Although this elder Mo Kui devoured the soul of the mad Oga Sila and made himself stronger, he also inherited the mad curse that the Lost Lady cast on Oga Sila. In this case, we will be relatively weak in dealing with it. It’s much easier.”
“If you hold on for a while, I have found a way to deal with it.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the corners of Felin Mokui’s third head curled up. A slight sneer of disdain.
I saw it waving the sharp claws on its back, and an energy sword wrapped in pale flames appeared out of thin air above Brian, and struck head-on without any warning.
The energy whip from Felin Demon Kui came very quickly and was obviously planned in advance. Even the ghost prince Brianas did not react, and Brian's body was completely divided into two. .
"Huh?"
But the Felin Demon Kui, who succeeded in the attack, was slightly stunned. As if to prove its inner doubts, Brian's body immediately turned into a thick mass of darkness, and on the battlefield spread.
Then, in the diffuse fog, several black shadows suddenly flashed past.
(End of this chapter)