#360 - A journey spanning decades - Bringing the MC system to Middle-earth

“No.”

Boromir's rejection sounded quite ruthless and cold, but his head was shaking vigorously, like a rattle drum.

Leaving aside whether the occasion was appropriate, just looking at the heat radiating from his armor, an incautious hug could easily cause burns.

However, after this interruption, Boromir's mood suddenly relaxed a lot, for some unknown reason.

Where did this damn inexplicable sense of relaxation come from?

But, it's not bad.

Boromir leaned back on the stone chair, lost in thought.

Gondor was not without support.

Li Wei, the supreme leader of the city-states who, although he hadn't met him many times, actually had quite a friendship with his family, would really help if something happened.

Boromir realized this.

This was no joke.

A friendly and reliable elder from his great-grandfather's generation, it was indeed reassuring.

However, great-grandfather's generation…

Boromir quietly looked at Aragorn, then at Li Wei.

Was he human or…?

He didn't have more time to think, the meeting quickly moved to the next stage.

First, there was a consensus that no ordinary means could pose a threat to the One Ring; it could only be destroyed in the Cracks of Doom in Mount Doom.

This had been verified by Li Wei; he had tried every way to destroy items, but none of them worked.

Then there was Gimli.

This slightly impatient young dwarf, upon hearing everyone say that this ring, which looked like it was made of pure gold, could not be destroyed, his first reaction was disbelief.

He immediately swung his sturdy, heavy, giant steel axe at it, and the result was that his steel axe was shattered into pieces by the power from the One Ring, and he himself was sent flying.

Fortunately, Aragorn and Legolas behind him stood up in time to catch him, otherwise he would have rolled down the steps a long way.

“Let go of me!”

Gimli stomped his feet indignantly, currently sandwiched in mid-air by the two, looking quite embarrassed.

Everyone looked at each other.

Li Wei looked at the ring and had his own opinion.

The hardness of this ring was comparable to bedrock in some ways. Bedrock has a negative hardness; it is indestructible by rule, unless another rule of equal or higher level appears.

Destroying this thing requires a mechanism.

After verifying that ordinary means could not destroy the One Ring, everyone began to discuss it.

Someone suggested sending the ring to Valinor, to be guarded by the Valar and the elves of Valinor, but putting aside the obstacles that might be encountered at sea, just considering the nature of the Ring itself, no one could guarantee that it wouldn't cause trouble there.

The Valar certainly wouldn't care about such a small thing, but after all, there were many ordinary creatures there besides the Valar, so this method was not very reliable.

After this plan was rejected, someone brought up Li Wei again.

Someone suggested sending the ring to Roadside Fort to be heavily guarded, but this plan was not very wise and was quickly rejected by people, including Li Wei.

Yes, Li Wei did have the means to completely seal the ring, like the Orthanc crystal, making it impossible for anyone but him to touch it, even Sauron himself.

But doing so was essentially no different from sending it to Valinor; both methods were essentially just finding a place to seal the ring.

Gandalf then gave his opinion:

“Seas may also turn into mulberry fields, no one can predict the future. The responsibility of all of us here is not only to consider the present, or a few generations of humans, or an age of the world, we should seek a way to completely eliminate this threat, even if it is difficult to do so.”

Elrond said seriously: “It must be taken into the heart of Mordor, thrown into that fire, and destroyed.”

After the two finished speaking, the scene was briefly silent.

People were waiting for the last person to speak.

Li Wei said in a calm tone: “I agree, it should be destroyed.”

“One of you present needs to hold the ring and take it to Mordor.”

So the general direction of the meeting was set.

Everything that followed revolved around how to destroy the One Ring and who would be the 'Ring-bearer'.

“Mordor is not a place you can just enter.”

Boromir covered his head and said, “Monsters more ferocious than orcs guard the Black Gate, evil never sleeps in that land, and the Eye is always watching…”

“And the other entrance, that barren wasteland, Minas Morgul, is full of deep pits, filled with smoke and fire, and poisonous fog that fills every inch of the air, inhaling even a little bit will cause unbearable pain.”

“Even taking tens of thousands, or even twenty or thirty thousand soldiers in, would be futile and very stupid.”

Even if these soldiers were not from Gondor, but from the North.

Boromir did not say this.

“Didn’t you hear what Lord Elrond and Li Wei said? The Ring must be destroyed!”

Legolas, who was slightly irritable, immediately stood up and retorted.

Boromir chuckled and shook his head.

He thought of the countless sleepless nights, of holding his sword on the border, looking out at the dark land of Mordor, of the Eye of Sauron, surrounded by flames, suddenly projected across the long distance.

He thought of the hardship of resisting it, almost grinding his teeth.

This elf didn't understand anything, he had never seen these things.

Boromir suddenly stood up angrily and said: “What if we fail? What if the Ring is recovered by the Great Enemy?”

“I don’t think an elf can be responsible for this.” Gimli added fuel to the fire.

This fire directly ignited the scene.

Li Wei looked at the One Ring in the center of the stone platform and realized that this thing was exerting its power again.

It would not let go of any opportunity to make the surroundings chaotic.

Seeing the situation getting out of control, Gandalf quickly got up to stop it.

“While you are arguing, Sauron's power is still growing, we shouldn't be stuck in meaningless conflicts here!”

There were only a few people still sitting in the meeting at this moment.

Elrond intertwined his hands and sighed again, lowering his head.

Glorfindel leaned back in his chair, put his hands on his knees, and sat there quietly watching the arguing crowd without speaking.

Li Wei looked around, thoughtfully.

Frodo was a little dazed.

The One Ring had been confirmed to be destroyed, but no matter what, someone had to hold the ring, and this person had to be carefully considered.

First of all, exclude Li Wei and Glorfindel, not because they were not trusted, but mainly because if anything happened to either of them, the consequences would be earth-shattering, even higher than the harm of Sauron himself.

Then the wizards were also not suitable, Gandalf had already explained the reason.

“I’ll go.”

Unexpectedly, Bilbo stood up first, he poked Gandalf, who was still arguing with people, and said: “Since this trouble was discovered by me, then let me solve it, I can take it to Mordor.”

Gandalf shook his head and said, “No, Bilbo, you have done enough, and you have held the ring for too long, you shouldn’t take it back.”

“If you don’t want to become like Gollum.”

“Woah——” Bilbo covered his chest and shook his head repeatedly.

That wouldn’t do, becoming Gollum would be too scary.

The argument continued.

In this noisy argument where the specific content could not be heard, Frodo subconsciously looked at Li Wei.

Li Wei also looked at him, returning a smile.

A certain idea was born in his heart, Frodo suddenly asked Li Wei: “Will this be a journey with beautiful scenery?”

“Have you decided?”

In the clamor, the two spoke calmly.

“Yes, I have decided.” Frodo nodded.

Time returned to decades ago.