"I just learned your language by chance. Don't be so surprised. There are many talented people among humans who can communicate with other species, and mages are the best among them. Of course, if you hear If you have read the legends of the Druids, you won’t find it strange.”
The grouse shook his head:
"I don't know what a druid is, but that must be because I don't have much knowledge."
"After all, I'm just a young grouse."
Matthew asked new residents about their living experience:
"Do you like this woods?"
The grouse looked left and right:
"It's not bad, the environment here is good, there are no natural enemies of mine, but there is a lack of food.
It would take me several days to find an earthworm or something in the ground.
From a rational point of view, this place is not livable, but I don't know why, but there is a force that attracts me, and it urges me to settle here.
I even have the urge to return to my hometown in the barren mountains in the north and bring all my family members here."
Matthew understood.
This is the effect of the Sanctuary of Life.
He immediately opened his hands to welcome:
"As the owner of this forest, I welcome more outstanding residents like you."
The grouse looked at him warily:
"Do you want to eat my balls?"
Matthew asked rhetorically:
"Can you lay eggs?"
The grouse was stunned for a moment, then said happily:
"It turns out I can't lay eggs, so that's okay."
"But there are many hens in my family, and they are good at laying eggs. Do you want to eat their eggs?"
Matthew blinked:
"I can promise myself not to eat."
"But there are always risks of one kind or another in nature. You must know this better than me."
Grouse thought for a while:
"That's enough. We don't want to be the targets of human captivity like those idiots on the farm."
"If your promise is true, I will consider bringing all my family to this forest."
"We will thrive here, and God bless us. I hope snakes, wolverines and other terrible creatures will never appear in this forest!"
Naturally, Matthew can't guarantee anything about this.
He knew very well that as the power of the Sanctuary of Life continued to spread, all kinds of creatures would appear in his woods, and the paradise that the grouse dreamed of was destined to never come true.
"But as the first grouse to live in this forest, I can give you certain preferential treatment."
Matthew mobilized the power of the oak field and gave him a permanent "shield".
This state allows the grouse to have a powerful concealment effect when walking in the field. Especially when it is stationary, it is difficult for the enemy to detect its presence.
Grouse immediately felt Matthew's sincerity.
He was so happy:
"You are so awesome, you deserve to be a human being who can talk like a chicken!"
"Thank you very much for your gift. I will tell all the grouse in the family what you have done."
"By the way, Chicken Man, I have a gift for you."
As he spoke, he flapped his wings and ran towards the beach of the Old Woman River next to him.
Matthew follows closely behind:
"You can call me Matthew."
The grouse dug vigorously on the river beach:
"Got it, Chicken Man."
Soon.
He dug a small pit in the soft sand.
There were some strange gravels buried in the pit, as well as some earthworm corpses.
Among these things, there was a silver necklace with several fine sapphires inlaid on it.
The grouse gave Matthew the necklace.
He filled up the hole in the river beach.
Then he ran back towards the oak forest without looking back:
"It's time for me to go. If others find out I've been talking to a human, they might think I'm a crooked chicken."
"I know you have a crush on me, but we still have to keep a proper distance."
"Goodbye, Chicken Man."
…
"Tip: You have completed an in-depth conversation with the grouse, and the current animal conversation progress is (1/300);
Your XP +10;
Your Nature Affinity gains a slight increase;
Your knowledge (nature-fowl) +1;
You received the "Swimmer's Necklace" gift from the grouse
Swimmer's Necklace: A plain sapphire silver necklace with the remaining spirit of a drowned swimmer attached to it.
The wearer's swimming ability is +10, but there is a very small chance of being attacked by water ghosts during swimming."
…
The value of the necklace is average, and it can only be said that it barely has potential as a collectible.
The principle that good swimmers drown is applicable everywhere.
Matthew put the necklace away.
He knows very well that "talking with animals" and planting trees are both ways of practicing nature.
He tried to activate this ability on the spot, and then walked in the oak forest.
But along the way, he didn't hear any sound.
This is also normal.
The animals in the oak forest are relatively small in both variety and quantity.
more importantly.
There are limits to who animals can talk to.
Not every animal can communicate with humans. Even if it has this ability, if you want to complete a conversation like a grouse, the animal must have a certain spirituality.
Compared to humans, the spirituality of most animals is very low.
Generally speaking, the smaller the size, the younger the age, and the further away from human society, the lower the spirituality of the animal.
Creatures such as cattle, horses, sheep, cats, dogs, and pigs that live with people day and night are the most likely to have spirituality.
Insects in the wilderness can hardly meet the minimum spirituality required for animal communication.
Matthew wants to complete conversations with three hundred animals.
You must still count on small and medium-sized animals in towns or farms.
The probability of those creatures in the wild being born spiritual is too low.
Looking for them one by one is much less efficient than planting trees.
"It's a pity that this mission is also limited to the vicinity of Rolling Stone Town. It would be nice if there were no regional restrictions."
Matthew sighed softly.
There is no limit to the ability to talk to animals. He can communicate with animals all day long.
The prerequisite is that there must be a sufficient number of objects.
The rainforest is obviously the best place to accomplish this task.
There are tens of thousands of spiritual animals there.
It's a piece of cake to complete.
"It's still in its early stages. The spiritual animals in Rolling Stone Town can barely satisfy 300 people. But if there are more requirements, we may have to open up regional restrictions or find another way."
Matthew thought for a while.
He remembered that druids had an ability called "Hand of Enlightenment."
This ability can give an animal temporary spirituality.
In this way, the minimum requirements for animal conversation can be met.
Druids often use this ability to upgrade their animal companions, or to recommend nature spirits.
But this ability is relatively rare and cannot be mastered by ordinary druids, let alone mages.
Matthew could only hope that the next time he explores the Oak Domain, relevant ability options will appear.
At that moment, he turned off the ability of animals to talk and went to plant three oak trees on a land that was like spring all year round.
After doing all this.
Matthew had lunch in the cemetery, and then rushed to the Lord's Mansion without stopping.
After Rega left, Zeller was the only one left in the office hall. Matthew was worried that he was short of manpower, so he promised to go over and help as much as possible during this time.
Come to the front door of the Lord's Mansion.
At this time, in the military camp next door, a knight was walking out slowly leading an old horse.
The old horse was still chewing grass in his mouth.
The knight saw Matthew and said hello.
The old horse also snorted happily.
Matthew's heart moved and he opened Animal Talk.
But I heard an old voice ask:
"Have you ever eaten grass?"
Matthew replied:
"No."
The knight was stunned for a moment:
"Are you talking to me?"
Lao Ma said happily:
"Don't explain to this idiot, let him misunderstand for a while, it will be fun."
"If you have never eaten grass, you must try it. Life without eating grass is incomplete."
Matthew smiled:
"Thank you for your advice, I will try it if I have a chance."
The old horse tapped the ground gently with its front hooves:
"If you can tell this kid to stop farting on my back, that would be better than any thanks."
"By the way, I want to take care of him again - his posture when riding me has been wrong in the past two days. I suspect that he has hemorrhoids, so he must remember to pay attention to his diet."
Matthew glanced at the knight with a confused expression in a strange way.
He coughed slightly:
"Is this common?"
Lao Ma said leisurely:
"Oh, this is so common. Crossbows are the deadly enemy of knights. But if you ask a knight what is more hateful than crossbows, his answer will definitely be hemorrhoids."
After saying that, he took the initiative to end the conversation.
The knight knew that Matthew was a mage, and realized that he was talking to his horse.
So he asked nervously:
“You and my horse are talking, right?
What did he say?
Lord Matthew, I didn't mean to steal the fodder from the stable, I just had some difficulties at that time.
Could you please not tell Lord Rhaegar?
I will secretly fill the gap in the misappropriated fodder in the next few days."
Does animal conversation have this effect?
Matthew raised his eyebrows, but in the end he didn't say much. He just patted the knight on the shoulder:
"He just asked you to eat more lightly."
"But don't forget to replenish the fodder."
Then he walked in.
The knight was left looking at the old horse with a complicated expression.
…
Office lobby.
Matthew was sitting in his office, occasionally looking outside.
Every time he saw Rhaegar's place empty, he felt quite uncomfortable.
Two o'clock in the afternoon.
An owl delivers a letter.
He took it and saw that it was a reply letter from the Silver Council.
"Is the alliance so efficient this time?"
Matthew opened the letter, read it once, and frowned slightly.
It was pretty much what he expected.
The senior leaders of the alliance represented by the Silver Council have no concern for what happened in Escana.
Their comments about Stuluk Industries were also "not worth mentioning".
The tone of this reply letter is quite polite, but there are only two main contents -
First, please plug up the space-time cracks as soon as possible to prevent creatures from the outer plane from flowing in.
Second, the Alliance of Seven Saints is indifferent to the changes in the situation in the outer plane. They don't seem to worry about Stuluk Industries gaining a foothold in the outer plane and then further advancing into the main material world.
This attitude of the league's top management puzzled Matthew.
In the end, they chose to isolate themselves from the country because of their pride and arrogance.
Or is there something fishy behind the principle of never interfering with the outer planes?
Matthew had no way of knowing.
He only knew that it was completely impossible to use the power of the alliance to interfere between the planes.
Just think of this.
He had no choice but to give up the last trace of luck.
Anyway, the amount of sulfur ore harvested from Stuluk Industry is enough.
Matthew once made a rough calculation and found that the value of those sulfur mines was approximately 300,000 gold coins.
This was originally a huge sum of money.
He had no reason to ask for more.
"I hope little Paton can retreat from the difficulties."
Matthew was a little emotional.
In fact, from a rational point of view, he should not allow Little Parton to take such a risk.
That's why I finally let go.
On the one hand, it was because little Paton was really eager for this matter, and Matthew saw a different look in his eyes, and he couldn't bear to kill this thought directly.
On the other hand, little Paton also showed intelligence, agility and reaction abilities far beyond ordinary people.
His combat ability is estimated to be only around level two.
But if there can be no fighting, Matthew believes he can settle a lot of things.
After all, not everything in this world is a completely rational decision.
Human beings are always contradictory and emotional.
For example, now, Matthew's rationality tells him that the best result is for Little Patton to give up.
But deep down in his heart, he somehow had unrealistic expectations for this boy.
Matthew himself felt that this expectation was absurd.
He searched for the reason for a long time.
I even began to wonder if it was because I had eaten too much mushrooms recently.
Just in time.
Zeller, who had gone out to handle business in the morning, came back.
Matthew told Zeller everything about the space-time rift and little Patton.
Then ask him what he thinks.
After hearing this, Zeller said expressionlessly:
"If I were Rhaegar, I would kill you with a sword."
"If I were Ms. Liz, the whole town of Rolling Stone would know tomorrow morning that a terrible necromancer had kidnapped his son."
"But if I were little Patton, I would be extremely grateful to you."
Matthew asked rhetorically:
"What if you were in my position?"
Zeller thought for a while:
"I might agree to him like you did.
Although this is dangerous.
But which member of the Blood Flag family has not escaped from danger?
There is a potential in that young man that is hard to detect.
Rhaegar and I actually tried secretly many times, but we never found a way to activate that power.
Maybe this incident is an opportunity.”
Hear this.
Matthew suddenly understood part of his intuition——
The intuition that always drives him to make decisions seems to be inextricably linked to the field.
He recalled every time he followed his gut to make a decision.
You can all feel the undercurrents of the realm quietly resonating in a place that is difficult to detect.
"Is this why it's easy for me to comprehend the realm?"
"The decisions I make are actually inextricably related to the potential of the people around me, the power of the field, and even the legendary way?"
This thought came to Matthew's mind.
Immediately he felt that this was too ridiculous.
It should just be my own imagination.
"But ultimately this is too dangerous."
"If you don't want to hurt his heart, just let me be the villain."
"He will come back today to report that he is safe, right? As soon as he comes back, I will take him away, and I will tell him that I discovered this matter, and you were helpless. After that, you can close the space-time rift as soon as possible. This matter
It’s over now.”
Speaking of which.
Zeller rubbed his temples tiredly:
"Actually, I don't object to you young people going out on adventures."
"But, I also hope you can understand that too many things have happened in and around Rolling Stone recently, and I always have a bad feeling. At this juncture, I don't want anything to happen to anyone, Xiaopa
If this is the case, so will you."
Matthew nodded slightly.
He saw Zeller's hard work.
He was about to ask what happened recently.
Just at this moment.
A rush of footsteps came from the direction of the corridor.
Not long after.
A dusty figure dressed as a gentleman appeared in front of the two of them.
Richard placed his cane on a shelf nearby, looked around the hall, and then asked seriously:
"Where's Rhaegar?"
"Are you taking a nap?"
"Wake him up quickly, I have something very important to say."
Zeller looked at him in surprise:
"Rhaega has gone to purgatory and won't be able to come back for at least a month."
"What happened?"
Richard frowned:
"Why go to purgatory at this time?"
He looked at Matthew and Zeller with uncertain expressions. After a few seconds, he decisively said:
"Do you still remember the corpse I checked at the police station before?"
Matthew recalled that it was a very strange corpse, with all the elements on the body missing, so that even the Call of the Dead could not be used.
At that time, Richard left immediately after seeing the body. He had been gone for many days and it seemed that he had not returned to Rolling Stone yet.
Matthew was impressed:
"Is it the one fished out from the lower reaches of the Old Woman River?"
Zeller said in a deep voice:
"I've looked at the files, and there's something fishy about them. What did you find?"
Richard paced back and forth in the hall a little anxiously:
“I went to Yongsong Forest and asked the night elves to confirm something——
That means the seal of the "Lord of the Thousand Changers" has indeed been leaked.
Damn it.
Do you know "The Thousand Changers"?
The Changing Ones are a bloodline of demons from the Outer Planes.
Their ancestor, the infamous Thousand Changer Lord Jasriwen, once took the place of the God of Murder.
It was the middle of the Age of Enlightenment. Later, things were revealed, and He was sealed in the Eversong Forest by the God of Elves and several other gods.
Jia Siliwen is also one of the few demons sealed in the main material world.
His descendants are numerous and spread throughout the entire continent of Irondor.
But only those who have awakened the demonic bloodline and received the blessing of Jia Si Liwen are qualified to be called true Thousand Transformers.
Originally, as long as there was no problem with the seal of Yongsong Forest, the descendants of the Thousand-Changeers would not be a concern.
But I just learned that just six months ago, the notorious Scarlet Letter Hunter, the legendary rogue, and the leader of the Silver Frost Brotherhood, Seir, led his men to attack Gostil Prison in Yongsong Forest.
That attack was definitely well-prepared. Although Sen'er did not kidnap any prisoners, it caused the seal of the Thousand Changer Lord to loosen.
Part of Jia Siliwen's power leaked out, which may have led to the awakening of some descendants of the Thousand Transformers!"
The ever-changing person?
Matthew suddenly thought of the little white cat that was living in his forest eating and drinking for free!
She seems to have mentioned that she has the blood of the Thousand Transformers!
"Can the Thousand Changer transform into another person, and the appearance is difficult to distinguish?"
Matthew asked quickly.
Richard nodded:
"The Thousand Changer's ability to change is innate and very powerful. As soon as he learns it, he has an effect comparable to the fourth-level change spell. It will improve in the future, and he can transform into different people."
"When the Thousand Changers in history appeared in human society, they often brought huge disasters and chaos because of this ability."
"But there is an unknown secret among them. Among the awakened Thousand Changers, a very small number of people can get the favor of Jia Siliwen, and they will master another more terrifying ability besides the ability to change.
."
"Because of that ability, they are called 'Deprivers', or 'Replacers'."
Hear this.
Matthew had an ominous premonition in his heart.
really.
But listen to Richard narrate:
"The depriver can use a specific ritual to deprive a person of his or her identity, memory, abilities, etc., and then replace them."
"This kind of replacement does not refer to a change in appearance or a replacement in identity. It is a complete integration and replacement."
"They will completely become that person and retain the memory and abilities of their previous identity. Even the consciousness of the plane will judge them as the original person."
"As a deprived person of the ritual, even if the outcome is not immediate death, it is still a very cruel and terrifying thing. They have been deprived of all elements, and their relatives and friends will turn a blind eye to them, and instead laugh at the person who killed them.
Add up.
This is a very cruel thing.
Eventually they will die in endless suffering.
No one knows who they are, where they come from, or why they died.
I really hope that I guessed wrong, but all the signs of the male corpse point to the poor identity of the deprived person.
Intuitive point of view.
It is suspected that a Thousand Changer completed the deprivation ceremony in Rolling Stone Town.
I'm not sure where he's going.
Because even I can't tell which one is the person who has been deprived of his identity.
He may have left.
Probably still in town.
Maybe even between you!"
For a while.
The atmosphere in the hall suddenly became solemn.