Cthulhu Gonfalon

Chapter 7

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Sui Xiong has good patience. In other words, after traveling to this strange world, wandering on the vast sea and practicing in the ice trench, he has developed a good patience.

So he lived next to that strange clearing for five days and observed it for five days.

In the past five days, he had hardly moved, just observing carefully.

Through observation, he concluded the law of magic change in this forest - it is actually very simple. It is weakest at noon and strongest at midnight, and the cycle continues.

In addition, he finally understood why there were lush plants in the woods but not enough animals and insects - every night, the strong magic would kill many animals and insects, and their remains would slowly seep in. The earth, perhaps those black skeletons are actually the condensed remains of these.

The strong magic power in the middle of the night had no effect on Sui Xiong. His body had already condensed almost the maximum amount of ice magic power, and the concentration of magic power was so high that it even reached the point where his body was constantly losing magic power. These magic powers were produced by him on a daily basis, but because they could no longer be condensed and preserved, they had to be dissipated outside the body.

The concentration of these magical powers alone is comparable to the dense magical fog that fills the woods at night. Only the significantly thicker black fog over the black clearing is thicker than the magical power he exudes.

He also discovered one thing. Those black skeletons seemed to be full of resentment towards all living things except plants. Once insects or animals approached at night, they would swarm up madly, punching, kicking, scratching and biting them, trying to kill them. It's impossible to die. But they turned a blind eye to Sui Xiong who was so close at hand, as if he didn't exist at all.

Perhaps... this is because the physical body he uses is actually "dead" at all...

After observing for several days, Sui Xiong felt that he had collected a lot of information, and finally chose to dig out the black clearing at noon on a bright sunny day.

The situation was not beyond his expectation. Without digging too deep, he saw many dark black skeletons.

Not a complete skeleton, but various fragments of bones.

"It seems that those skeletons were temporarily piled up at night." Sui Xiong watched the skeletons gradually fading in the sun, turning from dark black to light gray, and nodded secretly.

He did not touch the bones, nor did he bury the dug hole until the next night.

Just as he estimated, that night, although the magic in the woods still condensed in the forest clearing, the faded bones did not turn into skeletons, but vibrated, shaking all night long.

The next day was another bright and sunny day. Under the sunlight, the bones further faded. At night, even their rustling and vibrating sounds were a little weaker.

So Sui Xiong almost completely understood, stopped observing, and left.

He walked alone in this black forest, traveling day and night. Along the way, he often saw black clearings that gave birth to skeletons.

He also tried attacking those black skeletons and found that they were very weak. With a sweep of his tentacles, he could kill all the skeletons in the open space without even using magic.

"This is a good thing." After once again destroying a group of black skeletons, Sui Xiong said to himself with a smile, "It seems that this world is not very dangerous."

After walking like this for another five or six days, he finally saw the crowd he had been waiting for.

It was a small village built on a huge open space.

This clearing was obviously cut down manually, and there were many tree stumps around it. The cutting marks on many tree stumps are still fresh, and some villagers are working hard to cut down the black forest and open up living space.

The village is not big. The small wooden houses form a circle, surrounding a much taller stone house in the center with a circle of wells around it. On the roof of the stone house there is a strange statue, a horizontal dagger and a The upright eyes formed the shape of a cross.

That strange statue made Sui Xiong feel vaguely uncomfortable. It wasn't danger, but pure disgust. It's like Indians saw fried steak, Saudis saw pork chop rice, gourmets saw dark cuisine, and little animals saw live shrimps eaten raw... It's really disgusting, I don't like it!

Apart from the statues that irritated him, the village actually looked quite ordinary. The small village is surrounded by a wooden fence, the fence is so big and high that it is almost like a wall. The house is a bit crudely built, but it uses plenty of materials, and you can tell it's very strong at first glance. It's just that the clothes of the villagers coming and going are a little shabby, and it's obvious that their lives are not rich.

There is only one exit in the entire village, guarded by a tall and strong bald man. Although the man was not wearing armor, he was carrying a heavy-looking axe. He seemed to be quite strong. He patrolled the surroundings vigilantly and never left his post. It was obvious that he was a very responsible person.

Pieces of farmland surround the village. There is a kind of vine that Sui Xiong cannot recognize. There are no flowers or fruits on the vine, only gray-green leaves. If you look closely, you will find that there are some faint golden veins on the leaves. , reflecting the sun, exuding a slight golden light.

There are also farmers working in the farmland. The farmers are mainly women and children. Their work content is very strange. They neither loosen the soil, fertilize, nor weed and catch insects. Instead, they carry or carry large and small barrels on their backs and carry them from time to time. Use a small spoon to scoop a little bit of the water in the barrel and carefully sprinkle it on the leaves of the vine.

The spoon was so pitifully small that it would take about ten spoons to make it enough for an ordinary person to take a sip. It can be seen that they cherish the water in the barrel very much. They often have to observe it carefully for a while before watering the vines.

The origin of this water is quite extraordinary and requires special rituals to obtain it.

The specific ceremony is as follows: About every ten days or so, in the evening, several young girls wearing black robes will gather in front of the main entrance of the stone house and chant incantations around a large pot. There was a wooden frame above the pot, and a live chicken was hung upside down on the wooden frame. They kept chanting the mantra until the moon rose, then they cut the neck of the unlucky chicken and let the chicken blood flow into the pot and mix with the original chicken. Mix in a pot of water. Next, continue to recite the mantra until the moon is in the middle of the sky, and then move the pot into the stone house.

Sui Xiong had tried more than once to see what they were going to do next, but his soul sensor could not invade the stone house, as if it was blocked by tough animal skin, so he had to give up.

He only knew that the next day, the villagers would fetch a bucket of well water when the moon rose, leave it under the moonlight overnight, and deliver it to the stone house before sunrise. I don’t know what kind of processing it has gone through, but on the third day you can go to the stone house to get the water used to water the vines.

Sui Xiong guessed that there must be someone such as a pharmacist or a magician living in the stone house. He directed the little girls to cast spells on the well water to give them special powers to promote the growth of the vines.

Of course, maybe the master who lives in a stone house and never comes out is actually a reclusive chef. He has mastered the essence of cooking skills that have been passed down for thousands of years. He can stew a pot of chicken blood soup to create an indescribable taste. Even the vines will be moved by it and grow vigorously.

Sui Xiong feels that in this magical world, everything is possible.

Well, if you have a chance, you must try what this chicken blood soup tastes like!

In addition to the special water used to water the vines, of course the villagers also draw water from the well for daily use. Sui Xiong noticed that there was a small river not far from the village, but no one ever took water from the river for use. Everyone used well water for food.

Perhaps this has something to do with the chaotic and turbid magic everywhere in the woods. Because according to his observation, the closer to the village, the more the chaotic and turbid magic in the woods will weaken, but the uncomfortable atmosphere will become stronger. Perhaps it was this disgusting aura that allowed the villagers to resist the omnipresent chaotic magic in the black forest and avoid being harmed.

But this resistance effect is obviously limited. Every evening, both the loggers and farmers hurried back to the village and locked the gate. A group of young men armed with hammers or axes came to the cabins on both sides of the gate and took turns keeping vigil.

At this time, the aura that disgusted Sui Xiong in the stone house in the center of the village would greatly intensify, covering the entire village. The vines in the farmland also emit a faint golden light. Although it is completely different from that aura, it still repels the chaotic magic inherent in the black forest. The two complement each other and protect this small village.

Sui Xiong hid in the depths of the woods more than ten miles away, watching the situation in the village from a distance with his soul induction. He found that the main job of the villagers, besides logging and farming, was to raise chickens, but they did not eat the chickens. Those chickens were purely sacrifices.

He has also studied those vines. The strange thing is that those vines can obviously respond to the aura that makes him hate it, but when he uses his soul induction to touch these vines, he does not feel any repulsive force. It seems to be just ordinary. Just vines.

There was obviously some mystery in this. Unfortunately, they couldn't communicate with each other because they didn't understand each other's language. He had no choice but to hide the doubts in his heart and planned to ask about it after they got to know each other.

Sui Xiong was not in a hurry to contact the villagers and had been observing from a distance. He observed for a long time and determined that the life of the villagers was quite boring, with almost no entertainment or recreation. Every day is spent logging and farming, and there is no joy in living.

It seems that these people in this other world are living a very hard life!

Day after day, they repeat simple labor without rest. Like a group of hard-working ants, they work hard to manage their own small territory without slacking off.

Sui Xiong observed them silently, waiting for the right opportunity to contact them.

He didn't want to come into contact with these people rashly. Firstly, he didn't know their language at all and couldn't communicate at all. Secondly, his appearance was too terrifying. He was afraid that the moment he appeared, he would scare these people half to death, and maybe they would still... They swarmed up and fought him to the death.

He knew almost nothing about the customs and customs of this world, but comparing his feelings with his own, when faced with a big monster that he couldn't speak the language of, as long as he was a normal person, he would give priority to running away or fighting. Those who were so nervous that they wanted to have friendly exchanges with the big monster, Either the protagonist full of love and courage in fairy tales, or the "can't die" in funny animations.

Anyway, the people in this village don't look like that.

After some time, the vines in the fields became thicker and thicker, and the golden veins on the leaves became more obvious. When the villagers looked at them, they often had smiles on their faces, probably anticipating the joy of a good harvest.

But the strange thing is that they often show worries and uneasiness, which surprises Sui Xiong.

After a while, they even stopped logging. Under the leadership of the bald guard, all the young and middle-aged men, regardless of gender, began combat training together, training in the skills of using axes and hammers. There are also many people who are busy making shields out of wood, as if they are going to fight.

Sui Xiong observed them curiously, not understanding where their worries came from or who they wanted to go to war with.

But he was secretly happy - looking at the appearance of these villagers, it was obvious that the upcoming battle would be very dangerous. When the time comes, as long as he appears as a friendly force, even if he cannot be welcomed, at least he will not be regarded as an enemy.

This is the opportunity he has been waiting for for a long time!