Benjamin's heart skipped a beat.
His water element sensing method might be discovered by some mentally sharp people, so when he entered the door, he put away the sensing method and told the system to pay more attention to the situation. And it is rare for the system to be so conscientious and discover the problem so quickly.
"What's weird?" He asked in his heart while smiling and greeting the three elders.
"There is a dungeon under this house, and there are more than a dozen people locked up in it." The system replied, "Although this is nothing, but... those people seem to be mages."
… dungeon? Mage
Benjamin had some doubts in his heart.
In such a secluded village, it seems that there should be no such thing as a dungeon. However, it doesn't seem strange that these three people, as elders, built a secret dungeon in order to maintain order or out of their own selfish desires.
If one's own mage makes a mistake and is imprisoned, no outsider can interfere.
But... From the attitudes of those mages to the dungeon under the current house, the doubts about this village are indeed increasing little by little. Benjamin also had to be vigilant and carefully observe the other party's expression and posture.
"I heard from Luke that your Excellency wants to fight against the church, is that true?" In reality, the elder finally let go of his hand and asked very kindly.
Benjamin nodded.
"It's amazing. Today's young people really have ideals." Another elder immediately patted him on the shoulder and said, "Although we are hiding in this place, we can still give you some support. Aren't you short of manpower? ? I will ask in the valley tomorrow to see if anyone is willing to follow you."
"...Thank you very much."
Benjamin took a deep breath, suppressed the feeling of disobedience in his heart, and said this.
If he was still a little hesitant just now, now after hearing these words, he was already very sure that there was something wrong with this place!
This elder's acting is a bit exaggerated.
How could anyone have such an attitude over and over again? The front foot showed an attitude that it had nothing to do with him, and the back foot became so enthusiastic. Is there really no ulterior purpose behind this? No one would believe it.
Besides, given the attitude of the mage in this place, it is absolutely impossible for him to follow Benjamin. The elder was obviously lying.
But he still couldn't understand, why would these people do this
If you are hiding in the middle of the mountain, then hide well and don't make it windy and rainy all day long. As a result, it turns out that ordinary mages are behaving strangely, and the top leaders are hiding their knives in their smiles. This quiet village in the valley can't help but be cast under the veil of conspiracy.
Are they...really mages living in seclusion in the mountains
"Besides that dungeon, what else did you find?" Thinking about this, Benjamin asked the system in his mind.
"Don't worry, I'm still sorting it out." The system replied, "I have scanned all the documents and books here into the database, and I should be able to analyze the origins of these people."
"Okay...come on."
In this way, Benjamin argued with the three elders for a while, but he didn't come up with any new tricks, and turned around and left after more than ten minutes. With Luke seeing him off, he returned to the camp set up by the village and immediately gave the mages a secret order.
—Pack your things quietly and be ready to leave at any time.
This village is very strange, and there are more mages than them. Who knows who will win and who will lose in a fight? If something happened, it would be the best thing for them to do.
Then he hid in his tent.
"How's it going? Have you analyzed it?" he asked in his mind.
"Well... that's it." The system said hesitantly, "But you should be mentally prepared first. The origins of these guys... are a bit scary."
Benjamin shrugged and said: "Come on, what kind of big winds and waves have I never seen before? No matter what happens again, I will not be scared."
"Okay, I'll just say it." The system adjusted its tone and said slowly, "Actually, these people are not the mages who have been hiding from all over Carites in the past few months. According to what I just scanned, The books record that this village hidden in the mountains has existed for tens of thousands of years."
“…”
Benjamin turned his head and glanced at the peaceful village under the night, and suddenly felt a creepy feeling.
"...You continue." He took a deep breath and said to the system.
The system also pretended to be a documentary narrator and said slowly: "As for the mages here, they were born in this place, live in this place, and rarely leave the Kandela Mountains in their lives. According to the literature, their life The method has existed since thousands of years ago, and has been passed down through incest marriages and the capture of slaves from outside, and continues to this day.”
At this point, it seemed to pause deliberately before continuing: "In their documents, they call the place where they are hiding the 'Valley of God's Abandonment'."
Benjamin was stunned at the time.
… Is this the Valley of God’s Abandonment
At that moment, he immediately took out the bracelet that might be the "key" from his bag and held it in his hand.
He took a deep breath, shook his bracelet towards the sky, and gathered some mental power into it. However, the bracelet is still the same as before, without any change.
Benjamin frowned.
"Forget it... you go ahead." After thinking for a moment, he put away the bracelet and asked in his mind, "If it's just an ancient tribe of mages, why are their attitudes so capricious? What else have you analyzed? ?”
The Valley of the Gods Abandoned is originally a legend. Some say it is in the desert at the edge of the world, some say it is in the heart of the mountain where Benjamin is, and some say it does not exist at all... Every place has a different version, so there is no need to be too persistent. .
—It’s better to care about their current situation.
However, what Benjamin didn't expect was that the location of the Valley of God's Abandonment was not the only difference in the original version.
"In this case, I have to tell you the origin legend of this place first so that you can understand it easier." The system worked hard to organize the language and said, "The background of the story is still the same. A long time ago, a pair of brothers jumped out and wanted to save mankind. In water and fire. But the difference in this version is that they believe that the ancestor of magic is not his brother Cain, but his brother Abel."
“…”
Benjamin was speechless.
It's really powerful to change it back and forth. Which one supports magic and which one supports divine magic? Don't tell him that the brothers also had their identities secretly changed.
The system continued: "In their legend, there is no god of light or magic, only one demon. In order to defeat the demon, Abel sacrificed his brother with his own hands in exchange for powerful power—that is, magic. And in After being sacrificed, Cain became undead and possessed some incredible abilities. So, he and Abel defeated the devil and saved the world."
"From then on, Abel became the god of this world. However, the fact that he sacrificed his brother with his own hands was still too much for him to bear. Gradually, he became more and more taciturn and moody. In the end, Abel's heart was filled with despair. Devoured. In pain, he returned to the place where he sacrificed Cain - the mountainside below our feet, and ended his life. Because the world called him a god, his death was also regarded as a kind of abandonment. This place is called the Valley of God’s Abandonment.”
Hearing this, Benjamin couldn't help but shook his head.
Sacrifice, suicide... This version of the story is really gloomy, and it fits in well with the atmosphere here. The only thing that feels better is that the brothers here kill each other consensually, which is slightly more humane than other versions. a little.
And... Although this version of Abel is called a god, he is still quite human and will commit suicide out of guilt.
However, having heard countless versions of this story, Benjamin would definitely not take it seriously. The mages here write that they were inherited from thousands of years ago, so are they really inherited from thousands of years ago
The questions he raised have yet to be answered.
"But... what does their origin story have to do with their strange attitude towards me?" Benjamin asked.
"Of course it does matter." The system returned to its light tone and said, "Because in the story, Abel sacrificed Cain by killing him and eating him bite by bite in exchange for magic. Power. Therefore, in order to follow their gods, the mages here will regularly eat people as sacrifices, especially mages of the same kind. And they seem to think that the more powerful mages are, the more useful they are to eat."