First Words

In the blink of an eye, many days had passed.

The weather had grown a little colder. The leaves on the trees in the forest turned yellow one by one and fell. Looking into the distance from the hill during the day, all he could see was a mottled landscape, like a child's casually scribbled watercolor painting.

During these days, Richard had not been idle. While continuing his research into Magic Rune Spells, he had also been busy making all sorts of things. Though he had brought quite a few materials and instruments in his suitcase, they would eventually run out, so he had to make preparations early.

Thus, Richard began using chalk to make lime, extracting potash and soda ash from wood ash, dry-distilling wood to obtain acetic acid, acetone, and methanol, and producing sulfuric acid from sulfide ores.

During the process, crude structures began appearing in the clearing atop the hill: a windmill, a Mixed Feed Shaft Kiln, a Shallow Pool, and so on.

Pandora and Gregory neither approved nor objected to these changes, so Richard continued building.

During this time, Richard also discovered some other things. For instance, Gregory did not remain in the Dragon Cave all the time. Every so often, he would leave and fly elsewhere. Sometimes he returned after half a day; other times, he would not return for several days. Richard had no idea what he did.

As for Pandora, there was still no verbal communication whatsoever.

Generally speaking, even someone who was truly deaf and mute would make sounds like "ahh" and "ooh," but after spending so long around her, Richard had never seen any indication that she wanted to speak. Nearly all communication was completed with a glance or a gesture, and her meaning was conveyed clearly and precisely.

For example: "Stay farther away," "Farther," "Even farther," and "Don't talk to me."

Richard could not help but speculate that the reason she did not speak was not because she could not understand or could not talk, but because...

That night, darkness surged in from the distance like a tide. The entire sky was like a flooded beach, rapidly dimming.

After studying Magic Rune Spells for an entire day, Richard walked out of the castle and exhaled a breath of stale air. The clearing before the castle was silent, with only the windmill turning with a creak-creak sound.

Gregory had flown away the day before yesterday and had yet to return. Pandora was nowhere to be found either.

Though he knew the father and daughter were both strange, Richard could not help thinking, Were they really that unconcerned about leaving me here? Aren't they afraid I'll take all the jewels from the Dragon Cave and run away? Of course, it was quite possible that Gregory's stinking Dragon Cave contained no jewels at all, only trash and broken stones.

As he thought this, Richard heard a series of footsteps. Tap, tap, tap—it was Pandora. But mixed in with her footsteps was the sound of something heavy being dragged across the ground. Scrape, scrape.

"Hm?" Richard turned his head and saw Pandora, dressed in purple, walking up from the foot of the hill. Behind her, she dragged a massive tree several decades old, over ten meters long and more than thirty centimeters in diameter. Its roots still clung to plenty of soil, as though it had just been pulled from the ground. Pandora coldly dragged it into the clearing atop the hill and dropped it with a bang.

"What is this for?" Richard wondered. "Transplanting a tree to add some greenery to the hill? But... the survival rate for transplanting in autumn isn't very high, is it?"

Pandora said nothing. After setting down the tree, she frowned slightly, as if considering something important.

A moment later, she reached out and walked over to the roots, snapping off all the remaining roots with several cracks. Then she walked to the crown and began breaking off the branches with her hands.

Crack, crack...

After quite a while, the entire tree in Pandora's hands had been reduced to nothing but its trunk. It looked like an enormous wooden club over ten meters long.

Pandora barely managed to wrap both arms around the trunk. The next moment, she suddenly swung it, and a whirlwind immediately swept across the entire clearing.

Whoosh!

Richard, standing nearby and watching, clicked his tongue softly. He was now certain that Pandora had not dragged the tree up here to transplant it. But what exactly was it for?

Whoosh! Whoosh! Pandora swung it twice more, seemingly testing its feel. A moment later, she hugged the trunk and frowned as she looked over the entire clearing before the castle. Somewhat disappointed, she tossed it aside, turned, and walked back down the hill, disappearing into the darkness.

Before long, Pandora returned. As expected, she dragged back another huge tree, one that looked older and heavier.

Using the same method, Pandora quickly stripped this tree down into the same shape as the last one and swung it again.

After swinging it several times, she shook her head once more, set it down, and walked down the hill.

After repeating this several times, there were now four enormous wooden clubs in the clearing, each over ten meters long and varying in thickness and weight.

After swinging the last club, Pandora blinked and showed a somewhat satisfied expression. Then, seeming to remember something, she tilted her head slightly and looked at Richard beside her.

"Don't wander around at night," Pandora said. After thinking for a moment, she added two more words with extreme reluctance. "Dangerous."

"Hm?" Richard raised an eyebrow. After a brief moment of surprise at Pandora's words, he understood. Then he figured out three things.

First, Pandora could indeed speak. At the very least, like Gregory, she could speak the common language of the current world.

Second, the reason Pandora had not spoken for so long was entirely because... well, she could not be bothered to speak. Or perhaps she was... aloof? It was also possible that her strange environment had shaped her unusual personality, such as autism. There were examples of this on Modern Earth. People who were autistic to a certain extent could go an entire year without saying a single word, whether to strangers or family, completely sealing themselves within an isolated world.

In short, it was not that she could not speak, but that she did not want to. Third, Pandora had not spoken for so long, yet she suddenly spoke today. Naturally, it could not be because she felt like it. Looking at her strange behavior, it was clear that something would happen tonight—something very dangerous.

What could it be? In the darkness, Richard narrowed his eyes slightly and looked toward the darkness below the hill. Long periods of meditation had strengthened his bodily senses to some degree, allowing Richard to keenly notice that after nightfall today, the forest had not become quiet. Instead, it had grown increasingly restless.

Awooo—

Roar, roar—

Hiss, hiss—

The cries of all kinds of wild beasts rose and fell, all entering Richard's ears.

"Is this... some kind of collective frenzy? A beast tide?" Richard's eyes flickered as he raised his head, sensing something, and looked into the night sky. An enormous moon emerged from behind the clouds, shining over the entire forest. He did not know whether it was an illusion, but compared to before, Richard felt that the moon seemed somewhat red at this moment, as though it had been stained with blood...

P.S. It isn't easy for a newcomer with a new book. If you dear readers think this book is good, please cast a few recommendation votes and leave a few comments. I would be immensely grateful, immensely grateful!