Maintaining Morale is Key

Chapter 27: Maintaining Morale is Key

"These words..."

Looking at the tricks Yuan Chen was pulling, Mordas had a hint of suspicion on his face. He rubbed the chin of his lion face with his large palm and said uncertainly:

"Will this work? The villagers aren't fools..."

"I'm not expecting a few slogans to be useful forever, but the atmosphere has to be built up. Otherwise, they'll forget what they're supposed to be doing."

Yuan Chen paid no mind to Mordas's words, as he didn't intend to fool the villagers with just a few slogans. If he truly wanted to maintain their enthusiasm until a month later, when all the preparatory work for the dragon hunt was finished, more than just a few slogans would be needed.

"Slogans play a supporting role, adding flowers to brocade. To maximize their enthusiasm, they need to understand the vast difference between the prefecture and the village."

As he spoke, Yuan Chen's gaze drifted towards the woods in the distance--

Mordas knew that was Nedeli's beast den, where all the higher-level Elementals from the village and the Lupe family were performing Spell Engraving and Position Enchantment.

"We also need a genuine townsman to tell them about the good life in the city. And, incidentally, let these townsfolk, who have grown accustomed to country life, recall the preferential treatment they once received."

Seeing the mischievous smile on Yuan Chen's face, Mordas tilted his head and thought for a moment. He seemed to understand something but didn't say much, just nodded in agreement.

Yuan Chen didn't use any fancy tricks with calligraphy--

In Ionia, which advocated Harmony and Tranquility, the Way of Calligraphy was also popular.

But the problem was that Ixialia's language was completely different from Ionia's. Moreover, no matter how good the calligraphy, it would be limited in terms of slogans. And Yuan Chen's ability in calligraphy was clearly far less diligent than his in dancing...

Yuan Chen's Dancer level was Lv6, while his Calligraphy was at most Lv2. Unlike Main Professions and Combat Professions, which were closely related to combat power, Lv2 calligraphy was barely presentable...

So, Yuan Chen simply wrote neatly arranged, square characters that were easy to understand all over the village.

When I say all over the village, I mean most of them were on the paths villagers frequented. Such as intersections, the village entrance, streets, and the walls of some houses. After Yuan Chen finished writing the slogans in Ixialian, he then let Nedeli down.

Seeing that there was nothing else, Nedeli, with a displeased expression, shook her tail to dry the remaining white paint. Due to the strong adhesion of the white paint, Nedeli had to use magic to expel the sticky white liquid during the process.

With a hint of revenge, Mordas, standing beside Yuan Chen, was not stained at all, while Yuan Chen was speckled all over with white spots from the flung paint.

Even so, Nedeli gritted her teeth and said hatefully, "If you do this again, I'll bite you to death once I'm healed!" As she spoke, Nedeli, in her cougar form, angrily swished her tail, whipping the ground like a little whip.

"Alright, I'll be careful." Yuan Chen gave an OK sign and then said, "Speaking of which, you're quite knowledgeable in Herbalism, aren't you?"

Upon hearing this, Nedeli narrowed her eyes. After a moment, a hard-to-describe, somewhat sinister, humanized teasing appeared on her cougar face: "You want to learn?"

"..."

Yuan Chen remained silent, for in the cougar's smile, he sensed the aura of an Evil Animal Villain from Disney.

"I'll teach you~"

Nedeli enthusiastically offered what Yuan Chen had been thinking. But this initiative made Yuan Chen even more vigilant—offering unsolicited favors, clearly dishonest or a thief!

Although he realized there was a problem, for Yuan Chen, who had already decided to travel far and wide, Herbalism was indeed a Survival Necessity.

Putting aside making poison, he could at least distinguish which plants were harmless and which were poisonous. If necessary, finding herbs for healing would be even better...

Level 6 Herbalism, while a Life Profession, was not to be underestimated.

Generally, leveling up Life Professions was easier than Main Professions or Combat Professions.

For example, with the same amount of energy, if a person could reach Level 2 in Elemental Magic, then with the same energy, attention, and talent, his Life Profession might reach Level 3.

Of course, this did not mean Life Professions were always less important than Combat Professions—

Enchanters were also Life Professions, yet they were still highly sought after, weren't they?

It was just that reaching higher levels in Life Professions later on required just as much effort as in Combat Professions.

And a person's energy was limited. In this magical world, limited energy was clearly most valuable when used to improve strength—unless one had extremely high talent in certain Life Professions.

Of course, depending on the customs and environment, some professions could also shift between Life Professions and Combat Professions.

For instance, Yuan Chen's "Dancer" was elegant and deadly in Ionia. But in a Noxus's shady tavern, a dancer might only be able to strip and spin around a steel pipe...

Level 6 Herbalism meant Nedeli had fully mastered the habits and pairings of every plant, and could create potions with different effects. Across all of Runeterra, there might not be many Herbalism masters comparable to Nedeli.

Thinking this, although he knew Nedeli would seize the opportunity for retaliation, Yuan Chen could only grit his teeth and accept.

As expected, when Yuan Chen once again took Nedeli to the jungle to learn plant identification, he soon received her Merciless Taunt.

"Ha, idiot, this is a Corpse Yin Tulip. Smell its roots, doesn't it have the stench of rotten flesh? If you make medicine from this, do you want the wound to suppurate? It has more insect eggs than your hair!"

"Moon Pearl? A nice flower, but it's useless. Eating too much makes you drowsy."

"This is Many Sleep Ginseng. The stem and flower are useless, but the roots can be used in medicine to strengthen Heart Function. If you encounter it in the wild, you can use magic to ripen it, though the medicinal effect will be somewhat lost."

As she spoke, Nedeli's brow twitched as if sensing something, and she said, "This one isn't right. This Many Sleep Ginseng is poisoned."

"Poisoned? Plants can get poisoned?"

Yuan Chen seemed somewhat surprised.

"Yeah, there should be a Night Swift Orchid nearby. The floral scent of this flower affects the growth of Many Sleep Ginseng, causing it to change nature."

Although she initially intended to teach out of a desire for revenge, upon discovering that Yuan Chen was genuinely studying and truly understanding the wilderness, Nedeli's hostility greatly diminished, and she gradually began to answer Yuan Chen's questions one by one.

including how to determine a plant's habits, toxicity, efficacy, and so on, without ever having seen it before.

And during this process, Yuan Chen also learned why Nedeli had such a high level of Herbalism—Wilderness Blessing.

Nedeli's trait, Wilderness Blessing, wasn't just useful in combat, evasion, and tracking; it also enhanced Nedeli's ability to distinguish plants.

She only needed to get close, not even fully touching with her palm, for Nedeli to understand the plant through Wilderness Perception.

This protection from Wilderness Consciousness was more outrageous than bringing Bear himself along, as Bear couldn't erase footsteps and movement traces like Wilderness Consciousness could.

At the same time, Yuan Chen understood why Nedeli had healing abilities in League of Legends. In the background story of League of Legends, many characters could heal, and there were many skills in the game that could restore health to allied heroes. However, Nedeli was unique in that her healing method in the background story was traditional "Herbalism" rather than magic, and it also became a usable healing skill in the game.

As a trait, Wilderness Blessing was a bit too overpowered. Even among other Epic-grade traits, this kind of blessing made Yuan Chen gasp slightly—

In comparison, Lupe's Earth Aura, which was only one rank lower than Wilderness Blessing and of Excellent quality, was completely outmatched in terms of effect.

Perhaps this was the difference between an ordinary genius and a chosen one...

Yuan Chen studied with Nedeli in the small forest for a whole day, and by the end, he felt dizzy before returning.

When he returned, Lupe was already waiting at the Village Entrance. Seeing Yuan Chen, the old woman's expression was subtly displeased. She pointed to the village and asked, "What are you trying to do?"

"Set the mood. We can't have morale collapse before we even start the Dragon Hunt."

Hearing Yuan Chen's words, Lupe's expression didn't improve much. She continued to inquire, "Then why did Mordas have me wait for you here? Don't forget, we're just cooperating. I'm not your subordinate."

"For our common interests." Yuan Chen gestured towards the villagers who had just returned from the quarry, forest, and Beast Den after a day of hard work. "You can't rest yet, because everyone else is also tired."

"..." Hearing this, Lupe narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean?"

"When people are tired, they want to give up. Especially this sudden burst of enthusiasm—it comes and goes quickly. If you don't stabilize their morale, anything you say will be in vain."

Upon hearing this, Lupe looked back. Just as Yuan Chen said, when the villagers set out in the morning, they were all excited and enthusiastic, eager to get things done.

But now, after a day of hard work, every villager was exhausted, with none of the morning's enthusiasm remaining.

"If this continues, they'll decide to give up before long."

After a moment of silence, Lupe nodded, clearly agreeing. In fact, she understood these villagers very well.

Many of them had never been to a major Prefecture. To them, a Prefecture might just be a slightly larger village. Now that their initial excitement had faded, it was perfectly normal for them to want to return to their former comfort.

After all, Ixialia's general atmosphere was extremely conservative and resistant to change.

"So now we need someone to tell them about the benefits of the Prefecture, its vastness, and the differences between the Prefecture and the village.

Make them truly realize that, as people of Ixialia, there are so many different ways of life."

"...I understand."

Lupe nodded, then unhurriedly walked towards the village, starting to share her past life and her experiences in the prefecture.

A village far from human habitation, nestled deep in the mountains, doesn't have many forms of entertainment, especially at night. Regardless of gender, there are only a few things people can do.

Besides chatting together, there's also cooling off in the evening breeze. Now, with Lupe actively starting to recount her life and experiences in Yishuaoken, almost all the villagers gathered around her.

This included those who, weary from exhaustion, felt disheartened and wanted to abandon their current work to return to their former peaceful lives. Upon hearing Lupe's stories, their eyes revealed a glimmer of longing, and they began to ask continuous questions about the prefecture.

In truth, Lupe initially just wanted to maintain morale. But as she spoke, and as she continuously recalled past glory, prosperity, and nobility, coupled with the current decline and hardship of her own family, even Lupe herself couldn't quite control her emotions. She began to describe the wonders of the prefecture with even more vigor and sincerity.

The preliminary preparations for a Dragon Hunt would take at least a month—

Mainly because the suppression effect of Azure Starfire was too overwhelming. Otherwise, even with a year to prepare, Yuan Chen wouldn't have entertained any thoughts of confronting a Dragon.

Yuan Chen wasn't worried that Lupe would run out of stories... because Lupe wasn't exiled to this village alone; she was a direct descendant of her entire family. In such circumstances, each person could talk for a day and a night without repeating themselves.

Recalling the glorious years of the past.

Having experienced different ups and downs at various ages and stages of life, people always have endless stories to tell when they start reminiscing. So many memories, from different perspectives, enriched the villagers' imagination of the prefecture, enough to let the hundreds of households in this village dream for two to three months.

As the conversation was in full swing, the Meat-toothed Beasts delivered the prepared roasted meat to the village. The aroma of meat filled the air, and the Meat-toothed Beasts' enthusiasm made the villagers feel a bit embarrassed, so they took out their stored wine.

Amidst the clinking of cups and plates, merriment spread to every corner of the village. Although they had worked hard all day, people's spirits were even more fully ignited.

Seeing this, Yuan Chen raised an eyebrow and teased Mordas, "Well now~ Learning to build relationships so quickly, are we~"

Yuan Chen knew that these Meat-toothed Beasts preferred to be with their own kind and didn't have the habit of drinking with outsiders. Their active toasting now was clearly instigated by someone.

Mordas, however, remained composed.

"People have to learn to grow, don't they~"