"These words..."
Watching Yuan Chen's antics, Mordas wore a trace of suspicion. He rubbed his broad palm along the lion's chin, looking uncertain as he said,
"Will this really work? The villagers aren't fools..."
"I never expected a few slogans to keep working forever, but we need to build up the atmosphere. Otherwise, they'll soon forget what they're supposed to be doing."
Yuan Chen didn't mind Mordas's words. He hadn't expected a few slogans to fool the villagers into sticking with it. If he really wanted to keep their enthusiasm alive until a month from now, when all the preliminary preparations for the Dragon Hunt were complete, a few slogans wouldn't be enough.
"The slogans are just an aid, a nice finishing touch. If we want to keep their enthusiasm up as much as possible, we need to help them understand just how big the gap is between the counties and the villages."
As he spoke, Yuan Chen gazed toward the distant woods—
Mordas knew that was Nedeli's Beast Den. All the higher-level elemental mages from the village and the Lupe Family were there, working on Spell Engraving and Position Enchantment.
"We also need a real city dweller to tell them about how wonderful life in the city is. And while we're at it, we can remind those city folk who've grown used to country life of the privileges they once enjoyed."
Seeing the sly smile on Yuan Chen's face, Mordas tilted his head and thought for a moment. He seemed to understand something, but said nothing, simply nodding along.
Yuan Chen hadn't resorted to any fancy tricks with calligraphy—
In Ionia, where Harmony and Tranquility were prized, the Way of Calligraphy was also widely practiced.
The problem was that Ixialian and Ionian were completely different languages. Besides, no matter the style of calligraphy, slogans had their limitations, and Yuan Chen had clearly worked far harder to master dancing than calligraphy...
Yuan Chen's Dancer level was lv6, while his calligraphy could be at most lv2. Unlike his Main Profession and Combat Profession, both of which were closely tied to combat prowess, level 2 calligraphy was merely passable...
So Yuan Chen simply wrote neat, square, easy-to-understand characters all over the village.
When he said everywhere, he meant mostly along the paths everyone had to take through the village: crossroads, the Village Entrance, streets, and the walls of some houses. Once Yuan Chen had finished writing the slogans in Ixialian, he let Nedeli down.
Seeing that there was nothing else to do, Nedeli flicked her tail with an annoyed look, shaking off the White Paint still clinging to it. Since the paint stuck so stubbornly, she had to use magic to expel the sticky white liquid.
Perhaps out of spite, she left Mordas, standing beside Yuan Chen, completely unstained, while Yuan Chen was speckled with white spots from head to toe.
Even so, Nedeli gritted her teeth and said,
"If you keep this up, I'll bite you to death once I've recovered!" As she spoke, Nedeli, in Cougar Form, irritably swished her tail, whipping the ground like a little lash.
"Sure, I'll be careful." Yuan Chen made an OK sign, then said,
"By the way, you know a lot about herbalism, right?"
At that, Nedeli narrowed her eyes. A moment later, an indescribably sinister, almost humanlike smirk appeared on the cougar's face. "You want to learn?"
"..."
Yuan Chen said nothing. In that cougar's smile, he sensed the spirit of a wicked animal villain from Disney.
"I'll teach you~"
Nedeli eagerly offered to teach him exactly what he wanted to learn. But that eagerness only made Yuan Chen more wary—when someone offered help for no reason, there was usually a catch!
Even though he sensed something was off, herbalism was essential for survival if he was determined to travel far and wide.
He didn't need to make poisons; at the very least, he needed to tell which plants were harmless and which were poisonous. It would be even better if he could find medicinal herbs for treating injuries when the need arose...
Herbalism at LV6 was a Life Profession, but it was still nothing to scoff at.
Life Professions were usually easier to level up than Main Professions and Combat Professions.
For example, with the same amount of effort, someone might raise their Elemental Magic to LV2. With the same effort, focus, and talent, they might raise their Life Profession to LV3.
Of course, that didn't mean Life Professions were always less important than Combat Professions—
An enchanter was a practitioner of a Life Profession, and people still clamored for their services, didn't they?
It was just that reaching higher levels in a Life Profession took no less effort than in a Combat Profession.
A person's energy was limited, and in this magical world, using that limited energy to improve one's strength was clearly the most valuable choice—unless they had exceptional talent in a particular Life Profession.
Of course, depending on customs and circumstances, some professions could fall under either Life Professions or Combat Professions.
Take Yuan Chen's "Dancer," for example. In Ionia, dancers combined elegance with lethality. But in a Noxian burlesque tavern, a dancer might only be able to twirl around a Steel Pipe while taking off their clothes...
Herbalism at LV6 meant Nedeli had completely mastered the habits and combinations of every kind of plant, and could make potions with different effects as needed. Across all of Runeterra, there might not be many herbalism masters who could rival Nedeli.
Knowing that Nedeli would definitely take the opportunity to get back at him, Yuan Chen could only grit his teeth and accept.
Sure enough, the next time Yuan Chen carried Nedeli into the forest to learn how to identify herbs, he was soon subjected to her merciless mockery.
"Ha, idiot! This is a Corpse Yin Tulip. Smell its stem and roots. Doesn't it reek of rotting flesh? If you made medicine out of this, were you trying to make the wound fester? It's got more insect eggs inside than you have hairs on your head!"
"Moon Pearl? Nice flower, but it's not much use. Eat too much and you'll get sleepy."
"This is Many Sleep Ginseng. The stem and flower aren't much use, but the roots can be used as medicine to strengthen the heart. If you find one in the wild, you can use magic to force it to mature, though that'll weaken its effects somewhat."
As she spoke, Nedeli's brows lifted as if she'd sensed something. "This one's no good. This Many Sleep Ginseng has been poisoned."
"Poisoned? Plants can get poisoned?"
Yuan Chen looked surprised.
"Mm. There's probably Night Swift Orchid nearby. The scent of its flowers affects the growth of Many Sleep Ginseng and makes it Change Nature."
At first, she'd taught him out of a desire for revenge. But when she realized Yuan Chen was genuinely studying hard and sincerely trying to understand the wilderness, Nedeli's hostility eased. Little by little, she began answering his questions one by one.
She even explained how to identify a plant's habits, toxicity, and uses without ever having seen it before.
During this process, Yuan Chen also learned why Nedeli's Herbalism level was so high: Wilderness Blessing.
Nedeli's Wilderness Blessing didn't just help her in combat, escape, and tracking; it also sharpened her ability to identify plants.
All she had to do was get close. She didn't even need to touch a plant with her hand; she could learn about it through Wilderness Perception.
This protection from Wilderness Consciousness was even more ridiculous than having Bear tag along everywhere. After all, Bear couldn't get Wilderness Consciousness to erase your footsteps and tracks for you, too.
Yuan Chen also understood why Nedeli had healing abilities in League of Legends. In League of Legends lore, many characters could heal, and the game had plenty of skills that restored health to allied champions. But Nedeli was the only one whose lore described her using the traditional method of "herbalism" rather than magic to heal, and who also had a healing skill players could use in the game.
As a Trait, Wilderness Blessing was almost absurdly powerful. Even among other Epic-grade Traits, its effects left Yuan Chen slightly stunned—
By comparison, Lupe's Earth Aura, which was only one rank lower and of Excellent quality, was so thoroughly outclassed that it wasn't even worth mentioning.
Maybe that was just the difference between an ordinary genius and someone truly blessed by heaven...
Yuan Chen spent the whole day studying in the woods with Nedeli. By the end, his vision was swimming, and only then did he head back.
When he returned, Lupe was already waiting at the Village Entrance. Seeing Yuan Chen, the old woman looked faintly displeased. Pointing toward the village, she asked, "What are you trying to do?"
"Build up the atmosphere, so they don't lose heart and give up before we even get to the Dragon Hunt."
Yuan Chen's words did little to improve Lupe's expression. She continued, "Then why did Mordas ask me to wait here for you? Don't forget, we're partners. I'm not your subordinate."
"For our mutual benefit." Yuan Chen nodded toward the villagers, who had just returned to the village after a busy day at the quarry, in the woods, and at the Beast Den. "They can't rest yet, because everyone else is tired too."
"..." Lupe narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean?"
"When people get tired, they start wanting to give up. That's especially true of this kind of sudden burst of enthusiasm. It fades as quickly as it comes. If we don't shore up their morale, nothing we say will matter."
At that, Lupe turned to look behind her. Just as Yuan Chen had said, when the villagers had set out that morning, they'd been full of excitement and enthusiasm, eager to get to work.
But now, after a whole day of hard work, they were all exhausted, and their daytime enthusiasm had vanished.
"If this keeps up, they'll decide to give up before long."
After hearing Yuan Chen, Lupe fell silent for a moment, then nodded. Clearly, she thought so too... More accurately, she knew these villagers well.
Many of them had never even been to a large county. To them, a county might as well have been just a bigger village. Now that their enthusiasm had worn off, it was perfectly natural for them to want to return to their old, peaceful lives.
After all, Ixialia itself was deeply conservative and old-fashioned, and resistant to change.
"So now we need someone to tell them about the county: how wonderful and how grand it is, and how different it is from a village.
"They need to truly understand that even among Yixialians, there can be so many different ways of life."
"...I understand."
Lupe nodded, then made her way into the village at an unhurried pace and began sharing stories of her past life and what she'd seen in the county.
A remote village deep in the mountains didn't have much in the way of entertainment, especially at night. Men and women alike had only a handful of things to do.
Besides chatting in groups, they could sit together to escape the heat. Now, as Lupe began telling them about her life in Yishuaoken and what she'd seen there, nearly all the villagers gathered around her.
That included those who were already disheartened by exhaustion and wanted to abandon their current work and return to their peaceful old lives. As they listened to Lupe, longing shone in their eyes, and one after another, they asked all sorts of questions about the county.
At first, Lupe had only meant to help maintain morale. But as she spoke, she gradually recalled the glory, prosperity, and prestige of the past.
Remembering how far her family had fallen and how destitute they'd become, even Lupe could no longer hold back. She began speaking of the county's splendors with greater passion and sincerity.
The preliminary preparations for the Dragon Hunt would take at least a month—
The Azure Starfire's suppressive effect was simply too powerful. Otherwise, Yuan Chen wouldn't have given a thought to taking on a dragon, even with a whole year to prepare.
Yuan Chen wasn't worried that Lupe would run out of stories to tell... She hadn't been exiled to this village alone; the whole family's direct line had been sent there. In that situation, every one of them could talk for a day and a night without stopping.
How the glory days of the past had flown by.
People went through different highs and lows at different ages and stages of life. Whenever they started reminiscing, they always had more to say. With so many people recalling the past from different perspectives, they could build up the villagers' idea of the county well enough to give hundreds of households in the village dreams to last two or three months.
Just as the conversation was reaching its peak, the Meat-toothed Beasts brought the prepared barbecue into the village. The savory aroma filled the air. The Meat-toothed Beasts' hospitality made the villagers feel awkward, so they brought out their hidden liquor in turn.
As they drank and exchanged toasts, laughter and chatter spread to every corner of the village. Though they'd been busy all day, the villagers' enthusiasm only seemed to blossom more fully,
Yuan Chen raised his brows at Mordas and teased him. "Not bad~ You've learned how to make connections so quickly~"
Yuan Chen knew that the Meat-toothed Beasts preferred spending time with their own kind and didn't usually drink with other races. Their willingness to raise their cups with the villagers now clearly meant someone had told them to.
Mordas, however, remained composed.
"People have to learn and grow, don't they~"
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