Going to the Battlefield is Impossible

Under the cover of night, emboldened by a victory that remained yet hollow, those Amani warriors—their bodies marked by piercing scars and decorated with colorful war paint—responded to the call of the Horde and rushed with their weapons toward the battlefield against the Alliance.

Seven or eight out of every ten able-bodied trolls had been drafted away from Zul'Aman, leaving behind only the elderly, the young, and the commoners to begin preparations for the great harvest before autumn. Tian Sang began to fulfill his duties as a Witch Doctor, while simultaneously gaining exposure to the full scope of Amani Forest Trolls society.

Amani Trolls society was structured with the Chieftain as the military leader, overseeing all affairs and serving as the object of physical obedience for all trolls. Beneath the Chieftain, Witch Doctor priests and Shadow Hunter served as the ruling class, acting as the spiritual pillars for the commoners.

Below the Witch Doctor priests and high-ranking hunters, low-level warriors and hunters served as the governing force, while women and artisans comprised the commoner class. As for those beneath the commoners, there were criminals, slaves, and captives, who were mostly treated as emergency food reserves.

In this society, every stratum had its own responsibilities: low-level warriors and hunters were responsible for capturing, while women and artisans were responsible for production and gathering.

As for the Witch Doctor priests and high-ranking hunters, aside from soothing the spiritual emptiness and pressure of the people and treating their injuries and illnesses, they also shouldered the burden of resolving various life problems for the tribe.

They guided the clansmen on when and where to gather and hunt to ensure sufficient food while guaranteeing the environment could sustain them long-term, using signs to predict the arrival of famine seasons and preparing countermeasures.

Many Witch Doctor priests scoffed at such practical knowledge, but Kal'ma was a troll Witch Doctor with ideals, so as his apprentice, Tian Sang's mind was filled with a great deal of this information.

It's fortunate that I transmigrated as a soul and inherited these memories; if I had arrived here in my own body, I'd likely have been sacrificed and thrown into a pot by the trolls the moment I appeared! Tian Sang looked at the vast, rugged mountains and forests, thinking of the essential knowledge in his mind with a mix of relief and lament.

If he had arrived in Zul'Aman in his own body, he would have had zero chance of survival. Now that he had transmigrated as a soul and become a troll, though he was a bit ugly, he had at least survived and inherited a wealth of knowledge for survival and development. It would be even better if not for that confusion of identity.

Tian Sang lived in this alien world in the body of a troll, his mind absorbing the memories of the young troll Zul'ra. As time passed, the feeling of Zhuangzi dreaming of a butterfly grew stronger; he could not tell if he was a human who had dreamed of becoming a troll, or a troll who had awakened from a dream of being a human.

"Am I Zhuangzi, or am I the butterfly?" Tian Sang gazed at the mountains and forests, muttering to himself unconsciously.

"Zul'ra." A slightly hoarse call came from the side. Tian Sang turned his head to see a female troll walking toward him, covered in green moss. She possessed the small tusks and long, pointed ears common to other female trolls, with a copper ring hanging beneath her nose signifying her married status, and her arms, hanging from her shoulders, were incredibly powerful.

"Haimuxi, have you all finished resting?" Tian Sang looked at the approaching female troll and cast aside the small questions in his heart; whether as a troll or a human, staying alive was the most important thing.

"Of course." The female troll Haimuxi nodded.

"Then let's begin! Today, we start by gathering root tubers and sweet potatoes. For root tubers, only harvest plants that are knee-high; for sweet potatoes, only harvest those with yellowing or withered leaves. Leave the little ones behind to handle the sorting." Tian Sang issued the standards for the harvest.

The trolls were a semi-hunting and gathering society. Although they gathered food in the wild, most of the gathering areas were cordoned off and protected by them to prevent beasts from destroying them, functioning as a form of natural cultivation and free-range farming.

Natural wild farming meant the harvest could not be gathered all at once like in a farm. Furthermore, selective and orderly harvesting, in addition to classification and processing, required careful handling of the plants, including cuttings and replanting, to ensure there would be more to take the following year.

"Understood, we will begin now." Haimuxi was not one for many words; she nodded and immediately relayed the instructions.

Soon, the manpower was allocated. The female trolls pulled the root tubers and potatoes that met the standards from the ground and handed them to Tian Sang, who directed the troll whelps in sorting and processing them. Once transported back to Zul'Aman, they would still need to be weighed and properly stored.

The trolls had a wide variety of food sources. Daily fishing and hunting meat served only as side dishes; starch-heavy foods like root tubers, flour-fruit, potatoes, and chestnuts were their staples. Supplementary foods included berries, wild dates, bananas, and fungi, and they also consumed protein-rich insects and snakes.

Although their food sources were broad, their backward production methods and tedious gathering meant that food could not always meet their needs. Thus, in times of hunger, they would reach out toward humans or even their own kind, which was one of the roots of the troll practice of cannibalism.

Kal'ma's requirement was to gather as much food as possible, without setting an upper limit. However, Tian Sang knew deep down that the Horde would be defeated, so he went all out, gathering even wild vegetables, wild radishes, and tomatoes that they usually didn't eat.

Beyond just gathering, Tian Sang also attempted to plant some wild-found long melons, winter melons, tomatoes, and cabbage in the open spaces of the ancient city of Zul'Aman. One had to know that vegetables grew back after being harvested and grew very quickly, which could largely fill the gap left by a shortage of staples. The only difficulty was that the Amani Trolls didn't eat them, but they could be persuaded to try—it was all in the cooking!

After chopping the vegetables and stir-frying them with oil, salt, and meat, and stewing the leftover bones, tendons, and radishes into soup, the dishes didn't quite suit the Amani Trolls' tastes, but at the very least, they no longer resisted eating them, and it was easy to fill their stomachs. The only issue was the massive increase in the consumption of oil and salt, which required an increase in production.

During the great harvest, Tian Sang introduced cooking methods like stir-frying and steaming into Amani Trolls society, while also getting a close-up look at the Amani Trolls' own culinary recipes. Well, they certainly had strong tastes.

The Amani Trolls had their own culinary arts. They did not shy away from offal or raw meat, often letting meat and organs sit until they were slightly smelly and decomposed to enhance the umami and pungent flavors, similar to stinky tofu or fermented mandarin fish.

Although they had the bad habits of eating raw food and cannibalism, those were mostly reserved for sacrificial rituals. The Amani Trolls commoners actually preferred cooked food because it was easier on the stomach, and they didn't get to eat intelligent beings very often anyway. Another perspective on cannibalism was that it was a way to seize the power of intelligent beings through consumption, and not everyone had the opportunity to do so.

The Amani Trolls' cooking seasonings included oil, salt, and unique medicinal herbs and spices. Overall, they preferred heavy-flavored food. To cater to their tastes, Tian Sang also gathered the hearts and lungs of prey and vegetables, pickling them with salt for long-term storage and consumption.

The great harvest continued, and as Tian Sang led the Amani Trolls commoners, working while gaining a detailed understanding of their social life, the storage cellars of Zul'Aman were filled to the brim. Meanwhile, news from the front lines arrived from time to time, and the final result was not unexpected: the Horde had retreated.