Bristlelimb Village

Bristlelimb Village is located in a flat valley.

Many years ago, this place was a home where the Furbolg of the Bristlelimb Tribe and the Night Elf lived in harmony.

Do not be fooled by the savage and rugged appearance of the Furbolg; they were once a kind and gentle race. They lived in symbiosis with nature and respected ancient covenants. It is a pity that during the War of the Ancients, the wild demigods who led the Furbolg, Ursol and Ursoc, sacrificed themselves in that conflict, which caused the Furbolg to lose their leadership.

As time passed, the once-united Furbolg began to split into many different tribes of varying sizes. Some of these Furbolg tribes began to fall into corruption, losing their kind nature and gradually turning feral; the Bristlelimb Tribe was one of them.

In order to avoid conflict with these poor Furbolg, the Night Elf banished them into the forest.

For a long time, the Furbolg in the forest and the Night Elf of Bristlelimb Village maintained a fragile balance, living in peace with one another. However, no one expected this tranquility to be suddenly shattered.

The group walked slowly along the winding valley path into the valley. The air was filled with a faint, pale mist, shrouding the surroundings like a light veil and blurring their vision.

Suddenly, someone in front exclaimed, "Who is it? Who's there?"

Before anyone else could speak, Laria, who was walking in the middle, gracefully raised her hand, made a gesture, and whispered, "The radiance of Elune guides us."

A faint white moonlight descended from the sky, dispelling the white mist that shrouded the valley entrance.

Beneath the white mist stood a sturdy outpost built against a massive ancient tree.

At this moment, several Night Elf holding bows and arrows stood atop the outpost, looking nervously toward the valley entrance.

Seeing that it was Kalei and the others, their faces lit up with joy, and they cheered, "Thank the Goddess, you have finally arrived."

One tall male elf gave a few instructions to a female elf. The female elf immediately slung her bow and arrows over her back, leaped from the outpost with the agility of an ape, and sprinted toward the depths of the valley, disappearing into the shadows of the woods in the blink of an eye.

The male elf also jumped down from the outpost and said loudly, "Welcome, I am Salomon Thunderfist. Welcome, brothers and sisters, to Bristlelimb Village."

Kalei recognized this fellow and knew he was a well-known gardener in Bristlelimb Village; he had not expected him to be a warrior as well.

However, it was not surprising. The Night Elf possess long lives and often study multiple professions. As long as Night Elf society has a need, these multi-classed individuals can immediately transform into warriors to join the battle. This is also the reason why, although the Night Elf population is relatively small, they are the strongest mortal race.

Salomon Thunderfist warmly invited everyone into the village, and they did not decline.

However, Linda and the others did not enter the village; they were left at the outpost by Arenia to take over Salomon's duties.

Seeing this, Kalei could not help but silently admire Arenia's thoughtfulness. He did not forget his duty for this trip, so he rode his Saber forward and said, "Good evening, Uncle Salomon."

Hearing the greeting, Salomon turned his head to look at Kalei and said in surprise, "Little Kalei, why are you here?"

Kalei said, "My teacher asked me to follow them to investigate this matter. Uncle Salomon, what exactly happened in the village? I see that you are all very nervous."

Salomon said with a serious expression, "Those Furbolg have gone mad. They all rushed out of the mountains, biting everything they saw. Many people in the village were bitten by them, including children."

Kalei asked, "How many such Furbolg are there?"

Salomon said, "At first there were only a few. We thought they were wanderers driven out by the Furbolg, so we didn't take it seriously; we just drove them away without killing them."

"I didn't expect that after a few days, more and more mad Furbolg would appear. Dozens ran out at once, followed by hundreds. We knew we were in trouble, so we had to send people to pass information outside while organizing the villagers to resist."

"Under normal circumstances, an equal number of Furbolg cannot defeat us. Our village has over six hundred people, and no fewer than a hundred have combat capability, which is more than enough to deal with dozens of Furbolg. We have fought them several times, and these guys haven't gained any advantage at all."

"The day before yesterday, suddenly more Furbolg came, and these Furbolg were particularly huge and violent. They attacked us like madmen. We repelled one of their attacks, and they came again at night. After two battles, we suffered many casualties, about a dozen or so. If you hadn't come, we wouldn't have been able to hold out any longer; there are too many wounded."

While the two were talking, the others were also listening carefully.

Arenia interjected, "Doesn't the village have a Moonwell and a priestess? Can't she heal those who were injured?"

Salomon shook his head and said, "Priestess Lilin has tried. Those who were bitten at the beginning were easy to treat, but later it became impossible. Those Furbolg carry dark power, a terrifying dark power. With Priestess Lilin's power, she cannot dispel it; she can only use medicine combined with the water from the Moonwell to delay their erosion."

When he said this, his expression darkened. He placed his right hand on his chest and said to Laria, "Respected High Priestess, I implore you to please heal them."

Laria smiled and returned the gesture, "My brother, the Goddess will not forget any of her children. We will heal them."

As they spoke, they walked quickly into the village.

The old village chief, accompanied by many Night Elf, was already waiting at the village entrance to welcome them.

Kalei had met this village chief once before and knew his name was Bebo Gulag, an elder who had survived the War of the Ancients.

Kalei had no heart for pleasantries with these people; his mind was constantly thinking about the information he had just obtained from Salomon.

The more he thought about it, the more he felt that things were not simple. He had heard that although the Furbolg here were once an intelligent race, they had long since fallen to the level of beasts.

Since they were beasts, why did their actions still seem to have method? Not only did they know how to unite and cooperate, but they also knew when to advance and retreat?

This situation either meant that the Furbolg were being controlled from behind, or that these Furbolg had not lost their sanity.

If it were the former, it would be fine; finding the controller behind the scenes would end this turmoil. But if it were the latter, that would be troublesome—an intelligent enemy is the hardest to deal with.

Thinking of these two possibilities, Kalei's face could not help but turn solemn.

By this time, the group had finished their greetings. The village chief had people lead away their mounts and arranged for everyone to rest in the village.

Priestess Laria insisted on seeing the wounded first, and the village chief had no choice but to agree.

All the wounded were arranged in the Temple of the Moon in the village.

Led by the village chief and others, the group passed through the Moonlight Plaza in the center of the village and arrived at the Temple of the Moon at the back of the village.

As soon as he approached the Temple of the Moon, Kalei felt a gentle power permeating his body.

Kalei secretly sensed the source of this power and discovered that it came from the Moonwell in the garden of the Temple of the Moon.

Kalei had been able to sense power from the Moonwell before, but never so clearly. It was as if all the water in the well had turned into fine threads, surging into his body, washing away his fatigue and filling him with strength.

In an instant, he had an indescribable feeling. He wanted to embrace this power; as long as he mastered this power, everything he wanted would be within his reach.

He followed the others into the temple and arrived at the Moonwell in the temple garden, preparing to absorb the power within with all his might.

Just as he was about to act, Laria's voice suddenly echoed in his heart: "Child of Moonlight, do not lose yourself in the power of the moonlight. The Moon Goddess is benevolent; she will not harm her people, but that does not mean we can recklessly drain her power. We must use her power with caution at all times, or else we shall be consumed by it."

Kalei felt a jolt in his heart and snapped back to reality, only to find that he had unknowingly stopped beside the Moonwell, standing there like a delusional fool with his eyes closed, mouth agape, and head tilted toward the sky as if inhaling something.

Kalei hurriedly ceased his actions and scanned his surroundings, letting out a sigh of relief only when he realized the others had already followed the village chief past the garden and into the main hall of the temple.

Thank goodness, thank goodness no one saw that, or it would have been truly embarrassing.

Wait, Laria must have seen it; even if she hadn't, she surely would have sensed it.

Hold on, what did she mean by Child of Moonlight? Could she be referring to me? Could it be that she realized I have been blessed by the Moon Goddess?

Kalei pondered this, and the more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed. No wonder this priestess, whom he had never met before, was constantly keeping an eye on him.

He took a deep breath, suddenly feeling immense pressure. Although Laria was not particularly famous, she was a powerful priestess, and he had absolutely no secrets before her; he had been seen through in an instant.

Would she be able to tell that he had studied arcane magic? Kalei felt it was not impossible.

However, judging by the priestess's attitude, he was not overly worried. This priestess was undoubtedly a devout follower of the Moon Goddess Elune, and since Elune herself had not voiced any objections to his practice of arcane magic, this priestess would naturally have no issues with it either.

Thinking of this, his mood lightened considerably. He then reflected on the situation from moments ago; if not for Laria's warning, he would have been in real trouble.

He had not expected to be so easily lost to such immense power. It seemed that power gained through shortcuts did not come without a price.

After experiencing this, he knew he had to calm his mind and consolidate his foundation, otherwise, sooner or later, he would be backlashed by his own power.