Riding on horses, Sylutia and Karen walked side by side, talking about the past and the recent situation.
"I have been away from Scorched Stone City for a long time, and I have only gone back occasionally over the years." Karen said about the events in recent years.
"However, from the looks of Tia, it seems that there is a shortage of manpower recently. Do you need my help?"
Traveling with the two men was a caravan of about a hundred people, including members of "Oak Barrel Chamber of Commerce" in Scorched Stone City, as well as a small number of Anti people.
The members of "Oak Barrel Chamber of Commerce" followed Sylutia, which is understandable, but some Anti members also followed, which surprised others.
In fact, the Anti army is not monolithic and has different factions. Most of these factions in Scorched Stone City are fringe characters. Many of them are ordinary people in the Anti Kingdom. They do not have such a strong desire to kill and just want to live peacefully.
If they continue to stay in Valley City, they may one day be taken by Kachis to fight somewhere, and then die somewhere. However, it is much safer to stay in Scorched Stone City as a garrison soldier. Besides, they have more acquaintances and friends in Scorched Stone City, and they are more comfortable.
After hearing Karen's suggestion, Sylutia thought for a while, then raised his head and answered.
"Then please ask Sister Karen to teach some people how to archery and hunt." If those refugees want to live in seclusion for a long time, the more livelihood skills they have, the better.
"That's no problem." Karen responded with a smile.
While the two were talking on horseback, on the other side behind the team, Haines and his nephew were also sitting on the back of a carriage carrying goods and talking.
"... It turns out it was you who begged that adult to take action." Haines touched the other party's head.
"Stop rubbing it, uncle." The other person covered his head and avoided it, and then replied very excitedly and gratefully.
"I didn't actually have high hopes at the time, but at that time I thought, if I didn't give it a try, I'm afraid you would have died in the dungeon."
"If you are no longer here, who will bring me gifts and tell me stories in the future?"
"Haha, you kid." He continued to rub it, then raised his head and looked at the blue sky.
"The air outside is so good, and the sky is so beautiful." He said, slowly closing his eyes and feeling the breeze beside his ears, feeling relaxed and happy.
"The dark days in the dungeon are really despairing. If you have experienced it once, you will never want to experience it again, and you will even do Nightmare for many years to come." He said with emotion.
"Death is only a matter of a moment, but being imprisoned in a desperate environment, watching yourself decay, deform, and become unrecognizable, and being bitten by lice, that feeling, wow." He didn't want to continue to recall the taste.
"It's great to be able to sit here and continue talking to you."
"Uncle." The young man on the side also patted the other person on the back.
"It's okay, it's all over." Haines opened his eyes.
"I have to thank you dearly from now on, haha."
"With my current status, it's not very good to go to Scorched Stone City. I'll probably have to stay outside for a while. That adult arranged a place for me to go."
"Don't worry, as long as we live, we will have plenty of opportunities to meet in the future."
Horse hooves trampled across the morning dew-stained grass and moved step by step along the undulating mountain roads. Three days later, the caravan finally returned to Scorched Stone City.
"I won't go into the city. Say hello to Lady Polia for me." Sylutia stood in front of the respective caravan leaders to say goodbye.
"I will tell mother." The mustached businessman took off his hat in return.
"This time I have delayed you too. What should have only taken a week or two has been delayed for almost two months."
"Here are the tea leaves I grew myself. I hope you and Lady Polia will like it." Sylutia took out three boxes of "White Camellia" and gave them to each other.
"This..." After taking it, the other party realized that it was a rare item of "second-order" quality, and was particularly surprised.
"It's okay, just take it." Sylutia blinked his blue eyes.
"I still have a lot, don't forget my career."
"Then thank you, Mr. Tia." The other party carefully put it away.
"In the future, the territory of Regas may not be peaceful. Please try not to get involved or get involved in the war." the girl reminded.
"My family and I understand." The other party nodded.
"If you really encounter an unstoppable crisis, take this letter and go to the mountains east of Regas. There is a stronghold of the Woodland stationed there. You can take refuge there." Sylutia handed out another envelope.
"Thank you, Mr. Tia." The other party was very grateful.
After experiencing the previous situation where Scorched Stone City changed hands, even a noble person like Viscount Xuefeng was in such a panic that he almost couldn't escape. And a small chamber of commerce like his family didn't have much ability to resist.
The letter given by Sylutia may be useless at ordinary times, but in an extremely critical moment, it may be the last savior that can save the lives of a family.
"If you are of any use in the future, please feel free to tell me and contact me." He thought for a while, then took out a small seal and handed it to Sylutia.
"Our chamber of commerce is not big, but it has branches in several cities in the southern border of Regas. It should be able to help with some small help."
"Okay." Sylutia took the seal and finally waved goodbye to the caravan members.
In the distance, the caravan slowly drove towards Scorched Stone City, but there were only five people left around Sylutia. Apart from her and Karen, there were Haines and the prisoners who also escaped from the dungeon.
"Let's go to the place where those people live in seclusion." Sylutia turned the horse's head, and several others followed.
"I don't know your name yet, can you tell me?" Sylutia asked the ragged prisoner.
Hearing Sylutia's question, he quickly shook the reins and asked the horse under him to catch up. However, his riding skills were not good and the horse was not running fast all the way.
Seeing this, Sylutia waved his wrist lightly, and the faint fragrance of flowers spread, calming down the originally anxious and directionless horse, and trotting all the way towards Sylutia.
At this moment, he finally caught up with Sylutia's speed and answered the other party's question.
"My name is Morris, and I'm from...Wind-Lost Town." When he mentioned this name, he felt a little awkward, as if he hadn't said this word for a long time.
"When I was about 22 years old, I accidentally got a booklet that told all kinds of mysterious knowledge, and I was attracted by the contents inside."
"Then I started to try the secret techniques and rituals, but I had no experience at all and no one to guide me, so I could only mess around on my own."
"At that time, everyone in the town thought I was crazy, and my family kicked me out." At this point, his voice became much smoother.
"Later on, I wandered around, looking for work in various cities, and trying to acquire new mysterious knowledge. Then I bought and collected things needed for the ritual and experimented on my own."
"Until one day, I was discovered by the patrol team. They said I was Cultist, so they wanted to arrest me."
"Because I was afraid of being executed, I ran away desperately, and used the knowledge and secret techniques I learned to disrupt their perception, and then I escaped."
"After that, I became more motivated and kept looking for people to communicate with and learn from."
"Although most of the people who can deal with me are very humble characters, they all have incomplete knowledge systems, so every time I exchange information, it's like a lottery draw, so I look forward to it."
"Slowly, I finally accumulated enough material resources needed for the ceremony, and then gained extraordinarily strong strength." He said, taking off his clothes, revealing Sturdy's incomparable left hand. This arm was obviously different from other parts of the body, as if it had been spliced together. Compared with the original limb, it was stronger and redder in color.
"This... should be the "Savage Giant Strength" of the Orc branch "Minotaur"?" Sylutia looked at the opponent's arm in surprise.
Humans have different blood lines from Orc, so it is difficult to give birth to offspring. This kind of talent that can increase the power several times is impossible for humans to have.
"Is it Minotaur's talent? I told you how I later became vegetarian." The other party rubbed his hair.
"It seems that the ritual you performed before was very impressive."
Sylutia Looking back, this kind of ritual of grafting bloodline power is basically taboo, because there are too many uncontrollable factors and it is very unstable. Now there are basically no large organizations that regard this secret technique as the core, and only a small number of people are still researching and trying it.
The prisoner in front of me was very lucky to be able to successfully perform the ritual even though his Secret History Knowledge foundation was extremely poor.
"Later, I learned another incomplete Meditation Technique called "Memory Labyrinth". This kind of Meditation Technique relies on constantly discovering forgotten secrets and details in one's own memory to enhance self-understanding and mental control." Morris continued.
No wonder he could remember such detailed things. Sylutia nodded, but soon thought that he had also forgotten his memory, and he just lacked this ability.
"Can you tell me about this Meditation Technique? I can teach you some knowledge as compensation." Sylutia said.
"Of course, no problem. I can teach everything I have learned to the adults." When he said this, he even felt proud, as if all his experiences and learnings over the years had finally become valuable.
Seeing his slovenly appearance, Sylutia thought of another question, "How long have you been in the dungeon?"
"Almost ten years." His voice suddenly dropped.
"Ten years." The girl was surprised, and felt a little pity for the prisoner, and understood why he was so eager to be free.
In addition, Sylutia also realized one thing. After living in such an environment for ten years, the other party's willpower is also extremely tenacious. Although he may not die directly in the dungeon, people will be extremely depressed if they are in that single and unchanging dark environment for a long time.
"There must be a lot of things you want to do to support you through these ten years." Sylutia's words were like gentle arrows, and Penetration's flattering smile made him lose his mind for an instant, and his expression was stunned.
"I, I..." He lowered his head.
"I really want to see this world. There are so many magical secrets, rituals, histories, and wonderful people and things, but I am always like an insect, I can only touch a little bit."
He came from a humble background and had no guidance. He could only keep searching for bits and pieces of mysterious knowledge, rummaging in the gutters. Even if he was lucky enough to get some, he was arrested as Cultist because of his weird behavior.
Sylutia, who was walking in front, felt something in his heart. Thinking of his past, he also had many regrets for not having a good experience.
"It's okay, you will come into contact with it in the future." Sylutia said.
"By the way, I still have a notebook from the past that I can lend to you." She has memorized the basics of Scholar Heide's teachings very firmly, and there is no need to read them again.
The group of people rode horses through the mountains and forests, heading towards the secluded spot where Sylutia had previously settled.
When she was still several hundred meters away from that location, Sylutia's expression changed, and she began to increase her speed and rush towards the hidden location deep in the forest.
After galloping all the way, and relying on his superb riding skills to avoid and overcome obstacles along the way, Sylutia soon arrived at the settlement, but the place was in a mess, and there were even a lot of blood stains on the ground.
She searched her surroundings and found several corpses lying in a corner not far away, one of whom was still breathing.
Sylutia quickly dismounted, came to the member's side, and helped him up. There was a Sharpness short-blade knife wound on the other person's shoulder, which was still bleeding.
She took out the herbal medicine to stop bleeding and applied it on him, then poured a portion of "Blood Healing Potion" into the other person's mouth.
Soon, the comatose member slowly woke up, saw Sylutia, and struggled to explain the situation.
"Someone, someone wearing a dark red robe, discovered our location. They want us to join us and use this place as their stronghold."
"Some of the combat members and I were dissatisfied and drove them away. But I didn't expect that only two days later, a group of them came."
"I couldn't defeat them, and my companions were taken away by them." After saying that, he seemed to have exhausted all his strength and became unconscious again.
Seeing this, Sylutia could only put him down first, continue to feed him a portion of "Orchid Healing Potion", and put down some food and water before standing up and continuing to search this stronghold.
It's a pity that there is no other living person here. I think the other party must have conducted a search. If the person just now was not seriously injured and was ignored by them, there might not even be anyone to report the situation to Sylutia.
A few minutes later, Karen and Haines arrived. Seeing the mess, they knew that an accident must have occurred.
"Tia." Karen came to Sylutia.
"Everyone who originally lived here was taken away." Sylutia calmed down a little and explained the situation.
"Uncle Haines, and you two, stay here for now. Sister Karen and I will track them down. They shouldn't have gone far yet."
Considering her speed and the physical condition of several other people, Karen could barely keep up.
"We understand." Haines nodded, then greeted Reiz and Morris beside him.
"Let's just clean up here first, take care of the injured and sick, and wait for Mr. Tia to come back." The two agreed after hearing this.
Seeing that they could understand, Sylutia no longer waited, and he and Karen rushed out of the forest again on horseback, and fully developed their perceptions.
The girl's original blue eyes were dyed emerald little by little, until both eyes turned into floating emerald. At this time, the plants in her field of vision also showed a magnificent and ever-changing complex spectrum. From here to different colors, Sylutia "read" various subtle information in nature.
A striking trace of a man and a horse appeared in her mind.
This is the direction, the girl thought silently in her heart. She looked at Karen beside her. With just one look, the other party understood what she meant, and then rode with all her strength to follow.
The horse's hooves rose up, leaped over the thorns half a man's height, and galloped along the path presented in the girl's mind, its body like lightning.
In the hunting wind, Sylutia passed through patches of woods and grasslands, and as it advanced at high speed, thoughts were running through its mind.
Is this an accident? It happened that the disturbing Cultist was discovered there.
She has no intention of participating in the power struggle within Regas, and only wants to take care of those who have helped her.
In the past few months, she has been avoiding violent conflicts with these two forces, because she does not belong here and is the one who will leave sooner or later.
Unfortunately, everything in reality cannot be solved by simply avoiding it.
Just as Scholar Heide once taught her that "many things happening in this world are closely related to us", everything follows the connection of Silk and Chord.
The place she chose was suitable for seclusion and hiding, and those Cultist happened to need such a place. Before Hundred-Eye Cult was extinct, they would definitely try hard to find such a place when they were hiding around.
All the seeds were quietly planted when we first decided on this place.