It is said that in the ancient texts buried in the dust, the mainland of Salvinia means 'the land of light and abundance'.

Ironically, in the hundreds of years since the Dark Calendar, light has never come on this continent.

As for abundance, the lizardman scholar Antulun Maine, who, after spending most of his life traveling to many parts of the continent, wrote in his travelogue:

"For most of the poor creatures on the continent of Salvinia, any form of light is a luxury. Because in this land that is not as bright as it gets, a torch, half a candle, or a low-level fireball magic scroll all have their own not cheap prices. ”

It is not difficult to imagine that survival in this dark continent has always been a difficult topic.

Now the famine-stricken Grey Curtain is full of dangers, and death is everywhere.

The deteriorating situation didn't give Thor much time to think about it, and since he couldn't escape the town, he had to stay away from the crowd for a while and go back to the cemetery in the backyard of the monastery to hide.

The backyard of the monastery is fenced off with rusty arrow-topped iron fences.

The part of the convent that connects the side hall and the transept is divided into living quarters for the clergy and orphans. Behind the living quarters, there were originally barren wheat fields, which were renovated into a cemetery by a monastery many years ago to show God's protection of the world.

For Thor's childhood memories, the cemetery in the backyard had always been a lonely place, thorny and overgrown, bleak, silent, and lifeless.

It is said that in the past, only some people in the town with a little status were entitled to be buried here after death, and they thought that this would satisfy their dignity and at the same time be closer to God and enjoy eternal peace.

Thor was unimpressed.

He dug up an old tomb in the corner of the cemetery, wrapped the bones in a moldy tattered tablecloth and stuffed it somewhere else, and then occupied the tomb.

In this lonely corner, Thor began his own life like a wild dog.

Every day, he would creep out of his grave and wander around like a ghost in search. Occasionally, he ventured through a gap the size of a dog's hole under a rusty iron fence at the edge of the cemetery to venture into the town and sneak through some of the alleyways.

When he felt tired, he went back to his grave and slept.

This life lasted until Thor stumbled upon an abandoned dry well and he finally had a chance to move.

The location of the dry well is very hidden, and the mouth of the well is hidden under the wreckage of the lost carriage at the end of the cemetery, and it is almost impossible to find it without lying on the ground and burrowing under the carriage.

For as long as Thor can remember, the wreckage of the wagon has been lying there like an old forgotten story.

The wreckage of the carriage was surrounded by piles of decaying rubbish, a mess of bushes, and a few cracked barrels looming in the half-human-tall grass, all naturally and appropriately.

The space at the bottom of the well was slightly larger than a prayer room in the monastery, and the floor and walls were covered in dark yellow dead moss, and in the inner corner of the wall there was a water source that seemed to be connected to an underground river, and the surrounding area was covered with moss.

Saul guessed that when people dug a hole here many years ago, they still found nothing, so they began to dig to the side in search of water, which left the whole dry well now like a boot.

As for why the well eventually dried up......

Maybe everything in this world has a lifespan.

There wasn't anything particularly noteworthy at the bottom of the well, except for a few pieces of rubble and the bones of small beasts buried in the dust, but for Thor the discovery was the only consolation in these bad days.

At least he no longer had to be on the lookout for the dangers that could come at any time in the darkness, and he no longer had to worry about the tomb that had been used to hold him suddenly collapse one night and bury him alive in his sleep.

Despite a new place to stay, Saul reminds himself not to rejoice for too long, as this is only part of the dilemma he faces.

What followed was still an incredibly difficult time.

Although Thor thinks he is mentally prepared, this dark world is prematurely unscaturing to a twelve-year-old.

It's only been a few months, but Thor feels like he's losing track of what the food looks like.

Hunger never gave up pestering him for a moment, and eating enough had long been a dream.

In the hardest moment, Thor had tasted all sorts of messes, and if it weren't for the fear of dying from diarrhea and poisoning, Thor had no doubt that he would gnaw away the thorns and weeds of the entire cemetery like a mad locust.

In addition to the physical tiredness and torment, what is more tormenting is actually the inner loneliness and fear.

At first, Thor could hear sudden screams and shouts from the monastery or from a certain direction of the town, but as time passed, the town became quieter and quieter.

During this time, Thor had quietly returned to the monastery twice, but he had not met anyone. The empty monastery seemed to have nothing left but antiquity, as if it had been abandoned for a long time.

Thor didn't find any answer to everyone's whereabouts, he just silently returned to the dry well and continued to prolong his cave dwarf-like life.

Later in the days when he fought hunger for a long time, Thor fell into a coma many times due to weakness, and even when he was awake, he was always groggy all day long, unable to distinguish between dreams and reality.

Many times, he felt that he was actually a skeleton, long dead, but he thought he was still alive.

In this muddy nightmare, relying on some grass roots and chewy bushes, strange bugs and the occasional dead mouse, I can't imagine that I have survived until today.

Today is about the day of late autumn in the 714th year of the Dark Calendar, months after the plague and famine.

Originally, Thor would use a dagger from a corpse to carve a scratch in the wall of the well every day to keep track of the passage of time.

He felt that even if he eventually had to rot silently in this unknown dry well, he should at least remember the day he died. Unfortunately, after many comaries, Thor has lost count of how much of his time has been stolen.

If it weren't for the ugly mushroom in the graveyard last night, Thor didn't know if he would have had a chance to wake up again today.

Luck is like that sometimes, and occasionally it will suddenly pull you so that you can continue to live in inexplicable hope.

For the arrival of a new day, Thor has long been without the slightest emotion and touch. He knew very well that even if he was lucky enough to survive this autumn, there was still a terrible winter waiting for him like an unsolvable situation.

Like a weak worm, Thor slowly struggled to arch out of the pile of rags that remained his body heat.

Feeling that his hunger had eased slightly, he went to the puddle in the corner, washed his face, and began to move at the bottom of the well to feel the recovery of his strength.

Except for some dizziness and convulsions in his hands and feet, his physical condition seems to be quite good, at least he can still walk.

It's been hard to find anything valuable when he goes out lately, and his weakened body is shrinking the range he can search, but even so he has to get out.

If you want to live, finding food is always a constant theme.

Thor wasn't sure how much longer he would survive this terrible situation, so he decided to try his luck in the town's North End today.

After making up his mind, he found a dark black hooded cape.

The only decent garment had been ripped from the corpse of an adult, and the torn hem had been burned in most of it, and although it was a little loose to wear, it was just the height of one of his children.

Hiding himself in a cloak and sling his only dagger and a small worn leather water bag around his waist, Thor made his way to the corner that connected to the well.

He had carved out some jagged pits on the surface of the walls there, each of which was half a foot deep, and he could return to the surface through the mouth of the well by stepping on it and climbing up.

Pushing through the rotten wooden planks that covered the mouth of the well beneath the wreckage of the carriage, Thor poked out half of his head like an alert mouse.

All kinds of voices on the ground instantly rushed to the face.

The chirping of insects, the unknown sound of walking through the thorn bushes, and the whistling of the weeds in the breeze sounded like whispers of nothingness.

It seems like there was just a rain last night.

The air was filled with the smell of damp earth and the rotten smell of cemeteries.

The boundless darkness is still the unchanging background of this world, but there are a few stubborn and strange plants in the cemetery that emit a faint light from far or near like scattered dots, not dazzling, but it is impossible to ignore their presence.

Every inhabitant of the Sarvinian continent is born with a gray-colored vision, which makes it possible to barely see the outline of the objects in the field of vision, even in the darkness where there is no light.

However, the scope of this dark vision is not wide, generally only about five steps away, some people may be a little farther away, it varies from person to person.

Mature mercenaries and hunters often refer to this ability as "Vision", but in Thor's opinion, no matter how mysterious the name is, this innate trick doesn't really bring much security to survival.

Because you'll never guess what damn thing would pop out of the darkness five steps out of sight, and maybe by the time you've reacted from your shock and stunned and ready to do something, your head will be gone.

Thor once did a test where he stuck a pitchfork into the dirt and stood upright on the ground, then faced the pitchfork and began to recede.

As the distance increases, when the outline of the pitchfork is blurred and about to disappear at the edge of one's vision, this distance is the limit of one's vision.

About six steps, which was the range of his dark vision, but Thor was not happy at all, because as he grew up and became an adult, this stride would shrink a little.

Crawling out from under the wreckage of the carriage was actually the equivalent of going from a small darkness to a wider darkness, but being able to return to the surface alive again relieved Thor's increasingly heavy mood.

Standing in the cemetery, he had two options.

You can walk along the main street from the main entrance of the monastery, or as usual, you can go through the gap under the iron fence at the edge of the cemetery, pass through some lanes, and then return to the main street.

Thor habitually chose the second option.

For no particular reason, he knew that neither of them was safe, and for a twelve-year-old, every time he went out could be an adventure with no return.

As we crossed the cemetery, the sound of bones colliding could be heard faintly in the darkness ahead.

Even if he couldn't see it, Thor knew it was a skeleton wandering in the graveyard.

In almost all places where graves are densely populated, a small number of skeletons crawl out of the tombs as dawn approaches.

They usually wander aimlessly around their tombs, and if left unattended, they will continue to wander.

The most beginners categorized these things that died and never slept as 'undead', but later felt that this was not accurate.

Because they have long since been detached from the realm of life, they are neither intelligent nor aggressive, they are incapable of reproduction, and they do not possess any racial characteristics, so they are more vividly called "wanderers" later.

These special beings are usually not taken seriously, because even a child of seven or eight years old can temporarily scatter them into a pile with a certain amount of force.

But if you want to really destroy them, you can only use purification magic, or no matter how deep you bury them again, there will still be a few persistent guys who will break through the ground when dawn comes the next day.

Over time, people have become accustomed to this strange coexistence.

The skeleton in front of it suddenly stopped moving.

Until Thor walked past it, it remained in a stiff position with its head bowed slightly, its two deep, hollow eye sockets staring fixedly at the ground.

Maybe a puddle of garbage on the ground has piqued its interest, or maybe it's just caught up in some unknown thought, who knows.

Thor didn't bother it, and every time he went out to search for any waste of energy, there was no point.

In addition, Thor is actually willing to leave a few skeletons to walk around in front of his house, so that even if some daredevils accidentally break into the area, they will take it for granted that there are no living people in this cemetery for a long time.