Since Amun's departure, disasters have begun to occur in Duk Town. On the third day after Amon left the town, the first boy to die in the town appeared, the son of the missing samurai Ma Qi, who was only fourteen years old like Amon. Three more children died in the following month, the youngest was only 12 years old, and the oldest was no more than 15 years old, all boys.

Xiao Gu, the priest and doctor in the town, was helpless about this, because these children all died of violent illness without exception, and when they were examined with healing magic afterwards, they could only find that their bloodlines seemed to have undergone an unbearable impact of power. Xiao Gu secretly speculated that it might be caused by them not being adults and learning the miners' skills in Duke Town privately.

The miner's skills in Duk Town seem to be very simple, as if anyone can start it, but the unwitting consumption is almost unbearable for underage children, and when it accumulates to a certain extent, the hidden danger will suddenly erupt, and it will be too late by the time it attacks. Aristotle had explained to Amon that the spiritual stream of the ancient oracle was indeed protecting the inhabitants, but Aristotle was unaware of the mysteries of the miners' skills.

Xiao Gu and Dusty have no way to punish these townspeople, first, these children are dead, and there is no point in asking whether they have not received the favor of the guardian spirit, and second, the family of the tragedy will not admit it themselves, and no one has any evidence. Of course, there are more than a few families who let their children learn the skills of miners privately, and everyone seems to know about it, but no one says it.

The reason for this happens, I'm afraid it has to start with Amon.

At only fourteen years old, Amon has not only completely mastered the skills of miners that have been passed down from generation to generation and can successfully mine the divine stones, but he has also been lucky enough to obtain so many divine stones, including a blue divine stone that Lord Xiao Gu envies. If Amun can do it, why can't his own children?

Since childhood, the boys in Duk Town have helped the adults in their families pull bellows and carry ores, and they are far stronger than the average child of the same age outside. Amon didn't seem to be the most robust of them all, he was just the son of an old drunkard, who was forced to carry the burden in advance. However, it is not known that the old madman had Amon bathe in that strange cold spring for more than two years.

Of course, there are unfortunate and lucky, not all children will die, some people can't learn, and a few people are lucky enough to learn the miner's skills in Duke Town in advance. Naturally, people like this will not say it, and they will not openly tell others that the sacred stone was mined by children.

There is often only a thin line between simplicity and ignorance, and many people are even inexplicably looking forward to it, hoping that their children can also mine special divine stones like Amon. The townsfolk are still privately discussing that Amon may have mined a sacred stone called the Tears of the Gods, which is extremely valuable.

The lord who came to the royal capital had announced in public that the miners who mined the Tears of the Gods would be rewarded by the kingdom, but that they would be punished with the severest punishment if they were dealt with privately.

Except for the old madman, Dusty, and Xiao Gu, the current residents of Duk Town have never heard of the Tears of the Gods, let alone know what kind of divine stone it is. I don't know who was the first to secretly suspect that such a divine stone can only be mined by children, otherwise so many people have mined so many divine stones for so many years, why is only Amon getting it?

This speculation gradually became a plague of rumors in Duketown, and people talked about it in private but never said it publicly, which eventually led to a series of tragedies.

Legend has it that the oracle of the goddess Mu Yun, the protector god of this place, has become a virtual reality, but people have more respect for the gods on the surface, and they have unprecedented respect for the priest Xiao Gu, and they dare not raise their eyes to speak when they see him.

The old madman became even more insane than ever, and often waved his cane and shouted to himself in front of the Mu Yun Temple: "This is a place rejected by the gods, and will be punished by the gods." ...... The gods are so cruel, but what are you doing, people here?"

No one paid attention to the old madman's nonsense, and when they saw him, they all took a detour. Dusty and Xiao Gu didn't care about him, anyway, everyone thought he was crazy. But the tragedy in Duk continued, and several more boys died of a violent illness without warning.

Is it true that people do not understand that the skill of miners may not be suitable for minors? It is more or less clear to everyone, but there are other children who are lucky enough to succeed, and not only Amun, then the tragedy of others is regarded as a kind of bad luck. Cautious people will remind children to be careful, and pay attention to the physical sensations at all times without being too forced, but they do not discourage the idea of letting children learn skills.

How many children in Duk have privately learned the trade of miners before they were minors? The answer is all boys over the age of ten! Everyone does it, and there's no reason why anyone shouldn't. It's a semi-open secret, and people are just trying to be careful not to let others get hold of the evidence, especially Mayor Dusty and Lord Xiao Gu.

It was already difficult to stop the spread of the disaster, and the town of Duk, though not small, has just over 2,000 inhabitants, and its miners' skills have been passed down from generation to generation in a closed environment.

The hot summer has arrived, and this summer is particularly hot, and many people do not sleep in the house at night, but take a cool spot in the courtyard or square, and sleep on straw mats or wooden planks until dawn. One night, people sleeping outdoors suddenly felt a little cool, opened their eyes and touched their bodies, and unexpectedly found that there was a thin rain floating in the air.

There are not a few rains in Duke Town a year, especially in the summer season, when it almost never rains, and everyone cheers happily.

The rain did not stop after dawn, and gradually it became heavier and heavier, and the raindrops sprinkled on the dry land like a curtain of water. The clouds in the sky are invisible, enveloping the Black Fire Jungle to the west and the Syrian Desert to the south. People became more and more excited, and gathered in the temple of Mu Yun to thank the gods, and cheers could be heard at any time, because the rain was so heavy that it did not stop for a day and a night.

Such a rain can water the surrounding barren land and desert, and when the rain clears, a sea of grass will grow in the desert, and this year will be suitable for grazing many sheep. This has happened before, but it has been seen here for many years that such a heavy rain has been encountered, and it has always been regarded as a gift from the gods.

The gods seemed to hear the prayers of the townspeople, and the rain did not stop for three days and three nights. Some people gradually became a little uneasy, because this is something that has never been remembered before.

The ravines in the Blackfire Jungle were already filled with water, the lowlands of the post road were flooded, and more torrents flowed down from the Assyrian Plateau to the north, spilling through the Blackfire Jungle and approaching Duk. The whole town is surrounded by muddy deserts, swampy jungles, and plateaus pouring water.

When people finally realized that something was wrong, they suddenly heard rolling thunder from the sky. Looking at the majestic mountains of the Syrian Plateau in the distance, they have been shrouded in thick clouds, and electric light flashes between the rolling dark clouds. The people here have almost never heard of thunder, and they have an indescribable fear.

No one cheered in Duk Town, and everyone hid in their leaky houses and prayed to the gods, hoping that the rain would end soon. But the rain did not stop as people had hoped, and after the thunder sounded, it had been raining heavily for three days and three nights, and suddenly it turned into a torrential downpour, as if a huge hole had been torn open in the sky.

......

When the thunder sounded, the chief priest of the Temple of Syria, the eighth-level great magician Ge Lie, stood on the high city wall, looking in the direction shrouded by the low-hanging dark clouds and raging lightning, and muttered to himself: "Nietzsche, is this the great catastrophe you predicted? Is it really coming! But why are you still staying in Duk Town?"

**