……

Half a day.

The grouse flapped its wings and asked:

"Why do you say chicken?"

"Are you a chicken too?"

"But you look too much like a person!"

Matthew smiled kindly:

"I only learned the language by chance, don't be so surprised, there are many skilled people in the human race who can communicate with other species, and the mages are the best of them, and of course, if you've heard of the legends of the druids, you won't find it strange."

The grouse shook his head:

"I don't know what a druid is, but I guess it's because I don't have much knowledge."

"After all, I'm just a newborn grouse."

Matthew asks new residents about their residency experience:

"Do you like the woods?"

Grouse looking left and right:

"It's okay, it's a nice environment, there are no predators for me, but there is a lack of food.

It took me days to find an earthworm or something in the field.

From a rational point of view, this place is not a place to live, but for some reason, there is a force that draws me in, and it makes me make it home.

I even had the urge to return to my hometown in the barren mountains of the north and bring all my family members here. ”

Matthew knew it.

This is the effect of the sanctuary of life.

He immediately welcomed with open hands:

"As the owner of this grove, I welcome more wonderful residents like you."

The grouse looked at him with a wary face:

"Are you trying to eat my eggs?"

Matthew asked rhetorically:

"Will you lay eggs?"

The grouse was stunned for a moment, and then said happily:

"Turns out I won't lay eggs, that's fine."

"But I have a lot of hens in my family, and they are very good at laying eggs, do you want to eat their eggs?"

Matthew blinked:

"I can promise not to eat it."

"But there are always risks in nature, and you must know this better than me."

Grouse thought for a moment:

"That's enough, we don't want to be in captivity like those idiots on the farm."

"If your promise is true, I will consider bringing my entire family to this wood."

"We will thrive here, God willing, and may this forest never have snakes, wolverines and other terrible creatures!"

Matthew naturally can't guarantee anything about this.

He knew very well that as the power of the Sanctuary of Life continued to spread, all kinds of creatures would appear in his woods, and the paradise that the grouse had dreamed of was destined not to come true.

"But as the first grouse to stay in this woods, I can give you certain preferential treatment."

Matthew mobilized the power of the Oak Realm and gave him a permanent "cover".

This status allows the grouse to have a powerful stealth effect when walking in the field, especially if it is stationary, making it difficult for enemies to detect its presence.

The grouse suddenly felt Matthew's sincerity.

He was overjoyed:

"You're so powerful, you deserve to be a human who can talk chicken!"

"Thank you very much for your gift, and I will tell all the grouses in the family about what you have done."

"By the way, Chicken Man, I have a gift for you."

So saying, he fluttered his wings and ran towards the bank of the Old Woman River beside him.

Matthew followed:

"You can call me Matthew."

The grouse dug the river beach:

"Got it, Chicken Man."

Soon.

He dug a small pit in the soft sand.

There were some strange broken stones buried in the pit, and some earthworm corpses.

In the middle of these things turned out to be a silver necklace with several fine sapphires set on it.

The grouse gives the necklace to Matthew.

He filled in the pits on the riverbank.

Then without looking back, he ran back into the oak forest:

"It's time for me to go, and if someone finds out I've been talking to a human, they'll probably think I'm a serious chicken."

"I know you have a crush on me, but we still have to keep our distance."

"Goodbye, Chicken Man."

……

"Hint: You and the grouse have completed an in-depth conversation, and the current animal conversation progress (1/300);

Your XP +10;

Your natural affinity has risen slightly;

Your knowledge (Nature-Birds) +1;

You have received the grouse's gift, the "Necklace of the Swimmer"

Swimmer's Necklace: A modest sapphire silver necklace with the remnants of a drowned swimmer attached to it.

The wearer's swimming ability is +10, but there is a very small chance that they will be attacked by water spirits while swimming."

……

The value of the necklace is average, and it can only be said that it barely has the potential to be a collectible.

The principle of good swimmers drowning is applicable everywhere.

Matthew put the necklace away.

He is well aware that "animal talking" is just as much a way of practicing nature's way as planting trees.

He tried to activate it on the spot, and walked through the oak forest.

But all the way by, he didn't hear anything.

This is also normal.

The animals in the oak forest are small in both species and numbers.

What's more.

There is a threshold for the object to which the animal is talking.

Not every animal can communicate with humans, and even if they do, they must have a certain spirituality in order to have a conversation like that with a grouse.

Most animals have a low level of spirituality relative to humans.

Generally speaking, the smaller, younger, and farther away from human society an animal is, the less spiritual it is.

Creatures such as cows, horses, sheep, cats, dogs, and pigs that get along with people day and night are the easiest to give birth to spirituality.

Insects in the wilderness can hardly satisfy the minimum spirituality required for animal conversation.

Matthew wants to finish talking to three hundred animals.

You still have to count on small and medium-sized animals in towns or farms.

The probability of those creatures in the wild giving birth to spirituality is too low.

Finding them one by one is much less efficient than planting trees.

"It's a pity, this quest is also limited to the vicinity of Rolling Stone, if there are no regional restrictions."

Matthew sighed softly.

There is no limit to the ability to talk to animals, and he can communicate with animals all day long.

The premise is that there are a sufficient number of objects.

And the rainforest is clearly the best place to do this.

There are tens of thousands of spiritual animals there.

It's easy to accomplish.

"It's the initial stage at the moment, and the spiritual animals in Rolling Rock Town can barely meet the needs of 300 people, but if you ask for more, I'm afraid you will have to open up the area restrictions or find another way."

Matthew pondered for a moment.

He remembered that the druids had an ability called "The Hand of Enlightenment".

This ability can give an animal temporary spirituality.

In this way, the minimum demand for the animal to talk can be satisfied.

Druids often use this ability to promote their animal companions, or to recommend Nature's Spirits.

But this ability is relatively rare, and the average druid can't master it, let alone a mage.

Matthew can only hope that the next time he explores the Oak Realm, the option of the relevant ability will appear.

At that moment, he turned off the ability of animals to talk and ran to the land where the seasons were like spring and planted three oak trees.

After all this is done.

Matthew had lunch in the cemetery and rushed to the Lord's Mansion without stopping.

After Rhaegar left, Zeller was left alone in the office hall, and Matthew, worried about his lack of manpower, promised to help as much as possible during this time.

Come to the front door of the Lord's Palace.

At this time, in the barracks next door, a knight was leading an old horse out slowly.

The old horse was still chewing grass in his mouth.

The knight greeted Matthew.

The old horse also snorted happily.

Matthew's heart fluttered and he opened up the animal conversation.

But listen to an old voice asking:

"Have you ever eaten grass?"

Matthew answers:

"Nope."

The knight was stunned for a moment:

"Are you talking to me?"

The old horse said happily:

"Don't explain to this nerd, it's fun to let him misunderstand for a while."

"If you haven't eaten grass, you must try it, life is incomplete without grass."

Matthew smiled:

"Thank you for the advice, I'll try it when I get the chance."

The old horse gently tapped the ground with his front hooves:

"If you can tell this kid to let him fart less on my back, that's better than any thanks."

"By the way, take care of him again - he has not been in the right position when he rode me for the past two days, I suspect he has hemorrhoids, let him remember to pay attention to his diet."

Matthew glanced at the dazed knight with a somewhat strange look.

He coughed lightly:

"Is this a common situation?"

The old horse said leisurely:

"Oh, it's all too common, crossbows are knights' mortal enemies, but if you ask a knight what is more hateful than a crossbow arrow, his answer will be hemorrhoids."

After saying that, he took the initiative to end the conversation.

The knight knew that Matthew was a mage, and at this time he also realized that he was talking to his own horse.

So he nervously asked:

"Are you talking to my horse?

What did he say?

Lord Matthew, I didn't mean to steal the hay from the stables, I just had some trouble at that time.

Can you please not tell the people of Leiga?

I'll be secretly filling the gap in the hay I've been misappropriated in the next few days. ”

Does animal talk still have this effect?

Matthew raised an eyebrow, and in the end he didn't say much, he just patted the knight on the shoulder:

"He just told you to eat lighter."

"But don't forget to make up for the forage."

Then he walked in.

Only the knight was left looking at the old horse with a complicated expression.

……

Office lobby.

Matthew sat in his office, occasionally glancing outside.

Every time he saw Rhaeggar's position empty, he was quite uncomfortable.

Two o'clock in the afternoon.

An owl delivers a letter.

He took a look at it, and it was actually a reply letter from the Silver Council.

"The alliance is so efficient this time?"

Matthew opened the letter and read it, his brow furrowed slightly.

It was about the same as he expected.

The upper echelons of the Coalition, represented by the Silver Council, were unconcerned about what was happening in Escana.

Their annotation of Sturluk Industries is also "not worth mentioning".

The tone of this reply letter is quite polite, but the main content is two-

First, please plug the space-time rift as soon as possible to prevent the influx of creatures from the outer plane.

Second, the Seven Saints Alliance is indifferent to the changes in the situation in the outer planes, and they don't seem to worry about Sturluk Industries gaining a foothold in the outer planes and then further advancing into the main material realm.

This attitude of the top of the alliance puzzled Matthew.

In the end, they chose to close themselves off because of their arrogance.

Or is there something else behind the principle of never interfering with the outer planes?

Matthew had no way of knowing.

He only knew that it was completely impossible to intervene between planes with the help of the Alliance's power.

Think of it.

He had no choice but to dispel the last trace of luck.

Anyway, there are enough sulphur ore harvested from Sturuk Industries.

Matthew had roughly calculated that the value of those sulphur mines was around 300,000 gold coins.

This is a huge amount of money that has flown in.

He didn't have a reason to ask for more.

"Let's hope little Parton will be able to retreat."

Matthew was a little emotional.

In fact, from a rational point of view, he should not allow little Parton to take such a risk.

The reason why it was finally relieved.

On the one hand, it was because little Parton was indeed quite eager for this matter, and Matthew saw a different look in his eyes, and he couldn't bear to snuff out this thought directly.

On the other hand, little Parton also showed far more intelligence, alertness, and reflexes than ordinary people.

His combat ability is estimated to be only about the second order.

But if he can stay out of the fight, Matthew believes he can settle a lot of things.

At the end of the day, not everything in this world is a decision made entirely in accordance with reason.

Human beings are always ambivalent and emotional.

Now, for example, Matthew's reason tells him that little Parton is the best outcome.

But deep down in his heart, somehow he had an unrealistic expectation of this kid.

Matthew himself found this expectation absurd.

He searched for the reason for a long time.

I even began to wonder if it was because I had eaten too many mushrooms recently.

It just came at this time.

Zeller, who had gone out in the morning to attend to business, returned.

Matthew told Zeller everything about the space-time rift and little Paton.

Then ask him what he thinks.

After listening to this, Zeller said expressionlessly:

"If I were Rhaeggar, I'd kill you with a sword."

"If I were Ms. Liz, all of Rolling Stones would know early tomorrow morning that a terrible necromancer had kidnapped his son."

"But if I were little Paton, I'd be so grateful to you."

Matthew asked rhetorically:

"What if you were in my position?"

Zeller thought for a moment:

"I might as well promise him, as you did.

Although it is dangerous.

But who of the Blood Banner family didn't come out of danger?

There was an imperceptible potential in that young man.

Rhaegar and I have actually tried many times in secret, but we have never found a way to bring that power to life.

Maybe this is an opportunity. ”

Hear here.

Matthew suddenly understood part of his intuition in an instant-

The intuition that always prompted him to make decisions seemed to have a disconnected relationship with the realm.

He recalls every time he followed his instincts to make a decision.

You can feel the undercurrents of the realm quietly resonating in an imperceptible place.

"Is that why it's easy for me to comprehend the realm?"

"The decision I made is actually inextricably linked to the potential of the people around me, the power of the realm, and even the path of legend?"

The thought came to Matthew's mind.

Immediately, he felt that this was ridiculous.

It should be just my own imagination.

"But at the end of the day, it's too dangerous."

"If you don't want to break his heart, let me be the villain."

"He'll be back today to report his safety, right? As soon as he returns, I will take him away, and I will tell him that I found out about it, and you are forced to do nothing. After that, you plug the space-time rift as soon as possible, and this matter is over. ”

Speaking of which.

Zeller rubbed his temples a little tiredly:

"Actually, I'm not against you young people going out on adventures."

"But, I also hope you can understand that there has been so much going on in and around Rolling Stones lately, and I always have a bad premonition. At this juncture, I don't want anything to happen to anyone, and neither do you, little Paton. ”

Matthew nodded slightly.

Zeller's hard work is in his eyes.

He was about to ask what had happened recently.

Right now.

There was a rush of footsteps coming from the other side of the hallway.

It didn't take long.

A dusty, gentlemanly figure appeared in front of the two.

Richard placed his cane on the side shelf, his gaze wandered the hall, and then asked solemnly:

"Where's Rhaegar?"

"Are you taking a nap?"

"Wake him up, I have something very important to say."

Zeller looked at him with some surprise:

"Rhaegar has gone to purgatory, and he won't be able to come back for at least a month."

"What's going on?"

Richard frowned:

"Why are you going to purgatory at this time?"

He looked at Matthew and Zeller with uncertain expressions, and after a few seconds, he spoke decisively:

"Do you remember the corpse I examined at the police station before?"

Matthew recalled, it was a very strange corpse, all the elements of its body had been lost, so that even the call of the dead could not be cast.

At that time, Richard left immediately after looking at the body, and after many days, it seemed that he had only returned to Rolling Stone.

Matthew was impressed:

"Is it the one that came up from the old woman's river?"

Zeller said in a deep voice:

"I've looked at the archives, and it's really a little strange, what did you find?"

Richard paced back and forth in the hall with some agitation:

"I went to the Eternal Song Forest and confirmed one thing with the Night Elves—

That is, the seal of the "Lord of the Thousand Changelings" has indeed been leaked.

Damn it.

You know the Changeling, right?

The Changeling is a demonic bloodline from the outer planes.

Their ancestor, the notorious Changeling Lord Gasriwen, once took the place of the God of Murder.

It was the middle of the Age of Enlightenment, and it was later revealed that he had been sealed in the Forest of Eternal Song by the god of elves and several other gods.

Gasriwen is also one of the few demons who has been sealed away in the main material realm.

His descendants are numerous and spread throughout the continent of Aindor.

But only those who have awakened the demonic bloodline and been blessed by Gasriwen are qualified to be called the true Changeling.

Originally, as long as there was no problem with the seal of the Eternal Song Forest, the descendants of the Thousand Changelings would not have to worry.

But I just learned that just half a year ago, the notorious Scarlet Hunter, the legendary wanderer, and the leader of the Silverfrost Brotherhood, led an attack on the Gaussday prison in the Eternal Song Forest.

The attack was definitely prepared, and while Senr didn't take any of the prisoners, it did cause the Changeling Lord's seal to loosen.

Some of Gasriwen's power has leaked out, which may have led to the awakening of some of the descendants of the Changelings! ”

Changelers?

Matthew suddenly thought of the little white cat who was eating and drinking in his forest!

She seems to have mentioned that she has the blood of the Changeling!

"Can the Changeling take on the form of another person, and the appearance is indistinguishable?"

Matthew hurriedly asked.

Richard nodded:

"The Thousand Changeling's ability to change is innate, very powerful, and as soon as he learns it, he has an effect comparable to that of a fourth-order change spell, and it will be improved in the future, and he can change into the appearance of different people."

"When the ever-changing beings of history appear in human society, they often bring great disasters and chaos because of this ability."

"But they also have a secret that no one knows, among the awakened Thousand Changelings, a very small number of people can get the favor of Gasriwen, and they will master another and more terrifying ability in addition to the ability to change."

"Because of that ability, they are called 'dispossessors,' or 'substitutes.'"

Hear here.

An ominous premonition welled up in Matthew's mind.

Really.

But listen to Richard recount:

"The dispossessed can take away a person's identity, memory, ability, etc., through a specific ritual, and then replace it."

"This kind of substitution does not refer to a change in appearance, or a replacement of identity, it is a complete integration and replacement."

"They will completely become that person, and retain the memories and abilities of their previous identity, and even the plane consciousness will judge them as the original person."

"And being a ritual-deprived person, even if the outcome is not immediate death, is a very cruel and horrific thing. They are deprived of all the elements, and their friends and relatives will ignore them and laugh at the person who killed them.

It's a very cruel thing.

Eventually, they will die in endless torment.

No one knows who they were, where they came from, and why they died.

I really hope I guessed wrong, but all the signs of the male corpse point to the poor identity of the deprived.

Intuitively.

It is suspected that a Thousand Changelings completed the ritual of dispossession in the territory of Rolling Stone.

I'm not sure where he went.

Because even I can't tell which one is the one who has been deprived of his identity.

He may have left.

Probably still in town.

Maybe even between you! ”

Time.

The atmosphere in the hall suddenly became solemn.

……

(End of chapter)