Soon, other teams also gathered together. After being attacked by monsters, they dared not continue the original dragnet search. Fortunately, the few monsters that appeared were dealt with. Black and White Gun Dai and Rita were able to deal with them. As ninjas who mainly focused on assassination, Kasumi and Ayane were not very good at dealing with such large creatures with thick skin and flesh.
Dick thought for a moment and decided to stop the search and have everyone evacuate this strange pine forest.
It is winter now and the daytime hours are very short. The sun is already setting and it is expected to be dark in less than two hours. By then, the temperature and visibility will drop significantly, making it very troublesome to encounter the enemy.
But fortunately, they did not gain nothing. The corpses of several monsters were of great research value.
Except for the one that was blown up by Dick, which died in a rather tragic way, the bodies of the others were relatively intact.
Dick planned to dissect the monsters on the spot and take some organs such as kidneys to study. However, when they used sharp tools to dig open the bodies of these monsters, they were shocked to find that they were not flesh and blood.
"Why does this look like..."
"Rotten grass, rotten mud, dead leaves... frozen by ice. Interesting! These goblins are essentially magical puppets."
Dick pinched a piece of rotten grass mud and could feel the fluctuations of magic that had not yet dissipated.
So Dick ordered his men to continue smashing the monster's remains to see if they could dig out some unusual East Evil, while he called Robert to ask about the local legends about the "mountain goblin".
Robert recalled carefully that the old man who told him the "mountain goblin legend" was once the oldest man in the village. In this cruel world where the average life expectancy is less than 40, the old man lived to be 92.
The old man not only told them stories about mountain goblins, but also swore that he had seen a mountain goblin when he was very young. It was a terrifying monster that only appeared in the harshest and coldest winters and was the ghost of the victims of the cold syndrome.
However, these monsters usually do not leave the woods and valleys, and have never attacked villages. They just wander around aimlessly, and you will not be attacked unless you enter their territory. When the flowers bloom in the spring of the next year, they will naturally disappear without a trace.
After hearing this description, Dick thought to himself that if this was true, then these mountain goblins wandering in the mountains and forests were obviously guarding something?
"Fuck, I didn't find the strange tree, but I ran into a monster first."
A soldier who nearly died in the battle kicked the monster's corpse as a way of venting his anger, but this kick resulted in a strange object coming out.
The careful Rita noticed this thing at the first time. It was a strange white thing that looked like a leaf and a bit like dragon scales.
When Rita saw this thing, she was about to reach out to pick it up, but she retracted her hand in mid-air because she felt an ominous aura from it.
"Master, there are some discoveries here."
Hearing Rita calling him, Dick hurried over to check, and also noticed the unusualness of the white scale leaf at a glance.
He took out a characteristic sealed box from the space bracelet, carefully used telekinesis to move the scale leaf into the box, then immediately closed the lid and arranged a sled to carry it.
The reason why he didn't put it in a more isolated storage bracelet was because the storage space could not hold living things, but he felt a strange "vitality" from this scale leaf, as if it were alive.
After this harvest, everyone immediately returned to Kevin Village. Several wounded soldiers were handed over to Natasha, and the scale leaf was placed somewhere far away from the village. The private army soldiers set up a tent here to store dangerous goods.
When everyone returned to the village, it was already completely dark. Dick issued a gag order to all those who participated in the operation today, asking them not to talk about encounters with mountain goblins in the village. The wounded were asked to say that they were bitten by wolves after getting separated, so as to avoid causing unnecessary panic.
Back at the makeshift clinic, Natasha had already checked all the villagers, and just as Dick had expected, there were two hidden infected people who had not yet developed symptoms. Both were young and strong woodcutters in the village, and they had already shown signs of chills, but neither of them thought of it as a cold.
The symptoms of cold syndrome are indeed easily overlooked because they are not obvious in the early stages.
After asking about the wounded, Dick extracted some ice elements from Jasmine who was still receiving treatment. But perhaps because of the exhaustion caused by the crazy magic and running around during the day, Dick was a little dazed. If Natasha hadn't been quick, he would have almost fallen down.
"It's okay, I just slipped."
"Don't be so stubborn! You are obviously overworked. I don't know much about the elves in this world. Since you are still in the growth stage, you should pay more attention to rest and replenish nutrition."
"In this world, I am an adult and the Governor."
"A minor is a minor, and the Governor is also a human being. I will not allow you to leave my clinic until your body is fully rested."
Perhaps it was the aura she developed from teaching naughty kids a lesson in the orphanage, Natasha looked stern when facing Dick who refused to listen, and pointed to an empty bed not far away.
Dick had no choice but to walk over and lie down obediently.
Then, the moment my back touched the soft bed, a strong feeling of fatigue came over me.
All I can say is that the body never lies. Dick was indeed a little tired today, and he closed his eyes and fell asleep after a while.
At this time, Natasha came over with a cup of hot milk. Seeing that Dick was already asleep, she hesitated for a moment, but finally couldn't bear to wake him up.
Natasha put the milk on the table at the side, then moved closer to Dick. She couldn't help but carefully look at the slightly childish face. The corners of her mouth slightly raised, and she murmured in a low voice.
"When you're asleep, doesn't it look like a child?"
024, God's Remains
Dick slept until dawn. After getting up, he looked at the quilt covering him and was confused for a long time before he realized where he was.
It is a temporary clinic set up by Doctor Natasha in Kevin Village. It is still in its early stages, but it has already admitted three patients with cold syndrome and eight soldiers injured during the exploration, so there are extra beds.
Dick thought about it carefully and realized that he had been too busy recently. The fatigue was not only caused by leading the team to explore the forest and the battle yesterday, but was a long-term accumulation process, and he had to release it after reaching the threshold.
Dick couldn't help but sigh in his heart, the young body still has advantages, a good sleep, this body condition is like a refresh. Unlike his previous life which is becoming increasingly vague and distant in his memory, his physical function obviously declined after he turned 30, and he could no longer bear the work pressure, which eventually led to his sudden death at work.
Unable to hold back a long sigh once more, Dick got up from the bed, his shoes lying beside the bed and his coat neatly folded on a chair.
After putting on his coat, Dick opened the curtain of the compartment and saw Dr. Natasha sleeping on the desk not far away. The magic lamp on the desk was still on.
Dick walked in quietly and found that Natasha was studying information about cold syndrome.
Since she is a summoned traveler from an alien planet, although Natasha can communicate normally with the people in this world as soon as she arrives thanks to the language benefit that comes with time travel (Dick, whose soul travels through time and space, does not have this), she does not recognize the language here.
Therefore, Huey's research material was actually dictated by Dick, and Natasha rewrote it using Beloberg's language. This was a stupid method, but it was much more efficient than learning the language first.
Natasha currently cannot truly understand what kind of power the so-called "magic" in this world is, but she has rich experience in treating frostbite, which is very helpful in curbing the deterioration of cold syndrome and alleviating patients' pain.
As for how to finally solve the problem, Dick never put all the responsibility and hope on her, a doctor who was summoned.
Looking at Dr. Natasha who was so busy that she fell asleep, Dick raised his eyebrows and complained in his heart.
"You still have the nerve to advise me to rest more!"
With Dick's small body, it was indeed difficult to pick up Natasha, so he used his telekinesis to easily make Natasha float up, then took off his coat and boots, carried her to the bed where he had just slept, and then covered her with a blanket with his own hands.
At this moment, a very unconventional question suddenly popped up in Dick's mind.
Does this mean that I warmed the bed for her?
Shaking his head to get rid of these strange thoughts, Dick quickly left the temporary clinic when he thought about the many things he had to do today.
As soon as he left the house, Natasha, who was lying on the bed, opened her eyes.
Even though Dick was very careful with his telekinesis, the feeling of weightlessness from floating still woke up Natasha, who was not very asleep. However, she still closed her eyes and continued to pretend to sleep.
It's strange to say, she has only known Dick for a short time, but she has an inexplicable sense of trust in him. This is certainly partly due to the influence of the contract, but it also has a lot to do with the character Dick has shown during their contact during this period of time.
Beneath this child's young appearance, there is a mature soul.
According to other colleagues, Dick had a very repressed and deprived childhood. The environment in the Duke's Mansion forced him, a bastard, to mature as soon as possible and learn to endure, which shaped his current personality.
According to Natasha's research on psychology, young people who grow up in such an environment tend to have more extreme and dark personalities. But Dick did not become a twisted bad boy. He had his own ambitions. He speculated that the empire would quickly fall into civil strife after the death of the old emperor, and he wanted to take advantage of the chaos to rise up and do something big.
But at the same time, he has his own moral bottom line that he has always adhered to. He is decisive in killing evil people, but never bullies the weak. He says that people need management and guidance rather than protection, but he is worried that the people under his rule are not well fed or well clothed, and he has to run around to protect these poor people whom he privately calls "troublemakers."
Although he is so young, he has become like his old father!
At this moment, Natasha suddenly thought that she was already in her early forties, old enough to be the mother of an eighteen-year-old boy, so should she pay more attention to the child, so that he would not be overstressed and have mental problems?
On the other hand, Dick, who had left the clinic, didn't know that Natasha was concerned about his mental health. As soon as he came out of the warm clinic, he was blown by the cold wind.
"It's only November and the temperature has already dropped below -10 degrees Celsius. When it gets even colder in the deep winter, I wonder how many people will freeze to death this year?"
Dick got a headache when he thought about the shitty weather in Lagog.
The local population was originally small. Apart from the regular sending of exiles from the mainland to fill the coolie camps in the mining areas, only some poor people who had no land and did not want to become tenants would risk coming here to settle down as pioneers.
The shortage of human resources is expected to be one of the main problems that will plague Dick in the future.
At this time, Dick saw Rita walking towards him and reporting to him about the situation of Scale Leaf.
They placed that thing far away from the village, set up some tents around it, and guarded it with twenty soldiers led by Black and White Gun Dai.
At present, Scale Leaf has not shown any signs of illness, and the health of the peripheral soldiers is not a problem. The fire element amulet is effectively protecting each of them.
"That's good. Where are Kasumi and Ayane?"
"I'm on a reconnaissance mission, monitoring the forest from the outside."
"It's hard work for them."
"By the way, this is a letter from Tia from the castle. Two more villages have found patients with cold syndrome."
"Red Oak Village, Maple Forest Village? I remember the locations of these two villages are..."
"They are all on the edge of the pine forest. Red Oak Village is in the southwest, and Maple Forest Village is in the northwest."
"Send someone over to take care of the patient and bring him back to the Castle Clinic."
"Yes, I will draft a reply right away."
Over the course of one night, the situation worsened further, and the core of the problem was the pine forest. There must be something extraordinary hidden there.
After thinking about it, Dick called Rita and asked her to add a sentence in her reply to call Befa over.
"You want to concentrate your forces?"
"Yes! If necessary, erase that forest from the map."
As soon as Dick finished speaking, there was a sudden commotion outside the village. The direction was exactly where Dick had people place the scales. He and Rita's faces suddenly changed. They didn't care about replying to the letter and immediately rushed to the scene.
When the two arrived at the scene, the situation was chaotic but still under control.
Bai Qiangdai was leading a few soldiers, trying to stop an old man in a gray robe from approaching the tent.
The old man looked to be in his sixties or seventies, but he was very energetic. The most eye-catching thing was the deer antler headdress on his head. When Dick saw this, he immediately remembered something and hurried to meet him.
"White, you guys step back first, don't be rude!"
"Master, you know this old gentleman."
"I know him but I've never met him. But there is indeed some connection."
"???"
Dick was a little confused by what he said, but he bowed respectfully to the old man.
"Hello, Master Behemoth."
"you know me?"
The old man in gray robe was a little surprised and looked Dick up and down.
"I am Dick Best, and Master Grandor is my master."
"You are that boy's apprentice, no wonder... when did he accept another apprentice?"
"Five years ago, I actually took the initiative to become your disciple."
The old man in gray robe is called "Behemoth". He is a fellow senior of Dick's master Grandol. According to seniority, Dick should call him "Uncle Master".
However, Behemoth has been traveling around the world in recent years, so Dick has only heard his master mention such an uncle, but he has never had the opportunity to meet him before.
The reason why he could recognize the other person at a glance was mainly because of the other person's eye-catching deer antler headdress.
That thing looks weird, but it is actually a magical artifact called "Wild Crown".
When Dick was introducing himself, Behemoth was also looking him up and down. Behemoth, like Grandor, was a Saint-level magician who traveled around the world in search of a breakthrough.
Grandor chose a different path from his senior brother, believing that the Saint level was the limit of his personal cultivation and had no interest in further breakthroughs. Therefore, he put more energy into magic research, and took in a few potential apprentices every now and then to teach them, thus earning the title of "Grand Mage".
Dick didn't expect to run into Master Uncle here, but it seemed that the other party was coming for the scale leaf. But Behemoth stared at him for a long time and suddenly asked.
"How old are you this year? At what age did you awaken and start learning magic?"
"I, I'm eighteen this year. My talent awakened when I was twelve, and I will start formal learning when I'm thirteen."
"In other words, it only took you five years to reach a high level?"
"Uh... almost."
