"Pop."
Amidst the drifting dust hovering in the air, the experint log was closed with both hands.
Fingertips rubbed the rough yet resilient surface, recalling the entries in the log, Xia Nan pondered thoughtfully.
Although it was filled with a large number of tedious and incomprehensible complex experintal terms, interspersed with many subjective ramblings and unclear heart’s voice.
But if you read from the beginning, page by page, excluding those contents with little information, and summarize a bit, you could deduce the identity of the log’s owner and the causes and consequences of coming to this place.
An adventurer whose level had reached Level 5, under the "Druid" class, who unexpectedly encountered a powerful demon called "Gauss Eye Demon" on the Dark Territory outskirts. The team suffered heavy casualties, with two teammates dying successively. He himself triggered a curse on his body due to the Eye Demon’s special vision.
To find a safe and hidden place for healing, he ca to this canyon.
It’s just that the curse on this Druid seed particularly vile, making ordinary healing thods difficult to alleviate.
It happened to be the Sumr Dynasty Month, the blooming season of Fog Lamp Grass.
The other party unexpectedly found from the blossoming Fog Lamp Grass the opportunity to heal injuries and even to advance one step further to Level 6. But at the sa ti, pure life force was needed as a dium and catalyst.
Thus, the nearby Fog Lamp Village naturally beca his target, forced to conduct sacrifice rituals, offering him "tributes" regularly.
And this is the origin of the so-called ancient rituals passed down through generations in Fog Lamp Village.
The diary did not have information to determine the precise ti the Druid arrived at the canyon.
But through brief hints Xia Nan got in the village, it could roughly be judged that this ritual had continued for many years, with many village chiefs changed.
Making this ritual, initially forced for the Druid’s personal desire, gradually beco a tradition in Fog Lamp Village through generations of inheritance.
Even later, when the Druid’s experints achieved significant progress and his injuries healed, no longer needing fresh pure life force as a supplent, Fog Lamp Village would still send a tribute into the canyon every few years.
Upon thinking of this, Xia Nan felt absurd at heart.
According to the Druid’s descriptions in the log, in the early years of arriving at the canyon, he might have actually helped Fog Lamp Village.
After all, being the main source of tributes, maintaining the village’s safety and allowing the population to develop fully would also be beneficial for his own experints.
And as a Level 5 Druid, in such a location that didn’t even count as the Mist Forest’s outskirts, helping to drive away so weak demons or enabling villagers to have bountiful harvests yearly via professional skills can be said to be extrely simple.
But as his sleeping ti grew longer and experintal progress deepened, the Druid no longer needing pure life force naturally reduced his aid to the village.
By reaching such a level, for Fog Lamp Village, the sacrificial ritual had long been given anings exceeding its original intent.
Becoming a tool for the ruler to maintain their power and position.
Despite knowing in heart that the so-called protection from the Canyon Spirit was gone, the rituals continued to be held regularly, offering tributes.
When facing challengers to authority, even adopting malicious tactics of "losing a thousand to harm eight hundred", deliberately attracting external demons, or creating fears of poor harvests, was used to suppress others and maintain one’s position.
In this light, Aspen’s initial resistance and eventual capitulation after his daughter was chosen as a tribute were not the punishnt of the Canyon Spirit that people talked about, but a deliberate guide by that old village chief behind the scenes.
Using Aspen’s sense of responsibility and affection for the villagers to coerce him into making a choice between the village and his daughter.
And the demon lurking around the village, leaving only two months after the ritual ended, probably did not leave because the ritual was satisfactorily carried out and forgave everyone, but was likely because it was satiated or for so other reason.
"Not a good person indeed..."
In his mind, Xia Nan unwittingly recalled the longbow engraved with words behind Aspen and the wrinkled elderly village chief.
Murderous intent surfaced in Xia Nan’s heart.
Planning to reveal the truth to the villagers when leaving the village afterward.
Surely, the anger of the simple and hardworking populace would put a "satisfactory" end to that old village chief’s career.
Besides, Xia Nan found an unexpected gain from this Druid’s left-behind log.
The other party ntioned that one of his teammates went to Suo Yu Bay in the Southern Islands for recovery after the team disbanded.
This was not critical.
What truly caught Xia Nan’s attention was the way the Druid referred to the other party:
—"That kid from the Morton Family."
This surna, anyone slightly familiar with the history of the Sevia Kingdom wouldn’t find unfamiliar.
If adding the "Nianshu Territory" and "inherit title" ntioned in the log...
The identity of the Druid’s teammate was already determinable.
He was the ruler, who Xia Nan had passed by not long ago with Mage Vier, the ruler of Nianshu Territory in Yuan Sha Province, the source of the [lted Ash Silver Ingot] loot, the loyal figure to "Lawson", the professional Xia Nan had slain, the original source of [Dream Weaving Corridor] —
A descendant from the Morton Duke Family!
Round and round, unexpectedly encountering him here.
And the most intriguing to Xia Nan was the description involving this Morton family’s young master in the Druid’s context.
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