As it turns out, the group Damien and Ruyue were with at the moment was just one of many that had left the village today.
In fact, it was a normal thing for many groups to leave in search of herbs and plants to supply the village with their food source.
With them having a sort of non-aggression pact with the beasts in the forest, they had become accustomed to an entirely vegetarian diet.
This particular fact, although seemingly mundane, was one that piqued Damien’s interest. After all, he had to eat beasts to evolve and grow stronger, so he didn’t realize it was even possible to live on such a diet.
But his question was answered soon.
“The plants in the forest have also been affected by mana. They reproduce and grow using the ambient mana in the air in addition to the usual sunlight and water that they need. These plants are more than nutritious enough to sustain us.”
That was right. With how little interaction he had with plant life forms, he had almost forgotten this fact.
Plants were also beings who could evolve and level up just like the rest of the being underneath the system. It was just that it usually took them hundreds of years to do what humans could do in a few decades.
For this reason, Damien hadn’t seen that many hostile plant lifeforms. Although, he did have a faint memory of cutting a few down when he was in the disciple examination. It was just that he was in his Void Heart mode at that time, so he didn’t pay them much mind.
As they continued to talk, the teens told Damien and Ruyue about how they were doing this job they did every day when suddenly they were surrounded by that pack of beasts.
It shocked them immensely, being something they had never encountered with all beasts around them being civil, and that led to their situation when the duo arrived.
‘Not only that, but they also have an abysmal level of strength.’
It wasn’t like they were talentless and growing slowly, rather it was like they didn’t grow at all. These kids were still at the very beginning stages of 1st class, not even passing level 50 yet.
As for how they managed to survive until Damien and Ruyue arrived? That was simple. The beasts had never seriously tried to kill them, choosing to play with their food instead.
‘It’s actually a pretty common trend I’ve seen.’ Damien mused. Whether he looked back to the sea dragon he had fought upon entry to the Cloud Plane, or even further back to the very first wolf that allowed him to evolve, they each had chosen to toy with him before actually taking the fight seriously.
And by that point, he was already at an advantage. He didn’t understand exactly what it was within a beast that made it choose such a stupid action, but in the end, he could sort of relate.
‘Don’t I sometimes do the same?’
Perhaps it wasn’t on the same scale since Damien didn’t go around killing everything he saw, but even if he looked at the tournament back when he was still on Apeiron, didn’t he have fun playing with his competitors?
If he wanted to, he could’ve ended the entire thing from the very beginning if he just activated his vector field. The only limit to that skill was its inability to be used on those at the same level or stronger than him, but none of those competitors reached such a level.
But he didn’t get the chance to mull on it for too long. Ruyue pinched his side, bringing his attention back to reality where they had already reached the front of a small village.
Its size was nothing much, fitting 500-1000 people at most, and its structure was similar. There were only 4 dirt paths in a square shape with shacks and huts made primarily out of wood lining them.
In the center of the village, in the middle of the intersection of the 4 roads, there was a group of buildings that were built slightly larger than the rest. Though, the difference wasn’t anything major.
The streets themselves were relatively empty, making it seem like a ghost town. Well, that was what it was like at first.
“Everyone! We’re home!” Ling’er yelled as they entered the small gate of the village. Her voice rang through the surroundings, bouncing off the walls of the houses. And immediately, a clamor rose up from within those seemingly empty houses.
“Did you hear?”
“Yeah, they’re back!”
“Was that little Ling’er?”
“It was! It was!”
“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go greet her!”
“That’s right!”
The doors to all the houses in the vicinity opened up and people began to flood out of them.
Whether old or young, sick or healthy, they all rushed towards the entrance to greet the group that had just returned.
“Ling’er! It’s really you!”
“How have you guys been? No problems this time?”
“Oh my! Little Cheng did you get hurt?!”
“What happened to Little Cheng??”
The crowd immediately barraged the group with questions, becoming even more frantic when they saw Yan Cheng’s bloodied robe.
Ling’er was a bit flustered, but not by much. This was a generally normal scene to see in the village. Even if they lived in harmony with the beasts, it was only due to the current Lord of this region’s command.
They could never help themselves from being concerned in case something truly happened.
“Guys! It’s okay! We are just fine! But we have something we urgently need to talk to the village elders about!” She yelled, grabbing everyone’s attention.
It was only once they calmed down that they finally noticed the two new faces in the back of the group.
“Ling’er! Who are they?”
“They are our benefactors. Everyone, please give us some space first. We will come and let you all know what happened afterwards.”
Seeing the serious expression on Ling’er’s face, the villagers reluctantly made a path towards the shack in the middle of the village. All the while, their eyes were still focused on Damien and Ruyue.
However, the duo was no stranger to many gazes being focused on them. Ruyue was an important figure of one of the 4 great clans and Damien was…well he always tended to show off and gather attention on himself.
The duo simply smiled kindly towards the villagers they passed as they followed Ling’er.
Arriving at the foremost hut in the middle of the village, Ling’er knocked before asking in a much more polite tone than she used for the villagers.
“Head Elder, please allow us to come inside. We have very important matters to tell you of.”
“Come.”
The response was instant. The aged voice of a woman answered Ling’er’s query as the door to the hut lightly swung open.
Entering inside, Damien noticed that there was something odd in the air. Rather, there was something off about the mana within this enclosed space.
The windows were all tightly sealed and even when the door opened it didn’t seem like it had truly opened, as none of the mana trapped within this room was allowed out.
And in the center of this odd atmosphere sat a wrinkled old woman with a gentle smile on her face.