Chapter 678 Runes and Magic Well

Mia woke up from her bed and found herself in that strange world again.

Above your head are drooping vines and fireflies tied with twine. This method of using insects to glow is a unique local lighting method.

Mia walked out of the tree house and pushed open the thick hemp vines hanging at the door. Below were layers of intertwined tree trunks, each of which could accommodate one or two people. The children ran and jumped flexibly on the trees, climbing and swinging flexibly by grabbing the vines like monkeys.

There was a faint smell of fish in the air.

She looked up at the sky.

It was night, and the stars were shining in the sky, but they were dim and sparse, far less bright and clear than those in the Resurrection Kingdom.

Mia looked down again. Under the magic tree where people lived was a sea of ​​gray-black fog, as if there was a fire burning on the ground, with thick smoke rising continuously.

This is her third time to come to [Dagos].

The first time, Mia thought she was in a dream, which caused her to accidentally break her leg. The second time she entered, she read the few books and wooden tablets in the village, asked the elders in a roundabout way, and got to know the world beyond the stars.

"Snow Li, are you awake?"

The one who greeted her was a smiling old lady who looked to be in her 70s or 80s. The old lady had a hunched back and was holding a cane with a non-slip hook.

Mia said, "Just woke up, Grandma Qiao."

In this world, the body Mia uses belongs to a girl named Xueli, who is a hunter.

"We don't have enough dried fruit and water, and we can't eat the leaves of the magic tree. The children are very hungry. Can you please go out and hunt?"

Grandma Qiao said, "Although your injury has not yet healed, I will let you go out...but the food we have stored is really insufficient. Winter is coming soon, and it will be even more difficult to go out then."

"good."

Mia agreed immediately.

"Old Jello is going with you, so be careful."

Mia nodded.

As there are only four hunters in the village, every hunting trip is a life-and-death journey. Shu Village requires two hunters to act together to take care of and rescue each other.

Back at the tree house, Mia began to pack her bags.

The hunter's tools include ropes, grappling hooks, masks, hunting knives and bows.

The grappling hook consists of a hook and a special rope, tied to the hunter's arm, and can be shot into the tree trunk from a long distance at any time, allowing hunters to grab the rope and swing to the next landing place.

The mask is made of multiple layers of linen and herbs to reduce the inhalation of "dead air".

Hunters need to go to the lower level of the tree village to hunt. The area near the ground is filled with deathly air and full of monsters. Humans who stay there for a long time will suffer from convulsions, bleeding from the mouth and nose, and even coma and death.

That is why people live higher and higher, to get away from the dead air that keeps pouring out and rising from the ground.

The hunting knife is as long as your arm, with a thick back and a hook at the tip. This structure is convenient for chopping and cutting food and materials, and can also be used to dig between soil and stones.

Mia's bow is made of elm wood. This is exclusive to women, while men use ash wood.

These two types of wood can carry the power of [Runes].

According to the experience of generations, elm wood is most suitable for women, while ash wood is the best for men.

After counting and packing up, Mia tied on the backpack to carry the prey and walked out of the tree house.

Old Jello was already waiting outside, fully armed.

He has white hair and beard and is already forty years old. The children in the Tree Village call him Old Jello.

In this world called [Dagos], people's life span is usually less than 50 years old, so Old Jello is indeed an old man. There are very few people as long-lived as Grandma Qiao, and the old people of the same period as her have died decades ago.

"Go worship God first."

Jello led Mia to a wide area on the tree. This was a huge branch with a statue in the middle. Several old men were kneeling in front of it, chanting something.

Hunters would offer sacrifices to the gods before going out to pray for good luck.

Mia was not unfamiliar with this, because the Yao tribe also had such rituals and customs.

Everyone would first worship the God Yao, and then pray to other gods according to different inclinations and fields.

Some people worship the White God to pray for wealth, some believe in King Wuji and hope to gain the favor of the earth, some pray to the God of Ju for wisdom, some praise the King of Light, some worship the Marshal of the Long Cavalry, and some fear the body of billions...

All the tree villages in [Dagos] believe in the [Thousand-Faced God].

Mia stood in front of the statue, looking forward.

The Thousand-Faced God sits on a tall throne. He wears a wide-brimmed hat with broad wings on both sides.

On each of his shoulders rested a large raven, with its beaks pointed toward his ears, as if whispering something to the gods. At his feet lay two wolves, the two beasts faithfully scanning the surroundings.

The Thousand-Faced God leaned on a spear and looked down at the world from his throne. His blurry face made it impossible to tell whether he showed contempt, majesty, or cruelty.

Jello knelt in front of the wooden statue and said, "O omnipotent Thousand-Faced God, please grant us good luck. I hope we can harvest prey and return safely this time."

When in Rome, do as the Romans do.

Mia also prayed like the old hunter.

This [Thousand-Faced God] is the only god of [Dagos], but in local history, he has never appeared since the [Great Cataclysm].

According to word of mouth and woodcut records, a long, long time ago, people still lived on the ground, and every large settlement had a magic well. Residents could use magic bottles to fill magic energy to supply each household with heating and cooking, as well as to drive the Rune.

Two giant crows fly around the world every day, and then report everything they see and hear without reservation to the Thousand-Faced God - the two birds on the shoulders of the statue.

That was the most glorious golden age of [Dagus], when gods loomed in the sky, all things flourished, and the place was full of vitality.

After an ordinary day, the giant crow disappeared into the sky and was never seen again.

The gods never responded again.

During the long and terrifying godless era, people ushered in a great catastrophe. The eruption of the underground magic well filled the world with monsters and death covered the entire earth.

To avoid the monsters and the dead air, some people climbed up the big trees that grew wildly in the flooded magic well, while others went deep underground.

Even so, the Dagoths still believe in this Thousand-Faced God.

They believe that one day in the future, he will return like lightning. The departure of the Thousand-Faced God is to test the courage and tenacity of the Dagoth people, and when he returns, the whole world will be rebuilt and become stronger than ever before.

In the past, the Thousand-Faced God showed mercy and love to this place, and the Runes were the treasures bestowed by him.

…

Mia followed the old hunter Jello, jumping with vines and grappling hooks, and kept landing under the tree.

Originally, Mia was not good at running and climbing in the wild. She was a student at the United Friendship University, mainly studying mathematics and astronomy, and studying under the famous demon lecturer Yuan Qing.

The owner of this body is Xue Li. Although she is only fifteen or sixteen years old, her physical fitness is amazing. She has both strength and flexibility, and is not inferior to those athletes who have trained in "Kuafu Chasing the Sun".

Whether walking or running, it is more of a matter of body inertia, and Mia only needs to follow her body's muscle memory.

If there is a shortcoming, it is that Sydney's mind works too slowly.

In the past, Mia could immediately calculate mathematical problems or various deductions based on conditions, but now it is extremely difficult to calculate with this body.

Xueli's talents are all in her body, her hands are faster than her brain.

Old Jello warned: "Xue Li, you still have to be careful with your legs, even though you always recover quickly. But try not to fight with those monsters in close combat, use the bow, and don't get close."

Mia nodded: "I still don't feel well enough, you can do the archery later."

"Okay."

According to Grandma Qiao and others, Xueli was a cheerful, talkative and courageous hunter. They were surprised at how quiet Xueli became after being injured. The villagers could hardly imagine that the person in this body was another person from a distant world.

Two hunters entered the hunting area, pulled up the masks around their necks, and found a secluded area to search for prey.

There is already gray fog lingering here, and visibility is much lower than before.

After waiting for a while, a shadow came from not far away.

The two hunters remained motionless.

The visitor stopped from time to time to look around, and as it slowly approached, its appearance was revealed.

It was a large lizard with a gray cuticle, about the length of two adults, crawling on the ground on all fours, with a single horn on the tip of its nose that curved upward.

It's a horned lizard.

Good luck.

The horned lizard is a relatively low-risk prey. It is not afraid of toxins, has thick skin and flesh, and is an irresistible natural enemy to most insect monsters. But for the hunters of Dagus, as long as they can hit its eyes, they can get the prey.

Mia saw that Old Jello had already drawn his ash bow and aimed the sharp arrow at the enemy.

There are two magic horns at both ends of the bow, and the bow blades are engraved with the [Rune] - "Uruznid Surisaz".

This is actually three phrases.

Uruzi represents the male user and is the invocation of the rune.

Ned points to "restraint" and "oppression" to confirm the lasting effect of power.

Surisas is "thorns and thorns", which condenses the external form of power.

To unite, is to identify the male user, to determine the nature of the power as a way to entangle and bind the enemy, to unfold by piercing.

The magic horns at both ends of the string groove are specially made energy storage containers. They are sealed and stored in magic bottles to obtain a certain amount of magic energy, which is then used to drive the runes.

When Mia saw this magical prop for the first time, she was very confused.

This is an incredibly powerful technology. But in this world, people can only apply it to a few limited items such as bows, grappling hooks, magic bottles, etc. The development of both magic energy and runes has been in a long-term stagnation, even worse than before the Cataclysm.

Now, she gradually understood.

To understand and apply the 24 runes, the synergy of various basic knowledge is required.

Including the most basic linguistics, logic, theology, mathematics, casting and smelting, materials and engineering, etc. If placed in the Yao clan, with element theory and crystal construction skills as theoretical experimental support, and then using the [Crystal Construction Phase Dissociation Cannon] for field testing, it can gradually complete the deciphering and development of new combinations.

Mia also wanted to learn the runes and bring them back to the Yao civilization, so she was well prepared this time.

But in today's Dagus, there is no soil for further development of technology.

They can only follow the old methods passed down from their ancestors and use the simplest and most common combinations to use runes.

At this moment, the old hunter holding the bow's eyes turned white, and his whole body merged with the power of the rune.

Swoosh! After the sound of breaking through the air, the horned lizard's head trembled violently and let out a hissing roar.

It desperately shook its head that was hit by the arrow, its body twisted continuously on the ground, and it opened its mouth and growled at the surroundings, as if threatening a lurking enemy.

There is no mistake in the poem, post, content, and read the book on 6, 9, and bar!

Old Jello just calmly and steadily drew the bow again and aimed at the target.

Whoosh! The horned lizard's injured left eye was shot again, and it thrashed wildly on the ground.

Then Old Jello and Mia each fired two arrows. Mia shot the horned lizard in the nostril, while Old Jello specifically attacked the eyes.

The horned lizard lay limply on the ground, just gasping for breath.

"Walk."

Old Jello led Mia around to the back of the horned lizard. He took out his hunting knife and chopped at the horned lizard's tail, and Mia did the same. The two hunters quickly cut off a two-arm-long tail.

They picked up the tail and quickly retreated back the way they came.

If you have enough time and energy, you can kill the horned lizard, but other predators may appear along the way, which is extremely dangerous for the hunter.

The hunter's job is to capture the meat of the prey, not to kill the prey.

"Uruznid Sulisaz" can not only pierce the enemy, but also temporarily restrain the enemy.

It is much easier to cut off the tail of a horned lizard, and the tailbone, meat, and cuticle are all useful food and materials.

Not long after the two escaped, the horned lizard was suddenly pulled into the ground by something, leaving only a small depression on the ground.

Mia and Old Jello were so shocked that they couldn't even breathe.

After making sure that everything was OK, the two began to look for other food and materials.

When the masks turned black and began to drop particles, the two hunters immediately turned back. This was a sign of danger. If they stayed any longer, the death energy would break through the protection of the masks and enter their mouths and noses, causing bleeding and more serious internal organ damage.

…

Mia and Old Jello each carried a bag and displayed their harvested prey in front of the statue.

The children gathered around the long, strong and powerful tail. The tail of the horned lizard was still shaking slowly, and the cross section showed the bright red, firm texture of the meat and the solid white bones.

"What a huge lizard tail! Xue Li is still so awesome!"

"We have broth to drink this winter!"

"I really want to eat it now..."

…

The old men weighed the meat, stored it, and began to turn their attention to other things.

Old Jello's bag contained several common herbs, a bunch of edible roots, a few large firefly eggs, some flint for making fire, and sharp gravel for using as tools.

But what Mia brought back was of a different style.

"Xue Li, what is this?" An old man pointed at the eye-catching and heavy stone slab in the bag.

"This is a record slate. There are a dozen more near a col below."

Mia said: "According to the drawing above, there is a magic well not far from this magic tree, and under the magic well lives a huge monster. Although the description is simple, the general environment around it is very realistic, and you can find the corresponding landmarks."

She pointed to the slate.

There is a well carved on the stone slab, and at the bottom of the well is a huge snake-like creature, which seems to be sleeping.

"The magic well should be related to this monster, so the flooding and gushing of the magic well may also be related to it."

"Oh, so that's how it is."

Someone else asked about something: "This skin is really complete."

Mia carefully unfolded the animal skin and explained, "This leather has been tanned and is a tool that has been processed by humans. It uses a red pigment, which should be a simple ink made from powder ground from some kind of stone and mixed with oil."

The old people came over one after another.

Painted on the skin was a group of little red men running around, and a giant red snake was hunting them and swallowing them into its stomach.

There is a strange rune painted below.

"'Ewaz'...destruction and creation." Grandma Qiao narrowed her eyes and said, "It looks like a request for help. This should be a request for help from someone underground. I hope we can see it."

"As expected, they were attacked by monsters... There was nowhere to hide on the ground, and there was only one way to die underground."

"What a pity! May their souls rest in peace."

One of the children looked at Mia and said, "Xue Li, I feel like you have become different recently. You seem to be much smarter! Did the injury you suffered last time cause you to change so much? Have you received any inspiration from the Lord God?"

Mia thought to herself that she had indeed received revelation from the gods, but it was from the god Yao, not the gods here.

“I just thought there might be more to living a better life than just hunting,” she said.

Grandma Qiao looked at her and said, "So what should we do?"

Facing the elder's question, Mia was not afraid at all: "This world is in danger and may be destroyed at any time. We have to survive and leave here."

"Well, everyone knows that no matter how tall a tree is, it can't break away from the earth. Birds always return to the ground."

"Yeah, there's no way around it."

The old people sighed.

Grandma Qiao looked at Mia and said, "Go on and tell me what you think."

Mia was silent for a moment.

"I think we need a new god to lead us out."

Everyone looked at each other.

"Sydney, you..."

Mia was prepared for all kinds of disasters and accusations.

But this step must be taken, otherwise the increasingly deteriorating dead air here will continue to rise. The magic tree is being bitten by various monsters, and its vines and roots can hardly protect against all attackers. Sooner or later, there will be a day when either the magic tree collapses or the monsters below completely climb up the tree.

Grandma Qiao's old eyes sharpened: "Do you know how to worship other gods?"

"Have other gods descended here?"

"Sydney, tell me now."

The old people were talking at once.

This... seems to be different from what I thought.

Everyone seems to be equally accepting of other gods.

"I have indeed received the blessing and inspiration of a great god. He is the master of the myriad worlds, and his power spreads across the mountains and oceans. Demons and gods also pledge allegiance to him, and unstoppable natural disasters also prostrate themselves at his feet. As long as you believe in him and offer him loyalty and humility, you will be rescued by the Yao civilization..."

Mia talked about the various miracles of God Yao.

The old people and children in Shu Village were all extremely excited after hearing this!

"Let's build a statue of this great god Yao! We must give it a try!"

Mia understood.

In a desperate world, everyone's desire to survive can break all rules and regulations, and they will grasp any bit of hope.

Mia used her knowledge of mathematics and geometry, as well as the sketching required by the school, to draw the construction drawings of the Yaoshen statue.

Everyone started busying themselves with building the idol.

…

After being busy until she was exhausted, Mia wrote a diary on the bark of a tree beside the bed and left it for Xueli to read when she came back.

She sat on the bed and looked at the dark sky outside the tree hole.

The stars are dim.

On the other side of the world, I wonder what Sydney, who occupies my body, is doing now.

Today is the day for the key topic report... my graduation exam...

Thinking of this, Mia felt a sharp pain in her brain.

Hopefully she doesn't screw up too badly.

(End of this chapter)