Chapter 37

Du Mingna suppressed his doubts and unease.

 He stood aside with Old John, quietly watching the villagers busy.

 Hausman carried a large prey on his shoulders and came back quickly.

 Immediately, some villagers started cutting the meat into long strips and feeding them to Jad.

 They were really busy.

 The meat was still raw.

 The time between the death of the prey and its preservation was quite long, and without timely processing, the smell emitted was not pleasant.

 But as long as a villager brought the long strip of meat to Jad's mouth, Jad would devour it like a supreme delicacy, quickly biting the meat strip, rolling it into his mouth with a few more bites, and swallowing it rapidly.

 He ate so fast that Du Mingna doubted if he was even chewing.

 After eating almost half of the prey's head, Jad's belly did not bulge, but his struggling frequency noticeably decreased.

 He seemed to have finally relieved some kind of pain, with a hint of relaxation on his small face washed alternately by sweat and splattered blood.

 There were still people feeding him meat, and he was still eating, but his eating speed slowed down.

 Grey Rope Village did not live a life of eating raw meat.

 Even outside the stone house, a fire was temporarily lit, simmering monster bones and cooking monster meat.

 However, monster meat was different from regular meat; it required more processing to be suitable for ordinary people to eat.

 Du Mingna could still see traces of meat being scooped out of the monster bone soup, indicating that Jad had already eaten some monster meat before consuming the ordinary wild animal meat.

 Seeing Jad's condition improving, Old John slightly turned towards Du Mingna.

 Their eyes met, and Du Mingna understood, quietly leaving.

 Some villagers noticed, but they did not say much and let Du Mingna and Old John leave.

 Everyone was busy.

 Jad was safe, but he was still absorbing the energy from the monster blood, and someone needed to continue watching over him, staying by his side.

 After the monsters left, the remaining soil stained with monster blood still needed to be collected.

 They had to deal with some monsters hunted down using prepared traps and ambushes.

 Even if they could only hunt down slow-moving low-level monsters that may have been injured before, they were still valuable.

 These monsters had to be dealt with quickly, or the essence in their blood and meat would be lost.

 It was all about being active, all busy.

 Du Mingna and Old John walked back home.

 Their pace was leisurely compared to the other villagers of Grey Rope Village.

 Old John and Du Mingna explained the blood pool.

 It was an idea that came to a villager named Kane decades ago.

 At that time, monsters were already attacking the village when they descended from the mountains, and the monsters back then were much more ferocious than the ones descending now.

 They would eat without hesitation upon encountering humans.

 If they couldn't find humans, they would rampage around and even kill each other before returning to the mountains.

 Every encounter with monsters in the village was a real gamble.

 Later, stone houses were built, the habit of reinforcing the outer walls of the stone houses was formed, and children were taught to hide...

 gradually making the village safer.

 It didn't take long to establish a new tradition.

 When everyone around you takes it for granted, especially for those who have only started to remember things after forming this habit, it becomes a tradition.

 With the increase in the number of years the monsters descended from the mountains, they became less ferocious, and when they returned to the mountains, they were not as frantic to vent their anger.

 This made the village much safer.

 But monsters were still dangerous.

 Decades ago, Kane noticed that the blood left by monsters in Grey Rope Village improved the soil, enhancing the physical strength of the villagers who ate the crops grown in that soil.

 He began to wonder if there was a way for the villagers to directly use monster blood.

 Just like the master magician of the alchemist profession in the city, using monster blood to concoct magic potions to enhance the strength of those who take them.

 Cain said he would do it.

 At that time, Gray Rope Village was on the brink of collapse.

 There was no one deliberately protecting them.

 Occasionally, when a magician or a knight passed by and saw the frenzied appearance of those monsters, they would flee for their lives.

 In the end, the Nebu Highlands was a remote area with not many high-level practitioners active there, and the low-level practitioners couldn't handle it in groups.

 The villagers either moved away or protected themselves.

 Cain initially only researched on himself, then on severely injured villagers...

 He had a strange perception and always knew mysteriously how to use monster blood and even soil soaked with monster blood most effectively.

 Those severely injured villagers knew their time was short, and the village had no ability to heal them.

 Instead of dying in vain, they chose to cooperate with Cain's research.

 Cain's research progressed smoothly.

 Some villagers who were already deemed to be incurably injured improved after receiving Cain's monster blood therapy.

 Although these villagers still needed long-term bed rest, their physical condition improved after getting up.

 During his research, Cain also gained stronger powers.

 He was not a practitioner, but he managed to encounter a group of wild boars in the mountains and return alive, even killing one.

 How difficult that was! More and more villagers began to use monster blood according to the methods summarized by Cain.

 The strengthened villagers even started actively hunting monsters.

 The supply of monster blood gradually became insufficient.

 The villagers lacked the means to hunt monsters.

 Therefore, the villagers began to focus their resources on the more talented children in the village.

 In the previous generation, it was Daniel, Gus, and Hausman.

 In this generation, other children were also given priority.

 But when Jad was born and gradually showed even more exceptional talent, Jad became the child the village prioritized.

 In Cain's era, he had already concluded that there was a limit to the amount of monster blood villagers could absorb.

 Regardless of age, each villager's absorption capacity would not change significantly, and the amount they could absorb in a single instance would also remain constant.

 Cain had already summarized a method to determine this amount.

 Children who absorbed a sufficient amount of monster blood at a young age would have greater growth in the future.

 However, young children often lacked the physical and mental resilience to withstand the impact of monster blood.

 Jad was already an exception in Gray Rope Village.

 After Old John finished speaking to Dumina, he paused and then muttered in confusion, "But why didn't Gus and the others prepare the right soaking bloodwater for Jad? How could Jad's body lack energy to such an extent that he had to eat a lot of meat to replenish it?" He was close to Dumina, and his voice did not escape Dumina's ears.

 Dumina recalled the stewed monster bones and meat, and it was clear that the villagers knew they had to feed Jad meat.

 He asked, "Why eat meat to replenish energy? Can't the energy from monster blood enter Jad's body directly? Can't it meet the needs directly?" Old John shook his head.

 "I'm not sure.

 This is also part of Cain's research.

 He found that the more a person can harness the potential of monster blood, the more they need additional things to replenish their energy when using monster blood.

 In a place like Gray Rope Village, nothing provides more energy than meat.

" Old John looked at Dumina again and said with a smile, "Young master, perhaps you can try to find the answer.

 You are also someone watched over by the relics of the goddess.

" Cain, Hausman, Jad, they might all be.

 But according to the judgment of the Pope of the Shadow Church, Dumina bore the gaze of the relics of the goddess much more than they did.

 Therefore, Du Mingna possessed extraordinary talent, but still could not awaken as a magician.

 The spiritual sea awakening auxiliary potion was useless.

 How could ordinary potions contend with the power of the Goddess relic? The Shadow Church had long recognized this.

 Acting on behalf of the Shadow Church, John, who continued to follow Du Mingna, also recognized this.

 He, along with others in the Shadow Church, firmly believed that Du Mingna would one day find his own path.

 Perhaps that was the path the Goddess of Magic wanted to take but never had the chance to.

 Du Mingna felt uneasy under John's gaze.

 He quickened his pace involuntarily.

 "Let's hurry back home to see if any of our belongings have been damaged by monsters.

 My signboard is still hanging outside.

" It was supported by only two simple pillars.

 If a careless monster bumped into it, the signboard might fall.

 Produced by the system, the quality should be guaranteed, so there was no need to worry about it breaking, but it would be troublesome to hang it back up.

 John chuckled softly and quickened his pace as well.

 He knew there was nothing wrong at home, and Du Mingna's signboard was still intact.

 There was no need to go back home; it could be seen from a distance.

 The words "Magic First School" were still shining.

 This time, John chose to walk closely behind Du Mingna, his eyes fixed on Du Mingna's back.

 After revealing his identity, he no longer concealed his fanaticism.

 He firmly believed that fate had already arranged everything.

 Du Mingna would come to the Grey Rope Village, and after arriving, his temperament would become more stable, and he would actively want to do things and research, all related to the relic of the Goddess of Magic.

 That was the charm of the great Goddess of Magic! Even though she had been dead for many years, her residual power could still influence this land.

 Just by approaching the stone house where he and John lived, Du Mingna noticed the obvious differences between the surroundings of the stone house and other areas in the village.

 On the way back, he could see the footprints and claw marks left by monsters.

 But near his stone house, there was no difference from before he sought refuge in the first shelter.

 It seemed like the monsters feared this place and avoided it on their own.

 Du Mingna first looked at the "Magic First School" signboard, then at John.

 The signboard rewarded by the system could not have this effect! If it did, the blank area of monster traces should have centered around the signboard, not the stone house, encompassing the area where the signboard was located.

 Du Mingna did not think the location chosen by the system for the school would have the effect of repelling monster attacks.

 The only remaining possibility was John.

 Indeed, he heard John's laughter.

 "Young master, I left a shadow Goddess statue in the stone house for my daily prayers.

" The answer was revealed.

 Du Mingna's eyes darkened slightly, then he responded lightly.

 He already knew how to use the mechanism to open the door.

 But as he approached the door, John had already swiftly positioned himself below the opening mechanism, opened the door for him, and respectfully bowed, inviting him inside.

 Du Mingna passed by him expressionlessly, hearing John's faint murmur like a mosquito.

 "Young master, as you know, I have a mission.

 But when I was in the Grey Rope Village, did anyone ever die from monsters? Housman was...

 an unavoidable accident, and he is still alive.

" Du Mingna's heart trembled.

 But he had already walked past John completely and entered the dimly lit room.

 When he turned around, he only saw John's usual expression.

 Cheerful, kind, respectful, putting the master first...

 It was as if the murmur Du Mingna had just heard was just his imagination.