023、Primitive Religion

  "Are you an Egu? You even brought a cat with you and made food for it first." This was what Medanzo asked Armon when they were camping at night. He had golden brown short curly hair, very white skin, high and straight nose bridge, and looked extremely handsome. In the eyes of most girls in this world, his smile must be very charming, and his teeth that showed when he smiled were also very white and neat.

  Ammon asked in puzzlement: "Why did you give food to the cat first, just like Egyptians?"

  "Mei Danzuo: 'The Egyptians worship cats, regarding them as the embodiment of gods. Only then would they pamper a cat so much. Are you not one of them?' When he saw that the divine cultivator who had saved him was actually so young, he was also shocked, but Ah Mon did not take the initiative to introduce his background."

  Amun smiled and replied, "Oh, this cat is a friend of one of my elders, entrusted to me for good care. I indeed come from Egu, named Amun, learned divine magic at a young age, but so far only a second-level divine magician. Just now you said you came from the capital city of Barren Kingdom, why did you come to this deep mountain in Hatti territory?"

  Since he had already exposed his ability to use magic in the heat of the moment, he might as well go with the flow and pretend to be a magician from Egypt. Anyway, Medanzo wouldn't be able to verify his identity.

  "Ha? Here in Barren territory!... Hmm, it's also possible that I'm mistaken, there aren't any clear boundary markers here. To be honest with you, my great-grandfather was also a divine technique practitioner, but he sacrificed himself in the war a long time ago, and I've come to find his remains. Respected divine technique practitioner, why have you also come to such a dangerous and remote place?"

  Amon's eyes glazed over as he thought of something, and after a moment, he replied: "My purpose is similar to yours. A high priest lost something here many years ago and ordered me to find it, telling me it would be a kind of training."

  "Are you in trouble with him, sending a young and inexperienced divine to this place?" He immediately added, "I didn't mean to offend you, it was just a casual remark."

  Amun waved his hand indifferently: "This is indeed a punishment, it's something I did wrong myself, and I'm willing to accept this punishment."

  Mei Danzuo smiled and said, "It's impossible for a Grand Priest to travel through the deep mountains to get here. He must have dropped something while flying in the air. If it's around here, I can ask someone to help find it."

  "Ask for help? Who can we ask here? Aren't you also looking for the relics of your ancestors?"

  "I've been here several times before, and I've made friends with the largest dwarf tribe in the area. They should be the most familiar with this place, you can ask them to help you find what's lost in the mountains."

  Amon: "Caveman? You've also been in contact with their tribe? What's going on today, how did you end up startling those Ironshell beasts at the water pool? I've never seen a variant of Ironshell beast like that before."

  Mai Dianzuo replied somewhat embarrassedly: "Although I didn't find the remains of my ancestors, I got familiar with the dwarf tribe here and often exchanged some things with them. This tribe doesn't have other good things but can smelt high-quality iron ingots, which are very valuable. And in the past few years, going back and forth to the deep mountains also requires money, so I made some exchanges with them. It's probably still within the territory of Balen, it shouldn't be considered smuggling, right?"

  Refined iron is officially controlled and sold in every country, and private transactions are somewhat suspicious of being illegal. However, Armon didn't bother with such trivial matters and asked casually, "Are you here to look for mineral deposits? Do you plan on personally smelting refined iron?"

  Mei Danzuo was taken aback: "Isn't this your first time here? How did you know there's the finest iron ore sand here?"

  Amun shrugged and said: "This is indeed my first time here, but I've long known that the finest iron ore can be extracted from the dung of Ironshell Beasts!"

  Mai Dang Zuo was stunned, his expression became very strange in the reflection of the flames, and he cursed softly before saying: "The so-called top-grade horse steel ore material, it turns out to be the feces of an iron armored beast! That damn tribe leader didn't tell me that."

  "Ah, so you didn't know? How did they tell you?"

  Mei Danzuo said with a sigh: "The tribe here produces the best quality iron ingots, much better than ordinary iron, which is called horsehide steel in our place. Taking out a small piece from the mountain can earn a lot of money, but the output is very small. I asked the chief if he could get more? The chief said that the ore was difficult to extract and that there was a pool of water on the edge of the mountain where the sediment contained the best horsehide steel ore. But there is an iron armored beast king living in the pool, it's extremely dangerous to collect, their tribesmen don't dare come."

  I thought I was a mid-tier warrior, so taking down an Ironclad Beast King shouldn't be a problem, so I came here quietly by myself. I wanted to kill the Ironclad Beast King and show those dwarves my prowess. The tribe leader didn't tell me there were four of them, nor did he mention that the mine sand was actually the Ironclad Beast's feces. As a result, I almost lost my life here, luckily I met you."

  Amun couldn't help but burst out laughing, and the laughter grew louder. Then Maidan also laughed. The two of them stood facing each other, laughing loudly, their voices echoing through the mountains at night. Xue Dingyan, who was dozing off, raised his head and gave them a very dissatisfied look, as if to say - what's so funny? Are you ashamed or not?!

  ……

  The next day, after the sun rose, Arin carried Shideyan on his back with a tree branch and continued to move upwards under Meidansuo's leadership. Although he didn't plan to let the cave-dwelling savage tribe help him find out about Bell, it was always useful to ask if there were any notable places around here.

  The clouds on the high mountain looked like a floating sea from afar, and as they walked in, it was like a piece of drifting fog. Ah Mon had already passed through the cloud layer for the third time. As he walked halfway, he suddenly heard some noise ahead, and his staff stopped moving: "Mei Danzuo, there seems to be a sound ahead, not like an animal, but rather human footsteps."

  Mei Danzuo leaped onto a large rock, holding his sword and gazing forward. After a while, he suddenly shouted: "Lin Ke, you old scoundrel, hurry over!... You've deceived me terribly, just wait and see how I'll deal with you!"

  A group of people emerged from the forest, led by a man who was cursed by Meidanzo as "old but not dead". He didn't look very old, probably only around thirty. His skin was slightly darker, but among these people, he was already considered the fairest. He wore animal hide clothing and had a pair of straw sandals on his feet. He was the only one wearing shoes, and also the chief of the mountain-dwelling savage tribe.

  Lin Ke hurriedly stepped forward and said, "You've wronged me! I heard you went to the Iron Armor Beast King's residence in Cold Pool to mine for sand. When night fell, I couldn't find you, so at dawn, I gathered the brave warriors of our tribe to come rescue you."

  Behind Lin Ke followed more than thirty "braves", some holding crude bows and arrows, others holding long spears with iron heads tied to wooden handles, and a few people's weapons were quite interesting, being thin and rough flat iron bars, sharpened on one side and opened to form a blade, which could be used for both stabbing and chopping, but not forged into the shape of a knife.

  These people are not too short in stature, but the tribe's leader Lin Ke said they were all the strongest warriors in the tribe and should be the tallest, but also about the same as the average height of ordinary adults. It seems that the cave-dwelling savages being called dwarves is not without reason.

  Midna jumped down from the rock as soon as she saw Link, gesturing with the hilt of her sword to hit his head: "Wait for you to come and save me, I was eaten by the Iron Tortoise early! Isn't there a king of the Iron Tortoise? How did I meet four!"

  Lin Ke let out an "ah" and his mouth opened wide, using the short staff in his hand to make a false block. The staff was made of some unknown beast's bone, and on it was actually embedded a divine stone, very much like a divine technique master's staff.

  He looked up and down at Maidanzo and said, "Can you still come back safely? Yesterday's words were not clear, but you quietly left alone. I repeatedly warned you not to go on your own. What you encountered was not the Iron Armor Beast King, but the large iron armor beast guarding the Beast King's nest. The Iron Armor Beast King usually only comes out at midnight... Four big iron armor beasts! Are you okay?"

  Mai Dangzo pulled out a yellow and black, five-inch-long sharp hook-like thing from his sleeve, which was the "spoils of war" he obtained yesterday, the beast claw that was cut off by a sword. He showed it off with some swagger: "Look at this! Fortunately, I had the help of a noble divine technique master, and I personally cut off this sharp claw."

  The crowd let out a collective gasp, and Lin Ke couldn't help but glance at the claw in Mei Danzuo's hand with some envy. Curious, he asked, "Divine Master, what Divine Master? Is that your friend?"

  "Not only my friend, but also my lifesaver, you ignorant old man. Haven't even heard of the Divine Artisan? He's far more formidable than those two brats!"

  Amun then came out from behind the big stone, these cave dwellers had not even heard of a god's priest, and were spared the trouble of self-introduction. Everyone took him for a friend of Medanzzo's, also a guest in the tribe, and together with Medanzzo he was welcomed to the mountain.

  This tribe indeed has the characteristics of "cave-dwelling savages", built on a flat semi-slope under a not-too-high stone wall, with many natural caves along the stone wall, and after artificial excavation can be inhabited. The largest cave inside ignited a fire, and the tribespeople took turns to fetch firewood every day to keep this fire burning, it is the public fire source for all households in the tribe.

  Although the dwarves here have learned to use flint to make fire, that pile of fire is also a symbol of the whole tribe. The large cave with burning fire is equivalent to the temple in ordinary towns. The open space in front of the cave entrance is also a gathering place for people from all over the tribe. There are also houses on the mountain slope not far from the stone wall, built with wood and thatch, and mud is applied to the walls, which is simple but solid.

  Those who live in the house are people with higher status in the tribe, and it seems that Maidanzo is highly respected here. There is a special room for him to live in, and Amun also lives in this grass house.

  At dusk that day, there was a gathering in the tribe. A group of people surrounded a pile of firewood on an open space, passing around the beast claw cut down by Maidan Zuo, imitating various chopping actions as if the beast claw were their own, with a very intoxicated expression.

  Amon and Medanzzo, who had been fighting the Ironclad Beast together, sat in the most honorable position, right in front of the large cave entrance where a bonfire was burning, along with the tribe's elder, Lin Ke. Medanzzo whispered to Amon, "This is their happiest time of day; they'll keep dancing until the fire goes out before going back to sleep."

  Amun whispered: "What are they doing with that claw? They all look like they're drunk."

  "That's a ritual, fantasizing about getting the power to slay beasts, giving them confidence and courage, so they don't have to be afraid when hunting, every time they can succeed, anyway it's some kind of witchcraft prayer."

  As they spoke, the sky had gradually darkened, and a dwarf with a branch in hand went into the large cave to fetch fire, seemingly to ignite the pile of hay on the empty land. Armon suddenly remembered something mentioned in the information left by the old madman, grasped the iron branch and stood up, pointing one hand at the distant haystack.

  A gust of wind blew around the pile of firewood, and a bright light appeared in the wind. The light turned into sparks, which transformed into tongue-like flames that jumped up and down in the wind. The flames ignited the firewood. Although it was just a simple fire element summoning technique, when combined with the air element technique, the effect seemed both magical and dazzling.

  The dwarves dancing around the bonfire stopped moving, and the others sitting in a circle also stood up. Then Amun saw everyone crawling towards him, their faces filled with reverence and fear. The tribe's leader, Linke, was also paying homage to him, and Amun heard him clearly say: "Messenger of the gods, you have brought warmth and light!"

  Those around Medanzo saw everyone doing so, and also stood up to bow to Amun, but quietly squeezed his eyes and whispered: "You're really good at this, this move is too beautiful! Unfortunately, I'm not a divine technique master, otherwise I would have played like this long ago."

  **

  Character Introduction in this Chapter——

  Lin Ke: The tribal chief of the Cave Dwelling Barbarian tribe, who knows a little simple and crude divine magic, equivalent to the identity of the tribal priest.

  **