Chapter 84: Chapter 84: The Deformed Group

When Sane carried Kaelen across the uneven terrain back to the brick-making area, Mossi was using his claws to dig Oleck up.

The depth of the hole had already surpassed Mossi’s head, yet there was still no sign of Oleck anywhere.

"What happened?" Sane asked in a deep voice. Could it be that because Oleck failed to awaken, he had done something foolish?

A nearby beastman wiped his sweat:

"I do not know either, Chief. Earlier he returned looking a bit unhappy but still worked normally; then, he suddenly transformed into his beast form and collapsed onto the ground. Before we could figure out the situation, Oleck’s body suddenly sank into the earth and vanished."

Sane turned to look at Kaelen, noticing the mate tapping an index finger between his eyebrows. Mossi scrambled out of the hole, planning to dig in another location because the spot the man dug earlier had hit a water vein. Kaelen hurriedly signaled: [Uncle Mossi, let me.]

Mossi stepped aside, making room for Kaelen. He placed a hand on the ground, focusing his ability into a cogon grass plant, urging its roots to extend. The surrounding group of tribesmen leaned their heads together, whispering:

"This is exactly the Divine Energy mentioned in the travelogue, right? It is my first time seeing Kaelen use that Divine Energy."

"I have already seen Theron use Divine Energy. By the way, Kaelen’s Divine Energy is similar to Tania’s, related to plants."

"That must be it, but I heard that using Divine Energy leaves you very weak. Kaelen is still pregnant; will he be alright?"

Sane heard the surrounding whispers and nodded inwardly. After completing ’Rokley’s Adventure’ and giving everyone time to mentally process it, Kaelen compiled a new, longer travelogue titled ’The Glorious Era’. The first part of this travelogue told of a supernatural world where absolutely everyone possessed Divine Energy.

Each Divine Energy in the travelogue was described in meticulous detail, and the protagonists as well as the antagonists were sharply depicted. Furthermore, it emphasized the divide between those with Divine Energy and those without; this divide was even more profound than the wealth gap Rokley had experienced.

Part two depicted the collapse of a place called the Divine Realm; the Divine Energy users fell from their pedestals, left to be torn apart by the very people they had once trampled underfoot.

Unlike previous travelogues, which merely narrated stories and allowed everyone to discuss them freely, this ’Glorious Era’ travelogue served as a core teaching curriculum. After each section was narrated, every student had to go back, reflect, write down their thoughts, and submit them. The teachers would then use those submissions as a basis to re-educate any misguided ideologies.

Like a slow, persistent rain soaking the earth, following the ideological education from the teachers and ’The Glorious Era’, the people of Crimson had calmly accepted the existence of Divine Energy. They understood both its pros and cons and did not blindly worship those who possessed Divine Energy. Even upon learning that they themselves had a chance to awaken Divine Energy, they merely clicked their tongues: *It is just an additional life skill, what is the big deal.*

"Ah, Oleck has been found."

Everyone snapped out of their reminiscing and hurriedly looked toward Kaelen. The cogon grass roots had dug extremely deep, piercing right through the tangled underground water veins below, successfully locating the field mouse curled up nesting within the earth. The grass roots wrapped completely around the mouse, pulling Oleck up from the ground.

The moment he placed the mouse onto the ground, Oleck’s body began to sink again; fortunately, Kaelen managed to wrap the roots around him in time. Having consumed quite a lot of his ability today, Kaelen’s face was slightly pale. He placed the field mouse onto a wooden board used for kneading clay and signaled:

[Do not let him touch the ground.]

Afterward, Kaelen’s body swayed and collapsed, caught by Sane who had been standing guard right beside him. He scooped Kaelen up into his arms and said to Mossi:

"Uncle Mossi, have someone take Oleck to Uncle Nyx’s place and monitor him closely. Remember not to let him touch the ground."

Having said that, Sane carried Kaelen back, asking him in a low voice as they walked:

"Is Oleck undergoing an awakening right now?"

[Mhm.] Kaelen weakly traced symbols on Sane’s chest: [Earth element. In a few rare cases, reactions like a high fever or unconsciousness will occur during the awakening process. If Oleck had remained submerged in the earth any longer, he would have definitely suffocated to death.]

Sane gave a hum of acknowledgment, his heart sinking. It seemed that from now on, it would be necessary to place those who unsuccessfully awakened under strict observation, preventing situations where someone might bury themselves alive like Oleck did.

---

At the crossroad between Obsidian and Crimson, about a half-day’s journey from Crimson, a disheveled group of people were forcing themselves to walk onward. A Sub-Beast with a dark birthmark stretching from his right cheek down to his chin staggered and nearly collapsed, only to be supported by a young beastman.

This young beastman had already passed the age of transformation, yet the hooves on his lower limbs had not completely faded away. The boy spoke anxiously to the beastman leading the group:

"Brother Leonardo, can we take a rest? Brother Kai is so exhausted that he cannot walk anymore."

Leonardo struggled to turn his head to assess the situation; his grayish-white eyes swept over everyone before he said:

"Not yet, try to hold on a little longer. This area is close to both the magic beast forest and that tribe. If we are unfortunate enough to be caught by them, we will either be reduced to slaves or be killed."

After speaking, the beastman resumed walking. Prolonged dehydration had left the physical condition of this group utterly depleted. The fact that those who had gone searching for food and water never returned made them acutely aware of how dangerous this region was. Even though everyone was on the verge of total exhaustion, they gritted their teeth and endured it so as not to burden the others, struggling to inch forward bit by bit.

At the periphery of Crimson, Quinlan was perched on a tree branch, yawning repeatedly, when the corner of his eye suddenly caught a piece of tree bark moving. He immediately heightened his vigilance, pretending to be nothing but a harmless sparrow with half-closed, drowsy eyes. Under the effect of Kaelen’s Divine Energy necklace, his beastman aura was completely concealed; anyone else looking would only see Quinlan as a yellow sparrow with feathers slightly brighter than those of its peers.

Therefore, under Quinlan’s intense gaze, that piece of bark twitched slightly before slowly crawling down to the ground, turning grass-green in an instant.

Looking down from the tree at the bark that was alternating between green and yellow, Quinlan thought: "..." *What the hell!*

Secretly hiding within the tree canopy and tracking the strange creature’s trail on the ground, Quinlan finally discovered its true form. It was a snake-like species but possessed legs, and its appearance truly could not be considered attractive. Half of this beastman’s body exposed raw, pinkish-red flesh, looking as though he had been flayed by someone.

That was right; this snake-like creature with legs was a beastman. He ran incredibly fast, his speed nearly rivaling Chapman’s. Quinlan watched him stop in front of a group of people and begin to speak:

"Leonardo, this is bad, there is another tribe up ahead as well. I saw traces of patrolling beastmen; it is probably a large tribe."

The man named Leonardo slumped his shoulders; the group of people behind him could not hold on any longer either and all collapsed onto the ground.

"Could it be that our fate ends here? The Beast God has truly forsaken us..."

Hoarse cries rang out. Leonardo closed his eyes in despair, unable to hold on any longer; he transformed into his beast form, collapsed heavily onto the ground, and lost consciousness.

"Leonardo! Leonardo!"

An atmosphere of profound sorrow enveloped this group, making Quinlan feel as though he could hardly breathe.

Every single person below possessed an extremely bizarre appearance. For instance, there was the snake beastman with legs, and Leonardo, who was a lion beastman but had a snow-white coat, worlds apart from normal lions. Then there was the young beastman who retained hooves in his human form, the Sub-Beast with the dark birthmark on his face, the Curved-Horn Goat beastman with an entire three eyes...

The sheer variety of appearances left Quinlan utterly shell-shocked. It was as if he had just seen Rokley in the flesh!

Without a second thought, Quinlan immediately flapped his wings and flew back toward the tribe like a bolt of lightning. The group below, completely immersed in their grief, remained unaware that they had just been watched by a beastman.