Chapter 230

Everything, after Gao De solved those three lead wolves, had actually ended long ago.

Just as the old chief was wary and troubled by the three 1st-circle ice snow wolves.

These 0-circle snow wolves also didn't have much ability to resist against a 1st-circle mage.

At the level of a 1st-circle mage, Gao De cast spells through circle-advancement casting, even if it was just a cantrip, it was enough to easily kill these 0-circle earth-vein creatures in seconds.

He cast spells quickly, constantly using 【Fire Bolt+】 to cleanly harvest the lives of these snow wolves.

Although 【Eldritch Blast+】 can cause damage to two targets with one spell, and adds the extra effect of continuous tracking, it is more "intelligent" to use.

But what's very awkward is that its power is just a little bit short of killing 0-circle snow wolves in seconds.

Just this little bit, it is very likely to lead to a snow wolf with only one breath left being finished off by others.

So Gao De could only choose 【Fire Bolt+】, which is a single-target attack spell but can reach 20 degrees of power.

However, even as a single-target attack spell, Gao De's efficiency in harvesting these snow wolves was not low.

Before the wolf pack had reacted, another flame beam galloped out from Gao De's hand, blowing another snow wolf to death.

Then, within five or six seconds, the third, fourth, fifth, and seventh snow wolves died one after another under the bombardment of 【Fire Bolt+】.

Seeing that the 0-circle origin points regarding 【Snow Wolf】 on the origin column were full, Gao De breathed a sigh of relief.

It was also at this time that the old chief finally hurried back and joined the battle.

Just like Gao De, ice-blue arrows were constantly generated in his hands, shooting toward those snow wolves.

His ice-element spells were a bit lacking against 1st-circle ice snow wolves, but against these 0-circle snow wolves, they were still easy.

It was just that the results were obviously not as illustrious as Gao De's.

Even 0-circle snow wolves have extremely fast movement speeds.

【Fire Bolt+】 can adjust its trajectory once, which ensures Gao De's almost 100% hit rate.

The old chief didn't have this ability, and spell misses happened from time to time.

However, although Gao De slowed down his spellcasting speed, he was still constantly releasing spells to help solve these snow wolves.

Therefore, this sudden battle ended very quickly.

Under the ups and downs, most of the people in this small tribe were still immersed in the emotions just now and hadn't come back to their senses.

Gao De's mood was not bad.

Another bit of origin was credited, even if it was only 0-circle, it made him very satisfied.

This trip to the northern realm was indeed the right choice.

Because his mood was still not bad, the expression on Gao De's face seemed unusually strange to the people in the tribe.

They were all unusually nervous looking at Gao De, and didn't have no defense just because Gao De had just taken action to kill the snow wolves and relieve them.

In the northern realm, meeting such a freak of unknown origin, especially since the other party had just cast fire-element spells—Ice-Born blood cannot awaken fire-element spells.

This indicates that the other party is likely not from the northern realm.

And for human outsiders, people in the northern realm have some anxiety in their hearts.

No one knows the other party's intentions.

After Gao De withdrew his attention from "Wind Spirit Moon Shadow," he noticed the expressions on the faces of these people in the northern realm who were dressed primitively and roughly, and probably guessed their thoughts.

Regarding this, Gao De didn't have any dissatisfaction.

These people living on the permafrost tundra worry about food and survival from birth, fight with various ferocious beasts, compete with the weather, and it is normal to have high vigilance.

"Let's save people first." He noticed that in the battle just now, many people in this tribe were injured, some even had their intestines pulled out and stomachs broken, with only one breath left.

However, those hunters in the tribe looked at each other and didn't take any action.

Until the old chief came forward and said to Gao De: "****************"

A series of gibberish made Gao De freeze for a moment, then suddenly react.

Yes, the language of people in the northern realm is not connected to the language of human outsiders.

The language of human outsiders is called Common Language, which is the most widely used.

Even if human indigenous people in certain regions are still using their own local languages, they often master Common Language.

Even because of the power of mages, many non-human races, in order to communicate with humans, will additionally master human Common Language.

But because the northern realm is isolated from the world, although people in the northern realm are also humans, they haven't mastered Common Language, but use "Ais Language," which has been used since the ancient era, also known as "Northern Realm Language."

Fortunately, he had already mastered 【Comprehend Languages】.

【Comprehend Languages】 (Divination, 1st-circle):

Within the spell duration (one hour), know the literal meaning of all languages you hear.

You can also read and understand the literal meaning by touching written text, but reading each page of text in this way takes 1 minute.

Certain secret languages of text or graphics (such as an arcane rune) cannot be deciphered by this spell because they do not belong to the category of written language.

The next moment, Gao De's mind moved, and 1 drop of liquid mana in his body had already surged toward the spell star sea, flashing and disappearing on the spell model.

Immediately, a flash of insight that understood everything flashed in his eyes.

And the "heavenly book" of the old chief's original gibberish, now heard in Gao De's ears, could already be easily understood, as if it had been interpreted.

"Sorry, the tribesmen haven't mastered Common Language, and don't possess Ice-Born blood, and don't have the ability of Comprehend Languages." The old chief said.

Once possessing Ice-Born blood, as long as the rank reaches the first circle, they will all master the spell power of Comprehend Languages.

"It's okay... Save people first." Gao De said.

The old chief nodded, turned around and gave an order, and those tribesmen who were originally looking at each other soon took action.

Subsequently, the old chief turned back and thanked Gao De solemnly: "If it weren't for your timely action, our Dorbian tribe might have been finished this time."

The name of this small tribe is the Dorbian tribe.

A name that doesn't have much meaning.

"Just a small matter." Gao De said truthfully.

While talking, Gao De first pulled his feet out of the ice board and then lifted the ice-condensing effect of 【Water Manipulation】.

Seeing this scene, the old chief secretly marveled in his heart.

He only now reacted that the reason why the person in front of him could appear at extreme speed from the hillside just now wasn't that he could really "fly," but relied on those strange "shoes."

"Are you from outside the northern realm?" The old chief asked again.

Gao De nodded; he also knew that people in the northern realm had great hostility toward outsiders.

But whether it was language or appearance, looks, and temperament, the difference between himself and people in the northern realm was too great.

The skin of people in the northern realm is very rough, and they are unusually sturdy, which helps to resist the cold.

Another thing is that people in the northern realm have long and narrow eyes and dense eyelashes, which can reduce the stimulation of strong light reflected by extreme ice and snow on the eyes, protect eyesight, and another thing is that the face is wider and the lips are thicker, which is also to adapt to the cold environment.

Of course, if they possess Ice-Born blood, their appearance and physique are similar to human outsiders, because the power flowing in the Ice-Born blood allows them to naturally resist the cold, without needing extra adaptation.

But similarly, possessors of Ice-Born blood also have their own appearance characteristics.

The most distinct one is that Ice-Born all have a pair of blue pupils; the more powerful the bloodline power, the purer and deeper the blue of the pupils.

These appearance characteristics made Gao De have no way to hide his identity as an outsider, so he didn't prepare to hide anything from the beginning. "Respected outsider, may I know your name?" The old chief said sincerely: "You saved the Dorbian tribe today, we will definitely repay you."

"My name is Gao De." Gao De thought for a moment and answered.

"I am Ximo, the chief of the Dorbian tribe." The old chief also introduced his name.

"Outsider, now that the sky is almost dark, rest in the village for a night, so that we can properly thank you." After introducing his name, he issued an invitation again.

Calling it a village, Gao De looked at it; it was actually just the smallest scale tribe consisting of some fences and dozens of simple tents, with a total population of no more than two hundred.

"Okay, then I'll disturb you." Gao De's heart moved, and he didn't decline, agreeing to it.

He just happened to want to understand the customs, geography, and scenery of the northern realm through this small tribe. Seeing Gao De agree, Ximo also breathed a sigh of relief.

People in the northern realm do have great vigilance toward outsiders, but Gao De, to them, is not an outsider, but a savior.

In the cognition of people in the northern realm, if there is grace, it must be repaid.

He also knew that with the strength Gao De displayed and the situation of his tribe, he couldn't take out any equivalent repayment, but even if it was just to entertain the guest well for a night, that was good.

"These snow wolves, do you still need them?" Ximo pointed to the snow wolf corpses on the snow and asked somewhat hesitantly.

"Keep the fur of those two ice snow wolves for me, you can take the rest." Gao De said generously.

The taste of snow wolf meat is still okay, but with so many, Gao De couldn't possibly carry much.

As for the fur of the snow wolves, one is that most snow wolves were already covered in wounds when they died, and the fur was no longer complete, and the other is that the fur of 0-circle snow wolves actually isn't worth much money. If there was a legendary "space ring," Gao De wouldn't mind the mosquito legs being small, but unfortunately, he didn't have one.

As for those two 1st-circle ice snow wolves, they died under the energy beams of 【Eldritch Blast+】, and because 【Eldritch Blast】 caused force damage, there were no obvious external wounds on their bodies, and the fur was preserved quite completely.

1st-circle ice snow wolf fur, taken to the outside world to sell to fur merchants, one piece can sell for nearly 20 gold coins.

Even if you can't find a merchant to sell it to in the northern realm for a while, with the warmth of ice snow wolf fur, it's not bad to use it yourself.

Of course, skinning is actually a technical job.

Anyway, Gao De himself had no way to skillfully peel off a complete snow wolf skin.

But for people in the northern realm, this is a basic skill.

So handing the snow wolf corpses to them to handle, Gao De was also very relieved.

"Thank you!" Ximo couldn't help but say with surprise upon hearing this.

There were twenty or thirty snow wolf corpses on the ground; their meat, plus the original reserve food, could allow the tribe to survive this year's harsh winter safely.

Although Gao De took action very timely, the Dorbian tribe still lost seven lives.

Including two hunters.

This was a big blow to the Dorbian tribe.

As the chief, Ximo was also very self-blaming; if it weren't for his order, these two hunters wouldn't have been ambushed by the cunning ice snow wolves and lost their lives.

The tribesmen didn't blame Ximo.

Everyone knew that Ximo was a last resort.

A few years ago, the Dorbian tribe had already encountered a snow wolf pack attack once.

That time Ximo led the tribesmen to rise up and resist, successfully repelling that wave of snow wolf pack, but the Dorbian tribe also suffered heavy casualties because of that battle.

The former hunting team leader, another Ice-Born blood in the tribe, also sacrificed in that battle.

Many times, choosing to resist or choosing to compromise are not the right choices; they can only be said to be choosing the lesser of two evils.

Because what is wrong is not the choice, but being weak.

According to the tradition of people in the northern realm, the tribesmen of the Dorbian tribe held an ice funeral for them: prepare an ice cave, put the remains of the deceased tribesmen in, cover them with animal skin, then seal the cave entrance with ice blocks, and then dig a small hole above the ice cave.

People in the northern realm believe that in this way, their souls will leave the ice cave, while the flesh will remain to nourish the land of the northern realm.

Although the permafrost tundra is barren and cold, all people in the northern realm still love the land under their feet deeply.

On this night in the Dorbian tribe, Gao De was undoubtedly given the warmest welcome.

In the evening, the Dorbian tribe held a bonfire festival that hadn't been held for a long time.

The fuel that was usually used carefully was taken out without any hesitation at this time, and a fierce bonfire was burned.

And the tribesmen sent over various wild vegetables and wild fruits treasured at home.

These were things they only dared to take out to eat as seasoning with meat on holidays.

And Ximo had the hunters kill a mother musk ox raised in the tribe for milk to entertain Gao De.

Of course, there was other meat stored in the village, including today's snow wolf meat, all fresh.

But the taste of snow wolf meat is not particularly good; for people in the northern realm living on the permafrost tundra, this is precious food that cannot be wasted, but to entertain guests, it seems too stingy.

"I heard that among you outsiders, there is a drink called 'wine' when holding a banquet; our northern realm conditions are limited, only this..." Chief Ximo brought a pottery cup to Gao De.

On the steaming water surface in the cup floated a few withered leaves.

"This is Ginger Velvet Tea," Ximo introduced: "Ginger Velvet Grass is a special plant that only grows on the permafrost tundra; after picking and air-drying, it has a unique flavor when soaked in water, and it has the effect of resisting the cold."

"Master Mage~~~" A clear, thin voice sounded from Gao De's chest.

Ximo was startled, only to find that a small head had poked out from the pocket of Gao De's chest.

Gao De smiled slightly, "Chief Ximo, I am not alone, but traveling together, please trouble yourself to add another cup of tea for my companion."

Ximo couldn't help but look at Fu Luo La, who had already flown out of Gao De's pocket, a few more times, before going to bring another pottery cup.

He had already picked the smallest cup possible, but for Fu Luo La, it was still too big.

"It's okay." Facing Ximo's slightly apologetic look, Gao De said.

Gao De's heart moved, a flash of spiritual light flashed in the bottom of his eyes, and after confirming that this cup of tea was harmless through 【Detect Poison】, he said to Fu Luo La, who was already full of curiosity:

"Lady Fu Luo La, please first."

Fu Luo La immediately flew toward the pottery cup, put her hands on the edge of the teacup, leaned down, just like a small cat drinking water by the river, and stretched out her tongue to lick a sip gently.

The next moment, Fu Luo La "jumped" up violently like a cat with its fur standing up, shaking her head and retreating to Gao De's side.

"Master Mage, be careful! This tea is poisonous!"

"It shouldn't be."

"Oh~~ It seems it really isn't poisonous." Fu Luo La, sticking out her tongue, fell into deep thought; with her ability, how could she not sense poisonous plants? Although the two were communicating heart-to-heart, Fu Luo La's "disgust" action of retreating violently still made Ximo's eye corners twitch slightly.

Seeing this, Gao De smiled and picked up the teacup to take a sip.

A faint plant fragrance came to his face, and the tea flowed into his throat, having an incredible burning sensation, making his body heat up all of a sudden, which was truly wonderful.

But the taste was extremely spicy, and ordinary people really couldn't drink it.

"Good stuff." Gao De praised.

Seeing Gao De approve of the Ginger Velvet Tea, a relieved smile appeared on Ximo's wrinkled face: "You will always be the most respected guest of our Dorbian tribe."

Because most of the time and energy of people in the northern realm are spent on foraging and survival, their view of right and wrong is actually still very primitive.

Or rather, very simple and honest.

If you have grace toward them, they will regard you as the most respected person and will not have other small thoughts.

(End of chapter)