Chapter 430: The Exiled Druid

Therefore, when choosing the first spell to ascend in ring level, Xia Duo had two choices: one was to upgrade 【Mage Armor】 to the 5th Circle, and the other was 【Short-range Teleportation】.

However, considering the time cost, Xia Duo ultimately chose 【Mage Armor】; having upgraded it from the 1st Circle level to the 4th, Xia Duo could be said to know this spell deeply.

But as for teleportation, Xia Duo had only just learned it not long ago, and he had no confidence that he could reach the fifth layer of the Magic Net in a short time by raising the ring level of the 4th Circle spell 【Short-range Teleportation】.

When it comes down to it, every choice is supported by a series of motivations behind it.

On the other side, Laidun had also arrived at the residential area south of the Altar Square. Since he had deliberately paid attention to that Yatewude when arranging the living quarters yesterday, he went directly to Yatewude's residence.

The Langasi had not yet been notified to go to the Canteen to eat, but a fair amount of steamed buns had been distributed as food.

Upon arriving here, Laidun saw Yatewude squatting by the fire pit in the room, roasting a steamed bun. In the pot hanging above, water was boiling, making a gurgling sound, and the steaming water vapor rushed straight toward the roof beams.

"Yatewude!" Laidun flashed the Holy Light in his hand and gave a greeting.

Yatewude hurriedly put down the branch in his hand, stood up, and bowed his body, looking cautious and timid. "My lord, may I ask what your orders are?"

"Not hiding anymore?"

"I dare not hide anything."

"Tell me, who are you? Where are you from?" Laidun summoned the 【Domain of Honesty】, his gaze burning as he stared at Yatewude. "Do not attempt to deceive the just gaze of my Lord!"

A faint, sacred radiance spread out, containing a lofty will that was mechanical and ruthless, enough for a mortal to perceive.

Yatewude's originally respectful expression gradually became calm, and his originally hunched body straightened up. "I come from the 【Golden Oak Branch Order】 of Seventon, and I am a Secret Text Elder of the Golden Oak Branch Order."

Golden Oak Branch Order? Secret Text Elder? These two names were completely unfamiliar to Laidun, but from the word "Oak Branch," he could also guess that this Yatewude was very likely a Druid before. Laidun kept his face calm and continued to ask:

"Then how did you lose your Holy Power? And how did you fall into the Netheril River? What is your purpose in coming to Daxia Territory?"

Compared to the previous questions, this one was quite critical, and the 【Domain of Honesty】 did not have the function of forced interrogation; if Yatewude had the heart to refuse, he could completely choose not to answer.

But he would have to bear the consequences of refusal himself. With almost no hesitation, he immediately replied: "I was exiled by the order due to a conflict of philosophy within it. After I left the order, my Holy Power began to drain irreversibly until it disappeared completely. I was robbed by bandits and thrown into the river, then later rescued onto a boat. Coming to Daxia Territory was just a coincidence; I have no malicious intent."

He explained the reasons in a few sentences, but more details were not revealed, such as what philosophical conflict led to the exile, the true cause of the Holy Power loss, and why the bandits didn't kill him directly.

For a former Druid, Laidun still gave a certain amount of respect and did not inquire further.

However, he could be certain that Yatewude was not lying. In other words, Daxia Territory might have one more resident, but this had to be decided by the Lord himself; he had no authority to give any guarantees.

He only said, "I will report your situation to Lord Xia Duo. One thing you can rest assured about: regardless of whether you stay or leave, your safety will be no problem at all."

After speaking, he told Yatewude not to leave the residence for the time being, then left alone to report.

Inside Xia Duo's small camp tent.

Laidun's arrival made Xia Duo, who was fully immersed in spell ascension, somewhat unhappy, a bit like being woken up from sleep. He took two deep breaths, gathered his thoughts, and recorded the key information of the current research progress nodes in his notebook to prevent losing his train of thought when researching again later.

After doing this, he looked at Laidun and asked, "Speak, who is Yatewude?"

"My lord, he is a Druid, but he has now lost his Holy Power and become an ordinary person."

A Druid? Xia Duo was immediately interested. He had only heard of Druids before and had never seen one with his own eyes. Now, this Yatewude should be the first living Druid he had ever seen.

No, it should be a former Druid.

"What else did he say?" Xia Duo asked hurriedly. Laidun repeated the content Yatewude had said earlier: Golden Statue Branch Cult, Secret Text Elder, philosophical conflict, exile, being robbed by bandits, being rescued, and so on.

Xia Duo had never heard of any Golden Statue Branch Cult before; it didn't sound like a proper organization at all. And what was a Secret Text Elder? Was it someone who mastered secret texts? Or someone who mastered secret spells?

"Do you know the Golden Statue Branch Cult?"

"Apologies, my lord, I have not heard of it. The records about Druids in the Temple Library are limited to a few names and their abilities."

If the Temple Library didn't have it, then the Tower of Time likely wouldn't either. Xia Duo sent a message to Niya through the Tower Spirit, asking her to help inquire about information on Druids and the situation of the Golden Statue Branch Cult, while saying to Laidun: "Let this Yatewude stay in the Territory for now. As for those Langasi, you can go arrange for them to learn Netherese Common. Teach the children separately. Of the translators from the Silaiwen Chamber of Commerce, keep one for yourself, and you will be responsible for teaching the children."

It was already winter, and heavy snow was about to arrive. The number of people participating in labor in the Territory was not even half, and with the leaders of each Working Group, Laidun was actually not very busy.

"By the way, take this." Xia Duo took out the simple dictionary he had made himself from his Personal Space, along with a copy of the "Sacred Proverbs of the Lord of Radiance," and handed them to Laidun. "When the children in the Territory learn characters, use this to teach them. For those Langasi children, teach them to speak Netherese Common first."

Laidun took the "Proverbs" and the thick dictionary, flipped through a few pages, and immediately realized the importance of this "thick book." Back when he was learning characters himself, he could only memorize the whole book by force, with no system to speak of.

But the book in front of him was clearly systematic. Once one recognized all the characters in this book, then all other books would be recognizable. Especially for the Netherese, the most difficult part was actually the one-to-one correspondence between pronunciation and characters, not the meaning of the characters.

"My lord, this book—" Laidun looked at Xia Duo, his eyes already showing a hint of fanaticism.

"This is what I used when I was learning characters. You have them learn according to this first; I will reorganize it when I have time later." Xia Duo noticed Laidun's gaze.

In this simple dictionary, the words were essentially organized by Netherese letters, and the annotations and phonetic notations were written in pinyin and phonetic symbols using English letters; only Xia Duo himself knew the specific meanings.

Laidun didn't know this and was already this shocked; if these were organized into Netherese Common, wouldn't he be even more shocked?

In the future, one might only need to teach illiterate people the Netherese phonetic symbols, and then they could learn characters on their own. This was probably the advantage of a phonetic script.

(End of chapter)