Chapter 610: Undead Scourge, A New Definition of Nature

After some thought, Xia Duo asked Mote, "So, what stage has your research reached now?"

"My Lord, I have already conceived a line of thought: to transform negative energy into a curse, attach it to a Goblin, and then have it constantly come into contact with and infect other Goblins, ultimately leaving all the Goblins in a state between living beings and Undead. This way, there is no need to additionally enhance their Wisdom; Goblins themselves possess a certain level of intelligence and can understand human commands."

By the time he finished speaking, Mote's eyes were almost glowing, but his state made Xia Duo's heart tremble—this was the rhythm of starting an Undead Scourge!

Could it be that he had the potential to become a Lich King?

Xia Duo shook his head, banishing this terrifying scene from his mind, then put on a stern face and said to Mote, "I am satisfied with your research, but since the labor force in the Territory is already sufficient, there is no need for Undead Goblins for the time being. I am now giving you a new task."

"Ah?!"

Mote felt somewhat disappointed; he had not expected his research to be of no use at all. But thinking of the Lord's new task, he couldn't help but feel expectant. "My Lord, what is the new task?"

"Compile a set of funeral rites unique to Daxia Territory!" Xia Duo said casually.

This wasn't something he had thought of on the spot, but rather something he had planned for a long time. Moreover, this could be considered Mote's proper job; the Lord of Death did not care about rituals, and the Doctrine tended more toward maintaining the peace of the dead.

Having had the experience of 【Projection Plane: Netheril, Jilan Town】, Xia Duo even suspected that the Doctrine of the Lord of Death in the Main Plane had been specially revised.

After all, in that Projection Plane, Death Priests were the true upper class, and the Faith of the Lord of Radiance was even in a suppressed position.

A Projection Plane is a potential projection of the Main Plane. Xia Duo had reason to believe that the Main Plane had also gone through such a wave of suppression, power-grabbing, and counter-suppression, ultimately leaving the Lord of Death without even a proper Temple.

The priests of the Lord of Death could only reside in the Temple of the Lord of Radiance. Of course, why the Mage class eventually became the true rulers, Xia Duo did not know.

He speculated that it might be related to the 【Nether Scroll】, or perhaps it was that the priest class of the Lord of Radiance had voluntarily stepped back. It had been several hundred years, so who could truly understand the secrets behind this?

In any case, in the Main Plane, the power of Mage Lords had been confirmed in almost every aspect; simply modifying a set of funeral rites was not a big deal.

Xia Duo did not directly order Mote to stop researching Undead, but instead prepared to downplay the matter; constantly assigning him new tasks was just such a process.

After leaving the cemetery, Xia Duo immediately sent a message to Jibu, issuing a new instruction not to take Mote out to hunt Goblins anymore. Without raw materials, even if Mote wanted to conduct private research, it would be unlikely.

As for going further, Xia Duo also planned to recruit two more Death Priests from Savile Territory, even if they were just Apprentices; once there were more people, secrets would be harder to keep.

Returning to the Lord's Villa, the guard Nuoman told him that the former Druid Yatewude was already waiting for him in the Reception Room. However, just at this moment, Niya "sent a message." Xia Duo was anxious about the news regarding that Scarlet Flash Star, so he did not head to the Reception Room immediately.

Because the Communication Magic Tool could only transmit short text messages, Niya had sent a voice message through the Tower Spirit, and her tone seemed somewhat panicked:

"I can't contact my teacher now. There are rumors of a disaster spreading outside. I have asked several Arcanists at Giles Tower, and they don't know about the situation with that flash star either. I am currently searching for information in the Library to see if there has been a similar situation in history."

After hearing Niya's reply, Xia Duo felt heavy-hearted. He really hoped Niya could just reply saying that the Scarlet Flash Star was just a normal phenomenon, or even say that her teacher was conducting some strange experiment!

Having neither accurate news nor rumors of a disaster really made one anxious!

The only good news was perhaps the several hundred years of accumulation in the Giles Tower Library; perhaps one could really find records of a similar situation.

If it were just an ordinary natural phenomenon, it wouldn't matter, but what he feared most was that it really was a precursor to some kind of disaster.

"Sigh—"

Xia Duo let out a long sigh, composed himself, and stepped into the Reception Room. No matter what the future held, the things he had to do right now still had to be done step by step.

"My Lord!"

Seeing Xia Duo enter, Yatewude stood up and saluted somewhat cautiously. Xia Duo held this former Druid in relatively high regard, and he would have important uses for him in the future, so he returned the salute.

After the two sat down separately, Xia Duo took a piece of Parchment he had prepared from his Personal Space, reached out and pushed it forward, and it floated naturally to Yatewude. "Take a look at the content on it first!"

Yatewude held the paper floating in front of him with both hands and began to read. As he looked through line after line of text, his expression kept changing.

From the initial calmness to later surprise, shock, and horror, and finally, appreciation and agreement appeared—all sorts of expressions.

Xia Duo, on the other hand, had a completely calm expression because he knew exactly what was written on the paper. In his view, these contents were just common knowledge and nothing worth being surprised about.

But if placed in Netheril, it was not that simple. And from Yatewude's complex changes in expression, Xia Duo confirmed this thought once again.

There wasn't much content on the paper. Xia Duo estimated that Yatewude had finished reading, so he asked, "Having finished reading, do you have anything to say?"

"My Lord—"

Yatewude opened and closed his mouth, then opened and closed it again, as if he didn't know where to start.

Seeing this, Xia Duo directly set the scope, "Let's start with the definition of Nature. What do you think of the viewpoint that 'humans are also a part of Nature'?"

With a scope, Yatewude naturally stopped struggling and immediately said, "This viewpoint is very novel, but the intent is higher than 'Nature is equivalent to the forest.' Since Elves can belong to Nature, then humans can certainly belong to Nature as well."

"..."

Xia Duo's original text did indeed say humans, but what he wanted to express was any intelligent creature, including Goblins. However, Yatewude's interpretation wasn't wrong; at least it showed he was somewhat dissatisfied with the Elves' exclusive right to define Nature.

So he asked again, "Then what do you think of 'living in harmony with Nature'?"

Yatewude replied, "Living in harmony does not mean unconditionally maintaining the forest. Humans themselves are also a part of Nature, and survival is the primary nature. On the premise of satisfying survival conditions, not taking maliciously is harmony."

Xia Duo nodded. It seemed Yatewude could already accept the new definition of Nature. This was not surprising; if he could still accept the original definition, he wouldn't have been banished by the Druid Order due to the debate over whether forests could be cleared to open up farmland.

The Druids of Netheril today could basically be called fundamentalists; they believed that Nature was the forest and that Elves were the incarnation of Nature. It would be a miracle if they agreed to clearing forests.

And in fact, even within the Elves, Druids were not the mainstream; the Elves had not done less in terms of destroying forests.

When Xia Duo incarnated as an Elf in the Projection Plane, he could be said to know this deeply, especially in 【Projection Plane: Maiyelita, Sukanweisa City】. There were almost no legends of Druids there. Although Elves did indeed cherish forests more than humans, once a war started, what should be destroyed would still be destroyed.

As long as it was necessary, even destroying an entire forest didn't matter.

Xia Duo guessed that the reason Elves valued forests so much might be because the establishment of the Mythallar was related to forests. Of course, Xia Duo was not sure about this; it was just a suspicion.

Otherwise, how could there really be a race that particularly values a certain environment!

Speaking of which, Elves live in the air, so they should value air quality more, just as aquatic races value water quality more.