Chapter 535: Water Source, Forward Yingdi, Beware of People Returning Alone from the Forest

Jier walked toward the highest point in the surrounding area he had seen earlier from the open ground outside.

He was confident in his own abilities, so he was not that cautious; he believed that with his current strength, even if a Magic Beast were to suddenly jump out, he could barely handle it, or even defeat it!

Holding a Soldier Bow in his left hand and a Dwarf Soldier Spear in his right, Jier strode forward, even occasionally running and jumping over inconspicuous trenches in the ground.

These trenches were flood-relief channels carved out by short-term rainfall; usually, they were nothing more than depressions lower than the ground level, hidden by fallen leaves. But once it started to rain, these places would collect the surrounding rainwater, forming small streams, then, as the rainfall increased, turning into water ditches, and finally, there would even be surging floods rushing out toward the mountains along these inconspicuous trenches.

Occasionally, stones of various sizes could be seen in these trenches, clearly washed down from deep within the Forest during flash floods.

Jier paid attention to the orientation of these trenches, judging the elevation and direction of the mountains beneath his feet.

He knew that a Forward Yingdi could not be built in these places, because once it rained, a camp built here would simply not survive and would be washed away by the suddenly arriving flood.

You might say, isn't it fine to just move the camp in advance when you see the weather is about to rain?

No, no, no, the climate in the mountains is changeable; sometimes there is no rainfall locally, but that does not mean it is not raining on the other side of a mountain. While it might be raining upstream and sunny downstream, the flood would rush straight down along the flood-relief trenches, launching a surprise attack, destroying the unprepared camp and causing heavy losses.

In his previous life, many city dwellers who went to play in the mountains would encounter this situation; families lacking common sense would treat mountain flood-relief channels as places to play and cool off, completely ignoring the warning signs around or the advice of the caretakers.

Then, even though it was clearly a sunny day, the channel would suddenly erupt with a flash flood, washing away family after family.

Because of this, Jier knew that when operating in mountain areas, one must avoid riverbeds, unless there are long-term, permanent dwellings beside them. And like the Southern Mountains where he was now, there was no human presence here, so naturally, all safety had to be judged by himself.

Jier would occasionally jump onto the thick branches of large trees, climbing to the treetops to judge the direction, and only after confirming he was correct would he jump down from the tree and continue moving through the dim Shulin.

Even though it was daytime, the dense Shulin blocked most of the sunlight, so the light on the forest floor was severely insufficient, but Jier actually felt comfortable and familiar with the surrounding environment, because the dreams of the Lady were similar to this, and in the Lady's dreams, the environment was even much darker.

At least here, there was still sunlight occasionally falling through the dense leaves, while in the Lady's dreams, there was not a single bit of light; all illumination was produced by Memory Water and the surrounding Glowing Moss.

After walking for a while, Jier reached the highest small hilltop nearby without much effort.

It was still covered with trees, so Jier climbed the tallest tree on this small hilltop to check the surrounding environment.

When building a camp in the mountains, especially a long-term camp, one must find a water source; not to mention being right next to it, but it cannot be too far away either.

But one must absolutely not build a camp near riverbeds or water channels like those mentioned above.

Jier looked around; to the Bei Mian was a vast wilderness, and Changmai Village could not even be seen. On both the left and right sides were undulating low mountains and the dense Forest on them, and looking back toward the south, the mountain terrain gradually rose; in a recognizable way, the Forest turned into thickets, then into shrubs and grasses, and finally, as the mountain rose further, it turned into yellow-green moss, until the barren Snow Line where there was not even moss.

"Truly spectacular!"

Jier marveled at the small part of the Southern Mountains he saw at this moment, feeling that anyone who could conquer it must be extraordinary.

If possible in the future, Jier would like to put down all affairs and specifically go on an adventure like this.

Not for anything else, just a pure adventure.

Exploring mountains, climbing the peaks of mountains, and shouting nonsense on the summit about being the king of the world.

Withdrawing from his reverie, Jier carefully looked down at the large area around him, trying to see something from the undulating mountains and the Forest.

He pricked up his ears, and later simply took off his Helmet, carefully paying attention to the sounds around him.

He saw the route he had taken and the Temporary Yingdi that was still being organized. He saw water mist rising behind an undulating mountain on one side, and listening carefully, there seemed to be the faint sound of water like a waterfall?

If there was clear mountain spring water there, that would be a good place to establish a camp.

But it could also be an important location for surrounding animals to drink water; if they built a camp there, they might have conflicts with the local animals.

Then let's build the camp near this water source, but at a certain distance!

Jier spotted the direction and jumped toward it; after landing, he moved forward, running and jumping. The sound of water that could be heard from a high place could not be heard at all once he entered the ground of the Forest because of the dense trees. Every time Jier walked more than a hundred meters, he would jump onto a large tree to reconfirm whether he had deviated from the direction.

Because on the ground of the dense Forest, the surrounding environment was exactly the same; relying only on instinct, it was impossible to distinguish on one's own whether one had deviated from the route. Even things like a person's legs being of different lengths, uneven gait, slight differences in shoes, which side was the dominant hand, and the weight of things held in the hand would all affect a person's ability to walk in a straight line.

It was not until Jier was very close to that water source that he could hear the sound of flowing water hitting stones.

Looking down, fallen leaves and dead branches were scattered all over the surrounding ground, and animal footprints and feces of various sizes could also be seen.

And in the treetops above, various birds were chirping and gathering, making an unusual amount of noise.

The terrain where the sound of water came from ahead opened up, the spacing between trees widened, and more sunlight was cast down.

The arrival of Jier, a Human, caused some subtle movements behind the surrounding trees and in the bushes; the birds overhead were startled, causing some timid ones to fly away, after which they landed safely in the surroundings again.

Jier swept his eyes and saw the figures of some small animals in the bushes, but these alert animals would not let him get close at all; after being stared at by Jier, they quickly slipped away.

"This shows that there is at least one powerful predator nearby, which is why these small animals are so alert."

Jier muttered to himself; he walked forward quickly, bypassed the large trees blocking his way, and finally saw the water source.

It was a large rock protruding from the ground; there were cracks in the high part of the rock, and water droplets emerged from the cracks, flowing and collecting on the surface of the rock, finally forming a small stream of mountain spring water that crashed down.

It formed a small waterfall.

The bottom of the "waterfall" was a solid rock floor; after the water body crashed onto it, it made a loud sound, and the rock body reflected the sound to the surroundings. So, although the water flow was not large, the sound of water here was not small.

This water source probably had not appeared for very long; the place hit by the small "waterfall" had not yet formed a depression on the surface of the rock, and every stream of falling water would shatter into smaller, more forceful droplets upon impact with the rock, splashing onto the surrounding rock body and grass.

And at this moment, there were quite a few birds and small animals around, drinking this indispensable water in the hot weather.

As soon as a Human like Jier arrived, the birds that were flying and bathing in the water droplets and mist were immediately startled and flew away in all directions, and the small animals that were licking the water were even more terrified, wailing as if someone had stepped on their tails, and fled, slipping behind the large bushes around to secretly watch Jier.

"Not bad, I don't see any larger animal footprints, and the animal feces haven't contaminated the water source."

He walked up, letting the water droplets that splashed after landing hit his armor, used his hand to catch a little of the water falling from above, first licked it with his tongue, and after finding no problem, drank a little in small sips.

The water source was exceptionally clear and cool; it was clearly not surface water, but rock-layer water seeping out from the fissures inside the mountain.

The water quality was clean and had no strange smell, but he didn't know if the mineral content exceeded the standard.

But even if it exceeded the standard, drinking it for a short time wouldn't matter much.

Jier nodded, feeling that the Forward Yingdi could be built around this water source.

So he started walking around the area.

After walking around, Jier discovered that on the several animal paths leading to the water source, there was actually a kind of bright red, ground-hugging thorn. The surface of this plant had a kind of very sharp thorn, and it was like a blade; it was not just pointed, but sharp on both ends. As long as a reckless small animal was in a hurry to drink water and passed by this red thorn, it would have its fur and skin scratched by the thorns of this plant, leaving blood.

And this blood was likely the source of nutrition that this red thorn relied on to survive.

Jier touched the thorns of this red thorn and found that it relied purely on sharp thorns to harm passing animals, not on poisonous secretions to kill animals.

That was good; no, this red thorn had no effect on Jier, because his combat boots had metal protection on the surface, so naturally, he was not afraid of these tiny thorn injuries, but other Warriors could not; being scratched and bleeding by this plant was a small matter, but wound infection would be very troublesome.

It wouldn't do to have all these wounds treated by Priest Bata'er Jiaoshi alone using Divine Power, right?

Even if the Village Priests were very capable, it would be very difficult for them to treat the illnesses of the entire village's Villagers in ordinary days. In most cases, when a Villager in the village was sick, they mostly relied on themselves to tough it out; only when there was really no other way would they find the Village Priest and beg them to treat the illness.

The Village Priest would also selectively provide treatment to villagers based on their Faith in the gods, treating healing ability as a tool of political rule rather than a simple medical service.

Returning to the present, Jier had intended to clear away these Red Thorny Vines, but then he had a second thought: since these plants collect a "toll" from animals drinking water, did their growth indicate that there were more animals in this direction?

And did the direction where these Red Thorny Vines grew less or not at all indicate that the number of wild animals on that side was smaller?

Having thought of this, Jier took action.

Using the water source as the center, he recorded in his mind every location where Red Thorny Vines appeared and every animal trail he discovered; after a final judgment, sure enough, where there were many animal trails, there were many Red Thorny Vines, and where there were few Red Thorny Vines, the animal trails followed suit.

Based on this, Jier found a direction with few Red Thorny Vines and few animal trails, and headed in that direction to explore.

The location of the Forward Yingdi should ideally not be too far from the water source, but it could not be too close either.

A distance of roughly one or two hundred meters would suffice.

Moreover, Humans are not monkeys; everyone cannot live in trees, so it is best to choose a place with fewer trees and flat terrain.

If such a place truly could not be found, finding a flat area without flood drainage channels would do; they could cut down any large trees that got in the way themselves.

After searching for a while, Jier found an area with generally flat terrain where the trees were not particularly dense.

"This will do!"

Jier felt this place was good, so he used the Dwarf Long Spear in his hand to leave conspicuous marks on the surrounding large trees, and then, relying on the sound of water not far away, he left conspicuous marks all the way from the chosen camp location to the water source.

He took the opportunity to use the Glove on his hand to pull up some of the Red Thorny Vines he found by the roots and threw them far to the side, so as not to hinder people from the camp coming to fetch water in the future.

Afterward, Jier checked the ground around the water source once more, confirming from the various footprints left by animals that there were no particularly large footprints, and in the areas further away, he confirmed there were no larger animal droppings, as well as the types of droppings.

From animal droppings, one could tell whether the animal was a herbivore, an omnivore, or even a pure meat-eating predator.

This required a bit of experience, but it was not too troublesome.

"After all, this is the edge of the mountain Forest; it is still considered safe here. Aside from some omnivorous animals, there are no large predators."

But saying that is one thing; in the mountain Forest of another world, it is normal for anything to appear.

Therefore, these methods of judgment based on common sense could not completely rule out the possibility of surrounding threats.

But for the short term, this was all Jier could do.

At this time, the sun was about to set, and it grew dark quickly in the Forest; even though the sky above was still bright, the surrounding woods were already pitch black.

But this did not stump Jier; he unsheathed the Hunting Sword a little, letting the exposed blade emit a faint white light, directly illuminating his surroundings.

Taking out the Positioning Stone Ball from his bag, Jier followed the direction it pointed and walked in a straight line toward the location of the Positioning Nail. Along the way, he used the Long Spear in his hand to mark the tree trunks he passed on the left and right.

This would make it convenient for him to lead the others here tomorrow to build the Forward Yingdi.

If one simply walked in a straight line, the Forward Yingdi Jier had chosen was actually not very far from the Temporary Yingdi everyone had chosen today.

It was only about two or three kilometers in a straight line, but after all, it was a Forest area in the mountains; even for Jier, this short distance took quite a while to walk.

It was only after the sky had turned completely dark that he returned to the Temporary Yingdi built in the clearing outside the Shulin.

"Knight Jier is back!" First, the Mao Maos responsible for patrolling the perimeter let out cries, and then the Warrior responsible for guarding shouted loudly.

People walked over with smiles, but only Xueya Site, sitting on top of the carriage, not only did not lower his Heavy Crossbow but also loaded a Heavy Crossbow Bolt into the already cocked Heavy Crossbow.

"Not bad, Xueya Site is still alert! You all are too careless."

Jier shook his head, expressing his dissatisfaction with the Warriors.

But this instead left everyone confused; they looked at each other, not knowing what Knight Jier was talking about.

Jier chuckled: "How could you easily assume that the me who returned at this moment is truly me?"

Most people had not yet reacted, but some of the Warrior drivers had already understood; they revealed expressions of suspicion and doubt, carefully scrutinizing Jier.

"Let me be clear: the me standing before your eyes right now, returning alone from the Forest, is it truly me? Or is it some kind of shape-shifting Monster that saw my image, specifically took a step ahead, changed into my appearance, and returned to the camp to deceive you."

Now everyone finally understood, but while many understood, they did not know what they should do at this moment. Only a few quick-witted Warriors drew their weapons and surrounded Jier.

Jier nodded: "Surrounding me immediately is the right thing to do. At the same time, you must observe me, listen to me speak, see if there are any flaws in my image, whether my accent is different, and whether my way of speaking is the same as before."

"Most importantly, ask me some questions unrelated to the local area to see if I can answer them. Furthermore, you cannot let me say certain answers myself to prove my identity, because a shape-shifting Monster could completely listen to my self-talk when I am alone to forcibly prove itself."

Warrior Captain Aoni stepped forward at this moment and asked a question: "Then, I ask you, where is Knight Jier's hometown? Where is he from?"

Jier said: "I am from Kendall City, Kendall County, Northwest Province."

Upon hearing this, Aoni lowered his sword and shield, but Jier said: "Ask another one; we can't just ask one question, right?"

Weier stepped forward at this time and asked: "I have only told my surname to a few people, and Knight Jier is one of them. If you are Knight Jier, then you should know what my surname is?"

Jier thought for a moment, then answered: "The Gantnier Family of the southern Lianmeng Wangguo?"

Weier smiled slightly and took the opportunity to lower the sword in his hand: "You are the real Knight Jier."

Jier shrugged: "Of course I am real; I am just here to remind everyone to be careful and guard against anyone returning from the Forest, no matter who they are! Even if you go into the Forest to relieve yourself, you must go in pairs!"

"Yes!" everyone responded.

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