The necromancer just wants to plant trees.

Chapter 179 The Shadow of the Thousand Transformers!

……

half an hour.

The grouse flapped its wings and asked:
"Why do you speak chicken words?"

"Are you a chicken too?"

"But you look too much like a person!"

Matthew smiled kindly:
"I just learned your language by chance. Don't be so surprised. There are many capable people and strangers among humans who can communicate with other species, and mages are the best of them. Of course, if you hear You will not find it strange if you have lived through the legends of the Druids."

Grouse shook his head:

"I don't know what a druid is, but it must be because I don't know much."

"After all I'm just a grown grouse."

Matthew asks new residents about their living experience:

"Do you like this wood?"

The grouse looked left and right:

"It's okay, the environment here is good, there are no natural enemies for me, but there is a lack of food.

It took me days to find an earthworm or something in the ground.

From a rational point of view, this place is not suitable for living, but somehow, there is a force that attracts me, and it makes me settle here.

I even have an urge to go back to my hometown in the barren mountains in the north and bring all my family and compatriots here. "

Matthew understood.

This is the effect of the sanctuary of life.

He immediately opened his hands in welcome:

"As the owner of this forest, I welcome more outstanding residents like you."

Grouse looked at him warily:
"Do you want to eat my eggs?"

Matthew asked:
"Can you lay eggs?"

The grouse was stunned for a moment, and then happily said:
"It turns out that I don't know how to lay eggs, so it's fine."

"But there are many hens in my family. They are good at laying eggs. Do you want to eat their eggs?"

Matthew blinked:

"I can promise myself not to eat."

"But there are always risks of one kind or another in nature, and you must know this better than me."

Grouse thought for a while:
"That's enough, we don't want to be kept in captivity like those idiots on the farm."

"If your promise is true, I will consider bringing all my family to this forest."

"We will thrive here, God bless, I hope this forest will never have snakes, wolverines and other terrible creatures!"

Of course, Matthew can't guarantee anything.

He knows very well that as the power of the Sanctuary of Life continues to spread, all kinds of creatures will appear in his woods, and the paradise dreamed by the grouse is destined to not come true.

"But as the first grouse to live in this forest, I can give you certain preferential treatment."

Matthew mobilized the power of the Oak Domain and put him under a permanent "cover".

This state allows the grouse to have a powerful concealment effect when walking in the field, especially when it is stationary, it is difficult for the enemy to find its existence.

Grouse immediately felt Matthew's sincerity.

He was overjoyed:

"You are too powerful, you are worthy of being a human being who can speak chicken!"

"Thank you very much for your gift, I will tell all the grouse in the family what you did."

"By the way, chicken man, I have a present for you."

As he spoke, he flapped his wings and ran towards the beach of the Old Lady River next to him.

Matthew followed suit:

"You can call me Matthew."

The grouse dug vigorously on the river beach:
"Got it, chicken man."

Soon.

He dug a small hole in the soft sand.

There were some strange broken stones buried in the pit, as well as the corpses of some earthworms.

Among these things, it turned out to be a string of silver necklaces, with several fine sapphires inlaid on it.

The grouse gave the necklace to Matthew.

He filled the hole in the river bank.

Then he ran back into the oak forest without looking back:

"I should go. If someone finds out I've been talking to a human, they might think I'm a chicken."

"I know you have a good impression of me, but we still have to keep a proper distance."

"Goodbye, chicken man."

……

"Hint: You have completed an in-depth conversation with the grouse, the current animal conversation progress (1/300);
Your XP+10;

Your natural affinity has been slightly increased;
+1 to your Knowledge (Nature - Birds);

You have received the gift of Grouse "Necklace of the Great Swimmer"

Great Swimmer's Necklace: An unremarkable sapphire and silver necklace with the remnants of a drowned swimmer's spirituality attached to it.

The wearer's swimming ability is +10, but in the process of swimming, there is a very small probability of being attacked by water ghosts. "

……

The value of the necklace is average, it can only be said that it barely has the potential to be used as a collectible.

The adage that a good swimmer drowns applies everywhere.

Matthew put the necklace away.

He is very clear that "animal talk" is as much a way of practicing nature as planting trees.

He tried to activate this ability on the spot, and then walked in the oak forest.

But along the way, he didn't hear any sound.

This is also normal.

The animals in the oak forest are relatively small both in variety and in number.

more importantly.

There is a threshold for animals to talk to.

Not every animal can communicate with humans. Even with this ability, if you want to complete the conversation with grouse, you must have a certain spirituality in the animal.

Compared with human beings, the spirituality of most animals is very low.

In general, animals that are smaller, younger, and removed from human society are less spiritual.

Creatures such as cattle, horses, sheep, cats, dogs and pigs that live with people day and night are the easiest to be born with spirituality.

Insects in the wilderness hardly meet the minimum spirituality required for animal conversation.

Matthew wants to finish talking with three hundred animals.

Definitely still count on small to medium animals in town or on farms.

The probability of being born spiritual in the wild is too low.

Finding one by one is much less efficient than planting trees.

"Unfortunately, this mission is also limited to the vicinity of Rolling Stone Town. It would be great if there were no area restrictions."

Matthew sighed softly.

There is no limit to the ability to talk to animals, and he can communicate with animals all day long.

The premise is to have a sufficient number of objects.

And the rainforest is clearly the perfect place for this task.

There are tens of thousands of spiritual animals.

It was a piece of cake to complete.

"It is currently in its infancy, and the spiritual animals in Rolling Stone Town can barely meet 300 people. But if there are more requirements, I am afraid that we will have to open up regional restrictions or find another way."

Matthew thought for a moment.

He remembered that Druids had an ability called "Hand of Enlightenment".

This ability grants an animal temporary spirituality.

In this way, the minimum requirements for animal conversation can be met.

Druids often use this ability to promote their animal companions, or to recommend spirits of nature.

But this ability is relatively rare, and ordinary druids cannot master it, let alone mages.

Matthew can only hope that the next time he explores the oak tree field, there will be options for related abilities.

At that moment, he turned off the ability of animals to talk, and ran to the land where spring was always there, and planted three oak trees.

After doing all this.

Matthew had lunch in the cemetery, and then rushed to the Lord's Mansion non-stop.

After Rega left, Zeller was the only one left in the office hall. Matthew worried that he was short of manpower, so he promised to help as much as possible during this time.

Come to the front door of the Lord's Mansion.

At this time, in the barracks next door, a knight was walking out slowly leading an old horse.

The old horse was still chewing hay in its mouth.

The knight saw Matthew and said hello.

The old horse also snorted happily.

With a heart move, Matthew opened the animal chat.

But heard an aged voice ask:

"Have you ever eaten grass?"

Matthew replied:

"No."

The knight froze for a moment:
"Are you talking to me?"

The old horse said cheerfully:

"Don't explain to this idiot, let him misunderstand for a while, it's fun."

"If you have never eaten grass, you must try it. Life without eating grass is incomplete."

Matthew smiled:
"Thank you for your advice, I will try it when I have the chance."

The old horse tapped the ground lightly with its front hooves:

"If you could tell this kid to stop farting on my back, that would be better than any thanks."

"By the way, take care of him again—he's not in the right posture when riding me these two days. I suspect he has hemorrhoids. Let him remember to pay attention to his diet."

Matthew glanced at the dazed knight with a strange look.

He coughed lightly:
"Is this common?"

The old horse said leisurely:
"Oh, this is too common. Crossbow bolts are the mortal enemy of knights, but if you ask a knight what is more hateful than crossbow bolts, his answer must be hemorrhoids."

After speaking, he took the initiative to end the conversation.

The knight knew that Matthew was a mage, so he realized that he was talking to his horse.

So he asked nervously:
"You and my horse are talking right?
What did he say?
Lord Matthew, I didn't steal the fodder from the stable on purpose, I just had some difficulties at that time.

Will you not tell Lord Rhaegar?

In the next few days, I will secretly make up for the gaps in the embezzled fodder. "

Does talking to animals still have this effect?

Matthew raised his eyebrows and didn't say much in the end. He just patted the knight on the shoulder:

"He just told you to eat lightly."

"But don't forget to replenish the fodder."

Then he walked in.

Only the knight was left looking at the old horse with a complicated expression.

……

office lobby.

Matthew sat in his office, occasionally looking outside.

Every time he saw that Rhaegar's place was empty, he was quite uncomfortable.

Two in the afternoon.

An owl delivered the letter.

He took it and saw that it was actually a reply letter from the Silver Council.

"The alliance is so efficient this time?"

Matthew opened the letter, read it, and frowned slightly.

Pretty much what he expected.

The high level of the alliance represented by the Silver Council did not care about what happened in Escana.

Their comment on Sturuk Industries is also "not worth mentioning".

The tone of this reply letter is quite polite, but there are two main contents——

First, please close the gap in time and space as soon as possible to prevent the influx of creatures from the outer plane.

The second point is that the Seven Saints Alliance is indifferent to the changes in the outer plane. They don't seem to be worried at all about Sturuk's industry gaining a foothold in the outer plane and then further marching into the main material world.

This attitude of the league's top management made Matthew quite puzzled.

After all, they chose to close the country because of their pride and arrogance.

Or is there something else behind the principle of never interfering with the outer planes?
Matthew had no way of knowing.

He only knows that it is completely impossible to use the power of the alliance to interfere between the planes.

Think about this.

He also had no choice but to dispel the last trace of fluke.

Anyway, the amount of sulfur ore harvested from Sturuk Industry is already enough.

Matthew had roughly calculated that the value of those sulfur mines was around 30 gold coins.

This was a huge sum of money.

He had no reason to ask for more.

"I hope Little Parton can retreat in the face of difficulties."

Matthew felt a little emotional.

In fact, from a rational point of view, he shouldn't allow little Patton to take such a risk.

The reason why he finally let go.

On the one hand, it was because Little Patton was really eager for this matter. Matthew saw a different look in his eyes, and he couldn't bear to kill this thought directly.

On the other hand, Patton Jr. also showed intelligence, agility and responsiveness far beyond ordinary people.

His combat ability is estimated to be only around the second level.

But if there is no fighting, Matthew believes that he can settle many things.

After all, not everything in this world is a decision made completely in accordance with reason.

Human beings are always contradictory and emotional.

For example, now, Matthew's rationality tells him that it is the best result for little Patton to retreat.

But deep down in his heart, somehow he had unrealistic expectations for this kid.

Matthew himself felt that such expectations were absurd.

He searched for a reason for a long time.

I even began to wonder if it was because I ate too many mushrooms recently.

Just in time.

Zeller, who went out to deal with business in the morning, came back.

Matthew told Zeller everything about the space-time rift and little Patton.

Then ask him what he thinks.

Zeller said expressionlessly after listening:

"If I were Rhaegar, I would strike you with my sword."

"If I were Ms. Liz, tomorrow morning the whole town of Rolling Stone would know that there was a terrible necromancer who kidnapped and sold his son."

"But if I were Little Patton, I would be very grateful to you."

Matthew asked:
"What if you were in my position?"

Zeller thought for a while:
"I might as well promise him the same as you.

Although it is dangerous.

But which member of the Blood Banner family didn't come out of danger?
There was an imperceptible potential in that lad.

Rhaegar and I actually tried many times secretly, but we still couldn't find a way to arouse that power.

Maybe this is an opportunity. "

heard here.

Matthew suddenly understood a part of his intuition——

The intuition that always prompts him to make decisions seems to have a disconnected relationship with the domain.

He recalls every time he followed his instincts to make a decision.

One can feel the undercurrents of the domain quietly resonating in an imperceptible place.

"Is this the reason why it is easy for me to comprehend the field?"

"The decision I made is actually inextricably linked to the potential of the people around me, the power of the field, and even the legendary way?"

Such a thought popped into Matthew's mind.

Immediately he felt that this was too absurd.

It should just be my own imagination.

"But it all boils down to being too dangerous."

"If you don't want to break his heart, let me be the villain."

"He will come back today to report his safety, right? As soon as he comes back, I will take him away, and I will tell him that I found out about this, and you are forced to do nothing. After that, you should close the space-time rift as soon as possible. It’s over for a while.”

Speaking of it.

Zeller rubbed his temples tiredly:
"Actually, I have nothing against you young people going out and taking risks."

"However, I also hope that you can understand that too many things have really happened in and around Rolling Stone recently. I always have a bad feeling. At this juncture, I don't want anyone to have an accident, Xiaopa That's it, and so are you."

Matthew nodded slightly.

He saw Zeller's hard work.

He was about to ask what happened recently.

Right now.

There was a sound of hurried footsteps coming from the direction of the corridor.

Soon.

A figure dressed as a gentleman appeared in front of the two of them.

Richard put the cane on the side shelf, his gaze scanned the hall, and then asked seriously:

"Where is Rhaegar?"

"Are you taking a nap?"

"Call him up, I have something very important to say."

Zeller looked at him in surprise:
"Regar has gone to Purgatory, and won't be back for at least a month."

"What happened?"

Richard frowned:
"Why go to purgatory at this time?"

He looked at Matthew and Zeller with uncertain expressions. After a few seconds, he said decisively:

"Remember the corpse I checked in the security station before?"

Matthew recalled it, it was a very strange corpse, all the elements of the body were lost, so that even the call of the dead could not be performed.

At that time, Richard left immediately after seeing the body. After going there for many days, it seems that he has only returned to Rolling Stone Town.

Matthew was impressed by this:

"Is it the one that was fished down the Old Lady River?"

Zeller said in a deep voice:
"I have read the files, and there is indeed something strange. What did you find?"

Richard paced back and forth in the hall a little anxiously:

"I went to Eversong Forest and found something with the night elves——

That is, the seal of the "Lord of the Thousand Changes" has indeed been leaked.

Damn.

You know the "thousand changer" right?

A thousand changers are a daemon bloodline from the Outer Planes.

Their ancestor, the notorious lord of the thousand changers, Jasliwen, once took the place of the murder god.

It was the middle of the Age of Enlightenment, and later things came to light, and He was sealed in Eversong Forest by the God of Elf and several other gods.

Jiasi Liwen is also one of the few demons sealed in the main material world.

His descendants are numerous and spread all over the continent of Aindor.

But only those who have awakened the blood of the demon and received the blessing of Jiasi Liwen are eligible to be called the true changer.

Originally, as long as there was no problem with the seal of Eversong Forest, the descendants of the Thousand Changes would not be a concern.

But I just learned that just half a year ago, Sener, the notorious scarlet hunter, legendary wanderer, and leader of the Brotherhood of Silver Frost, led people to attack the Gosti Prison in Eversong Forest.

That attack was definitely prepared. Although Sener did not take any prisoners, it caused the seal of the Lord of the Thousand Changes to loosen.

Part of Jiasi Liwen's power leaked out, which may have led to the awakening of some descendants of the Thousand Changeers! "

Thousand changers?
Matthew suddenly thought of the little white cat living in his own forest for nothing!
She seems to have mentioned that she has the blood of a thousand changers!
"Is it possible for a thousand changers to take the appearance of another person, and the appearance is indistinguishable?"

Matthew hurriedly asked.

Richard nodded:
"The transformation ability of the thousand changers is innate and very powerful. It has the effect comparable to the fourth-order transformation spell just after learning it. It will be improved later, and it can change into different people."

"When the thousand changers in history appear in human society, they often bring huge disasters and chaos because of this ability."

"But there is still an unknown secret among them. Among the awakened thousand changers, a very small number of them can be favored by Jiasi Liwen. They will master another even more terrifying ability besides the ability to change. .”

"Because of that ability, they are called 'dispossessors,' or 'replacers.' "

heard here.

An ominous premonition emerged in Matthew's heart.

really.

But hear Richard narrate:

"The depriver can use a specific ritual to deprive a person's identity, memory, ability, etc., and then replace them."

"This replacement does not refer to a change in appearance, or a replacement in identity, but a complete integration and replacement."

"They will completely become that person, retaining the memory and abilities of their previous identity, and even the consciousness of the plane will judge them as the original person."

"And as the deprived of the ceremony, even if the outcome is not immediate death, it is a very cruel and terrifying thing. They are deprived of all elements, and their relatives and friends will turn a blind eye to them, and instead laugh at the person who killed them add up.

This is a very cruel thing.

In the end they will die in endless torment.

No one knows who they are, where they came from, or why they died.

I really hope I guessed wrong, but all the signs of the male corpse point to the poor identity of the deprived.

To put it bluntly.

It is suspected that a thousand changers completed the deprivation ceremony in Rolling Stone Town.

I'm not sure where he is going.

Because even I can't tell which is the deprived person.

He may have left.

Probably still in town.

Maybe even between you! "

a time.

The atmosphere in the hall suddenly became dignified.

……

(End of this chapter)