Prime Originator

The Darkmoon Tribe can do without the Dark Crystals, but it cannot do with the Water Vein. On the Infertile Plains that run amok with Demonic Beasts, water was equivalent to life. Without water, life cannot be sustained. The humans would all die of thirst.

As such, if the Great Ironhawk Tribe had succeeded in their plans, the Darkmoon Tribe would have slowly ceased to exist if they could not find another Water Vein in the underground to regain access to drinkable water.

Leon began to understand why they would go to such lengths to keep the secret sealed. The Great Ironhawk Tribe wanted to destroy the Darkmoon Tribe, but they do not want to fight an all-out war.

This should also be why the spies no longer tried to recruit him and made attempts on his life. It was not a closed secret that he can cure Demon Possession. If the spies stayed within the tribe for a period of time, they would come to learn this truth.

They had no other choice but to kill him since he could potentially remove their runes once they are caught, which in the end, did happen.

"Why is the Great Ironhawk Tribe doing this? Why target the Water Vein? Does the Great Ironhawk Tribe want to destroy the Darkmoon Tribe?" Master Woodrow questioned with his hypnotic voice.

"The Great Ironhawk Tribe does not intend to destroy the Darkmoon Tribe specifically... Other groups had also been sent to aim for the Water Veins of Blackwind Tribe and Crimsonfog Tribe as well." Ironback said with a struggling expression, as if not knowing how else to answer the question.

"Oh?"

Master Woodrow narrowed his eyes dangerously and exchanged a glance with Chief Valencia.

"The Great Ironhawk Tribe want to destroy the entire Seven Tribe Alliance by themselves? Or do they want to force us to migrate to the central plains and surrender to them? Either way, the Great Ironhawk Tribe sure has a big appetite!"

Ironback continued to struggle and failed to answer any further questions. He knew some information, but he did not know the most vital parts of the great mission assigned to him and the others.

"The chief did not mention this in his plans..." The spy could only say.

After Master Woodrow asked a few more questions without gaining anything useful from the spy's answers in return, he said, "It seems this person does not know anything else."

"Since he is no longer useful, then he also no longer needs to live." Chief Valencia said coldly, giving the person the death sentence.

She had been holding back her fury while the interrogation was underway. But now, there was no longer any need of her to hold it back. She immediately used her hand as a sharp knife and decapitated the person.

"Haiz, lass, you're letting your anger blind you!" Master Woodrow sighed with a shake of his head after Chief Valencia killed Ironback.

Leon also nodded and added, "It was a waste to kill him so soon. He might not know anything else pertaining to the mission directly, but we could have learned more information about the Great Ironhawk Tribe. If we can understand the Great Ironhawk Tribe's situation, we might be able to come up with an educated guess for the reason behind their motive."

After hearing this much, Chief Valencia was slightly startled and refrained from killing the other unconscious spy.

Nevertheless, she did not feel good. She wanted nothing more than to immediately set out and slaughter every person from the Great Ironhawk Tribe.

"What you said makes a lot of sense… I will have to trouble Little Brother Leonhardt again later," Chief Valencia said wryly with a forced smile.

"Don't worry about it."

Leon smiled lightly in response. However, he could not help but start to think about the Water Vein. He had yet to see the Darkmoon Tribe's Water Vein for himself; thus, he was quite curious about it.

"What do you have on your mind, Little Brother Leonhardt?" Master Woodrow asked after noticing Leon's thoughtful expression.

Leon gathered his thoughts for a moment before he said, "There's something I've always found strange. The tribes on the Infertile Plains have always been using the Water Veins for the past few hundred years?"

"That's right. That has always been the case. Without the Water Vein, it is challenging for a tribe to prosper. After all, one would be at the mercy of others if they have to buy water from them. Has Little Brother Leonhardt never seen a Water Vein before?" Master Woodrow asks.

Leon shook his head.

"Would like you to check it out?" Chief Valencia offered.

Leon turned to the chief and asks with surprise, "Is that fine?"

Considering how furious Chief Valencia is after learning the Water Vein was being targeted, he would assume that he would not be getting a chance to check it out.

"It's fine. I need to get out of here anyway. The more I look at these people, the angrier I become." The chief nodded with a solemn look, suppressing her boiling emotions.

It was her family's ancestors that founded the Darkmoon Tribe. Her anger was understandable when the tribe's prosperity and all tribesmen's lives are being threatened by other tribes.

After giving some instructions to the warriors outside to guard the unconscious spy securely, Chief Valencia took the group down to the underground mines to show Leon the Water Vein.

Under her lead, Leon followed with Darlene closely beside him as he glanced left and right at the mining equipment inside the Dark Crystal Mine. Everything was automated by large runic machinery, from drilling in the earth to sorting out the Dark Crystal ores.

It was an impressive sight to behold. If the Crawford Kingdom could rely on such mining technology, they could increase the kingdom's mineral production by many folds and cut down on the required manpower, allocating it elsewhere.

"It seems Little Brother Leonhardt has taken a great interest in the Dark Crystal mining equipment." Master Woodrow commented after seeing Leon looking around with rapt attention.

Leon nodded and admitted, "That's right. It is quite impressive that all of this can be used to replace the need for manpower. I'm quite curious about the technology behind it."

As it turns out, all the metallic minerals and Demonic Core harvested from Demonic Beasts were all concentrated here, in the mines.

Chief Valencia listened to their exchanged and silently made a mental note of Leonhardt's interest.

The group continued to venture deeper into the underground mines. After some time, they eventually took a turn and headed for another underground section through a spacious passageway that took them away from the mining area.

This new section had many metal pipes running along the side of the walls, and Leon could also hear the sound of constant flowing water.

Not long after, the end of the large passageway led them to a vast open cavern. Two points of interest immediately captured Leon's attention.

There was a huge pond at the center of the cavern, where many pipes were connected to and could be seen pumping water out of the pond. After this, the unclean water undergoes some sort of purification process before transferring outside through other pipes.

At the furthest back of the cavern, there was a massive metal gate, engraved in countless runes and sealed tightly. Water flowed out from small pocket holes in the metal gate and flowed into the pond.

"Is the Water Vein behind those large metal doors? What else is behind it? It is not just the Water Vein, is it? Leon asked curiously.

"That's right. Behind those doors are the Catacombs, where the location of the Water Vein is located. However, our tribe's greatest treasures are also stored there, and everything is guarded by our slumbering ancestors." Chief Valencia explained.

"I see."

"What are your thoughts after seeing this, Little Brother Leonhardt?" Master Woodrow asks.

Leon knitted his brows briefly and said, "I supposed this is as far as you can show me? No one is allowed to enter the Catacombs, right?"

Chief Valencia nodded.

"That's right. No one is permitted to enter the Catacombs unless the tribe is facing a calamity as per the ancestors' instruction."

"Hmm..." Leon pondered thoughtfully before he said, "That is to say that no one has ever checked on the Water Vein all this while?"

"...That is also correct. Why does Little Brother Leonhardt ask about this? Do you suspect something is wrong with the Water Vein?"

Leon smiled wryly and said, "It's hard not to suspect something. Think about it, so many tribes relied on the Water Veins for so many years, but where does all this water come from? Supposed all these Water Veins are connected to the same source, don't you think there would be a day when the water is all used up?"

"That's impossible!" Master Woodrow denied with alarm.

Leon glanced at him and asks, "Why not?"

"Because these water and Water Veins are all formed by the Celestial Water Spark!"