Part 6 The Light Pathfinder Chapter 67 – Five Mushrooms and Two Mushrooms
Moon City.
A number of humans, some of them obviously deformed, some of them having developed a certain degree of alienation, stepped out from within a building that was mostly mottled but unusually sturdy.
These humans glanced at each other, all noticing a certain amount of puzzlement on each other’s faces:
There were still two to three months before the Sun Ritual, why did the High Priestess summon everyone to the square?
Could it be that something big has happened? The residents of Moon City entered the one and only plaza from one street to another with worry, trepidation, and disbelief.
At this moment, the platform was empty, and it seemed that the conveners had not yet arrived.
The Moon City residents gathered separately in a very orderly manner according to the area they belonged to and discussed in low voices:
”Why hasn’t the High Priest arrived yet?”
”Doesn’t he like to wait and doesn’t want to be waited on?”
”What on earth has happened, why are the entire city’s residents outside of the guards suddenly summoned?”
……
In one voice, at the top of a tall tower near the square, behind the crystal glass, High Priest Nim leaned against the wall and gazed at the square while his expression twisted as he endured something.
His gray head of hair lifted, a handful of short black hairs grew on his face, and blood and flesh wriggled and congealed into lumps between his ribs and waist.
These unusual changes disappeared and appeared at times, as if Nim was having one attack after another, and the whole man was both evil and terrifying.
After a minute or so, Nim finally calmed down, exhaled a long breath, and raised his hand to wipe the cold sweat seeping out of his forehead.
He had just been fighting against the madness that had built up within him.
In fact, no matter which extraordinary pathway, the higher the sequence, the more serious the tendency towards madness and inhumanity, which would gradually surpass one’s own humanity, and one would have to rely on the help of external anchors in order to maintain a sufficient balance.
Normally, at Sequence 4 and Sequence 3, this is not so obvious, but at the angelic level, even if there are enough anchors to “hold it in place,” it will fall into a dark, negative, and mutinous state from time to time, and must be endured and fought against on its own, waiting for a reprieve.
It’s like a holy, solemn being who normally seems to have no problems answering your prayers, chatting with you normally, or even cracking a few jokes, but at some point, has to hide in a dark room, in the shadows, tearing off the surface of his skin, revealing a shadowy side, and displaying all sorts of signs of insanity.
Nim, on the other hand, has accumulated a lot of toxins, contamination, and insanity due to his regular consumption of monster flesh and blood, only to suffer similarly in Sequence 4.
Of course, the kind of Sequence 4 and Sequence 3 that didn’t know how to play the law and relied on time or luck to elevate up would also be like this.
Adjusting his state, Nim turned around and left the room, appearing directly on the high platform in the center of the square with the help of an illusory door.
All the discussions subsided for a moment, and the residents of Moon City turned their gazes, which contained doubts and uneasiness, towards this High Priestess.
Nim looked around and spoke bluntly:
”The hunting squad led by Adar has encountered an outsider.”
Outsider! The eyes of the residents of Moon City suddenly widened, and there was a feeling that thunder from high above had descended directly on the city.
For the first time in over two thousand years, Moon City had encountered an outsider! Of course, this referred to humans who had reason and could communicate, not monsters.
Nim sucked in a silent breath and continued:
”He claimed to be a missionary spreading the light of the gods, he made a noticeable change in that grayish mist, he removed the pollution and toxins that had built up in Adar and the others, and healed the mutations in their bodies.”
As he spoke, Nim nodded to the side of the high platform, and Adar and Sin, hiding in the shadows, immediately stepped through a torchlight and walked next to him, proving the other’s earlier words with their own condition.
”Hiss ……”
”Gods!”
”This is Adar and Sin?”
”They’re really, really ……”
An exclamation came out of his mouth, dismay and amazement intertwined like substance.
Adar and Xin glanced at each other, took two steps forward, and told the original story of their hunting squad’s encounter.
Hearing the bit of firelight that surfaced in the darkness, the cross that gave off a bright and clear light, the cane that could cure mutations and diseases, the grayish mist that parted to both sides as well as the manifestation of the formation of the gate, and the hunting squad members’ ecstatic descriptions of their good state, the residents of Moon City gradually fell silent.
Among them, some had already shed tears without realizing it, and that was because in the midst of incomparable exhaustion and extreme depression, they finally saw a light.
These tears, with a slightly mild salty feeling, flowed across their faces, slipped through the corners of their mouths, and dripped to the ground.
In addition, those who still retained their sanity and sobriety raised their arms and expressed their opinion:
”Could that missionary be a special monster from the depths of darkness?”
”Have Adar and Sin been controlled and influenced to behave like this?”
When the wave of doubt subsided, Nim said in a low, clear voice:
”I’ve examined them and checked with the seals, and for the time being, I haven’t found anything out of the ordinary.
”I will keep them in the Black Tower for at least fifteen days of observation.”
After making his promise, Nim paused for a moment and said:
”The missionary called Germaine Sparrow will be austere near the gray mist for some time, and he will allow us to go there to feel the light of the one he believes in and to listen to the corresponding teachings, while he does a daily purification and healing when the lightning flashes are at their most frequent.
”All may choose to go there, but they must report beforehand and follow the arrangements, they must not act privately and affect the defense of the city-state, and those who go there will all be quarantined for fifteen days upon their return, just like Adar and Sin and the others.”
The residents of Moon City were all silent, you looked at me and I looked at you, unable to make up their minds.
At that moment, Ruth, who had previously returned to the city to inform the High Priest and failed to be purified and healed, stood out with another member of the hunting squad:
”High Priestess, I want to go!”
”Good, I’ll lead this, team tomorrow ……,” Nim gently nodded and agreed.
He had intended to press a name for such a team, but he never thought of a good description, so he could only stutter a bit and skim right over it.
In his heart, in fact, there is a name, but do not dare to say, that is:
Pilgrims.
With Ruth and the others taking the lead, several Moon City residents stepped forward and expressed their willingness to risk trying.
As the lightning frequency changed from low to high, and a new day dawned, the Moon City party of seven or eight men, carrying animal skin lanterns, began to trek through the darkness to the edge of that gray mist.
After darkness and light had alternated for an unknown number of times, Ruth and the others suddenly had a flash of fire reflected in their eyes.
It was a bonfire that was slowly burning, and Germaine Sparrow, who wore strange clothes and a strange hat, was sitting on the other side, holding a long iron black stick and roasting something.
Around the campfire lay the corpses of one monster after another, and on these corpses, all sorts of strange things were growing, some of them so white and full that they seemed to squirt out liquid when poked, some of them with a black background, inlaid with blood-colored filaments and fat patterns, and some of them were covered with golden spots, and the lid on top of them was the size of the palm of a hand ……
These things were densely packed and covered different parts of the monster’s corpse, carrying a demonic and tantalizing beauty.
Taking a few steps forward, High Priestess Nim realized that Germaine Sparrow was roasting one of those strange things, a drop of grease falling and making a moistening sound in the fire, making the light more pronounced and letting a tantalizingly strange aroma spread out.
Grunting, the Moon City residents in the group instinctively swallowed their saliva, creating a strong, unquenchable appetite.
Every cell of theirs was frantically crying out:
I want to eat!
I want to eat!
Give me food!
Klein, who was sitting on a rock, raised his head and pointed to the brightly colored things growing on the bodies of the monsters around him, and said in a low voice:
”They are called mushrooms and are divided into different kinds, so you can pick and eat them yourselves if you wish, but you can’t touch the all-black kind, and they must be cooked enough to be ingested, or else you will suffer a terrible curse.”
Nim, the High Priestess of the Moon City, thought for a moment and answered in place of the others:
”We would like to listen to the teachings of that Lord of yours first, and feel the light of K.”
Krynn nodded gently and spoke as he twirled the long stick of barbecue he had summoned from the orifice of history:
”You may sit and listen.”
Waiting for the seven or eight Moon City residents to sit across the campfire, he said with a solemn expression:
”I have come from the ‘Court of the Giant King’.”
It was a term familiar to the residents of Moon City, and their spirits lifted as they turned their attention away from the things roasting on the campfire and toward Germaine Sparrow.
Next, Klein described the state of Silver City and the situation outside the Cursed Lands as he had done before, and spoke of the ruins of the city-state that he had seen since his journey.
This was heard by the residents of Moon City, who were sometimes sighing, sometimes yearning, sometimes incredulous, and sometimes empathetic and sad.
Halfway through his speech, Klein suddenly stopped, retrieved the long, iron-black stick in his hand, brought it up to his mouth, and bit down on a mushroom.
The rich gravy seeped out with it, washing his mouth with a slightly hot sensation.
–After half a year in the Godforsaken Lands, Krynn had conquered his aversion to mushrooms; after all, Danez had to be assigned to things from time to time, and couldn’t prepare elaborate food offerings, and the gaps in between had to be filled with mushrooms.
Closing his eyes contentedly, Klein handed out the long, iron-black stick in his hand and smiled:
”You guys can give it a try.”
While High Priest Nim was still hesitating, Ruth was already reaching out, thanking him as he got a mushroom down and brought it into his mouth.
He ate it so quickly that there was a burn in his mouth, but his expression twisted for a moment before suddenly freezing.
Then, his expression stretched a little, gradually revealing a feeling of indulgence, enjoyment, and longing.
Toward the end, Ruth’s tears involuntarily flowed out, and he said in a low drawl in his voice:
”This is, this is the most wonderful, the most wonderful food I have ever eaten ……”
Even if so many generations down, their taste for food has appeared to be mutated, but how human beings can’t adapt to that kind of toxin and madness, craving for sugar craving for fat.
At this moment, all the residents of Moon City heard Ruth’s touching.