Chapter 424: Survival in the Wilderness, Restoring Part of History
Snap!
Sparks flew.
Under the night sky, Aaron sat by the bonfire, wrapping his dried cloak around himself.
After a full afternoon of exploration, he came to a sad conclusion: this was likely an uninhabited island. Within a thirty-mile radius, there was almost no other living creature besides a few birds.
Of course, it was also possible he hadn't explored far enough. After all, this island, or rather, landmass, was unusually large; perhaps there was human habitation further away!
But the immediate priority was to fill his stomach; Wizards also had to eat.
Vicko had prepared three days' worth of food for him, and he hadn't expected to use it so soon.
Aaron took out a can of meat, a piece of bread, and a compressed ration from his dry food bag for dinner. After a simple meal, he lay down on a mat of leaves and fell into a deep sleep.
Early the next morning, his biological clock woke Aaron precisely.
He didn't delay, extinguished the bonfire, and continued his exploration.
There was no other way; his food would last two more days. If he couldn't find a human town or village within two days, he would truly have to survive in the wilderness.
Aaron climbed to the top of a tree every so often to confirm his direction. Walking from morning until noon, he finally saw a clear azure amidst a lush green expanse.
"Heaven has not forsaken me!"
Aaron almost laughed out loud. He immediately sped up, and after walking another seven or eight miles, he arrived at a clear stream.
It was his first time seeing such a clear river; the rocks at the bottom, and even the fish and shrimp in the deeper parts, were clearly visible, though their numbers were pitifully small.
Grumble~
His stomach suddenly rumbled.
The protest from his body made Aaron quite helpless. Since there was no one around, he decisively waved his wand, and a fresh grass carp was levitated to the bank.
Killing the fish, bleeding it, descaling, gutting, removing the black membrane, gills, and trimming the fins—a series of operations completed within half a minute.
At this moment, Aaron was sincerely grateful to his ancestor Salks. Although he had only studied with him for a month or so, he was still a pretty good chef, at least enough not to suffer too much hardship in the wilderness.
After placing the prepared grass carp on a rock, Aaron prepared to make a fire.
But just as he was about to break off some branches, an unusual sensation reached his mind: "Could you not hurt me?"
Damn it!
Aaron immediately let go. He didn't think he had misheard.
This tree was alive, with its own consciousness.
Aaron took a deep breath and concentrated on sensing, but found nothing. That wisp of consciousness seemed to have fallen into a deep sleep or deliberately hidden itself.
Out of reverence for the unknown, he didn't harm the tree.
More importantly, there were countless trees of the same type in this forest. The probability of angering the entire forest by cutting down one tree was small, but it still existed.
However, he didn't feel scared; he simply didn't want to cause trouble.
The thought-form had been recalled; he was now a true Grand Magus. Even if he couldn't defeat an entire forest, retreating safely was not an issue.
Because of this interlude, the grilled fish meal was bland, but it replenished enough energy.
Aaron continued along the river. If all went well, he would eventually encounter civilization, or at least get out of this forest.
Unconsciously, night fell, and a hundred-meter-high cliff blocked his path.
At this, Aaron rolled his eyes in exasperation.
He had walked for a whole day, and just as he finally emerged from the forest, it played such a huge joke on him.
Rock climbing wasn't difficult for him, but he really wasn't interested in climbing at night.
He casually picked up some dry branches to light a bonfire of hope, to prevent dangerous wild creatures from approaching, then found a relatively clean rock and lay down on it.
Bored, Aaron looked at the stars in the sky.
Professor Trelawney's Divination Class included content on reading star charts. Although he preferred to use a crystal ball for divination, he knew a little about astrology.
Tawa Star, Aranbi Star... Victory, Peace, Sirius... War... and unexpected enemies.
"Hiss!" Aaron gasped, apparently having arrived in a rather complex world, though it shouldn't be more complex than the last one.
After all, the World Tree had arranged a simple journey for him this time. Even if he had to participate in a war, it wouldn't be on too large a scale, would it... probably.
Aaron secretly comforted himself. Then, he suddenly thought of something and abruptly sat up from the rock.
"System, sign in."
He almost forgot about this. This was the fastest way to get clues about this world's timeline, at least he could know if he was on a deserted island.
"Host has signed in at an unknown ruin, gaining 5 magicpoints."
Aaron blinked, suppressing the urge to curse loudly, "I walked all day, didn't even see the shadow of a ruin, and it's 'unknown'... System, can you be any more perfunctory?"
"This system is already very user-friendly. Otherwise, the Host's sign-in location would be an unknown world."
Aaron:... You win.
Is this the benefit of having the final say? I've truly learned something.
"Unknown ruin?"
Aaron repeatedly mumbled the phrase, slowly shifting his gaze to the top of the cliff.
It should be there. Even if not, he would have to climb over this cliff tomorrow... The next morning, Aaron opened his dry food bag.
After eating and drinking his fill, he began to climb the cliff.
A cliff face of this height was nothing to him; he could easily climb to the top.
But looking at the dense jungle at the top of the cliff, his composure instantly broke.
This was too much; you can't play like this, it's utterly ridiculous!
In that instant, Aaron considered using Apparition to rush through, or simply flying over using Animagus.
But reason wouldn't allow him to do so. He knew nothing about this world; it would be tragic if the local residents were hostile to magic.
Fortunately, after not long, he discovered a path paved with stones, which brightened his mood.
Following the stone path, the forest gradually turned into grassland, and a ruin indeed appeared directly in front of Aaron.
Uncertain if anyone was inside, Aaron cautiously approached.
This ruin was vast, without any traps or mechanisms. It seemed to have been a magnificent palace, merely eroded by time.
But the appearance of scattered boulders made Aaron change his mind. This palace must have been conquered by an army, only turning into a ruin centuries later.
"Catapults, a palace from centuries ago..." Aaron stroked his chin, carefully observing the damage to the ruin, thinking that the technological level of this world should not be high, perhaps even inferior to the last world he visited.
Firstly, there was no damage caused by thermal weapons in this ruin. Secondly, the boulders launched by the catapults were very irregular, which was enough to prove that the army from centuries ago had not fully perfected even a weapon like the catapult.
Unless there was a technological explosion, even after several centuries, the people here should still be in the cold weapon era.
Thinking of this, Aaron's mouth uncontrollably curved upwards, revealing an exaggerated smile.
His expansion pack contained five guns, which would be absolute divine artifacts in the cold weapon era.
As long as he confirmed that there were no extraordinary beings in this world that could threaten him, wouldn't he be able to mess around freely?
However, before that, he still had to act discreetly.
Aaron simply checked the entire ruin from outside to inside. There were no traces of trampled weeds by the roadside, no fruits picked from the trees, and no hint of cooking smoke in the air.
These clues confirmed to him that there was no one else here. Not to mention intelligent life, there weren't even wild animals.
"Then, it's time to study history. This will give me a slight understanding of this world," Aaron muttered to himself.
He then cleared a large section of stone wall and began to reconstruct the prototype of this palace from centuries ago, based on his current discoveries in the ruin.
"Fragments of rows of stone pillars, broken walls... This is a main hall, a few steps, a semicircular platform... It should be where the throne was, but... have I analyzed it wrong?" Aaron looked at the four pedestals on the platform and couldn't help but fall into self-doubt.
In his understanding, a country could only have one king, but these four pedestals directly indicated that this country, which perished in history, might have had four kings, and their statuses were comparable.
This was too exaggerated, unless there was a greater emperor above these four kings who could steadily maintain the balance of the four forces, or... these four kings established this kingdom.
Shaking his head, Aaron stopped thinking about these miscellaneous things.
Knowing a general outline of history was enough; he couldn't analyze too many details.
In short, centuries ago, four kings ruled this land, but a sudden powerful enemy attacked and destroyed this country.
The enemy did not occupy the kingdom, but plundered... Wait, plundered?
A word suddenly appeared in Aaron's mind, 'bandits,' but his gaze inexplicably shifted to the azure sea level, and 'bandits' instantly turned into 'pirates.'
Aaron felt like he had grasped the truth: pirates had plundered all the wealth of a kingdom.
The number of these pirates must have been considerable, otherwise, they wouldn't have conquered a kingdom.
However, centuries had passed. Perhaps those pirates had left this land, or perhaps... they had rebuilt a kingdom.
Gulp!
Aaron was startled by his own imagination, then let out a wry laugh.
A low-budget version of One Piece, how could that be!
After roughly reconstructing parts of history from centuries ago, Aaron began to search the ruins carefully.
He had no hope for the pirates' character, but he still had some confidence in this kingdom; perhaps they had hidden something before the kingdom's destruction.
Starting a systematic search from the corners of the palace, Aaron found a pure gold chess piece in the grass, which only proved that the pirates hadn't completely looted the place.
But to his surprise, beneath a section of broken wall, there was indeed a secret door.
This door was made of wood. Centuries of wind and rain had made it fragile; besides cobwebs, it was riddled with traces of insect borings.