Surviving The Fourth Calamity

Chapter 436: Chapter 235: Skin Thick as a Mountain, Earth Bear Roaming the Ocean

Aurelio, oblivious to Hill’s icy stare, munched on the roast goose as he spoke: ”Hey! You’re running around everywhere like a headless chicken! Totally unlike an Earth Bear. Once we have our own territory, we usually stay put!”

”Did you come from the North?” Hill asked, puzzled. He himself often stayed in his territory for years without moving.

If Aurelio truly awakened the blood of the Earth Bear, it wouldn’t be possible for him to miss Hill.

”The North isn’t safe. Both the Dwarfs and Elves have demigods residing there year-round.” Aurelio didn’t even lift his head, ”Especially the Elves, they adapt to the wilderness better than the Dwarfs.

Those Druids claimed they left the Forest of the Elves to seek Nature Consciousness’ favor, but some of them clearly harbored ulterior motives.

What they revere as nature isn’t necessarily the nature of this world.

Even if those Druids wouldn’t harm the Earth’s spirit of the other world directly, their demigod Rangers could.

However, nobody in the wilderness is foolish enough to believe that a demigod would follow a Druid out of their homeland.

Everyone steers clear of that group!

As for the Dwarfs, they are few in number, so it’s all about who spots whom first! Even if we magical beasts don’t get along, we would cooperate to deal with them.

I’m not a demigod yet, so I have to avoid them. It’s tough!”

Aurelio crunched down the roast goose bones with ease, ”Ah! These bones are fantastic! Even tastier than the meat!”

He glanced around and picked up a roast suckling pig, gnawing on it as he continued, ”I took a detour via the sea, swimming up from the South! It was exhausting! You, on the other hand, face no real danger and grow more powerful by the day, almost surpassing me. Why should I hurry?

When I reached land, I had to travel deep underground. Finally, I sensed your presence here and found you straight away! But then you dashed off to the North!

I had to keep moving North.

Surprisingly, I found a great place to rest! It’s so safe here! I really need a good sleep to recover my spirit!”

With the suckling pig in his mouth, Aurelio smacked his giant bear paws, ”I just knew it, with so much happening here, you’d definitely return! No Earth Bear could resist curiosity!

All I had to do was sleep and wait for you to pass by! An Earth Bear’s nose is never wrong!”

”Are magical beasts in the sea tasty?” Hill asked nonchalantly.

”Fishy to death! Absolutely awful! Only the Great Blue Fish is decent, no small bones!” Aurelio replied without hesitation.

Realizing that Hill was prying, he quickly shielded the remaining half of the suckling pig in front of his face, offering a slightly embarrassed yet polite smile.

”I didn’t dawdle to eat on the way. Your presence was steady all along!” he asserted confidently.

Hill sneered slightly. While he didn’t know if Earth Bears got tired, he did know they would hibernate when they’d eaten too much energy-rich food, according to his heritage.

But he also understood that Aurelio really felt no danger looming over Hill, thus he leisurely took his time.

Hill had the same talent, knowing full well that an Earth Bear could hear someone on the surface even from tens of thousands of meters below.

Since Aurelio passed by Central City, it was impossible for him to not have heard Hill’s tales.

Especially with Agleya’s recent promotion.

Knowing Hill was safe for sure, sleep naturally became the most important thing.

After all, as long as Hill passed by, he’d definitely feel Aurelio’s presence.

”The Undead Tribe may attack the Dwarf Capital; I want to follow and check it out. Are you planning to keep sleeping here?” Hill resisted the urge to smack the bear. Despite his carefree attitude, Aurelio had indeed traveled all that distance for him.

”Don’t know why, but I feel this place is crucial. Something here especially attracts me.” Aurelio said, uncharacteristically serious, ”Do you know what it is? You should feel it too.”

”Have you not noticed why there’s a natural defensive shield here?” Hill asked in disbelief.

He thought Aurelio knew the secret of this place and that’s why he dared to sleep here, but it turned out he was relying purely on instincts?

”As long as it’s safe! Why bother finding the reason? Earth Bears don’t understand Magic Arrays anyway!” Aurelio finally finished the suckling pig and reached for an apple pie.

He took a bite, his round golden eyes lighting up almost instantly: ”Sweet! With honey! So delicious!” He devoured the apple pie in a few bites, then pulled all the pies in front of him, eating them one by one.

Taking advantage of his large gulps, Hill directly said: ”So you didn’t know this is a fragment of the World Tree Artifact from the Goddess of the Earth?”

Hill smirked as he watched Aurelio choke, handing him a jug of juice while the silly bear pounded his chest.

”The... the World Tree fragment!” Aurelio didn’t care about Hill’s mischief as he shouted in surprise, ”Really? How come I didn’t notice? Isn’t that just a cedar turning into a Treant?”

”That malnourished little cedar next to it is.” Hill sighed, thinking the bear stayed here to nurture the fragment, only to find he didn’t even know it existed.

”I... I went straight for the big tree, didn’t pay attention to the rest.” Aurelio stammered.

”I thought you discovered the artifact and chose this spot for that reason. This isn’t just any random cave! Without a special reason, how could so many plants grow here?”

The fragment truly belonged to the Goddess of the Earth. After landing here, probably using its last bit of consciousness, it delivered the final bits of its own vegetation.

”An Earth Bear really is a Son of the Earth! The Goddess always loves us!” After a few minutes of embarrassment, Aurelio quickly regained his proud attitude, ”I’m so lucky! Even sleeping, I hit a jackpot!”

Hill silently watched the thick-skinned bear: ”Aren’t you qualified to reach the world’s end yet?”

”How do you know that? Ancestral will? Whose offspring are you! How did you learn about these things so early?” Aurelio suddenly slumped, ”There hasn’t been a cub among the Earth Bears for a long time; only I haven’t reached demigod.

There used to be some older siblings, but they all went to plant cedar trees.

If you can witness the legacy so early, will you also be called soon? Don’t surpass your elder brother!”

Hill pointed at the little tree, ”Communicate with it, and with its presence, you can also go plant trees!”

Aurelio froze for a moment, then quickly placed his enormous head gently against the little tree. The cedar fragment eagerly entered his mental sea.

”It can enhance my power!” Aurelio jumped in excitement, causing the small island to shake violently.

”Don’t jump!” Hill shouted helplessly, ”First embed these crystal stones, then see how it turns out inside?

For the past two days, I’ve been blessing it with Nature’s Blessing. This cedar fragment has somewhat stabilized.

Although the natural cycle hasn’t fully recovered, as long as there are enough elemental crystals, planting saplings and such shouldn’t be an issue.”

Aurelio stared at Hill, who handed him the open space box, with a massive number of elemental crystals brightly shining in front of his eyes: ”Why are you so rich? I’ve never seen so many crystals in my thousands of years! Not even my dad has this much!”

”Humans have a powerful deity who can traverse space and time, bringing crystals from other planets. Thanks to him, the human world’s crystals are abundant now.” Hill smiled faintly, ”And I am an Alchemist Master, a legendary Nature Warlock. As long as I wish to, I can earn plenty of crystals!”

Aurelio’s large head almost nudged Hill’s face: ”Then give me more! Regardless of whose descendant, they’re struggling with fieldwork! All the crystals in the clan are used to cultivate cedar saplings, we’re practically broke! I haven’t had good food since I was little!”

”First use the crystals to stabilize the artifact fragment.” Hill pushed his head away, ”I have a lot more to give you.”

Aurelio quickly stored all the crystals inside the cedar, exclaiming: ”Wow! It has mountains and water inside!”

Underneath them, a wave undulated as Hill flew up swiftly.

The cedar fragment’s consciousness, just barely restored, reabsorbed all the plants on the island.

The enormous island suddenly shrank significantly.

The Earth Bear stood unaffected on the island. Even with ten meters of soil gone beneath his feet, he remained steady as ever.

Aurelio looked up at Hill: ”Why fly? The Earth won’t harm you.”

”I’m a warlock, trained in mage knowledge from a young age.” Hill sighed.

”But if you keep distrusting the Earth, it’ll gradually stray from you. Your lineage isn’t pure; you need to communicate more with the Earth.” Aurelio uncharacteristically spoke earnestly.

Hill hesitated but said: ”I prefer identifying as a warlock.”

Aurelio lamented: ”Then there’s no helping it. Seeing you, I understand if you want to return to the clan, reaching legendary status still as a humanoid.

As long as you acknowledge the Earth Bear’s bloodline, the Earth will still look after you.

But you’ll always be a step behind a true Earth Bear.”

Hill smiled indifferently: ”Inside the cedar fragment, you can now plant vegetation. It’ll be a task, but gather these saplings bit by bit.”

Seeing Hill instantly place a mountain of cedar saplings on the island, Aurelio screamed: ”So many!”

”This is only a part of it.” Hill urged him, ”Quickly gather them, I have more to bring out! Just place them in; the artifact fragment should automatically plant them! Haven’t you wanted to plant trees? I’m making it happen; isn’t that good?”

Aurelio gave Hill a peculiar look: ”Back when I was kicked down the mountain, was your ancestor secretly watching?”

Hill revealed a slight smile: ”Hurry up! I’ll tell you who it is once you return!”