Surviving The Fourth Calamity

Chapter 520: Chapter 319: The Days of Digging Earth and Plastering Mud Feel So Familiar

The scarred Little Prince Hill, whose entire body was in rags, collapsed powerlessly on Audriano.

If he had known that a bear would come to pick him up, he would have waited until now to use the healing spells. At least his face would have been a bit more intact.

He knew what this annoying bear was talking about. Over more than a month, Hill had learned many things.

If the Earth Bears had a so-called royal bloodline, then only Hill and Aurelio could be considered princes.

Among all the Earth Bears, only Aurelio’s dad and Haiweirsen were truly created by the Goddess of the Earth’s own divine blood. The rest of the bears were derived later by the world rules modeling after those two.

The Earth Bears were the first divinely created beings in this world.

Haiweirsen and his brother were indeed the most powerful Earth Bears. Even in the wilderness, where the rules were so chaotic, they could slightly control the Law of the Earth.

Just like the warehouses in the Mithril Range, although it was a refuge initially prepared for them by the Goddess of the Earth, those small caves on it were obviously made by Haiweirsen and his brother.

The other bears, including Hill and Aurelio, could only manage to walk through the Mithril Range. There was no way they could control any piece of Mithril Ore on this mountain.

Hill had a feeling that Haiweirsen and his brother simply didn’t want to become deities, not that they couldn’t.

So, when Aurelio woke up and found a fragment of the Goddess of the Earth’s divine artifact, no one was surprised. He was the most purely divine lineage.

Hill was just a collateral branch.

Hill had long noticed that if his own luck was due to the addition of the natural will, Aurelio was genuinely the beloved child of the earth. After leaving the wilderness, he could walk on land and obtain whatever he wanted.

Even though the Goddess of the Earth might still be asleep, her divine artifacts unreservedly favored her little ones.

Hill took out a candy made by a puppet from his pendant and practically hung onto the Earth Bear’s neck, shoving it directly into Audriano’s mouth.

Sure enough, even this guy understood the saying, ”one does not talk when eating.” He immediately changed the subject, telling Hill to lie down carefully.

The Earth Bear indeed understood everything, just didn’t want to do it.

Audriano savored the fruity sweetness in his mouth and couldn’t help but ask Hill, ”Do you have more?”

”Yes. I can give you a small bag first.

I’m still having the puppets make more!

I planted many fruit trees in my pendant space. I left most of the previous fruits for Oriana and them. These are all the ripe fruits picked along the way, made into candy by the puppets.

I’m glad you like them.”

Audriano happily put away the palm-sized bag of candy: ”That’s quite a lot! No wonder Aurelio, lazy as he is, wanted to come out and pick you up. There are indeed good things.

I knew it, competing with him would be worth it!”

Hill couldn’t help but chuckle silently. If he had replaced that bag with one the size of his hand, Audriano probably wouldn’t be so happy.

Tough luck having small hands!

Humming a little tune, Audriano strolled along with Hill, easily tearing apart the violent storm that Hill would have had to avoid.

However, Hill also noticed that if the storm had starlight entangled with dark light, Audriano would not only back away but also take a wide detour.

”What kind of storm is that? Is it very dangerous?” Hill asked the Earth Bear, whose mouth was constantly moving, immersed in the candy.

”Ah! It’s your first time here; you haven’t seen it before.” Audriano suddenly realized and said, ”That’s a Starstorm, blowing in directly through a rift. Not only will it injure you, but it also hurts quite a bit.

It used to occasionally blow to the camp, but now the cedar forest is so large that the storm can’t reach that far.

When it slows down, we can go and see if there are any good things. That Star Meteoric Iron you like comes from these storms.

If it were the clan leaders, they could shatter it directly, but I can’t do it yet.”

Hill marked the danger of this storm in his mind. Even a demigod-level Earth Bear would be injured. If he were caught in it, he would lose at least half his life.

Audriano led Hill for most of the day, and a tall mountain range appeared before them.

”In the past, no matter how much you tried, you would have been sent back,” the Earth Bear said frankly. ”Aurelio was much stronger than you are now, but without this mountain range, if something happened, there would be no way to help.

We couldn’t risk other bears’ lives just to save him. He wasn’t worth that much labor!

Now that we have this mountain range, even if there were a Starstorm, we could just smack you to the other side of the mountain. You might end up half-dead, but at least you can heal yourself.”

Hill understood why he was allowed to be here. In the south, those around Audriano’s age were busy filling the Mithril Mountain with soil.

”Although the cedar roots can manage with just two meters of soil, of course, it’s better if it can go deeper,” Audriano told Hill. ”You’re here at the right time. Aurelio said you could carry a lot of soil in your space.”

Hill frowned as he rummaged through his pendant. He had made some large boxes from water-collecting materials just for some aquatic supplies.

Compared to simply moving soil, it seemed better to use more moist soil.

Audriano was ready to take Hill to dig soil at the foot of the mountain, insisting, ”We can’t climb the mountain for nothing!”

Hill slid off his back, saying, ”I brought storage boxes; we can use these.”

Audriano held up his leather bag: ”More than this?”

Hill nodded: ”Definitely more. I remember giving Aurelio quite a few space rings?”

Hill couldn’t believe they had none.

At the very least, the second time Hill met Aurelio, he had given him over two hundred space rings, although varying in size. They were still better than this bag.

”Those are for food!” Audriano said solemnly, ”They can’t be wasted!”

Hill smiled helplessly. Placing all the storage boxes in the kitchen and being unwilling to use the space rings, of course, you have to make multiple trips to carry the soil!

He gave most of the boxes to Audriano, keeping only two to slowly fill with soil.

If it was just the soil under his feet, Hill’s earth magic was still useful. He could already control the spell effects to just the area around his feet.

Soon, the young bears on the mountain noticed them digging and ran down quickly.

”Why are you coming down?” Audriano asked grumpily, ”Don’t waste time!”

”We’ll fill the soil together and climb back up together!” An Earth Bear slapped Audriano on the shoulder without hesitation, ”What are you eating? Hand it over! Who are you fooling? Think we believe you?”

Hill, working a bit farther away to avoid affecting Audriano’s magic, could only offer his pitiful sympathy.

He certainly wouldn’t give away the fruit candies meant for distribution to Haiweirsen.

These Earth Bears had no intention of asking Hill.

They explicitly demanded the reward Audriano received.

Hill realized that the reason these bears felt justified in demanding what Hill had given Audriano was that they had held up Aurelio from going to pick him up, blocking him halfway.

When Haiweirsen didn’t see Aurelio, he had called Audriano instead to pick up Hill.

So, for them, it was a rightful division of the spoils.

Hill kept his head down, focusing on his work.

Though there was some fuss, these young Earth Bears didn’t actually delay their work much.

This playful banter was just occasional relaxation. The storage boxes Hill brought were quickly filled, and they didn’t forsake filling their own leather bags.

What excited them most was discovering that the soil around the boxes Hill provided had turned into mud.

So they quickly decided to use up the soil in their bags first to allow more moisture in the boxes.

Hill diligently followed behind, working earnestly. Playing with soil and mud was his specialty.

As night fell and Silvermoon shimmered, the Earth Bears slowly came in from the other side of the mountain.

The strenuous labor had made them hungry quickly, and they all needed food daily.

And with the sun down and the stars becoming more active, the starstorm would be more terrifying. Even though the Earth Bears could see in the dark, there was no reason to take that risk.

Hill straightened his back, sore from a day’s bending, looking up at Haiweirsen coming down from the peak.

The giant Earth Bear paused before Hill, gently patting his shoulder with a massive paw: ”Since you’ve come, don’t give up easily.”

Hill lowered his eyes and smiled, nodding.

For the Earth Bears, the scars on Hill’s face were not a big deal. In his view, Hill was healthy now.

So Haiweirsen happily led Hill to the base of the mountain.

The camp, made up of waterfalls and curtain cabinets, had long been pieced together by the Earth Bears. Haiweirsen led Hill through the final gap and plugged the gap with his own block.

The Earth Bears lay in their places, eating and resting. Naturally, Hill sat beside Haiweirsen.

Looking at the bags of fruit candy Hill handed him, Haiweirsen sighed, ”Don’t always think we’re suffering. This high-level magical beast meat is something those outside can’t even dream of eating.

Even if it doesn’t taste good, it’s energy. Otherwise, how do you think all the Earth Bears advanced to demigods?

Replenishing energy just through eating is already fortunate enough!”

Hill casually replied, ”I know! But that doesn’t stop me from thinking everyone is suffering. These candies are just to sweeten the mouth.”

Haiweirsen understood. Hill acknowledged in his heart that this meat was a necessity for the Earth Bears. He hadn’t thought of changing their situation but rather made candies to enhance their flavor.

He stood up decisively, distributing the bags of candy. Naturally, one must cherish the goodwill of one’s child.