Chapter 329: Researcher Boulder

No wonder the elves ultimately achieved victory.

That was what Wu Qingsong thought to himself.

He had once believed that magical affinity was already a highly dubious concept. But after asking Boulder what this so-called spirituality was, he found it to be even more nonsensical. At least magical affinity had some kind of standard, whereas spirituality was so vague that it depended entirely on how each individual interpreted it.

A mage could teach multiple apprentices simultaneously. After centuries of study, the elves had systematized magic into a structured body of knowledge with consistent standards. Even if a mage suddenly died, others could still learn the spells he created through his spellbooks.

In contrast, shamans could only find and train successors under specific conditions. They subjected candidates to various trials, observing their temperament while honing their will and abilities. Most shamanic knowledge wasn’t passed down through writing but through guiding apprentices to perceive nature and sense the surging power within their bloodline, hoping for enlightenment. If a shaman died unexpectedly, his wisdom and knowledge would vanish with him.

While mages needed long-term study, training, and experimentation to grow stronger, shamans could achieve sudden breakthroughs through moments of enlightenment. Yet, from Wu Qingsong’s perspective, the former path, though arduous, was at least methodical, while the latter seemed to rely more on sheer luck.

Comparing the two, magic easily surpasses shamanism in effectiveness, cost, and the difficulty and efficiency of training new practitioners. Not to mention, while excessive use of magic could also cause mental backlash, it was far less harmful than witchcraft, which essentially involved self-mutilation and life-force exhaustion.

Setting aside whether he himself possessed such potential, simply looking at the side effects of the Bloodlust spell made it impossible for Wu Qingsong to use that ability on his subordinates or on the beastgirls.

Perhaps in other places beastmen were treated as expendable, but not under his command.

“Can you understand the meaning behind these drawings?” 

He had people bring over the pictures that hung in the Beastkin Sisterhood’s hall—the ones derived from the Flame Demon Lord. He spread them out before Boulder.

“What is this?” 

Boulder seemed to grasp something. He kept switching out the images laid in front of him, his pale eyeballs unsettlingly white.

“These come from an Abyssal Demon Lord,” Wu Qingsong explained. “They should contain some explanation on how to awaken latent power.”

The Flame Demon Lord’s method might have been the same as Boulder’s Bloodlust technique. But Wu Qingsong hoped to find some new inspiration in them to alter the effects of Bloodlust. For that purpose, he even specifically brought Ling to demonstrate before Boulder how she awakened her potential.

“I hope you can figure out a way to awaken their abilities without my touch, ideally from a distance,” Wu Qingsong told the corpse-wizard. “It should differ from Bloodlust. Though both stimulate the power within their blood, at least from what I can see, this doesn’t harm their bodies.”

“I need a test subject.” 

Boulder seemed deeply interested in his ability and its exhibited effects, but what he said made Wu Qingsong uneasy.

“I won’t let these girls become your test subjects,” Wu Qingsong rejected him at once. “If you need anything, I can help, but Nina or Alice has to be there to ensure safety.”

“Acceptable,” Boulder said. “Then, please demonstrate on someone else.”

Boulder was undoubtedly the best—if not the only—choice for this research. Following his request, Wu Qingsong repeatedly performed awakenings on every talented beastkin girl before him. 

Naturally, during those demonstrations, Boulder wore a long, hooded robe, hiding his frightening form beneath it.

He even placed his own hand on Wu Qingsong’s, experiencing the electric current that played the primary role in the process.

Afterward, he carried out further examinations on the beastgirls, including many tests on those with weaker aptitudes or those who had failed their awakenings.

When that work was done, he began to sit quietly in that secret chamber, contemplating the drawings spread out before him.

“Is there anything else you need me to do?” Wu Qingsong asked.

“Just leave me alone,” Boulder answered.

By then, winter had arrived. However, thanks to a bountiful harvest of tundra rice and last year’s experience, life in Nagrand remained calm, aside from the still-reluctant hostages. Most people went about their routines, waiting for the harsh winter to descend.

Some were even looking forward to the arrival of a cold snap, because only after the weather grew cold enough could they start building igloos, and only when the Ice Sea completely froze could they begin the almost magical ice-cave fishing.

Craftsmen used sturdy lumber to build many sleds in preparation for transporting wood across the snowy plains. The teams led by Ling and Liuli discovered a shallow coal mine within the territory of the Ogota Clan on the far side of Nagrand, but mining was impossible during the severe winter. For now, they still needed Feya’s assistance so that the giant trees could pull up their own roots, climb onto the sleds, and be hauled back by undead moose and undead bison, load after load. Their branches were cut away for fuel, while the trunks would be saved for constructing major buildings in Nagrand the following year.

By this stage, most clans had headed south into mountains, hills, and forests to wait out the winter. Usually, during that time of year, conflicts would inevitably arise between clans. But because the two major southern clans had lost many members in the previous war, the issue of living space was indirectly alleviated, and everything proceeded without incident.

As the days steadily grew colder, one igloo after another finally appeared in Nagrand, much to the hostages’ astonishment. Ice fishing and silage made from alfalfa and tundra rice fodder revealed a new possibility for them.

For bearmen, wolfmen, badgermen, and other beastmen who rely heavily on meat, winter itself was not the chief reason forcing them south every year; the real reason was the extreme food shortage in the northern wastelands during winter. Not only did they have no food for themselves, but their livestock also lacked sufficient feed. If they failed to move to the warmer southern hills and mountains that blocked some of the cold winds, their entire population would starve.

Even then, many old and weak were lost each year during the migration. Some bearmen, badgerfolk, hedgehogfolk, and ratfolk resorted to digging tunnels to hibernate through winter, but this approach was quite risky and only solved the survival problem for a few.

If Nagrand’s methods could be implemented more widely, perhaps they could endure winter on their own lands.

In the face of such a possibility, the hostages, at last, had to set aside their hatred and biases and begin learning how to build igloos, how to open fishing holes through the ice with fire and iron tools, and how to store feed. They even started to ask about the cultivation of alfalfa and tundra rice.

This was certainly the outcome Wu Qingsong had hoped for, but he did not directly tell these hostages how to accomplish it. Instead, he informed them that, when winter was over, he would send people to help them try to solve these problems, following his pledge to give them a better life.