Chapter 40

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

In the blink of an eye, many days had passed.

The weather had gotten cooler, and the leaves of the forest trees were turning yellow and falling. When standing on the hill and staring into the distance during daytime, what greeted the eye was a mottle that resembled a watercolor painting of a child’s graffiti.

Richard had not been idling during this time. He had been studying Magic Pattern Spells and busy constructing various things. Although he had brought several materials and instruments in his suitcase, they would eventually run out. Hence, he had to make preparations for that.

As such, Richard had begun to make lime from chalk, extract oxaline and soda ash from wood ash, extract acetic acid, acetone, and methanol from wood, and prepare sulfuric acid from sulfide ore.

During the preparation process, one by one, simple buildings such as windmills, mixed feed shaft kilns, and shallow pools appeared on the open space of the hill.

Regarding these changes, Pandora and Gregory neither agreed nor opposed. Richard continued building them.

In this period, Richard discovered some things. For example, Gregory did not stay in the dragon cave all the time. He would leave it from time to time and fly to other places. Sometimes, it took him half a day to return. And sometimes, it took him many days. It wasn’t clear what he was up to.

As for Pandora, there was still no verbal communication from her.

Typically, even deaf and mute people would make babbling sounds. But after a long period of interaction, Richard did not catch any attempt or desire to speak from her. All of the communication was done with merely one look or action, and the meaning conveyed was very clear:

For example, “stay away,” “stay further away”, “stay even further away”, and “don’t talk to me.”

Richard could only speculate as to why she was not talking. It was not because she could not understand or talk but…

In the evening, darkness poured in from a distance like the tide, and the entire sky darkened quickly like a drowned beach.

After studying Magic Pattern Spells for the whole day, Richard walked out of the castle and breathed in deeply, only to discover that the area outside the castle was extremely quiet. He could only hear the twisting sounds of the windmill rotating.

Gregory had flown away the day before and had not yet returned. Richard did not know where Pandora had gone to.

Although he knew that the father-daughter pair was very eccentric, Richard could not help feeling surprised. Did they trust him that much? Weren’t they afraid that he would take all the jewels in the dragon cave and run away? Of course, there were likely no jewels, but only garbage and broken stones in Gregory’s stinky dragon cave.

Just as he was pondering this, Richard heard the sound of footsteps. Tap, tap, tap. It was Pandora. However, the footsteps were mingled with the sound of a heavy object being dragged. Rustle, rustle, rustle.

“What’s up?” Richard turned around and saw Pandora, clad in purple, walking up from the foot of the hill. She was dragging an enormous tree that was decades old, more than 10 meters long and 30 centimeters in diameter, behind her. The roots carried plenty of soil, as though it had just been pulled out from the earth. With a cold expression, Pandora dragged the tree up the hill and placed it on the ground with a loud bang.

“What are you doing?” Richard was puzzled. “Are you preparing for a tree transplantation? Or adding some nature to the hill? But if you transplant the tree in fall, the survival rate is not high, is it?”

Without uttering a word, Pandora put down the tree and frowned slightly, seemingly occupied with something important.

The next moment, she stretched out her hand, walked to the tree roots, and snapped the ones that remained. She then walked to the crown of the tree and began to break the branches.

Crack, crack.

After a long time, what remained in Pandora’s hands was only the tree trunk. It looked like a large wooden stick more than 10 meters long.

Pandora lifted the trunk with two arms and brandished it, a whirlwind blowing across the open space immediately.

Woosh.

Richard, who was standing on the side, pursed his lips. He was certain that Pandora had not dragged the tree atop the hill for transplantation, but what exactly was it for?

Woosh, woosh. Pandora brandished the trunk two more times, seemingly testing its strength. After a while, she held the trunk and frowned at the open space before the castle. Looking slightly disappointed, she dropped the trunk, turned around and descended the hill again, disappearing into the darkness.

Not long after, Pandora returned. As expected, she had dragged another tree here, one that looked older and heavier, again.

In the same way, Pandora quickly moved and turned the tree into a large stick. She brandished it again.

It took her a few tries, but she shook her head and put it down before descending the hill again.

After several tests, before the castle was a total of four big wooden sticks, more than ten meters long each but with different thickness and weight.

Picking up the last stick, Pandora blinked with a somewhat satisfied expression. Something seemed to cross her mind, and she tilted her head slightly and glanced at Richard, who was next to her.

“Don’t run around at night,” Pandora said. After pondering for a moment, she added scarcely, “Dangerous.”

“Uh?” Richard raised his eyebrows. The moment he heard Pandora’s words, he was briefly taken aback. He then came to his senses and figured out three things.

First, Pandora knew how to speak. At the very least, like Gregory, she knew the lingua franca of this world.

Second, Pandora had not spoken for so long because… well, she wouldn’t bother talking. Or was she just cold and proud? There was also the possibility that this strange environment had shaped her unique personality. She kept to herself very much, and there were some examples of this behavior in Modern Earth. Autistic people could remain silent all year round. Be it to strangers or relatives, they completely shut themselves in a world of their own.

In short, it was not that she could not talk. She just did not want to.

Third, Pandora had not spoken to him for a long time. Therefore, it was definitely not out of interest that she had spoken all of a sudden today. Judging from her strange behavior, he believed that something was about to happen tonight, and it was something very dangerous.

What could it be?

In the darkness, Richard narrowed his eyes slightly and glanced at the shadows at the foot of the hill. Prolonged meditation had strengthened his body’s perception to a certain extent, which had also given Richard an acute sense of awareness.

The sky had darkened, but the forest had obviously not calmed down. Instead, it was getting more and more restless.

A howl.

A roar.

A hiss.

One after the other, multiple beasts roared, and Richard did not miss any of this.

“Are they going to… become violent? Or is it a beast tide?” Richard guessed as his eyes flickered and he looked up at the night sky. A large moon shone through the clouds, illuminating the entire forest. Richard did not know if it was his illusion, but at that moment, the moon looked red, as if it was stained with blood.