Chapter 24: Shaman (Part One)

He was not going to conceal his plan. He had the protective color of a scholar, and Peter also knew that he intended to set up an “experimental field.”

As long as he wrote a series of works on economics, internal affairs, education, medicine, and agriculture in a few years, he would be the most famous scholar in the city-state and even the entire Salia Peninsula—an encyclopedic figure.

Fame would give him more opportunities and attract talent.

He could completely rely on the estate to be self-sufficient, using the estate’s continuous output to support an academic organization, and then, using the academic organization as a cover, patiently select suitable individuals to establish his own Wizard organization.

The establishment of the Estate Affairs Office accelerated the construction of the settlement.

Three months later, the residential area of the estate was basically complete, and the mining site was initially established. The idle slaves were directed to reclaim and replant land again. The cultivated land was divided into two categories: food crop farms and cash crop farms. The pastures were also beginning to take shape.

Manpower quickly became insufficient. Ace wrote to Romon, asking him to purchase a new batch of slaves and supplies.

Romon wrote back, telling him that purchasing the estate land, slaves, and supplies had basically exhausted their Gold Thales. The book market within the city-state was largely saturated, and they would only be able to resume business when Joan opened up commercial channels to the northern city-states in the second half of the year.

Ace could do nothing about this situation. His steps had been too large, pushing him almost to his limit. He could only be more patient and wait for the estate’s development to provide the returns.

Goll is a barbarian slave. His full name is Goll the Owl, a member of the ancient Owl Tribe. He is currently listlessly tending to the grapevines.

In the bloody battle at Dunhill half a year ago, the Merfolk and Barbarians were completely defeated. The Owl Tribe’s totem pole was cut down. The old Shaman used a spell to send the tribe’s strongest warrior into a berserk state but still couldn’t withstand the great fireball sent by the enemy.

He was a talented person, according to the old Shaman, and a disciple of the old Shaman. The precious berserk hide had been passed to him long ago.

During the great defeat, the old Shaman stuffed the tribe’s Sacred Item into his backside and then fled separately from him.

Goll endured the foreign sensation and ran for his life. However, he ran straight into an enemy trap and was captured by an enemy with an aquiline nose.

The aquiline-nosed man confiscated his berserk hide but did not find the Sacred Item in his backside. After several transfers, he was finally sold to this strange estate.

After half a year of conditioning, Goll basically understood the local language. Based on conversations he unintentionally overheard from the local debt slaves, this estate was different in all aspects.

No one would go to great lengths to build housing for slaves, or enforce compulsory marriage among slaves. He had also coincidentally acquired a barbarian girl.

He heard that a certain Estate Affairs Office had recently been established and had issued a series of statutes. In summary, the life of a slave on this estate was not much like that of a slave. Although they were managed strictly, the labor intensity was within an acceptable range, and they even had their own private space.

Goll, stimulated by the great ups and downs of his life, finally had a breakthrough and gained the Shamanic Power the old Shaman spoke of. Although he no longer had the berserk hide, he possessed a more important Sacred Item.

Feeling the Sacred Item’s trial every day, his strength increased rapidly. In a few days, he would escape this estate. As for the woman, taking her would be a burden, so he could only abandon her.

In the afternoon, the captain in charge of grape cultivation required everyone to undergo a physical examination. Goll didn’t quite understand what a physical examination was. Considering that he couldn’t expose himself, he went along with the crowd.

Ace, seeing that the estate had recently reached its development limit, decided to start implementing his New Medicine. He would begin by checking the slaves’ bodies, collecting the external characteristics of the human body in this world through a large amount of actual data.

The internal structure was harder to address. He couldn’t just grab his purchased slaves for live dissection, as it would be wasteful and cause panic. He needed to figure out another way.

Ace carefully observed the physical condition of every slave in the settlement square, making detailed records. This was primary source material. Later, he would see if he could cooperate with the local public office to purchase freshly unclaimed corpses from the town for dissection.

When it was Goll’s turn, Ace sensed something unusual. Ace’s mental power had become much stronger in recent months, and his perception had also increased greatly. He keenly perceived that the mental power of this barbarian slave was uncommon, far exceeding that of ordinary people. This slave had a problem.

Ace calmly continued to examine a dozen more people, then called for Carson and announced that he needed a break. The remaining people would be examined tomorrow. After quickly finding out the basic information about the barbarian slave with the abnormally strong mental power, he gathered most of the hired veterans and went directly to the grape cultivation area to arrest Goll.

After his examination, Goll returned to the grape cultivation area, feeling restless.

The way Ace looked at him during the examination made him uneasy. He was even more disturbed by the feeling that his Shamanic Power seemed to be observed. He decided not to wait any longer. He dug up the wrapped Sacred Item from the soil beneath the grapevine and immediately prepared to leave.

Ace missed him. When he arrived, Goll seemed to have already left, leaving only a hole in the ground, as if mocking him. Ace did not scatter his men to search. The time was too short for Goll to have run far; it was more likely he was hiding somewhere.

He expanded his mental power into a thread. In its maximum state, this mental power thread extended nearly a hundred meters. Then, the mental power thread quickly spun in a spiral, scanning and perceiving creatures within one meter of the mental power thread. This was one of the pure mental power applications, a spell, the Touch of Perception, that he had recently developed.

Found you!

Goll was hiding in the shadow of a thicket, holding his breath. This was a lesson learned from his last panicked escape: fleeing in a panic leaves too many traces, eventually leading to a trap. He chose to remove most of his traces, leave one obvious trace, and then hide quietly.

If the opponent was fooled, he could escape without risk. If the opponent was not fooled, searching would take a considerable amount of time, giving him a chance to escape anyway.

Goll felt a wave of discomfort, very similar to the feeling of being observed during the examination. I’ve been discovered! Like an ape, he leaped agilely through the thicket, wanting to escape quickly.

“Chase!”

With a loud roar from the veteran captain, everyone sprang into action.

Ace followed close behind but not too closely. This slave had abnormally strong mental power and might possess the ability of a barbarian Shaman. He could only let the hired veterans test him out first.

Seeing the veterans closing in, Goll took out the tribe’s Sacred Item from his bosom, recalling the old Shaman’s words.

“Child, when you become a Shaman, you can gently touch the Sacred Item with your Shamanic Power. Point its pupils at yourself, and it will give you a trial. After passing the trial, your power will become stronger. If you encounter danger, use your Shamanic Power to fully activate the Sacred Item, point its pupils at the enemy, and make sure you close your own eyes.”

Goll fully activated the Sacred Item in his hand with his Shamanic Power (mental power), aimed its pupils at the pursuing veterans, and tightly closed his own eyes.

“Hoo-hoo~”

The sound of an owl hooting rang out. Ace and the veterans watched as a darkness suddenly erupted from the Sacred Item in Goll’s hand, instantly blacking out the entire world. A blood-red eye hung high in the night sky. The surrounding objects and people all disappeared. Ace seemed to have arrived in a forest.

“What have you done? Did the experiment go wrong again?” A white-haired old man in a white researcher’s uniform said, displeased, to Ace.

Who am I? Where is this?