The air inside the spider cave was very humid and contained an unidentified pollutant. Additionally, a lot of dirt had built up on the cave walls along the path. The formations hanging from the cave's ceiling lacked the usual clear and sparkling appearance of typical stalactites. In contrast, the interiors of these formations seemed to be infused with a murky mist.
Punk did not rush to go deeper into the cave. He summoned a tiny ball of light that was as bright as a lighter, and let it float on his fingertip, then bent down to observe the ground more carefully.
As almost all traces would quickly be eroded beyond recognition by the water vapor in the air, there were no apparent marks left on the wet ground. But if this passage was really used by something, Punk still had a way to find clues.
Punk quickly cast an Official level incantation spell, "Microscopic vision," on one of his eyes. This spell could magnify the target's vision up to the range of a low-power microscope.
Although if he cast this spell on both eyes, the picture would be more precise, but Punk cast this spell on only his right eye to keep a proper awareness of the surrounding area.
A grey film appeared in front of his right eye, and through this energy film, Punk could see cell-sized things and particles floating in the air and the squirming microorganisms in the ground.
Punk quickly noticed numerous tiny marks on the ground, visible only when viewed up close. Based on the closeness of these marks, he deduced that a substantial number of small arthropods had frequently traversed this passageway. Such dense and remarkably uniform marks on the ground only occurred in situations like this.
Punk carefully picked up a little bit of dirt from the ground using his glittering nails.
And after carefully examine the tiny piece of dirt, Punk soon discovered one of the things he was looking for; fragments of Duoweihua flower.
Duoweihua was the raw material for making the Dokdo family's perfume. In this technologically backward world, the general method of plant purification and extraction was to soak the herbs in boiled water. And because of this, soft-structured ingredients like that of the Duoweihua flower were needed to extract the fragrant chemical.
Punk speculated very early that if someone moved all Duoweihua flowers from the lush Jungle in just a few weeks, then they would most certainly leave some marks. And now, even though these marks were invisible to the naked eye, in front of Punk's official-level spells, they were easily discovered.
After brushing away the stains from his fingernails, Punk stood up expressionlessly. The mystery behind the disappearance of Duoweihua flowers was now revealed. It was apparent that a large group of small arthropods had moved all these flowers into the depth of the spider cave. And this also explained how such a large number of Duoweihua flowers growing in such a vast area of the lush Jungle disappeared so quickly. In the end, a multitude of hardworking bugs were certainly far more efficient than a bunch of perpetually idle herb gatherers.
Although this discovery solved one of Punk's major questions, it also raised one more important question: why the other party picked so many Duoweihua flowers. One should know that the Duoweihua flower was just an ordinary plant with a strong fragrance, and it didn't have any magical elements at all, so theoretically, it was not possible to use it in something too important. But the other party spent a lot of time and energy collecting these ordinary flowers anyway, so it gave Punk a strong reason to believe that there was really some kind of conspiracy brewing inside the cave. Still, he couldn't guess the other party's purpose just from these vague clues, and considering the amount of fanfare, Punk had a faint hunch that the other party's plan should not be too small.
Dispersing the "microscopic vision" covering his right eye, Punk continued to go deeper into the cave with the flesh golem in front.. No matter what the enemy's purpose was, they must be doing it for profit, and since there was profit, why he also couldn't have a share?
Dickie leaned on a cylindrical marble statue in the square of Niailan Town and recited a beautiful poem very smootly. With the smooth flow of his recitation, people could feel the ups and downs of the rhythm, and when it was in a happy part, everyone became cheerful, and the whole atmosphere became heavy when it was a sad part. And with the sometimes elegant and sometimes high-pitched harp playing, it had to be said that Dickie's poetry really expressed the charm and emotion of poetry to the fullest.
With the increase of experience, Dickie's poems became more and more skillful, but the number of townspeople who listened to him was decreasing day by day.
In recent days, the spread of the Ti Xiaer Church became more and more rampant, and many young townspeople who were unwilling to be mediocre had voluntarily joined this promising church.
Although the church's missionaries had never actually hurt people, their madness of blocking people on the middle of the road and their endless speech about an upcoming disaster really frightened the townspeople. But still, neither the security team of Dolez or the churches of good gods interfered with this incident, as theoretically any god had the right to spread religion anywhere, and unless there was conclusive evidence that this church belonged to the evil camp, nobody would come forward to obstruct its development.
So, many townspeople chose to stay at home in order to avoid the preachers who were now besieging passers-by everywhere. As a result, naturally, fewer people came out to listen to Dickie's poems, and correspondingly, his income had shrunk significantly.
Although Dickie was a little sad in his heart, as an experienced bard, he didn't let his personal emotions show in his poetry, so his poetry was still magnificent as always and created a cheerful environment. Nowadays, this kind of happy occasion could rarely be seen in the increasingly strange atmosphere of this town.
Just as Dickie finished reciting a long legendary heroic poem and was about to bow and exit, he suddenly saw a beautiful figure mixed in the crowd...
Although he hadn't seen this figure for a long time, Dickie still felt very familiar with heras, since the day of their separation under the tree, he had dreamed countless times of him walking along the blue-stone path with this figure.
"Bilan..."
Dickie's lips wriggled as he silently called out the name that he thought about day and night...
Dickie was so delighted that he forgot about the soreness of his lips and the thirst in his throat. He once again picked up the harp, and with a posture that he thought was the most charming, he began to recite a poem that had never been sung to others since he learned it....
"Radiant star, would I were steady as your light,
Not alone in brilliance, high above the night,
And gazing, with eternal eyes ajar,
Like nature's devoted, watchful avatar,
The flowing waters in their sacred quest,
Of pure cleansing 'round our earthly nests,
Or beholding the fresh, gentle mask's caress,
Of snow upon the hills and moors, no less—
No—still unwavering, forever true,
Cradled by my beloved's bosom, in lieu,
To sense eternally its tender rise and fall,
Awake eternally in a sweet, gentle thrall,
Still, still to hear her softly-taken breath,
And live forever—or else embrace sweet death...
(Author's Note: A tribute to the great poet John Keats)
For the first time, Dickie felt that he was truly integrated with the poetry. Even the hardships of life and the harassment of crazy missionaries were all forgotten by him. What remained in his mind was the beautiful green eyes of Bilan, which were as deep and bright as the stars in the night sky!