Chapter 148 Winter Is Coming
[Basic Kinah Temple: A place of worship for the Knowledge Saint]
[Blessing of Kinah: Increases the learning speed and information retention of residents by 1%. Improves the Soul Strength of residents by 1%. Knowledge Spells cost 5% less stamina]
[Number of followers: 138]
[Offering pool: 0/100. Fills the pool to receive a blessing from Kinah. NB: A priest of Kinah and the appropriate prayer can influence the result]
[Upgrade requirements: Grade 3 Village and at least 100 followers]
[Basic Asanah Temple: A place of worship for the Art Saint.]
[Blessing of Asanah: Improves dexterity, and hand-eye coordination of residents by 1%. Residents learn 1% faster when the subject being studied/practiced has an artistic, creative, or aesthetic dimension. Improved sensory perception by 5%]
[Number of followers: 2]
[Offering pool: 0/100. Fills the pool to receive a blessing from Asanah. NB: A priest of Asanah and the appropriate prayer can influence the result]
[Upgrade requirements: At least 100 followers]
Ikaris found himself smiling. The blessing of these two temples was invisible but he could already feel it physically just by admiring the landscape around him. The colors seemed more vivid and he could notice that despite his already good eyesight he could see details from even further away.
He could not only hear and smell a little better, he could also distinguish different sounds and smells more clearly. The kind of difference between a human with ordinary hearing and a musician with absolute hearing. Having never suffered from poor hearing, it was even more obvious to him.
The impact of Kinah's and Asanah's blessings on him and the other residents of Last Saint were even more pivotal than Elsisn's blessing in increasing their potential as Sorcerers. While Elsisn raised their overall talent in random and non-specific ways, the effects of these two temples were much more direct and substantial.
Comparing the specifics of these two temples to those of Jessup Temple, Ikaris could not help but notice the huge gap between the blessing provided by a Major Saint and a Minor Saint. Not only did the blessing affect fewer parameters, but their effects were not as life-changing.
Still 1% more movement speed and stamina was good. He wouldn't reject it.
In high spirits and grateful to the two sisters, Ikaris gathered the villagers and made a rare public speech to introduce the four new priests and three new temples. Two if one did not include the former Kinah Prayer Hall.
He explicitly introduced the benefits of the blessings bestowed by each temple and encouraged each villager to visit them to increase the number of followers of those temples and thus enhance those blessings as quickly as possible.
Many villagers were atheists or only believed in a specific god or Saint, but after experiencing the effects of these blessings on their own bodies, they were convinced. Worshipping several Saints at the same time was clearly beneficial. Especially for those whose talent was limited.
Ikaris did not pressure anyone to worship these saints, but when he caught sight of the eager faces of the villagers, he knew he had succeeded in getting his point across. Boros, Poppy and the two twins gave him a grateful look at the end of his speech. With their Lord's initiative, getting the support of the people would be much easier.
Ikaris then separated from the priests to hear Liam's report of today's news. 16 refugees had been summoned today by the Stele, 8 men and 8 women of various races.
Among them were two ogre variants and a half-giant who had joined the Ezrog team. The Lesser Oni was delighted to finally have subordinates who looked like him and he had forced them to fight against him all day under the pretext that they needed training and to develop their camaraderie...
"Did anything else of note happen while I was away?" The teen asked at the end out of principle, but surprisingly the Alpha Werewolf answered in the affirmative.
"Just one thing, but it's considered normal at this time of year." Liam deferred with a weird expression.
"What is it?"
"A skeleton was spotted in broad daylight at the edge of the Tartarus Gate Forest. One of the hunter-gatherers accompanying Xuc spotted it early this morning while gathering medicinal herbs."
Ikaris' heart skipped a beat. "Is he sure about what he saw?"
Liam nodded solemnly. "Josiah is one of the original members of my pack. If he wasn't sure he wouldn't have mentioned it."
"You said it was normal at this time of year. What do you mean?" Ikaris noted the important detail.
The Alpha Werewolf's eyes widened slightly in surprise, but he quickly regained his usual seriousness as he remembered that his Lord was also an Otherworlder who had spent less than a month in this world.
"Within the Warring Lands, but more specifically near the Tartarus Gates, the coming of winter, stormy weather, milder temperatures, shortening days, and the resulting decrease in sunlight allow the Undeads to roam in broad daylight without the cover of the Black Fog. In the depths of winter, when the weather is particularly bad, they can even swarm Cutthroat Island. Here we call these events Undead Days, while we call winter the Undead Season."
Ikaris' expression changed. Uneasy, he quickly recalled all the information he had gathered about the first Lord of Cutthroat Island and remembered that he had established his village on the 14th day of the Month of Seorn, the equivalent of mid-November on Earth.
Tartarus Shade had lost contact with him and his nation a month later. Suddenly, everything made sense. His village must have been attacked by a horde of Undeads against which its immature defenses had been unable to cope.
Wanting to confirm his suspicions, he ascertained, "Don't the Runes work on these Undeads?"
"Only on low-ranking Undeads." Liam revealed honestly. "The current consensus is that the Black Fog has a suppressive effect on these Undeads or potentiates the effect of the Runes on them. In its absence, the Undeads become much more aggressive. The higher class Undeads come to their senses without it and then use their authority to control the other Undeads and launch a crusade against all living beings in their vicinity.
"It is not for nothing that Onyxcrest and most of the towns and villages across Cutthroat Island were built on the edge, near the beach. Because after each night the Undeads and the Black Fog return to their Tartarus Gate, this automatically means that they can only travel a limited distance. In Onyxcrest, the Black Fog contains only wraiths and some zombie birds. It's very rare to come across a humanoid Undead and if you do, you should definitely run away because it means that it has traveled nearly 300km in a few hours. During the Undead Season, the risk increases because the Undeads can wander around outside for longer. The Black Fog causes them to retreat each night, but a sane Undead has several ways to counter its influence. At nightfall, they can chain themselves up or lock themselves in. With their mental abilities deteriorating in the Black Fog, they wouldn't even know how to use a key to free themselves anyway..."
After hearing all this, Ikaris had already forgotten about his three new temple blessings, now feeling a huge sense of urgency.
"How did your Hellhound Pack manage to make it through this season?" He then asked in order to get some inspiration.
"You already know that, my Lord." The Alpha Werewolf smiled bitterly. "We built our village underground so that we could avoid these Undeads. When they come in the daylight we simply seal the entrances to our burrows and wait for them to pass. If the Runes worked in all circumstances, we could have built our village on the plain just like Last Saint instead of hiding in an inhospitable habitat like the forest.
" Of course..." Ikaris facepalmed as he cursed himself for harboring any expectations.
In that case, they just had to prepare for a harsh winter. As confident and smug as he was about his wits, he was much less so when it came to his luck. It was only by assuming the worst that he could sleep soundly.
Still, these revelations also allowed him to see Liam and his pack in a different light.
"You knew that Last Saint Village was in a bad location, but you still took the risk to join us?" He questioned with a hint of respect and esteem in his eyes for the Werewolf that was not there before.
"We're tired of hiding." Liam confessed with a gloomy face. We have the Stele to increase our population, Faulch's blessing and a promising and ambitious Lord. That's enough."
Ikaris felt flattered that the Hellhound Pack held him in such high esteem and vowed that he would do anything not to disappoint them.
"Let's fight those Undeads together in that case." He declared with determination as he exuded unaware the Blood Energy as well as the Death and Black Mana coursing through his body. "Let them come! We will show them that Last Saint is not a place where they can rampage unpunished."