Pillar of Yita

”I know some,” Tata said with both hands holding the dagger, bringing it over. ”And Mr. Knight, when you were browsing the community, I was also nearby.”

Fang Hong was a bit surprised, took the dagger, and asked honestly, ”Then, can you understand our existence?”

”We can, although for most people here you are just some strange outsiders,” Tata replied, ”but as for your origins, what kind of existence you represent in this world, and the relationship between your organizations, it’s actually not a secret here—this world’s understanding of you might be deeper than you imagine.”

”Why do you say that?”

Tata shook his head. ”I’m not sure, it’s just a guess of mine. Because knowledge and memory tell me so, and my knowledge and memory are from the Silver Grand Library, where each book has its author, you understand?”

Fang Hong understood.

He had to admit that his words were impactful. He realized that the natives of this world might have been underestimated; the people here might be limited in their means to travel to Earth, but that didn’t hinder their ability to think and analyze, guessing an answer that was infinitely close to the correct one.

After all, no matter where one is, there is never a lack of truly wise individuals.

He put the Walker back, and then looked at the dagger in his hand. ”...Trainee, you see, in our world, not everyone has the opportunity to become an Invoker. Only a few lucky ones are selected, and these are often the Invokers-in-reserve that the Grand Guild and the military train for the future. They receive long-term training related to Eteliria, which is why they are called trainees.”

”Lucky ones, huh...”

Fang Hong nodded seriously.

Miss Fairy flapped her wings, flew up, and sat down on his left shoulder. ”It sounds more like they are apprentices by profession.”

”Yes, apprentices.” Fang Hong, carrying her, walked toward the corpse of the Dragon Feather Emu, held the dagger vertically in his left hand, and showed her the seal. ”See, this is a trainee’s dagger. The emblem on it was designed on Earth; it’s an item that trainees must carry with them when they enter Eteliria.”

”So those people were trainees?”

”Maybe not all of them,” Fang Hong stopped beside the corpse of the Dragon Feather Emu and answered, ”Trainees from the Grand Guild usually enter this world as tourists, conducting a three-month internship here, but tourists lack self-protection ability, they might have also hired other adventurers.”

As he spoke, he turned over the huge corpse of the strange bird.

Although Eteliria is an information-state world, it’s not a real game, so there’s no such absurdity as monsters dropping equipment. Of course, there are indeed valuable materials on these magical creatures.

The most valuable part of the Dragon Feather Emu is the gland and sac that secrete and store flammable liquid, which can be used to make Level IV catalysts, Class D and above explosives and incendiaries, and auxiliary materials for Fire System Core Crystals. Unfortunately, they were already damaged.

The air was permeated with a pungent chemical odor.

Next in value was its dragon-blood-descended scaly skin, one of the prime materials for Leather Armor under Tier II, but it had to be skinned off whole and cured promptly to be valuable, which Fang Hong had no skill for.

In the end, Fang Hong only collected some Stiff Feathers, seventeen complete tail feathers in total, which he couldn’t use himself but could sell to the Bowyer. The Dragon Feather Emu was a fairly rare creature, and their Fire System Stiff Feathers still fetched a price, and even if they were not valuable, given Fang Hong’s current financial situation, he would still pluck what he could.

After Tata saw him pocket the tail feathers, she continued to ask, ”So, this dagger is important to them?”

”This dagger represents the identity of a trainee, with it they can get some help within their capabilities from other Invokers.” Fang Hong looked at the dagger. ”It’s rather important, yes. The dagger being here, the other party may have run into some trouble.” He then looked ahead. ”Anyway, let’s go up and see.”

The swamp here was already very deep, with tall reeds and rushes obscuring the surroundings, but tracking became easier; straight ahead was a fallen path of long grass.

One could easily see that someone had passed through here—

Strangely, though, there were many other traces around, as if a lot of things were chasing after them passing through here. There also seemed to be a different odor in the air, Fang Hong sniffed, then bent down to pick up a broken grass blade and smelled it, a more pungent odor lingering on it.

”The smell of sulfur.” Tata had already answered.

Fang Hong nodded, humans definitely wouldn’t leave such a smell, and he became a bit more alert as he continued forward. The human and fairy parted the reeds and entered deeper into the swamp.

They hadn’t gone far when two Brown-Red Elephant Beetles suddenly emerged in front.

Fang Hong had almost exhausted all his efforts to kill these two beetles the size of young calves, then he understood the source of the sulfur smell. The Brown-Red Elephant Beetle is a typical Fire System Creature, they like to dwell in underground caves and keep company with lava and sulfur.

”But how could this thing appear in such a place?” Fang Hong wondered, he remembered that Brown-Red Elephant Beetles rarely left underground, not to mention appearing near water sources.