Lux's Farewell

It wasn't until she entered the Luxtak Plains in person and saw this land with her own eyes that Lux truly understood why Ashe would rather abandon the West Freljord subcontinent and move eastward.

Even though she had collected and sorted out a lot of information from the intelligence team in advance, when Lux climbed over the Nyuskara Pass and actually arrived at this sacred land, she still almost couldn't believe her eyes.

Is this really the Freljord?
Although the ice and snow on the Laxtak Plain in early spring have not yet completely melted, its fertility is already visible to the naked eye.

Under the ice and snow, there was black soil. On both sides of the road, Lux even saw many seedlings that were already germinating. Even though the temperature was still very low, they had already revealed a few traces of light green. .

"It's alfalfa." The accompanying mage introduced in a low voice, "The high-cold alfalfa unique to the Freljord is an excellent pasture. It will produce a lot of grass seeds in the autumn. Although people will suffer from diarrhea if they eat it, it is The cattle couldn’t be any better.”

"So in the northern trade, the proportion of food imported by the Avarosa tribe is getting smaller and smaller." Lux nodded, "Compared to the food that needs to be purchased at a high price, these grasses growing in the wild are much cheaper. ”

"But there are always troubles in the Avarosa tribe." Lux narrowed his eyes and fell on a forest not far away. "To be honest, I have always been puzzled. The land is so fertile that the Freljordians are unwilling to even try to farm it."

"Perhaps they don't have this habit." The accompanying legal guardian obviously couldn't give a reasonable explanation. He could only rely on the existing information and cautiously speculated, "After all, from the experience of most of the tribes we have come into contact with, Judging from the situation, it seems that the Freljordians are not very used to giving birth."

"If it were another tribe, then I might think so." Lux shook her head gently, "But the Avarosa tribe should be different. Ashe is not a person who can be easily bound by tradition. She is willing to work with We trade, and that speaks volumes.”

"Then there must be some other difficulties." The Archon thought for a moment, "At least we haven't seen any cities along the way - the Avarosa people's level of building cities is not too bad, but this city is None, maybe I still have my own considerations.”

In this regard, Lux could only nod.

Although the intelligence team also has a team stationed in Laxtaq City, considering the distance between Laxtak City and Forsbarrow, the information they can pass back is limited.

Even in their spare time, members of these intelligence teams will specialize in recording the various customs and specialties of the Freljord. However, the relationship between the many tribes and the traditions and customs of the Freljord people are not so easy. Investigate clearly.

Regarding the objective environment of the Luxtak Plain, Lux had a lot of information.

But these scattered pieces of information can only be used as a database at present, and are not enough to give Lux a clear and complete understanding of this place.

Has Ash ever considered farming?

It was considered, but proved unfeasible.

Although the land on the Luxtak Plain seemed to be fertile black soil, what Lux didn't know was that beneath the shallow black soil, there was ice that would never melt.

Growing food can be profitable in the short term, and a lot of food can be harvested with simple slash-and-burn farming, but it only takes two years for the land to undergo staggering degradation.

This kind of degradation is semi-permanent, and it will be difficult to recover even if you cultivate it for ten or eight years - because the soil layer is only a few feet thick, and there is solid ice below. Once the soil thickness becomes thinner, the solid ice underground will cause frostbite. The roots of plants completely lose the conditions for plant growth in this land.

Only a few alpine plants with shallow root systems and frost-resistant roots can grow unaffected for many years on the black soil of the Larkstadt Plain.

It's not that Ai Xi doesn't want to be in this kind of field.

It is true that the natural environment here looks very good, but it is not suitable for farming!

In fact, there is solid ice underground in the entire Laxtak Plain, lakes and plains. Only where the forests are located, the underground is solid land - but even Ashe cannot cut down those ancient trees. If she uses the forest to open up farmland, she will be hated by all Freljordians!

The beautiful land that Lux saw was actually not as beautiful as she thought.

Of course, it is undeniable that compared to the West Freljord subcontinent, the natural environment of the Rakstak Plain is indeed much better. The breath of Anivia here is not too strong, and the inner flow in the center of the plain is The lake is also a rare freshwater inland lake, with a large number of fish and other aquatic plants unique to Freljord growing in the lake.

Even without growing crops, the population per unit area of ​​the Rakstak Plain can far exceed that of the Freljord subcontinent.

What's more, this is the legendary place where the three sisters flourished. It is said that the three sisters swore an oath and formed an alliance in Laxtaq City, and then through their great battles in heaven and earth, they shaped the ancient Forre. Zhuode civilization.

Regarding the matter of the three sisters, the intelligence team even sent back sixteen different versions. Lux was even more familiar with this part of the content than most people in the Freljord.

........................

For three consecutive days, Lux and his party were guided by Avarosa's guide and headed toward the east of Luxtak City. During this period, they did not see a city, and they rarely even saw a village.

At night, the group of them found a random place on the roadside and set up a tent to rest. Although with the Malphites around, Lux could build a hut within a quarter of an hour if she wanted to, but she still followed the Romans. They chose to pitch a tent.

Of course, for Lux, this is not a difficult thing. Any difficult journey will become gentle and lovely compared with the original [-] miles of yellow sand.

Along the way, Lux has been observing the Luxtak Plain from her own unique perspective, observing this sacred land that made Ashe abandon the Sifreljord subcontinent. In Lux's heart, many Questions have gradually accumulated, waiting to be solved in the subsequent trip to Laxtaq City.

In this way, the stop-and-go journey lasted for more than half a month.

On the afternoon of the 13th day after crossing the Neuskala Pass, Lux and his party passed through a lush maple forest and saw a blue-white patch of light shining in the sun.

"Ahead is Lake Kelafos." Avarosa's envoy came to the lake and actively introduced to Lux, "Lake Kelafos is one of the three lakes surrounding Lake Stark City. It’s very wide, and although it looks like there are still a lot of ice floes on the lake, in fact the ice floes are no longer solid, so we need to take a detour.”

"Isn't there a boat?" Lux looked at the vast lake and asked with some confusion, "Don't worry about these puppets - can we go directly to Laxtak City by boat?" "Kelafus Lake is not a good place for boating. Place." The other party shook his head, then looked around and found a stone the size of a turning head on the edge of the lake, "At least not on the west coast."

As he spoke, he weighed the weight of the stone in his hand, took two steps back, suddenly started running, and threw the stone like a shot put.

As the stone was thrown in a perfect parabola, it hit the ice with a "clunking" sound, opening several large cracks. When the ice turned over, several fish jumped from the ice. The gap suddenly jumped out of the water.

Each of these fish is over three feet long. When they jump out of the water, their mouths are wide open. The mouths are full of sharp teeth, making people shudder at just a glance.

"There are many sturgeons in Lake Kelafos. They will jump out of the water. It is very dangerous to sail a boat here." The envoy seemed to be satisfied with the surprised look in the Demacian people's eyes. "So, there is no one in this place." I will take the initiative to cross the lake or go boating."

Lux nodded.

She saw with her own eyes a catfish that jumped out of the water but failed to grab its prey. After hitting its head on the ice that had not completely melted, it did not wait to die like other fish, but twisted its body. , relying on the sharp teeth of its mouth, it easily tore a road back to the water.

Seeing this, Lux only had to think about it for a moment to understand what the other party meant.

If the water was really so dangerous, there would be no need to ferry it.

Just three or five of these fish are enough to pose a fatal threat to the small boats that the Freljordians like to use.

However, while Lux and the Avarosa messenger were chatting in low voices, Kalya, who was wearing a mask and hood and mixed in with the crowd of law-enforcers, was keenly aware that something was wrong.

In Karya's perception, there is something quite wrong with those ferocious sturgeons. They always give Karya a sense of danger...

Even if a catfish that is several feet long has sharp enough teeth and is capable of jumping out of the water and gliding, it is obviously impossible for this thing to arouse Kalya's sense of danger under normal circumstances.

Unless there's something crucial about them that Kalya doesn't realize.

"So, can those catfish be caught?" While the messenger was explaining, Kalya asked proactively, "These catfish look quite extraordinary..."

"Of course not, don't even think about it!" After hearing Kalya's question, the other party's expression instantly became serious, "The catfish is the guardian and purifier of Lake Kelafos, and the Frost Witch does not allow it, so don't catch it. Even Your Excellency War Mother doesn’t want this to happen.”

Kalya nodded quickly when he heard this, indicating that he had no such thoughts.

Lux also said that she would restrain her "subordinates".

However, after setting up camp that day, Lacus directly found Kalya at night - the Avarosa envoy did not understand what Kalya meant and thought he was just out of curiosity, but Lacus understood very well that Kalya's current state Unless necessary, I will not speak casually.

In other words, in Kalya's view, there is a problem with those fish, and it is not a small problem, but it can no longer be said in front of the messenger.

And Lux's guess was absolutely correct.

When he met Kalya, Kalya had secretly fished out a few fish from the lake while the envoy was completely unaware.

This is quite a taboo thing. If there is no necessary reason, I am afraid that Kalya will get himself into a lot of trouble in the future.

However, when she met Lux, Kalya answered all her doubts in one sentence.

"There is something wrong with these fish." After Kalya brought Lux in, she immediately showed the dead fish to her. "After death, it seems to be no different from ordinary illnesses - but before that, I need to first Make sure it’s not some fake Chinese thing.”

But Lux stared at the fish carefully for a long time, and she didn't understand what was wrong with Kalya.

Although the flesh of these fish had quite a fishy smell, and the oil in it made the whole tent smell fishy as if it were a slaughterhouse after the temperature was slightly higher, Lacus and Kalya both fell silent.

During the dissection just now, an extremely familiar force was revealed between the muscles, causing both Lux and Kalya to narrow their eyes.

This power was something Kalya had seen not long ago - the breath of the void!

Realizing this, Lux's expression instantly turned cold.

The breath of void?
Why are there many catfish related to the void hidden in the lake of Kelafos?
And very coincidentally, due to folk customs, Freljord people rarely take the initiative to catch catfish, so even the current Freljord people can't figure out what's wrong with them.

Under this situation, neither Lacus nor Kalya could confirm where the void breath in the catfish came from, whether it was due to the catfish's eating, or whether there were many other problems within the scope of their daily actions.

In short, after feeling the void energy in this catfish, Lux's expression instantly became serious - being exposed to void energy in daily life is not a big problem, but considering the Freljord people's treatment of these fish, attitude, she keenly smelled the danger.

Maybe there is something hidden behind these fish that you don't know, just like the surface of a lake that looks still frozen but has actually melted away, what is underneath the calmness is an amazing and dangerous wave!

Unfortunately, the alliance is coming soon. In order to save time, Lux cannot stop and study slowly now. Therefore, after a brief discussion with Kalya, she will continue to Laxtaq City, and Kalya will also They controlled the Malphites to move forward, but they would not abandon the samples of the catfish, so they had to look at them as they walked.

This fertile land seems not as rich and beautiful as it seems! (End of chapter)