Is that a Wisp?

Krune woke up in the morning of the next day, ate some of the rations brought by the bandits and helped Wang Hao learn some more words.

As his grandson continued to learn, Krune smiled, exiting the house to see that there was no commotion in the village. The bandits were healthy, brimming with power. It was because they had a surplus of food to eat, enough to even make snacks.

To remain on night duty, the three bandits had brought a lot of provisions with them. Krune stored them all in his house, sighing as he thought, 'That'll be enough to last three days for us.'

As he was an old man while Wang Hao was still a child, the amount of food they consumed was very little compared to burly men like the bandits who had to eat a lot to keep up with the energy requirements of their large figures.

Krune didn't head towards the location of the sentry of the bandits now. That would just be tantamount to suicide. They would be investigating the place for any signs of clues. Thankfully for him, Krune had hidden the weapons he had looted from them.

They weren't stored anywhere in the village. That would just be risky. Instead, Krune had cleverly placed them in the crack of a boulder far away from the village. On top of that, the boulder was located in a barren location.

No one would be going there. Plus, even if they were searching there, they still wouldn't be able to notice the weapons placed at the end of the crack in the boulder where it was completely dark, even during noon.

So, it was pretty easy to overlook.

As he had expected, there was a sudden commotion in the village as the violent shouts of men resounded.

"Everyone in this village! Get out within a minute! Otherwise, we'll exterminate the lot of you!" A burly man waved a scimitar around as he bellowed. Upon sight of him, all the villagers trembled and cautiously walked out of their homes.

Upon seeing how skinny everyone had gotten since the last time he had seen, the burly man frowned, whispering something to the men he accompanied.

He then found the village head, asking, "Did anyone from your village disappear recently?"

"Yes." The village head shuddered in fear as he replied, "Old Leaf vanished yesterday."

"Anyone else?"

"Only him."

"Show the way to his house."

"Yes." The village head humbly nodded, fear evident on his face, his body trembling from time to time. In the meantime, all the villagers had gathered in one location, dispirited. Most of them didn't even seem to care about the bandits, ready to accept their fate.

"This place is done for." A bandit whispered to his colleague.

"Yeah, it seems we pushed them too much recently. This village has been the poorest among all the villages, after all." Another bandit nodded.

"Anyway, once they die from starvation, we'll demolish this village and build a stronghold for us here," another bandit whispered.

"Yeah, it seems our boss has some plans regarding the Barren Range. Since this place is the closest settlement to it, it's necessary for us," a smart bandit replied.

"Why can't we just kill them all?" Another bandit asked in confusion. "Why waste so much time waiting for their deaths? They're bound to die anyway."

"It's not the right time yet," the smart bandit replied. "Boss said we still have a lot of other plans to execute before beginning our plan here. And also, he plans to use the villagers to build our base. Might as well use the free labor, right?"

"Hahaha!"

Krune overheard their discussions through his sharp senses, frowning while kneeling on the ground with the rest of the villagers.

In the meantime, the village head showed a couple of bandits to Old Leaf's house. Upon inspecting the inside, they were unable to find any clues, sighing as they planned to return. But suddenly, one of the bandits frowned, pointing at a window while asking, "Wait, what's this?"

"This…!" The other bandit frowned. "Looks like a beast's claw marks. But the way it has been done…"

He then returned and informed the others as soon all the bandits finished inspecting Old Leaf's house before leaving the village. They left as quickly as they had arrived. After all, there was nothing of worth in this village.

Once the bandits left, the villagers got up one after another and dispiritedly returned to their work, tending to whatever remained of their farms.

After ensuring that the village head wasn't injured, Krune arrived at the rocky patch of land and took a seat on the usual boulder, making the Cloud Whale bore holes into the ground. There was only a faint layer of soil, spanning a few centimeters in thickness over a patch of rock in the area the Cloud Whale was digging.

So, once the soil patch was removed, the Cloud Whale cleaned up the place neatly. It was noon when Krune gazed at the circle before him, shaped into a basin. The circle only spanned a meter in radius.

And, at its center, the depth reached a meter. 'This is good enough to act as a reservoir of water.'

Smiling, Krune made the Cloud Whale do all the work, using its suction ability to transport the soil elsewhere. In the meantime, he was continuing to carve the metal slab.

It was finally evening time as Krune completed the task he had set out to achieve, calling the village head as the two arrived before the basin.

Upon seeing the Cloud Whale, the Village Head was shocked, finally realizing that this was the ability resulting from Krune's Imperial Arms—that was what he believed. Seeing his expression, Krune smiled, causing the Cloud Whale to hover in the center.

Air Needle!

A tiny hole was poked into the center of the basin as immediately, a thin, tiny geyser erupted out, reaching a height of a couple of feet. The water in the basin began to fill up as Krune muttered, "The source here is connected to a thicker underground water stream. So, it'll be barely enough for our village's needs."