Struggle in the Steam Age

Just as Lawrence and the others were on their way, the red sunset slowly sank into the horizon. Then a crescent moon slowly rose into the sky, covering the earth in a light blue moonlight. Under the light of such a blue moon, the breeze blowing across the flat grassland makes the grass undulate, looking like a real sea.

Because there was a distance from the mountain pass to the village where the centaur lived, it took a while for Lawrence and the others to rush to the gate of the village. Fortunately, because these horse people belonged to the thoroughly modernized horse people, a good dirt road was specially built to connect the mountain pass with their own settlement, which made it easier for Lawrence and the others to travel.

This village should be one of the villages left by the early pioneers, because Lawrence saw a bastion-style wall outside the village that was reinforced with red bricks and large stones. And this kind of wall is often only owned by the strongholds established when the civilized race first penetrated into the wilderness.

However, under normal circumstances, the early construction of strongholds often only uses rammed earth or wood to build a circle of bastion-style buildings that can maximize firepower. The practice of wrapping bricks and stones like this on the outer wall is obviously the result of reinforcement after the immigrants established a foothold in this place.

"Stop, who are you?" Just as Lawrence and his group came to the gate of the town on camels, there was an obvious sound of bullets being loaded from the protective wall of the town, followed by a somewhat rough middle-aged man. The voice of the young man came down from the five or six meter high city wall.

"We are a scientific expedition team investigating the ecological environment, and we are going to conduct scientific research in the Gobi of Death." Naturally, Lawrence and the others did not want to have any conflicts with the people here, so everyone immediately reined in their camels after hearing someone asking from the top of the city wall He stopped, and then Lawrence took two steps forward alone and shouted at the top of the city wall. "I heard that there is a shaman here who knows the surrounding situation very well, so I want to pay a visit."

"Expedition group?" Obviously, the small town here on the edge of civilization doesn't really understand things like investigation groups. So the guard on the city wall seemed a little hesitant. But soon he made a decision and shouted. "May I ask if you have anything to prove your identity? I'll ask the priest of the Church of Knowledge in our town and Mr. Sheriff to take a look."

"Yes, of course, I have badges and documents here to prove my identity." Lawrence shouted to the city wall, and then a hanging basket hung down from the city wall. Seeing this, Lawrence put the things that could prove his identity into it, and then watched the basket being pulled back.

After waiting for a few minutes, there was movement from inside the city gate. After a creaking sound, the raised suspension bridge was slowly lowered and placed on the ditch outside the town, and then the iron-clad wooden door opened inwards from left to right. Seeing this, Lawrence and the others led the camels and walked into the town in two rows.

"Mr. August. Welcome to Giant Wood Town with your team." After Lawrence entered the door. A priest of the God of Knowledge wearing a sky-blue priestly robe bowed to Lawrence, and then handed back to him the identity documents and badges that Lawrence gave them just now.

"Thank you for allowing us to come in." Lawrence said, then pointed to the empty pockets and empty water bladders on the camel caravan behind him and said, "Because I see that there are quite a lot of settlements of intelligent creatures in this area, So I didn't bring much water and dry food. If I want to buy supplies, who should I go to?"

"If your team only has this number of people, I think it would be more appropriate for you to find the boss of Lucky Shoes." After looking at the size of Lawrence's camel team, the priest immediately named a place. "There are often guests who need to travel far in that hotel, so the supply business of various personnel and livestock is also operated here."

According to the priest's explanation, this small town called Jumu Town was the first place where the great shaman of the first group of immigrants was stationed. Then it slowly developed into an important local faith center. The so-called giant tree does not mean that there is a forest around it, but refers to the huge totem pole that is here as a shaman resident.

Also because of that shaman's force deterrence, this area became a piece of pure land on the grassland when it was first opened up. With the gathering and exchange of population, Jumu Town has gradually become an important distribution center of this grassland, attracting a large number of people, and eventually becoming one of the most important human gathering areas on this grassland.

For example, if the ranchers on this land want to sell their livestock, they will often choose to come to this town and stay with their companions for a night or two, and then they will form a team together from before Lawrence. The road from here crosses the mountains to Heraklion, the nearest railway hub.

This was the case with the gray-maned horsemen that Lawrence and the others met before. They gathered here before, and then drove thousands of cattle across the mountains to the east to the city for sale. After all, although there are basically no wild races on this road, some wild animals like gray wolves or leopards are distributed in those places that are inaccessible. If these ranchers do not patrol around the herd to drive these beasts away, the herd will easily be frightened and run away.

Because the big shaman is not young anymore, she usually goes to bed very early. Under such circumstances, Lawrence and the others simply went to the Lucky Horseshoe Hotel on the advice of the priest of the Church of Knowledge to stay for one night, and wait until tomorrow morning to visit His Excellency the Great Shaman.

Lucky Horseshoe Hotel is a very distinctive hotel. For example, whether it is the bar or the seats, it can be clearly divided into two types. Some of the seats with stools are for humans, while those are higher but have no seats. The second position is for those horsemen who usually stand all the time. When Lawrence and the others went in, they just saw several horsemen and human ranchers and ranch workers hanging shoulder to shoulder and drinking wine.

Considering that they might need to meet the big shaman early tomorrow, Lawrence and the others quickly checked in and went back to their room to sleep. In the early morning of the next day, after he got up early to wash up, he and Nora took gifts and walked towards the center of the town according to the direction guided by the priest last night.

The center of the town is a flat square, but it is different from ordinary squares. In the middle of the square stands a giant totem pole more than ten meters high, carved from a huge tree. Any extraordinary person, even ordinary people, can feel a kind of peace from the heart when they walk into this square.

"It should be a totem related to plants." Looking at the large number of artistic plant patterns drawn on the totem pole, and feeling the magic of tranquility and vitality around him. Lawrence said to Nora through the soul connection, "And it is the most traditional kind of totem, which grows slowly but has a high upper limit. It is possible to become a god in the future."

"In other words, this shaman should be a transcendent of the good camp." Nora smiled and looked at Lawrence. "It seems that this is indeed good news, at least we should be able to get a lot of information from him."

"I hope so," Lawrence said to Nora. After taking a deep breath, Lawrence shook the two small gift jars in his hand. Then, together with the little puppet, they walked in to a one-storey house built with roughly treated wood.