The Mysterious World Under Steampunk

The fire dancer caravan spent the night at the camp of the Kata tribe, and the next morning, they had some transactions with the people of the Kata tribe, sold some daily necessities, and exchanged some beast fur and monster bones from the Kata tribe. wait.

Although the lifestyle of the Kata tribe is still mainly tribalized, just like all tribes that have integrated into civilized society, they are no different from the outside civilized society in terms of clothing, daily necessities, weapons and equipment, etc. There is a big difference, the only constant is their shaman totem belief.

When Leo was in the Kingdom of England, he had been exposed to the knowledge of shamanism, but the knowledge was filtered by the scholars of the Kingdom of England, and some of them were changed beyond recognition according to their own wishes.

For example, although the original shaman ceremony was bloody, it contained special meanings, while those high-ranking scholars in the Kingdom of England simply believed that it was bloody and barbaric, and simply deleted all the meanings behind it, and only kept the bloody part. , so that the vast majority of ordinary people in the Kingdom of England believe that shamanism is a bloody, primitive and barbaric mysterious belief.

In addition to the shaman rituals, the tribal totems were completely changed beyond recognition by those scholars. Even the Orthodox church was influenced by those scholars for a period of time, and the tribal totems of the shaman belief were regarded as evil god beliefs. It was because of this concept that the conflict between the colonists and the wilderness tribes at that time was almost irreconcilable.

Leo naturally also researched that period of history, especially in a notebook of the tower wizard, which recorded in detail a colonist's battle against the wilderness tribe seen by the tower wizard, although the colonists possessed weapons Far stronger than the wilderness tribe, but when the wilderness tribe fell into a disadvantage, the powerful power summoned by the tribal shaman from the tribal totem easily destroyed the colonists' army, leaving a deep impression on the tower wizards watching and recorded the relevant content in detail, and also expounded his views on the strengths and weaknesses of the tribal totem power.

When the fire dancer caravan traded with the Kata tribe, Leo, who had always been curious about the tribe's totem, would not let go of this opportunity to study the tribe's totem up close, and came to the guardian totem in the center of the camp. , Spirit Net tentatively contacted and penetrated into the inside of the totem pole.

The entire totem pole is carved from the main pole of a big tree. It is about the height of two adults and can be hugged by one person. The patterns on the surface of the totem are mainly divided into three layers. The bottom is the tribal hero. In the middle are the legends of past tribes, while the top layer is a patchwork monster made of different beasts.

In Leo's view, the totem pole of shamanism is not so much a body of belief, but rather a miracle created due to tribal beliefs. Its core structure is very similar to those artifacts in the church that are blessed with divine power and magic. , but the difference is that those artifacts are derived from the gods, with obvious marks of the gods, and these totem poles are derived from the belief itself, in a sense, it is a strange thing without an owner.

It is also for this reason that even if Leo's spiritual net penetrated into the totem pole and unscrupulously studied its power structure and core, it never caused any counterattack, unless the shaman of the tribe activated the totem pole and let the power contained in it Only by playing it out can it be possible to fight back against any intruders.

Although this totem pole is unowned, people who are not from the Kata tribe cannot take it away. The imprint is called the spirit of the tribe in shamanism, but in Leo's view, it is more like some kind of power similar to the psionic imprint.

Psionic imprints are the most common type of psionic skills, basically low-level psykers can already use them, just like the way Leo uses them, most of the psionic imprints are just the precursors used by psykers to mark targets. Setting skills usually need to be used in conjunction with other spiritual skills. For example, Leo is mostly used in conjunction with the spirit net, so the spiritual imprint is also classified as an auxiliary skill.

However, the tribal spirit in the totem pole now gave Leo a little inspiration, making him feel that some spiritual imprints might be improved and made stronger.

"Have you researched anything?" Just as Leo was studying the tribal spirit in the totem pole, the shaman of the Kata tribe who was in charge of stationing the camp came to Leo and asked.

This shaman is a middle-aged man, just like most shamans, wearing clothes made of tree bark, with some bones hanging on his body, some patterns with special meaning tattooed on his face, and his hair carefully braided He wore braids of hair, and hung various ornaments on the braids, some of which were exquisite headdresses, and some of the ornaments were things like feathers, leaves, and bones, and in his hands were holding A cane, and calling it a cane is also incorrect, because it's more like a shrunken totem pole.

Although the middle-aged man was dressed like a standard tribal shaman, Leo could tell from the other party's speech and behavior that he should belong to the new school of shaman, not the old shaman who followed the ancient shaman beliefs.

"Do you not mind?" Leo asked the other party instead of answering the other party's inquiry after looking at the other party.

"Since it is placed in a public place where everyone can see it, I naturally don't mind people studying it out of curiosity." The shaman said with a smile: "And I once studied in the Kingdom of England, I know that all of you scholars are like newly born cubs, you will be curious about everything you see, and you will gather together to study when you are curious." Then, he stretched out his hand to Leo and said: "I forgot to introduce myself , I am Moon Night Changge from the Kata tribe, you can also call me Henry, this is the name given to me by my college instructor when I went to study in the Kingdom of England."

"Leo Dodd." Leo shook the other's hand and introduced himself.

"Leo Dodd?" After hearing Leo's name, Yue Ye Changge couldn't help being stunned, then looked at Leo's appearance seriously, and said with some surprise: "No wonder I felt very uncomfortable when I looked at Your Excellency just now." It looks familiar, so it's you!"

Leo asked, "You know me?"

Yue Ye Changge, who recognized Leo's identity, showed great respect to Leo, lowered his tone, and said, "Yes, I have heard Your Excellency Tolan mention you, and I know some things about you. But your current appearance is really too young, so I thought you were just a blood relative with Your Excellency Tolan just now."

"Do you know Tolan?" Leo froze for a moment, then seemed to think of something, turned his head to look at the mechanical crossbows on the guards of the campsite, and there were signs of the Dodd Group on the obvious parts of the handles of the crossbows. Almost all of the weapons equipped by the fighters of the Kata tribe came from weapons manufactured by Dodd Industries, which also represented the unusual relationship between the Kata tribe and Dodd Industries.

As Leo guessed, Moon Night Changge nodded, and said proudly: "Your Excellency Tolan lived in our tribe for a period of time a few years ago, and it was during that time that he came into contact with the shaman belief. Since then, our tribe has been in close contact with the Dodd Group."

Leo could vaguely feel that the close contacts Yue Ye Changge mentioned might not only be business contacts, but also deeper cooperation. Even from the respectful tone of Yue Ye Changge when he mentioned Tolan, it could be seen that Tolan The status in the Kata tribe is probably extraordinary.

However, Moonlight Changge didn't mention it, and Leo naturally didn't ask too much. He asked a few questions about Tolan. Although Moonlight Changge answered quickly, his words were deliberately vague, and there was no a.

From Yue Ye Changge's words, Leo could hear that the other party still had doubts about his identity and didn't fully believe in himself, so when it came to Tolan and the Dodd Group, he kept his words hidden and ambiguous. resignation.

Knowing that he couldn't find any useful information about Tolan from Yueyechangge, Leo didn't continue to ask, but instead discussed shamanism with Yueyechangge, a shaman of the Kata tribe.

Perhaps because the topic did not involve Tolan and the Dodd Group, or because the topic became what the other party is best at, the discussion between Leo and Moon Night Changge was no longer as vague as before, but very clear. Going deep, as if Moonlight Changge wanted to make Leo become a shaman believer through this conversation.

Although the content of the conversation between the two did not involve any shaman ability to use supernatural power, for Leo, it was easier for him to understand the core primitive teachings of shaman belief than to understand a shaman ability. understanding of the nature of shamanic power.

The two discussed and exchanged until the deal between the Fire Dancer Caravan and the Kata Tribe was over, and the Fire Dancer Caravan packed up and was ready to go on the road, although most of the time, Leo was just a questioner, and Moon Night Changge Just an answerer, but both parties are very satisfied with this exchange about shamanism.

Leo was able to discover a large number of misunderstandings about shamanism in the past, and obtained the core content of shamanism, and Moon Night Changge was also able to rearrange his understanding of shamanism from Leo's tricky questions. He even felt that his shaman power might break through to a higher level in a short time.

Before Leo left with the caravan, the long song of the moon night, which felt a lot of harvest, copied a book of fundamental teachings that he had copied from the holy land of the shamanism in the wasteland. Although he himself was not a believer in the fundamental teachings, it did not mean He didn't pay much attention to the content here. He felt that if Leo really wanted to learn more about shamanism, then it would be most appropriate to start with the fundamental teachings.

Leo did not refuse the kindness of the Moon Night Song, because he was also curious about its content. Scholars who specialized in the study of shamanism in the Kingdom of England almost all mentioned the fundamental teachings of the shaman holy land, but they did not understand the content of it. The content is rarely mentioned, and it can be seen from the lines that those scholars do not think that these ancient knowledge have research value.

If it was before, Leo might have the same opinion as those scholars, and would equate the fundamental doctrines of shamanism with the primitive beliefs of the Black Forest tribe in the Velen continent, but in the conversation with Long Song of the Moon Night, he Re-acquainted with shamanism, and felt that he had a wrong concept because of his preconceived ideas, and starting from the fundamental teachings may help him rearrange the correct information about shamanism.

Watching the fire dancer caravan disappear into the dense woods at the end of the mountain road, the noisy Kata tribe's camp just now returned to its original calm. Moon Night Changge arranged for the guards, and after assigning today's tasks, they will quickly Stepping back to his own room, he took out a small backpack from the room, left the fire dancer camp, and walked towards an unnamed mountain beside the camp alone.

On the road, Yue Ye Changge also noticed that something was wrong in this area. When he walked this road before, he would definitely encounter monsters or wild beasts, and there were quite a few attacks, but this time he did not encounter Not to mention any attacks, even after he established a connection with the surrounding trees through shaman spells, he discovered that there were no monsters and beasts in this area, and even insects and birds disappeared.

This anomaly made him think about the strange appearance of the fire dancer caravan outside the camp last night. He felt that this matter might not be simple, but the most important thing for him at this moment is not to investigate this forest Why the region is abnormal is another matter.

Moon Night Changge was very familiar with the surrounding environment, and easily walked through the dense forest to the top of the mountain.

When he arrived at the place, he put the backpack behind him on the ground, took out a pure metal box without any gaps, put his hand on the box, and said a word.

If Leo heard the words spoken by Moonlight Changge here, he would definitely be a little surprised, because this is a word in the universal language, and its meaning is very simple, that is, activation.

Following the order issued by Moonlight Changge, the metal box without any gaps quickly split into geometric bodies of different shapes, and under the guidance of an invisible force, it was reassembled into a steeple-shaped device, tightly Then a ray of light appeared on the top of the device, and it disappeared after a while, replaced by a head image, and this person's appearance was somewhat similar to Leo's, but he was more handsome, and looked more like Sylvia overall .

"What happened to the Kata tribe?" The man asked directly to Yueye Changge.

"It's nothing." Yue Ye Changge quickly explained.

The man frowned and asked, "Since nothing major happened, why use this emergency contactor? You should know that the number of times this contactor can be used is limited."

"There is a reason why I used the emergency communicator to contact you." Moon Night Changge continued to explain: "I just saw your father, Leo Dodd."