Witcher: I Can Extract Everything - Chapter 381
Chapter 381 Shaman
Heath opened his dimensional pocket and took out a few small beans. They were two thumb-sized beans. They looked like two ordinary broad beans, greenish-gray in color. Similarly, there was a small gap in one corner of the beans, and a sprout grew out of it.
Heath held the beans and chanted a syllable. Then, he scattered the beans on the ground, and the beans fell into the soil.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Suddenly, the sound of wind breaking could be heard. A light breeze suddenly blew over from afar, as if indicating that something was about to happen.
At the same time, a slight vibration came from the ground. The tender shoots at the corner of the two beans that had fallen to the ground suddenly grew. With two cracking sounds, the tender shoots broke through the corner of the broad bean. Then, they grew rapidly. In the blink of an eye, they were as thick as a hemp rope and was still expanding rapidly.
“It’s expanding, it’s expanding! The beans are expanding!”
“It’s so magical. Is this magic? Is this magic?”
A series of exclamations immediately sounded. The Underground Gnomes surrounding Heath all came forward and stared at the magical scene in front of them with wide eyes.
However, before they could get rid of the magical scene in front of them, an even more unbelievable scene quickly shocked all the Underground Gnomes present.
Rumble!
Suddenly, a series of loud rumbling sounds sounded out, followed by a series of violent tremors from the ground. Then, large and thick bean vines could be seen breaking out from the soil, entangling with each other and growing up rapidly. They were like giant trees that suddenly rose from the ground.
“Oh my god, they’re growing, they’re growing! Too fast, too fast!”
“Big tree, it’s a big tree! A big tree is growing!”
Amidst the cheers of the little people, bean vines grew rapidly on the ground, entangling with each other and twisting together, growing rapidly toward the ground. Soon, a huge tree was formed on the ground. The diameter of the tree was several meters thick. Even with Heath’s body size, he would need several of him to circle around it. For the Underground Gnomes, they would need at least twenty to thirty of them.
“What a big tree!”
“Isn’t this amazing? It grew out in an instant…”
“Look, there’s fruit. What a big fruit.”
“Treehouse, it’s a treehouse!”
Right at this moment, a big fruit grew out of the tree. It was not an ordinary fruit, but a fruit in the shape of a house. There were windows and doors… Through the open window, one could even see the tables, chairs, benches, and even beds inside. It hung on the trunk of the tree, as if it was a meticulously built treehouse.
Clap, clap!
After clapping his hands, Heath, who had finished casting, raised his head to look at his masterpiece, his eyes filled with satisfaction.
This treehouse was called the Magic Hut, also known as the Bean Hut. As its name suggested, this was a structural spell created by Wizards using magic and beans.
The principle was to compress the originally built house into the beans using spatial magic. When used, Wizards only needed to activate the beans, and the beans could grow the treehouse directly. It was very convenient.
If it was not so, the Wizard would need to use magic to create a small house. However, that was a very difficult thing to do. It required a very detailed operation to complete. It was far from what an ordinary Wizard could do.
Fireballs, frost, lightning, and even transformation spells. These seemingly magical operations were actually very crude spells. Their models were destined to not require much detailed structure. They could be thrown out and it would be done. However, things like houses were different. They themselves had very high requirements for details. Using magic to create them also had very high requirements for the use of spells.
To use an analogy, fireballs, frost, and other spells were like bombs. There was no need to care about things like workmanship. As long as they were thrown out, they would explode. As for spells like houses, they were like clothes that people wore on their bodies and food that was eaten into the stomach. Not only did it have to be able to be eaten and worn, but it also had to be worn comfortably on the body. Eating was an outstanding feeling, and this was also the difficulty of such spells.
When it came to spells that involved food, clothing, shelter, and travel, Wizards would use magic to seal them in advance and take them out directly when they needed to use them. The cottage in front of them and even Heath’s Wizard ship were a typical example. If it was created purely by using elements, even a Stigmata level Wizard would not be able to do it.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen such a magical spell!” At this moment, an old and calm voice came from afar. This voice sounded very different from the other Underground Gnomes. In particular, it seemed to contain an indescribable penetrative force, as if it was artificially infused with spirit.
Heath could not help but raise his eyebrows and look in the direction of the voice, only to see an Underground Gnome walking over.
His appearance was no different from the other Underground Gnomes here. They were all the size of delicate dolls. He looked to be about sixty or seventy years old, and his appearance was very old. His long white beard that was almost dragging to the ground at the chin was very eye-catching.
This old Underground Gnome was wearing a tattered old robe. He held a long cane in his hand and there was a beast bone tied to the end of the cane.
He held the cane and walked towards Heath step by step.
Everyone seemed to respect him. After the old man came, everyone, including Elder Albert, who had led Heath, turned to look at the old man and bowed.
“Shaman.”
“Shaman Kerza.”
Shaman?
Hearing the other Underground Gnomes address him, Heath could not help but look at the old man, his eyes filled with curiosity.
Heath had read about the Shaman of the Underground Gnomes in a book. He was almost like a Wizard in the human world, born with a very magical ability, like Wizards, they could sense elements and even cast some spells.
However, unlike Wizards, whose power came from the exploration and learning of knowledge, a Shaman’s power was more like an innate talent. They did not need to read a lot of books and accumulate knowledge like Wizards did. Instead, they only needed to cultivate their power and grow. After that, all kinds of spells would be awakened in their souls and consciousness, and they would naturally be able to comprehend them. It was just like how cats did not need to be taught to climb trees, and dogs did not need to learn to track scent. They were born with the ability to do so.
The Shaman walked over and gave Heath a greeting that he did not quite understand. Then, he laughed and said, “Respected Wizard, welcome to the Achute Tribe. I am the Shaman Kerza here. It is a pleasure to meet you.”
Heath said politely, “Oh! Hello, I am Heath Noen, a Wizard from the Old Land.”
The shaman said, “The Old Land? That is a title that only exists in the west. So you are a Wizard from the Tower of Order.”
Heath was very surprised, “Do you know about the Tower of Order?”
Kerza said with a smile, “Hehehe, it is not only the Wizards from your world who will come down. Occasionally, people from our Underground World will go up, especially those young people who have the spirit of adventure and want to see the world. Many of them have gone up to see the outside world, just like me two hundred years ago.”
Heath suddenly understood.
“I see.”
Meeting a Shaman who knew the situation of the surface world made Heath feel a lot more friendly. He immediately wanted to invite Kerza to the hut to drink tea. He could also learn some things about the Underground World through Kerza.
Unfortunately, Kerza rejected Heath’s invitation. The reason was that it was almost night. He needed to guard the tribe at night to guard against Nightmares that might invade.
On the way here, he had heard Al and Rose mention the word ‘Nightmare’ more than once. Now, he heard Kerza mention it again. Moreover, Heath clearly saw that when Kerza mentioned the Nightmare… The faces of the other Underground Gnomes around them could not help but turn pale. They looked very afraid.
Heath asked, “Forgive me for being presumptuous, but the Nightmare that you mentioned refers to…”
The surroundings fell silent for a moment.
Kerza also fell silent for a moment before explaining, “That’s the terror that exists in this forest. They appear every night, and all us Underground Gnomes here are afraid of them.”
Pausing for a moment, he turned his head to look at the sky. Then, he said, “It’s about time now. Those Nightmares will come out soon. If you want to know, you can follow our soldiers to the entrance of the camp later. How about it? Are you interested?”
Heath thought for a moment and said, “I see… Alright then.”
He was still interested in this so-called Nightmare. Maybe it was something that could be extracted, right?
After chatting, Heath went back to his cabin to rest. Although he didn’t know what that Nightmare was, it didn’t look like an easy target. He might be in a hurry later… It was better to make some preparations in advance, at least to adjust his body to its best condition.
Thus, after returning to his room, Heath ate some simple food and entered his spiritual sea to engage in deep meditation. Deep meditation was an ability that could only be obtained after advancing to an intermediate Wizard. Before becoming an intermediate Wizard, a Wizard’s meditation required a large amount of spiritual power, so there was a strict limit to the time they could practice every day. Once the Wizard’s mental energy was exhausted, continuing to meditate would put the Wizard at risk of having their mental energy collapse.
After advancing to an intermediate Wizard, a Wizard could begin deep meditation. Unlike ordinary meditation, deep meditation did not consume mental energy, but instead could recover mental energy. It was also the main way for a Wizard to recover mental energy in the later stages.
Otherwise, for Wizards who would have a huge amount of spiritual power later on, it was not enough to just rely on rest and sleep to recover spiritual power. Perhaps a single meditation would take days or even months to recover their power.
Entering deep meditation, Heath recuperated for more than half an hour and then took a Spiritual Water. Soon, the little spiritual power that he had lost was fully recovered.
At this time, a horn sounded outside.
Woo! Woo! Woo!
Heath pushed open the door and went outside. At this time, the whole camp was busy. Underground Gnomes were running around inside and gathering at the entrance of the camp.
Before Heath went back to his room to meditate, Albert had left two Underground Gnomes to guard the door of Heath’s room. When they saw Heath coming out, the two Underground Gnomes quickly came to welcome him.
“Sir Wizard!”
“Sir Wizard!”
Heath nodded slightly and then cut to the point. “It’s messy here. What’s going on? Is it that so-called Nightmare?”
The two Underground Gnomes nodded. With a serious expression, he said, “Yes, Sir. We just received news that a Nightmare has appeared in the forest. It’s only a short distance from our camp. The Elders told us to be on guard and ready to defend the camp at any time.”
“I don’t know why, but the Nightmares seem to be getting stronger and stronger. It’s hard to guarantee that we won’t be hurt just by relying on the magic array left by Wizard Achute,” an Underground Gnome said worriedly.
Heath glanced in the direction of the camp’s entrance and said, “I’ll go and take a look.”
Along the way to the entrance of the camp, there were already many Underground Gnomes gathered here. They wore simple rattan armor and held stone axes and stone spears made of stone and sticks in their hands. The civilization of the Underground Gnomes was not very high. They were still in the stone age, and most of the tribes used stone weapons as their main weapons. A sharp-eyed Underground Gnome saw Heath coming over and quickly shouted, “Sir Wizard is here!”
Hearing his shout, the other Underground Gnomes quickly turned around to look at Heath. Everyone’s faces were more or less happy.
After all, everyone knew how powerful Wizards were. Not to mention other things, the Underground Gnomes had already witnessed the mysterious and powerful magic in the morning. Now that such a powerful figure had appeared here, it was of course a great help to them in fighting the Nightmare.
“Sir Wizard.”
“Sir Wizard, you’re here.”
“Sir Wizard, you’re here to help us fight the Nightmare, right?”
Everyone gathered around and looked at Heath expectantly.
Looking at the pairs of expectant eyes, Heath was also embarrassed. He could not help but cough and change the topic. “Cough, I came to take a look first.”
He was just curious about what this Nightmare was and wanted to study it. As for fighting the Nightmare, it was not the main reason for him to appear here.
Of course, if it was convenient and not too troublesome, he did not mind helping these Underground Gnomes solve their problems.
“Sir Wizard!”
At this moment, an old voice sounded, and he saw Shaman Kerza walking towards him with a long cane…