It had to be said that it was indeed a huge advantage to be able to survive by eating grass.
A few days later, when the technical school announced the enrollment list, Hoppes, who came to school again, seemed to be in good spirits. His face was even rosy and glowing.
Because he could feel the rich life energy of the sacred tree, he simply stayed under the tree these few days, eating the wild grass on the ground and some leaves that were blown down by the wind. When he was full, he would either practice martial arts or sit quietly and meditate.
Although his martial arts and magic were not great, Hoppes really knew both. In the past, he had to live with his tail between his legs. Even if he knew, he did not dare to train much. Now that he was free, he could train however he wanted.
Was it because the environment was suitable? Or was it because of a change in his state of mind? In any case, he found that the effects of his training had greatly improved, especially when he was meditating. He could clearly feel the presence of natural magic. Those vague and unclear feelings in the past had now become clear. The power of nature flowed around him, as if it flowed into his body with every breath he took, making him feel invigorated.
(If only I could do this a few years ago!)
Hoppes thought this, but he knew that it was just wishful thinking.
The past was the past. What he needed to do now was to become a good worker and earn money to support himself. From then on, he would no longer have to live at the mercy of others, and he would no longer have to be overcautious and timid. He would be an upright person with his head held high and his chest out!
His life these few days had also given him a lot of inspiration. It was not that there were no poor people in the Republic of Northwest. He had seen people wearing patched clothes passing by more than once. But even these poor people were all in good spirits. They were not emaciated because of hunger, nor were they dejected because of poverty. Their eyes were all bright, and each of them appeared to be full of confidence.
Interestingly enough, more than one poor person had noticed Hoppes sleeping under the sacred tree. A few of them came up to him to persuade him not to be so dispirited and to at least find a temporary job to do. Void City had a large population, but because it was mainly in the service industry, there was always a shortage of manpower. As long as one was diligent enough, it was very easy to find a job.
In other places, it was common for bosses to oppress their workers and make it difficult for them to get paid on time. But here, it was absolutely impossible. The clergymen of the Church of the Void Mask wandered around the city all day, like a group of vigilant hunting dogs, looking everywhere for clues of all kinds of improper behavior. They did not care about petty theft, but they would care about situations such as unpaid wages and so on.
The clergy's method of 'management' was rather simple and effective. Usually, they would drag the person to the street, erect a makeshift altar on the pillar, and then publicly interrogate the person. In front of the great Divine Power of His Majesty the Void Mask, no matter if it was a profiteer or a swindler, they would not be able to muddle through, let alone resist stubbornly. Once they were found guilty, all kinds of torture devices would be brought out.
The most common torture device was the tickler machine. That thing would not cause any substantial damage to the person, but as long as one had seen the scene of the person being tickled to tears, snot, and even feces and urine, and still laughing loudly, no one would dare to think that it was gentle and harmless.
One of the more violent instruments of torture was the famous "electrotherapy chair." It was a chair with a resin base and a metal frame. The victim was tied firmly to it. Then, as long as a switch was pressed, there would be a sizzling sound. After a while, the metal frame would sizzle with blue and white electricity, electrocuting the victim until he was hovering between life and death.
It was said that this kind of torture device was a very powerful magic tool. It could be used while torturing, and it could effectively prevent the person being seriously injured and dying. However, not dying was not necessarily a good thing. Generally speaking, people who were electrocuted would be stupid for a few days, and in serious cases, they might even be stupid for a week. It was said that the worst one was stupid for a whole half a month. Not to mention the pain at the time, just the fact that they would be stupid for a period of time after the incident was enough to make people's hair stand on end.
In the past few days, Hoppes had witnessed a public trial of the Church of the Void Mask with his own eyes. The person being tried was a swindler who committed crimes from place to place. This guy always made up news that other people's children were injured or sick to cheat them of money.
Actually, it was one thing to cheat money, but the most hateful thing was that the reason he made up was so damaging that it scared the elderly so much that they fell sick more than once!
The trial for this guy was quite simple. The witnesses and material evidence were all conclusive, and under the influence of Divine Power, he had no way to deny it. In the end, he was sentenced to "undead labor." As the priest recited the incantation, a dark green light fell from the temporary altar. The guy screamed and gradually stiffened, turning into a zombie.
Of course, this situation was only temporary. After he earned enough money through labor to pay off the fine, he could be restored to his human body without any sequelae.
Well … assuming that something like "working with a group of real undead" would not leave any psychological trauma on him.
Hoppes was a little curious and tried to ask around. He found out that the Republic of Northwest rarely had the death penalty, except for certain serious crimes such as murder. Even if it was spying or inciting rebellion, they would not be executed.
But this definitely did not mean that the legal punishment here was not strong enough — the so-called strength of the law not only depended on the intensity of the punishment, but also on the efficiency of discovering crimes and arresting criminals. In this aspect, the Republic of Northwest was ridiculously high.
The residents here were divided into groups of 10. Besides taking care of the children in the public kindergarten, the elderly in each group would patrol the residential area daily. Because various races lived together, there were both daywalker and nocturnal races, and they were almost never interrupted. Coupled with the serious and responsible patrolling soldiers, as well as the clergymen of the Church of the Void Mask who always appeared and disappeared mysteriously, it was really difficult to commit a crime in the Republic of Northwest without being discovered or caught!
Hoppes liked this kind of environment very much. It gave him peace of mind. So even though he was sleeping outdoors these few days, he slept very comfortably.
It was just that when he returned to school, he saw a few werecats who were even poorer than him and were obviously fatter than when he first saw them. He could not help but feel puzzled.
Those werecats were brothers, and their leader was called Walter. Back then, they had come to the Republic of Northwest with the same caravan as Hoppes. Because werecats were almost purely carnivorous, their lives were very poor, and all of them were very skinny. Hoppes had thought that these werecats would become even thinner because they could not eat grass to survive these days. But he did not expect that these fellows not only did not become thinner, but also gained a lot of weight.
Out of curiosity, he went to ask them and found out that these werecats had found a part-time job. These days, they were working as delivery boys in the underground amusement park.
Under the Void City, there was a huge amusement park called "Dungeons and Dragons." This amusement park was full of traps and monsters. Although they would not cause real serious harm to people, they were indeed a little scary. Tourists from all over the world who were interested in adventure but did not have the ability to do so could go there and experience the feeling of adventure as long as they paid a small sum of money. If they were lucky, they could even earn some rare good things through the spoils of war.
There were all kinds of supplies scattered in the underground amusement park, and they had to be checked and replenished regularly. This work was piecemeal and troublesome, so people usually found part-time jobs to do it. Relying on their nimble bodies and dark vision, the werecats were like fish in water in the underground amusement park and completed their work very well.
This part-time job was based on the principle of "more work, more pay", and they actually made quite a lot of money in the past few days. And because they were often invited by adventurers to eat together, they had meat for almost every meal. In just a few days, all of them had gained a lot of weight.
On this trip back, they had given up on signing up because they had already found a job that was truly suitable for them.
"Congratulations!" After Hoppes had asked for clarification, he said with a smile, "You guys are really amazing!"
"Actually, you can also find a part-time job to do," Walter said. "You are smart and nimble, so it's easy for you to find a job."
"Who would want a mixed-blood …"
"That's true in the Empire, but it's different here!" Walter's eyes lit up. "This place does not discriminate against us at all, and no one will think that we are guilty just because we cannot get a response from the gods. As for race, that's even less of a problem. I've even seen goblins working as rescuers. Even goblins can find a job. Are you worse than goblins? "
Hoppes was a little tempted by his words, but when he heard from the clerk of Seckerit that he had been accepted by the mineral processing profession, he still maintained his original idea.
After all, doing part-time jobs was not a long-term solution. The right thing to do was to learn a skill first!
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