Angor leaned on the table and looked at the blue sky through the window.
The warm sunlight shone on his skin, creating a golden edge. The gentle and pleasant air made him feel sleepy.
How long had it been since he felt so sleepy? Ever since he boarded The Redbud, Angor had never truly relaxed. For one thing, it was because of his mood. For another, the ship was always bumpy on the sea. On The Redbud, Angor always felt like he was walking on cotton.
But on the cloud whale, it was as steady as the real land.
Such stability made Angor feel at ease. He had nothing to do. Basking in the warm sunlight and smelling the fragrance of the grass, Angor fell asleep without realizing it.
A small stone drew a beautiful arc as it was thrown in through the window and landed on the table.
The sound was neither too loud nor too soft, and it woke Angor up.
He opened his blurry eyes and was still in a daze. Another stone fell into his hand and bounced back due to inertia, and it stopped right beside his hand.
Angor slowly came back to himself and picked up the pebble in confusion.
Who's playing a prank on me?
Angor craned his neck and looked outside the window.
The green grass swayed in the gentle breeze. The cloud whale flew steadily. Clouds covered the grass not far away from it from time to time. He could only vaguely see cattle and sheep moving about.
Angor looked left and right but did not find anything.
Just when he was puzzled, a lazy and hoarse female voice entered his ears.
"Hey, boy. Are you looking for me?"
…
It was a plump woman wearing a brown leather coat and silver scale shoulder armor.
She was in the tent right across from Angor. Due to the clouds, Angor did not notice her for a while.
Through the open window, Angor saw the woman leaning against the table just like him. She rested her chin on one hand and looked at him curiously. Her other hand was tossing pebbles back and forth, which told Angor that she was the one who threw the pebble.
Angor could not see the woman's whole body, but judging from her wavy brown hair and her curvaceous upper body, she should be tall.
The woman's face was beautiful and mature. She rested her chin on one hand and looked sexy and lazy at the same time.
Even a young boy like Angor, who did not know much about women, could not help but feel a twinkle in his eye.
Accompanied by the gentle breeze, the two began their first conversation.
Nausica, or the lady in front of him, was a talkative woman. She could easily find the main topic of conversation. Even if Angor was the one who initiated the topic, she would use her facial expressions, gestures, and words to slowly lead the conversation again.
He didn't even feel uncomfortable when talking with her. Even though the topic kept changing, it was still a pleasant conversation.
He was a natural leader.
"You didn't come from the deathmatches, did you?" Nausica flipped her hair and looked at him with her green eyes.
"Deathmatch?" Angor muttered.
"As expected, you don't have the slightest smell of blood on your body. What a lucky little fellow." Nausica took out a long, black-gold pipe out of nowhere and took a puff from it. The smoke she exhaled mixed with the clouds, and she was always surrounded by white smoke.
The deathmatches were a method used by Brute Cavern to select talents. All talents would be sent to nine different stone cabins to fight. The winner would become king, while the loser would die. There was a safe zone inside each stone cabin. However, the zones were only open for a limited time. There were also ten rules inside the cabins. Talents had to use all kinds of methods, such as trickery or brute force, to bypass or use the rules to survive.
Now he understood why he smelled the strong smell of blood when he passed by a square stone house earlier. It was because that was the stone cabin where the talented ones fought to the death!
Only the winner of the cabin would be allowed to join Brute Cavern.
According to Nausica, the winners of the cabins either won by wits, sowing discord, or playing dead.
"There are only two who won by real strength." Nausica exhaled a smoke ring.
"One is the barbarian Balba from the fourth cabin."
"And the other one?" Angor asked.
Nausica looked at Angor and revealed a seductive smile. "The other one? It's me."
Angor's eyes widened. He did not expect such a sexy woman to be qualified for the position by fighting ability.
He did not sense any bloodthirsty aura from her. Instead, he sensed a peaceful and lazy aura.
How could a woman like this be so cruel that she killed everyone in the cabin to win the right to live?!
"Cruel? Not really. This is … the truth of the world. "Nausica smiled." People will do anything to survive. "
"Survival of the fittest," Angor slowly said.
Nausica gave Angor a higher look. "That's a good summary. It's not something you should say at your age."
Angor pursed his lips. It was not something he would say. But he was standing on the shoulder of a giant, and he had Earth's civilization as his foundation. He could learn a lot of things. That was a great thing, okay?
"Alright, I have nothing to do here. I just wanted to talk to relieve my boredom. Let's call it a day. " Nausica pulled down the white curtain. "One last reminder. Some people might not like you because you did not go through the deathmatch."
Nausica pointed at several small tents in the distance. "See those tents? Those are the winners of cabin nine. "
Angor looked. He could only see the tents because they were too far away. However, he clearly saw that the curtains of several tents were gently pulled down along with his gaze. It was obvious that those people had been watching him all this time.
It reminded him of the time when Flora led him on a detour. He felt a prickling sensation on his back. Perhaps those people were the source of that creepy feeling.
"After all, those who won the deathmatches in cabin nine all have a sense of superiority. Many conflicts in this world are caused by — unfairness. Do you understand? Little boy. "
Do not worry about scarcity, but about unfairness. Angor understood this, but he had only boarded the cloud whale today! Didn't the deathmatches in cabin nine end long ago?
"But you don't have to worry about it on the cloud whale. That wizard didn't set up a barrier outside your tent, so you can leave at any time. We're all restricted by the barrier and can't go out, "Nausica said." This is one of the reasons why they don't like you. "
…
Angor had a good time talking to Nausica, but he was still wary of her. Just as she had said, those who could come out of the deathmatch in the ninth cabin were not easy to deal with.
However, Angor did not forget Nausica's last warning.
It was not because he trusted Nausica, but because he did not trust human nature.
The curtain of the night was opened by the gentle moonlight.
After dinner, Angor was wondering if he should go and show up in front of his teacher when Flora floated in front of him.
"Good evening, Angor."
"Good evening, Miss Flora."
Flora did not mind Angor's greeting. Unlike Easley, she did not have a family name either. She was adopted by her teacher when she was young. She wanted to take her teacher's name, but her teacher did not agree.
"My teacher's experiment is done. I think you should go and meet him."
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