Bizarre Realm-Chapter 192 - 23: Second Form! Combat Mage!
Shawn avoided the cabin in the woods.
This eerie thing is somewhat like a map BOSS, with unfathomable power. A large animated structure like this probably has a challenge level of over fifteen, which would require a team of Death Pilgrims to handle.
Perhaps the lingering spirit of the tree spirit has transformed into a symbiotic earth-bound spirit; the cabin in the woods always moves within the forest and is relatively safe as long as you don’t approach it actively.
Shawn dispersed the reconnaissance demon eye, further delving into the area of the Black Forest.
At this moment, standing on the treetop, he could see the distant solitary cliff face. Beneath the shrouding clouds and mist, at the edge of his vision, was a towering cliff ten thousand meters high. That should be the legendary Supreme Cliff, where newly born Owlmen would first learn to fly, jumping from it to undergo the baptism of storm and sea of clouds, mastering their innate racial talent.
"That direction should be the Crow’s Nest."
Shawn’s figure floated off the ground, seeing a massive, dead ancient tree to the north of the Black Forest, about three to four hundred meters tall, resembling a black mountain. That is the ancient tree where the Crowman tribe resides. It had long since died, but its enormous body still retained traces of its former might. The wooden structure of the ancient tree had completely petrified, looking like pieces of weathered obsidian. It was said to once be a demigod tree-man, which withered alongside the Fairy species on this land.
Currently, Shawn could hardly see signs of Fairy species activity here, with only the three Lake Fairy sisters surviving on the other side of the lake, but their forms had been twisted by the madness of nature.
They were created from the last natural spirituality of this land after the end of the Dark Era.
In this ashen forest, another branch of Fairy species—the tree spirits—had been completely destroyed by the Crowmen, and the ancient trees where the tree spirits resided were made into the cabin in the woods, animated by the curse of nature.
"There should be the Crowman High Priest."
Shawn gathered some intelligence from the three Lake Fairy sisters, knowing that the Crowman tribe had a powerful High Tier caster, but it generally wouldn’t leave the vicinity of the Crow’s Nest, which is the huge petrified ancient tree. When the tree spirits were wiped out on this land, the final soul curse affected many Crowman priests, supposedly transforming them into semi-creature, semi-plant life forms. Fairy species are races protected by nature, and if this were in other worlds, the Great Druids of the natural orthodoxy would have stormed in long ago.
The natural orthodoxy is very strong in many worlds, except in the Bizarre Realm where nature has been destroyed and twisted.
The current situation inside the Crow’s Nest is still something Shawn needs to further investigate.
The reconnaissance demon eye discovered a small Crowman settlement.
The Crowman tribe is very scattered because their nomadic hunting tradition means they cannot gather in large numbers, otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to meet their food needs.
The hundred or so Crowmen residing here scattered their nests on the surrounding black trees, building them with wood, thorns, vines, and feathers, appearing like simple, peculiar treehouses. The reconnaissance demon eye also discovered large bird eggs inside the treehouses, but the three-eyed ravens were patrolling, so the demon eye couldn’t get too close.
The Crowman’s breeding pattern had been entirely twisted by ancient laws.
Their eggs could develop into either normal Crowmen or large raven chicks; the probability of breeding beasts and humanoid intelligent creatures is the same.
"If there are nests, then there must be a leader."
"The Crowmen are a matriarchal society where the priests have the highest power. They often wear vibrant feathers, which is a way to identify the leader."
Shawn casually wrote lines of text in his notebook using a zero-level transcription magic.
Zero-level cantrips aren’t very powerful, but they’re very handy. If one could use this to write, the words would appear as soon as one’s thoughts were formed.
——"Social Structure, Habits, and Racial Talents of the Crowmen."
The content of Shawn’s notes is rather straightforward, simply documenting the information he compiled during this time. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖
"In the Crowman tribe, female Crowmen have higher social status, stronger talents, and often give birth to more priests and warlocks, existing as the ruling class of the entire race."
"Male Crowmen have weaker talents but are stronger, usually advancing along the Warrior Path and Wandering Path; they are the ruled class."
"The matriarchal system prevents the Crowmen from being as expansionist and aggressive as the Lizardmen."
"Crowmen seldom leave their habitats easily."
Shawn closed the notebook; the reconnaissance demon eye had already spotted a target with noticeably brighter feathers, guarding near the bird eggs, holding a magic staff that looked like a bird’s claw. Many of the Crowmen’s curios are made from materials of dead peers, which is a fairly simple craft method of re-forging extraordinary relics.
"There are many mutated three-eyed ravens patrolling near the Crowman settlement; the reconnaissance demon eye has a hard time infiltrating."
"How should I execute the decapitation action?"
Shawn imagined this place as a large Lizardman tribe. If he couldn’t infiltrate here to execute a decapitation act, then facing an even larger tribe of Lizardmen with more hunters, he would have even less chance.
