Chapter 26: A Terrifying Speculation

Inside the tent, Cang Xu continued speaking freely.

“I served the Sha Ta Clan and have lived in a desert oasis for decades. Deserts lack water and have especially arid seasons. The majority of the oases will dry up or even disappear completely.”

“There was a red frog where we lived. It would bury itself underground deeply and drink as much water as it could, its body size would then increase by several folds as it stores as much water as it could.”

“Then, when the drought came, it would become motionless, like a hibernating bear.”

“During this time, they were exceptionally weak. They could not move at all, and because their bodies were inflated from the amount of water they stored, their skin became extremely thin and frail.”

“However, it is because of this metamorphosis that allows these water bagged red frogs to survive the dry season. And a much stronger beast than it is buried under the seas of sand.”

“This is precisely the charm of nature. The water bagged red frog had found its position in nature. It has a strong ability to survive, yet at the same time it is also weak.”

“It has spared no effort to survive in nature. It could not grow claws, teeth, wings, etc. The more powerful the body, the more nutrients it needs to grow. The more complex an organism is, the more time it takes to evolve.”

“The competition in nature is too brutal and cruel. The pressure was immense. It is unlikely for any species to evolve into things like the monkey bear or the white bone feathered deer.”

“If the environment was relaxed and there was no pressure to survive, life forms would become lazy, fat, and carefree, there would be no powerful life forms like the monkey bear or the white bone feathered deer.”

“Such species can only be artificial.”

Zi Di Sighed: “I have been enlightened and I sincerely admire your eruditeness, Mr Cang Xu.”

Zhen Jin nodded and also agreed.

Lan Zao had already heard Cang Xu’s analysis before and also voiced his agreement: “Without Mr Cang Xu, we would have died in the desert.”

Cang Xu continued: “Of course, this is only my speculation. I do not have any verifiable proof. However, I am almost certain that these strange magic beasts were not created by nature. Beside the biggest possibility of them being artificial, perhaps it could be due to some kind of mineral or the aftermath of a spell that caused these species to mutate.”

Lan Zao could not help but ask: “In that case, who could create so many magic beasts? Is it a great figure from the Empire? Is it the Gods? Only Gods have the great power of creation, right?“

Zi Di slightly shook her head: “It could also be a Magician. As far as I know, legend ranked magicians can transform and operate a Demiplane. Isn’t that like imitating the Gods’ power to create?”

Cang Xu sighed bitterly: “Perhaps a great legend level magician, or perhaps one of the Gods in the upper echelons of the Empire set up an area here for experimenting with powers of creation. This island is not small, yet no one has found it so far. It was located awfully close to the Hog’s Kiss’s sailing route. We were only able to land here because of an accidental shipwreck.”

Lan Zao’s face couldn’t help but turn pale: “This island is too terrifying. An existence that is able to hide this island and create these numerous monsters, how powerful are they!? Killing us would be easier than crushing an ant to them. How odd, why haven’t they killed us already? We have discovered their secret!”

Cang Xu quietly whispered: “Perhaps they are not on the island currently and have gone away? Maybe they simply do not care, or maybe our every move is being monitored by them. They could be watching and taking pleasure in our struggles. Maybe only when we are at the cusp of escaping this island, will they take action and dispose of us.”

Lan Zao couldn’t help but lose his composure: “Then, we are doomed?!”

For a while, the mood in the tent was quite heavy.

Faced with this grand existence, any escape plan, even the great ambitions of the young knight were a joke.

After a long time, Zhen Jin let out a ragged sigh: “Mr Cang Xu’s speculation is hair-raising.

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However, I understand that it makes sense. In light of this speculation, we might as well continue to speculate that the terrain changing should also be artificial. Mr. Cang Xu, do you think that this phenomenon is caused by a divine spell for changing the land or a magic formation with powers of teleportation ?”

Cang Xu: “First of all, I personally think: the shifting terrains are not aimed at us. It would be too easy for the great existence to target and destroy us, there is no need to make such a big move to do it.”

“Secondly, I lean towards it being a teleportation magic formation rather than a divine spell.”

“We experienced the terrain changing firsthand. The entire process happened very rapidly. As if we were in a trance, we went from the desert to the forest. This was very much in line with the description of teleportation magic in the books.”

“I believe the terrain only changes because we are teleported, and the terrain itself has not moved. Otherwise, shifting a large piece of land very often will be too exhausting.”

“Of course, this is all still a speculation on my part. It is like an ant guessing what the scenery from the high clouds looks like, laughable and an overestimation of one’s capabilities.”

“Lastly, I think: the teleportation mechanism which seems like terrain changing, is very possibly the island master’s method to maintain the island’s ecology.”

Zi Di blinked: “May I ask how mister has determined this?”

Cang Xu answered: “I have discovered that it is not just us, but there are also many other vicious beasts that are being teleported to different regions.”

A bolt of lightning flashed in Zhen Jin’s mind, and the teenager recalled the group of scaled leopards.

The scaled leopards should have been living in the rainforest, however they ended up in the forest together with the couple.

Here, they needed to set up their own territory, so they first competed against the monkey bear and later lost against the blade legged spider swarm.

Zi Di looked at Cang Xu: “If these beasts were also being teleported by the island master, it could be for the purpose of making them fight each other and selecting the most powerful monster. It is like the Alchemy Puppet Competition held by the Alchemy Guild, to cultivate the strongest living weapon.”

Cang Xu smiled: “Lord Zi Di your analysis is very reasonable, that is also a likely possibility. However, I firmly believe that it being used for maintaining the ecology is more likely.”

“Don’t you feel that this island’s natural balance is actually in imminent danger?”

“Don’t just look at the vastness of nature, for in reality, it too has a fragile side.”

“Every year the Sha Ta clan hires a bishop from the Sacred Temple of Life to aid in increasing crop yields. I have interacted with one of them and have also had the pleasure of asking for advice from wandering druids.”

“Within nature exists various cycles of life. Choosing the simplest example: plants grow from the soil and are eaten by herbivores. The herbivore’s flesh becomes the carnivore’s food. The feces of these animals, in turn, become the nourishment for plants to grow. After they die, their bones decay and turn into fertiliser for the soil.”

“Nature is full of these cycles of life. Even the most formidable predator will perish from fighting each other, the constraints of a limited lifespan, or to harsh changes in the environment.”

“The Sha Ta clan once had several years of a continuing locust plague. It took the help of a druid master to find the cause. It turns out that the reason why the scope of the locust group had grown and was hard to control was because the bread scorpions that ate the locust eggs had become fewer.”

“Why were there fewer bread scorpions? It was because during those years the Sha Ta clan was beginning to set up their clan cavalry. They purchased a large number of land travelling birds. These land travelling birds were fond of pecking the bread scorpions under the sand when they were breeding.”

“The cycle of life is like a chain, one link interlocked with another. They influence each other, if an issue appeared in one link, it was possible the issue would be amplified and result in a catastrophe.”

Cang Xu spoke to this point and changed the conversation: “There are too many monsters on this island. They are not naturally formed. The burden on the island’s ecology to sustain these monsters is enormous. If one was not careful, the cycle of life will break, resulting in an irreversible disaster.”

“Your words are reasonable.” Zhen Jin nodded.

He thought of the monkey bear.

This vicious silver level beast’s food was ore. Looking at it now, it was clear it had no natural predators.

As long as one allowed it to survive, sooner or later it would eat up all its ore. The heat emitted from the ore veins was always a major influence on that region. One day when it was all eaten up, it would cause many drastic effects like the temperature of the atmosphere dropping.

In the end, however, because of the teleportation mechanism, the monkey bear and the scaled leopards fought each other before finally dying at Zhen Jin’s hands.

The island’s impending crisis was averted ahead of time.

Zi Di’s line of thought broadened: “In that case, the reason why the island master deliberately built the rainforests, forests, deserts, snowy mountains, and other terrains is for the purpose of restricting these artificial beasts and also to stabilize the island’s ecology and keep the natural balance? However, why do I feel; that they want to filter out one that can adapt to all environments, the strongest monster!”

The girl did not abandon her conjecture about living weapons.

Cang Xu supplemented his assertions: “I believe that teleportation is just one measure the island master took to preserve the island’s ecology, they also put effort into other things as well.”

“Take the fire-poison bee for example.”

“Don’t you think that this kind of swarm was made by them to specifically prevent the emergence of a fire in the forests and rainforests?”

“In addition, the environment also prohibits magic. The environment here prohibits low level magic and battle qi more severely than the magic restriction ring in Sky City. As a matter of fact, it's not like a defense system at all, because defending against low level enemies is entirely unnecessary. On the contrary, it is a shackle that prevents these magic beasts from displaying their full strength.”

“Therefore, I speculate that this magic prohibiting environment is actually a protective measure for these magic beasts.”

“Mister, please advise me.” Zi Di took the initiative to ask for guidance.

Cang Xu then said: “The magic beasts on this island are not naturally evolved. Although the structure of their bodies is very stable, they are not in harmony with the environment at all. Furthermore, the magic powers in their bodies are in conflict with each other, thus they cannot easily absorb elements to form a magic core.”

“Perhaps the island master wanted to improve this aspect. They have already achieved a stable body and flesh, an astonishing achievement. However these pieced together bodies had difficulty in absorbing elements. They could not perfectly solve this problem for the moment.”

“Chaotic magic power is extremely unstable and can sometimes explode. Even if one suppresses it by force, the magic power would only erode the host. Allowing chaotic magic power to damage the magic beasts would lead to them all dying within a week.”

“Therefore, they built this unusual environment that prohibited the usage of low level magic and battle qi to protect these magic beasts, which maintains their stability, and allow them to live in the world indefinitely.”

“Concerning this whole magic power business, Lord Zhen Jin and Lord Zi Di should know more about this than I do.”

Zi Di slightly nodded and sunk into contemplation.

Zhen Jin on the other hand looked pale.

He analysed the situation at hand in a low voice: “On this island we discovered bronze, iron, silver, and even gold level magic beasts.”

“According to our current analysis, the environment even succeeds in suppressing gold level chaotic magic power.”

“As such, one needs to be at least at the saint level to freely use battle qi?”

No matter how talented Zhen JIn was, there was no way he could reach the saint level at his age.

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Author’s note

Ps: recommending a good book—— 《起源之祸》/《The Origin of Calamity》This is also of the fantasy genre, its writing is of the best quality. Even the most ordinary system must have a burning heart! There are already 27 chapters, everyone interested in it can go take a look.

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Notes

It's fun to see the dynamic between natural and artificial lifeforms. This subject is extremely prevalent in our modern world today with examples like GMOs, selective breeding, and straight up cloning. These of course like in this book have their own problems with stability, disease, and cost. However this is just the trade off of time compared to nature. The species on our planet and I suppose in the story’s world took perhaps thousands of years to evolve to their current state. To be able to manipulate and accelerate the process would lead to many kinks, weird designs, and perhaps mental problems when creating such monstrosities.

Translation Notes

(惊心动魄: shaking one to the core

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extremely disturbing

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hair-raising (idiom) )

(SYX disagrees lol) (wait…)

Editor Notes

(this thing is probably never getting a translation anytime soon)