Dark Moon Era

“Get down.” Valencia was annoyed. She felt for Hero because they had to gallop around the grassland for almost five rounds to completely shake off the disgusting purple Udy crows. Hero was exhausted, practically foaming at its mouth just because she decided to save a young teen who was being very irritating right now.

“Oh.” Tang Ling jumped down the horse with the crow’s nest.

Valencia also jumped down after she heard Hero breathing heavily. She stroked its neck and ignored Tang Ling.

Tang Ling did not mind the cold shoulder since she had helped him. He opened his backpack and searched for a seed the size of his palm to hand over. “Here, this is for you.”

“What?” Valencia turned around and saw the seed in his palm. The shell of the seed was black and had red stripes on it. It was round and rich, similar to a stone that was lustrous.

“The holy fruit? Is this the holy fruit?” Valencia widened her eyes in shock. In disbelief, she snatched the thousand-vine sunflower seed from him and sniffed it. The smell shared the exact same fragrance with the holy fruit that she had once seen in Uvandidi Tribe.

“Take it back.” Despite her reluctance, the holy fruit was considered precious and she did not think she deserved the holy fruit for her actions.

“Just take it.” Tang Ling flashed her a carefree smile with his hands in his pockets, expressing his intention of giving it to her. “I said I’d repay you and I can’t find any good stuff here, so I guess this mediocre seed will have to do.”

“This is mediocre?” Valencia’s curiosity of the young teen increased. Legend had it that the holy fruit was from a type of man-eating plant in the Herrockey Mountain Ridge. The plant was considered the most vicious one. Even the most ferocious greedy wolf king in the grassland was no match for it.

Valencia once wondered what kind of plant it was and how vicious it would be. Would it be bigger than the largest tent in the village? Yet, this young teen before her eyes claimed that this holy seed was something mediocre!

“I don’t know. I picked it up along the way anyway.” Tang Ling gave her an innocent smile.

Valencia’s jaw dropped. He picked it up? Picking up a holy fruit in the dangerous valley? Luck sure favors him a little too much! But there seems to be no other explanation either. He looks thin, somewhat scrawny. Even a boy of the same age from the village is stronger than him, let alone the hunters.

“I’m off.” Tang Ling patted his backpack and slung it over his back. He carried the crow’s nest in his hand as he scanned forward and decided to continue his journey. According to the map, Barbarto Village was a little further ahead. He wanted to ask around whether the village had a small black market because he was in urgent need of trading resources.

His intention of leaving stunned Valencia again. “Are you already going off?”

“What else am I supposed to do? I’m trying to get to Barbarto Village. If the sky turns into day…” Tang Ling scratched his head before he could finish, then a thought came into his mind. “Do you know Barbarto Village?”

It was not Tang Ling’s fault for asking such a question. There were a total of six safety villages scattered across the Raqir Plains, but the route that he was going would only take him to Barbarto Village.

In order to make it to the Darkness Port in time, Tang Ling did not plan on visiting the other villages, and since the grassland was shared ground between the villages, the girl might be very well from other villages.

According to Su Siao’s note, he had to reach the Darkness Port before December, which would be the month when the Storm Voyage started. ‘Otherwise, you’ll have to wait until July of next year to locate Zero,’ it clearly stated.

In short, Zero’s name was mentioned many times. He seemed to be a vital character in all this, but as for the details about the mysterious Zero, the note mentioned nothing at all. The only thing that Tang Ling could confirm was that Zero was a man.

The limited details drove Tang Ling mad at times. Where should he start looking for a mysterious man? It was like searching for a needle in a haystack.

He somewhat got carried away by his thoughts.

Valencia, on the other hand, was surprised. “Are you going to Barbarto Village? You can tag along with me.”

She felt a little bashful after inviting Tang Ling to tag along. Even though the girls of the grassland were bold and passionate, inviting a young teen along was a little too much because it seemed to somehow ruin the image of a girl.

“Sure, I’ll tag along.” Tang Ling was thrilled about the invitation. A kind girl leading the way could save him a lot of trouble.

Because of Ms. Black, Tang Ling’s fondness of Barbarto Village somehow increased. In the Purple Moon era, the odds of running into a bad person were a few times higher than running into a kind one. Ms. Black is a kind person. I guess the rest of Barbarto Village is more or less the same.

So, the two of them traveled together and headed to Barbarto Village.

Because of one thousand-vine sunflower seed, Valencia felt a kinship for Tang Ling too, so she showed off her passionate side as a grasslander and chatted non-stop with him along the way.

From the conversation, she found out that the young teen’s name was Tang Nee. He came from the other side of the valley, the branch of a safety village located at the mountain foot of the Herrockey Mountain Ridge.

In his village, every young teen at the age of 15 must go out and train by themselves for three years. From what Tang Nee said, she knew that his village might not be powerful but was experienced in surviving in the wild.

It’s no wonder. Valencia learned many things from the conversation and the two reached Barbarto Village by the time the conversation reached the end.

Barbarto Village was located in the south of the Raqir Plains on a rather flat and short hill. From afar, the huge wooden walls that leaned towards the short hill were visible, forming an irregular circle that surrounded Barbarto Village inside.

“These circular wooden logs are our village’s most precious treasure. Every single log is taken from the Herrocky Mountain Ridge and our ancestors risked their lives to put up the protection for our village.” Valencia was very proud of the walls that protected the village.

However, she was also slightly disappointed. Nowadays, the villagers had lost the courage of their ancestors and became too scared to venture further into Mitos Valley, let alone walk the mountain paths of the Herrocky Mountain Ridge.

The giant wooden logs that formed the walls were huge. Every log was 30 meters tall and 2 meters wide, and they were lined up tightly together. Despite being wooden, they were still able to withstand a lot of danger like the greedy grassland wolf packs or a small wandering zombie horde.

Tang Ling displayed a slightly overwhelmed expression as respect for Valencia. The wooden walls were rather plain and simple compared to the huge stone walls of Safety Sector No. 17. Aside from the major attacks, the wooden walls could barely hold off a small wave of beast attacks from the Hope Barrier.

Exclaiming inwardly, he felt for the people living in the wild since it was rather difficult for them to survive in such an environment. Many records stated that many safety villages disappeared annually. The Drifters would rather roam around than settle down in a single spot to build a safety village. However, he also admitted how lucky the villagers were. For a village to survive until today depended entirely on Lady Luck’s mood.

After uttering the correct code, Valencia brought Tang Ling into Barbarto Village.

Tang Ling saw many cows and sheep behind the giant wooden door. Without a doubt, they were tame livestock in the Purple Moon era. Due to the limited space behind the wooden walls, the place reeked of dung and the smell of livestock. It was not exactly a stench, but it was a little pungent to the nostrils.

Other than that, people lived in tents. A tent was probably the most defenseless structure in which people could live in in the Purple Moon era.

The tents were built among the cows and sheep like mushrooms scattered across the field. There were Wensky spot hounds running around too. These large hounds were the kind that was close to humans even in the Purple Moon era. They ran around the herds of cows and sheep, herding the mischievous calves or lambs back to their respective herds.

The scene felt unusually refreshing to Tang Ling as it was unlike what he had seen before in Safety Sector No. 17.

However, Valencia felt embarrassed. She said softly, “Before the Purple Moon rises, these cows and sheep must be herded back to the village.

“I understand.” Tang Ling smiled as he stretched his body and took a deep breath. He was actually liking the different scenery.

His response made Valencia like him even more. Every year, the Raqir Plains welcomed merchant groups from all over the region. Regardless of how well-behaved the merchant groups were, they would always show their disgust at the village and its wildness.

It seems like Tang Nee really likes Barbarto. 

“Come on. My tent is right around the corner. My amu makes very good milk tea, so you are in for a treat!” Valencia was hospitable as a grasslander should be. The fonder they were of their guest, the more they would share, and they were passionate about sharing the good stuff.

“Milk tea!” Tang Ling’s eyes gleamed.

“Yeah, milk tea, haha…” Valencia’s laughter was bold and joyous.

******

Ten minutes later, Tang Ling arrived at Valencia’s tent. Compared to the other tents, her tent was a lot bigger, maybe because her family held a higher status in the village.

Tang Ling was calculating in his mind while he sized up the tent. He was here to ask about the black market and those with a higher status in the village should know a thing or two.

Other than that, he also noticed something weird about the village. It was around evening time, so it was time for dinner. The cows and sheep were herded back into the village, but the tents showed no signs of fire or cooking at all.

Did the villagers eat raw food? Impossible. Even a primitive man knew how to build a fire to roast meat.

Besides that, other than the cows and sheep, no villagers were seen walking around. Valencia’s tent was in the deepest corner of the village, and along the way, Tang Ling had only seen two other villagers.

One of them was a lonely old man sitting in front of his black little tent while the other was a kid muttering softly to the little lamb in his arms. The whole village was enveloped with a depressing atmosphere.

Did something happen to the village? Tang Ling thought about it but was not overly concerned. After all, he was just a passerby in Barbarto Village.

“Come on in. I’ll tell amu to slay a lamb today and ask erji to make her best ash lamb soup and hand-pulled mutton tonight,” Valencia said quickly as she lifted the door of the tent up.

Tang Ling was drooling when he heard the names of the food, but then he saw Valencia stand stunned at the entrance.

“Abu, why is he here?” Valencia’s face changed for the worse. Evidently, she was unhappy with what she saw.

Tang Ling stood beside Valencia to peer inside the tent. Beside the brazier was four people: a man and woman in their middle age, a young man, and an elderly woman. The man and woman who shared a resemblance to Valencia must be her parents and the old woman must be the amu that Valencia mentioned. As for the buff, young man, he seemed to be the reason why Valencia was angry.

Tang Ling felt a little awkward by the tense atmosphere. Although he was thinking about taking his leave and spending a night with the cows and sheep, he was unwilling to give up on the milk tea, ash lamb soup, or the rest of the food.

“Valencia, you’re late. A girl shouldn’t come back this late,” said the middle-aged man. He also saw Tang Ling behind her and raised a confused brow, “Who’s this young lad behind you?”

“He’s my friend.” Valencia dragged Tang Ling into the tent and he was forced to awkwardly smile at everyone inside.

Without a doubt, Valencia’s actions somehow angered the young man, especially since his gaze at Tang Ling was not exactly friendly.

“Amu, this is a very important friend of mine. Can you make us some milk tea?” She dragged Tang Ling to the brazier and sat him down. Then, she started to ask her mother for a favor, “Erji, can we have ash lamb soup tonight? I want to show my friend our hospitality. I can’t let him think that the people of Barbarto Village aren’t generous.” She nuzzled the middle-aged woman’s face.

“Abu, can we also get a young lamb? A small one will do.” Valencia held the middle-aged man’s hand and begged.

From the moment she entered the tent, she did not spare a glance at the young man.

Tang Ling sharply noticed something strange in the atmosphere when Valencia asked her father to slay a lamb. The family was really troubled by her request, not because they were stingy, but because they were troubled by something else.

Before he could try to say something, the young man was angered by Valencia’s request. “Cia, you must be a lot more cautious! Grasslanders may be kind, but a lot of outsiders aren’t good people. How can you simply drag a man back and call him your friend? Uncle Wenbu, please don’t simply slay a lamb. Given the situation in the village, how can you simply slay a lamb?”

Then, the young man looked at Tang Ling, “Friend, Barbarto Village isn’t in a state of welcoming guests. Since there’s still light, I’ll send you out of the village.” The man stood up, and as if he wanted to show off his muscles before Tang Ling, he contracted his muscles which made him look extremely powerful under the robes.

“Bartu, don’t act like you’re the leader here. Since when do you have the right to send my guest away?” Valencia was enraged.

“Why can’t I? My family is willing to give you a hundred sheep and 50 cows to overcome this crisis. And you will be my wife.” The man named Bartu was also irate. He was not used to how protective Valencia was of Tang Ling.

Tang Ling looked at the man and scratched his head. “100 sheep and 50 cows…is that a lot? I think it’s only a month’s worth of food.”