Bobbobovic, after listening to Richard’s lengthy explanation, had a rigid expression and remained silent for a long time, "...". He admitted that just from the serious expression with which Richard spoke, one could tell that what Richard said was very persuasive. But why did he feel almost the same as not listening, no, wrong, even more confused.
Bobbobovic tried to make a "very reasonable" expression to hide his shallow understanding. However, he was no ordinary person, he was a wizard, a distinguished one among wizards. After pondering deeply, he managed to grasp some meaning and tentatively spoke to Richard, "
"By your account, can it be said that the glassmaking techniques vary from place to place, and Jialan’s technique is relatively backward, while Rand’s is more advanced?
The reason Delan is advanced is that they choose cleaner sand for their glass making and even remove the ... iron from it. During the manufacturing process, a special kind of purple dye is even added.
Due to some reasons, when the purple dye mixes with the residual ... iron, another change occurs, eventually turning white.
With this difference in color, one can determine that the glass was produced in Rand, so people from the Truth Society are very likely from Delan. And even if they are not from Delan, they must have stayed there. So by going to Delan, we can find more clues, right?"
Richard, hearing Bobbobovic’s words, nodded, "Quite right."
Bobbobovic breathed out a long sigh and slightly tilted his head, "Exactly, ha, it seems simple, doesn’t it? I just didn’t think of it earlier."
Although he spoke casually, he felt incredibly unsure on the inside. He would never admit that he actually had many doubts: for instance, how could there be iron in the sand? What exactly is ferrous iron, and why is it green? What is manganese dioxide, and why have I never heard of it?
Moreover, the most important thing is, when purple dye mixes with green ferrous iron, it turns white. Is this some kind of special reaction, or does it happen with all purple and green substances mixed together?
Bobbobovic glanced around and then looked back at Richard, "Well, now that we can confirm they are from Delan, should we hurry there immediately, or start right now?"
"No," Richard shook his head in refusal.
"Why?" Bobbobovic was puzzled.
Richard explained, "Wizard Vici, you need to understand something. Finding the actual gathering place of the Truth Society is not the key; the key is whether we can infiltrate their ranks and gain a deep understanding of them.
They are a vast organization, and even if we go to Delan now and successfully find them, it won’t be of much use. They aren’t going to trust us simply, and if we try to contact or investigate them, it will only result in conflict. To avoid this, we must make some preparations."
"Preparations? What kind of preparations?" asked Bobbobovic.
"You’ll know when the time comes," Richard said, not providing an answer.
Bobbobovic: "... " suddenly felt like hitting someone.
Richard said nothing more and began walking toward the ancient castle, while Bobbobovic, though grinding his teeth in frustration, could only follow.
Outside, a beam of moonlight pierced through the clouds and cast down onto the ground.
Under the illumination of the moonlight.
In the depths of the forest.
A starving black bear, vigorously sniffing the air, was searching for possible food.
The black bear stepped forward, its steps heavy and its stomach rumbling continuously, feeling almost faint from hunger.
Suddenly, its eyes lit up as it saw a huge beehive on a tree branch straight ahead.
At that moment, the black bear was like a person starved for three days and three nights, seeing a deliciously roasted loaf of bread placed before their eyes. Thinking of the sweet honey, saliva uncontrollably dripped down, "plop plop" falling to the ground.
Without any hesitation, the black bear quickly ran to the tree, stood up to reach for the beehive, but unfortunately, its arms were too short. Even stretched to the limit, it was still at least three times its reach away from the beehive.
The black bear was not discouraged at all and continued to slam his body against the trunk.
With a "thump," the black bear staggered back several steps, while the tree remained unmovable.
The black bear scratched his head, realizing for the first time how surprisingly thick the trunk was, too thick for even an adult to get their arms around. Thus, while strong, it was impossible for him to knock the beehive down by bumping into the tree.
The black bear’s eyes flickered as he thought, and after a moment, his large eyeballs rotated a few times in their sockets, and he had an idea.
Simple, climb the tree.
He was a bear, naturally good at tree climbing!
No sooner said than done, the black bear approached the tree, reached out his paws, clutched the trunk firmly, and strenuously climbed upward.
One scrape, two scrapes, three scrapes...
Due to his heavy body and clumsy movement, the black bear almost seemed like a wriggling worm as he slowly closed in on the beehive.
But no matter what, he was getting closer.
Five meters, four meters, three meters, two meters, one meter...
Almost there, just a bit more...
Suddenly, the black bear’s paw slipped, and he uncontrollably slid down towards the ground. His paws carved grooves into the tree’s surface, and then with a "thud," he hit the ground hard, his bottom going numb.
The black bear grimaced and yelped twice, partially from pain, but more from irritation — he looked up at the beehive, growing angrier the more he looked.
Damn beehive, why couldn’t it just fall down and let him eat? He was so hungry and had no energy to climb the tree a second time.
As he thought this, the black bear’s eyes widened, and it seemed as if some unknown deity had heard his wish: the beehive above suddenly wobbled and dropped straight down.
The beehive crashed onto his head, cracked open, and the bees inside buzzed out, launching an angry attack.
The black bear, however, didn’t care much. He waved his bear paws, fending off the bees while prying open the beehive and quickly licking the honey inside.
After a fervent lick, almost having his fill, the black bear hugged his head and swiftly ran toward a river, jumping into the water with a "splash" to escape the bee attacks.
After a while, the black bear’s head emerged from the water, noting that the bees had all flown away. He snorted loudly, climbed ashore, shook off the water droplets, vigorously shook his bottom, and contentedly prepared to find a tree hole to sleep in. After all, he was no longer hungry, his body was clean, and a good nap would make his bear life perfect — it was turning out to be quite a decent night.
To think, a beehive falling from the sky! Ha, truly lucky. Could there be anything better in the world?
Just as he was pondering this, another beehive rolled out from the bushes nearby, ending up right at his feet.