I ascend to the throne of God with arcane magic.

Chapter 742 Small World Brown Village

Isaac Small World, Brown Village,

In that forgotten corner, there is such an ordinary and lonely little village hidden.

The whole village is filled with low houses, which seem to be bent by the years and lie heavily on the ground.

In the distance, the endless mountains and dense forests are like the back of a giant beast, looming and exuding an inviolable majesty.

All the houses in the village were hastily built with rough wood and hard stones, and looked quite simple.

It seemed as if a slightly stronger wind could blow them away.

A hint of chill seeps through the cracks in the wall, telling of the hardships and difficulties of life.

On the roof, a few worn-out tiles were pressing down on the blackened thatch, which seemed to be crumbling and could fall off at any time.

This adds another touch of sadness to this already fragile residence.

The houses in the entire village are almost in the same condition, as if covered with a dark gray tone.

From the few things outside the thatched house, it is not difficult to see that the people here live a very hard life.

In front of the house, several strings of fur and dried meat swayed gently in the wind, and some picked wild fruits were drying in a wooden frame.

That was their hunting trophy and almost their only source of livelihood.

The fur is dull and the meat looks shriveled and thin, revealing an unspeakable poverty and hardship.

The adults in the village were busy with numb looks on their faces. The luster in their eyes had long since disappeared, leaving only endless fatigue and helplessness.

The women mechanically repeated the actions in their hands, working hard for their next meal.

The adult men left the village early in the morning and went deep into the mountains to hunt.

Their hands are rough and cracked, covered with thick calluses, which are the marks left by long-term labor.

In this barren land, they use their own hands to struggle to maintain their family's livelihood, but they can never see any hope for the future.

In the entire village, only the children's faces still showed some vitality, but they did not dare to play loudly.

They know how difficult the environment they live in is, and the older children have already started helping out at home.

Only the young children were still playing carefree.

Beria is somewhere in between.

His father York was the best hunter in Brown Village, and his family lived a pretty good life in the village.

Compared with Beria's other friends, he could at least have enough food to eat.

But Beria was not old enough and not strong enough to follow the adults on hunting trips.

After finishing some chores at home, he has enough time to play at will.

However, the atmosphere in the village has been very solemn in recent days, and even the village chief, Grandpa Hajik, has a worried look on his face.

Beria and his friends did not dare to play around in the village.

Therefore, the children preferred to play on the hill outside the village.

The hill is just to the east of the village, and next to it is the dirt road leading from Brown Village to Zeke City.

The Brown Village, which makes a living by hunting, has long since cleared the surrounding areas of wild animals.

In order to find prey, they need to go deep into the mountains to harvest enough prey.

Therefore, the adults in the village are also at ease with the children playing around the village.

"Belia, do you know what happened recently?"

"I always feel like something is wrong recently. It seems like the adults are worried about something?"

"Belia, do you feel that the atmosphere in the village is strange recently?"

After playing for a while, all the children sat on the boulder at the top of the hill.

It is unknown how long this huge stone has been here. Its surface is smooth enough for all the children to sit on.

"That's all I know."

Belia nodded and whispered.

"Ah? What is that?"

Upon hearing this, the children around hurriedly asked Belia.

"I heard my father and mother talking, and it seems that the tax collectors from Zeke City are coming here this year."

"Two days ago, the envoy from Zeke City came to visit the village chief of Hajik for this matter."

Belia thought for a moment and said in a low voice.

It seemed as if they didn't want to be heard by outsiders, even though there were only these children here.

"People from Zeke City?"

"I heard from the adults that Zeke City is very beautiful, and the city wall is more than ten meters high!"

"But don't the tax collectors come here every year?"

"There has never been such a situation before?"

The children around were talking about it.

"Oh, I heard that the Hunting Temple in Zeke City will hold the Rune Hunting Ceremony this year."

"If you can pass the Great Hunting Ceremony, you will be able to join the Hunting Temple, receive the gift of the God of Hunting, and master extremely powerful powers!"

Beria said with a solemn oath.

"Wow!!!"

When the children around heard Beria say this, they all exclaimed in amazement.

The children of Brown Village grew up listening to all kinds of stories, the most common of which were about the greatness of the God of Hunting and the legendary stories of the powerful men in the Hunting Temple.

The people of Brown Village may never be able to leave here in their entire lives, and have never even been to the nearest Zeke City.

Children’s understanding of the outside world can only come from these stories.

The children are quite curious about the outside world, especially Zeke City.

"So can we go and participate in this great hunting ceremony?"

"It seems. It's OK."

In response to his friends' questions, Belia said uncertainly.

In fact, he knew all this from eavesdropping on conversations between his father and mother.

However, his parents seemed not to want him to know, so they only told him these things quietly when he was asleep.

He was in a deep sleep at that time and only vaguely remembered part of it.

However, the tone of my father and mother seemed not very good at that time.

Beria was also a little confused about this.

The reason his father was the strongest hunter in the village was because he had been to Zeke City when he was young.

At that time, he also participated in the selection of the Hunting Temple and almost successfully entered the temple and became a powerful temple warrior.

But even so, after returning to Brown Village, Father Eo immediately became the strongest hunter in the village.

The people in the village also believed in his father.

Beria couldn't imagine what could have happened that would make his father so cautious.

His father seemed to be in a bad mood these two days, so Beria didn't dare to ask too much.

But in his heart, he was still looking forward to the opportunity to visit Zeke City.

Listening to Beria's description, the children were all excited.

I fantasize about going to Zeke City and becoming a member of the temple through the great hunting ceremony.

Occasionally, people from Zeke City passed through Brown Village and headed to the distant mountains.

Although those people rarely entered the village, the children still remembered their superior majesty.

It would be great if I could have the chance to be such a person.
Then the children started discussing excitedly.

Guess what the Great Hunting Ceremony will include, guess who is eligible to go to Zeke City, and if anyone goes, bring delicious food to others.
As we chatted, it soon became dark.

The children then noticed that it was already late and they would probably be spanked by the adults again if they went home.

As the children hurried down the mountain, Beria heard some noises and looked up into the distance.

At this moment, a cloud of dust rose on the path leading from the village to Zeke City.

As night fell, Brown Village gradually fell into darkness.

Only a few dim lights swaying in the wind brought a touch of warmth to the quiet night.

At this time, the villagers gathered around the fire in the center of the village, silent.

They looked at each other anxiously, their hearts filled with worry and panic about the future.

At this moment, a short old man with gray hair slowly came in front of the crowd.

The villagers looked at the old man and the whispering stopped immediately.

This old man is Tajik, the village chief of Bulang Village.

Looking at the people gathered in front of me, those who came here were all adults from various families, and the children stayed at home.

Tajik said in a low voice:
"I have told you all privately before. I think you have all thought about it carefully in the past few days."

"What do you think about the temple's order now?"

Tajik looked at the villagers around him and didn't say much.

The villagers looked at each other, clearly trying to think of what to say, but the meaning of the word "temple" was too heavy for them.

No one can disobey the orders of the Hunting Temple!

This is the prestige that the temple has established through countless years of rule.

Anyone who comes out of the Hunting Temple is no match for the small Brown Village.

"village head!"

Just when the villagers were silent, a voice suddenly rang out.

"It's Aeo, just tell me what you think."

Tajik looked at the man who came out, smiled and nodded.

As the captain of the village hunting team, Aeo also has a very high prestige in the village.

Tajik trusted Io so much that he even planned to have Io take over his position as village chief after his death.

Tajik naturally attaches great importance to Eo's opinion.

"The Temple requires additional war taxes. Although we are very reluctant, we have no chance of refusing."

Aeo said word by word.

"But we don't have enough food to begin with. If we pay one more, we'll starve to death!"

After hearing what Aeo said, the villagers next to him couldn't help but speak.

The surrounding villagers suddenly became noisy.

Brown Village was originally quite poor, and the surrounding land was barren, so they had to rely on hunting for food.

Most of the prey obtained from hunting needs to be handed over to Zeke City and the Hunting Temple.

The entire Brown Village is just barely surviving now. If more prey is provided, the whole village will not have enough to eat.

It was very common for people to starve to death in the small villages around Zeke City.

"I know, everyone listen to me."

Aeo glanced at the villagers around him and said in a deep voice:

"But this is an order from the temple!"

"No one can resist the war tax imposed by the temple."

"In other words, those who once resisted are all dead."

Having participated in the Hunting Temple ceremony and almost joined the temple, Aeo naturally knew how powerful the temple was.

Although since then, years of training and the few skills he learned in the ceremony have made him the most powerful hunter in the village.

But he had no confidence at all to resist the temple, no chance at all!

Even if everyone abandoned the village and hid in the mountains, they would all be found by the powerful hunters of the Hunting Temple.

"If we don't pay the war tax, Brown Village will definitely be destroyed by the temple. This is beyond doubt."

"Think about Peter Village. We don't know what they did wrong, but no one is alive anymore."

"As for the food problem, the hunting team and I can go into the mountains to hunt more often. If we are careful, we can get through it."

Aeo glanced at the villagers around him and whispered:

"I'm angry, but I don't want to die."

As Aeo spoke, the arguing voices of the surrounding villagers gradually died down.

In the end, everyone was a little dejected.

They knew that Aeo was right, and they had no choice but to accept the orders of the temple.

"So that's it, then."

Tajik looked at everyone and continued:

"The second thing is that the temple will soon hold a Rune Hunting Ceremony, and all children under the age of fifteen must participate."

"Although this is not a mandatory order, everyone should think carefully before letting their children participate in this ceremony!"

Just then, the sound of horse racing was heard outside the village.

At this time, a team of well-equipped cavalry came from outside the village.

They rode on tall horses and rushed into the village in a majestic manner.

These knights were all wearing elite battle armor, each piece of armor gleaming with cold light, and they exuded a powerful aura that could not be ignored.

The wooden gate at the entrance of Brown Village was as fragile as cotton cloth in front of these knights. They broke it open and rushed into the village.

They stopped temporarily until they saw the villagers gathered in the center of the village.

He looked down at the thin, shivering villagers in front of him, with a hint of contempt in his eyes.

"Who is your village chief?"

The leading knight looked at the villagers and said with disdain.

"Sir, it's me."

Tajik walked forward tremblingly, bowed with difficulty and said.

"Are you the village chief?"

The knight looked at Tajik, frowned and asked:
"You should have received orders from the temple two days ago, right?"

"How are the preparations going?"

"Sir, we have prepared the war tax and will bring it out to you right away."

Tajik said quickly, and then prepared to send a few people to the village warehouse to move the animal skins.

For small villages like Brown Village, the main source of income is animal skins obtained from hunting.

The village also sold these animal skins in exchange for food through Zeke City.

"None of that matters."

The leading knight frowned and continued:

"Where are the children in your village who are preparing to participate in the Rune Hunting Ceremony?"

"Hurry up and let them come out and go with us."

"This"

Tajik was a little hesitant when he heard this.

Over the decades, he had experienced many ceremonies held in the Hunting Temple.

Rather, he still had expectations for such rituals and wanted to join the Hunting Temple through them.

But now, with the exception of Eo, none of the children who left the village for these ceremonies ever returned.

All died in those rituals!

(End of this chapter)