Mount and Blade System: Start from Pioneer Lords.

Chapter 502 The Giant Camel
However, Zart didn't come here to eat alone; such behavior would be quite disloyal.

Instead, with another fifty orc warriors becoming even more powerful dragon-blooded berserkers thanks to the blessing of the God of War, Zart felt a sense of crisis. Although he could also sense the blood energy and go berserk, his subordinates, whom he could easily deal with with one hand, now required two.

Moreover, if the other party simply flies into the sky, it really has no way to stop it.

So, in his anxiety, Zart thought of the "Holy Words Manual" that Li Wei had gradually made him practice. At the time, he thought it was too troublesome, so he casually practiced it for a few days without any progress and then gave up.

Now, in order to become stronger, it had to be picked up again and trained all over again.

However, fearing being seen and mocked by those dragon-blooded barbarians, he could only cultivate here secretly.

"I remember that you have to close your eyes, carefully sense the holy light within your body, and then slowly condense the seed of holy light."

Zart had practiced this before and was completely familiar with it. He imitated the posture, sat on the grass, took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and began to carefully feel the sensation.

Suddenly, it felt a surge of energy moving within its body. Could this be the holy light? Overjoyed, it held its breath in anticipation when a loud fart, accompanied by a stench, rang out, startling away several bats hanging upside down from the branches.

"Obislach, what the hell is this Seed of Holy Light? It's harder than learning to fight back in the day!" Zart muttered, kicking a small pebble away.

It felt it wasn't cut out for cultivation and wondered if it should go back and find the old orc shaman, Orak, to learn some spells. Maybe it was a genius at becoming a shaman.

The aroma of food frying on the stone slab interrupted Zart's reverie.

The lard on the hot stone slab splattered continuously, and the snow bananas were fried until golden brown on both sides. In addition to the snow bananas, there was also a large piece of beef and several slices of bread being fried on top.

The aroma of wheat, the sweet scent of bananas, and the meaty fragrance of beef intertwine to create a captivating aroma.

"Let's eat first." Zart rubbed his hands together, took out a small knife, and prepared to cut the beef into small pieces.

This is a way of eating that it learned from its boss: sandwiching meat and vegetables between two pieces of toasted bread, plus a little sauce, it's incredibly delicious.

"It smells so good!" a deep voice rang out.

Zart suddenly looked up, his hand unconsciously reaching for the weapon beside his backside. At the boundary between firelight and darkness, a large figure slowly emerged from the darkness.

The figure quickly became clear as the firelight shone on it.

He was a dwarf who stood 1.4 meters tall, dressed in clothes woven from flowers and plants, and looked full of the breath of nature.

At first glance, the most striking feature is its astonishingly broad body, not due to obesity, but rather a solid, rock-like physique built from protruding muscles.

His face was like a piece of granite roughly carved out by a skilled craftsman, with hard lines and sharp angles.

His skin was weathered and worn, but his most imposing feature was his beard, thick and heavy, meticulously braided into two sturdy braids with an elaborate floral wreath, hanging down to below the sturdy grass skirt belt.

Is this a savage? Or a beggar? Zate was taken aback at first, then curiously looked at the short, stocky man.

"Brave adventurer, your food smells delicious!" The short, uninhibited man came to Zate's side, gazing longingly at the food frying on the stone slab. Zate looked down at the dwarf who was not even as tall as his waist.

The dwarf's clothes were made of woven flowers and grass, and with his thick beard and hair, he looked just like a savage.

"Want to eat something together?" Zart politely waved a sizzling piece of beef stuck in his knife.

Zart figured that the other person, living in this forest, must not have eaten anything delicious, and given how short the other person was, he probably couldn't eat much, so he didn't skimp on the food.

"Thank you so much!" The short, stout man wasn't embarrassed at all and sat down cross-legged.

However, it was rather short; when you sat down, you could barely reach the stone slab that Zate had to bend over to touch.

"You must be a dwarf from the mountains who live here? I've heard that there's a dwarf clan living in Fallen Spring Forest, and that dwarves are all masters of blacksmithing." Zart imitated the lord, pretending to be knowledgeable.

"Mountain dwarves?" The short, stocky man eagerly took the beef Zate handed him, not caring that it was hot, and stuffed it into his mouth, mumbling his rebuttal. "I'm not one of those short, stocky men who only know how to forge blacksmiths, drink, and then blow their beards and glare."

"Eat slowly!" Zart thought this guy was even more terrifying than him when it ate; even if you put a pig in front of it, it would be eaten down to the bone.

The short, stocky man soon paid the price for his rudeness, clutching his neck and struggling to breathe.

Zart was genuinely afraid the other person would choke to death in front of him, so he quickly handed over the animal skin water bag that he had just opened.

The short, stout man grabbed the spout and took a big gulp, his complexion visibly improving: "Thank you so much! Please forgive my rudeness, I haven't eaten such delicious food in a long time."

The short, stout man clearly felt it wasn't right to eat and drink for free, so he conjured up two pieces of food, each the size of an ostrich egg but with patterns on the surface, and handed them to Zate.

Zart took the bird egg-like food and felt that although it was not big, it was surprisingly heavy in his hand, weighing at least a hundred pounds. He watched as the other person cracked open the shell and sucked it directly into his mouth, and he followed suit.

"It tastes good." Zart took a sip. It was soft and chewy, a bit like a banana, but not solid; it was liquid. It was sweet with a fruity aroma and a hint of alcohol, and the taste lingered in his mouth for a long time.

“What is this?” Zart asked.

"This is a specialty of Falling Spring Forest called Weituo Fruit," the short, stout man said with some pride. "No one but us Flower Camel Giants has the good fortune to taste it!"

“Flower…flower what?” Zart picked at his ear, thinking he had misheard.

It stared at the round, chubby figure sitting on the grass, its head barely reaching its waist but nearly as wide as itself. Its enormous green hand gestured the figure's height, then its own waist, its face a clear "Are you kidding me?" expression. If the figure claimed to be a dwarf, Zart would believe it a thousand times over, but a giant? That was utter nonsense!

"The Flower Giant!" The dwarf swallowed the beef, puffed out his surprisingly broad chest, and spoke with an undeniable pride, despite the grease still clinging to his beard: "Our race is an ancient bloodline blessed by nature, born druids."

Zart grinned, revealing his fangs. He wanted to laugh but felt it would be impolite, so he slapped his thigh hard: "A giant? You? Hahaha... Uh, I mean, you are indeed quite huge."

It pointed to the dwarf's shoulders, which were as broad as rocks, and his thick chest.

The dwarf seemed used to Zart's reaction. He casually picked up another piece of crispy fried banana with his fingers and said slowly, "Young man, you can't judge things by their height alone. The height of a mountain is one thing, but isn't the width and thickness of a mountain also a kind of grandeur? We, the Flower Giants, pursue a state of mind as steady and profound as the earth. Isn't that another kind of height?"

As he spoke, he patted his legs and waist, which were as muscular as gnarled old tree roots, under his grass skirt, making a dull "thump thump" sound.

Zart was skeptical, feeling that this touched on a blind spot in his knowledge. He could understand things like mountains and hearts separately, but when put together, they just conveyed a sense of simple and honest simplicity.

"I never imagined that we Flower Camel Giants would have disappeared from the orcs' memories." The short, stout man felt a strange sense of melancholy.

“Then tell me about it, maybe my boss knows.” Zha Manzi knew he couldn’t keep up the act of being knowledgeable, so he simply gave up: “I’m just a captain of a rural militia, I’ve never seen much of the world.”

The short, stocky man wiped the oil off his beard, cleared his throat, and his voice became deep and resonant, as if carrying the echo of the forest: "That was a long, long time ago. Back then, Luoquan Forest was much larger than it is now, stretching all the way to the horizon. We were the giants who guarded this forest, as tall as the mountains and as old as the ancient trees."

Zart couldn't help but glance at the other person's stocky height again, grinned, but still patiently listened.

"Later, everything changed. The elemental tides rose and fell, and the forests shrank. We realized that just growing taller wasn't enough; we needed to be as stable as mountains and as solid as the earth to withstand the wind and rain. So, as time passed, we gradually adapted to the world after the elemental tides and became what we are now." The short, stocky man patted his rock-like chest, making a loud thud. "Don't let my current appearance fool you; I could easily overturn the strongest Orphan warrior in your orc kingdom, the Olefin Mammoth Warrior!"

Zart imagined the scene of this wide mound overturning Van Gogh's orca warrior and found it a bit comical, but for some reason, he felt that the other party didn't seem to be bragging.

"You actually know about our orc kingdom?" As an orc, Zart had naturally heard some bits and pieces about the orc kingdom.

But I learned more about him from Elder Tang Jin.

“During the war between the sea creatures, I fought alongside your orc kingdom against the sea creatures that invaded the land from the Gem Sea.” The short, stout man said with some disdain, “Back then, almost every orc could go berserk. Unlike now, where only a bunch of Minotaurs can do a half-baked berserk.”

“Obi-Slachi!” Zart felt a chill run down his spine for no apparent reason. In the darkness not illuminated by the firelight, it felt as if countless eyes were staring at him. Could this thing in front of him be a ghost that has lived from ancient times to the present?

But the short, stout man looked pitifully at the orc in front of him.

To be honest, the remnants of the orc kingdom don't even know their former country, which is another kind of tragedy.

But looking at the other person's shadow in the firelight, Zart remembered that his boss had said that ghosts don't have shadows, so the other person must be a living person. He could only cautiously ask, "Brother, how old are you?"

"Me?" The short, stout man became unusually sentimental. "We Flower Camel Giants have a lifespan that even elves and dragons can hardly match. The long years have even made me forget my age. I only remember that when I first arrived on this continent, it was a desolate wasteland, but now it has become the most beautiful and vast forest on this continent."

"It turns out to be a respected old man!" Zart breathed a sigh of relief, as long as he wasn't a ghost.

Otherwise, it would be too frightening for the beasts to be out so late at night.

Seeing that the other person was somewhat sad, Zart cut a large piece of beef, sandwiched it between two slices of golden bread, added a few slices of fried banana, and handed it over: "Alright, respected elder, try this, it's my boss's unique way of eating it."

The short, stocky guy took the bread, which was enormous to him, held it with both hands, took a big bite, and his eyes lit up. He exclaimed in a low voice, "Mmm! Delicious! This combination is amazing! What do you guys call this?"

“Our boss calls this a ‘hamburger.’” Zart made one for himself and chewed it heartily.

"What a strange nickname," the short, stocky man commented.

“We, the Flower Camel Giants, are not only shepherds of the forest, but also druids who uphold the principles of nature and balance. Not long ago, I heard from the little boars in the forest that a group of vicious bandits had come here, specializing in hunting magical beasts, so I came to take a look. We Flower Camel Giants cherish life very much and believe that every magical beast has the right to live. We hope to maintain the balance of the forest.” The short, stout man spoke slowly, as if he hadn’t spoken to anyone in a long time.

"So, you've come here to cause us trouble?" Zha Manzi immediately became alert.

"Don't be nervous, young man." The short, stocky man smiled. "If I were looking for trouble, would I be sitting here having a nice chat with you?"

"Although we Camel Giants love life, we also believe in balance and destiny. As long as you don't deliberately hunt monsters and destroy forests, it's a kind of balance in our eyes."

"After all, if these magical beasts hadn't attacked you on their own initiative, why would they have paid the ultimate price?"

"The giant camel loves all lives equally, and so do you."

Zart scratched his head, thought about it for a moment, and realized that was indeed the case.

They carried enough supplies and had no shortage of food. If these magical beasts hadn't attacked them, they wouldn't have bothered to waste time hunting them.

Just like that ivory pig that runs away when it sees them, they generally don't chase after it.

"To be honest, I wouldn't normally meet strangers. My long lifespan has made me used to loneliness, and I no longer enjoy meeting new life. I don't even know if those elves and dragons I knew back then are still alive. Making new friends while watching old friends gradually disappear in my long lifespan is really not a good thing." There was a faint sadness between the short, stout man's brows.

He turned to Zart: "But orc lad, do you know why I still chose to come out and see you?"

"Because I'm handsome?" Zart touched his face, unable to contain his pride.

(End of this chapter)