Chapter 598

Chapter 431: Literature

Therefore, Vania told Anman that she wished to immediately go and check the literature of Summer Tree Island. She could have her tribe’s priest help them come up with several methods for hidden rituals overnight, and then Anman could use these methods to persuade the other elders tomorrow.

“Overnight… So you can contact your priest now, and she is willing to help us think of methods right away? How thoughtful… However, with just one night… Can we really come up with suitable hiding methods?”

On the sacrificial square of Summer Tree, Anman said with a slight frown to Vania, who nodded in response.

“Don’t worry. Our high priest is knowledgeable and capable. We have abundant experience in concealing our faith. Although we may not be able to come up with a complete plan in one night, we can certainly devise a small part that will help you convince the elders.”

“A very capable priest, huh? Then… I’ll leave it to you…”

Anman responded to Vania, then led her to his longhouse. In a dark room at the back of the longhouse, Vania saw the Summer Tree literature collected by the Priest of Abundance. It consisted of scrolls of animal skins and a few yellowed ancient books stored high on shelves.

After obtaining these animal skin scrolls and ancient books, Dorothy had Vania draw a magical array on the ground, perform a meaningless ritual, and place each scroll and book in the array to review them. In Anman’s eyes, it seemed as though Vania was using this ritual to transmit the contents of the literature to her tribe’s priest.

In reality, the ritual was ineffective; Dorothy wasn’t an abundance priest. Instead, she slowly read through all of Anman’s collected Summer Tree literature by visualizing it through Vania.

Thus, Dorothy began to gain a preliminary understanding of the Summer Tree Islands and their faith of abundance.

Dorothy learned about Summer Tree’s language and writing. She examined detailed translations of Summer Tree script and Ivig script, and studied Ivig language textbooks. She found that the language of Summer Tree wasn’t too different from the languages of the mainland. It shared many similarities with Ivig and was likely derived from the imperial language of the Main Continent during the Third Era. Summer Tree was probably part of the empire at that time. The language of Summer Tree was not entirely independent like the spiritual seal language of the New World.

Since Summer Tree script was also an evolved branch of imperial language, and Dorothy already knew several branches of imperial language, learning it wasn’t difficult. She grasped most of it within half an hour. As a result, when reading other Summer Tree documents, she encountered few significant obstacles.

With the language mastered, Dorothy began studying the Summer Tree literature. Most of these documents were ordinary texts without poison recognition. They included brief historical records of the islands’ events over centuries, natural disasters, lists of past priests and elders, and production documents detailing agricultural techniques and fishing methods. There were also various customs, rituals, and norms related to the Goddess of Abundance.

Dorothy naturally focused on the third category of documents, which contained the most details. After studying these documents, she gained a concrete impression of the abundance faith in the eyes of the people of Summer Tree.

In the beliefs of the people of Summer Tree, the Goddess of Abundance was a deity who promoted harmony and kindness. She governed life, forests, fertility, harvests, and nature. She was the mother of all life, the mother of everything, the mother of abundance, and the Earth Mother Deity.

The people of Summer Tree prayed to this lady during their productive activities, praying for bountiful crops, abundant catches, having children, and good health. The temple of the Mother of Abundance was located in the forest and was open-air, symbolizing harmony with nature.

In summary, the Mother of Abundance was a typical deity of harvest, nurturing, and nature in the faith of Summer Tree. Most religious activities revolved around Her.

Besides the Mother of Abundance, Summer Tree also worshiped a deity known as the Wave Walker, also called the Wavewalker. This was the sea god revered by the people of Summer Tree, believed to be a loyal messenger and guardian of the Goddess of Abundance. The Goddess entrusted the sea to His control. For islanders like the people of Summer Tree who lived long at sea, the Wave Walker was an important deity. Before every sea voyage, they would pray for calm seas.

On the sacrificial square, the altar adorned with fish offerings and flowers belonged to the Wave Walker. All the warriors of Summer Tree respected the Wave Walker more. They believed their ability to control water came from direct teachings by the Wave Walker to their ancestors.

Yes, on Summer Tree, there was a branch of the extraordinary path of the waves. They had all the ceremonies from apprentice to chalk here. The warriors of Summer Tree, like those of the Abyss Cult, were practitioners of the extraordinary path of the waves.

Summer Tree practiced a method called the Tide Bathing Technique to accumulate spirituality. Beneath the sea surface, there existed a unique ocean current called “abundant flow.” The seawater constituting this current was said to be the essence of the ocean, a spirit-filled sea current created by nature.

This abundant flow drifted unpredictably beneath the sea, appearing and disappearing at times. Unlike normal currents, it flowed in a completely different direction throughout the vast ocean. Areas swept by this current became more fertile, and marine life was naturally attracted to it.

Experienced people of Summer Tree could judge the position of this unpredictable current by observing subtle movements of fish schools in the sea. After steering their boats above the current, they would dive into the sea to search for its location. Once they found the current, they would swim along it with numerous marine creatures in a specific way, absorbing spirituality from the current and the ocean itself. Occasionally, they might even find some wondrous treasures within the abundant flow.

Abundant flows were rare and had thin spirituality in shallow waters but were abundant and rich in spirituality in deeper waters. Therefore, for the extraordinary beings of Summer Tree, diving deeper into the sea allowed them to gather more spirituality, but it also posed higher risks. Deep dives not only tested physical endurance but also exposed them to dangerous predators and strange sea beasts that roamed the depths, attracted by the abundant flow. This made deep diving extremely perilous for those seeking more spirituality. Almost every year, some warriors of Summer Tree failed to resurface due to various reasons, dying either from the crushing darkness of the deep sea or from dangerous sea predators. Thus, practicing such a spirituality accumulation technique required immense courage.

This was the Tide Bathing Technique of Summer Tree, a highly dangerous method of accumulating spirituality by repeatedly diving into the sea. It was an ancient technique passed down among the brave.

And Summer Tree itself was the remnant of the once-powerful faith of abundance and its maritime branch from a thousand years ago.