If you encountered difficulties—such as getting lost, being robbed, or needing to transport goods—who should you turn to for help?
Even a three-year-old knew the answer.
Foreigners.
Therefore, Blaze planned to ask the Foreigners for help, but before doing so, he needed to overcome the language barrier. When the Tree of Life chose to sacrifice the Necromancer to the Hunter for him to obtain the Night Watcher Profession, it likely took this very issue into consideration.
[Translation F]
[Can Twist spoken words into the target’s native language, thereby gaining their favor right from the first word spoken.]
This Skill was essential for a Night Watcher when conversing with those wandering spirits. In contrast, a Necromancer lacked such a Skill. Necromancers were dominators who could become rulers of death or the Undead King. They didn’t need to understand others; they only needed to make their targets submit to their Power.
Blaze selected [Translation F], but his body underwent no Transformation. This was an Active Skill.
"[Translation]."
The world, previously quiet with only the sound of the wind, instantly became noisy.
[I really want to eat bugs.] [Blood, blood, give me blood.] [I buried my poop here.] [I need to find a place to bury my treasure.] [A new Tree of Life will be born soon.] [Why do Foreigners always like to dig up the bones that others worked so hard to bury?] [My feathers are so pretty. Ah, I really want to sing a song.] [Hehehe, I’m going to crawl under that Foreigner’s skirt.] [Hey! Human over there, look this way quickly!] [Fart, I really want to fart, but I don’t have a butt.] [In three more months, I’ll become a beautiful Butterfly.]
"Turn it off, turn it off, turn it off!"
The world quieted down, and Blaze was drenched in sweat. It seemed that when used without a specific target, this Skill defaulted to Translating every entity in the surroundings. Furthermore, while marking the sources of the voices in his field of vision, it thoughtfully color-coded them.
For that split second, it felt as if he had been tossed into a spinning kaleidoscope. Under those circumstances, let alone having a conversation, he was on the verge of passing out entirely.
"I have nine Skill Points left. I have to choose carefully," he muttered.
Skill Points were universally acknowledged as the most important resource. They could be used to instantly learn a new Skill or increase a new Skill’s Skill Level, and one could only obtain two points upon leveling up.
"If I think like a Foreigner, to fully unlock a Profession’s potential, I must consider its lore and worldview."
The Night Watcher was a combination of Hunter and Necromancer. Judging by the name, it was a Profession that operated at night, guarding the forest’s nights. The Profession description included [Shadow Servant], indicating it belonged to the Summoning Series, so he needed to choose [Low-level Contract]. [Hunting Wandering Spirits] meant he needed [Soul Capture]. Since the Tree of Life had said that [Life Spirits that die under the tree will become part of the tree and be reborn as seeds], he would also need [Soul Seed].
"That settles these three Skills then." Blaze chose to learn these three. Like Translation, they were all Active Skills, so no immediate Transformation occurred after learning them.
The [Low-level Contract] and [Soul Capture] Skills were relatively simple and literal in their meanings, but [Soul Seed] was a bit peculiar.
[Transforms a captured soul into a seed and implants it into a new body, briefly granting it Life.]
This was similar to a Necromancer Summoning a soul to possess a skeleton, but there was a subtle difference. Each had its own advantages. Although a Necromancer’s Summoned Undead could face Purification by the Holy Series, they fought fearlessly since they were already dead. On the other hand, while a Night Watcher’s Summon would not undergo Purification because it was a new Life, as a creature briefly brought back to life, it might be more afraid of death and possess a much stronger sense of self.
"Anyway, I need to find a wandering spirit to test out these three Skills first. [Translation], target: [Wandering Spirit]."
[Hey! Human! You’re too Proud! How dare you ignore me!]
Something was chattering non-stop, and [Translation] thoughtfully pinpointed the source of the voice. It was right above his head—specifically, in the canopy of the withered Tree of Life. Blaze looked up. The dazzling Sunshine made him instinctively squint. Silhouetted against the Sun, something spread its wings.
"What the heck? It’s a chicken."
Blaze looked away. There was no way he was going to waste the only available slot in his [Low-level Contract] on a mere chicken. Although upgrading [Low-level Contract] with Skill Points could increase the number of slots, he still had many Skills he wanted to learn. He also needed to save some points to upgrade life-saving Skills in moments of danger.
[Hey! Human! You’ve already noticed me, haven’t you?!]
He found the poultry extremely noisy; without a physical body, it didn’t even count as chicken meat.
"Aren’t there any Dragons or tigers or something around? If I go to the banks of the Hundred-Womb Ganges right now, could I form a contract with the soul of that Nemean Lion King I just killed?"
[The soul of that kind of traitor has long since become part of the Evil God’s Blood, drifting away in that river.]
"Then... what about all those other Monsters! The Foreigners have defeated so many Monsters; there must be some wandering spirits left behind, right?"
[Don’t you Blessed absorb a part of the souls of the creatures you defeat? The places where you fight are as clean as if a devout Priest had swept them with holy light.]
The chicken seemed to know that Blaze was just being stubborn and slowly drifted down from the dried-up trunk.
[Don’t even think about looking around. When the Tree of Life withered just now, the Life Force it released was enough to bring Purification to all the wandering spirits in this entire forest.]
"Then why are you still here?" Blaze was forced to lock eyes with the chicken. Not only was it the type of poultry he disliked, but it was also a tiny baby chick.
In the Blessing’s interface, a Profession wasn’t simply a name; it featured a very cool silhouette. The Night Watcher’s silhouette depicted a person walking with a lantern under a starry night sky, with the lantern’s glow casting the powerful shapes of several creatures trailing behind them.
[The great me has been waiting here specifically for you! You bear the residual heat of the stars!]
Blaze looked at a highly unique name in his Skill bar: [Constellation Power F]. He had never heard of this Skill before. When he tried to inspect it, he only saw a blank space, and he was completely unable to use any Skill Points on it. However, both the chicken in front of him and the Tree of Life reacted to this Skill.
"So what exactly is this ’residual heat of the stars’?"
[It’s exactly what it sounds like. What else could it be?] The chicken rolled its eyes, seemingly too lazy to explain further. Its Proud attitude made Blaze unable to resist firing back a sarcastic retort.
"If you are so ’great’, why do you want to form a contract with me?"
[I died before I could grow up. You are a Night Watcher. Souls contracted with you can briefly possess Life and grow once more.] The chicken spread its tiny wings, puffed out its chest, and looked up at the sky. [There should be a place for me in that sky. On the day I grow up to become the rooster of the High Heaven, you absolutely will not regret today’s choice.]
In other words, if he didn’t form a contract with this chicken, all three of his Skill Points would be wasted—perhaps even the entire Night Watcher Profession would be wasted. Waste was absolutely unacceptable. For someone who used to earn only three Copper Coins a day, the one and only thing he had learned was frugality.
Blaze paid zero attention to the chicken’s grand speech, using his own logic to convince himself to sign the contract with it.
[You have contracted: Vidforlir]
"The name sounds pretty cool, but you’ll never become the rooster of the High Heaven," Blaze muttered.
[What did you say?!]
Although Blaze had no idea if chickens even had eyebrows, there was no doubt about its Face Reading—it was wearing a furious expression with raised brows.
"Because you’re a hen."