Chapter 969 God's Trial
After Artemise and the hooded group formally introduced each other, they collected their work tools from the camp and headed into the misty forest.
"We came pretty late, huh? All the coldwood trees on the outskirts are taken. It looks like we will have to venture deeper," said the hooded group leader by the name of Ricardo.
"Fortunately, the air here is quite good. Although we originally moved to New Capital for the fresher air, the air here is still better than back in Durham."
"Right."
The nearby coldwood trees had all been claimed by other groups, even if there were many coldwood trees with no one working on them.
Hired laborers were permitted to set up work zones covering the same number of coldwood trees as the maximum number of members in their groups.
As Ricardo's hooded group ventured deeper into the forest, they spotted a few large groups with more than thirty members.
"Such a large group… Can they even manage it? Aren't they afraid of a dispute over the division of contribution points?" another woman in the hooded group mentioned.
"I doubt there will be a problem like that if the group leader treats everyone fairly. They should be more afraid of losing their work qualification than to let a dispute happen," Ricardo thought.
"Nevertheless, it's good that we grabbed a few pickaxes from the camp. It seems like we will have to work in the ice region. That being said, these work tools have quite interesting designs."
"I wonder if they are really pickaxes and hatchets," Ricardo mentioned.
After the hooded group found their spot, they studied the work tools.
The pickaxes and hatchets they collected from the camp were unlike any pickaxes and hatchets they had ever seen.
These work tools were made of strong metal, and they had runic engravings all over them.
However, the unknowledgeable group, who were just commoners, only saw the runic engravings as random scribbles.
"Does it matter? As long as they have the general shape and form, they are pickaxes and hatchets for all I care. Nevertheless, time is money. Can we start working on the ice now? I want to restore my beauty quickly," the woman said.
"Yeah, yeah…" Ricardo uttered before picking up a black pickaxe.
"You mentioned you were quite beautiful before your face and skin suffered changes under the foul air and sunlight. And your fiancé left you because of that, right? Don't worry. You are better off without a person like that anyway."
Clang!
Shock ran through Ricardo's hands, numbing them after he had a swing at the ice wall in front of them.
"W-what?" Ricardo uttered with shock.
"I'm at Rank 6 Body Tempering, but I only left a white mark on this ice? How are we supposed to break through the ice, let alone chop coldwood trees?"
The other members in the hooded group were also startled by the sturdiness of the ice wall. Only Artemise had a calm look.
"Have you forgotten the instructions on how to use the work tools? These pickaxes and hatchets are tier-2 spirit artifacts. You need to turn the rotary knob to activate the rune power hidden inside the pickaxe," Artemise reminded.
After Ricardo followed Artemise's instruction, the pick glowed with a blueish aura.
Ricardo swung the blue-glowing pickaxe at the ice wall a second time in the next moment. But unlike the first time, he easily shattered a chunk of ice off the wall.
"Wow!" multiple members of the group exclaimed.
Shortly after, two other members grabbed the other two pickaxes they brought and activated their rune power to mine the ice.
"Haha, these work tools—no, artifacts are amazing!" one of the men exclaimed.
"Amazing as they are, they don't have unlimited power. Once the power is exhausted, you will have to deactivate them so they can draw spirit energy from the atmosphere to recharge themselves," Artemise stated.
The work tools all had small spirit gathering runes engraved on them.
"I don't remember Supervisor Owen mentioning any of this. How do you know about this rune stuff, Artemise? You must have been a noble or something, right?" Ricardo made a blind guess.
Out of everyone in the hooded group, Artemise was the only one openly showing her disfigured face.
However, her face was also the least disfigured out of all of them. Furthermore, it still retained some of her former beauty.
"Something like that," Artemise vaguely answered.
"Nevertheless, it doesn't matter what we were before; we are all part of a group and need to work together now. Once we earn enough contribution points for healing medicine, we can finally get rid of these accursed faces," Ricardo stated.
However, Artemise suddenly said something that no one from the group would expect her to say.
"You shouldn't think of your current appearance as a curse that you must remove at all cost," Artemise said.
"Huh? What do you mean by that, Artemise?" Ricardo and the others furrowed brows at Artemise with confusion.
"You were most likely the prettiest woman in this group. I thought you would be the most desperate to restore your beauty," one of the men said.
"Not at all," Artemise calmly shook her head.
"You only feel like you are suffering because you find your situation unfortunate. However, what if I tell you that your current appearance isn't a product of the sun's wrath but its blessing instead? You have been marked by the Sun God."
"As such, you should feel honored instead of miserable. What you have experienced until now is all part of God's trial. You will feel at peace once you understand all that," Artemise preached.
"Have you lost your mind, Artemise? The Sun God's blessing? God's trial? Feel honored? Don't be ridiculous. How can you spout all that bullsh*t?" Ricardo retorted.
His suffering was a blessing from the sun, and he should feel honored?
To hell with that!
Ricardo was not easily convinced, and neither were the rest of the group members in hoods.
However, Artemise had foreseen this.
Artemise knew it wasn't easy for people to believe in her words unless she showed them some proof that what she said was true.