Is that a Wisp?

Upon seeing Krune—Wang Hu—approaching them, none of the villagers paid him any heed as the elderly, giving him derisive looks even, displaying that he wasn't well-received in the place.

But, that was only because he was an old coot still alive while the younger members of their village had died from starvation in the past month.

'So, Old Leaf had been picked up by that Yin Beast.' Krune understood the gist of things, turning around as he returned to his house, uncaring. Wang Hu and the one called Old Leaf didn't share a good relationship.

Thus, he didn't feel anything for the other party's death. Instead, there was only the worry that Old Leaf's body didn't satiate the Yin Beast enough.

Krune suppressed the weak-willed thoughts from Wang Hu as he arrived at the backyard once again. 'It's not the time to be high profile yet. I have to first solve the issue of food shortage.'

He looked at the backyard, watching a couple of dried potatoes in the place. The leaves of the potatoes had completely withered. As for the potato grown underground, it shouldn't have been anything worth nothing about.

There were cracks in the soil, showing a sign of a lack of water. Krune then surveyed the other fields, noticing that even though crops filled the place, they weren't healthy, showing minor signs of wilting. 'There's a water shortage. After the bandits raided this place, there's a food shortage as well. Most of the villagers are starving.'

'In any case, let's first solve the issue of a water shortage.' He picked up the Soul Needle, realizing that it had already recovered completely. He then closed his eyes, holding it solemnly as he thought, willing it into action. 'Point me towards a water source!'

This was one of the uses of the Soul Needle, something he had discovered after more than a decade of research.

Usually, the Soul Needle pointed at anything that qualified as a treasure. In fact, it acted on its own. At first, Krune thought that was how it worked.

But later, he realized that he could actually control it. Though, it depended on how specific he was. Otherwise, it wouldn't work. Now, as a mortal, water was a valuable resource, a treasure to him.

As he wished to find an underground reservoir of water, the Soul Needle acted up, beginning to spin in his hand as its radiance dimmed slightly when it hovered in the air.

After that, it calmly pointed in a direction. Krune began to walk in the pointed direction, crossing a couple of farm patches before he arrived at the middle of deserted land. It was unclaimed by anyone from the village because of just one reason: rocks beneath the land.

Just a couple of feet under the soil existed a rocky bed, preventing anyone from growing any crops in this patch of land. Upon arriving at the place, the Soul Needle pointed at the ground. Krune then frowned as he calmly circled around the pointed location.

He watched the Soul Needle constantly change directions according to his movement while its tip pointed at the location. He also varied the height of the Soul Needle by moving it up and down.

After observing the change in the angle of the Soul Needle with respect to the ground in all the cases, Krune determined the depth at which the water was located. 'That's great. It's only a few meters deep.'

It was a simple mathematical calculation. So, it took him a couple of seconds to finish the calculation. After that, he began to walk towards a certain house in the village. 'But first, I must claim this land as mine. Otherwise, I'll just be shooting myself in the foot.'

As he decided to not reveal his abilities yet, he would be considered a frail old man. With that, a source of water would cause everyone to occupy it in their greed, pushing him, the one that discovered it, away.

The house he arrived at was the Village Head's house. He was the one with the authority to preside over land deals in the village.

Krune knocked on the door before turning around to see the Village Head arriving from behind. It seemed he had gone over to check the state of Old Leaf's house.

"Old Wang, you woke up?" The Village Head asked with great familiarity. They were both childhood friends and one of those that treated him warmly. After all, as they were both illiterate, they had shared worries and concerns.

Even though the Village Head's children were alive, they weren't smart. So, he was worried about the well-being of his grandchildren once he passed away. For that, he and Wang Hu jointly invested in gathering books and teaching their grandchildren.

Moreover, when Wang Hu fell unconscious, he was the one helping in secret, using some grains stored in their reserves to help nurse him. Otherwise, in their village's destitute state, it wouldn't have been possible for him to survive a month-long coma.

"I want to claim that rocky land." After entering the Village Head's house, Krune stated his desire.

"It has no value…" The Village Head stopped speaking, understanding the reason Krune had asked for that land.

At present, Wang Hu only owned a small piece of land, insufficient for Wang Hao to survive once he passed away. So, the rocky land, despite being useless, could at least prove useful somehow, in one way or another.

Even otherwise, the rocks there were of good quality and could be used in house construction if the one purchasing it was someone from another village that wished to settle here. Plus, since it was worthless, he could claim it without paying anything.

If the Village Head had claimed it himself, it would cause the villagers to doubt his authority, calling him unscrupulous. That was the only reason he hadn't gained ownership of that land.

'But, I can help my friend this way. Though, I have no idea if that would ever come to happen.' He sighed, lifting his head to say in return, "Alright, if I didn't even help you in such a small matter, I can't call myself your lifelong friend."

"Thank you, brother." Krune thanked profusely before saying, "Also, can you make it like I had claimed ownership of it two years ago?"

"Oh? Have you thought of something?" The Village Head asked in surprise, seeing a glint in Wang Hu's eyes.