Fantasy Starting from the Stone Age - Chapter 31



Only Noblemtl

Episode 31. Such a long time

A new hero is born. A new path. A class of scholars. A position that explores the existing nature and applies it to bring about progress.

However, there are still about 15,000 years left in the mythical era. The end of the prehistoric era. In Earth terms, it is from the Neolithic Age to before the first city-state.

But Daton already exists as a nation in the form of a tribal confederation. So what on earth has Daton been doing for 15,000 years?

Even though Egypt has a long history, it only took about 5,000 years for it to develop from an ancient city-state to launching spaceships and making smartphones.

Now that we know that Daton has a culture that celebrates innovation amidst its conservative ethos, it seems even more bizarre. Why did Daton last so long in this prehistoric age? When other civilizations were catching up.

Here, ridiculing the Datton people for their slow development is like saying, “The Paleolithic Age lasted 3 million years. What did the people of that era do instead of developing civilization?”

Of course, Daton did not know agriculture, did not know letters, did not know mathematics, and his administrative and political systems did not go beyond the tribal level.

But the real question to ask here is, ‘Why didn’t Darton need that?’

The reason they didn’t know about agriculture was because they could eat their fill while wandering anyway. The area was large, and distribution and preservation technology were sufficient, so they could easily support millions of people through hunting and gathering.

The reason there was no writing or mathematics was because the concept of private property, which was the fundamental reason fire stored memories and counted numbers, was also vague.

Why didn’t they have an administrative or political system? Because if you break the law, the spirit that had entered the rules will lose its power and leave, and you will become a criminal called a “dappa”, the lowest class, and be permanently banished from the Daton society.

We should not look for the reason why the world has not developed in the incompetence of paper or living organisms. Environmental factors are very important.

A famous story about the development of civilization and technology is that the Inca Empire on Earth did not have wheels, even though they had a highly developed political system. It was because they were in a mountainous region.

But no matter how much I think about it, it’s too slow. Still, if there was a class of scholars, technology would have developed and agriculture and other concepts would have been thought of.

Fundamentally, it is because the population growth rate was too low.

A high birth rate but low population growth rate means a high death rate.

A high mortality rate means that people died for some reason.

in short.

Famine. However, this is lower than the modern era, as we have the technology to store and transport food in the vast grasslands and the advanced distribution system.

Disease. There are diseases, but there are many treatments developed. It’s not a big deal because it’s a common occurrence in this day and age to have a strong disease.

Hygiene. I know the concept of clean water. Boil everything before drinking. Wash your body thoroughly with fire so you are immune to ticks, lice, and nits.

Accidental deaths. These are gradually decreasing as various technological advancements and attempts to become a mine run become known.

Natural history. Life span is very long, isn’t it?

War. Now, there is only one country in the world, Datang. What kind of war is that?

Suicide. Who commits suicide······?

Why on earth is Daton’s population growth rate so low?

Why on earth are so many people dying?

Usually it’s an external factor.

Perhaps it could be said that it is an internal factor.

Usually, disasters are just sitting there. They don’t just come to you on their own, but they often go out of their way to stir things up and blame the world.

The development of civilization is not this easy.

Since the beginning of the mythical age, the value of the Daton tribe has been one.

Expansion of the territory of the Daton tribe.

The best place for Daton to live is Dator, with its swamps and grasslands. But there is life outside of it, too. It’s just that the magic pressure is low, so Daton and the spirits lose their power.

Daton can somehow survive up to the high magic zone (meaning he can lie down and eat some food), but if he goes down to the normal magic zone, he dies. His life is in danger.

Spirits are similar. Strong spirits can usually withstand even the magic zone, but those weaker than Dutan are too much. Spirits also have a hard time exerting their powers if their magic pressure is low.

The Daton tribe overcame it with technology.

“Okay! Our exploration ends here for today. Let’s go back and eat!”

“good!”

The leader of the group is carrying a Kneeling Spirit Beast. It is a jungle spirit beast. It is a new spirit beast created using the spirit creation principle discovered by Castle Laurent.

You could say that it is a new ‘Chaun’, an area that is still controlled by the old Chaun who shared most of the power.

Now, even if you create a new spirit tree, you won’t be able to do a mine run, but instead, you can create new spirit trees that adapt to each terrain, further spurring exploration. This is to maintain the existing terrain without destroying it and terraforming it into grassland, while expanding the territory of the Daton tribe.

The place they returned to was near the altar that the Raphi (priest) had painstakingly carved out of stone and jewels. The magic power here restores lost vitality.

“I dug up a lot of plants.”

“Yeah. I saw a lot of new animals too.”

And according to the museological standards set by Castloran, when they come to a new area, they start by investigating various plants, animals, and insects. And they learn about their efficacy, value as food, and other characteristics, and they spend the whole day investigating them.

So even though they colonized for nearly 880 years, the actual territory that the Daton people expanded into was not very large. Instead, they learned a lot about the things in that area.

“Okay. This is a new pool.”

“It seems like a digestible grass.”

“But we need to check if it can be used as an ingredient. We eat it.”

“hmm.”

Human experimentation is the basics. When you eat a certain plant, you eat it for a while, mixing it with various foods in every meal. To see if it is really harmless and what happens when you eat it with other plants.

Just one person. There are benefits. If you eat and survive, you will receive a medal. Even if you die, your achievements will be honored by having your name engraved in the shrine installed here. Even if you discover a completely new value, you will receive an adventurer medal.

Progress is made gradually in this way, but the effect is great. The Daton tribe is expanding its territory very quickly, considering that it is a test of life and death.

And then another adventurer comes back. He has caught a strange creature. It looks like a lump with two pointed, flat triangular horns like cat ears, but it has no eyes, nose, or mouth.

“Hey guys. Isn’t this amazing? It’s a soft, fluffy thing with cat ears!”

“Oh······. This is really amazing.”

“Did it ‘evolve’ from Malrang Malrang?”

“I think it might be a little different.”

“I can’t eat soft things.”

“But Malrang Malrang can be used as fertilizer for Homu. It also has high magic power.”

They knew that it was a water tank filled with soft magical powers, so they killed it without a second thought and offered it to the temple.

“Tea.”

The sculpture containing the spirit of the moon makes a sound. It is sucking in magic power.

There was no change. It was just a bit unusually soft. Thinking so, they fell asleep.

The explorer feels a strange pain while sleeping. He knows what it is.

“The magic pressure has decreased······.”

The temple is broken. Since the temple charges moonlight and converts it into magic power, if the temple is destroyed, the surrounding magic power pressure will decrease.

This is a big problem. We need to wake up our colleagues and repair the broken altar quickly. Then, they suddenly realize something.

“The temple is intact?”

But something is strange. There is no light. And soon he realizes something strange.

“The moon spirit is dead.”

Why on earth? Whatever. He hurriedly wakes up his colleagues.

“Hey! It’s an emergency! We need to run away quickly!”

“Uh, why?”

“The moon spirit is dead!”

“······That’s ridiculous! How could this happen!”

“I don’t know! Get out of here quickly! If you stay any longer, you’ll die from lack of magic power!”

They quickly gather their gear and head to the nearest settlement with their spirits. They know that if they don’t receive the moonlight from the temple there, they will die.

They don’t notice that there are two triangular horns on top of the moon sculpture, shaped like cat ears.

“The horsepower pressure is too low.”

“W. Breathe. I can’t breathe······!”

“Hold on. Hold on!”

Using the power of the fire spirits and spirit beasts to their fullest potential, they draw out magical power and head to the nearby settlement.

And what they saw when they arrived were horrific corpses. The dead moon spirits. Statues that had lost their power and turned into ordinary stones. And corpses that had withered and twisted due to lack of magic.

“uh?”

They then realize that the altar also houses the soft cat ears they had caught.

It seemed as if they were about to realize something, but they could not continue speaking. All of their magic power had been drained.

“Kkuuuuuuuuuuuu!”

The kneeling musou that brought them jumps. The spirit beast howls and goes crazy as if its brain has been destroyed. The Datons gather and gather flames.

Please, someone take this memory and investigate what’s going on.

When the ostrich troop was dispatched after hearing that a few of the pioneers had not returned, there was only a single faint flame on the altar.

“It is certain that the moon spirit died due to some accident, and that she died from lack of magical power······.”

“I should check the flame.”

They did it naturally, like Darton, without any hesitation.

It’s the flame that ate the memory, combined with your own flame spirit.

They didn’t see it. No, they just didn’t think about it.

The remaining flames had two triangular horns sticking out of their heads, like cat ears······.

“I remember······what is this?”

The information left behind by the flames is blurry. Nothing can be seen. They probably think it is an unidentified disaster and quickly return home on an ostrich.

The first person to see the fireworks said this without thinking on his way back.

“Have I been in that low-power zone (based on Daton) for too long?”

“why?”

“No, I feel a little dizzy.”

“Hmm······. Eat some Homu. I’ll give you mine.”

He accepts the fruit without thinking. When he eats this blue fruit, he feels like his magical powers are being replenished.

“I feel like I can live now.”

A little later, he returns to the nearby village of Dator and begins mating with his own kind ‘as usual’.

Nowadays, it’s also popular to touch each other’s fire spirits while mating to share each other’s senses······. I don’t know who developed this, but it must be a genius.

Some time later, all the inhabitants of the town, which is classified as an ultra-high-power zone by world standards, are dead.

The cause of death is cessation of vital functions due to lack of magical power.

When the plague breaks out, the townspeople are quarantined, fires are made, and they wait. And then they all die.

When communication suddenly stopped, the neighboring village checked to see what was going on, checked for sparks, and found nothing. The neighboring village was also completely annihilated.

Ostriches come and go in succession as communication is cut off, and before they reach the next village, they go crazy and go berserk. They are killed by fire. Those killed by fire go back to their hometown to relieve stress and mate.

The spirits are running wild. Burn them again. They say they lack magic power······.

It was not long before the south, which had expanded with the dispatch of a large number of pioneering groups, was annihilated.

It wasn’t long before all the Daturns in the southern region of the grassland, divided into high-power zones, ultra-high-power zones, and ultra-high-power zones, died from lack of power.

Additional personnel are being dispatched urgently to investigate the cause of the massacre.

“If you see anything strange, don’t touch it! There’s something there!”

What they confirmed was a fire spirit with two strange horns sticking out of its head and floating around as if trying to read memories.

Spirits that run wild and go crazy. And people who die twisted and rotted away. And sometimes people who go crazy and go wild. Animals that trample them to death, and strangely, the spirits of the temple that release magical powers at will.

The super-super-high-horsepower zone. In the very central area, where people would die of old age at around 60 years old by Daton standards, patients suffering from a lack of horsepower and caregivers suffering from a lack of horsepower are rapidly aging.

And the soft ones around them had two strange cat-like ears sprouting from their heads, just like the spirits.

The worst epidemic that has plagued the Daton race, and indeed all of humanity since then. It is a particularly vicious disease that is particularly fatal to the Daton race, and has caused the death of 50% of all Datons since the beginning of time.

The disease that devoured the moon. It was the moment when the disease that devoured the moon, called ‘Hanjutamal’, appeared in history.

To overcome this unprecedented plague, a hero is needed. Like Ol Chaun, who defeated the swamp demon that prevented people from coming to the swamp during the rainy season and expanded its territory.

Who is it and when will it appear? Let’s find out for yourself now.

“This year’s Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine goes to Dr. El Kashan, who created a cure for the dreaded Daton disaster! The nightmare of all mankind! The terrible Hanjutamal!”

Thunderous applause. Not only Daton, but the whole world who suffered from Hanjutamal applauded and cheered. Those who have already been infected also shed tears while watching the broadcast.

“Dr. El Kashan was awarded ‘unanimously’ for developing a ‘miracle new drug’ that showed a ‘significant’ drop in mortality rate to ‘16%’ after vaccination, a ‘47%’ chance of complete recovery when vaccinated early, and a survival rate of as high as ‘8%’ even in terminal stages, thereby providing a ‘clue’ to solving the disease that killed the most people in human history!”

All Chaun puts the plaque around his neck with tears streaming down his face. He too is moved and cries as he speaks.

“I am sorry that it is not perfect. I give glory to my ancestors and all my compatriots who suffered to get to this point!”

“Hiyahoo!!!”

He is promoted to Mainnirun in a thunderous roar. As if it were only natural, people applaud and praise the miraculous new medicine that was finally completed after 18,000 years of history.

The story of Dr. El Kashan, a modern-day man who devoted his life to preventing the worst disease, is more interesting than you might think, but let’s first look at the prehistoric hero. How did Darton overcome this unprecedented disease?

Actually, you already know the answer.

They couldn’t overcome it. Even in modern times, such garbage drugs are considered miracle drugs, so how could they have overcome it in prehistoric times?

Just endure it. That alone makes you a hero.