The Martial Unity

"Wait a second," Kane frowned. "Didn't you already conclude that the Divine Doctor was responsible for the emigration before?"

"Yes, but before, I did not know how," Rui replied. "Looking at the environment, the probability of him having triggered an environmental event that caused the mass emigration is low. Even if many years have passed, something that caused such a large crisis that all fauna emigrated would not be undone so easily. The land and soil are pristine, as are the water sources. There is no evidence of seismic wear and tear, nor any evidence of geological stress."

He turned and closed his eyes as he recollected his survey data from within his Mind Palace. "There is no archaeological evidence of mass death during the period of the Divine Doctor's visit."

"What?"

Rui turned to Kane. "It's a piece of evidence that reduces the probability that the Divine Doctor triggered an environmental calamity. Such an event would have caused mass death, which would mean a lot of corpses that would not escape my senses. Yet I do not sense such a thing. Thus, I can conclude that it was not a life-threatening environmental crisis that caused the mass emigration."

STEP

Kane raised an eyebrow. "What if it wasn't life-threatening but still an environmental crisis?"

"Then it would not have caused mass emigration," Rui remarked. "The Adventurer's Guild recorded a complete exodus of all land animals with only the aquatic animals remaining behind, for obvious reasons. The fact that the Adventurer's Guild was unable to identify the cause also reduced the statistical likelihood of it being environmental since such a thing cannot be hidden."

Rui quickly eliminated impossibilities before evaluating the most likely possibilities. "I think the most likely case is that the Divine Doctor came to this region and did something, probably employing his extraordinary medical prowess that caused mass panic among the creatures in the region, causing them to leave."

"Then why did they come back?" Kane asked, growing curious. "And how does that explain the predators being absent, like you mentioned?"

The flora in the Beast Domain has an even higher variance and diversity than the fauna does. Carnivores can get sustenance by eating whatever fauna exists unless it's extremely

hypothesis, then

Rui's eyes sharpened.

was a

about where the Divine Doctor had gone after the

"If the Divine Doctor triggered a mass emigration without leaving behind any environmental trace, then the only

of grazing animals

Kane tilted his

animals must have undoubtedly retained memory of the Divine Doctor," Rui remarked. "Thus, I'm sure that precious intel on the Divine Doctor lies locked up deep within their brains. There is a chance that that intelligence could help us locate where

forgot about it?" Kane asked impassively.

would be inclined to agree with you. However, this was probably, by far, the most traumatic

can you

Rui replied. "It is a direct measure of psychological impact. And considering the

gestured at the many grazing herds, their images shattered and distorted like misplaced pieces of

is seared and embedded in their memories. It probably caused trauma, among other things. There's no doubt they experience nightmares, especially when it is evident that they are

from them?" Kane asked skeptically. "It's not like you can just walk up to them

actually,"

yeah…" Kane recalled. "Well, worth a try,