Brie tilted her chin slightly, looking at Bugs Bunny with a serious expression and saying, "We are free cats, we have cat dignity!"
"Exactly!" Ritz kept nodding beside her.
Bugs Bunny responded with a disdainful look, and just as he was about to speak, Leyton quickly picked up a fruit and stuffed it into his mouth.
After silencing Bugs Bunny, Leyton looked at Glenn again and asked, "Their characteristics come from you?"
Glenn nodded gently, a slow smile gracing her lips, as if recalling something amusing.
"Not entirely. Before I met them, they had already been corrupted by the Beyonder characteristic that had seeped out from a deceased Savant."
"There happened to be a group of cats lingering at the place where that Beyonder died. After being corrupted by the Beyonder characteristic that had seeped out from that Savant, those kittens underwent varying degrees of mutation, and ultimately, only these two stubbornly survived."
"The Savant's characteristic made them much smarter. After they met me, they directly used adorable and charming antics to get me to take them in."
"Although I knew they were faking it, who could refuse two cute and intelligent kittens?"
Leyton's gaze subconsciously fell on Brie and Ritz beside him. The two cats' bodies suddenly stiffened, seemingly recalling some unpleasant memories.
Leyton raised an eyebrow, opening his mouth slightly, his words carrying a subtle spiritual fluctuation that subtly influenced the emotions of those who heard them:
"Didn't you say you had cat dignity?"
A human-like struggle appeared on Brie's cat face, but Ritz spoke without hesitation:
"The premise of having cat dignity is having a cat life. She just waved her hand, and we were directly moved from our base to stand before her."
"She even crushed a very powerful, very terrifying Werewolf right in front of us. She just gently raised her hand, and then that Werewolf was gone, turning into a pile of grayish-white Beyonder characteristics."
As he spoke, the fat on chubby Ritz's body trembled a few times, as if just recalling the scene at the time was terrifying enough for a cat.
"After that, she even introduced us to what Beyonder characteristics were, telling us that our increased intelligence was also due to having absorbed some Beyonder characteristics earlier."
"These two versions of the story differ quite a bit." Leyton's mouth twitched slightly. He subtly glanced at Glenn opposite him, seeing her still elegant and composed, occasionally sweeping her gaze over Ritz who was speaking.
"Poor Ritz, I hope you can make it through tonight safely." Leyton silently offered a perfunctory prayer in his heart, then looked at Glenn, inquiring about the Primordial Moon's Blessed.
Glenn pondered and shook her head, saying, "The Primordial Moon's gaze has always been fixed on him. I haven't observed him closely."
"He's been constantly active in Paz River Valley, perhaps for his own advancement ritual to Pallbearer, or perhaps to draw down more power from the Primordial Moon."
"What is the Pallbearer's ritual?" Leyton asked curiously.
Glenn shook the cup in her hand and mused, "To sow the seeds of life, create a vibrant area, harvest it, and then bury it with your own hands."
"Personally bury a Sequence 3 of the Darkness, Death, or Twilight Giant pathways, witnessing their entire journey from birth to death and return to the earth?"
Glenn chuckled and explained, "The focus of this ritual is to experience the process of life from birth to death, the continuation of life generation after generation."
"Only by understanding the greatness of life can one become a qualified Mother."
Leyton nodded in understanding, muttering softly to himself, "Beyonders who embark on this Pathway are all becoming a Mother step by step!"
The two then conversed for a while until dinner ended. After paying the bill, Leyton took Bugs Bunny back to the inn he was staying at.
Under the dim streetlights, Bugs Bunny walked and said, "Those two cats have a metallic smell about them, like a Savant who tinkers with machines all day."
"I don't recall the Planter pathway having any enhancement to smell? Your sense of smell is almost on par with a Sanguine."
Leyton murmured, somewhat suspecting that Bugs Bunny had not only been corrupted by the Planter's characteristic but also by some Vampire characteristics, which was why he exhibited such a powerful sense of smell.
After walking a few steps, he saw three or two homeless people huddled together in a spot not reached by the gas streetlights, with suppressed groans occasionally audible.
"They are all sick. If they don't get treatment, they will gradually die within the next two days."
Bugs Bunny's gaze merely swept over them, quickly assessing their condition.
"Everyone? Can you tell the cause of their illness?"
Leyton frowned slightly. The weather in Paz River Valley had been good these past two days, and ordinary illnesses shouldn't cause so many homeless people to fall ill at the same time.
As he spoke, he approached the corner where the homeless people were gathered, wanting to observe the situation up close.
Just as he took a step, Bugs Bunny tugged at his pants, staring seriously at the homeless people gathered in the shadows and saying, "It's an infectious disease. It's best not to have close contact with them."
"It's fine, ordinary diseases cannot affect me."
He responded softly, then walked towards the group of homeless people, simultaneously rubbing his fingers gently, creating shimmering starlight. These starlight quickly turned golden, emanating a bright, brilliant, and pure warm glow.
The sacred light of the Sun domain has Purification capabilities against most diseases. After these lights fell, Leyton found that the expressions on the faces of the surrounding homeless people hadn't changed much. Instead, the sudden light made them uncomfortably close their eyes.
"You try." Leyton looked down and said to Bugs Bunny at his feet.
Bugs Bunny nodded, his furry rabbit face solemn. He took two steps forward, approached a homeless man lying on the ground, extended his two paws, and rhythmically patted the homeless man for a while.
Then, sharp, keen claws grew from his grayish paws, and he lightly scratched the homeless man's arm. Dark red blood immediately flowed out, appearing extremely turbid, with a faint tendency to coagulate.
It wasn't until a pool of dark red seeped onto the ground that the blood on the homeless man's arm turned from dark red to bright red.
Bugs Bunny nodded in satisfaction, then spread his spirituality, scattering patches of emerald green light spots. These light spots quickly merged into the homeless man's body.
The wound on his arm, scratched by Bugs Bunny, healed at a visible rate, and his pale complexion also gained some color.
"Cough~ cough~"
The homeless man, who had been unconscious, let out a short cough, seemingly about to wake up soon.
Leyton's gaze swept around. He spread his spirituality, creating shimmering starlight in the air. These starlight points condensed, rapidly forming a translucent liquid with a small amount of gold.
Infused with a rich aura of the Sun domain, these pale golden liquids were evenly dispersed by him onto every homeless person around. Although they couldn't directly Purify the diseases on them, they could at least dispel the cold.
Having done all this, his eyes instantly became extremely deep, like the sea before a storm.
In this state, his eyes clearly lost focus, appearing vast and empty.
Through his glimpse into fate, he saw the source of the disease that infected this group of homeless people:
It was a dirty homeless man with disheveled hair and dark skin, but exceptionally clear eyes. He didn't look old, but he gave off an extremely aged feeling.
He held a mushroom with pale blue fluorescent patterns in his hand and said excitedly, "I found a strange mushroom that can fill our stomachs. They grow on both sides of the riverbank, and there are many. Although they don't have much taste, they are very filling."
"This brightly colored mushroom is clearly poisonous!"
Beside him, a homeless man of indeterminate age said disdainfully, then lay in the Sun, closing his eyes to rest and conserve his energy, hoping he might make it through the winter.
"I'm still alive, which means it's not poisonous!" the homeless man declared confidently, but no one believed him.
Until some people began to endure the hunger and severe cold, choosing to try this brightly colored mushroom rather than be poisoned to death now or freeze or starve to death overnight.
Soon, almost all the homeless people, and even some impoverished individuals, began to go to the river to pick this strange mushroom.
"This mushroom is a gift from the great Mother. She mercifully cares for every child…"
"We all grew up drinking the water of Paz River, we are all children of the great Mother River, every one of us is born equal. It's just that some rebellious children have seized the resources that belong to us. Since we cannot reclaim what is ours, why not seek help from the great Mother?"
Leyton's eyes gradually cleared as he looked at the homeless people around him, who had fallen into a deep sleep after receiving the sun sacred water's baptism, his thoughts constantly swirling.
"Were those mushrooms used to spread disease? Perhaps it was just one of their uses… using the New Church's tactics to promote the great Mother. Those Followers of the Primordial Moon learned quite quickly, but this also indicates that Sasrir's New Church had already been targeted by them."
After a moment of thought, he lowered his gaze to Bugs Bunny at his feet and asked, "Can you completely cure their illness?"
Bugs Bunny nodded gently, then shook his head twice, saying with a conflicted tone, "Their illness isn't difficult to treat, but after contracting this disease, their bodies and spirits seem to be slowly undergoing a mutation. This mutation cannot be repaired; their bodies have accepted it as part of a normal change."
"Normal change?" Leyton mused.
Bugs Bunny nodded, a paw gently caressing his chin, looking as if he was deep in thought and said, "This change is the cause of their illness, like a rejection reaction produced by the body after symbiosis with some substance."
Leyton nodded gently and then mused, "Let's go back to the inn first. Tomorrow, we'll go to the Church of Nature in Harvest Plain. We need to get the people from the Church of the Earth Mother to come quickly."
As he spoke, he raised his hand and tugged at the shadow in front of him. The invisible shadow transformed into a veil of night, miraculously concealing the traces he had left.
Having done all this, he bent down and lifted Bugs Bunny onto his shoulder, and his figure then transparently disappeared.