Chapter 2085: Within the Orc Village

Althea had excellent knowledge of things like molecules and chemical compounds. A lot of scents were based on carbon and vegetation, allowing her to control the particles to some degree.

It wasn’t easy nor was it intuitive. When she was learning this technique, it was very much like trying to hold bubbles with your bare hands.

One of the ways she found to make things easier for her was to just have the pre-prepared ’fragrances’ on hand. She could spread it out like mist, and use her wood skills to integrate it more to her own body, making it seem like it was naturally emanating from it.

In her space, there was a small shelf filled with these ’fragrances’ though some of them were actually ’stenches’.

As for the overall effect, it was similar to the camouflage skill, but in terms of the olfactory sense. Combined with the visual camouflage, this would allow her to be one with forests.

Hence, even if an orc passed by her, they would be fooled to think she was just some sort of vegetation.

As for the herbivores who get attracted by vegetation, she would activate a scent that they hated (she got a few according to Maomao, anyway, after she tested on her). If they tried to sniff or study her, they would step back in distaste.

She knew she was heading to the orc area, she was naturally prepared.

An orc village was originally just a human one. They just took over an existing human village and lived there from then on.

And because orcs had a harder time leveling up, they could stay in village-level wars for longer, giving even more fundamental strength advantages.

Since the village was taken over early, a lot of its subsequent development was very influenced by the orcs. Similarly, not much improvements could be made during this period of time.

Their large size could show inconvenience when entering older buildings. So many orcs developed hunched backs because the doors, and maybe even the ceiling, were all small.

As she had seen upon entry, they had wider roads but were less maintained, their houses were some of the most common wooden houses, and their amenities were basic.

They also had hierarchies, which wasn’t a surprise, and this showed in their living arrangements.

For instance, the predators were closer to the center, while the small herbivores were at the fringes. There were some exemptions, like strong herbivores, but this was generally what was observed.

Speaking of which, the whole carnivore, omnivore, and herbivore designations among the orcs and half-orcs were similar to Terran’s, but there were also differences.

For one, orcs were one race, regardless of their outward form. Their appetite—whether they preferred meat or not—was just akin to human taste. I.e. much like how a human liked sweets, while another preferred sour, et cetera.

This was to say, they were all technically omnivores if they wanted to.

Interestingly, the half-orcs status in the village was not much different from orcs. Whether half-orcs were abused and isolated differed a lot between orc territories. It so happened that this one was an old territory and had a lot of half-orcs, balancing the power scale.

In their case, their living areas mixed mostly with orcs. However, if there were neighborhoods next to areas predominantly occupied by slaves, then the half-orcs would serve as the buffer.

Again, this was a human practice carried over. In reality, orcs and half-orcs might even want to sleep near the slaves as they could be ordered around at will.

Finally, the human slaves were right at the edges of the walls or outside of it, except for those designated as broodmares.

This was directly related to strength, naturally. The predator-types were just blessed with stronger physiques, better regeneration, and so on.

Of course, the ’gentle’ types were still much stronger than humans of their levels, which was indicative of how strong the orc powerhouses were.

Interestingly, she would later find out that this type of segregation was actually heavily influenced by humans. The original arrangements were much more balanced. After all, predator orcs might not be able to stand each other’s scents.

She learned that the ancestral orcs used to have ’archaic’ clans or prides, though not in the ’animal specific’ way that Terrans would probably think of. Orcs, regardless of appearance and meal preference, were essentially one race, so their clans could be a mix and match of different ’animals’.

There were minimal preferences depending on diet, too. After all, if a group all ate the same thing, wouldn’t it just consume resources faster? Orcs evolved to prefer diversity, so an area could provide for both meat lovers and veggie lovers.

Their living arrangement would be more scattered, with family units or loose teams setting camp next to each other. The original orcs were nomadic. Even if some of them settled down, they were using cavemen technologies, and they would still prefer the old way to sustain themselves, like hunting.

Very, very few orcs would actually know how to farm innately. Speaking of farms, there were several existing ones, probably ones from when the humans owned the village.

The orcs didn’t have much interest in farming and the farms are used more for grazing. There were still a few farms though at the fringes, taken care of by the ’gentle’ orcs, most of which were herbivores.

Non-herbivores were also welcome, though. It seemed like ’embezzlement’ was not uncommon if the farmers could directly eat a plant while it was still rooted to the ground.

This was the status quo they had been maintaining for decades, and probably for decades more. The orcs didn’t really care as much for the special buildings of the system, so they had little incentive to upgrade to Towns. The territory remaining as a village was most comfortable for the innately nomadic orcs.

Not that it was easy to upgrade to a Town, considering how difficult it was for normal territories to gather prestige.

This was especially difficult for a territory that had destroyed so many. If there was negative prestige, this village would probably have a high score in the other direction, but sadly, there was no such thing.