Ulfric looked up at the oak tree, its tall canopy like an umbrella covering the area below.
Vargarr had already entered the tree hollow, and a strange drumming sound came from inside, as if some ritual was taking place, with low, rhythmic drumbeats.
"What's happening?" Ulfric leaned against the side of the tree hollow, stepping over a pile of animal bones on the ground, his hand brushing against the moss-covered tree walls.
"Choo Choo Choo Choo Choo~" A dull horn blast echoed, and Ulfric saw a group of bald men dressed in linen.
One of them, with a face smeared in crimson and white ash, raised a horn and blew it with all his might, the sound reverberating through the tree hollow.
On a dim stone altar, surrounded by these strange bald men, sat a disheveled person covered in feathers and animal teeth, their head wrapped in black cloth.
Their shoulders rhythmically swayed with the drumbeats, and Vargarr was already kneeling on one knee before the altar.
"What are they doing?" Ulfric, curious, moved closer to Vargarr and asked him.
"Quiet, the Seer is communicating with the gods," Vargarr, who usually lacked such caution, carefully said to Ulfric.
"So, it's a sacrifice," Ulfric hadn't expected to encounter a Viking sacrificial ceremony.
He secretly observed as a bald priest picked up a tube-like object, aimed it at the Seer on the stone altar, and forcefully blew out a puff of green smoke.
The smoke had a strong, pungent smell.
"Cough, cough, cough, what the heck is this?" Ulfric couldn't help but cough a few times, but Vargarr beside him looked delighted.
He lifted his head, his nostrils flaring, and inhaled deeply, as if trying to draw all the strange green smoke into his body.
At this moment, Ulfric also frowned slightly.
He felt his head throbbing, and his vision began to blur.
Just then, the priests' drumming grew clearer, as if pounding frantically in his ears.
Ulfric couldn't help but cover his ears; his head felt like it was about to explode.
"Hee-haw~" A faint neighing of a warhorse echoed, now far, now near, which greatly puzzled Ulfric.
They were clearly deep inside a tree hollow, so why would he hear the sound of a warhorse?
But when he opened his eyes, he found himself standing in a vast, snowy expanse.
"Me, how did I end up here?" Ulfric looked around in surprise.
He could even feel his breath turning white as he exhaled.
He stretched out his hands, and large goose-feather snowflakes drifted down, landing on his palms with a bone-chilling coldness.
The sky and the snowy ground seemed to merge into one.
As he looked around in a daze, he heard the neighing of warhorses from above, which greatly astonished Ulfric.
He couldn't help but look up, only to see an even more shocking sight: three maidens, dressed in thin gauze with their graceful figures faintly visible, appeared above him, riding white flying horses.
Their faces were radiant and beautiful, sacred and inviolable, and each held a golden spear in their hand, leaving trails of rainbows behind their flying horses.
"Valkyries? This is impossible," Ulfric was stunned, muttering in disbelief.
He knew that Valkyries were merely warrior maidens from Norse mythology, impossible to appear in reality, yet he was witnessing them with his own eyes.
Suddenly, one of the Valkyries flew towards him, extending a fair, slender arm in mid-air and pulling him onto the horse's back.
Ulfric wrapped his arms around the Valkyrie, his nostrils immediately filled with the maiden's fragrant body scent.
Embracing the Valkyrie's waist, he felt her soft body—everything was too real.
Snow mixed with wind lashed against Ulfric's cheeks.
The other two Valkyries were on his left and right.
The swirling snow mist obscured the path ahead, but Ulfric distinctly felt them flying forward.
Soon, the mist gradually dissipated, and Ulfric saw a massive Viking longhouse on an ice lake as flat as a mirror.
Its roof was made of countless spears, and its walls soared into the clouds.
"Oh, wow?" When Ulfric came to his senses, he found himself standing at the entrance of a giant gate.
A giant wolf with a chain around its neck was opening its massive, drooling maw, its fiery red eyes fixed on Ulfric.
Just then, the giant gate slowly opened a crack, golden light streamed out, and the sounds of ancient warriors laughing and drinking also emerged from within.
"Is this Valhalla?" Ulfric was once again shocked.
He had always thought all of this was myth, but now he was seeing it with his own eyes, and he couldn't help but step towards Valhalla.
"Wake up, wake up!" Just then, an annoying man's voice reached Ulfric's ears, making him extremely irritated.
He waved his arms, but then his cheek was struck heavily.
"Ooh~" Ulfric gasped sharply, his lungs aching, the pungent smell still lingering in his nostrils.
He couldn't help but cough violently a few times.
"You cannot go there yet," a woman's voice suddenly came from above.
Ulfric rubbed his eyes and realized he was still in the Seer's tree hollow, with Vargarr sitting beside him.
"I saw Valhalla," Ulfric blurted out uncontrollably.
He touched his cheek, which was stinging, and couldn't help but glare at Vargarr beside him.
Clearly, the culprit was this guy pretending to be innocent.
"Impossible, only true Viking warriors can see Valhalla, you bragging slave!" Vargarr frowned, huffing and puffing, clearly believing that a slave had no right to see Valhalla.
"I saw it," Ulfric affirmed.
"Alright, there's no need for you two to argue.
It's not strange to see anything during the ritual," the Seer said quickly to them, looking at Vargarr who was about to pounce on Ulfric.
"Hmph," Under the Seer's intervention, Vargarr gave up the idea of hitting him.
However, he quickly remembered his purpose, "Seer, I was the first to arrive here, please grant me a precious token."
"Oh?" The Seer looked thoughtfully at Vargarr.
She seemed to know the purpose of Vargarr and Ulfric's visit.
"What was that smoke, was it made from poisonous mushrooms?" Ulfric, however, was lost in thought about his hallucination.
He remembered that Norse people had a history of consuming poisonous mushrooms that grew in the Black Forest.
They would dry and ingest these poisonous mushrooms, and it was said that some warriors would consume them before battle, becoming berserkers under the stimulation of the toxins.
"Oh?" The Seer looked at Ulfric with even more interest.
A strange expression appeared on her face, which was painted with black dye around her eyes and white dye elsewhere.
"How is that possible? I've eaten those mushrooms, and they couldn't possibly produce that effect," Vargarr said impatiently.
"Choose!" A mysterious smile appeared on the Seer's lips.
She rummaged through a pile of wooden boxes beside her for a moment, then placed several items in front of the two.
"Gold?" Vargarr was attracted by the glittering metal before him.
One item was a pile of golden jewelry, radiating a beautiful luster.
The second item was a pile of pearls, each plump and round.
The third was a small handful of barley grains.
"Who arrived first?" The Seer placed the items in front of them and said calmly.
"It was me, I'll choose first," Vargarr eagerly reached out and gathered the golden ornaments into his arms.
However, his eyes still glanced at the pearls, seemingly unable to decide which of the two items was more valuable.
"I choose this," Ulfric frowned slightly, then unhesitatingly wrapped up the barley grains.
His choice greatly surprised Vargarr.
"A handful of barley grains? You actually chose this, hahahaha!" Vargarr burst into laughter.
The gold in his hand could buy several cartloads of barley, meaning he had surely won.
"Interesting," the Seer, however, looked at Ulfric curiously.
A subtle expression, hard to discern, flickered in her blue eyes, as if she had never seen Ulfric before.
"Seer, I have come from afar, if possible, please grant me advice and prophecy," Vargarr, satisfied, picked up the gold and asked the Seer.
"Your choice is the prophecy," the female Seer sat back on the stone altar and said to Vargarr.
"Gold?" Vargarr frowned, picking up the gold in his hand, not understanding what gold had to do with his future.
"It is wealth; you will surely acquire great wealth, esteemed Viking warrior," the female Seer nodded slightly and said to Vargarr.
"Haha, then what if I had chosen the pearls?" Vargarr said with a satisfied smile, but then looked at the pearls before him and asked the female Seer.
"Pearls symbolize prestige," the female Seer patiently explained.
"Oh, what a pity, but having wealth isn't bad either," Vargarr felt a little regretful.
He actually wished he could gain immortal prestige, but having enough wealth also seemed good.
"Then what do the barley grains symbolize?" Ulfric couldn't help but ask, even though he already had an answer in his mind, he still wanted to know the answer from the Seer.
"Nothing, those were just the grains I was going to use to prepare dinner" the female Seer pondered for a moment before slowly saying.
This answer was indeed beyond Ulfric's expectation.
As the two of them were about to leave, the female Seer called out to them.
"There's a sickle and a dagger at the entrance; take them for self-defense!" the female Seer said calmly.
After speaking, she ignored them and turned to walk into the darkness deep within the tree hollow.
"These Seers are truly strange, but slave, you definitely lost, because you got nothing," Vargarr stepped ahead, picked up the dagger from the entrance, and mocked Ulfric.