"It’s all thanks to the Tribe Lord." Old Ni smiled widely as he looked at the young man beside him.
Kargan knitted his eyebrows. "War Chief... what do you mean by that?"
Before answering, Old Ni slowly swept his gaze across everyone present. His expression turned grave. "Before I explain, let me make one thing clear. What you’re about to hear is extremely important and must never be spread outside our tribe."
His voice dropped. "Otherwise... you all know the consequences."
The situation suddenly became tense as they knew the gravity of the situation with how serious Old Ni was.
"All you need to know," Old Ni continued, "is that our Tribe Lord can understand God’s language."
He smiled faintly. "That means our Tribe Lord can see our missions clearly."
The people present opened their eyes wide with the shocking information the War Chief just dropped.
"Not only that, he can even upgrade our rank without us needing to complete those missions. The living proof for that is myself."
"What?!" Someone blurted out.
"Is that really true?" The middle aged man with a sword on his waist who sat near the main seat looked at Ash with a disbelief expression.
"Do you think we would fabricate something like this, Uncle Zan?" Ash replied with a smile.
"No, but you should know yourself how important this is going to be." Uncle Zan knitted his eyebrows, as his eyes swept on a few people in the room.
"Exactly. Even if you’re desperate to keep your position, Tribe Lord, you shouldn’t speak so recklessly." A man in his early 30s with a big claw scar on his Chest sneered.
"Vakra, I think you still don’t understand the situation we’re in right now." Ash shook his head helplessly.
Then, he looked at him with a mocking smile. "Do you really think that I still need to worry about keeping my position with Old Ni’s support?"
"Someone call Baldur," Ash said casually. "I’ll let you see the truth with your own eyes."
A minute later, the muscular man who had greeted Old Ni earlier entered the hall, confusion written all over his face.
"Greetings, Tribe Lord. War Chief. Elders," He said respectfully, scratching his head. "Do you need something from me?"
[Loyalty: 80]
Looking at his loyalty points, Ash nodded satisfiedly and chuckled. "Welcome to the board of elders, Baldur."
"Upgrade Baldur’s rank to the 3rd Rank Warrior." Ash ordered the system in his heart.
[Ding! 100 Tribal Points have been successfully deducted.]
[Ding! Congratulations to the host! Baldur has successfully broken through to the 3rd Rank Warrior.]
A surge of energy erupted from Baldur’s body.
Everyone present could clearly feel it as his aura climbing at a terrifying speed.
A few seconds later, Baldur slowly opened his eyes, his voice trembling.
"I... I became a 3rd Rank Warrior?"
Silence!
The room stayed silent for a few moments as everyone was left speechless by the thing they just witnessed with their own eyes.
Uncle Zan broke the silence as he laughed loudly. "Hahahahaha! God truly blesses our tribe!"
Others followed, laughing and cheering in excitement—except one person. Ash noticed that the others’ loyalty points had increased at least by one point but this particular person’s loyalty points had decreased instead.
’Interesting.’ Ash thought.
"Silence!" Ash said, tapping his finger firmly against the table.
Everyone instantly shut their mouths in response, making Ash feel pleased since they now had acknowledged him.
"Am I qualified enough to act as the Tribe Lord now?" Ash smiled faintly and looked at everyone one by one before stopping at one particular person, turning the faint smile into a mocked one as he continued. "What do you think?"
"You’re more than qualified." Kargan nodded his head.
The others also expressed that Ash was qualified to act as the Tribe Lord. Even if Ash remained a 1st Rank Warrior, no one dared question his authority anymore.
"Now, back to the reason I told you all this."Ash’s expression turned serious and continued. "Lemme tell you that I can’t use this power lightly and it’s already reached the limit by upgrading Old Ni and Baldur. Even reading your missions costs a price."
He paused for a second, then continued with a smile. "But there is one solution."
"Expanding our tribe’s strength and territory," Ash said firmly. "That’s the only way I can help all of you in the future."
"That’s why, we will begin subjugating other tribes." He concluded.
"When?" Uncle Zan asked, raising a brow. "And who’s the target?"
Ash replied with a calm expression. "Our first target is the Mirefang Tribe and we will do it tomorrow morning. Any objection?"
"No." The elders responded in unison, excitement flickering in their eyes. It had been years since they’d taken action like this.
"Good." Ash nodded his head in satisfaction and looked at Uncle Zan. "Your mission is to participate in killing a 4th Rank Beast or Monster."
He smiled. "Old Ni will help you with that after we deal with Mirefang."
"Thank you... Truly." Uncle Zan smiled genuinely, expressing his gratitude since Ash had told him what his mission was and now he finally had a clear goal instead of doing everything and hoped that somehow he would complete his mission.
Ash waved his hand with a smile. ""You’ve done a lot for this tribe, Uncle Zan. This is the least I can do. If I had more power, I’d have upgraded you directly."
Uncle Zan was actually the girl’s dad who had slapped him after he woke up. He was his father’s best friend and one of the few people who had supported him after his father passed away.