Chapter 75: It’s Time For The tribe To Grow Stronger

Chapter 75: Chapter 75: It’s Time For The tribe To Grow Stronger

Murmurs rolled through the gathering, as barbarians leaned toward each other, their voices low and uncertain.

But nobody spoke against Victor.

Victor had earned that much.

The reason was because he had shown things that would haven’t been possible within the tribe.

From the Basalt Dragonic Lizard, to healing Jaja, passing the boundary and bringing back Dire Lions under his control—which he was sure Kiki had told the others—to defeating his own elder brother and granting him the potion that saved his life.

The tribe had started to take all that seriously. And so Victor made up his mind to lean into it. Convincing barbarians to do things his way would take time, and most of what he was about to ask of them would sound absurd.

"For tonight, eat, drink, and rest," he told them. "Tomorrow we work. And I promise you this, the Southern Bloodline will sit on top of this world."

The roar that answered him shook the fire, and the festivities swung back into full noise.

From the crowd, Victor watched Popo slip away toward a quieter corner, and he sighed.

Popo sat on a hill above the village, a drink in his hand, eyes on the stars. He took a slow sip.

Footsteps came up behind him. He didn’t turn.

"Come to shame me after taking my birthright?"

Victor let out a quiet breath. He understood Popo’s coldness towards him. Anyone would feel it. By Barbarian tradition, that battle should have ended in the death of one of them.

This was a way if cleansing one’s shame.

But Victor did not care about all that. Besides, Popo had been good to his character in the game.

And truthfully, the chief’s seat had been Popo’s by right. Having observed Popo, Victor did believe that Popo had real leadership in him.

But he lacked foresight, and his appetite for pleasure was a weakness the tribe couldn’t afford.

Honestly, if Popo would simply listen, Victor wouldn’t mind handing the seat back. But that wasn’t how barbarians worked. The ancestors spoke only through the chief, and the chief’s word was never questioned. If Popo had led, the entire tribe would have died in a matter of weeks.

Still, Popo was a Level 5 Warrior. Victor was Level 2. He needed that strength.

"Mind if I sit?" Victor asked politely.

Popo gave a short, mocking laugh. "The chief asks a warrior for permission to sit."

Victor sat down beside him anyway.

"You remember that year with the giant boa?" he said. "When food ran so low the elders started talking about eating the weaker barbarians, the way tradition says we do. Even the beasts stopped migrating that year. And it felt like the end."

Of course, Victor did not actually experience this. But it was a part of the Southern Barvarian lore between the brothers, shown when tge player attempts killing Boramo for the love of his brother.

Victor thought it a bright idea to bring it up now. After all, he needed something personal to reach the emotions of Popo.

Popo said nothing.

But Victor continued.

"Back then, you decided we wouldn’t wait for food to come to us, that we’d go out and find it. We were too young, and it took days to reach the farthest Boundary. We sat at its edge waiting, which was reckless, because we had no idea what would come through. Then the snake came. A giant one."

A faint huff of breath from Popo.

"I was afraid and wanted to run. But you looked at it and saw a meal. For me, for you, for Mother, for the whole tribe." Victor looked at the fire below. "I should have died that day. It was squeezing the last breath out of me. And you jumped in with a broken arm and drove your knife into its eye, all the way to the brain."

Popo laughed softly. "Maybe if I’d let you die that day, I’d still be chief."

"Maybe," Victor said. "But you didn’t. You knew another mouth meant you’d get smaller rations, but you still didn’t let me die. Not when I was a burden. And I’ve been a burden to you for years... you’ve never let me fall."

He paused again.

"I need my brother again. What’s coming is going to be hard. We’ve always fought together, you and I. But... I need my brother."

Popo glanced at him for a moment, then looked back at the horizon.

Victor stood and walked away, feeling he’d said enough.

A few minutes later, someone stepped out of the shadows on the other side.

It was Foto.

Moonlight traced her as she came, silver sliding over the curve of her hips, the sway of each unhurried step, the line of her bare shoulders. She moved like she knew exactly how she looked, and stopped a short distance from Popo.

He turned to her. "You were right. He came to me."

"Didn’t I tell you?" Her lips curved. "He has no choice. He loves his big brother too much."

"What do you suggest?"

"Simple. Win the new chief’s trust." She stepped closer, voice dropping. "And when the time is right, I’ll make sure you sit back on that seat... just as it is your birthright to be."

....

The next day, Victor moved through the forest, Kiki and Jaja beside him, Coco steadying Jaja with every step. Jaja grunted now and then but held the rest in. He thought too much of himself as a man to complain.

The Dire Lions had carried them most of the way, but the final stretch had to be on foot. It was only right, going to the ancestral shrine.

Victor glanced at Jaja. He badly wanted to hand him the last low-grade healing potion. But he held back. The coming battle might demand it, and it was his one second life. He could only hope Jaja would recover enough to fight before then. Then again, that was the reason he’d brought him along.

As they walked, Victor’s mind ran the numbers. He’d been here several days already. And just to be sure that he still had time in this world, after the duel, he’d traded another two Conquest Points for another twelve days.

He willed his status open.

[STATUS]

Name: Victor

Race: Barbarian (Southern Bloodline)

Level: 2

Titles: "Air Balloon" (Locked) | Chief of the Southern Bloodline Barbarian Tribe

VITALS

HP: 108/108

Stamina: 258/258

XP: 34

MP: 11

SKILLS

Barbarian Battle Sense (Passive) Lv.2

Story Lore (Passive) Lv.100

Berserker’s Instinct Lv.2 (60s | 12hr cooldown)

Heartbound Mimicry (Unique)

War Cry of the Chief

[In Game Skin Synchronization 100%]

CONQUEST POINTS: 8

He only had eight left. If he wanted to stay longer, he’d need more, which meant hunting creatures of the Encroaching Darkness.

He could only hope he found them before the points ran out.

(Author’s note: So I’ll drop bonus Chapters today. Let you guys enjoy yourselves. Remember to keep sending the love, the powerstones, and golden tickets. Thank you