Primordial Sage: Plight of Immortality

Kaoran who saw Stone's confused face smiled as he explained.

"While the cottage is better than a tent, it is too small for me who practices the shamanistic ways. All the materials, rituals, and other things take a space. Place that those cottages don't provide. Those cottages were mostly built for comfort rather than anything else. Unfortunately for you, that means that you will need to use another smaller tent. Else I would just give you this one."

Stone nodded as he looked at the tent and then at the cottage. He understood that the cottage was for those important so he didn't ask. But in his eyes seemed to be little longing.

"Hehe, all children in the tribe sleep in the tents even when we settle here. Too much comfort threatens discipline which is very important for members of our tribe. Only by merit, you will gain recognition and benefits. So train hard Stone as your effort will mirror your future."

When Stone heard that he wasn't much excited about it but took the words to his heart.

Then after Kaoran moved all of his daily use items into the cottage he, together with Stone, started to move things to the tent. As mentioned before they were esoteric and magical tools used for all kinds of rituals and stored materials. It took quite a while as there were so many things and a lot of them needed to be stored in a specific way. It was wonder how Kaoran's mount, which Stone found out was named Dor, managed to carry all that stuff.

After an hour they finally managed to get things done. The last thing Kaoran unloaded from its back was the gigantic cylindrical object covered in furs. It was over three meters long and half a meter in diameter making it look like the stake Stone was crucified on. That made Stone instinctively repulsed despite knowing that it must be something completely different.

On the other hand, Musk Ox's burden was finally relieved and it made happy grunts. It turned towards its master and affectionately leaned towards Kaoran's free hand who patted it with a smile. Then it turned towards the frozen woods and slowly went away. It wouldn't need to carry things for a long time and could enjoy itself here.

Kaoran always let it do whatever it wanted in this valley. Soon it disappeared into the woods as Shaman and the little boy watched it not knowing when they would see it once again...

Stone stared at him with inquisitive eyes. Kaoran sighed and said." Dor always goes his own path when we get here. It was always like this. After all, he is not that much of a pet but a partner of mine. When there is no need for him then there is also no need to hold him here.."

Kaoran sighed once again but smiled after a second as held the object with both hands now."Well then, that's off our backs. Now for the most important part." then he started to take off the furs covering the object.

Once it was fully revealed Stone realized that it was really a log! But not a normal one, unprocessed. This one was decorated with all kinds of paintings and carvings depicting animals and furious human faces. The most distinctive part though was the tip which was carved into the shape of the head of an eagle. It looked very old but gave off the aura of might.

Stone was looking at it with intrigue. This wasn't just some carved wood.
Kaoran who saw this smiled with pride and smugly explained:

"This is Totem! It's the core of our tribe and it is the lifeline tool of the shamans. Every shaman has at least one of his Totems! This one has been passed from one shaman to another for 7 generations in this tribe. It has many abilities and it is a symbol of this tribe. Now watch."

Kaoran who talked with his chin high, went to the Totem and took it on his shoulder. Despite his age, he didn't seem to have any problem whatsoever with carrying it at all.

He then went a little further away from his cottage to the open space. There, already prepared, were other tribe members watching the shaman carrying the totem toward the small stone pedestal. Kaoran stepped on it and then started to angle the Totem towards the hole in the center of the pedestal. The hole and Totem perfectly fit together when it was connected.

Others cheered when they saw the Totem in its right place. Now when the Totem was standing upright it looked really awe-inspiring. But that wasn't the end.

Kaoron who kneeled before the Totem started to chant unintelligible words. Stone who was already surprised waited for more surprises. Others waited too.

Soon the winds started blowing. But it wasn't the biting and aggressive winter wind. But the gentle one with a hint of warmth. The wind blew around the Totem and spread out towards the entire territory of the tribe.

When it finally got to the edges where there were already no shelters it stopped. Instead, it started to rotate in a cupola shape and looked like a transparent wall.

Kaoran stood up with a smile on his face as he dusted his knees. Then with a loud voice, he told the crowd:

" The boundary was set up! Now settle down properly and prepare everything as the baptism will be in the next few days! Disperse!"

After Kaoran ended, the crowd who was still in a good mood scattered and everyone went to their things. There were many things to do. They will live here for the next few years after all.

......

After this event, Kaoran quickly procured a secondhand tent and three sets of clothing for Stone. The quality of those was much better than he had until now so Stone was really satisfied. Every set was covered in grey fur and was really warm and the way how it was sewed made it much easier to move around with it.

Stone was eager to dress up right when he got it but Kaoran stopped him. So he stared at the old man questioningly.

"What, do you want to dirty the clothes the moment I give them to you ?" Kaoran cast a side-eye at him and then said.

"Half of your current weight is just filth on your body. I recommend washing up before dressing this up. For now, using wet cloths will make do since the rivulet flowing through this valley is still frozen. Once the ice melts and preparations are done you and the other kids will wash up in it before the baptism. It was a part of the ceremony since the beginning. After all, we can't just dirty the lake where the baptism takes place ha ha...

Stone nodded at Kaoran's explanation. He didn't mind to wash himself since he felt uncomfortable being dirty. He was always more demanding of cleanliness than others of his status. The comfort of his clean hair every time he cut them off made him awake how much being unclean can be... disgusting. Others didn't care that much since they never even had a bath. Everyone in the village usually used the wet cloths once in a while. Maybe except for Granny Meddie who was from the South.

After that, he stopped talking and went to help him to gather snow in the iron casket which was afterwards put on the fire to turn it into hot water. Then they unpacked Stone's new tent and pitched it next to the Kaoran's. Stone will be officially nominated as Kaoran's student so it made sense he will be in the same place as him.

When they were done Stone looked at his tent with satisfaction but when he saw the tent next to it his face soured immediately. His tent wasn't bad but when it was compared to the one next to it, it made his heart itch.

Of course, he doesn't care that much since having his own tent is a miracle in itself. It could be said that it is the most valuable thing he has right now. The only other things he has are the clothes he just got and the ones he was wearing at the moment...

When he realized how much Kaoran and Degres done for him he was really moved in his heart. His eyes trembled a bit until he closed them for a moment. Right now he is a beneficiary of the clan but after a few years, he will pay off this debt with interest.

Stone opened his eyes with determination.

The water they left on fire was already hot so he went to take it down carefully. Kaoran soon left afterwards as he had other responsibilities so Stone was alone at that time.

He took the water and one set of new clothes and took them in an inconspicuous place under one of the trees where he started wiping himself. The hot water was comfortable on his skin and the warmth reached his cold bones.

By the time he finished and dressed in his new clothes, the sun was already setting. He quickly came towards the Kaoran's cottage where he left the casket and then entered the tent.

At the moment tent was empty with only two sets of the clothing he got. He didn't care about that as he lay down in a comfortable position. He chose to try the meditation that Kaoran taught him during the travel. Unfortunately, it was hard to learn it during movement so he could only try when they stopped. Thus his proficiency wasn't all that great so he needed to learn the most he could in these few days as Kaoran said it would be important for the baptism.

Other children learned it from an early age while adopted ones learned it the moment they got into the tribe. This kind of meditation was the most basic one there existed but it was proved that any other kind of meditation didn't work during the baptism and could endanger the user during it. On the other hand, this basic one worked since it was only a passive kind of meditation. That is why it is collectively called Basic Passive Meditation.

In the end Bakur tribe was a tribe of warriors and not monks so they simply stuck with this easiest and most practical method even during their daily lives. This kind of meditation helped during recovery, made better sleep, and cleared the head when needed making it popular in the tribe.

There were still a few people who used more advanced ones in the tribe but those were far in between.

Furthermore, those were usually the strongest and wisest in the tribe.

Like a Kaoran for example.

In the end, despite its simplicity, it was practical and useful in a lot of situations so Stone didn't complain and tried it every evening even if he wasn't successful.

"Sigh.."

In the end, Stone stopped after an hour of meditation and started to contemplate his bottleneck.

He already passed the basic threshold for the baptism which was the simple ability to relax completely all of your muscles and clear your head so he wasn't worried.

But he recently found out that when it comes to the deeper meditation he has problems. Stone didn't confront Kaoran about it yet as he wasn't sure how hard it was but he was pretty sure that it wasn't that hard. It was just that there was something. missing.

And after a lot of thinking he thought he found the problem.

It was simply a lack of talent.

Talent for spiritual and mystery. He doesn't know what to call it but he is pretty sure. His material side got the talent while the spiritual one got nothing. No. This kind of basic meditation which should be easy for everyone was hard for him. It is not like he got nothing. He actually lost even more. He was an empty shell.

It wasn't that big of the deal since when Stone thought about it there were probably very few people with this kind of talent in the world. But now when Kaoran thought about turning him into his disciple he had his worries.

What if he can't meet Kaoran's expectations?

Will he be angry?

Would he give up on him?

It made Stone anxious. He wanted to believe that Kaoran was a good person who would help him. But would he if he wasn't useful?

The meditation whose purpose was to clear the mind instead turned Stone's mind into a mess. In the end, he finally fell asleep with difficulties way past the middle of the night.