Primordial Sage: Plight of Immortality

  Time has passed and the seasons have changed. Yet the northern lands seemed to be unchanged and still encased in the eternal ice and snow. On the contrary, it seemed that the weather was even worse as time passed even though winter still hadn't come yet.

The cold wind blew across the land and snow covered most of the ground. In those dense forests, there was almost no sunlight penetrating the snow canopy that was covering the treetops. The entire forest seemed to be a white world full of howling wind making this serene scene picturesque but eerie.

During this adverse weather, most of the animals got into their shelters to conserve their energy or simply hibernate. Of course, there were exceptions.

A lonely moose was trotting his way in the forest through the high snow with difficulty. It was moving towards new places where there was food it could eat as the weather around became more and more unkind to anything alive.

It went through an arduous adventure not expecting that it become prey in the eyes of the hunters preying on the crowns of trees.

*Swish*
The sound of an arrow splitting the air sounded as the moose got alerted. Unfortunately, it was too late for it as the arrows already arrived before it. One of them hit it into its side but the other one hit it in the neck.

The hurt moose bellowed as it tried to run away but after a few meters, it fell onto the ground dead. The white world now tainted with red color once again became silent. That was until the laughter sounded out as the adolescent boy jumped from the tree.

*Thud*

"Damn, that's lucky. I've been prepared to pursue it for another hour or so if we couldn't kill it in one go. Your aim is really good. That is the only reason we are not behind the other groups... If only you got yourself that damn wolf too..!"

The incessant blabbering interrupted the eerie atmosphere that permeated the scene. The boy came to the lying body of the dead moose and viewed it with great interest.

At that moment another thud sounded as another boy jumped from the tree, bow still in hand.

"Stop loitering. We need to be quick, Urchin." a curt retort sounded out from another boy of similar age to Urchin. The difference was that his tone was even and bland making him look not so sociable.

"All right, all right." Urchin rolled his eyes got close to the moose and pulled out the two arrows. One of them seemed to be still usable so he took it while he dismantled the other one and took only iron arrowhead.

Then he turned around with a grin.

"Well then, I will go to look for Hunter. You can go to butcher it, Stone." then he disappeared as the sound of laughter was left behind.

Stone who heard that was a little annoyed but didn't waste any time as he came to Moose with a knife in hand. Before butchering it he needed to let it bleed out so he made an incision in the throat and severed its jugular vein and carotid artery. The creature already died by bleeding out from its neck but that doesn't mean that there was no blood left. Leaving the blood in the meat can create many problems so it must be done.

He went towards its hind legs and tied it with rope he had with himself. Then he looked up and found some sturdy branches on the trees around him where he threw the loose end of the rope. When the rope wrapped around that brach Stone started pulling at it, using it as a pulley, slowly but surely lifting the giant creature above the ground. Once it got a meter above the ground Stone tied that loose end around the tree ensuring it would hold.

Finally done, Stone wiped the sweat that formed on his forehead and waited for it to bleed out.

Looking at this from the side people who have known Stone for a long time would realize how much the boy has grown and how much handsome he has become after 3 years he lived in the tribe. After rigorous training and taking care of his health, Stone's complexion and physique got much finer than before. Not to say they were not good before but that was only compared to men in the north.

At this point, Stone had grown much taller last few years and most of the baby fat he had on his face already disappeared. His muscles got bigger but stopped growing lately as there was no need to get them bigger anymore and instead, he trained his body only for higher strength. His body shape was accentuated by the simple leather armor and clothes of high quality he wore.

After that day Stone started to train every day diligently and with dedication. He woke up before dawn and went to sleep immediately after the sunset. The time blurred as the only thing he did during those times was training.

At some point, Degres took out all things hidden in the cave and started to teach Stone in earnest. Those things included wooden pillars for training balance, all kinds of weapons, weights, and much more.

Over time Stone was taught how to utilize those weapons and even other items to fight and how to utilize the environment you are in. Learning how to sprint in dense forests or even climb on the trees and jumping from one to another became just one of my regular exercises for Stone.

At the beginning it was hard but as time passed he became quite proficient at it. Of course, Degres would increase the intensity by that time but it was much more bearable for Stone.

Stone realized that The Way of the Body isn't that much about the body but actually focused on the mind of the individual. As such this could be called the mind method than the body method. That is the reason why more and more of the training falls under the meditation and self-reflection part as training progressed, strengthening Stone's mental fortitude in the process.

On the other hand, the training with Kaoran was much easier at the beginning thanks to his solid foundation in herbalism but became harder as new knowledge started appearing. Kaoran was even stricter than Degres and taught him so many things that Stone thought his head would blow off.

At the same time, it was fun to learn new things so he was still earnestly trying to absorb all the knowledge that Kaoran threw at him.
Later when his knowledge in herbology got deep enough, Kaoran added to the training medicine knowledge and let Stone be his assistant when he was treating the tribe members. This helped him to improve his relationship with them and his experience quickly rose with all the practice.

He also became proficient in basic meditation during this time. But it could be still developed so Stone didn't stop practicing it. Once he had perfected the basic meditation and gained enough merit and approval from the tribe Kaoran promised to teach meditation methods inherited from their ancestors. Other methods are circulating in the tribe but they were either simplified versions of that method or something stolen from other tribes they fought against which were usually much more inferior.

The reason for that was that the 'Nature Breath Method' that belonged to the ancestor Bakur was from different continents where the method came from. It was said that his ship was wrecked in this land where he later settled with Kennera who became his wife.
Together, Kennera as an indomitable warrior with her tamed Storm Eagle by her side and Bakur as the first shaman who showed up in these lands, they managed to dominate the Frozen Valas Tundra. Even after thousands of years their tribe still stood tall thanks to its deep foundation like Kennera Lake or their Totem's Ancestral Spirit which was exactly the Storm Eagle of Kennera.

Unfortunately, the spirit slowly dissipated as time passed and now it was much weaker. The process is even more accelerated as the Totem got destroyed several times and the spirit needed to move to a new one.

But back to reality.

Stone who waited for a while surmised that this was enough and took down the moose. He used the knife to open its abdomen and started gutting it. He took out its stomach and intestines which were too hard to clean, its bladder and gallbladder, its glands, and lastly the lungs.

Other innards were normally eaten in the tribe so it would be a waste to throw them away. Then he turned at its antlers. Usually, this would be a kind of trophy but Stone wasn't interested and he didn't care for Urchin's option. The moose was already big as it was and those antlers were heavy so he chopped them down and tossed them away. After he was done he waited for Urchin who disappeared.

After a few minutes, he heard from the distance the sound of a beast running while pulling a sled on which an exuberant Urchin was enjoying himself.

Stone for a moment showed a disgusted expression, but soon, his face turned expressionless again.

Urchin who didn't know about it came swiftly with a grin on his face. He stood on the sled which was pulled by a big wolf namely 'Hunter'. He was bigger than a regular wolf despite being just one year old but for the one reared by the tribe, he was pitifully small.

Hunter was not only smaller than his peers but also much more clumsier and more timid bringing mockery to his owner. Most people in the tribe get the puppy of the wolf they then raise by themself. This generation is no different and more than a quarter of the children who turned 13 got their own puppy.

Others either were not still mature enough or weren't physically fit to train this kind of Bakur Wolf who could grow to heights of over two meters in just two years when they reach adulthood. Only Hunter was an exception. Some elders wanted to persuade Urchin to kill it and get a new one but Urchin, as willful as he is, refused and raised it with love.

That is why most teams who hunt the game have at least one wolf in their team. Stone's team was peculiar as they were only two and the only wolf was still too weak and timid to help in the hunt itself. Stone didn't want wolves irritating Urchin every hunt as it would immensely help them.

Of course, Stone had his reason.

Urchin threw a gaze at that stubborn partner of his with a trace of amusement in his eyes.

"So have you enjoyed yourself ?"

"Yes, now help me to get it on the slide."

"Tsk. No fun with ya."

"..."

"Tsk."

The following task was done efficiently as each of them took in their hands one side of the moose which was over 5 meters tall and loaded it with difficulty on the wooden sled. Urchin then took ropes and tied them firmly so they wouldn't slide off.

"Will Hunter be even able to move it ?" He wasn't so sure about that.

"He will need to. If not we will need to push from behind," answered Stone.

Urchin groaned. Hunting was always fun but transporting it back to camp was not.

Unfortunately, lately, there have been fewer animals in forests near to valley where the tribe resided during the warm days. As the winter was closer lot of animals chose to migrate to the south just as the moose they just hunted. This was abnormal as usually, only a few species migrated, and most stayed. It could be because of the harsher winter but that was a gradual progression that was happening for years. Why would animals escape so suddenly? That was the question of many in the Bakur Tribe and the tribes around.

When Hunter started to pull it needed to put its entire strength into it as the moose was simply too heavy. Urchin and Stone who saw it started to push it from behind but it was difficult as the snow slid below their feet making it difficult to keep balance when pushing.

It took them another hour to finally get out of the forest. When they got out they were on a small hill where they could see landscape around. Urchin didn't care as he only thought that since they would go downhill they won't need to push anymore. On the other hand, Stone looked around before once again turning towards the sled and hopping on it.

Urchin also got on and both of them held firmly as the sled started to accelerate Hunter ran at full speed down the hill with happy barks.

"Yeah, Hunter go at it, ha ha ha!" Urching laughed as he enjoyed the ride. Stone on the other hand was vigilant as he felt something was wrong for a while. And he was right.

Halfway down the hill, he noticed that in the trees before them was someone hiding. 'Ambush?!' Stone quietly reached for one of the one-handed axes he had strapped on his waist. then he leaned to Urchin and whispered to him.

"Ambush ahead." Urchin stiffened for a moment but he still looked thrilled from the outside as if Stone didn't say anything. But he secretly gestured to Hunter so they could quickly get off their predetermined path if needed and slowly took out his bow.

Urchin never fought anyone to death so he inevitably was quite nervous. Stone too only once exchanged blows with one of the crazy clan members that wanted to sacrifice him when he wanted to escape. But that can't be really counted as a fight. So he also wasn't in the best state as he tightly gripped his weapon and tightened his muscles.

Both of them reached a silent agreement as both of them chose their roles preparing to fight. Right as they came close to one of those trees...

*Swish*

Several arrows showered them!