Primordial Sage: Plight of Immortality

  "That was a really horrible night, I tell you. Thankfully they let me off quickly so I could go back to my tent to rest! But I had to cover my ears with furs the entire night else I wouldn't catch a wink of sleep." complained Urchin to Stone.

Stone who heard this clenched his fist and thought whether to smack him or not.

"You know that as someone who knows medicine, I wouldn't just go to sleep, right ?" in the end he was too tired for something so childish so he just rolled his eyes as he asked.

"Ohh... right..." Urchin looked embarrassed for a second until he purposely changed the topic which was his usual tactic so despite Stone's low emotional intelligence he was immediately aware of it. Once or twice he would be deceived but then not anymore.

"So did you already ask Kaoran if he knew something?"

"Not yet. I didn't have time so far and now they are in the meeting where there is no place for me."

"Tsk. Old bastards always delaying things." Urchin clicked his tongue. He really didn't want to wait here as the smell around was horrible.

But as his curiosity was extremely high he wanted to ask elders about everything they knew.

After some time they noticed that several people emerged from beyond the valley coming from different directions. Stone and Urchin tensed up for a second but then realized that those were people from the tribe. Some of them were injured but they didn't waste time and gathered right before the shaman's tent. One after another they entered before coming out and leaving the place.

Stone realized that those guys were probably scouts who were trying to figure out the situation before reporting back to elders. They probably already interrogated some of the survivors that weren't hurt yesterday like those two guys who were teamed up with that girl.

'Wonder if she is all right..' Stone thought about the girl whom he amputated the leg and her painful screams. He didn't where they put her after that as he went to others immediately. Maybe she was somewhere between those lying people. Or maybe she didn't survive...

As Stone had dark thoughts, he and Urchin waited for the end of the meeting. Fortunately soon after the tent finally opened as people from inside of the tent came out and soon swiftly dispersed to do their own things. But Urchin and Stone couldn't help but notice their tense and angry faces. After all most of those people were the respected elders in the clan and a lot of those teenagers who lost their lives were their children or grandchildren. Their reactions are understandable and the fact that they could still attend to meeting without flipping out is evidence of their wisdom and responsibility for the clan that came with their age.

Once they disappeared Stone saw Degres and Kaoran coming out with fatigue in their eyes as they discussed something. So Stone and Urchin who waited long enough went to them.

Soon both of them noticed Stone and Urchin and stopped talking.

"Stone, Urchin, it's great that you are fine. I saw you yesterday but as you surely know I didn't have time to greet you." Kaoran said with a small smile.

On the other hand, Degres made a big toothy smile as he said boastfully.

"That's to be expected! Those little bastards wouldn't be able to do anything to Stone!"

"Hey! What about me ?" Urchin felt offended that he wasn't mentioned.

Degres turned his eyes on him and said with a nod. "They wouldn't be able to do anything to you too since Stone was with you!"

"That's not what I meant, you geezer!"

Seeing that Degres was making fun of the little guy even in this situation Kaoran shook his head and turned to Stone.

"You want to know what is the situation, right ?"

Stone nodded and Urchin also turned around as if remembering what he came here for.

"Well then, we have some time before the funeral of the deceased. Come inside."

Degres who heard that had an unpleasant expression as he finally could stand up after that long meeting yet he needed to go sit once again.

But nobody cared as Stone and Urchin talked about what happened to them. Ston was concise and didn't try to exaggerate as he said what happened in few words and also said his thoughts of something happening in the north. Urchin once in a while also added something to the conversation, mainly because he knew the Ohera language.

Kaoran who heard that was nodding as he drank his drink with a calm gaze. Degres also listened but didn't seem to be surprised. It was obviously because their situation was far from unique. Everyone who was outside yesterday had the same encounter.

Degres' next words confirmed his guess.

"Hmm, yes, that's also the same conclusion all of us had. Although we already noticed the abnormal migration of animals for months, it was always within bounds, which it could be explained by the worsened weather. But this time there is no other explanation other than the animals and now even the tribes escaping something. It was so sudden that we couldn't do anything to stop this tragedy.."

Kaoran had a slightly gloomy gaze when listening to Degres' words.

He lived for a long time but this was the first time such a big tragedy happened outside of long-term wars with other tribes.

"But what could happen that made them flee so quickly ?"

"We originally wanted to kidnap at least one of the tribesmen after this incident to interrogate him but now it is almost impossible as most of them continued to the south in bigger groups making it impossible for us. So the only thing was for Kaoran to do a divination which unfortunately was crap. But we expected this being just the first wave of the tribes so there will be another chance probably." Degres shook his head.

Stone who heard that asked. "What do you mean crap? Isn't divination an important part of being a shaman ?"

Degres laughed boisterously as he gloated." It's just a trick! Kaoran's divinations were always wacky and seemed to be made out of bullshit.

But it isn't that weird considering that our ancestor's records mentioned that the heritage he passed down to us is incomplete and that he was just a small self-taught shaman who stole that incomplete legacy in his homeland."

Kaoran frowned at this a little as he scolded Degres.

"It's rude calling our ancestors like that. Furthermore, you should know that divination isn't an art that can be learned by anyone. I am lucky enough to glimpse at this land's destiny once in time without interference." Kaoran turned with a calm gaze at Degres
"But it's true, isn't it? Honored Bakur wrote it down in his records, after all."

This made Kaoran knead his forehead while Stone and Urchin were surprised. Especially Stone who was learning the arts from Kaoran. He always thought that this was something very potent since Kaoran could do so many things but reality seemed to be different.

Kaoran seeing this turned to the boys and explained.

"Our honored ancestor's records are incomplete but from what was preserved we ascertained that our ancestors took shelter in this land since their birthplace was too dangerous. Honored Kennera was from the southern part of this continent while honored Bakur was born in a different continent in the east. Both of them left their homes to find a brighter future and fate guided them here where they met each other and became a married couple."

Stone who was listening was surprised. He knew how much this tribe idolized their ancestors and how mighty they were. Kennera created 'The Way of the Body' method and Bakur managed to catch the spirit of Kennera's Storm Eagle to create Totem. They were legendary figures. Yet in their own records, they were losers? Furthermore, Bakur was from a different continent. How did he get here and what made him to do such a decision?

"From honored Bakur's records he mentioned that in his land there was a legend which was used to create the classification to determine raw strength of individuals..." As Kaoran talked he explained some important information.

The primordial beasts. Creatures that were born to be rulers of the world. They were known for the fact that they were born even weaker than regular humans but as long as they were not killed they were guaranteed to undergo metamorphosis and evolve. Because of this, they were one of the most dangerous beings in this world. In their life, they could undergo exactly 12 metamorphoses getting just a little weaker than divine beings. And that is if they were not doing anything to improve themselves. Else their upper limit was even more terrifying.

That was a legend from the Bakur's continent. As Kaoran talked about it, it was quite hard to imagine all that so nobody of the two had a big reaction. Even with the mention of divine beings, there was just little surprise. After all, they didn't know or worship any gods or deities in their life. The only deity Stone knew about was the 'Lord' of the Thearas clan.

"The people observed and studied those beings and in the end created the classification based on the boundaries of each state of metamorphosis. This way 13 stages were named and based on your strength you could be classified. Those stages were:

Mortal, Novice, Apprentice, Expert, Elite, Adept, Exalt, Master, Grandmaster, Venerable, Saint, Paragon and Transcendent.

The Mortal is zero stage before the metamorphosis and corresponds to the regular human who didn't have the contact with supernatural side of the world. A normal human won't be able to pass this stage unless they are born unique.

The Novice is the first stage where you have the first contact with the supernatural and your upper limit gets higher.

Unfortunately, there is not much of the knowledge about other stages. Simply because our ancestor, Bakur the Great, was just in the first stage. And since honored Kennera was only as strong as him means that she was too just in this stage!

In truth, while the arts of shamanism in our tribe are better than others here, the legacy is not complete. In the records, it was said to have been stolen from some beastly race that created this profession.

I am just a mere off-shoot of those professionals. The only reason why I am quite skilled apart from previous shamans is thanks to my innate ability to feel spiritual energy. Furthermore, if the ancestor didn't steal some kind of one-time-use treasure that helped to turn honored Kennera's Storm Eagle into spirit then we wouldn't even have the Totem. In the end, we are at the bottom of the food chain."

Degres who was listening to all of this with a bored expression. He didn't believe in any of this despite it being information from the ancestor. If this was really the truth wouldn't living in this world be just too difficult?

Meanwhile Stone was thinking about this new information. Urchin tried to talk to him too surprised wanting to discuss it but Stone didn't notice. He wondered if he was still in the zero stage. He was baptized in Cold Energy... But his skills are still subpar. And he was young so his strength still didn't reach his natural limit.

But thinking about the fact that there could be people stronger than Degres and Kaoran made him feel a kind of urgency in his heart. He knew that the word 'safety' was just a big fat lie ever since he was young. The life of a commoner is as light as a feather and every day could be last. Without his gift, he would have died several times already. Now knowing that the world is so much bigger and more dangerous he felt as if all that hard work he did was completely useless.

The heritage he thought was priceless turned out to be some incomplete and stolen legacy from a different land and his progress was already slow because of his weak talent. What if he meets some strong being that he will be completely helpless against even with his regeneration? He already met one like that and suffered...

'No! I don't want to be like that ever again... If I want to live a good life where I don't need to fear about my life all the time I need to be strong as Degres and Kaoran. No, even stronger than that. Stronger than even that wolf monster! If those stages are for real I need to climb as much as my talent allows it.' As Stone's conviction consolidated Kaoran who derailed from their original conversation coughed to gather attention.

*Cough*

"We've strayed from the main topic. This isn't important now. What is important is what I've seen in the divination. Despite my divination being 'wacky', as Degres said, this time I am very sure about it being the truth."

Degres hearing this scrunched his face as if he didn't want to believe that.