It took an hour of trying to gather what they'd looked for, another half hour for Doster to wash the bear's blood and mining dust off in the nearby river, and finally an hour's walk before they managed to catch up to the caravan.
The first thing they did was track down Hamal to give him what they found in the hopes that he could find a use for it.
"This is called Magmite," he said to the group. "You see the swirling pips of fire mana, yeah? That's what separates it from normal lava rocks."
The Blacksmith set down the hunk of blackish stone and grabbed a red piece of ore. "Now this one is a beauty!" he said it in quiet excitement. Quiet for Hamal, at least. Being silent was not his strong point.
The red ore had not just fire pips around it, but actual fire mana slowly flowing out and away from it, as if the ore was trying to flood the area with fire mana.
"This is known as a Heart of Flames, a rare piece of raw gemstone that can produce its own fire mana!"
"That isn't dangerous, is it?" Tars asked.
"Nah! You found this hunk of ore in the middle of that pile of magmite, yeah? That's how it works! It gradually changes normal stone into fire elemental versions of it!"
"It probably took a couple years for that to happen, so it's mostly safe!"
Tars left the Blacksmith to it, but he would let the Chief know in case there were problems.
Since Tars had not done much with his journey his stats hadn't improved. So, for now he would continue his training with Feerestia. Maybe she knew a good way to increase Strength and Vitality.
A little over an hour later Tars felt his legs and arms shaking as he struggled to walk beside the caravans. He'd been called for an emergency meeting with the other Elders, but he was struggling to get there.
Feerestia kept her face impassive, and for once he was glad she did, because beside her, Ponter couldn't stop laughing at the struggling Protector.
He'd been carrying various heavy objects of different shapes and sizes while jogging up and down the caravan. It was hard but not unbearable. Every change in item changed how he had to hold it, making Tars constantly struggle with new muscles.
It worked, though. Not just the two Strength and one Vitality, he'd also gotten an additional point of Vitality, a point of Agility, and a point for his Soul stat.
He just might need healing before he slept, or he might not be able to move the next day.
Eventually, Tars reached the group that had pulled off to one side and Chief Kinton began.
"There has been a change in the quest, which most of you probably already noticed."
Tars had in fact not noticed, he'd been so focused on his training, he'd assumed his quest was updating because of that.
Instead, he found a new line on the Emergency Quest.
-Befriend the one with Nergot's Blessing.
Tars felt the name Nergot meant something to him, but the instant headache that attacked his mind prevented him from understanding why or how.
It was another question his mind's foggy memories hid from him.
"Sheena and Withum are here because they are now a part of this." The Chief gestured to the two, and Tars recognized them as the ones whose barn he'd collapsed the other night.
"I wanted everyone to know that they are now part of those who know the truth," Kinton announced. "Most of it, anyway, I haven't had time to explain in detail."
Everyone else left the tent while the Chief asked Tars to grant his Blessing to Withum. Eventually, if it was possible, the Chief would get the entire tribe under a Vow and Tars would then grant them Blessings.
It would take time, but the hope was that eventually everyone would be able to grow stronger and have access to the classes and magics most desired by a person.
For Withum, there was a bit more to it. Being as young as he was, the Chief needed Sheena's permission as well as that of Withum.
The boy was excited for it, but it still felt wrong to push this on him. But danger was ahead, and this was the safest path.
When Tars started channeling his Divine Energy as he normally would he felt something unusual. His energy flowed through him differently, coalescing in his heart instead of his mind.
'I will guide this child,' Tars heard in his head. It was a gentle and caring voice, one which was familiar to him.
This time, the orb of golden light moved from one heart to the next and Withum was given his Personal Quest.
His quest involved improving his Magic stat, learning both Light and Life Magics, and unlocking a class called a 'Life Ward'.
As Tars looked at Withum he noticed something even more strange. The pips of life and light mana pooled around him, slowly sinking into the child's body and becoming a part of him.
Tars didn't know what it meant.
"Mom!" Withum exclaimed. "Something happened! It says I got a title! 'Barrier Mage'. What's that mean?"
Sheena looked at the Chief, not knowing what it meant herself.
"You know Tessa, right? Well, she is an 'Illusion Mage'," the Chief answered. "It means her mana costs for spells that are 'Illusion' domains are reduced. As a 'Barrier Mage', you would have a reduced mana cost for 'Barriers'."
There was an excited gleam in the young boy's eyes. "Does that mean those glowing bubbles that covered everyone when the Savior came to us?!"
It turned out, Withum was there that morning, watching from the second story window of his farmhouse. He'd seen the battle and the moment Tars landed in his chunk of yellow crystal.
Since that day he'd wanted to heal people and create giant barriers to protect everyone, just like Tars did.
Withum was assigned to learn 'Meditation' starting tonight. It would help him train his Magic stat, as well as give him a practical skill for using his mana.
Tars would be seeing much more of Withum, as Miussa would be his teacher for Life Magic as well.
Then Tars would work together with the boy to learn Light Magic, as Tars was the only one with a skill of that element. Learning a tier one Light Element spell was a personal request of the Chief.
Tars went on to resuming his training. Having his stats boosted, he would see Doster for training in the 'Leap' skill. It was a strength-based skill designed for shoving his Martial Energy into his legs and forcing them to provide a surge of boosted strength.
It turned out, there was a noticeable difference between Feerestia's teaching style and Doster's.
Feerestia would show him the skill, explain what she did and why, then slowly show him again.
Doster just showed him how he used it and said "Now you try."
Tars' attempts were made even more difficult by his 'Weakened' state that he'd dreaded before. This time it was only in his Strength stat and only by fifteen points.
Fortunately, for Tars this was enough instruction, as his instinct guided him after only a few attempts.
Unfortunately, Miussa had to heal him when he felt a sharp pain in his leg upon landing.
He took that time to rest on a wagon. He would learn 'Parry' when they stopped for the night.
That night in another clearing, similar to the one before, only large, Tars was one of many in the training circle.
Almost all of the children were given axes, bows, and spears to practice using. Not at live targets, of course, just at imaginary enemies.
It was to give everyone a chance to get used to the weight of real weapons and, for the ones about to attain a class, to have more choices by having more Weapon Proficiencies.
Tars heard there was a lot of training going on during the day too. Driving wagons, herding some of the farm animals that walked alongside the caravans, learning skills for the senses, like Frint's 'Eagle Eye.
It was a decided among the tribe to do everything they could to strengthen themselves, and training the children too just made sense.
Tars learned 'Parry' after a half hour of Feerestia chasing him around the clearing. He had stinging welts all over his arms and legs from her slapping him with the side of the blade.
His instinct didn't turn up, leaving him to wonder if this was how training was for people normally. If so, he was beginning to understand why so many people progressed slower.
It hurt.
Still, Tars wasn't in a position to take his time. The next day they would meet the 'Loyal Knight'. Tars was informed that they could have met up sooner, but it was decided to swerve around another village that afternoon.
No one wanted to risk being discovered any earlier than they had to. In all likelihood, Baron Zemwold and possibly even the Countess above him already knew that the village had fled, and not simple been killed.
But there was a good chance that they didn't know where they fled 'to'. If they were lucky, they wouldn't find out until the tribe had already left their territory.
"Tars!" the Chief called from where he was outside of the ring of the clearing. He hadn't been in the area earlier, so Tars thought Kinton must have just arrived.
When the Protector reached the Chief, he saw another young man beside him. He looked lean and capable, seeming to carry himself like the Hunters did and looked to be about twenty years of age.
Chief Kinton brought the Tars and Vargas, the Archer, to his meeting tent. "This is the one your quest mentioned this morning. He had leveled faster than expected with the recent travel and has been capped at level ten of tier one since yesterday."
"I was going to wait until we crossed the Canyon before mentioning it," Vargas defended.
"No one is upset, Vargas," the Chief replied with a chuckle. "Tars here has a quest to help you, we just didn't know it was you. And this will help the whole tribe."
"Go ahead Tars, let's see how they did it in the old days!"
Tars noticed that Kinton had no hesitation. It could be as a show of support, but Tars felt that the Chief just had that much confidence in him.
While the Chief wasn't nervous, Tars was, but he took a deep breath and searched for what he needed.
As had happened only a few hours before, Tars felt his Divine Energy flowing through him in a way he hadn't ordered it to. This time he could understand a bit more of why this happened.
Divine Energy is the energy of the Gods, just held in a mortal shell. It was a mere drop in the ocean of their power, but every drop was one less for them.
In return, Tars felt another energy flowing within this Divine Energy. It fueled it, somehow. Tars wasn't sure how it worked, but he recognized it as 'Faith', the stat he'd just unlocked.
As his Faith touched Vargas with the intent to allow his new tier, he felt it push something within the Archer.
It was a power borrowed, and one limited for him. He wasn't granting a change in the system, he was revealing a need for change to the Gods. Tars was a messenger, passing along a request.
But even as a messenger, Tars could see what the system showed. He could view other people's menu.
He understood, now, what the God's Tear did. It passed along a request and allowed the one holding the God's Tear to view people like he just did.
It was powerful and personal and carried a heavy responsibility. But it also let Tars know what his people would be capable of and where they needed improvement.
A new age would be upon the tribe. Those who wished for growth would be guided by Tars' hand, and with everyone working together, the Protector believed they would find their new home and the happiness that followed.