After the chief Olaf had announced the result, it was time to know which hunting group Ulf would be in. He was also interested in this subject.
"As for Ulf's team, he will be part of Ursa's hunting group. Like Ulf, Ursa has also advanced in the next rank not long ago and become a leader rank hunter, when he is just 27 years old. Two talented guys in one group will be good to see. "
Ursa? That guy who took part in a competition 11 years ago (chapter - 5) ?! Also, he has already reached the leader rank."
To reach the leader rank at this age was proof of his talent. The hunters usually needed to advance from warrior to leader rank 25-30 years. To reach peak warrior, hunters must be able to have high level control over qi, perform full-body enhancement and should train till their bodies reach the limit. As for the leader rank, warriors would need to start forging the bones. Even the forging of one bone may take a few years. Reaching the leader rank in 11 years was an astonishing accomplishment.
Because Ursa has just reached the new rank, his team was also newly formed and most of the members were young. The group had 18 members including him and Ursa would be only the leader rank holder.
The tournament continued, but Ulf was no longer interested and went back where his mother and sister were standing.
"It was really good, Ulf. You gave a good beating to that fat guy. He thought that bullying you would be easy. Just wait and when I reach warrior rank soon, I will once again show him our family's power!" Hilda had a bright smile and was very happy.
"Don't listen to her. Just tell me, son, are you okay?" Inga was more concerned about Ulf's safety, rather than his victory.
"I am a good mother. Nothing important." Only after hearing Ulf's words, did his mother calm down a little bit.
After the disappearance of Bjorn, Hilda was very depressed, she has never believed that his father may be dead. However, she also began isolating herself from others, except her family and has been more motivated to get stronger.
After a few hours, the competition ended, and villagers started to disperse. Only the chief and newly advanced warriors stayed behind.
"You have two days to prepare. After that, you will depart with your groups. However, last night before leaving, all hunters, which must go out hunting, will gather in the temple. You must come too."
After that Ulf and others went back to their houses.
For the hunt, Ulf needed the weapons. He didn't have resources, materials, or enough experience to make them by himself. Thus, he will have to take the tools from storage. They were kept in the main building. Ulf will have to visit this place tomorrow morning.
He got a little bit of knowledge about each weapon over the past 6 years. After the incident regarding Bjorn's disappearance, Ulf got many unsolved and unanswered questions. He knew that big danger would fall upon him and his family soon or later without having a sufficient level of power. The kind of weapon he would use in the future was very important. That's why Ulf had been trying to study the usage of every weapon a tribe had. Now he will have to choose some of them to take in the hunting, though he has already roughly known which weapons he would use.
The main building, like a temple, was built with stones. It was a 3-storey building, the highest and largest in the village. The north and central parts of the village were separated from each other by the inner wall. It's one of the last defences of the village, especially the hill behind it gives the tribe a huge boost to repel great dangers.
The weapon storage was in the special section on the first floor.
"Look who has visited our forgotten place, a new hope for the village." The old man in front of him was laughing happily.
"Glad to see you elder Temur" Ulf bowed politely.
"Haha, why are you such a formal boy, when I am just an old man?" However he said it, the elder was glad to see Ulf's action.
'As if I would like to get beaten up by an old man already with one leg in the netherworld for being impolite.' Ulf sighed.
The chief had great power in the village, but he wasn't king or dictator. If you thought it was like that, you would underestimate the structure of the tribe. Aside from the chief and vice-chief, there were other powerhouses - the elders. The group of old freaks, their real power was known by almost no one. Due to the past terrible events, many older generations died without reaching the elderly period.
However, those old guys had fought bravely and still survived, which proves that they must have been freaking strong. They had retired so long ago that only a few remember their real prowess.
They usually didn't interfere in politics and just lived a calm life. Some of them were waiting to break through in the next stage and expand their lifespan, others teached young or worked in important positions in the main building, just like elder Temur next to Ulf. They were saving their power, to use it if the village was under a catastrophic threat in the future, which could endanger the survival of the whole power. The elders could go against the decisions of the chief, but only when most of them would agree to do so.
This grandpa has the look of an old man in his 70s, but who knows how old and strong he really was. However, Ulf could more or less feel the terrifying power contained in this old body. It was one of the reasons why he was polite.
"Okay, it seems you have come here to take the weapons for the hunting, come in. Because you are just a warrior rank hunter, you can only choose a weapon from the outer part of storage." Elder showed Ulf the way inside the huge room full of different kinds of weapons. However, it wasn't like that there were many choices in the weapons as it was the stone age.
The most popular weapons were the spear (short and long), bow and arrow, axe and club. They were made of wood and stones. The stones in this world were more durable and tougher than on the earth, in addition, the tribe has gotten a special way to make them even stronger. However, only a few knew the exact information about it. There were also knives. They were made of bones of different kinds of creatures. Deeper you go in this room, the better weapons you could choose, but Ulf wasn't allowed to go there right now, as he was an only warrior-rank hunter.
In the end, he chose a long spear and bow and arrows. From Ulf's point of view, the spear is easier to use at a short distance to defend yourself and gives you a safe range from your opponent. The shaft of the spear he has chosen was made of wood and head - obsidian. It was a very sharp stone with a length of 15 centimetres and a width of 6-7 centimetres, much bigger and heavier than back on the earth. The arrowheads were also made from obsidian. After watching that much obsidian, the only explanation would be that the Vulcan must be somewhere near to the village.
The bow and arrows were good for long-range assault. Ulf could enhance any part of the body with inner qi for a very long time and the same goes for the eyes. The enhanced eyes and long-range weapons would make the perfect duo. Ulf would be able to shoot the creatures he couldn't catch or run away from. The quality of those weapons wasn't the best but could help him on his first hunt. After taking the weapons Ulf went back and waited for the next day to go to the temple, for the final event before departing from the village.
Ulf was using his time to get used to his new weapons before it was time to go to the temple. Almost all groups who were going out had already come. Ulf was looking for his group to see his companions together for the first time. Soon, Ulf saw a hump nose young man, who was Ursa. There were also most of the group members around him, 9 men and 6 women.
Ulf was kind of interested in women hunters. On the ancient earth, hunting was always men's work, because of their superior power. However, after the appearance was "Godly energy" this little physical difference didn't have much meaning, because qi didn't discriminate against humans according to gender. All of them could absorb almost the same amount of qi to strengthen their bodies if there weren't some exceptionally talented ones.
"Finally our new member and biggest genius in the village has appeared." Ursa smiled at newly arrived Ulf.
Ursa, like him, was also the son of the vice-chief. His father was Dorgon, who was in charge of governing the village when the chief wasn't fully cured. After years of Ulf's observation, Ursa, like his father, was a very calm person, he can read situations and adapt very well.
Ursa introduced every member of the group to Ulf. After everyone gathered, vice-chief Dorgon came to lead them in the temple.
The temple, like the main building, was one of the biggest constructions in the village. It has only one floor, but the ceiling made of wood was so high. The temple was divided into two parts. The first and biggest part was to welcome the members of a tribe in, to gather for the different rituals. The second part was forbidden, the inner place of the temple, where the sacred objects were kept. Only the shamaness was allowed to go inside.
Even so, what interested Ulf most inside of the building was the various kinds of paintings all over the walls. Those walls were like a history book of the Hadda tribe, but Ulf didn't have the time to study them. The shamaness has come out of the inner part of the temple. Old granny still looked the same as twelve years ago, when Ulf was born.
"Welcome all of you to the house of our supreme god Hadda, especially young hunters, who have come here for the first time. Every year we gather here, before the large hunting period, due to its importance. First of all, we praise our lord to give you his power to hunt successfully and then promise him that we will try to bring a better sacrifice than last year to show our sincerity."
Everything went smoothly. They knelt on one knee and were praying together for some time. Then Everyone had to cut their palm to bleed the blood in the clay bowl and promise god Hadda. After finishing the whole process, they separated till the early morning of the next day.