The next morning.
"How far is the Gnurx tribe again?" Dean asked Leon before mounting his horse.
The previous day, Mason called both of them over and told them he would be sending them on a mission to help the Gnurx tribe with exploring the newly found mine. It was located in the middle of the forest, and magical beasts roamed around the place. They would head to the Gnurx tribe, before heading to the location of the new mine.
Although Leon had shown him where the Gnurx tribe was located on the map, he still didn't know how long it would take for them to get there. The map was huge, and without the help of a phone, he had no idea the distance between both places. He was terrible at map reading while he was still on earth, so it would be even worse here where he can't get the help of his phone.
His sense of direction was way worse, he couldn't discern his north from his south. If he were to be left alone, he would definitely lose his way in this big world.
"About three hours from here." Leon got on his horse while replying, pointing in the direction where the tribe was located.
When the warriors found out the duo would be traveling with them, they suggested they traveled on a carriage, but both youths declined the idea. They were going out to train, not show the tribespeople they were rich young masters. For what it's worth, they felt the tribespeople wouldn't be comfortable around them if they knew they were young masters from two of the city's big families.
But it didn't change the fact that their clothes were still top-notch though. According to Dean, they must look good when fighting, it would bring out their handsomeness.
"Young Lords, are you ready?" The leading warrior asked.
The leading warrior of this group was a First layered Blood Strengthening stage Warrior called Julius.
Once a warrior gets to the peak of the Body strengthening realm, the next stage is the Blood strengthening realm. Before getting to this stage, there is a possibility of becoming a Magus, but in a small city like this, the chances of producing a Magus were low, even if a Magus does appear, they wouldn't be on the same level as those top cities in the continent.
This however didn't mean Magus are more powerful than Warriors, however, with the advantages of using long-distance attacks faster and quicker than that of Warriors made them revered. A Warrior can only gain the ability to use elemental attacks after getting to the Spiritual Warrior realm, however, the speed is not on the same level as that of a Magus in the same realm.
Although Tribe Leader Kaleb's message didn't speak of there being any beast in Rank two around the mine, it didn't even speak of any beast in the Late stages of Rank one, but it was safer sending someone this strong over as well.
"Yes!" Leon and Dean replied simultaneously, excitement visible in Dean's eyes and indifference in the eyes of Leon.
Getting confirmation from both young Lords, Julius gave the order for the troop to move. The troop was two hundred men strong with the weakest warrior being a Fifth layered Body Tempering stage Warrior.
In the group, Dean was the one with the weakest cultivation base still being a Fourth layered Body Tempering stage Warrior. He tried cultivating really hard the previous night when he heard they would be going on a mission to see if he could break through, but alas, he couldn't.
Had he been given another day or two, he was confident in breaking through.
….
Mason's study.
Ten minutes after the troop left.
"Who do you plan on sending to protect the boys?" Anthony asked after he took a sip of the tea before placing it back on the table.
"Reid." Mason replied casually.
"Hmm, he isn't a bad choice. But just to inform you though, he'll be working with Alan." Anthony nodded when he heard Reid's name.
Reid was one of the few geniuses under the O'Brien family. He was only twenty-five years old this year, but he was already at the peak of the Blood Strengthening stage. This is attributed to his insane training sessions. He was rarely around and was almost always training outside the city.
Just like Reid, Alan was also a rare genius Anthony was able to rope in when he was just fifteen. Alan was currently a year younger than Reid, but he was also at the Peak of the Blood Strengthening stage. Due to how both Alan and Reid took their training seriously, they considered themselves rivals and always challenged each other the moment they crossed paths. Only, even with their numerous battles, there still hasn't been a winner, yet.
"Do you think sending them both is a good idea?" Mason couldn't help but ask.
He knew just how competitive both young men were. What if they start competing against each other and neglect the boys?
"Yes." Anthony nodded.
They spoke for a little while before calling in both young men.
When both Reid and Alan made eye contact in the study, fierce fighting intent was visible in the eyes of both individuals.
Mason shook his head wryly when he saw this, and he glanced at Anthony, but to his surprise, there weren't any changes in Anthony's expression.
"Listen up. There is no room for errors. Your task is to protect the boys and nothing else. You will only make a move only when there are Rank two beasts present and also if you find out the beasts are too much for them to handle. Is that clear?" Anthony stated calmly.
"Yes!" Reid and Alan responded at the same time.
"If anything bad happens to the boys, then don't come back alive. And even if you run, I'll find you, and I'll kill you myself." Anthony narrowed his gaze and a terrifying pressure descended on both young men.
Mason waved his hands and the pressure disappeared.
"Don't scare them." Mason chuckled after dispersing the pressure before adding, "Make sure to protect the boys, even at the cost of your lives."
Alan and Reid nodded seriously before leaving the study, they were groomed by both men, so they knew what they were like. Given the love they had for their sons, they would never allow anything to happen to them.
...
Three hours later.
A tribe could be seen from a distance away. Given the size of the tribe, it was easy to estimate that the people staying here didn't number above five hundred.
There was a wooden fence surrounding the tribe to protect them from any potential beast attack since the tribe was located on a mountain range close to a forest.
A troop was currently moving on the path leading to the tribe.
When the scout of the tribe saw the troop headed in the direction of their tribe, he immediately sounded the alarm to call forth the Tribe Leader and the other Warriors present in the tribe.
Hearing the alarm, the tribesmen all ran forward and went towards the wooden gate.
One minute later.
"I suppose you're the Tribe Leader?" Julius asked the man who was leading the group of men from the village.
The man looked to be in his sixties with his hair already slowly turning gray. He had an oval-shaped face with high brows.
"Yes. May I ask who sent you?" Tribe Leader Kaleb asked humbly.
He could tell the young man in front of him was stronger than him, and given the fact that he came with an army, he guessed they were the help he asked for.
"Lord Mason sent us here to help deal with the beasts in the forest." Julius said before coming down from his horse.
While he was speaking with the tribe leader, Dean and Leon were staring at the tribesmen that came out.
"How come there are only fifty of them?" Dean asked Leon after doing a quick headcount of the tribesmen.
Most of the tribesmen were Fourth layered Body Tempering martial artists. There were only ten or so who were in the Fifth layer and above.
"What did you expect? Their numbers aren't high to begin with." Leon replied.
Leon got down from his horse and approached Kaleb.
"Hello Tribe Leader Kaleb, I'm Leon. My father told me to hand this to you. There should be enough potions to heal your wounded Warriors." After introducing himself, he threw a storage ring at him.
The Warriors from the tribe that found the mine was attacked and some of them were injured from the attack of the magical beasts.
"Thank you, young Lord. Also, send my gratitude to your father for his kindness." Kaleb bowed to show his gratitude.
He didn't feel it was beneath him to bow to a youngster since even though he was a Tribe Leader, his status was nowhere near that of Leon.
"There's no need for the formalities. Since your tribe decided to follow my family, this is the least we can do to help." Leon raised the bowing Kaleb and smiled lightly.
When Kaleb raised his head, he saw Dean behind Leon. Seeing another youngster the same age as Leon, he turned to Leon before asking, "This is?"
"Oh, he's the son of uncle Anthony, the present head of the Dawson family." Leon introduced Dean.
"It's the pleasure of my tribe to be graced by the presence of both young Lords." Kaleb said.
"It's nothing. My father gave me this for your tribe as well." Dean handed over a ring to Kaleb.
"Thank you for your gift, young Lord." Kaleb bowed.
Dean waved at him before returning to his previous position.
"Prepare the guest house for the young Lords. After resting, we will head out." Kaleb ordered before ushering Leon and Dean into the tribe.