The dusty old hut was quite small and dilapidated, the young men gathered inside and only had old rags to cover their bodies. Despite their young age, they all had harsh looks, as if they had already been through hundreds of battles. The small room was cramped, with barely enough room to house them all. These young men were all important members of the Crow Fiend Tribe, yet despite their strength, they were forced to settle in this small hut. This was a harsh world, where only the strong could survive, and the Crow Fiend Tribe was extremely strict with its regulations. The most talented of the young warriors weren’t blessed with riches and fame, instead they were tormented even heavier, so that they would be able to handle any scenario the tribe may face in the future. 

Normally no one would be willing to suffer this torment, since just by being a regular tribe member one could live an easy life, but naturally these young warriors were given benefits as well. Once they turned 18, it would be their coming of age ceremony, a battle where they would have to face a level 1 beast and use its blood to inscribe their first tattoo. If they succeeded they would become level 1 warriors, and they would be promoted from young warriors to true warriors, hence they would be given prestigious roles in the tribe and access to real luxury. Naturally if they failed, then the beast would kill them. The tribe had no place for weaklings and so the hunting of the beast would be done by the young warriors themselves, no help allowed. 

Among these young men, one stood out. He was quite massive, being a few heads taller than everyone else in the hut. These were all young warriors who were the best the tribe had to offer, so they would already dwarf regular men with their physiques, yet they all seemed tiny compared to this young man ahead of them. The young man in question was named Ares, he had long red hair and pure red pupils, the color of blood, his face was sharp and his entire body gave off a suppressing aura. 

“You guys ready for the coming of age ceremony tomorrow?”

“All these years of training would be wasted if we weren't ready”

The two young men currently talking were George and Hubard, they were among the best warriors in this group and were looked up to by the other men.

“George, I’ve seen that little lass you’ve been talking to recently. Once you pass the ceremony, you’ll be able to marry her easily”

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“Heh, of course, what do you think I haven’t asked for her hand yet?”

“Alright enough chatting, we need to get to bed so that we’ll be in our best shapes tomorrow. If you two still have energy to chat you might as well go train some more.”

Ares suddenly spoke up, the group quickly became quite and tucked into their beds. Ares was akin to the big brother in this group, everyone looked up to him. He was the strongest in the group by far, but he was humble, and treated all the other young men like true brothers. He would always help them when they were struggling and would be the first to sacrifice himself when things got dangerous. Ares wasn’t the typical brute, he was extremely intelligent and would always think before acting despite his strength. Because of this, he had saved the group plenty of times during their earlier missions.

The hut soon became silent, and the morning arrived swiftly. This was an extremely important day, so none of them played around and quickly got dressed before heading, and grabbed their weapons before heading out. Ares was at the lead with everyone following behind him. They walked through the tribe as all eyes gathered on them, in this rough world, strength was the thing that people respected most. These young warriors were considered idol’s by the common people, the boys wanted to be them, and the girls wanted to marry them.

Ares made it to the center of the tribe, and saw an oldman standing there, he was surrounded by level 1 warriors who were standing straight as spears. This oldman was the chieftain of the Crow Fiend Tribe, a level 2 warrior who was the pillar of the tribe, keeping it standing. His wizened eyes peered over the group in front of him, his eyes lingered on Ares for longer than the rest. He suddenly spoke up, and his voice echoed across the tribe, the tribesmen gathered around to watch this ceremony felt their ears buzz.

“You are the new generation of our Crow Fiend Tribe. This coming of age ceremony will prove whether you are true warriors who can hold our tribe up in future times, or if you are incapable. You should all know the risk that comes with this, most tribes would help their younger generation by killing level 1 beasts for them, but our Crow Fiend Tribe ancestral rules have dictated that we let our younger generation fend for themselves. There is still a chance for you to avoid the ceremony and become regular warriors, while you won’t compare to true warriors, you won’t have to face this life or death battle.”

The chieftain looked around at the young men, but none of them backed out. They had trained their whole lives for this, so they weren’t about to be intimidated by a few words. They held their backs straight and looked ahead with vigor, confident of their own strengths.

“Good, our Crow Fiend Tribe have no cowards. May the spirit of the Fiend Crow follow all you young warriors on your battles, and bless you with infinite strength. Let us begin the coming of age ceremony!”

The young man all dispersed, heading out to find their preys. They lived in the Selkon Desert, a place that was low in resources, but brimming with powerful beasts. Part of the challenge was finding a beast you could truly fight and avoiding the ones you couldn’t. When killing a beast to, you must take note of what type of creature it is, and what element affinites it may have. Different creatures will naturally give different tattoos. Flying beast based tattoos will make one faster, where as armored beast based tattoos would make one sturdier. Tattoos that are similar in nature will compliment one another, making the warrior stronger.