Ten days have passed since the battle at the Musclewood Village. The temperature dropped significantly in just a few days. It was officially winter; in the Sylvester Empire, there were only two seasons, autumn and spring did not exist in this region of the world.
Despite the low temperatures, the ex-members of the Blue Eagle Tribe got to work. Most Blue Eagle Tribesmen agreed to migrate to the Musclewood Tribe and join it. There was still some tension between the tribesmen due to the difference in culture but they were slowly getting used to each other.
The Blue Eagle tribe brought seven hundred tribesmen in their migration. When they returned to their village after having learned that they were being attacked, they found a deserted village. The women, children, and elders had all been captured and brought to the Bramble Deer Tribe.
The Blue Eagle Tribe was enraged and with the help of the Pronghorn Tribe, and the Brown Bat Tribe, they attacked the Bramble Deer Tribe. Facing the pressure of three tribes, the Bramble Deer Tribe was forced to hand back the hostages. They hoped to receive help from their dungeon but unfortunately, their call for help remained unanswered. It needed to rebuild itself and did not have the resources to help the tribe.
Even after they managed to safely retrieve their tribesmen, the tribes did not let go of the Bramble Deer Tribe. They were vengeful. They constantly harassed and raided the tribe, causing them all sorts of trouble. Furthermore, other tribes also assisted them from the shadows.
In the end, the Bramble Deer Tribe was forced to disband. It was too weak to fight against all those tribes without the help of the dungeon. The Bramble Deer Tribe disappeared; it was absorbed by the strongest tribe of the region: the Swift Gazelle Tribe.
It was only after the powerful tribe took over the territory and handsomely compensated for their new tribesmen's mistake that the tribes finally decided to move on. They did not want to mess with the strongest tribe of the region; they had been trying to leverage the Blue Eagle Tribe's incident as an excuse to take over the dungeon but with the appearance of the Swift Gazelle Tribe, they knew they could only give up. From now on, the dungeon would belong to the Swift Gazelle Tribe and its allies.
Nevertheless, despite the shaky event, the Blue Eagle Tribe was quite satisfied with the outcome. They moved to a safer place and got to do what they enjoyed the most. The Blue Eagle Tribe particularly despised winter. As a tribe that relied on agriculture, the months of winter was a period of idleness. They still needed to process their harvest but this was mostly done by the women.
However, despite the fact that winter had already arrived, the Blue Eagle Tribe's tribesmen happily whistled as they tended to their new fields. In some areas, a few buds could already be seen emerging from the ground.
...
"This is the last part of our fields. It is a bit different from the other floors where we planted a combination of crops. We dedicated this floor to rice only. It is one of our main source of carbohydrates. We usually grow wheat too but it usually grows over winter. With the environment of the dungeon, it is more appropriate to grow rice for now. Next year, we'll prepare the land around the Musclewood Tribe."
"And this concludes what we have done until now. It will take a few months before we yield any result here but the smaller vegetables above should be ready in a few weeks."
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Xena walked around the dungeon's fifth floor, explaining the work of her tribesmen. She used to be the chief of the Blue Eagle Tribe and now, she sat on the ruling council of the Musclewood Tribe. The council was especially enlarged for the integration of the Blue Eagle Tribe and now consisted of twelve members. They treated the new tribe fairly even if it was considered as weak. It did not have any Shaman or apprentice but did have an abundant population for a single tribe. And that was precisely what the Musclewood Tribe needed at the moment.
Five nodded to the female barbarian. It has just been a few days since her tribe completed their migration and they already got a lot of work done. They wanted to prove themselves and requested permission to do what they do best, grow plants.
Jumping on the opportunity, Five suggested using one of the unused biomes of the dungeon. This way, while working on their crops, the barbarians would still generate a lot of DP. The barbarians were skeptical at first; they did not want to be entirely dependent on the dungeon but when Five explained the DP system and how he would need a lot of DP to revive the Cobalt Eagle, Xena immediately agreed.
Her most urgent task was naturally to revive her tribe's totem spirit. She did not hesitate to send all the barbarians under her to the dungeon to work in the fields; even the children and women were asked to simply sit inside the dungeon to generate more DP. Naturally, Five was not against this; they were gifting him a lot of DP.
To top it off, Five did not bother mentioning how much DP he would need exactly to revive the Cobalt. It would be an understatement to say that he profited from Xena's command. With seven hundred additional barbarians visiting his dungeon doing nothing but turning the land, sowing seeds and tending to their crops, Five made millions of DP.
A single person would generate 10 DP per level every hour. The average level of the Blue Eagle Tribe, including the children, was twenty-eight. They spent around ten hours in the dungeon every day, resulting in almost two million DP every day. In contrast, he only needed 1.7 million to revive the Cobalt Eagle.
"Thank you. I see I did not make a bad choice in giving you these floors. The climate here won't fluctuate and I can adjust the weather conditions to suit the plants. We will split the yield as we previously discussed. Twenty for me and eighty for you," said Five.
He glanced at his interface and smiled. He did not need to be greedy about the yield of the crops; he was already gaining so much from the barbarians. 'Continue working. It is so delightful to see the DP count rise. I should look for other ways to get people into the dungeon. Especially people who won't bother killing the monsters.'
"Are you integrating well with the rest of the Musclewood Tribe?" asked Five.
"Some issues arise occasionally but it is fine. The naive ones seem jealous that you agreed to give us these floors but they do not realize that it will just be a source of food for them." Xena waved at her tribesmen and led Five to a more quiet area. The latter did not even bother about hiding from the normal barbarians; unless they were brain dead, they should have already realized that their tribe had some ties with the dungeon. On the contrary, it could be beneficial if the barbarians now knew his face.
The only issue he had was that he did not know whether he should show his face to the players. But was not very important right now. For some reasons, no players stepped into the dungeon, even after ten days have passed.
"What is the situation with the merchant townsmen? I believe they made a few requests to enter the dungeon."
Xena's expression hardened. These were important matters being discussed by the council. She could not openly speak about them before the council came to a decision but at the same time, she did not want to be on Five's wrong side before he summoned the Cobalt Eagle.
"We are still sorting things out. We don't want things to be a mess. Furthermore, many other tribes expressed their intent on exploring the dungeon too. We are still considering the 'Licensing' system you mentioned but since it is something new, we cannot take things lightly."
"Got it. As long as they are still considering it, it is fine. I believe we have a short meeting again tonight. I will bring up this issue." Five's main goal was to generate more and more DP. The barbarians were strong-willed; they did not want to share their resources with the townsmen but Five kept pressing the issue, asking for the players to get access to the dungeon.
Xena paused for a moment. She let Five take a few steps forward before asking. "It has been a few days since we arrived. When will the Cobalt Eagle be revived? My tribesmen keeping asking me for an exact number. It should be about time, right?"
Five stopped in his steps. He knew he could not delay the revival of the Cobalt Eagle too much. The barbarians did not have exact numbers but they could make estimations based on how the dungeon developed. Furthermore, he had already accumulated a decent amount of DP from this, more than enough to summon all the three totem spirits from the relics he had.
"Yes. I will bring the relic to the meeting tonight but I hope you won't forget about your side of the promise. The Cobalt Eagle will remain free but he must officially be my monster."