The night fell on the Musclewood Forest and Five left the dungeon, accompanied by Harriet.
"Are we going to a meeting again? You spend a lot of time trying to get the barbarians to do what you want them to but they are quite stubborn," said Harriet. She had been in a bright mood lately. Mainly because she now had a lot of 'daughters' to look after. Five did not let the DP produced by the Blue Eagle Tribesmen rot in his inventory. He spent a decent amount on his dungeon and part of it went to summoning harpies. Now, Harriet had a total of twenty girls to look after; each one of them cost only ten thousand DP but they consumed a lot of DP daily.
"I know but we need to get closer to them. It will help later on. Communication between us will benefit both sides. Tonight will be slightly different. I brought this with me and might need you to suppress him if he goes wild," answered Five. He flashed the Eagle Claw at Harriet who nodded.
They soon arrived at the bottom of the waterfall where six barbarians were waiting for them. They were Xena, the three Shamans of the Musclewood Tribe, Ester's apprentice, Lovin and a newcomer, Orla.
Orla came from the Blue Eagle Tribe. Since they no longer had any Shaman, a test was carried out among the Blue Eagle Tribesmen to find out who had the potential to become a Shaman. As it turned out, Orla was chosen and now learned under Old Dale, the only one who had yet to find an apprentice. Naturally, the secrets of the Blue Eagle Tribe remained untouched; it would only be later when Orla would become stronger that she would be allowed to pry into these secrets. Even Old Dale, her mentor did not have the rights to peek into the hard work of the previous Shamans of the Blue Eagle Tribe.
"What is the purpose of the meeting this time?" asked Five after he greeted the barbarians.
"Straight to the point as always. Since we are already helping each other, we wanted to inform you of the changes that will be taking place. Many tribes expressed their desire to trade with us and even join us but we do not want to simply absorb all the tribes. It will create a mess and we will just end up like the townsmen with their complex system. There are also other possible issues that might arise; if all the tribes suddenly converge here, there will be a lot of unguarded territories. The townsmen might take advantage of that to enter our territory or beasts might start to populate these areas."
"We are thinking of merging with just two other tribes; the remaining two who lives on the other side of the Musclewood Forest. There is a reasonable distance between us but we always had an amicable relationship as we depend on the same forest to survive. They are the Iguana Tribe and the Ocelot Tribe."
"We thought a lot about the 'licensing system' that you talked about. After some discussions, we concluded that it might give it a try. There are only two dungeons in this small region with more than forty tribes; the situation is very similar to what happened at the Central Plains in the past. When the dungeons first appeared, it sparked a battle between the tribes and in the end, more than half of the tribes were destroyed or absorbed. We do not want to repeat history and therefore, licensing might be the way to go. As long as they get some resources, it should cool down their fervor a little bit."
As he listened to the Shamans' explanation, Five inadvertently curled his lips. He did not think the barbarians would use his proposed solution in an attempt to appease the other tribes but it did not matter. As long as more people came to his dungeon, Five did not care about how the barbarians did it.
His idea was for the Musclewood Tribe to allow barbarians from the other tribes into the dungeon on a regular basis. The Shamans instantly objected but after some clarifications, the Shamans became thoughtful.
The dungeon would continue to grow and expand. However, the Musclewood Tribe could not be able to increase its population in a similar manner. After a few months, the Musclewood Tribe would no longer have enough tribesmen to collect the dungeon's resources efficiently. Instead of leaving these resources unattended, why not allow the barbarians from the other tribes to harvest them? Naturally, these barbarians would hand a portion of the resources they collect to the Musclewood Tribe. It was the royalties the Musclewood Tribe would gain for allowing other tribes to enter the dungeon.
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It was a win-win situation. The Musclewood Tribe would get even more resources without having to work for it while the other tribes would also get to benefit from the dungeon. Wasn't this what the other tribes have been looking for the whole time? Giving them the leftovers would significantly reduce the hostility directed at the Musclewood Tribe. Furthermore, it would also put the Musclewood Tribe in a position of power as they would get to decide who would explore the dungeon.
Naturally, the biggest winner would be Five. More visitors meant more DP.
"I see. It can indeed be used to appease the other tribes but it will only be temporary. They will end up being jealous of how much resources you have. Furthermore, I don't know if the Swift Gazelle Tribe might do something similar. You have a strong competitor. Don't be too greedy with how much you take yet." Five gave some pieces of advice before shifting to the topic he was really interested in.
"What about the merchants? Are you also going to license the dungeon to them? I have noticed that quite a few of them are roaming around the area. Tents were also especially erected for them."
The Shamans had long been expecting this question. It was a point Five would always bring up. Old Luke answered: "We are allowing them to stay at the village precisely because we are thinking of allowing them to explore the dungeon. For now, they are only roaming around the territory and do not cause much of a nuisance. In fact, we wanted to test that 'licensing' system with them.
"However, earlier today, another group of townsmen arrived. The two groups seemed hostile to each other. We later learned that the new group belonged to a different guild called Vultex while the previous group fought for Blue Lagoon. A fight broke out and we were forced to separate them; they were disturbing the peace of our village. I believe Achi and the others are discussing with the leader of the two sides as we speak."
Five's expression hardened. 'Another guild came?'
He did not know the situation of the players in the empire, but the arrival of a second guild did not necessarily spell good news. He easily concluded that Blue Lagoon was a top tier guild; based on the information he obtained from the barbarians, they traded a significant amount of items and only a large guild would have enough capital for such transaction.
If the new guild, Vultex was not scared of fighting Blue Lagoon, it could only mean that they were equally strong. Five had been looking for ways to build a relationship with the players but now that two forces were competing, the situation became more complicated.
Seeing Five's troubled expression, Xena spoke: "There is no need to worry. We are actively sorting things out and will try to get them to come to a common ground. For now, may I ask you to take out what we discussed before?" She did not want the conversation to divert too far from her point of interest.
"Sure." Facing the barbarian's demand, Five decided to brush off his concerns for now and took out the Eagle Claw from his inventory.
He then took out the pseudo-dungeon core. "I am going to revive him now."
"Please," said Xena, her expectant eyes shone as she saw the precious relic of her tribe. Although she agreed to join the Musclewood Tribe, she did not want to forget her roots. She did not want to simply adopt another tribe's culture but instead bring in the Blue Eagle Tribe's own culture. Nothing else could embody the Blue Eagle Tribe more than the Cobalt Eagle; it was their tribe's totem spirit, their protector and guardian.
As Five looked at the Eagle Claw, the same system prompt he previously received appeared:
[System prompt: You have found the relic containing the spirit of a Cobalt Eagle. The spirit is severely injured and will hibernate for ten years before waking up. It is possible to immediately heal the spirit and turn it into your monster. The cost is 1.7 million DP. Would you like to proceed?]
"Yes."
The Eagle Claw reacted. It flew out of Five's hand and floated in front of the barbarians. Xena's breathing became louder as she observed the phenomenon.
A white transparent projection of the Cobalt Eagle appeared above the Eagle Claw. It looked weak and injured; its eyes were closed as if it was sleeping, trying to recover its energy. Then, the Cobalt Eagle woke up and looked around it. The projection started gaining colors; it became clearer and more vivid.
Soon, the Eagle Claw disappeared followed by the bright light, leaving behind a Cobalt Eagle. The bird was half the size of a human. It looked around itself with a confused expression and opened its wings.
Xena became emotional. At first, she did not believe Five would be able to revive the Cobalt Eagle. She was well aware of how much resources would be needed to heal the totem spirit but in the end, it really happened.
As for Five and the rest of the barbarians, they stared dumbfounded at the totem spirit. The revival had been successful but the results were not exactly what they expected. The Cobalt Eagle was indeed reborn and fully healed but it was no longer a spirit!
A real living Cobalt Eagle was standing in front of the barbarians. It was not just a projection; the Cobalt Eagle was made of flesh and blood. The system actually fully revived the Cobalt Eagle; it did not only heal its spirit.
The level 42 Cobalt Eagle light chirped as it tilted its head.