What was most important for him, though, was the fact that he could speed up the rate of his regeneration when using the Spiritual Energy.

What better fuel is there than pure energy?

Spiritual Energy was one of the purest energies in the world. The reason for that was because it didn’t originate from the world.

It was leaking from the Spirit World, which is basically the shadow realm of the material world.

These leaks are highly beneficial but could also be harmful for the world.

Elemental Spirits visiting the world could cause natural disasters. Spirits of dead people could manifest as ghosts, and dead bodies could be easily possessed by them to become undead. And many other risks came with it.

All of this information was recorded by Bakur himself. When reading it, Illyan felt as if he was reading some stories for children to scare them when they were disobedient.

But the more he was excited when he knew that it was all true.

“Fuuuh.”

He slowly exhaled the air he had in his lungs and opened his eyes.

He was meditating for the entire night, and now it was dawn already.

“It is time.”

Soon, they will take off and start to wander the Frozen Valas Tundra looking for a new home.

However, he doesn’t know if he will tag along with them till the end. He already has enough merits to pay off everything. Now he only has to learn the rest of the shaman’s art and will be able to leave.

But when thinking about that, he felt nervous. He didn’t know where he would go or what to do. He even thought whether staying with the tribe wouldn’t be for the best.

Thankfully, he had support from Kaoran, Degres, and Zers. That made him calm down and made his determination firm.

While sitting, he took off the cloth across his eyes and checked how they were. He could already see blurrily as they almost healed during those years.

Kaoran told him that it would take him a long time, but he was aware that his eyeballs were actually damaged several times already.

In the stomach of the creature and in the Kennera Lake when he opened his eyes to baptize them too.

There, the entire process was quite quick. But this time it was different.

He felt a certain force hindering the regeneration, slowing it down. When he found out that he can speed it up with Spiritual Energy, he wanted to try it, but he noticed something extraordinary.

His eyes changed. Or better said, they have been mutating the entire time. The golden streaks were running across his crimson eyes, giving them mysterious hues.

Or at least that was what Kaoran said to him.

It was obvious that his regeneration was fighting against the force and used it as the building stones for creating new eyeballs. He let it be, as it could be beneficial. If not, he will gouge his eyes and regenerate them again.

Noting this, he covered his eyes again and got out of the tent.

At this point, most people already packed everything and were taking it on their sleds, which will be pulled by their wolves.

Illyan also decided that he should dismantle his tent. No way, he wouldn’t take it. Kaoran gave it to him, so he will use it even when he leaves the tribe.

Fortunately, it didn’t take too long, and he packed everything onto his gigantic backpack.

Since he didn’t have his wolf, he would need to put everything on his back. Not that it would be a problem for him as he is much stronger than regular tribe members.

This year, he was 18 years old, yet he was already higher than Degres, who was over 190 centimeters. It was astounding that he grew so much when he was so scrawny when he was young.

He took on the backpack with ease and went looking for Zers.

He found him quickly. Zers was talking to Yii, who became his wife last year.

Now she was already pregnant.

Illyan shook his head. Who would know that Zers, that little Urchin, could seduce someone so quickly? He was just three years older than him after all.

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“Ah! Illyan, you are here! That’s good. The tribe plans to leave as soon as the old man is ready!”

“Have some respect, dear. He was the Grand Shaman.”

Yii, who was beside him, scolded him with a gentle voice.

“All right, all right. The great previous Grand Shaman is still not prepared.”

Smack

For this, he got a slight smack on the back of his head. Then, she turned to Illyan and greeted him with a smile.

She was a woman of small posture with long lush dark hair. Not longer than Illyan’s though.

“It is good to see you again, Illyan. You are only training or studying.”

He could only shrug at this. It was true that he wasn’t relaxing much lately.

But that was obvious. Kaoran was getting old. He was already 163 years old this year. Respectable age but in the end, Kaoran was still a novice and couldn’t indefinitely.

He was getting weaker. That’s why he left the position of Grand Shaman to his first disciple so he could use most of the time to teach Illyan. Despite this, the entire tribe still respected him and waited for him at this time.

“What can I say. I like it that way.”

“Yeah, but if you spend most of the time that way, then you are just wasting it.”

Zers cut him off with his words as his arm went around Yii’s waist.

“How about getting a girl too?”

“Zers!”

Yii turned at him with a mad expression but Illyan’s mouth twitched a little as he looked at him in amusement.

“You know that I am three years younger than you, right? When you were my age, you were getting sweaty with other men since you were weaker than me.”

“Ugh…”

After all, he was equal to Illyan now when he was blind. So how could his three years younger version be any better?

Yii giggled at this. That made him even more awkward, and he blushed slightly.

Illyan only shook his head at this as he wore a relaxed expression.

Zers, who wanted to change the topic, asked Illyan a question.

“By the way, where did the old- I mean, Grand Kaoran disappear? You should know, right?”

Illyan just rolled his eyes at this obvious move. However, he answered truthfully.

“Don’t know. He just disappeared.”

And so, they could only wait as they talked with each other.

Time passed and most of the tribe members already got on their sleds with everything they needed. Now, only past Grand Shaman missed.

Grroooo

Suddenly a very deep grunt reverberated throughout the valley.

“Damn… That thing is still alive!”

Zers who saw something from behind Illyan widened his eyes as he exclaimed.

Illyan also immediately turned around as he thought some beast was attacking them, but instead, he was the animal he didn’t see for years.

“Dor?”

A gigantic musk ox that was easily over four meters tall was slowly treading its way through the snow.

It was unknown how such a big creature was able to silently get so close to the valley, but after seeing the man sitting on top of it, Illyan got an idea.

“It is really a miracle that Dor managed to survive in the state of the Valas currently.” Yii stated with amazement in her eyes. Kaoran always lets Dor go his way during their time here and only meets him when they leave.

Illyan always wondered why Kaoran won’t take it to the valley once the arctic creatures invade this place. Kaoran just told him it can take care of itself and that there was no need to look for it. It wouldn’t show itself anyway since it liked to travel.

Or at least that’s what Kaoran said.

“Yeah, I was just 14 years old when it left. That’s like over six years.” Zers was also dumbstruck seeing the musk ox he was pestering as a kid.

“Hey, kids! Are you gonna help me or will ya continue watching this old man do all of the hard work?”

Kaoran who sat at the back of Dor yelled as he saw them just talking while looking at him. He needed to pack up some important things that were quite heavy for him already.

Just a few years ago he was more fit than anyone else, but then he suddenly weakened after getting ill. Since then, it was worsening, and Illyan feared that he just had a few years left at most.

“Yeah, yeah, we will help you.” Zers said with a sarcastic tone as rolled his eyes.

“Zers!” Yii was outraged by his behavior towards the elderly while Kaoran lamented.

“Why such a good girl as Yii ended up in your dirty hands, Urchin. It is a shame, really.”

“What dirty hands?! And don’t call me Urchin! It is Zers! Z-E-R-S!”

As they bickered, Illyan sneaked away not wanting to be pulled into the argument. He got to Dor to greet him with some scratches and stashes of herbs.

Then he disappeared and went to the tent of his master and started to pack the things up. He was familiar with all things inside, so he didn’t have a problem packing it properly.

However, there were really some heavy things that Kaoran would have no way to lift now.

For example, his cauldron was made out of the metal that was extremely heavy, and even for Illyan, it was hard to lift.

The only way to transport this in long distance was to use Dor.

“You bastard, why did you abandon me?!”

After a while, the entrance of the tent was lifted, and Zers, who had an angry face entered.

“I have no interest in getting involved. Reap what you sow.”

“Hah. Unbelievable.”

This made Zers grumpy, but he still went to help. However, he got even more sullen after getting scolded several times by Illyan after packing some things in the wrong way.

“Why does everything have to be packed in different ways?! It is just a waste of time, you know?”

“Because the thing you hold in your hand is so valuable that you wouldn’t be able to buy it with all of the merits that the entire tribe has.” Illyan shrugged at his words.

But Zers froze as his eyes bulged out.

“Whaa?! Why didn’t you tell me sooner?!”

His hands started to tremble a little as he felt the weight of the material.

“Because I thought you wouldn’t be so naive that you would think that the previous Grand Shaman’s belongings would be normal things. Shamans are basically the manifestation of the tribe’s inheritance. All of the knowledge is in their minds and other important things are in their hands. Like the ancestors’ records. The things are several thousands of years old.”

Hearing this, Zers became much more careful. With cooperation, they quickly packed everything on Dor and dismantled the tent too.

Yii was talking to Kaoran as she was already tired from packing her and Zers' belongings.

The pregnancy was taking a toll on her.

Once they were done, Kaoran turned to them and said with a chuckle.

“Now only the last thing, heh-”

cough cough

This made him get a cough fit. Yii tried to help but didn’t know how. In the end, Kaoran spit the saliva with hints of blood on the pure white snow and sighed.

“Hah.. hah… Damn this age… Illyan, go retrieve the Totem, please.”

With a weak voice, he made his request at which Illyan immediately nodded.

“Alright.”

He turned at the Totem in the center of the camp. Currently, there was someone standing close to it seemingly praying to it.

As he got closer, the person also noticed him and turned around. It was a woman of a similar age to Degres. She wore colorful clothes that Kaoran wore in the past, showing her title of Grand Shaman.