He entered his tent as quickly as possible. Inside, Kaoran lay in his makeshift bed with closed eyes and a calm smile.

For a moment, it looked as if he was peacefully sleeping, but there were no signs of life.

When Illyan realized this, he ran towards him and knelt next to him. He checked his state and fell into despair.

There was no pulse, and it seemed that death happened during the night, which meant there was no way to help anymore…

The only thing he could do at this moment was to sit and stare in a daze…

Before he even realized it, his face got wet. When he touched his cheeks, there were a few droplets of tears falling out. He didn’t even know that he could still cry at this point…

He sat like that for half an hour. But time didn’t wait for anyone. There were sounds from outside made by tribe members who were preparing to leave this place.

Illyan knew he had to break the news to the tribe. For someone who was the Grand Shaman, the entire tribe would grieve and have a big funeral…

Just as he prepared to leave, he noticed a little table. Several phalanges were lying on it.

Those were the ones Kaoran used for divination. However, when Illyan saw them, he frowned.

It seemed that they were thrown and used for divination recently. And the result was…

‘Death.’

Did Kaoran know about his demise? Or…

Did someone want him to think this way?

Murderous intent came out of his eyes as he thought about this possibility. Kaoran seemed to pass in a natural way, as he was twice as old as people with a normal lifespan, but there were many ways that could make it look that way that even he wouldn’t be able to discern.

Just as he came to Kaoran’s body again, he noticed three parchments that fell next to the body. It seemed that they were on the top of Kaoran’s chest, but he didn’t notice them and accidentally pushed them away as he was checking Kaoran’s state.

What was peculiar was the fact that the three parchments were completely different.

One was of extremely high quality and could be said to be one of the best in the entire tribe. Furthermore, it was folded in a very compact way, which means that the content was very long.

The second and third, however, were made of much lesser quality. They were highly unprocessed and looked like faulty products. The only difference was that one of them was longer than the other. Nevertheless, even when put together, they were much smaller than the first one.

“What are those?” He wondered why Kaoran had those on his chest at the time of his death.

He took the smallest one in hand and spread it open.

The content inside was written with a very neat writing style, and it was clear to see that it was written with a completely carefree mind.

As he learned to read and write from Kaoran, he immediately recognized his handwriting.

‘Dear Stone,

If you are reading this, then my divination of your eyesight returning this day was right. In that case, congratulations.

I am sorry that I had to break the news in this way. I was aware that the end was near, but it was today I was sure I won’t live past the night.

There is no need to feel too bad. Instead, celebrate that I had the honor to die of old age in this ugly world full of cruelty.

I was living a fulfilling life and could even live much longer than a regular person. There were many bad things happening, but the good ones will always be the ones to stick in my mind.

For all those years, you were to me like a grandson that I have never had. I have never got to know exactly what happened to you prior to our first meeting, but I know that suffered a lot.

I just hope that you saw our tribe as a place where you felt safe all those years. That you lived a good life during those times. For me, they were the best years of my life.

I was already exerting myself to keep in the world of living, waiting for you to learn the entire inheritance.

I tried to teach you as much as I could in this limited time and I think I did a good job at it. The knowledge of divination was the last part of the inheritance, and you have successfully learned it entirely. I know you had to learn some parts only theoretically because of your talents and that the inheritance itself wasn’t complete, but I still hope it would be useful to you.

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During those days, I also wrote my other techniques that belong entirely to me. I didn’t teach you, as there was not enough time, and you wouldn’t be able to perform any of those as they were suited for my own gift. However, I will still give those to you with hope that they will one day be useful to you.

They were written on the parchment of the best quality, so they will last long enough.

The third parchment is my will for other members. Please give it to the current Grand Shaman. She will take care of everything.

By the way, you should get used to this. I am just an old and decrepit man, but with your gift, even if you won’t make any progress in Spiritual Energy in your entire life, you will still outlive at least a few of the younger generations.

That’s the gift or curse of the fabled Immortals. They gave up on the joy of mortality to get joy of immortality. It is an equal exchange. Yet, you didn’t get the choice and was fated to go the path of no return. I just hope you will be able to get happiness on the way and won’t get stray from the right path.

Live a fulfilling life where each day will be a delight to go through, my dumb grandson.

Grandpa Kaoran.’

“Why…” Tears continued to stream down his eyes as he read through that long yet so short letter. So many things he had to say yet he couldn’t anymore. He felt lost…

Unfortunately, there was no time to grieve now. He had to announce it to others. Kaoran mentioned in the letter to leave it to the current Grand Shaman so he will go to her first, albeit with a heavy heart…

……..

A gloomy atmosphere spread over the entire camp.

Just now, the new Grand Shaman announced the passing of the previous Grand Shaman Kaoran. People started grieving for the man who was there for them their entire lives. He was the oldest in the tribe, which means that everyone knew him their entire lives.

Everyone stopped whatever they were doing and started to chop the closest trees.

There was a need to do the ceremony and to burn the body, else the chance of the body turning undead was much higher. As Kaoran was full of Spiritual Energy, the amount of variables got much higher.

Thus, everyone started to build a gigantic pyre. Not only because of this but also as a form of respect.

They knew that they could attract some uninvited hosts with this, but they were a tribe of warriors. They wouldn’t avoid fighting.

Illyan also went to chop down some trees. He took the lumberjack ax that was heavier and wider than his battle axes and got to work in the hope to get distracted.

After he left the tent, he went right to the Grand Shaman and gave her Kaoran’s will. She was shocked but inside she knew all along that this time would come. While she didn’t show it, she also felt the grief.

Seeing this, Illyan was satisfied with Kaoran’s successor and was glad that the tribe was in good hands. In the end, it seemed that Kaoran was very good at judging the character of people.

She then went to Kaoran’s tent and started to collect his things. Most of those were mentioned in the will, and so she will distribute them after the funeral. In the past, Kaoran also owned a lot of things that belonged to the tribe, but those were given to her when she became the new Grand Shaman. Actually, he was still holding the Totem which should be in her hands as it was too big to be carried by a normal Arctic Wolf. So, Dor still has it strapped to its side.

Soon, even Kaoran’s tent got dismantled, and everyone started to build the pyre.

……..

Later that day, a pyre big enough to tower over even Dor was built with Kaoran’s body inside.

Everyone gathered in front of it and gave Kaoran respect.

“He was really meticulous. I thought we would need to purify him as soon as possible. I didn’t expect him to have an ‘Evil Spirit Repelling’ Amulet on his neck and the Amara herb that makes it hard to amass any kind of death energy inside the body.”

“Well, he was the one who taught us all those things.”

The Grand Shaman, who Illyan just found out was called Kara, and he was talking behind the pyre.

“Yes. He taught us everything yet he was still so much more brilliant than I ever would be able to.”

“Don’t underestimate yourself too much, Grand Shaman. The old man said that the most important thing is to gather experiences. He stopped teaching you years ago when you weren’t fit to be Grand Shaman before but now you are. You still have a long way before you reach your absolute peak.”

“Y-yeah, you are right. I shouldn’t be bothering you about such trivialities at this moment. I know it must be hard for you too.”

Illyan talked with her in this manner for the entire time before it was time for the funeral to begin. He noticed that she was even more overwhelmed than he was and chose to calm her down. She would just throw away the respect that people gave her if they saw her crying like a child.

She had to look stronger in front of them as she was the Grand Shaman.

Even Degres, who looked unbothered most of the time, was looking gloomy right now.

However, he, Illyan, and others had different responsibilities.

“My apologies, Grand Shaman, however, it is time for the ceremony. Unfortunately, that means that I need to go.”

“Yeah, hopefully no one will show up during this time. Anyways, good luck.”

Illyan and Grand Shaman Kara said goodbyes to each other and went their own ways. She went to start the ceremony while he went together with a few other elites to watch out for enemies.

Because of the gigantic fire and their not-so-inconspicuous deforestation, it definitively brought some unwanted attention.

Because of that, some had to defend the surroundings from any threat. Be it from animals or people.

“Hey, Degres.”

Soon, Illyan met up with Degres who had to lead those people.

“Oh, Illyan. Good to see you are fine. I thought you would take it much harder.” Degres, who was normally a cheerful man, was now frowning as he looked around the forest.

“Yeah, I guess I need to get used to this.” Illyan shrugged his shoulders and Degres raised his eyebrows at this answer. He didn’t understand what Illyan meant with those words as he didn’t know about the separate letter that he got.

“Anyway, we must get ready. Scouts already found that someone got a whiff of us already. They are humans and strong too as even scouts couldn’t get too close. Those that did, didn’t return.”

Degres started explaining to others.

“Isn’t that obvious who that is?”

“Yeah! Nobody can match us except those motherfuckers!

“Fuck them!”

“Kill them!”

The warriors were furious that during such a sad event they must go out to fight instead of grieving the man who raised them as their own.

“Are they Blood Crow Alliance?” Illyan asked for confirmation.

“Yes. They were furious ever since we destroyed that camp back then and are even more crazy than before.” Degres nodded at this.

Illyan’s eyes turned cold.

Soon, the fire signaling the start of the cremation began. He could only look back for the last time before he disappeared into the forest looking for blood.