After passing out in the forest, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, Valtar was sleeping, not knowing that this forest was not a place where he could so openly sleep without getting killed. To his luck, an old man was passing by the place, carrying a log of wood.
The old man, carrying the wood to his ho, saw a strange young man passed out in the open. Seeing the young man passed out right in front of a watering tree, he understood the situation and imdiately brought him to the tribe village.
Valtar woke up from a groggy state, his entire body aching from pain, a testant to how he barely escaped from the battlefield. The mont he woke up, he noticed he was lying in so kind of bed made of hay, inside a wooden hut. He imdiately beca alert, his mind turning in gears, taking in the surrounding details.
The house had a small window. Noticing the view from the window to the outside and the size of the house, he realized, "It's so kind of old hut," he thought to himself.
"Right, I did pass out in the middle of the forest. It was entirely possible for to be killed or eaten by so strange creature. Considering I'm lying comfortably in a house, it doesn't seem the person who brought here has any ill intentions."
Still, he did not let his guard down. Just as he was about to get down from the bed, he heard sounds of children, and a little boy of probably 4 or 5 years old ca into the hut.
The boy had an innocent face but a fierce look in his eyes. He had black skin, wearing ragged clothes which was an indication of the poor state of the tribe. More children ca into the hut to see if the stranger who had been brought to the village had woken up.
To their delight, the stranger had indeed woken up, and the little children were looking at him with surprised expressions. Valtar noticed all the children had similar skin tones, dresses, and malnourished bodies, telling the story of the children's hunger.
The boy ca first into the hut, pointed his finger at Valtar, and asked him sothing in an alien language that Valtar did not understand in the slightest. He frowned and unconsciously responded in his own language, "What?"
The mont the children heard this, their expressions beca confused, and they looked at each other, but no one understood what the stranger said. Fortunately for Valtar, his system ca to his rescue: "[Default skill All-language interpretation has been activated]."
The mont the skill was activated, he could understand all that the kids were discussing. So were apprehensive of the stranger, so were alert, and a few kids were excited. But Valtar interrupted the kids and asked them, "Who brought here?"
The mont the kids heard that, there was silence, and one kid asked back, "You can understand us?"
Valtar asked again without replying to their question, "Where am I? And who brought here?"
The kids were about to speak when suddenly an old and calming voice sounded from the outside, "Kids, do not bother our guest. Go and play outside."
The kids, hearing the old man, did not linger any longer in the house and went outside as the old man commanded.
Valtar also beca more alert, hearing the voice. Considering how obedient the kids were to the voice, this was soone in charge in this tribe or village, and most likely the one who brought him here. He stood up from the bed as the old man entered.
The old man had a face that spoke volus of his personality. He wasn't too soft but also not too cruel. Looking at his healthy body despite his old age, he was perhaps so kind of warrior.
The old man introduced himself, "Hello boy, you can call Old Man Zhao as everyone does. I am also the vice-tribe chief of this small tribe. Who are you, boy?"
Valtar kept his stoic expression and asked, "Are you the one who brought here, Old Man Zhao?"
Old Man Zhao replied with a smile, "You an the one who saved you? Yes, it was . You did not answer my question, boy."
Valtar replied, "Thank you for saving , Old Man Zhao. My na is Valtar."
"Alright, so where are you from?" said Zhao.
Valtar said, "Sorry, but I don't rember. I only rember running away to save my life."
Zhao stared straight into Valtar's eyes, and for a mont there was silence as both kept staring at each other. Then Zhao said, "Alright, that doesn't matter. Why don't you co outside and take a look at our tribe?"
Valtar agreed readily and went outside. Old Man Zhao introduced him to the tribe to various people and revealed so crucial information. Their tribe na was the East Forest Tribe. It was small, with about 120 mbers not counting the children. The forest they were situated in is called the Forest of Shadows. There were four areas to the forest, the sa as the four directions. The tribe was called the East Tribe because it was situated in the East area, similarly.
In the North was the vicious Dark Elven Tribe. If anyone were to get anywhere close to that place, they might get instantly killed. In the South were the Fae folks. The only thing Zhao knew about them is that they were the most terrifying things in the forest.
Then in the West were the Shadow Monster area, and it was because of that area that the forest was called the "Forest of Shadows."
Valtar took in all the information and asked things from ti to ti. He wanted to ask about the fight that happened between the Titan, Dragon, and the Human, but he could not since he said he didn't rember anything, and thus did not ask about it.
There was one particular detail that irked him, which was that while pretty much all the tribe mbers had dark skin tones and looked similar, Zhao was the only one who looked different from them, as if he was an outsider.
Valtar naturally asked about it, and he said that just like Valtar, he was also actually saved by soone from the tribe. Zhao fell in love with that tribe woman and stayed here since then, and it's been 30 years since then.
While saying that, a strange expression appeared on Zhao's face, but it was only montary, as if Valtar would see it. Valtar found it slightly weird but did not ask about it. He was asked to stay in the village because Zhao warned that if he goes outside the forest, specifically the area of the East Tribe, he may actually be killed.
Zhao explained further, saying that outsiders can only go out exactly 30 days after the exact day they entered the forest and if he doesn't get out within the first 2 months he will never be able to get out of this forest. He was free to try and get out if he thinks he can. Valtar had an ominous feeling wash over him the mont Zhao explained this situation. Valtar had more questions, but it seed Zhao was not planning on explaining any further for so reason.
So, having nothing to do, he could only stay in the tribe and gather information from the others as much as possible and beco close to them. And he did gather so information, which was basically that any of the native tribe mbers knew anything about the outside world or anything about outsiders being able to get out after coming in. They only ever had one outsider among them, that Old Man Zhao. Valtar asked about the tribe leader and if he could et him, but all resolutely said to him that if the leader wants to et him, he would be notified, otherwise, he couldn't et him and was asked to keep quiet about it.
There were many things Valtar found weird: the thing about not being able to get out, Zhao being the only outsider, and not seeing the Tribe Leader even once. But he could only keep it to himself and try to find out as much as possible.
After 1 day of his waking up, 30 strong tribe mbers erged from the west side of the forest, carrying dark and shadow-like various strange beasts. Pretty much all the tribe mbers welcod them with open arms as they were the ones who fed the tribe by risking their lives daily, going hunting on the western lands for the shadow beasts.
The shadow beasts aren't exactly shadows, though the stronger ones probably do have shadow-like abilities. The 30 tribe warriors are collectively called Tribal Warriors. Their leader was a 22-year-old strong-looking boy. He looked kind of similar to Zhao, and his guess turned out to be correct, Zhao's son is indeed the leader of the warriors and the strongest warrior despite his young age. His na was Zho. As Zhao introduced Valtar to the warriors, they all had sowhat hostile looks, and Zho himself after hearing he was living in the tribe for free for a few days already said, "Father, do you expect us to feed an outsider for free while we are risking our lives in the western lands?"
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