Chapter 409: The Neighbors Crisis (1/2)

After Shira left the Spire, she immediately flew to the south. She realized that she didn't have any time anymore. The Leader had said that Silva was already more powerful than her, and, for once, she believed him. It would only be a matter of time until Silva challenged her. After all, Silva was ready to take this risk for his Camp.

Like this, Shira left the Tribe, and she wouldn't return until she had killed three Lords. If she intended to start right now, she would have flown to the west. After all, they had a direct neighbor there. Yet, she wouldn't go there in her current condition. First, she had to wait for her head to regrow. That would probably take some hours.

A day later, Gravis gathered the whole Tribe and told them about his new program. The reactions were mixed. The Lords grew excited when they heard that. Initially, they had believed that there wasn't enough food for everyone. Yet, this solved the whole issue.

The Spirit Beasts, on the other hand, didn't like this at all. An invasion was the easiest way to become more powerful. After all, a powerful commander would kill the enemy and keep them alive.

But why didn't the Spirit Beasts know that it was better to go through life and death tempering? After all, hadn't there been a devastating war some days ago?

The reason for that was simple. Every Spirit Beast, except for around ten from the Sea Camp, were new members. Every old member of the Land Camp had either died or become a Lord. They had seen the effect of tempering. That was why they were so excited.

The new members hadn't seen that effect yet. That was why they were unhappy about this development. A lot of them went to complain to the Oracle or Elder but without success. Yet, the Elder and the Oracle were able to alleviate their worries somewhat.

When the Lords went wild, a lot of Spirit Beasts would become homeless. When that happened, most of them would join the River Tribe. Like this, there would be enough food. Sadly for the Spirit Beasts, the new recruits had to go through a real fight to join the Tribe, just like them. This meant that they weren't easy targets.

This put the Spirit Beasts before a choice. There was no easy way to power anymore. They either had to go through perilous fights or leave the River Tribe. There was no restriction to leaving, and all beasts knew that.

Because of that, over 30% of the Spirit Beasts left the River Tribe to join another Tribe as Prey. At least, if they managed to join another Tribe, they could leech some food from the wars. Yet, the remaining 70% decided to stay.

These 70% now knew that there was no easy way out anymore. They couldn't wait anymore and hope for a lucky invasion, and since they had no other way anymore, they immediately went wild with challenging others.

By now, there were a lot more new members. With one dedicated beast, Liza, overseeing the entire process, one new member after the other appeared. Because of this, even though nearly all Spirit Beasts of the River Tribe had died two days prior, there were more members now than ever before.

As soon as the Lords went crazy, there would be a gigantic influx of new recruits. Gravis had already foreseen this development and ordered the fungus to create 20 more arenas. They would need them all soon.

Meanwhile, the Lords asked the Elder and Oracle how they should proceed exactly. Gravis had informed Orthar and Morn about how he wanted things to be done, and they relayed the information.

Gravis didn't see a bigger territory as an advantage but as a liability. If the territory were bigger, fewer beasts would congregate in one spot, and therefore, there would be fewer fights. On top of that, they would need to send more beasts to overlook the borders.

Because of all these reasons, Gravis informed them that they would only annex the one territory to the west. Currently, the River Tribe was in the southern part of the continent. To the south was the ocean, while to the west and east were some fringe territories.

Gravis informed the two that a width of 1500 kilometers was more than enough. As soon as the territory to the west was annexed, they would only expand to the north. They needed to get closer to the core of the continent to find better food.