Chapter 363 The Barbarian Tribe

Shaoke nodded, acknowledging that the explosion was his doing, then descended some distance to show respect to these barbarians. Since the first barbarian who ran over seemed to him to be merely a seventh-tier practitioner, he did not worry about being attacked at that moment.

"What's the matter?" Shaoke still felt a sense of closeness to barbarians, mainly because during his guard duty in the border town years ago, he had a good relationship with several barbarians. Unfortunately, after he left the town, those barbarians never appeared again.

"Are you a mage?" The barbarian stared at Shaoke with wide eyes. "Do you know a mage named Xueye? I know him." After saying that, the barbarian muttered to himself. Not long after, more barbarians arrived. But these barbarians looked shorter, only about two meters tall, which was a sign of their adolescence.

"Back then, he could also blast a pit into the ground, but it was smaller than this." The adult barbarian glanced uncertainly at the deep pit ahead, then tilted his head and said, "Why don't you come down?"

"Mosan Orzifrost?" Shaoke thought for a while, then slowly descended from the air. He looked uncertainly at the barbarian before him, who resembled the barbarian he had known back then, but at that time that barbarian had only been two meters tall, and now...

"How do you know my name?" The barbarian scratched the back of his head in confusion, but Shaoke could see that his hand had inadvertently touched the massive axe handle behind him.

If he had the chance, he would definitely pull out his battle axe in the shortest time and swing it at Shaoke's head.

Then Shaoke deactivated his Defensive Spell and put away his staff to show he meant no harm. He then recounted his guard duty in that town years ago. Finally, remembering that his cloak was still covering his head, he quickly pulled it off for the other to see.

The passage of time had brought no change to the mage's features; only the occasional hint of hardship in his eyes revealed that he had experienced much. Mosan Orzifrost thought for a moment and finally confirmed that the mage before him was the one he had known in his childhood.

After some conversation, the barbarians dropped their guard, and the barbarian Mosan finally invited Shaoke to their tribe, where he wanted to hear in detail about Shaoke's experiences outside.

On the way, Shaoke learned that Mosan's tribe had migrated here over a hundred years ago because their tribe's population was too small. The tribe they merged with had only a little over ten thousand people. So the two tribes united to form a barbarian tribe of over thirty thousand. Now the population had increased to nearly one hundred thousand. This time, the barbarian Mosan was leading these young men to the town outside the forest to buy food. Of course, Shaoke knew that their most important purchase was large quantities of strong liquor.

Upon learning this, Shaoke told them to wait there while he quickly found several towns, where he bought enough flour and strong liquor. He also purchased many daily necessities that the barbarians needed, relying on his memories of what Mosan had bought in that town years ago. He didn't mind if there were mistakes, since it didn't cost much. He could now afford to spend a bit wastefully.

While buying supplies, Shaoke sent a message to Mage Roman about his situation, telling her not to worry. Female Mage Roman was very pleased to learn that Shaoke had been invited to the barbarian tribe and readily agreed with his idea. If possible, she hoped to use Shaoke's influence to recruit some barbarians into the Blizzard Legion. After all, the combat power of adult barbarians was many times greater than that of the specially trained Blizzard Warriors. More importantly, these barbarians improved very quickly under the thrill of battle, and if they had strong ancestral bloodlines, they might even exhibit atavistic traits.

The barbarian tribe made the mage, used to cleanliness, found the place very uncomfortable, mainly because the place was too messy and dirty. The ramshackle houses were built with thick logs, covered with a layer of thick soil. If not for the thick snow covering them, Shaoke would have suspected that grass would grow on the roofs. Indeed, a few small trees grew on the roofs, but compared to the logs, which were as thick as a man, they were no problem; they wouldn't cause any damage to the houses.

The arrival of a strange outsider startled almost the entire tribe. Some young children watched Shaoke from a distance, and some even boldly reached out to touch the mage's robe.

Fortunately, the barbarian Mosan stopped this behavior; otherwise, some child would definitely have been hurt by the magical energy emanating from the mage's robe.

Under Mosan's guidance, the mage arrived at a huge house in the center of the tribe. This house was also built with thick logs. Although it looked very crude, it was very tall and quite sturdy and durable. More importantly, the furnishings inside were very clean, as if the mess outside was an illusion. Of course, Shaoke offered a salute to an old barbarian in the center as custom required, then sat cross-legged on thick magical beast fur to rest.

After a brief discussion, the straightforward and generous barbarians accepted Shaoke. Of course, this was also because Mosan had known Shaoke years ago. Finally, they invited Shaoke to stay here. The mage thought for a moment and agreed to live here.

The old barbarian who led the tribe did not impose any conditions on Shaoke; instead, he told the mage to seek help from the barbarians if necessary. They respected knowledgeable mages. As for why the old barbarian did this, Shaoke did not care. He knew that the old barbarian wanted to use Shaoke's knowledge to improve the tribe. Of course, there might be other things Shaoke was not aware of.

A house was quickly built by seven or eight barbarians. Their construction method differed from that of the Blue Feather Empire, having a unique barbarian style. This will not be detailed here.

After casually throwing dry firewood into the fireplace, Mosan grabbed the wine jug Shaoke handed him and drank it all in one breath. Such a jug of wine was far from enough to satisfy him. Then the two began to talk about things over the years. Shaoke only gave a simple account to Mosan, as too much detail would be useless. Even so, Shaoke talked for an entire day while Mosan listened, drinking and eating meat, curious about the outside world; he had always wanted to see the world.

The barbarians' dinner was a communal gathering. The entire tribe assembled on the wide open ground. Dozens of large trees were lit with special fuel, creating dozens of huge bonfires that melted much of the snow. Low-tier magical beasts weighing several tons' worth were set on roasting racks. In front of Shaoke's bonfire, an eighth-tier Pseudo-Dragon was roasting. The barbarians had skinned it, smoothed the hide, and spread it on the ground to prevent the cold from rising.

Mosan was not qualified to sit by this bonfire; he could only sit by a distant bonfire, raising his wine jug and toasting loudly, tearing off large pieces of beast meat and bones with his hands and devouring them.

Around the mage's bonfire sat a dozen barbarians, all wise elders of the tribe. The tribe chieftain was among them. After tearing off a piece of meat weighing four or five jin (about two kilograms) for Shaoke, the chieftain asked, "Mage Xueye, do you have any books? I mean books on history, literature, and other subjects? We don't need magic books." The old chieftain then tapped his chest to show his strength.

Shaoke looked at him in confusion, not understanding why the barbarians wanted such books. Then the other saw his doubt and quickly explained. This explanation led Shaoke to agree to exchange some books with them. Of course, he did not have all the books the barbarians asked for, but he promised to bring the missing ones later.

It turned out that although these barbarians were straightforward, guileless, crude, and wild, oddly enough they loved reading books. Often, the number of books a tribe owned was a measure of its strength—just like all the empires and families on the continent.

A Pseudo-Dragon weighing several tons was devoured by dozens of barbarians, including its hard bones. Shaoke, however, was full after eating less than two jin of meat. He was not particularly surprised by the barbarians' appetite, as he had read about it in books. Most of the barbarians' food came from raising magical beasts, with only a small amount of flour and tea-like items as supplements. This had, to some extent, enhanced the strong physique of the barbarians' descendants.

If all commoners could consume such powerful magical beast meat over generations, their physical fitness would definitely become formidable after a few generations. Shaoke didn't know why he suddenly thought of this. He shook his head and then chatted with the barbarians. After dinner, he returned to his room accompanied by Mosan and several barbarians. The matter of the exchange was postponed until tomorrow.