Chapter 81: Chapter 81: Officially Joining

"Run faster! Haven’t you eaten!"

Sorin’s shouting echoed outside the tent. Kaelen looked up while writing his travelogue, smiling to himself. On the other side, Walter managed a team of beastmen without harsh scolding. He just stood there with a slingshot in hand; if any beastman slacked off, a pebble would give them an enthusiastic ’greeting’.

"Ahhh! Who on earth came up with this targeted training! You devil!" A Sub-Beast ran for his life, screaming as he was being chased by Wilder, who carried a snake in his mouth.

Zale’s face was ice-cold as he said, "Run five more laps."

"Ahhh Zale! I curse you to be forced to sleep on the ground by your mate!"

"Ten more laps."

"You demon..."

"Ten..."

"You shut up, we won’t say another word, alright?!"

The group that stayed behind to work laughed and gloated over the others’ misfortune, until the supervisor stood behind them and gently said, "Tomorrow morning is your turn." The whole group immediately withered like autumn leaves.

The training intensity for the Sub-Beasts was already very light, yet they still couldn’t bear it. That night, even the most cleanliness-loving Sub-Beast didn’t have the energy to bathe; some even fell asleep while eating. The next morning, the entire tribe echoed with tragic screams like pigs being slaughtered:

"Ouch, ouch, ouch! Damn it, my legs are crippled!"

"Boohoo, Papa, be gentle, I’m dying of pain!"...

Kaelen frowned. After the training session, the instructors had all guided everyone on how to stretch their muscles and soak their feet to relieve muscle soreness the next day, but it seemed hardly anyone bothered to do it. This attitude was considered undisciplined.

[Cancel the morning rest break and let them go back to work. Have them do light chores and cut the labor quota in half.]

Sane had read the ’Essentials of Military Strategy’ and knew this was the step to establish martial law, so he agreed with Kaelen’s method. Being called a demon was fine. Later on, they would realize the benefits of these practices.

After a string of groans and curses, the group tortured yesterday had to drag themselves to work. On the first day, the cursing filled the sky; on the second day, it continued; on the third day, the cursing grew quieter; by the fourth and fifth days, everything returned to normal. This was partly because everyone had gotten used to the alternating training and work intensity, and partly because the Sub-Beasts discovered that their explosive power and stamina were about to catch up with the beastmen.

The beastmen, seeing that they were about to be caught up to by the Sub-Beasts, put even more effort into their training. It was one thing if they couldn’t be beastmen warriors and were a step behind others, but now that the fragile Sub-Beasts were about to catch up to them, did they still want to save face?

Looking at the orderly and enthusiastic atmosphere in the tribe, the group of elders looked at each other and smiled. Perhaps Sane’s management authority should be announced sooner, as he could already decide all matters, big and small, in the tribe by himself without their help anymore.

Today, after five days of rest, the evening class resumed as usual. Before the group dispatched to search for wandering beastmen left, Collins had everyone sit properly in the square and cleared his throat:

"Today, before starting the new lesson, I represent the elders in the tribe to announce a matter of utmost importance:

Starting today, Sane is officially granted the authority to operate and manage the tribe, meaning he will become the fifth Chief of Crimson. The authorization ceremony will take place early this spring, but the Chief’s authority will take effect from now on. Does anyone object?"

The tribesmen below were dumbfounded, and a young beastman scratched his head, speaking naively:

"Huh, hasn’t it always been like this? I thought Sane had already become our Chief a long time ago, only missing the ceremony."

"That’s right, Priest, isn’t it redundant for you to announce this? We’ve considered Brother Sane as the Chief for a long time now."

"You guys know nothing. Before, we just called him by name; from today onwards, we must switch to calling him ’Chief’! Understand?"

"Oh, oh..."

The elders: "..." Is this just an issue about titles?

"Ahem!" Collins coughed, cutting off the noise below. "Since there are no objections, let’s return to the class matters. Starting today, the official teachers will appoint intern teachers from the apprentices. Those with excellent academic performance, good character, and proper cultivation will be appointed.

I will read the names of the following people, please stand up and come to the podium:

Sorin of the Cheetah clan, Susan of the Tiger clan, Alden of the Lion clan, Cassian of the Leopard clan, Silas of the Tiger clan, Randy of the Sparrow clan, Mie of the Lynx clan, Theron of the Leopard clan, Colton of the Black Wolf clan, and Aaron of the Silver Fox clan."

The first eight people whose names were called stood in a neat, straight line on the podium; only Colton and Aaron were still in a daze. The group of people from the prairie were all dumbfounded. It must be a coincidence, right? Were there people with the exact same names and clans as the two from their tribe?

Wilder, who had been sitting and gossiping, trotted over. He rested his two front limbs on the prairie group’s table and eagerly said, "It is two of you. This afternoon, I heard my Grandfa telling my Grandpa exactly that."

"Oh my, it really is Colton and Aaron. What are you two still standing there in a daze for, hurry up and go."

Everyone took turns pushing the two young men up to the podium. The two looked at each other, both noticing the confusion in the other’s eyes. Collins waited for everyone to line up properly before he continued clapping and said, "Next, the Chief has a few words to say; everyone please keep order."

Sane stepped up to take Collins’s place. His expression was cold, and his words carried a natural majesty, making the tribesmen below not dare to breathe loudly.

"You must be very surprised why Colton and Aaron were chosen as intern teachers. Today, right here, as the fifth Chief of the Crimson tribe, I officially declare: The group of thirteen people from the prairie has officially passed the Beast God’s trial. Starting today, they will officially be citizens of the Crimson tribe. All corresponding treatments and responsibilities will be the same as every other tribesman. Do you have any objections?"

"No objections!"

Everyone shouted in unison, while roaring applause erupted. The new group of tribesmen hugged each other, sobbing. They had finally been recognized.

"If there are no objections, then you also have no objections to these two new intern teachers, right?"

"None!"

"Good. Today, first of all, we will still study according to the old rules. From tomorrow, the teaching method will change, which will be officially announced to everyone tomorrow at noon."

After Sane finished speaking, he nodded to Collins and slowly stepped down. Collins said, "First, the intern teachers should split into pairs, assist the five senior teachers, and get familiar with the teaching process. Everyone, take out your study materials. Today we will get acquainted with sentences and words, as well as division."

Kaelen rubbed his throat, taking a sip of warm water. He kept feeling an itchy and burning sensation in his throat; perhaps he had a sore throat. Afraid that taking medicine would affect the baby, Kaelen used his ability to treat himself, but the burning pain didn’t improve. He thought about teaching Draven how to use abilities to examine the inside of the body tomorrow morning; Draven was so smart, so the student would definitely learn very quickly.

Truthfully, among the five ’primary school teachers’, Draven was the fastest at learning addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, while his writing skills were average. Collins, Asher, and Nyx were all sensitive to letters, whereas Talon was sensitive to numbers. To simplify the difficulty of numerals, Kaelen had used Latin numerals as replacements.

As for the alphabet, he didn’t plan to change it. Firstly, he couldn’t vocalize, so he wouldn’t be able to teach everyone the syllables of the Latin letters. Secondly, the writing system in this place was already quite complete; even though they were hieroglyphs, they weren’t difficult to understand or too complex.

If he stubbornly changed the alphabet to Latin letters, the Crimson people might excel within the tribe, but once they stepped outside, they would still be illiterate.

He planned to only teach Latin letters and English to key people, to form a language used for writing secret letters; even if the letters fell into enemy hands, they wouldn’t be able to read them. The next morning, the sounds of ’hey hey’ outside the tent door woke Kaelen up. Sane was preparing breakfast, and Kaelen lazily hugged him from behind.

"Are you awake? I am cooking sweet grass seed porridge, it’s almost done."

Sweet grass seeds were the seeds of sweet sorghum plants. Currently, sorghum seeds were the main food in the tribe; they were filling and abundant in quantity. Initially, apart from the Avian clan who often used these seeds roasted as snacks, no one knew they could be eaten to satiate hunger.

[Has Anthony’s group left yet?]

"They have left. I sent Draven along with them as well."

Hearing this, he snapped completely awake and hurriedly grabbed Sane’s arm. Sane patted Kaelen’s arm soothingly:

"I know what you are worried about. Draven’s Divine Energy is too strong; no matter how much we protect him, there are still too many risks. It’s better to let him mature on his own. Only by going out there and facing reality can he grow up. I already sent Wofu to accompany him, so you can rest assured."

Kaelen pursed his lips, his expression unable to hide his worry. However, what Sane said was entirely correct. No matter how brilliant and talented a person was, sitting in one place would never get them far. Perhaps this trip would help Draven have a breakthrough.

[Why don’t you let me go out?]

Sane burst into laughter. He rubbed his nose affectionately against Kaelen’s, saying dotingly, "Once you finish giving birth, and our children are a bit older, and the tribe can be stable even without the Chief, I will take you and the kids all over the beastman continent."

Kaelen’s eyes lit up brightly, dimples showing clearly on his cheeks. If Sane said so, then Sane would definitely do it. Heaven knew how much he had yearned to go out and explore the outside world.

After breakfast, Sane said goodbye to Kaelen to go handle his work. Kaelen hugged a pile of crochet hooks, put a woven grass hat on his head, and skipped over to the weaving group’s spot. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

The fabrics used within the tribe and for trading at the Spring Market were already sufficient. Now, it was time to teach everyone how to knit and crochet wool.