Facing Death with Serenity

If it had only tasted bad, that would have been bearable. The real problem was that they all got diarrhea after eating the potatoes raw.

That experience had made them think potatoes were poisonous, deliberately grown by cunning humans to harm thieves.

Now it seemed that wasn't the case. Potatoes really were one of humanity's staple foods; they just couldn't be eaten raw. The whole incident had been a misunderstanding caused by their lack of cooking skills.

The Spirit Cat Tribe had its own crops, which the Cat-men called Keken. Keken was easy to grow; they could bury it in any old corner, and after some time, it would sprout.

The Spirit Cat Tribe had been able to feed so many of its people thanks to this hardy crop.

When Medivh received the Keken offered by the Cat-men, he took one look and realized it was corn!

Corn really wasn't fussy about where it grew, and the layers of hills actually expanded the amount of cultivable land.

Once he confirmed that Keken was corn, Medivh confiscated all of it from the Cat-men to save for planting and seed stock.

Besides Keken, the Spirit Cat Tribe also had herbs for inscribing Inheritance Spirit Runes, as well as herbs for other purposes. Medivh set aside a Farmland District specifically for growing them.

After a delicious feast, the Cat-men were assigned homes under the guidance of the middle-aged chieftain and other administrators. They settled in Districts No. 2 and No. 4, with each family living together as a household.

After completing their household registration, the Cat-men could use it to collect food from the Supply Warehouse and cook for themselves at home.

Given the Cat-men's terrible cooking skills and unfamiliarity with human food, Medivh opened many Public Canteens in the Armory Districts of Districts No. 2 and No. 4.

When registering at the Supply Warehouse, the Cat-men could choose meal tickets instead of food rations, then use the tickets to eat at the Public Canteens.

With Medivh's permission, the Spirit Cat Tribe's Warlocks and Apprentice Warlocks helped the Spirit Cat Warriors complete their Inheritance Spirit Runes.

The Spirit Cat Warriors with completed runes learned the lost Cat Clan Combat Techniques from the Spirit Cat Skeleton Warriors in Kurd City.

In addition, a group of Cat-men with Warlock talent followed the Spirit Cat Skeleton Warlocks in their studies, while another group suited to having Inheritance Spirit Runes inscribed became Apprentice Spirit Rune Warriors.

"After I die, please send me to Graveyard District No. 2."

Since arriving in Kurd City, the Cat-men no longer went hungry one meal and stuffed themselves the next. They could eat their fill at every meal, and even had meat.

The Spirit Cat Tribe's legacy had been restored, and the younger generation was working hard to cultivate and improve themselves.

The master of Kurd City was kind to the Cat-men and looked after them in many ways.

Seeing the Spirit Cat Tribe grow stronger by the day, Riddle, a Cat-man, finally felt the thousand-pound burden lift from her shoulders.

Before, she hadn't dared to die, clinging to life in a decaying body.

Now, she could face death with serenity.

"We respectfully send off Lady Riddle!"

Riddle, a Cat-man, closed her eyes peacefully. The middle-aged chieftain and the other Cat-men looked both sorrowful and glad.

Riddle had suffered for far too long. Her peaceful passing was a joyous occasion.

She had passed away peacefully because she had seen the dawn of the Spirit Cat Tribe's rise. The Cat-men ought to send her off with celebration and remember her contributions to the tribe, not lose themselves in grief.

Like the ancestors before her, Riddle wanted to pass on knowledge and protect the younger generations in the form of a skeleton.

In her final instructions, she asked her descendants to take her to Graveyard District No. 2 after her death and lay her to rest there, awaiting Medivh's use.

As the middle-aged chieftain and the others carried Riddle into the Underground Palace in Graveyard District No. 2 for burial, they passed many Cat-men's remains that had been carefully laid to rest along the way.

Graveyard District No. 2 was the burial ground Medivh had set aside for the Spirit Cat Tribe.

Those remains had been excavated from the Spirit Cat Hill cemetery and brought back.

From then on, when the Cat-men of Kurd City died, they would be taken to Graveyard District No. 2 for burial, just like Riddle, where they would accumulate history underground until Medivh put them to use.

Graveyard District No. 2 held only bones less than a hundred years old.

The Green Bone brought back from Spirit Cat Hill had already been sent to High Tower Castle in District No. 1. These past few days, the Cat-men's remains that Medivh had been melting down and reviving were from that batch.

"She was a great leader!"

When he heard that Riddle had died, Medivh praised the life she had lived.

Objectively speaking, she had been a great leader.

In her decaying body, she had protected the Cat-men through their most difficult days. Only when the dawn of her tribe's rise finally appeared did she pass away peacefully, surrounded by her people's laughter.

The Cat-men integrated into Kurd City quickly. In less than a week, they could be seen at every kind of post.

Some Spirit Cat Warriors patrolled and hunted in the Wilderness outside Kurd City alongside the Spirit Cat Skeletons.

Some stood watch on the city walls at night alongside the Skeleton Soldiers.

Some worked at the Public Canteens, carrying ingredients, clearing dishes, and handling other odd jobs.

Some wielded little hoes in the fields, harvesting potatoes alongside the Skeleton Farmers.

The Cat-men said they wouldn't freeload; they would repay Kurd City's support with their labor.

"Lord Medivh, thank you!"

Leaning against the railing atop the tower and gazing through the window at the Cat-men laughing in the distance, Suixiang called out excitedly, answering Medivh behind her.

The Spirit Cat Tribe owed its present life to Medivh's generosity.

In the blink of an eye, it had already been more than half a month since the Spirit Cat Tribe had migrated to Kurd City.

Over the past half month, Medivh had alternated between work and rest as he melted down and revived the Green Bone and Blue Bone he had obtained from Spirit Cat Hill.

There were quite a lot of bones on Spirit Cat Hill: the ancestors' bones brought there when the Spirit Cat Tribe migrated, as well as the remains of Cat-men who had died over the past two hundred years.

There were also the bones left behind by enemies the Spirit Cat Tribe had killed over those two hundred years, and the remains of the original inhabitants from before the tribe migrated there.

The bones Medivh had obtained from melting down the remains revealed that the original inhabitants of Spirit Cat Hill had been Lizardmen. He just didn't know whether they had migrated away or been wiped out.

There weren't many bones left by the Lizardman Tribe, but the youngest were all Blue Bone at least three hundred years old. The oldest remains dated back a full seven hundred and twenty-four years.

The aura and pressure lingering around those remains made it clear at a glance that their owner had been a powerful Transcendent in life.

After refining all the Blue Bone that could be melted down and revived, Medivh obtained twenty Light Blue Dual-Spear Skeleton Warriors, twelve Sky Blue Dual-Spear Skeleton Warriors, five Light Blue Transcendent Lizardman Skeleton Warriors, and two Light Blue Transcendent Lizardman Shamans.

Blue Bone Skeletons began at the first tier, and they awakened Bone Spirit Power as soon as they were revived.

The Dual-Spear Warriors were human Skeleton Warriors specialized from ordinary Lizardman remains.

They stood two meters tall, wore Bone Armor, and wielded two Bone Spears that could be assembled into a double-ended long spear as their Origin Weapon.

The Lizardman Skeleton Warriors stood three meters and eighty centimeters tall, and possessed the Lizardmen's unique Transcendent abilities and combat techniques.

The Lizardman Skeleton Warriors and Dual-Wielding Skeletons had identical Origin Weapons. The only differences were that the Lizardman Skeleton Warriors had thicker Bone Armor and bone structures characteristic of Lizardmen.

The jointed tail of a Lizardman Skeleton Warrior was their third long spear.

The Lizardman Skeleton Shamans were different from Minotaur Shamans.

They weren't Totem Shamans but War Song Shamans, inspiring their people through various Transcendent war songs.

The Lizardman Skeleton Shamans' Origin Bone Artifacts were the Shaman War Drums at their waists, along with Bone Armor and Bone Spears.

Like Minotaur Shamans, Lizardman Shamans were close-combat spellcasters.