Seeking

With everything prepared, the two brothers began their journey out of the forest. In the end, Krum did not let Solam help pull the sled; instead, he had Solam sit on the sled carrying the tiger, while he pulled it himself, with Ram sitting on the sled leading the two ewes, heading back along the path they had come.

No one spoke throughout the trek out of the forest, their nerves stretched to the breaking point, terrified that the scent of blood on them might attract other predators. However, whether it was because the local beasts knew this was the Snow Tiger's territory or because they were no longer deep in the forest, Solam and Krum managed to make it out unscathed, despite being scared to death.

"Whew." Seeing they had cleared the forest, Solam and Krum let out a simultaneous sigh of relief. It was much safer outside the forest; in winter, few animals roamed the wilderness, preferring to stay tucked away in the woods to escape the wind and snow.

Only after his mood relaxed did Solam have the heart to check his injuries. Aside from the four deep gashes on his chest, the rest were minor issues. Strangely, however, the wounds on his chest had already scabbed over. By all rights, such wounds would have required stitches in his past life and taken days to scab, and even since arriving in this world, Solam had been injured before—though never this severely—and had never healed this quickly. His Toughness ability didn't have any accelerated healing effects either, which was truly bizarre. While it wasn't a bad thing, he couldn't help but feel curious about what had happened to his body at that moment.

Solam voiced his questions to Krum to see if he knew anything.

"I was already unconscious by then, how would I know?" Krum was more easygoing, figuring that since the result was good, there was no point in obsessing over it. "But you said you completely lost your mind back there; I suspect you entered a state of Frenzy."

Right, Frenzy. Solam's heart skipped a beat; his symptoms did indeed resemble a Frenzy. Frenzy was a racial talent of the Orcs; any Orc could enter this state when stimulated or enraged. It wasn't exclusive to Orcs, though—he'd heard the old man say that the barbarians in the outside world possessed this talent as well. Once in a Frenzy, one became fearless and indifferent to pain, with physical attributes and strength increasing significantly. The downside, however, was becoming violent and potentially losing the ability to distinguish friend from foe.

Because Solam had never witnessed a Frenzy until now, it hadn't crossed his mind. To Solam, Frenzy seemed like the potent stimulants from his past life—a surge of adrenaline, accelerated blood flow, making one faster and stronger, just with more exaggerated effects. This made his current state of weakness and muscle soreness feel like a perfectly normal aftereffect.

But then again, he had lived in the clan for twelve years and had never once seen a Frenzy. If this were a talent all Orcs possessed, he should have seen it at least once or twice. It was strange; he had never seen it, and the adults in the clan rarely spoke of it, as if it were a taboo subject. It seemed he would have to ask the old man and Granny Karom properly when he got back to find out what was really going on.

To be honest, even though his group had survived thanks to his Frenzy, he hated that state. Losing his reason entirely and being unable to control his own body—that sense of powerlessness was incredibly unpleasant.

Solam pondered for a moment before putting the matter aside. He leaned against the carcass of the Snow Tiger and closed his eyes to meditate, preparing to get some rest. There was still a distance to go from here to the Frost-Free Valley where the clan camp was located. At their current speed, they might just make it back in time for lunch. Seeing Solam close his eyes against the tiger's body, Krum realized he wanted to rest and fell silent, focusing on the journey.

And at that moment, it began to snow.

Frost-Free Valley

After the commotion in the tent, the group fell silent the moment they saw Zaira faint. Granny Karom stepped forward, took Zaira's hand, and observed her carefully.

"It's nothing, just too much excitement. She's already weak from just giving birth, and this panic went straight to her head. She'll be fine after some rest." With that, she cast a Rejuvenation spell on Zaira.

The light of the Rejuvenation spell flickered and vanished, and Zaira slowly opened her eyes. Trick held his wife's hand nervously, looking at her with concern. "Zaira..."

Before he could finish, Zaira cut him off: "Why are you still here?"

Trick was stunned by the question, thinking to himself, Where else am I supposed to be?

Seeing her husband's foolish expression, Zaira felt a surge of irritation. "Go find them! Granny Karom and the sisters-in-law are here; I'm perfectly fine. You're just wasting time standing around me!"

Find them??? Hearing this, everyone realized—damn it, the most important thing right now was to find those two hell-raising kids. Trick and Karut immediately rushed out of the tent, but the moment they lifted the tent flap, their hearts sank: it had started to snow.

Originally, Trick and Karut had planned to take a few hunters and their Dire Wolves to search for Solam and Krum. After all, tracks were obvious in the snow, and with the scent-tracking ability of the Dire Wolves, it shouldn't have been hard to find the two boys.

But snow changed everything, and it looked like it was only going to get heavier. A heavy snowfall would not only cover all tracks but also make scents difficult to track. The difficulty of the search had multiplied; it was no longer a job for a few men—they would have to mobilize every adult warrior in the clan.

Seeing the situation, Karut didn't say a word. He whistled for his Dire Wolf partner, Crazy Claw—an exceptionally strong wolf—and vaulted onto its back, charging out to summon the men of the clan. At the same time, he swore to himself that when he found those two brats, he would give them a real lesson and teach them some discipline.

Trick also mounted his own Dire Wolf, Fierce Eye—a wolf with a gaze as terrifying as Trick's own. He charged out in the opposite direction of Karut to gather men, aiming to save time. At this moment, time was life; the longer they waited, the harder it would be to find them. If those two kids had really entered the forest, every passing moment increased the danger.

Following the shouts of Trick and Karut, the clan camp, which had been quiet for the winter, gradually grew rowdy. Every warrior who heard the summons emerged from their tents, donned thick leather furs, grabbed their weapons, shouldered their bows, and mounted their Dire Wolves, heading straight for the camp gates to assemble. Other women, children, and elders heard the noise and hurried to ask what had happened. Some of the older male Orcs, hearing that the two children of Chief Kramsh were missing, quickly retrieved their own weapons and bows, calling out their aging Dire Wolf partners to help.

Despite their haste, half an hour was lost. Even though Trick and Karut were frantic, they knew there was no helping it; the speed at which everyone gathered was already impressive, given that everyone had been hunkered down for the winter.

"Uncle Tarik, you and the other elders shouldn't come along." Karut saw the elder Tarik and a group of old men joining the fray and felt a surge of anxiety. They were all at such an advanced age; they shouldn't be adding to the chaos. Many of these elders had already lost their Dire Wolves to old age, so many were running on foot.

"What for? Are you looking down on us old bones?" Despite his age, Tarik's voice was still full of vigor. Hearing Karut's words, he felt insulted, his face flushing red as he brandished his battle-axe and roared. The sound was deafening, making everyone's ears ring. "I was swinging a battle-axe when you were still nursing!"

Hearing this, the other old men began to clamor as well. Seeing this, Karut felt a headache coming on. If any young pup dared to challenge him, Karut would have raised his sandbag-sized fist to show them why the flowers were so red. But these old men were the elders of the clan, and among the Avalon Orcs, who valued the tradition of respecting one's elders, this was a headache indeed—he couldn't hit them, and he couldn't scold them. (In Avalon Orc custom, elders are symbols of wisdom and experience. This is because the legendary prophet Garul of Avalon was an old man.) If they really joined the search and something happened to one of them before the kids were even found, he wouldn't know how to handle it.

"What are you still dawdling for?" Just as Karut was at his wit's end, a thunderous roar saved him. It was the old man, Chief Kramsh, riding his Dire Wolf, One-Eye. The old man saw that the situation was dire, yet his eldest son was still here bickering, and he was furious.

The moment the old man appeared, the other elders fell silent immediately. The old Chief's prestige in the clan was unmatched. One-Eye trotted up to the group of old warriors, and the old man stared at them with eyes like a hawk.

"You bastards, you're old enough to know better. At a time like this, you're still causing trouble? Where did all those years go?" The old man hadn't intended to come at first; he trusted the abilities of his two sons and even more so his two grandsons, especially Solam, who was so clever that he must have thought things through before going hunting. Even if they encountered danger, escaping should have been no problem. But while sitting in his tent waiting for news, he felt that no matter how smart Solam was, he was still only a twelve-year-old child. What if he had acted on a childish whim and put them in danger? Thinking of his long-dead third son, he stopped trying to act tough and decided to go himself; otherwise, sitting there would be a torture of endless anxiety.

"We just wanted to help, there's strength in numbers," Uncle Tarik said quietly, no longer daring to rely on his seniority once the old Chief arrived.

"Is this how you help?" Old Chief Kramsh was so angry his nose was crooked. This is helping? If it weren't for your age, I'd teach you how to be a man all over again. You've lived this long and still don't know how to speak properly.

However, he had grown up with this old fool and knew this was just how he was, so he didn't bother saying anything else. The old man gave his orders: "Elders with Dire Wolves will pair up with a few young men. Those without wolves, don't add to the mess; you'll only slow us down. Stay behind to guard the camp. With all the men going out, someone needs to watch the house." The old man cut through the Gordian knot with his decision.

With the old man's authority, naturally, no one dared to object, and so it was decided.

"Everyone, prepare to move out!" Seeing the elders with Dire Wolves paired up with the younger generation, the old man gave the order to depart.

But the main force had only been moving for about ten minutes and hadn't gone very far when a sharp-eyed warrior noticed a few figures walking toward the camp through the wind and snow in the distance.

"Look! It looks like someone is coming over there."