Inheritance Runes

Cairne and Lei Mo followed the Bloodhoof Tribe's gathering party to the western foothills of the Seti Mountains. There was a small valley here, where they had set up a temporary camp.

The camp facilities left behind last year had fallen into disrepair, damaged by all manner of beasts and magical beasts as well as worn down by nature.

This valley covered roughly several thousand square kilometers. The trees were not especially dense, but every one of them was a towering giant, and trunks over ten meters in diameter were commonplace.

The Bloodhoof Tribe's gathering party had come here to collect fruit and hunt beasts, process hides, and prepare cured smoked meat and dried fruit for the coming winter.

Their group of over a hundred first had to clear out the camp, chop down some shrubs, and repair the camp fences. That was the first thing they needed to do, or they would not rest well at night.

They called them shrubs only in comparison to those absurdly thick trees. These "shrubs" had trunks as thick as large bowls and could be found everywhere.

Their task was to trim the wood into regular shapes so it could be rammed into the ground, forming neat wooden walls to ward off beasts and magical beasts that might harass them at night.

Cairne had already led twelve guards on a patrol several kilometers around the camp, lest there be large beasts or low-ranking magical beasts nearby without their knowledge.

As for high-ranking magical beasts or massive predators, none existed in this valley.

This small valley had served as the Bloodhoof Tribe's temporary gathering camp for at least several centuries. Moreover, it lay at the outermost edge of the Seti Mountains, and no traces of high-ranking magical beasts had ever appeared here.

Lei Mo was responsible for hunting ordinary beasts. As a level-seven warrior, combined with the strength of the Tauren race, any beast he set his sights on would be knocked unconscious with a single "club" before he hoisted it over his shoulder and left.

After bringing them back, they could be bled and skinned without affecting the quality of the meat at all.

Lei Mo specifically targeted large beasts. Without transport, hunting small beasts meant needing large quantities, which was extremely inconvenient.

He had strength to spare anyway. Highland deer, brown bears, and wild Great Horned Oxen were all his targets.

Great Horned Oxen were the Bloodhoof Tribe's primary beasts of burden and had been domesticated over generations.

They had long since become inseparable companions of the Bloodhoof Tauren. Although the Tauren did not reject meat, or even beef, most of the beef they ate came from wild Great Horned Oxen. They rarely slaughtered domesticated Great Horned Oxen for food.

Even dead domesticated Great Horned Oxen were rarely eaten. The Tauren already regarded them as companions.

The work of bleeding and skinning was mostly done by female Tauren. They were unbelievably sturdy as well, averaging over four meters tall. Lei Mo had absolutely no interest in them.

They did not fancy Lei Mo either, which made him breathe a sigh of relief. The thought of his wife being a four-meter-tall little cow made his scalp tingle.

Thank goodness, thank goodness. None of them like someone like me. Lei Mo wiped away a bead of nonexistent cold sweat in his mind.

Lei Mo and the others had arrived at the temporary camp at noon. By evening, everyone had repaired the camp fences, and Lei Mo had hunted more than enough meat.

There were two robust Highland Deer, one brown bear, and three Great Horned Bison that were unconscious but still alive.

The brown bear and Highland Deer had already been killed, and the little cows had begun skinning them. The Great Horned Bison were kept in the temporary camp's animal pen, made from specially treated logs engraved with simple Runes.

The Bloodhoof Tribe had no Shaman Priests, but it did have several Rune Engravers trained by the Tauren race as a whole. The logs were engraved with common Sturdiness Runes.

Lei Mo had always thought the tribe's Rune Engravers ought to count as a kind of magic profession. Yet after asking around repeatedly, he discovered that Rune Engravers did not understand the principles behind those Runes at all. They merely repeated prescribed Rune patterns to achieve the desired effect.

Lei Mo did not know whether the existence of Runes conformed to some rule or law, or whether they truly were some manifestation of the Ancestral Spirits.

What a headache. After reaching level seven, Lei Mo felt that Bloodhoof Battle Qi was no longer much help to him. Yet Bloodhoof Battle Qi was already the tribe's most profound battle qi manual.

If this were the world he knew, then all these Runes, totems, and Ancestral Spirits would be empty nonsense. Comprehending the laws or rules of heaven and earth would be the true path to transcendence.

But now he was in a difficult spot. Lei Mo felt his cultivation talent was already quite good, yet when it came to so-called laws or rules, he truly had not gained the slightest insight.

Eighteen years had passed. Was he really going to stop at level seven and then die of old age on this Chaos Plateau?

He did not even know the name of this continent. Though the Chaos Plateau was vast, it was only a small part of the continent. What was he supposed to do?

No one in the Bloodhoof Tribe had ever been said to comprehend any laws or rules. They all diligently cultivated their inherited battle qi, reached level nine, and then died naturally five hundred years later. That was all.

Should he study the Runes passed down from the Tauren Ancestral Court? But the dozen or so Rune Engravers in the tribe were all complete fools.

They understood nothing. Rather than Rune Engravers, they were more like stonemasons and carpenters, only replacing carvings of flowers, birds, insects, and fish with mysterious Runes. Asking them for guidance was out of the question.

He could not give up. He could still study Rune engraving. Otherwise, he could only painstakingly accumulate battle qi and slowly raise his warrior level—and there was no guarantee that would succeed either.

Although the Bloodhoof Tribe had always had level-nine powerhouses, the entire tribe could only produce one pillar of strength over five hundred years. There were rarely even periods when the tribe had two level-nine powerhouses at once.

The current Bloodhoof chieftain was only a little over three hundred years old. According to the information Cairne had gathered, it would likely be around another hundred years before a second level-nine warrior could be born.

How could he guarantee that the one who broke through would be him? If he did not hunt magical beasts or fight, how could he grow stronger?

Previous level-nine warriors had all emerged from hunting parties. He had never heard of a gathering party producing a level-nine powerhouse!

Ah, how helpless.

"Uncle Palo, are you finished with your work?"

Lei Mo tried to strike up a conversation with Palo, the Rune Engraver who had come along this time.

"Yeah. It's simple. We do it this way every time. Nothing ever changes," Palo answered casually.

"What? You're interested in this again, kid?"

Putting on an embarrassed expression, Lei Mo said, "Hehe, Uncle Palo, you know me. The tribe's hunting party won't take me. They say I'm not Tauren enough. I was thinking maybe I could learn something else, so I can find myself a wife in the future."

Palo looked at him with disdain.

"That's all the ambition you have? Instead of cultivating diligently, you're already thinking about finding a wife. There are plenty of fine young men in the tribe older than you. Get in line behind them."

"I can teach you Rune engraving first, but you must attend the Ancestral Court Pilgrimage held once every ten years. Only by receiving the Ancestral Spirit's Blessing can you master Rune engraving. Otherwise, even if you engrave them, they will not have the slightest effect. You need to understand that."

"I know, I know. Just teach me. I've already asked around about it. I'll learn the engraving first, and isn't the once-in-ten-years Ancestral Court Pilgrimage about to begin? I can catch it just in time."

Lei Mo hurriedly agreed.