Rune Engraving

"I know three Runes in total: the Sturdiness Rune, the Strength Rune, and the Gravity Rune. Let's start with the Sturdiness Rune. It's the one our tribe uses most often."

Palo said.

Palo then began drawing the Rune on the ground with the handle of his carving knife. It resembled tadpole script or oracle bone inscriptions, but was far more complex.

The entire Rune felt profoundly mysterious to Lei Mo, yet also seemed to be missing something. Still, he did not ask. Even if he did, Palo would not know.

So there was no need to ask anything. Lei Mo carefully copied the Rune Palo had drawn onto the ground again and again with a wooden stick.

Once Palo said there were no problems, he used a crude brush made of animal hair, dipped it in collected natural pigments, and carefully drew it onto animal hide.

Over the next few days, Palo taught Lei Mo the Strength Rune and the Gravity Rune. Although these two Runes were much more complicated than the Sturdiness Rune—

—they could not stump Lei Mo. After all, he had received nearly twenty years of formal education and survived mountains of textbooks and seas of problems. No matter how complicated they were, there were only three Runes.

The Sturdiness Rune and Strength Rune were fine, but the Gravity Rune shocked Lei Mo. It had both a normal and reverse form. Engraving it normally made an object heavier and more stable, and it was generally used in constructing houses or cities.

Engraving it in reverse reduced an object's weight. The Bloodhoof Tribe's transport methods were primitive, yet they could still meet the tribe's basic needs because of the reverse-engraved Gravity Rune.

Lei Mo was stunned that this Anti-Gravity Rune, which seemed to be missing something, could reduce heavy objects to a mere fraction of their original weight.

Engraved beneath the Bloodhoof Tribe's cumbersome supply carts, combined with enormous wheels that spread out the pressure, the strength of Great Horned Oxen, and the Taurens' size, the carts could race over rugged primitive roads.

Furthermore, the Gravity Rune's application was far too similar to the Gravity Space Mysteries of the Laws of Earth. The Strength Rune corresponded to the Strength Mysteries, while Lei Mo had no idea which Mysteries the Sturdiness Rune corresponded to. He guessed it was probably another Mysteries of the Laws of Earth.

This discovery made Lei Mo both happy and worried. He was happy because it greatly increased the likelihood that this was a world he knew. But he was worried because something was wrong with this place!

That meant his advantage of knowing the plot was gone. He was only a Seventh-Level Warrior. How was he supposed to survive in such a dangerous world?

The Bloodhoof Tribe was too backward and weak. There was nowhere and no one Lei Mo could ask. And why were Runes ineffective unless they had been engraved after receiving the Ancestral Spirit's Blessing?

What exactly were the Ancestral Spirits in the Ancestral Court? Lei Mo had no way of knowing. However, this year was the year of the Ancestral Court Pilgrimage. Ten years ago, Lei Mo had only been eight, so it had been impossible for him to go even if he wanted to.

The Bloodhoof Tribe was located on the eastern border of the Chaos Plateau, more than a hundred thousand kilometers from the plateau's central region. The journey alone took several months, and it was far from peaceful. They often encountered magical beasts and bandits among the Orcs who had lost their tribes and clans.

Most of these bandits came from small and medium-sized clans. On the one hand, they were weaker and more likely to lose their tribes. On the other hand, each of their clans only had one tribe.

As far as Lei Mo knew, many large clans possessed multiple tribal branches. Most smaller clans had only one tribe, with clan and tribe being one and the same. Thus, the Bloodhoof Tribe was also the Bloodhoof Clan.

Orcs from large clans who lost their tribes to war or magical beast attacks could seek refuge with other tribes, and it was easy for those of the same clan to integrate. But some Orcs became bandits out of resentment, or because of feuds within their own clans.

In short, there was every kind of bandit group. One gang might include several clans or even several races. Taurens were the strongest race within this area of several hundred thousand square kilometers, but tribes of other races existed as well. They simply had to submit to Tauren tribes.

Three months later, the gathering party Lei Mo belonged to set out with more than ten enormous supply carts. The beams of those carts were entire thirty-meter logs, merely trimmed to the same thickness at both ends and crudely joined together with mortise-and-tenon joints.

Crude as they were, with Anti-Gravity Runes added, the carts' own weight could be ignored. Their carrying capacity was truly astonishing. Lei Mo estimated that every supply cart could carry no less than a hundred tons.

The massive wheels, made from five-meter-wide logs, rolled steadily forward without the slightest sign of bogging down or sinking.

Ever since arriving in this valley, Lei Mo had either been hunting or on his way to hunt every day. The camp had accumulated a great deal of smoked meat.

This time, all of it was loaded onto the supply carts. There was still more than a month before winter, so they would not normally have returned this early.

But the once-in-ten-years Ancestral Court Pilgrimage had come around. The ceremony to worship the Ancestral Spirits would not begin until March of next year, but because the Bloodhoof Tribe was in such a remote region, they had to leave a month early.

Lei Mo was also part of this pilgrimage party. The group mainly consisted of young and middle-aged Taurens, with adult Taurens serving as the backbone and leading youths from the tribe between fifteen and twenty years old to the Ancestral Court.

On the one hand, it would broaden their horizons. On the other, they would receive the Ancestral Spirit's Blessing. Lei Mo in particular had to go to the Ancestral Court to receive the Ancestral Spirit's Blessing if he wanted to become a Rune Engraver.

Without the Ancestral Spirit's Blessing, no matter how mysterious the engraved Runes were, one could not become a Rune Engraver. This was vastly different from Lei Mo's previous understanding of craftsmen like carpenters and stonemasons.

Even ordinary Taurens could gain a great increase in strength if they received the Ancestral Spirit's Blessing, but the chances were extremely low.

Lei Mo had high expectations for this journey. At last, a corner of this world's mysterious veil would be lifted. Due to the lack of information, he had spent these past years in a muddle.

Now everyone was packing their supplies and preparing to set out on the road back to the Bloodhoof Tribe.

Cairne led the guard squad, riding Great Horned Oxen at the very front of the party. Because Palo was old, he could ride in a supply cart. Lei Mo, meanwhile, could only rely on his own two hooves.

Unlike Lei Mo's short legs, the others in the gathering party swung their large hooves as they walked behind or alongside the supply carts, showing no sign of fatigue. Taurens truly had remarkable endurance.

The journey that had taken one day on the way there took three days on the return, and not just because the supply carts were fully loaded.

They also had several young wild Great Horned Oxen with them. These would become the tribe's future draft animals, while those that grew into magical beasts would become the battle beasts of tribal warriors.

The tribe had quite a few Great Horned Oxen that had been domesticated for many generations, but their potential had been exhausted. Very few could break through and become magical beasts, leaving the tribe constantly short of battle beasts.

Therefore, whenever they captured young Great Horned Oxen, they kept them as reserves for battle beasts. Those unable to break through after reaching adulthood would be used as draft animals.

After returning to the Bloodhoof Tribe, Lei Mo unloaded his personal supplies in his stone fortress and organized his armor and weapons.

There was not much: a suit of Earth Dragon-hide armor, bone dining utensils, and his imitation Totem Pillar, which other Taurens simply called a totem club.

He also had several stone throwing rocks. With ranged weapons scarce, Lei Mo had practiced his stone throwing until he became quite skilled.

It was useless against true experts, but it was very useful for hunting.