The next few months passed quickly as Rion continued both his training with Haden and the research on the dark crystal, which had no change even after he fed it with the life essence every month.

During these months, various significant changes occurred within the tribe.

The nearby forest was cut down to build training areas for each division — Warriors that either used the same type of weapons or combat strategy.

A total of sixteen divisions were formed, out of which nine were of the active group leaders, while the remaining seven were of the former hunters.

Arok and the other blacksmiths had finished forging armour for everyone.

The armour looked as if it belonged to a knight more than to a tribal warrior; it had dark plates of Zorthan, while the parts that could be used to land a blow, such as the fists, knees, elbows, etc, had small Azrath spikes.

"My treasury..." Arok mumbled dejectedly while staring at the empty treasury with a leather pouch full of zirua hanging in his hand.

A few gatherers had also gained enough knowledge to concoct the medicines, because of which the amount of pills that could be used for the training was increased even further, and with that came the regulations making sure that the young warriors didn't become dependent on the pills.

Drokan paced before the squad members and leaders of his divisions. His hands were folded behind his back, and he spoke while enhancing his voice with aura, "All of you are only allowed to take a total of two fatigue-relieving pills, improved healing pills, and improved senses pills in a week."

"As you command!"

Rion had also introduced the exercises from his previous world as a part of training; the only difference was the insane amount of weight and sets.

"I don't want to do that leg training, I can't walk for the whole day after I do that!!" A squad member shouted while staring at Naqir with a terrified expression.

Naqir looked at him and asked softly, "Do you not want to become like the high commander?"

"I do!" Said the squad member.

Naqir smiled and mumbled, "Then you have to do this training as the high commander was the one who introduced it."

And because of these changes, many of the squad members awakened their aura. Upon seeing the effectiveness of the new training, a few of the former hunters also became instructors for the trainees.

The sudden increase in the number of aura users caused Marin to create a new branch called the scouts.

The scouts were the replacement of the Redwood guards who had lost their lives. Similar to the squads, the scouts also had a scout leader, but they had no groups; instead, they directly reported to the higher authority.

However, because of such intense training, the improvements weren't smooth; the fatigued warriors had turned aggressive, often leading to brutal skirmishes. To stop that, Marin had told the craftsmen to create more huts, then each squad member was given one of their own, so they no longer had to use their squad leader's hut.

Because of this, the infighting decreased dramatically, but to make sure that it didn't decrease their camaraderie, each squad was given a mission every single week.

Rion wasn't seen much because of his training, but at the end of each month, he sparred with all the group leaders, excluding Haria.

Everyone stared at Rion, who stood at the centre of the training ground with awe; around him were the unconscious bodies of the nine group leaders.

Suddenly, something black shot towards him and Rion lifted his arms in defeat.

Haria, who was wearing her leather body suit, appeared before him and growled with narrowed eyes, "Fight me!"

A wry smile appeared on his face. He nodded and muttered, "Didn't I promise you that I would fight you after everything is over?"

At least that was the excuse he made, but Haria wasn't stupid; she understood that he was already too strong for her, and he simply didn't wish to defeat his big sis.

She respected his choices and stopped bothering him; instead, she bothered the person who dared to stay with her little brother before she did.

Unlike others, Dora and Haria's spars were verbal and full of deadly poison.

"Why are you hogging someone else's brother, as he belongs to you?" Asked Haria.

Dora's lips twitched, she smirked and said, "Because he does. He belongs to me, not you."

Haria's eyes turned sharp. She spat, "You bitch!"

"Tch. Tch. Is that how you talk to your sister-in-law?" Dora commented with amusement filling her eyes.

Yet amidst their banters, they came to respect each other. Dora respected Haria's familial love for Rion, and Haria respected Dora's romantic love for him, but they were too petty to accept that.

The Dhaevrak improved as if it had gained wings, and before they knew it, a year had passed.

With each passing day, the mood within the tribe turned gloomier, everyone's steps were quicker, and a strange urgency filled everyone. Even the kids who didn't know anything about what was about to happen could feel the change.

Haden, Rion, Varok, the group leaders, Marin, Valak, Jura, Zaelyane, and Arok stood at the southern cliff of the Redwood Den. Their expressions were flat, and their eyes were locked onto the purple fog forest.

Unknowingly, Rion's grip tightened around the shaft of his spear; he clenched his fist and mumbled inwardly, 'I will finally end this bloodied game of yours.'

The moments turned into minutes, minutes into hours, but nothing happened.

Arok scratched the back of his head and mumbled, "Was it a lie?"

Haden shook his head, his eyes turned sharp, and he mumbled, "They wouldn't lie."

Jura looked at him with a frown and asked, "How are you so sure?"

Haden chuckled and stated, "What wolf needs to lie to the lamb?"

Just as the world reached the time at which The Remnant had declared war, a rumble rose from the deep purple fog forest.

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