Not bad, there really are some promising talents in the tribe.

"What are you doing standing guard here?"

"Water, this is..."

Harris stammered for quite a while before Ethan Brooks finally understood.

No wonder yesterday, when Grant announced him as the tribe chief, everyone supported him—water is simply too precious for the tribe. The water fetched from the river before could barely supply the tribe, and those who fetched it were often injured or even killed.

Now that the tribe has a well, it's as if the water-fetching team has been saved.

Standing on tiptoe, he patted Harris's shoulder, and Ethan Brooks began to wander around the valley.

The valley they lived in was somewhat long and narrow, about sixty paces from east to west, and about one hundred and twenty paces from north to south.

The mouth of the valley was as narrow as a thread of sky, only allowing one person to pass through at a time. It was precisely because of this terrain that they were able to survive in these mountains.

Of course, this was measured with his own big feet. As for any error, he couldn't say for sure—anyway, that's about the size, and if anyone doesn't believe it, they can measure it themselves.

When measuring, he deliberately kept his stride at about one meter, so by this calculation, the area of the valley was not small, at least over ten mu.

Wild grass flourished in the valley, and vines hung all over the surrounding rock walls. In the deepest part of the valley, caves of various sizes had been carved into the rock face—these were where the tribe members lived.

After making a round of the valley and verifying everything with the memories left in his mind, Ethan Brooks finally had a general understanding of the tribe.

Primitive, backward, barbaric, ignorant...

They wore animal skin clothes, and who knew how long a single piece had been worn. Not to mention others, just himself—after wearing his animal skin clothes for a few more days, even a bird wouldn't be able to cover him.

They ate the meat from daily hunts, and gathered all kinds of wild fruits and plant roots. Whether they ate their fill depended entirely on luck.

They lived in caves—dark, damp, and crawling with snakes, insects, rats, and ants.

They used stone tools, like stone knives, stone spears, stone sickles, and so on.

They were far behind even slash-and-burn agriculture. Basically, all transportation was on foot, and all communication was by shouting.

That such a tribe could survive in this wilderness was simply dumb luck.

He needed to talk to Grant. In the whole tribe, only Grant had ever left these mountains and seen the world outside.

If the tribe kept living like this, the decline of the totem was only a matter of time.

He didn't want to just count the days waiting to die—he had to talk to Grant.

...

Inside the cave.

"Grant."

Entering the cave, Ethan Brooks gave a slight bow to Grant, who was sitting cross-legged in front of him.

Even during the day, the cave was still a bit dim. The campfire burned, and the flickering shadows of the flames danced on the rock walls.

"Chief."

"It's tribe chief."

Helpless, Ethan Brooks sat down beside the campfire. This old man was really stubborn. He grabbed something that looked like a taro and stuffed it into the ashes by the fire, using a stick to cover it with the smoldering ash and embers.

"Yesterday, the great totem not only gave me guidance, but also made me a totem warrior."

At this moment, he put on his best act—Ethan Brooks began his performance.

"But I don't know much about the outside world, so I ask Grant to enlighten me."

Grant watched as Ethan Brooks entered the cave and sat down beside him. He had lived a long life, pursuing the path of shamanism, traveling all over the Eternal Mountains for it. Unfortunately, he was still self-taught and had never received the true inheritance of a shaman.

As he neared old age, he returned from outside the mountains, gathered these tribe members during a beast tide, unwilling to see them perish in the wild. In the blink of an eye, it had been nearly ten years.

"Visualize the totem, use the totem as a medium to draw energy from the outside world, temper yourself, and gain the power to split rocks and open mountains—that is a totem warrior. You are now a totem warrior at the Stone-Splitting Realm."

"Stone-Splitting Realm."

"That's right, it's a general term. Outside the Eternal Mountains, this is how it's classified. A totem warrior at the Stone-Splitting Realm can easily shatter earthstone, their strength fused into their flesh and blood."

Earthstone is a very common type of rock in the wilderness, extremely hard, several times harder than ordinary mountain rock.

"Above the Stone-Splitting Realm is the Mountain-Opening Realm, where mysterious power arises within the body. To become a true tribe, there must be such powerful individuals among the people."

Stone-Splitting, Mountain-Opening.

Ethan Brooks nodded slightly. These were very straightforward martial realms. After the previous inexplicable incident, he had already become a totem warrior at the Stone-Splitting Realm.

It was a very strange feeling—once activated, a totem divine pattern would appear on his chest.

His totem divine pattern was a bit different from Reed and Wade. Reed's totem divine pattern was on his chest, while Wade's extended from the right cheek all the way to the neck. Even without activating their power, there would be faint blue lines.

"The totem pillar in the tribe was something I found in the ruins of the Eternal Mountains. It was already damaged. Three years ago, after Wade became a totem warrior, the spirit of the totem declined even further. For the sacrifice a few days ago, the tribe prepared for months."

Grant looked at Ethan Brooks and said, "Fortunately, the spirit of the totem seems to be improving, and you have gained the totem's recognition."