Seeing that everyone was stirred up, Ethan Brooks didn’t hide anything and said, “Although our tribe is small right now, we can’t keep living like before—disorganized, muddling through each day.”

In the past, the tribe’s hunting party would just wander around the forests near the valley, whether they caught prey or not was left to fate. Fortunately, there were wild yams in the Qionglin, which, though not tasty, barely kept the clansmen from starving.

“But a tribe must look like a tribe!”

In an instant, Ethan Brooks’s tone became sharp.

At that moment, Grant suddenly spoke up, saying, “Back in the day, I once obtained a shamanic art left behind by a shaman in the Eternal Mountains. From then on, I set out to pursue the path of shamanism, but I never truly attained it and returned to the mountains in disappointment. Now, with Ethan leading the tribe, I can finally focus on studying shamanic arts in peace.”

“You really are my dear uncle.”

Grant’s words filled Ethan Brooks’s heart with joy—the old man was becoming more and more endearing.

Soon, everyone’s gaze returned to him, waiting for his instructions.

“Bishop is our tribe’s very first totem warrior, and he was gravely injured protecting the tribe. Now, though his vitality is waning, his vision and experience are rare in the tribe. We still need you to hold the fort.”

Ethan Brooks turned his gaze to Bishop. Even while sitting, the old man clutched his cane, fiddling with the knots hanging from it.

“So I plan to have Bishop serve as the first elder of our Xia tribe, helping me handle clan affairs.”

“Me?”

Bishop was stunned for a moment, then agreed.

“Reed, you’ll remain the leader of the hunting party. Bruce, Dale, Harris, and Grant will temporarily be under your command.”

“Really?”

A gleam lit up in Reed’s eyes—the chieftain was actually letting four totem warriors take his orders.

“Not only will those four join your hunting party, but you can also pick from the tribe’s prospective totem warriors. I have one requirement.”

“Chieftain, your command!”

“Starting tomorrow, you must make sure every clansman eats beast meat, and every few days you must hunt a fierce beast at the Stone-Splitting level. Can you do it?”

“I accept!”

With four totem warriors under his command, Reed’s confidence soared.

“Wade, from now on, you’ll be the leader of the gathering party.”

After seeing the women of the wild lands, Ethan Brooks no longer regarded them as just women, but some arrangements needed to be made step by step.

“Yes.”

There weren’t that many people in the Xia tribe, so there was no need to appoint too many elders. Soon, only Ethan Brooks, Grant, and Bishop were left in the cave.

With Grant relinquishing power, he now held absolute authority in the tribe.

He held the reins of the tribe, with the elder assisting at his side, the shaman performing totem rituals and studying shamanic arts—this structure was enough to keep the tribe running for now.

“There are currently a total of 186 people in the tribe, with eighteen children under the age of ten.”

Bishop’s voice was tinged with a faint wheeze. In this wilderness, children over ten were considered adults. In the powerful tribes outside the mountains, kids at this age had already finished tempering their bodies and were preparing to visualize their totems.

In contrast, in their tribe, there were plenty of people in their twenties who were still only prospective totem warriors, and many would never get the chance to become true totem warriors.

Even Ethan Brooks, the chieftain, was already twenty, but this situation was common across the wild lands.

The reason there were so many children was that, once night fell in this wilderness, there wasn’t much else to do—if you weren’t making babies, what else could you do?

Despite the terrifying mortality rate, so many children had survived in the tribe—it had to be said, making babies was quite fun.

Ethan Brooks perked up his ears, continuing to listen to Bishop, but after waiting a long while, Bishop still hadn’t spoken, so he couldn’t help but ask, “That’s it?”

“That’s it.”

“……”

Ethan Brooks was left speechless—so this was the tribe’s entire foundation!

Well, at least there were still people.

“There are also seventy-three caves.”

Bishop had no idea what Ethan Brooks was thinking and didn’t dare ask, so he answered honestly.

Ethan Brooks: “……”

“I’ll dig another one tomorrow, then it’ll be seventy-four.”

At that moment, he was covered in black lines—this old man Bishop was actually pretty funny.

“Does the tribe have any reserves of food, weapons, or the like?”

Reminding himself over and over that this was the elder he had appointed, and that he was already an old man, Ethan Brooks suppressed the urge to beat up Bishop.

“Do wild yams count?”

“They count.”

“How many?”

“One cave full.”

Ethan Brooks was quite pleased—finally, some good news.

“What about weapons?”

As soon as he finished asking, he shook his head and gave up. After seeing the weapons carried by Reed and the others, he didn’t have high hopes.

He finally understood—aside from these 186 people, the Xia tribe only had a single totem pole left.

As for foundations, well, we have seventy-three caves—does that count?

Chapter 14: Deep Down, I’m Marked as a Farmer

“Back when my tribe first started, there were just over a hundred people and seven or eight guns.”