Death... and me
chapter-8

The three elders then followed the procedure for the blessings. One by one, the babies were brought forward and had their foreheads marked with a symbol. After chanting a few strange words, the parents would thank the elders and move to the side. Simple as that, the blessings were finished.

The elders were a little surprised when they saw Rean and Roan, though. After all, it is not every day you see twins, let alone with such remarkable Hair Colors. One being Pure White and the other being so dark that all the other Dark Haired people couldn't compare to.

Still, that was all. It is not like they will be treated differently just because of that, so the elders quickly finished their blessings to Rean and Roan as well.

After that, the parents were led to the center of the Hall. There, there was a black sphered that looked like a Crystal Orb. Still, Death, or better, Roan, noticed a peculiar power coming from it.

"That Orb has the same kind of energy as the environment."

Rean's curiosity was immediately picked. In the past two weeks, both his and Death's efforts paid off. Although they can't talk their parent's language yet, they can at least understand a little. They noticed that both their father and mother would stop every day to gather this peculiar energy into their bodies.

In fact, even without Roan's help, Rean would be able to feel this energy soon. That's because this is the energy necessary for cultivation. Something that everyone in the Tribe always did. Their parents don't receive any cultivation resources from the Tribe. Still, they can at least absorb the natural energy from heaven and earth.

In this world, there are several realms of cultivation.

Body Transformation;

Energy Gathering;

Foundation Establishment;

Core Formation;

Core and Soul Fusion;

Nascent Soul;

and Soul Transformation.

At least, those are the only realms that are known by the people of the Varen Tribe. The Tribe's strongest warriors are in the middle or advanced stage of the Energy Gathering Realm, with just a few in the peak stage. As for the Strongest one, he is the actual Tribe Leader, Juri Varen, who is already over 60 years old. At the moment, he is in the initial stage of the Foundation Establishment.

Although everyone can cultivate, one is only considered a cultivator once they enter the Energy Gathering Realm. Over 95% of humans can't even get this far. Taking the Varen Tribe as an example, this Tribe has over ten thousand members. However, not even 200 had entered the Energy Gathering Realm, and those are the ones they consider to have high aptitudes already.

Rean and Roan's parents are in this Body Transformation Realm. The Body Transformation had five stages, Blood Replacement, Bones Enhancement, Muscles Strengthening, Organs Change, and Spiritual Vision. Turen is at the Muscles Strengthening Stage while Hamarlia is at the Bones Enhancement. Neither of them has much of a chance of entering the Energy Gathering Realm during their lives.

Still, the more they cultivate, the easier will their job in the mine be. Besides, increasing their own strength can't really go wrong. Even though Turen and Hamarlia do have quite a peaceful life, it is not like they don't know how the world really works outside their Tribe. It wouldn't be surprising if someday another bigger Tribe came over to attack them.

The Black Orb had the power of testing one's aptitude. In total, it was capable of showing 7 different colors.

Gray, Brown, Yellow, Green, Blue, Red, and Purple.

Gray is considered the worst one, while Purple is the highest.

The parents looked at the Orb with expectation in their eyes. To be a warrior is the highest honor in their Tribe. Every parent wished that their Children had enough aptitude to be accepted as a Warrior apprentice. He would then be allocated a few cultivation resources and receive the teaching of the elders.

The families formed a line, and they came forward one by one. Roan and Rean would be the 11th and 12th ones to be tested. To become a warrior apprentice, one had to at least have a Brown Aptitude. From the 200 and something warriors of their Tribe, the biggest majority was in this Brown level. Only 5% of them had a Yellow aptitude. As for Green, so far, the Tribe only gave birth to three of them.

One just so happens to be the Tribe Leader, Juri Varen. Another one was an elder who acted as the Tribe Leader during the times the Real Leader was out on business, Alanda Ial. He, too, was quite old already, being 52 this year. However, he was at the peak of the Energy Gathering Realm, and everyone trusted that he would enter the Foundation Establishment soon. The last one was a young girl who was only 7 this year called Mila Huinan.

Considering that the Tribe hadn't seen a Gree level aptitude appearing for over 40 years, the news about the girl having a green talent immediately attracted the attention of all tribes in the surroundings. There were even several marriage proposals coming from Tribes of the same size or even bigger. Still, Juri Varen simply said.

"She will marry the one she loves, that's all. If you want to become in-laws with her Huinan family, then your boys will have to conquer her heart first."

At first, the other tribes thought that Juri Varen was joking. But after an investigation, they found out that their Tribe doesn't use an oppression and fear system as most of them do. Not only that, but this Tribe also treated the women quite highly. Such a system is unimaginable for them.

Still, those Tribes didn't try to find problems with the Varen Tribe. As rare as a Green Aptitude might be, it is, after all, just a single warrior. It is not worth starting a war because of such an issue.

To make sure that other Tribes wouldn't try to kidnap Huinan, she and her family were moved to the center of the Tribe. She now lived close to the elders and Leader residences. She also had three Middle Stage Energy Gathering Warriors who ensured her safety day and night.

A Tribe has to know how to protect its talents, so such an arrangement wasn't surprising for anyone. Any other Tribe would definitely have done the same thing.

One by one, the parents brought their babies forward to be tested. The elder would then take a needle and collect a drop of the baby's blood. That drop would be put on the Black Orb and absorbed by it. A few moments later, it would shine with one of the seven colors.

Not surprisingly, Gray colors started to appear one by one. The seven first babies showed to have a Gray color, much for their parents' disappointment. But the eighth one, a baby by the name of Gulo Isfal, was born with a Yellow aptitude!

When the elders saw that, they immediately smiled.

"Congratulations, please bring him to the Tribe leader's house later so that we can mark him for Warrior apprentice study. His training shall start when he becomes 5 years old."

Gulo's parents were ecstatic! They immediately bowed and thanked the elders, quickly retreating behind.

The next two babies turned out to have Gray aptitude as well. Their parents couldn't help but look at Gulo's parents with envy. Which parent wouldn't want their child to soar in the future?

Finally, it was time for Roan to be tested.

"Hey, little brother, you better not let me down."

Roan snorted and replied.

"If I have an aptitude lower than yours, I will simply kill myself."

Rean couldn't help but laugh. Even though he is alive now, it doesn't change the fact that Roan was dead for countless years before it. For Roan, being alive or dead probably didn't make too much of a difference.