The Value of Knowledge

"What of the remaining news, anything to report?" As he wore his robes, the elder made a solemn expression.

After hearing news of the separate alliances, the elder could not help but suppress his anger as he foresaw that if nothing was done, his clan will suffer greatly in near the future if each clan solidified their alliances.

Once he finds a way to annul each alliances, the elder made a silent vow that he would do everything in his power to make the Naga's pay tenfold for their atrocities.

Noticing the elder's expression, Felix did not delay on his report and continued.

"The second news we received was that a number of our hunting groups have encountered large packs of dire wolves in the forest. Due to the rise of concern, we had issued a temporary cease of hunting until further notice and had several seniors coordinating with the active guards if the situation worsens."

Upon hearing such news, the Elder could not help but turn to Felix and raise an eyebrow.

To this elder's knowledge, there were packs of dire wolves scattered in every domain.

Even in the mountains near their clan, it was common for them to discover similar beast roaming near their territories, so he found his news to be of little concern.

The five surrounding clans have similar situations which proves it was common knowledge that when beast roam the lands, it should not raise concern to them as dispatching a handful of experts were enough to handle any situation.

As for the hunting groups mentioned, based on the elder's recollection, anyone from their clan below the age of fifteen should have started their live combat training, hence the hunting groups mentioned should be comprised of juniors of their clan.

Although hunting dire wolves was considered dangerous, similar clans had purposely used such methods as a form of basic training to temper the greenhorns[1] in their clans.

Most groups are even advised to partner with a senior to guide them during their hunts, as they had already finished this type of training.

But even with those seniors guiding them, most rarely target groups beyond 4 to 5 wolves by themselves and only hunt packs that were fewer in numbers.

On record, the average number of wolves hunted was around nine and the largest pack ever to be hunted by one group was around fifteen, so the elder wasn't sure how 'large' those juniors were referencing them.

As an elder of the Boars clan, he along with others of his generation had gone through the same type of training, so he had already experienced the danger along with the exaggerated fear of facing a pack of wolves.

So when news about wolves moving in large groups are heard, it could often be an exaggeration from the youth's perspective and was often believed to be a common occurence. The elder then thought.

'Depending on the prey those wolves are hunting, a 'large' group could mean anything... But what type of prey would have caused the wolves to move in such large packs...'

As he continued to ponder on the subject, the elder was reminded that because of the potential danger the wolves posses and the need of talent, the clan found that it was necessary to issue the rule of hunting dire wolves as a requirement in their clan's training regime.

But with the order to cease all hunting, it clearly showed that this matter could not be ignored as the clan will surely face some issues in developing their future members if the situation continued.

After coming up with no quick solution for the issues, the elder thought that his over analysing will lead to no end and asked Felix for more information.

"How is this news considered relavant or important?"

"The reason why I deemed this relevant was that we have been receiving a number of casualty reports not just from the juniors but also from the patrolling guards. Each one of them had claimed that their injuries were caused by being chased by a large group of Dire wolves in every encounter."

Felix paused for a moment and continued when he picked out a scroll on the table beside him and read out it's contents with one hand.

"As of now, no deaths were reported but many have sustained some injuries and will need time to recover. When I interviewed everyone involved they all said the same thing: They were all at the borders near the Naga's territory during each attack."

A surprised look was on the Elder's face after hearing his explanation.

'Juniors are one thing, but to have the guards near the border as well. But that's not the problem...'

"Has there been any casualties near our clan, why were they in the border?" To confirm something, the elder asked the focal point of the report. And Felix, having forsaw the question, answered immediately.

"None, all claimed that the usual lairs near the clan were abandoned hence they slowly moved closer to the border to hunt and found the wolves. After a lengthly investigation, locations including those of larger pacts were searched and the results were the same; they were all abandoned."

'... So that was why all the attacks were in the Naga's borders, but why? Was it because some of the Juniors provoked a large pack or was it because of the constant hunting?... No, both scenarios are impossible, even if the wolves were constantly hunted, those beast would learn and fight back or find a new location to hunt, not leave the territory entirely... Unless the food became scarce, those wolves would have no choice but to leave...' the elder thought.

Having studied the wolves hunting patterns and their eating habit at a young age, the elder found that wolves would never abandon their lair unless the area lacked enough prey to feed their groups.

Except for larger packs that had enough members to hunt multiple areas and protect their territory, smaller groups would be forced to leave if they can't hunt enough food.

Meaning, the discovery of both groups disappearing caused the elder to feel that the situation was definitely unusual.

During the constant warfare, the usual method to produce food such as farming was put to a halt.

With farming being their main profession to produce food, most of the citizens would have been killed during the war, hence they had retreat to the clan's larger villages.

Naturally, with more and more refugees entering the clan's main cities, their stocks of food were bound to diminish in a rapid pace so they had to resort to hunting to replenish their food suply from time to time.

At first, because there were surrounded by mountains where various beast reside, searching for enough food to feed a city was troubling. WhiLE hunting was an easy way to gather food for them, so there was no cause for alarm so long as they controlled the pace of their hunting.

But as the war raged on, hunting became more desperate as they discovered that there were traps laid randomly in the areas ground they normally hunted.

Since the enemy had no information on the Boar's territory, they had sent small teams to lay down traps in the forest then focused all their large forces in a frontal assault.

Fortunately the Boar Clan had survived the long brutal war and disarmed most of the traps that were laid in the forest but needed to face one major issue their clan was facing at the time, namely, their food suply.

Foreseeing that their territory would suffer from overhunting, the elders made a unanimous decision to capture a number of beast living in the mountains in groups of two and started raising them in special facilities for over four years.

Other than beast that were capable of being domesticated, most of the beast were released into the wild to further grow in the mountains, so the shortage of game would not be an issue.

The clan even forbade hunting during those four years to ensure that the game would continue to grow in numbers and continued to bolster their defense and regain their former military might.

It was not until the sixth year that the ban of hunting was lifted, so there was a low possibility that it was because of the lost of hunting grounds were the reason as to why the wolves left their territories.

For hunting predacious beast like wolves, the rule of thumb[1] in hunting was that every time they would hunt, they would wait after half a year at least before they would hunt again. Then change locations as to not scare away the game, if not, then the beast would either abandon the area or move to the new location.

'If it's not because of the constant hunting, then it must be something else.' the elder thought.

After thinking for quiet some time, the elder realized that there was a possibility that the event would have be man-made. Naturally, given the situation, the prime suspect could only be the one who owns the plot of land - the Naga clan.

He then remembered what happened in the past and made a bitter expression.

The Panther clan may have started the war, but during the course of the war as they interrogated some of their captured soldiers, they found out that the Panther clan's initial plan was to show off their military might and have foreign powers take interest in forming ties with them and had zero intentions in destroying any clan.

They even captured some Boars clansmen in the battlefield, but never have they been treated poorly and the only reason they captured the Boars members was so that they can provoke the clan into having a battle with them.

Because of the outcome of each encounter, the Panther clan found their natural talent was rivalled by the pure effort and tenacity of the Boar's clan.

In fact, because the Panther clan's Elder respected the Boars clan for their stubborn mindset and their stable foundation of strength, the war was then changed from being an invasion to a large event in were they exchange pointers, and every Panthers clansmen as a whole agreed in forming ties with the Boar clan.

Because many were injured but none were killed, both side made an agreement to release their respective clans men and that both sides should meet at a mountain with a visible view for both parties to bear witness to their exchange.

At the time, the elder remembered that he had received a secret letter to always be wary of the Naga clan, as they were aware of the events taking place in their territories. But instead of taking the message seriously, the elder took the warning as a simple joke without much thought as Naga clan had been recognised as a merchant clan.

However, just as the war was about to end, both side were unaware that the Nagas' were watching and orchestrating a schemes from the shadows. When both side released their respective captives on the agreed spot, the Naga's had secretly planted assassin to both parties routes.

They had even worn the opposing clan insignia so both parties would think they were trying to kill each other in secret, leaving some survivors and show that they were betraying them.

Afterwards, the Naga's watched from afar, as both clans tried to destroy each other from their well planned scheme.

Eventually, the invasion became a bloody war and the Naga's continued to add fuel to the raging flames with assassinations focused on the Panther clan.

With each of their key figures slowly being hunted down by assassins, the Panther clan was eventually tricked to being the Naga's subordinate clan. Meaning, the Panther clan had formed an alliance with the Naga clan to protect their own clan from being wiped out.

Ever since the 'betrayal', no one has ever found evidence that it was planned, nor found suspicion on the alliance when the Naga clan started aiding them.

At some point, when the elder investigated the murders himself, he was shocked when he received another secret letter revealing that the Naga's were the ones who planted traps using mercenaries and wanted to pin the blame onto the Panther's for the Boars clans constant demise.

Yet as the war was still on everyone's mind, the elder could not jeopordize the morale of his clansmen nor found solid evidence to voice out his claim and could only continue his duty as an elder of his clan.

With not enough means to convince the majority of the clan, the elder could only speculate on how far the Naga clan was involved in the war and had doubted that the Panther clan's elders were willing cooperate in the investigations even when it concerns them.

As the elder remembered the past, he turned his gaze to Felix and asked.

"Does the Naga Clan have any involvement in this matter? Did our spies found out anything suspicious?"

"Unfortunately Elder, Mordan City gates were closed for more than ten days so we couldn't gain our daily reports, also due to the passing storm that happened not long ago, most means of transportation had been halted. Other than some grave diggers that were carrying bodies outside, no one was allowed to leave the city. It appears as though some incidences had occurred in the city so our spies had to continue observing in silence and withheld their daily reports on purpose. Also, I would like to add that..."

With each new information being reported, the elder could not help but feel satisfied for Felix's effort.

To gain any news between the Panther and Naga clan's interactions, Felix had suggested to have the Boar's clan plant spies disguised as traders and had nearly integrated themselves within Mordan City

After the war with the Panther clan, ten years ago, the elder found the value of information, so every news they receive was something of great importance as it effects how his clan should react.

Based on their investigation, three years after their alliance, there was news that a child named Veritas was born and he was regarded as a genius within the clan.

But ever since his birth, the only time the two clans ever meet was when he was born.

Even after years of observation, they had only found that the Naga clan had been abusing their status for a long time to control the city, but the child was not mentioned until this day.

Be it his exploits, achievement or his appearance, not one spy was able to get a hold of such information on the child Veritas as he only visited private areas owned by the Naga's.

It was noted in the reports that although members of the Panther clan do enter the city from time to time, they were mostly there to trade and receive gifts. At some point, the spies realized that members of the clan were rarely present when Veritas was being raised so they started having doubts on whether the alliance would last.

There are also reports stating that even the members of the Panther clan were not eager to trade with the Naga's, as they only entered Mordan City once a month and all their transaction were made in large quantities.

They wanted more information in their dealings, but that would leave their spies getting discovered so they gathered information by relying on rumours, public notices and announcements.

However, such sources can be fabricated or vague so they had to investigate in a roundabout manner to avoid suspicion as the Naga's have eyes and ears everywhere in the city.

Another thing was that although the Panther clan had lost a significant amount of their military might, after ten years of cease fire, their spies explained that the clan was showing signs of regaining their former might.

The thought of facing the Panther Clan made the elder worry, but with the Naga Clan supporting them made the elder shudder so he was more than determined in breaking the clan's alliance.

After hearing the end of the spies reports, the elder thought for a moment and asked Felix about the details on the ten day lockdown.

"Felix, what caused Mordan City to closedown it's gates, did something happen?" The elder asked.

Having thought for a moment, Felix pulled out the last scroll on the table and started scimming through it's contents until he found the report.

"I'm not sure Elder, during those ten days our spies had gathered that a number of people are said to have gone missing over the past few months so Mordan City closed down it's gate to conduct a full investigation when it reached to more populated areas. Although no one knows the specific details, the spies had gathered a number of rumours that had a common topic, the 'Corpse Eater'."

"The Corpse Eater?"

"Yes, Elder. The 'Corpse Eater' is referred to an individual believed to have been randomly killing people and had taken their bodies to be consumed, hence they started calling him that."

Reading through the scroll with one hand, Felix summarised its contents and said.

"Apparently, the Naga Clan had claimed to have found the dwellings in where the 'Corpse Eater' had been hiding the yet to be eaten corpses, which would explain the frequent departure of the grave diggers. Instead of announcing a public execution, the Naga clan had decided to banish the individual as punishment as they found out that the Corpse Eater was nothing more than a child. Strangely, even though stories about the Corpse Eater had spread throughout the city, no one has ever seen the child in person so the news had become more of a rumour or a simple ghost story."

Felix had gained similar reports from this issue from different spies, so he never doubted such claims and accept the credibility of the reports. Unfortunately, this left the elder rather confused.

'Are they starving their citizens? And why banish the child, they could have just imprisoned him or executed him?'

The more the elder thought about the report, the more his impression on the Naga became more enigmatic than he previously speculated.

The overall impression the elder from the Naga Clan was that they were sneaky and cruel as they ruled the city with fear, but were nonetheless a clan of Cultivators. Other than their excellent ability in conducting businesses, they was nothing special about the clan.

In combat, their members often used hit and run tactics and rely on paralyzing poison whenever possible, and they always fight in groups.

In terms of physical strength, among the 6 clans, they would be placed in the bottom two, only physically stronger than an adult man.

Back then, when a member of the Naga clan had decided to pick a fight with one of the Boar's clan member, over ten members were called out until they were able to subdue him.

Using poison coupled with their strategy to make full use of their nimbleness, their considered tricky at best, and had the ability to subdue large beast using such tactics.

But that the description for the weaker members.

As far as the elder knew, the Naga clan's great elder was able to subdue a large beast all on his own. But they are rumours stating that the Naga clan were using some type of drug to enhance their cultivation and strength, but it shorten their life span in the process.

Another was that they are doing shady deals with the underworld, and they were using mercenaries in all their fights. All in all, the elder could only find nothing but speculation after speculation and it wasn't what the elder wanted to know.

The news the Elder wanted to hear was a sign of weakness, as he wanted to have the Panther Clan take over after realizing their weak strength and betray them to cause an internal conflict.

By then, the elder would spread the information to other clans so they would show interest in invading the Naga clan's territory when they are vulnerable.

If all goes according to plan, the Boars Clan can reap the most benefits when all four clans are trying to destroy each other, while the Boars clan takes no form of danger as they watch from the distance.

But the elder knew that such a scenario was not something he could achieve so easily.

"And the last news?" Expecting the last to be some form of good news, the elder silently prayed for a blessing after hearing nothing but problems.

By the time he saw Felix's expression, the elder could tell that the last news was not something to look forward too and waited for Felix's report.

"After five years, the Boars clans has returned to, no, the Boars clan has surpassed its original level of strength, even when we have less than its peak." The elder had turned his back to look at the temple at top, the pride of the clan.

"However…" as the elder looked towards the temple, he waited for Felix's response.

Preparing for the worst was one of his responsibilities as one of the Elders of the clan, so whatever difficulty comes his way or whatever omens were found, he must face it with confidence so that his clan's confidence would not waver.

"…Because of the recent attacks done by the wolves, the number of injured members had been over 152, the reason for the continuous loss was because we found symptoms of paralysis."

"…This is my hypothesis, but I think the Naga's paralyzing poison had been inherited to the new born youths from their parents, and the guards are still suffering from old wounds. The poison is likely cursed and that is why our usual methods of healing are not affecting their health."

Felix had explained it with a sullen expression, as he himself was infected and had losed all feeling on his left arm. Felix's father died because of overdosage, and his mother and little sister were still alive but were in a pseudo vegetative state due to drinking poisoned water.

"The total number infected is over 1000. Elder, if the other clans find outs about this, then…" Felix stopped speaking afterwards.

The Elder then closed his eyes and remembered the stories he was told by his grandfather. Stories about the history of their clan.

*

The Mountain Boar Clan was originally made up of nomads and vagabond with no blood relations to one another, and had formed a small group after a mass exodus[2] from a war further north.

What they had on their journey were jugs of water, dried bread, and numerous orphans from their deceased companions.

They was nearly 20 adults with them throughout the whole way, while the children were double their numbers.

On their journey, they had encountered dangers and the harsh wrath of mother nature such as desert storms that had diminished their water supply, freezing rains that had made their bread grow moldy, and have been constantly attacked by hordes of beast had almost crushed their hope.

But one day, one man gave them hope, and it was non other than the founder of the Boar's Clan.

The founder was a cultivator that had lived in a seclusion in the very mountains that the current elder stood on, despite the desolate state the nomad group was in, the founder opened his arms to the starving travellers and fed them with food that came from the lands.

After enoying a marvelous feast, the nomad group grew into a close family and started building homes and eventually made the mountain sustain a community with the Cultivator acting as their Guardian.

Though they faced difficulty adjusting to living in the mountains, they have great respect for the founder as he worked with the residence to building their home.

At some point in their lives, the small community had been recognised as a village, and when the villagers needed a leader, they voted for the very man who gave them a home, the founder.

They then started to build a small town in honour of him and hoped that it would prosper in the future under his leadership.

However not all things would last forever, at the time when spring was nearing summer, a large bandit group came out of nowhere and had invaded the lands.

Although the founder was able to fend off the bandit, the difference of number continued to trouble him as he was only one man where as the bandits could cover a large area and continued to harass the citizines during his absence.

Everyday the food they had collected in the field were being stolen, the citizens were being harassed as they gathered food, and their homes were being ransacked for the treasure they possessed.

But instead of succumbing to fear, the residences continued to follow the founder as he continued to stood his ground to protect them.

He then inspired the community to fight beside him and grow stronger to protect their home. With an opputunity to fight beside their benefactor, they collectively rejoiced and followed his every teachings.

After enduring two months of harsh training, a handful of the residence became cultivators and had become the symbol of hope for the residence.

However, the bandits caught wind of their action and devised a plan, the crafty bandits had decided to burn the two mountains where they resided and forced the villagers to flee in panic and were hunted down.

Seeing such a cruel scene caused the founder to charge at the bandits with rage that even caused the heavens to quack. But even as the founder charged at the bandits, he never stopped fighting until the last of the villagers had escaped from the roaring flames that burned the land.

The founder, however, did not know that he fallen into a trap laid by the bandits and had been surrounded when he got separated from the villagers.

Despite the numerous enemies surrounding him, the founder fought to his last breath to protect his new family.

After a gruelling battle, the founder stood victorious as he slew all the bandits and bringing hope to his family.

But his wounds were grievous and knew his time was near.

Until his final moments, he stood in front of the mountains riddled with injuries refusing to bow or fall, the family came closer to help him but were stopped to hear his last words.

'Stay Strong'.

Afterwards, the great man passed away while standing up, leaving them in the mountains.

To honour of him, they had built a temple with a boar as his symbol and continued to train under his teachings.

They had learned to not lose hope and devoted their lives to follow his way of life.

Hence, they named their fully formed clan the 'Mountain Boar Clan', in dedication to their fateful meeting.

While remembering the past, the elder gave a resolute look he knows what was at stake, if they lose this fight then what their ancestors stood up for will be considered history, written in sand, not in stone.

They must survive the upcoming danger.

[1] Green Horns – it's a term used to inexperienced or immature person, especially one who is easily deceived.

[2] Exodus – it was originally a name of a book