Chapter 193: There's a new Chieftain in town

Drake walked out of the hut lamenting his inability to say no after being pressured by Natto's reasoning. Just like he had found the need for people in the tutorial despite being one of the strongest participants. He couldn't be everywhere at once.

Exiting the tent, he sighed and looked around, seeing a slightly confused Sarah. And then more expected gasps, scowls, and threatening gazes from the other tribesmen.

"Oh… Feels just like home…" Drake scoffed.

"Why wearing Chief's necklace?!"

"Thief!"

"Return the Chief's sacred symbol!"

Before Drake could respond, Rvul exited the tent as well, roaring.

"Silence!" Rvul looked around his teeth bared, "This man, defeated Sah Ul' in combat! He earn right to lead Rahk Tribe. And will take her as his woman! For Rahk to survive this new land we must follow the strong."

"Father!" Sah Ul' protested.

Oh, she looks mad…. Hey, it wasn't my idea, don't look at me like that, I had enough of sleeping with one eye open in the tutorial already! Drake sighed.

"Please, you barely slept as it were…" Natto laughed.

That doesn't change the fact when I did, I was always on edge!

The uproar around them turned into a frenzy. Many of the tribesmen shouted in protest against Rvul and his abrupt decision.

Drake sighed again, raising his finger to intercept the man charging him from behind.

The clash of Drake's mana-empowered finger with the Orc Warrior's ax kicked up dirt and pushed out a shockwave in the area silencing the crowd.

"Attacking from behind. Not very honorable of you," Drake sneered, holding back the ax.

"Won't accept outside as Chief! Sah Ul' will not wed some child!" the man roared screaming louder.

Drake frowned, gripping the ax, "Take your petty complaints up with Rvul."

He crushed the ax in his hand, surprising both the crowd and the warrior.

"Piss off."

Before anyone else could respond Drake stepped forward, laying into the man and knocking him out.

The Orc man slipped from Drake's strike falling on the floor with a thud.

He casually turned around addressing the crowd.

"I don't want to be in this position any more than you want me to. But I have a duty to my own family to see this quest through. And to see that everyone under my protection is cared for here. And if anyone wants to stop me," Drake said coldly, letting out his aura and mana, it washing slowly over them as he let it linger before his words left his mouth.

"You are welcome to try."

The crowd was silenced, many of them falling on their backside in the face of Drake's intimidating aura that was now boosted with multiple titles and stats behind it.

Those who looked at him with hate and anger now looked at him with fear and awe. Their expressions painted their thoughts clear on their face.

There was no opposing him.

Satisfied, he walked to the destination specified on his map, leaving only a few words with the group of people behind him.

"In 10 minutes I will place my Honing Crystal, see to it that the tribe is there in time or you may not survive what's to come."

The first to break from their stupor and respond was Rvul, placing his hand on his chest.

"Yes, Patriarch!" he shouted looking over to his daughter, "Sah Ul', you must accompany him. You are the strongest here, you must fight with him."

"But, father!" she began but was cut off by him.

"Enough! This is our way. Or would you dishonor the Mahk Rul and Rahk tradition?!"

"N-no… Understand, father…"

Drake pretended to not see the exchange but waited for Sarah to catch up with him as he made his way through the tribe's small village.

Sending a mental command to his Elementals, Drake continued to his destination expecting to see them there when he reached it.

Looking back at Sarah, he was slightly frustrated at the situation.

"Drake, do not…" Natto warned.

"Sarah… Look, I'm sorry that your wagon is hitched to mine…" he started.

"Idiot!"

"But I have someone I love myself. And I'm going to go find them as soon as I can if they haven't found me first," Drake explained, "I'm sure you have someone you love as well. After what the tribe seemed to do in response to what your dad said, I wouldn't be surprised."

"Love? Do not have," Sah Ul' responded.

"Oh," Drake said, surprised.

"Rahk only respect the strong. But have not recognized you as strongest."

"Hmmmm…. Is that so? Even though I kicked your butt?" Drake hummed.

She frowned and growled, her snaggle-tusk poking out.

That's kind of cute… Wait no, focus Drake! Quest! First the Quest! He thought, shaking his head.

"You are hopeless… Do you truly understand your position now in the multiverse?" Natto asked.

Walking past many smaller tent's fire pits with the smell of food cooking in pots. Tanning beds and furs being dried. Drake mulled over her words.

I understand I'm going to be a focus in the world now, but I don't get your meaning. He thought in response.

Natto sighed as if she had told him this already many times, "No! There is a reason so many races of the multiverse only respect strength and the Primordial races have been watered down to such an extent in some parts. Every race weak and strong will be vying for your blood! For your protection. And you must be prepared for it."

Blood? Oh… You mean that blood?

"Yes!"

Drake winced, "Yikes…"

"Yikes?" Sah Ul' parroted.

"Nothing. Um means damn."

"Damn? Like Lion Beaver dam?"

"No like, 'oh shit!' or um, cringe?"

"There no skat here?"

Drake groaned into his hands.

"She's my enemy! Mortal Enemy!" Drake screamed into his hands, "She doesn't understand a single reference!"

The sounds of Natto snickering became louder and louder in his head.

"Are alright?" Sah Ul' asked from behind him.

"I-I'm fine!" Drake grumbled as he continued to walk.

Looking around, Drake began appreciating the scenery. The tents were fashioned in a way that reminded him of what he had seen in games for tribes. Painted in reds, blacks, and yellows. Most of the tents were covered by furs or bones of what he assumed were monsters or animals.

To him, it really felt like he was stepping through a village in WoW.

Coming to the end of their traveling through the village the space opened up and he was taken aback by the body of water in front of him.

"There wasn't a lake here before…" Drake muttered.

At the edge of the village was a large lake, in the middle a single moderately sized island.

Looking down at his map, his destination was the center of it.

Drake gazed eagerly at the island but waited until all of the people in the village gathered at the end of the village around him. Several buses appearing over time to the Orc's confusion.

"Yellow monsters?!" some shouted.

Drake raised his hands, "No no, these are mine. Don't attack them, you hear me."

The buses stopped the elementals holding them, finally fading away after delivering them.

First off the bus was Charlotte, Landin, and Charlotte's brother who Drake had still not gotten to know the name of. Following behind them was soon Janey, the baby, and her brother as well.

Soon everyone began to exit the buses warily, looking around in amazement, some in fear and confusion.

"This will be interesting…" Drake said slightly worried, then spotted Bridgette exit the bus, her unlit cigarette dangling from her lips.

The Doc's eyes looked around almost uninterested at the Orcs, raising Drake's suspicion.

Drake walked over to the Doc, "You aren't impressed?" he asked gauging her answer.

"Huh? Oh no, In my tutorial there were quite a few different races… That was until… Well, we can talk about that later," she smiled nodding behind Drake, "Seems you have an admirer."

Drake turned around, Sah Ul' behind him, standing with her arms crossed but her eyes darting around quickly at the newcomers.

"They're just kids, a few adults but these are actual children, Sarah," Drake explained, "They aren't even level 1 yet, they won't do anything except maybe get a bit mouthy."

Turning back he looked at the Doc, "Yeah she's apparently my wife, and I'm the Patriarch now."

Bridgette's eyes bulged as her cigarette dropped from her mouth.

"W-what?! You were gone like 15 minutes! H-how?!" she exclaimed.

"I work fast," Drake shrugged sarcastically.

"More like trouble is attracted to your idiotic face," Natto scoffed.

My face happens to be quite above average thank you. He countered.

"Stupidly, above average maybe…"

Drake frowned and then coughed, a group of kids approaching him from the buses.

"Is she following you around now?" Landin asked.

"That she is, I have a ball and chain now," Drake said, almost whimpering slightly.

"No way!" Charlotte shouted, then blushed, realizing she had, "I mean, there's no way. You two met like a few minutes ago and just fought!"

Drake shrugged, "Is what it is. You guys seem okay with the circumstances right now. Not confused with the Orcs?" he asked.

"Not really. They're just people right? Green but people," Landin said putting his hands behind his head.

Drake smiled.

Good kid. He thought.

"That's right," Drake agreed, then raised his voice slightly for everyone to hear, his wind magic helping him reach the area.

"Listen up!" he shouted getting everyone's attention, "I'm going to place something in the center of that Island there. It's going to bring more monsters than I can count to the area."

Drake's words began to stir the crowd, mainly the children who had just been through so much.

He looked around firmly, his voice even as he spoke.

"I promise on my life, you shall not be harmed. Everyone here, now, is under my protection. And there is nothing in this world they will throw at us that I won't fight and take down to make that reality. You are different people but you are now here together in a new home, a new world, and I will give my utmost to make it a safe place for you. I give you my word!"

The surroundings still seemed unconvinced by Drake's speech. And he understood it would take proof to give them confidence in him.

He had wanted to wait before he revealed himself but he needed everyone to stay calm and not go into a panic when the monsters arrived.

"I know you all don't believe me, but I have faced monsters day and night, for months in the tutorial that were several times stronger than me," he began, his hand going to his necklace that disguised his level, "And I have beaten every, single, one."

Drake placed his necklace into his inventory again, his level revealed to those who could identify him.

"My name is Drake Wallen. And I will become King of this world by necessity to protect my family! Choose to put your faith in me and my strength," he said with a breath of confidence, his body shimmering with power as he activated his heretical endowment, his hair cascading in a spectrum of his elements, his arms glowing golden with the infused mana he placed in them putting pressure on the surroundings, "And I promise you will not be disappointed!"

Drake stood there with the entirety of the area's eyes on him. The tribe was once again awestruck even Sah Ul' who had fought him previously was forced to take a step back. Her father Rvul, smiled nervously, unable to parse what he was witnessing, his warrior heart shaking furiously in his chest.

Turning, Drake walked to the end of the lake, walking out as each step that met the water froze the lake underneath it until he reached the island in the center.

Once at the island, he found its center only looking over his shoulder to see just how far away the shore was, impressed with the size of the lake.

Opening his inventory he pulled the Honing Crystal out, the massive shard falling to the ground with a thud.

Embedding itself into the ground to stand upright, Drake exhaled and placed his hand on it to activate it.

[Do you wish to pair this Honing Crystal with the land claiming ownership of the area?]

"Yes."

[Confirmed.]

…

[Please select a name for claimed land]

[_________]

Drake looked at the prompt, taking a breath again and typing the name into it.

"May we be, Reunited," he said in a murmur, hitting confirm.

[Name selected: ReUnite]

[Confirm?]

[Confirmed.]

[Starting Pairing Process… Time Remaining: 167 Hours, 59 Minutes, 55 Seconds]

[Announcement!]

[The Second Honing Crystal has been placed by Drake Wallen - The Patriarch Asuran, TheTyrant, 167 hours until completion]

Drake smirked, "Well shit, so much for hiding…"