Around a campfire

In a remote corner of the fortress, more precisely to the northwest which was the location of the dwarf clan, several rows of tables were positioned in a way to encircle a large campfire whose flames crackled merrily below a wild boar. -ox which was impaled on a rod which was rotated every two minutes.

Cliff watched eagerly as the meat roasted on the fire until he realized he had wiped his drool off his hand. Suddenly he felt a hand tap his shoulder, calmly turning his head, he saw the silhouette of a young blonde woman, she had long wolf ears, her crimson eyes reflected like a mirage, the dances of the flames of the campfire .

"My lord, I am very sorry to disturb you but unfortunately the invitation we sent to the Xarus and Styra clans, the pigeon-hawks were slaughtered along the way by wyverns at the foot of the mountain." She said with a dark expression.

"There's not enough to make a big deal out of it" Cliff reassured the young lycanthrope "We'll invite them to join us for another occasion."

"So we will send a troop with an official invitation."

The young lycanthrope leaned slightly, she made a bow, following Cliff's hand gesture, she quickly withdrew.

"What is going on my lord?" Rakahn had asked, raising an eyebrow slightly.

"Our message could not be delivered to the mountain clans, apparently the traveling birds were shot down along the way..." Cliff replied lazily, dipping his head slightly on the table.

Although he felt energetic physically, his mind could no longer keep up with him, after all the training he had undergone for a whole week without rest, plus the several kilometers they walked to get there. here, these hundreds of creatures who kept arriving in all directions, which made their journey quite eventful.

So the moment he arrived at the fortress, he chose to say a few words of congratulations to the legion for their victory, send his condolences to the families of the victims and debrief what awaited them from that day on.

This banquet was organized just for important people like generals, officers and non-commissioned officers, and many others who occupy important positions for each clan, like the elders, they served as both advisors and logistical supervisors equipment and are often assigned to the supply team.

Cliff stood up, making his way through a gap between two tables, once done, he cleared his throat loudly, trying to get the audience's attention.

Everything had stopped abruptly, the musicians, the dancers and even the people who were taking care of the meat on the fire, paid attention to his next actions.

Satisfied, Cliff looked at the crowd with smug brown eyes.

"My dear colleagues, today this banquet was organized in honor of all of us who are here, you fought putting your lives in danger against these demonic abominations." He took a short pause letting his eyes wander throughout the crowd, then continued;

"As you all know, perhaps some of those who have joined us recently may not know it, but we intend to carry out a rescue operation against the ogres who have attacked and taken hostage our fellow members of the elf clans and Dhakat.

There were murmurs, but Cliff didn't let them bother him and continued his speech;

"As I promised, I gave you a week to strengthen yourself just as I did. I no longer intend to move all our forces for this operation, those who are awake and some groups of mages will be more than enough, the remains will remain here until further notice!"

Suddenly a hand was raised, A middle aged man, he looked sturdy, on his face had small scales embedded under his eyes and underneath, all along his neck, the man looked like want to talk.

"From what I have seen my lord, the number of awakened people among us is really low, apart from Lord Rakahn, Lady Dahlia, and me?" He said to himself, pointing to himself.

"Your name is Kido, right?" Cliff had asked, "Didn't Rakahn tell you about the effects of the soul pact?"

Kido shook his head negatively.

Noticing his action, Cliff caught his head with his hand, shaking him in frustration.

"Rakahn… oh man, didn't I tell you, if you want to recruit other people then you're going to have to explain them properly, all the conditions whether there are advantages or disadvantages, I wanted them to know since long before to join us!!"

"I think I did my lord, maybe it was he who didn't pay attention to what I was saying." Rakahn complained.

Cliff had looked at him suspiciously and turned around.

"This little bastard doesn't know the meaning of priorities"

"Let's pick up where we left off" Cliff clapped his hands.

"Through the soul pact we are connected, some soldier under the influence of the pact can absorb the essence of a stone from a monster taken down by a random soldier, but apparently this is not its only effect, we learned that by evolving we could share skills with each other.

I wanted to save it as a surprise, but I have to reveal it.

Our bond through the soul pact allows us to be able to use innate abilities of other races. I plan to schedule training for the soldiers once they awaken, they will learn to strengthen their bodies like the Orleth and Dhakat, channel spells like the elves, use their auras like the Ibara and Shizukesa and so many more"

These words left several people at the tables stunned, their eyes wide as they looked at Cliff, his words left them in disbelief.

A dwarf who appeared to be the leader of his clan quickly got up from the table, and looked in the direction of Cain and Rakahn.

"I'm sorry to interrupt you my lord, but I have a question for the elf clan leader"

"My old friend, would you agree that we have access to the secrets that your clan has so hard hidden for all these centuries?"

Cliff wanted to answer for him but was caught by Cain who wanted to answer the question himself.

"Barock my old friend, this may seem absurd to you, but it was me who proposed this process to the master, once we had discovered it, I saw the potential and I decided to bet on it "

"While we would be able to use them, they won't be as effective as when the original owner uses it for her, like 'strengthening' for example, she wouldn't be as effective for me as when Rakahn himself use it, since I don't have the genes of an ogre!!"

"Moreover, my clan almost got decimated with its secret, twice, if it wasn't for the intervention of the master and I don't believe that my ancestors would have preferred that we be decimated by keeping a secret that could be used to our survival."