Village Problems

Healing pills.

Neel recognized it instantly.

But even after taking it, the wound remained open, only the bleeding had slowed.

"Father!"

The guard captain rushed past Neel, dropping to his knees in front of the Village Lord, sobbing uncontrollably.

"I'm not dead yet. Why are you panicking?"

The Village Lord calmly said.

"But Father, your injury"

Before he could finish, the Village Lord raised his hand, indicating him to stay silent.

He looked at his son Seto without fear for death.

"Seto… why are you so panicked?" he asked gently.

"You know that even if I hadn't died today, I didn't have much time left. You knew that, didn't you?"

Seto froze, his face turning white with fear.

The Village Lord saw his son's pale, frightened expression and he couldn't help but shake his head in guilt and quiet disappointment.

His son was brave and cool headed even in the face of death.

This traits needed in a future Village Lord.

But he lacked talent.

Seto had only filled half his star core.

He wasn't even considered mid tier. In this world, that meant he was basically trash.

That's what disappointed the Village Lord.

Mostly, he felt guilt that he would leave his son to fend for himself.

Or worse, to die at the hands of his enemies.

But now, there was someone...

The village lord suddenly turned to Neel.

Neel, who had been watching Seto, noticed the village lord's gaze.

He nodded and stepped forward.

"Cough... what is your name?" the village lord asked calmly.

"Senior, I am Neel. I moved to this village five days ago" Neel respectfully replied, feeling admiration for the village lord.

The village lord nodded and scanned Neel from head to toe.

He hadn't had time to look closely before, but now that he did, strange thought popped up.

Very handsome.

In his whole life, he'd met many people, but he had never seen someone as handsome as Neel.

Despite that, the village lord remained composed.

"What are your future plans?"

"This..." Neel hesitated and was about to respond.

Before Neel could respond, the village lord continued.

"Your plan must be to establish a clan, right?"

Neel raised his eyebrows. Indeed, that was his plan. Starting a clan was better than walking the path of a lone star refiner.

There were many advantages to starting a clan.

Neel didn't reply but nodded.

Seeing the nod, the village lord's eyes lit up.

"I can make you the village lord of this village. But you must accept one condition."

Neel was shocked. The village lord was offering him the entire village.

He had thought he would eventually have to leave and find a place to build his future clan.

Although he could fight for this village, winning the trust of the villagers afterward would have been difficult.

Refusing this offer would be foolish.

But still, he needed to know the condition.

"What's the condition, village lord?"

"The condition is simple. After becoming the village lord, you must protect my son and the villagers."

Neel felt relieved. It wasn't an unreasonable request.

"But there's one thing you must know. If you accept this position, you may be targeted by my enemies."

Just as Neel was feeling reassured, it was like a bucket of cold water was poured on him.

The village lord's enemies.

Neel couldn't help but think about who they might be.

But then he remembered, in just two days, he had strength of Second Star Core Realm.

"Senior, I accept this village"

"Ha ha ha!" The village lord laughed heartily.

"Good. You don't need to worry about the villagers or my son accepting you as the new village lord."

He turned to Seto.

Seto quickly nodded.

Though, he wasn't completely convinced, he knew his own limitations and had seen Neel's power.

More importantly, Neel was young.

With Neel as the new lord, Gurkha Village might rise to new heights.

Seeing Seto's approval, both Neel and the village lord were relieved.

The village lord felt a heavy burden lift from his chest.

He hadn't chosen Neel randomly. It was because of his intuition.

An intuition that had saved his life many times.

Neel exchanged a few more words with the village lord and Seto before returning home.

Next Morning.

Neel spent the entire night recalling all that had happened.

To tell the truth, he was scared , it was his first fight.

But thanks to the elemental sword, it hadn't felt like a deadly battle.

Dong! Dong!

Neel heard the sound of drums and walked outside to see what was happening.

He saw villagers dressed in white, crying with tears in their eyes.

Some women wept loudly, while children followed their parents with confused expressions.

It was clearly the burial ceremony of the village lord.

The village lord was wrapped in white cloth and his coffin was made of wooden branches, that coffin was carried on villagers' shoulders.

It was the first time Neel had seen such a unique burial.

He had only seen coffins buried underground before.

Out of curiosity, Neel asked a nearby villager. From him, he learned that when someone died, villagers circled the body around the village three to five times, then went to the riverbank to burn the coffin.

Neel then asked why they didn't bury the dead.

The villager explained that burying the dead might result in them becoming undead or mindless zombies.

So, they preferred to burn the body.

They also believed that burning the dead and scattering their ashes into the river paved the road to heaven.

Neel didn't follow the villagers. Since he was still new here, joining such a sacred ritual might offend them.

Instead, he stayed at the house.

Another reason was that he was preparing to establish his clan.

Neel felt an urgency to grow stronger.

He believed this beast tide wasn't natural. it was man made.

And how did he know?

As he got closer to mastering the Fortune Gaze technique, he could faintly sense it, he needed to grow stronger quickly.

...

Three peaceful days passed in the blink of an eye.

In those three days, he had nearly filled his second star core using many star liquids.

However, even after devouring so many, he still couldn't break through to the third star realm of Refiners.

He felt close to a breakthrough, but every time he felt, something holding him back.

So Neel made a decision.

It was time to establish his clan.

Yesterday, he had accepted the position of village lord and moved into the village lord's mansion.

Although the mansion wasn't luxurious, it was better than his previous house.

During the process of establishing a clan, some unusual phenomena will occur.

He quickly called Seto and Aarvan, told them his decision, and instructed Seto to control the villagers.

Neel stood in the mansion's garden, it was more like a small grassland and he looked up at the sky.

"Oh, will of the world, in the name of the World God, I wish to establish a clan."

"May the World God bless me."

"May the World God bless me…"

The air began to rumble and the sky turned dark with clouds.

BOOM!

Thunder sounded in the sky.

All the villagers who looked up felt immense pressure crashing down on them.

"What is this?!"

"God! Please spare me!"

"I don't want to die, run!"

In fear, villagers ran in all directions.

Some dropped to their knees, begging the god for mercy.

Fortunately, Seto managed to calm them down.

"Oh… it has begun."

Max stared at the dark sky. He wasn't surprised, in fact, it could be said he was expecting it.

Even without being told, he knew this was Neel's doing.

He was ten or even a hundred times stronger than Neel.

Yet Neel was able to establish a clan, something Max couldn't do despite his strength.

Jealousy and envy filled him.

"If I had that thing, I'd have my own clan too."

"If not for that bastard, I'd be the one doing what Neel's doing right now…"

In rage, Max crushed the teacup in his hand.

Despite all this, Max didn't doubt Neel's success.

For someone at the Second Star Core Realm, establishing a clan was relatively easy.

Bang! Boom!

Thunder echoed once more.

Suddenly, the sky split open and a giant red eye appeared.

It stared at Neel with disgust and disdain.

As if looking at an ant it could erase with a thought.

Neel broke into a cold sweat.

He hurriedly drew his Flame Copper Sword and prepared himself for the trial.

Boom!

From the red eye, black lightning struck down toward Neel.

He raised his sword and blocked it.

Bang!

A metallic sound rang out.

Neel opened his eyes and looked around

he had no wounds.

He had thought he'd be seriously hurt, but he was completely unharmed.

Boom!

Again, the black lightning struck.

Again, Neel remained untouched.

"This is easy! Who said this test was dangerous?" Neel laughed.

He looked up and shouted.

"Come on!"

The giant eye, without any emotion, sent another bolt of black lightning.

Boom!

For five minutes, it sent ten bolts of black lightning.

Then the clouds slowly faded and the giant eye disappeared.

Before vanishing, it sent a golden light that entered Neel's forehead.

"Congratulations, Lord!"

"Congratulations, Dad!"

Aarvan and Seto looked at Neel with admiration.

Neel understood why Aarvan looked up to him.

But he didn't know why Seto's gaze was so full of respect.

What Neel didn't know was.

The previous village lord hadn't established a clan like him.

That's why Seto's respect was so genuine, he understood how dangerous Neel's path was.

Neel shook head and instructed them to sit at the table in front of him.

He sat down as the new village lord at the round table.

Neel turned to Seto.

"Seto, tell me the current situation of the village."

"Yes, Lord."

Seto bowed and began explaining.

Fortunately, the village was safe and peaceful.

However, there were serious issues.

Food shortages and unemployment.

The food problem was because the nearby village that used to supply them had refused to send food.

Neel paused.

He suspected someone was deliberately preventing supplies to reach them.

Especially considering recent events.

He guessed the same masterminds were behind it.

This added more pressure and made Neel feel unsafe.

He tapped his finger on the table.

Yes… if that method works, it'll solve both food and jobs.

Neel's eyes lit up.

"Seto, I'll give you a solution for the food problem tomorrow. For now, gather all the grain available in the village."

Seto was confused but saw Neel's confident expression and nodded.

After a bit more discussion, Seto left the room.

Neel turned to Aarvan.

"Son, tell me how much progress you've made."

"Dad, I broke through to the First Star Core Realm. And I can feel three elements!"

Aarvan replied excitedly.

"Oh?" Neel's eyes glowed.

He walked over and played with Aarvan's hair.

He had thought his son wasn't very talented.

but it turned out Aarvan to be more gifted than him.

This pleased Neel, as his son could help him in the future.

Aarvan felt great, he liked this version of his father more than the past one.

Neel corrected Aarvan's cultivation doubts and handed him 1000 star stones to use for cultivation.

Neel returned to his bedroom.

He waved his hand and summoned the clan token from his sea of consciousness.

Then he channeled star energy into it.

Clan Name: Unnamed

Clan Leader: Neel Loktara

Clan Rank: Low Tier

Clan Members: Neel Loktara (Peak of Second Star core realm), Aarvan Loktara (Early of First Star Core realm)

Clan Traits:

10x Cultivation: Members cultivate ten times faster.

Small Luck: Slightly luckier than average people.

Cultivator Tokens: 10 normal people can become refiners safely.

Rank Up Requirements:

1. Ten clan guest at one star core realm star refiner (not completed)

2. Clan leader realm at two star core realm star refiner (completed)

3. The clan territory covers at least 1 km area (completed)