Under normal circumstances, tribe chiefs could only be challenged by villagers that had been living in the village for more than five years.

However, it seemed that the tribe chief of the first village wanted to make an exception.

Yet, instead of being overjoyed, Jason could only stare at the tribe chief in doubt, not sure what exactly he was scheming.

Earlier, the tribe chief of the first village was the person who hated him the most, but now not only had his behavior changed, but the emotional hue that enveloped the tribe chief was also completely different. If Jason hadn't seen it for himself, he would have thought that the amicable hue was a farce!

That was something Jason found weird, but there was no way he would complain about that.

"Adventurer Jason, I'm glad you are back. I heard from other tribe chiefs that you are trying to gather an army to face the Oceanfolk. Unfortunately, the other tribe chiefs don't believe that you want to help them.

Instead, they think that you want their power, and wish to become the next Overlord of the valley. They are under the impression that you're just exaggerating the dangers of the Oceanfolk.

But that's not what I think...anymore...it looks like I misunderstood you, and I want to apologise for this. If you challenge and defeat me, you can become the tribe chief of this small village.

Through this, you will be able to join the tribe chief gathering in which you can defeat the other tribe chiefs.

Becoming the Grand tribe chief should be your goal if you want to gather all Mewi villages under one banner. Even if it will only be for a short period.

I do hope that you will leave once you protect the village."

Listening to the tribe chief's words carefully, Jason believed that he had turned a new leaf.

'Does he know about the trials? How? Is the dungeon not connected with its own dimensions that are artificially created in order to test specific characteristics of their participants?'

Confusion spread through Jason's mind, but he didn't receive an answer to any of his questions that flashed through his mind.

Instead, there was only the unknown, and an air of mystery around the dungeon of the Primordial descendant.

Jason was still not sure what exactly dungeons were, except the merged form of many inheritance sites, but this didn't seem to be the case for the Dungeon of the Primordial descendant.

There seemed to be more to it, and Jason wanted to find out what it was because he felt that it had to do with his own heritage.

Not knowing much about the Celestia race was annoying, but the same could be said about the Primal humans. Jason was still under the impression that the human race on Argos was closer to the Primal humans than other races.

At least, he believed that the Soul-awakening of humans on Argos was something that common, higher, or even grand races could have, and this belief only increased because not a single race had a unique soul awakening on Manyr.

It was possible that Jason had simply not seen those races, but if that was the case, they were extremely rare. They could possibly belong to one of the three lowest possible ranked race types, which was also a clue, hinting at him that his doubt might be reasonable.

Nonetheless, for now, Jason had to solve a different issue, which was to defeat the tribe chief in front of him.

"When will the next tribe chief gathering be held? I want to rest a little bit before fighting you because I'm currently extremely exhausted!"

After giving it some thought, Jason accepted the proposal, but instead of storming to the tribe chief, he wanted to rest first. That was important because releasing and retracting the divine energy dozens of times during the last few days had taken its toll on his body.

It was not something Jason was supposed to do at his cultivation base, but he had been accepted more easily by the Mewi owing to it.

As such, he couldn't complain about the burden he had to shoulder. Instead, he gladly accepted it as long as it was somewhat helpful.

Unfortunately, resting was hardly possible because the tribe chief's next sentence brought him back to reality.

"I'm sorry to say this, kiddo, but the next tribe chief gathering will be held in three days, and they're only held once a monthSo, if you don't want to wait an entire month to become the Grand tribe chief, and gather the strongest Mewi around you to train them, you shouldn't rest too long before fighting me.

If you want to fight me tomorrow, you'll have two more days to think of a proper way to approach the tribe chief gathering.

Entering the fray without a plan would be...quite naive and reckless, wouldn't it?"

Somehow, Jason felt as if the tribe chief was guiding him through the trial, but at the same time, it was weird.

Not only had the tribe chief's behavior changed entirely, but he seemed to have grown younger too.

Thus, he couldn't help but feel a little bit confused before realisation struck him.

'Maybe the scarcity of mana had been stressful for the tribe chief, and he was finally able to loosen up now that mana scarcity is not a problem anymore?'

Jason felt that his thoughts were reasonable, but it didn't really help him to fight the tribe chief.

Instead, with enough mana for him to use, the tribe chief's combat prowess would be several times stronger than before.

This was bad, relatively speaking because Jason had to fight him.

But on the other hand, the tribe chief's combat prowess was a necessity for the Mewi to fight against the Oceanfolk.

As such, Jason thought that he was fine with how everything was currently going on.

Using the tactic the tribe chief had proposed, Jason rested for an entire day before he met the tribe chief the next day, ready to fight him.

Knowing that the tribe chief was at the Peak of the Prismar stage was not exactly reassuring, but there was nothing Jason could do about that.

With that thought in mind, Jason entered the open field where the tribe chief and other Mewi villagers were already waiting for him.

They seemed to have made some preparations for their battle such as building a gigantic circle which the combatants were not allowed to leave.

This was to prevent anyone from stalling the fight which seemed to be a tactic some Mewi with an extremely high mana replenishing speed had tried to make use of before.

Jason had no problem fighting directly using his entire strength because he was about to fuse with Artemis. This would restrict the time in which he could release his highest possible combat prowess either way.

Thus, when the battle started, he was fully prepared to give his all, only to notice something that astonished him greatly. His eyes went wide as he saw the tribe chief's mana circulation and movement.

'After not being able to wield mana properly for an entire century, he seems...to be rusty? That's great!'

With that in mind, all of the tribe chiefs' felt less overwhelming to Jason, whose combat experience was recent, and not centuries-old like theirs was.

That was because the tribe chiefs had not only been unable to wield mana for a century but they weren't even able to utilise their martial art techniques during that time.

Because of that, Jason began to fight more confidently against the tribe chief of the first village, who began to notice that Jason's entire appearance was slowly changing, turning him into a ferocious, beastlike human.

'Just who is this youth?!'

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