Ash's eyes widened in shock.
Without wasting any time, he immediately opened the [Tribal Information] panel. Sure enough, a new section had appeared—Guardian Beast.
After learning what it was all about, he finally learned something new.
Apparently, with this new feature, he could tame beasts and make them as the Tribe's Guardian Beasts.
However, with his current situation, he could only tame one beast since he was still at the 1st Rank Warrior. Only after advancing to the 2nd Rank would he be able to bind another, and so on.
Naturally, there were restrictions.
Taming hatched beasts required compatibility and a certain level of affinity as beasts could outright reject the attempt. Eggs, on the other hand, were different. As long as the binding happened before hatching, rejection wasn't an issue.
After thinking for a second, he decided to put it aside first and put the egg in his inventory.
Then, his gaze swept at everyone one by one before speaking with a smile. "Let's head outside and meet these beasts."
"Tribe Lord, shouldn't we be figuring out how to escape first?" Old Ni asked with concern.
Ash chuckled lightly. "Don't worry, we will act depending on how strong they really are. That's why I need you to roughly gauge their strength first."
Looking at the others' worried expressions, Ash waved his hand dismissively. "I have my own plan. Just trust me."
Subsequently, they walked slowly, heading toward the exit.
On the way there, Ash thought about what he would do in this situation, as there were multiple possibilities that could happen.
He truly hoped that the five 4th-rank beasts weren't that strong so that he could kill them instead.
He glanced at the mission again.
[Objective: Get out of the encirclement of five 4th Rank Beasts or ???]
The "???" stood out.
Ash was almost certain it implied alternative solutions—perhaps killing them instead of retreating. And if that was the case, then the reward would surely be worth the risk.
That was precisely why he planned to kill them instead of getting out of here, thinking that the reward must have been worth the hassle.
Of course, if things went south and the beasts proved too powerful, he still had a safety net. He could push Old Ni's stats to their limits using Tribal Points and even use the one-time Limitless Rank Upgrade if necessary.
However, if it was still within their capabilities to handle, he planned to kill them, as he had a plan in his mind.
When they reached the entrance again, Old Ni stopped and looked at Ash with a solemn expression.
"Tribe Lord, two of them are on par with the Dire Wolf. The remaining three are slightly weaker, but not by much." He explained.
Ash raised an eyebrow. "Oh? It should be doable then."
"Kargan…" Ash glanced at the bulky middle-aged man with a broad shoulder, then shifted his gaze toward another middle-aged man from the Mirefang Tribe. "Riven…"
"Both of you, prepare yourselves." Ash smiled faintly and ordered the system to upgrade their ranks.
Riven was shocked, as he had never expected that he was chosen even though there were other people who were much stronger than him in the Mirefang Tribe.
Not only that, but he had just joined the Ragh'Tal Tribe and thought that he would need to do a lot of work first before obtaining the information about his mission.
However, before he could even think further about it, his attention was suddenly shifted to his own body as he felt the enormous amount of energy rushing out of body.
[Ding! 4,000 Tribal Points have been successfully deducted.]
[Ding! Congratulations to the host! Kargan has successfully broken through to the 4th Rank Warrior.]
[Ding! 2,000 Tribal Points have been successfully deducted.]
[Ding! Congratulations to the host! Riven has successfully broken through to the 4th Rank Warrior.]
Fortunately, Riven had taken the easiest mission, allowing his upgrade to cost only 2,000 Tribal Points.
Nevertheless, the downside was that his strength would be one of the weakest in the same rank since his stats were only multiplied by 3x.
Though Ash couldn't be careless about it since his goal at the moment was to kill these beasts and get things done as quickly as possible before another unforeseen circumstance happened.
Without waiting for long, he bought a few things from the shop, as they were essential to his plan.
[Ding! 60,000 System Points have been successfully deducted.]
[Ding! You have successfully purchased x6 4th Rank Healing Potion.]
[Ding! 70,000 System Points have been successfully deducted.]
[Ding! You have successfully purchased x7 4th Rank Mana Potion.]
By the time he closed the shop, Kargan and Riven had completed their transformations.
They bowed at Ash to express their gratitude, but Ash just waved his hand and tossed a few potions away as he distributed them according to their needs.
Everyone except Old Ni and Uncle Zan received one potion each.
Old Ni already had a healing potion, but Ash handed him another one anyway. As for Uncle Zan, he also received extra as both of them would be taking on the most dangerous roles.
Kargan stared at the two potions in his hands in silence. After a brief pause, his brows knitted together for just a moment.
Ash noticed immediately and a faint smile formed on his face as he glanced at the updated information within Kargan's profile.
[Tribal Points: 1,483] [System Points: 29,000]
Ash sighed inwardly.
He had barely enjoyed the feeling of being rich before he was broke again, just like smoke dispersing after a sudden flood of fortune.