Mira took the little guy excitedly and hugged him in her embrace. The little dragon also enjoyed being pressed by the soft mountains, wiggling his tail left and right.
Ash shook his head helplessly and glanced at the others. "Let's head back right away. I'm not keen on being on this mountain range for a long time."
Subsequently, all of them were heading back toward the previous Mirefang Tribe's location. Naturally, Ash took the remaining two carcasses and put them into his inventory.
Just as they left the mountain, Mira looked at Ash while petting the little guy in her embrace happily. "Have you decided on a name for this little cutie?"
"Not yet." Ash shrugged, then chuckled softly. "Let's just call him Little Red to make it simple."
Roar!
The little guy roared cutely in disagreement, as if understanding what he had just said. He looked at Mira pitifully, making her snort at Ash's reply.
"You're terrible at giving names!"
After thinking about it for a few moments, she looked at Ash and raised an eyebrow. "What do you think about Leon as his name?"
"Ask him, if he likes it, then why not?" Ash smiled faintly.
Roar!
The little guy roared and nodded eagerly, thinking that Leon was much better compared to little red.
Ash shook his head and thought about his next plan since things have moved much faster than he had thought they would.
He had never expected that by subjugating the Mirefang Tribe, he would obtain Tribal and System Points.
Now that it had come to this, he wanted to adjust his plan and hasten it.
…
When they reached the Mirefang Tribe, Vakra was shocked to hear that everyone but him had become a 4th Rank Warrior.
He instantly went to Ash and asked him to upgrade his rank too.
Ash obviously rejected him without batting an eye, as the situation before was a special one, and he just told him that he had reached the limit again.
Vakra was upset and didn't believe him at first, but Ash couldn't care less about it and ordered everyone from the Mirefang Tribe to prepare themselves since he wanted them to move to Ragh'Tal's Stronghold.
Afterward, he left with the others, heading back to the Ragh'Tal Tribe as their mission was completed beautifully.
On their way back, Ash told the others about the newest plan.
His new plan was simple. After going back to the stronghold, he planned to upgrade some of the stronghold's infrastructure before going to the Varkesh Tribe.
Naturally, he didn't tell them about his other plan of asking Aunt Nira after she came back to help in completing his mission so that he could upgrade his rank.
When he explained the plan, Old Ni clenched his fists tightly, as the time finally had come where he would take revenge on them.
The moment they arrived at the stronghold, someone on the watchtower struck the split drum a few times, sending hollow notes across the camp.
"The Tribe Lord and the others are back!" Someone shouted loudly, attracting the fellow tribe's attention.
Ash shook his head helplessly, knowing that they made such a big fuss over something like this because the main purpose of the split drum was for emergency situations, not for something trivial like this.
However, he didn't mind, as he somehow felt a little better that his effort was kind of being appreciated to the point that people would welcome him, right?
Right?
When the gates were opened, Ash's expectation went down the drain right away.
"Welcome, Tribe Lord… How was the subjugation? You should be able to upgrade more people, right? Upgrade my rank, I will—" The person at the front shouted first but was interrupted by someone else.
"Tribe Lord, please upgrade my rank! I'm the second-best archer in the same rank after Mira!"
"No, upgrade mine! I'm stronger than Baldur."
…
"..."
Ash stood there with a speechless expression as people kept shouting and asking him to upgrade their ranks.
He gritted his teeth in anger and looked at Old Ni. "Tell them to shut their mouths right away, or I won't ever help the people who just shouted."
"Silence!" Old Ni shouted, exuding his power to suppress the mass.
Everyone instantly went silent and made way when they saw the angry look on Ash's face as he started to walk inside the stronghold.
When his group passed the crowd, Ash said with an annoyed tone. "Everyone gathers in front of the main hall."
Everyone directly followed behind the group in silence.
In front of the main hall, Ash glanced at the crowd slowly and finally spoke after he looked at everyone present.
"We've successfully subjugated the Mirefang Tribe. Not only that, we've gained an additional four 4th Rank Warriors!"
"Woo!"
A young man in his early 20s exclaimed, but instantly shut his mouth when no one was shouting.
"I—I apologize, Tribe Lord." He bowed deeply.
"It's fine." Ash chuckled lightly.
"I like you." He nodded with a wide smile and ordered the system to upgrade his rank.
[Ding! 100 Tribal Points have been successfully deducted.]
[Ding! Congratulations to the host! Tharok has successfully broken through to the 3rd Rank Warrior.]
The young man was puzzled for a second but was shocked when a massive amount of energy flooded into his body.
The others were shocked, but a moment later someone immediately shouted loudly, followed by one after another.
"Woo!"
"Woo!"
"Woo!"
"Long live the Tribe Lord!"
…
"Hahaha, you don't need to praise that much." Ash laughed and waved his hand happily.
Then, he ordered the system again to randomly choose two Peak 2nd Rank Warriors from the crowd and upgrade their ranks.
[Ding! 100 Tribal Points have been successfully deducted.]
[Ding! Congratulations to the host! Urik has successfully broken through to the 3rd Rank Warrior.]
[Ding! 100 Tribal Points have been successfully deducted.]
[Ding! Congratulations to the host! Hroth has successfully broken through to the 3rd Rank Warrior.]
The commotion turned to chaos as people started to shout louder when they noticed that two more people got their ranks upgraded.
Ash laughed happily and thought for a moment before giving the system another command. "Upgrade Vargan, Ivar, and Rath's Ranks!"
[Ding! 100 Tribal Points have been successfully deducted.]
[Ding! Congratulations to the host! Vargan has successfully broken through to the 3rd Rank Warrior.]
[Ding! 100 Tribal Points have been successfully deducted.]
[Ding! Congratulations to the host! Ivar has successfully broken through to the 3rd Rank Warrior.]
[Ding! 100 Tribal Points have been successfully deducted.]
[Ding! Congratulations to the host! Rath has successfully broken through to the 3rd Rank Warrior.]