And like this, everything unfolded as Gravis had predicted.
Silva wanted to leave, but after two days of trying to convince his tribesmen, he only managed to convince four. All the others thought that this was the perfect training ground for becoming Lords. They didn't have to wait for any invasions anymore, and they could simply eat another clansman after killing them in a duel.
When Silva told them that Shira was dangerous and that she would use everything to eradicate them, half of them just waved it off while the other half said something that made Silva feel incredibly frustrated. They said that they didn't need to fear Shira since Silva would lead them to power.
The Sea Camp had a crafty snake, and the Land Camp also had one. This only increased their confidence since, in their opinion, Silva was much smarter and craftier than any other snake.
After that, Silva fell into deep thought. All his tribesmen wanted to stay and wanted him to support them. Yet, he wanted to leave. What was going on with all these beasts? Didn't they realize that they were marching to their deaths!?
When Silva finished his thoughts, he went to talk to Morn. Initially, he had intended to never talk with Morn again since he saw Morn's support of the plan as a kind of betrayal of their tradition. Yet, Silva felt himself unable to decide on what to do. On one hand, he wanted to leave, but on the other hand, his tribesmen needed and depended on him.
Morn and Silva had a lengthy and heated discussion. Sadly, no one was able to convince the other one. After hours of talking, Silva and Morn agreed that Silva would stay for now. He just had to see the future of the Tribe for himself. Silva still wasn't convinced that this was the correct path, but he decided to watch how it would go.
Shira also wanted to leave. She felt thoroughly suppressed by Gravis and felt like he already knew all her schemes. This was not a place where she could rise to power. If she weren't as crafty as she was, Shira would have believed that she could overthrow Gravis in no time. Luckily for her, she was outstanding in estimating danger, and Gravis felt incredibly dangerous to her.
But after thinking about what she would do when she left, she felt herself also grow more frustrated. If she went to a close Tribe, they would sooner or later fight the River Tribe. Her predictions on such a fight looked devastating. So, this option was a no-go.
She could go to the ocean and travel around the continent to a far off Tribe. The problem with that was that she hadn't established herself there yet. On top of that, all her accumulated knowledge about this area would become worthless. Additionally, she didn't know if these areas had different rules.
She could stay in the ocean and eat enough beasts to become a Lord. Then, she could lead an invasion into another Tribe. Sadly, this would require a long time of gathering followers. On top of that, leading an army and also being the most powerful of the Tribe was an issue. She would need to fight and also lead the army at the same time.
Yet, when she thought about finding a beast to take charge of the army, she grimaced. All other beasts looked inadequate in her eyes. How could she let them lead the army?
All of these choices were before her. Yet, all of these choices had an additional danger. That danger was the possibility of suppression. If she joined another Tribe, it was possible that, as soon as she reached the power of a Lord, the leader would directly kill her to stop her from becoming a danger to their rule.
Another problem was the possibility that one or two of her followers became powerful enough to threaten her. All of this felt incredibly risky.
The choices were either very time consuming or risky. Most of them were both. After thinking about all these things, Shira started thinking about what would happen if she stayed. She would be the commander of half of a Tribe. On top of that, the three really dangerous beasts, Gravis, Morn, and Orthar, wouldn't stand in her way to become the sole ruler below Gravis.
On top of that, she already knew most of the tribesmen. She could prepare for any eventual danger. Additionally, she wouldn't fight much. So, the other tribesmen wouldn't know her fighting techniques while she could study theirs. Like this, any fight would fall in her favor.
The future of the Tribe also looked very promising. As long as she remained, she could become the commander of a Tribe with multiple Lords. This would give her more power than she could achieve in probably a hundred years.
Also, who knew what the future brought? Maybe Gravis wouldn't grow as fast, or maybe he would die to someone else? At that point, she could become the sole ruler. On top of that, Orthar and Morn were very useful with their knowledge. She could even let them lead the armies. In her mind, Morn and Orthar were adequate.
And with this, Shira decided to stay in the Tribe. After a lot of thinking for over a day, she moved her greedy eyes towards the Land Camp. At that time, Silva hadn't yet decided to stay. This would allow her to get a head-start on planning.
Three days after the creation of the River Tribe, the terrain had been successfully modified by the Common Fungus. Vast lines of water went through the whole territory, allowing the Sea Camp easy access to any spot inside the territory.
The walls at the edge of the territory had also been modified. Outside the territory, before the mountains, a vast chasm of water could now be seen. When their neighbors saw the change of the territory, they grew suspicious. Was the Sand Tribe planning something?
Yet, they started seeing sea beasts appear in these rivers. Quickly, they concluded that the ocean had annexed the Sand Tribe. The fact that the mountains remained was probably a ruse to keep it a secret until they finished converting the territory. The fact that they didn't see any land beasts anymore solidified their conclusion.
Three other Tribes surrounded the River Tribe. Yet, only the two territories to their right and left were interested in the River Clan. The Tribe further in the continent, was busy with their own war right now. They couldn't pay attention to the River Tribe right now.
Yet, from the two interested Tribes, only one of them actually noticed that something was happening.
Why was that?
That was because the chasm of water only appeared at one border of the territory. All other borders had land beasts stationed on the mountains, making it appear like nothing had changed.
This was a plan that had been created by the joint effort of Morn and Orthar. Morn knew their neighbors very well, and he had quickly started planning an attack on one of the territories. Since he wanted to talk to Orthar more anyway, he quickly contacted him and told him about his plan.
The Oracle and the Elder both had caves at the ground level. After all, both kinds of beasts were allowed to visit them. Living on top of the Spire or deep in the Abyss would make it hard for one of the camps to visit them. Like this, they were easily in each other's awareness' range. They didn't even need to leave their homes to talk.
Speaking of the Abyss, the Spire was now surrounded by water. Four bridges led to and from the Spire, positioned in every cardinal direction. At about a depth of one kilometer, the Abyss connected and led deep into the earth. They couldn't dig below the Spire since it was too heavy to be supported by these couple of bridges, so the Abyss was in a ring form.
The territory was complete, and the River Tribe had already started planning their next invasion by gaining the attention of one of their neighbors. Now, they only had to wait for them to fall into their trap.
Shira and Silva were also slowly implementing their plans of sending specific beasts against the other one's. Yet, Shira realized a problem, and even worse, she realized that Silva probably didn't have that problem.
Silva had established himself in the Land Camp, and all beasts trusted him. Even if a beast became a Lord, Silva would probably still be able to lead them. Shira didn't have that luxury. If a beast of the Sea Camp broke through, she would most likely have to concede her position.
Thus, she immediately stopped her planning and started fighting the land beasts by herself. She needed to become a Lord before using her forces to destroy the Land Camp. Yet, she also needed to be careful while fighting. If she became too exhausted after a fight, Silva might directly fight her after that or send a powerful beast.
She had to pick her battles carefully and analyze the workings of the Land Camp. Yet, Silva had already started planning countermeasures. Whenever Shira tried to spectate a fight, she realized that only mid-rank Spirit Beasts fought, which wouldn't benefit her.
Meanwhile, in a different arena, a fight between high-rank Spirit Beasts had concluded that she hadn't been able to watch. Silva was sending the beasts in such an order that Shira didn't notice most of the critical fights. He knew what she was planning, and he was already countering her plans.
After these three days, Gravis had finished most of his food. About a third was left. Yet, he didn't need to eat more.
He felt the familiar tickling of an evolution arriving.
"It's finally time, huh?" an unfamiliar looking Lord said from Gravis' side.
Gravis smirked. "It's time!"
