After thinking for a moment, he finally decided to upgrade Harold first.
"Harold, it's your turn now." He glanced at the middle-aged man with a spear on his back and ordered the system. "Upgrade Harold's rank to 4th Rank Warrior!"
Harold raised his eyebrows and instantly became happy when he heard it.
[Ding! 6,000 Tribal Points have been successfully deducted.]
[Ding! Congratulations to the host! Harold has successfully broken through to the 4th Rank Warrior.]
The notifications had barely finished when a violent surge of energy erupted from Harold's body.
The power was familiar, yet vastly different as it was far denser and more overwhelming than when he had advanced to the 2nd or 3rd Rank.
A moment later, Harold opened his eyes and instantly bowed at Ash deeply in gratitude. "Thank you, Tribe Lord."
Ash waved his hand dismissively as he directly ordered him. "Go. Help Old Ni and finish off the wolf as quickly as possible."
"Right away." Harold responded.
He shifted his stance and reached over his shoulder, drawing his spear in one smooth motion. The instant the weapon settled into his hands, the atmosphere inside the cave changed.
His aura surged outward, radiating a 4th Rank Warrior even though it was still a little bit unstable.
The beast sensed it instantly.
Its head snapped toward Harold, pupils contracting as it bared its fangs. The wolf had already been locked in a fierce exchange with Old Ni, but for the first time, hesitation crept into its movements.
Old Ni stepped forward without a word, his sword tracing a sharp arc as he charged forward.
At the same time, Harold made his move. The spear in his hands felt lighter, as if it had finally become an extension of his body.
The Dire Wolf lunged and met Old Ni head-on.
Clang!
Steel collided with claws as Old Ni blocked the swipe, sparks bursting outward. The wolf twisted mid-air, attempting to follow up with its jaws—but Harold was already there.
Thrust!
The spear shot forward like a bolt of lightning, piercing straight and aiming toward the wolf's neck. The Dire Wolf barely managed to twist aside in time, the spearhead carving a deep gash across its shoulder instead.
Blood sprayed across the ground.
The wolf howled and retreated several steps, but it wasn't given a moment to recover as Old Ni pressed relentlessly by slashing with heavy, yet deliberate strikes.
Each slash forced the Dire Wolf to block and dodge, steadily stripping away its control of the battlefield.
Meanwhile, Harold didn't rush as he circled away first. Every movement of the Dire Wolf was reflected in his stance. When the beast overcommitted to blocking Old Ni's blade, Harold struck.
The spear hammered into the wolf's side, then swept low to disturb its balance before driving forward again, slamming into muscle and tearing free with a spray of blood.
The Dire Wolf roared in agony and fury.
It slammed its paws into the ground, launching itself backward before exploding forward in a desperate charge toward Harold.
Old Ni intercepted instantly.
Clang!
The impact echoed through the cavern. The Dire Wolf slid sideways, stone cracking beneath its paws.
Harold didn't miss the opening as he stepped in and drove his spear straight through the wolf's thigh, pinning it briefly to the ground.
The Dire Wolf screamed and tore itself free, chunks of flesh ripping away as it staggered.
Old Ni immediately took this chance and stepped forward.
He raised his sword with both hands, planting his feet firmly into the ground, and used his (Iron Weight Slash) B-ranked skill.
The moment he moved, it felt as if the entire cave descended with him.
The blade came down in a brutal, downward arc, carrying the full force of his body and momentum.
The strike hit the Dire Wolf's skull head-on.
CRACK!
The Dire Wolf's head split apart as the sword cleaved straight through bone and flesh, smashing it into the stone floor beneath.
A shockwave rippled outward, rattling the crystals along the walls.
The beast twitched once and then went completely still.
Old Ni exhaled softly and straightened, pulling his sword free.
Uncle Zan suddenly froze as a familiar surge of energy erupted from his body, wild and overwhelming.
[Ding! Congratulations to the host!]
[Ding! Uncle Zan has completed his mission and successfully advanced to 4th Rank Warrior.]
Uncle Zan clenched his fists, trembling as he felt the transformation complete. A deep breath escaped him as he steadied himself, disbelief and excitement flashing across his face.
"…I did it." He muttered to himself.
"Congratulations, Uncle Zan." Ash smiled and walked over to the carcass.
Then, under everyone's eyes, the carcass of the Dire Wolf instantly vanished into thin air as he had put it in his inventory.
The others were shocked, but Ash just waved his hand casually and chuckled. "There's nothing to be surprised about."
He then looked at Old Ni and said with a calm expression. "Let me know immediately if you sense any other beasts."
Then, his attention shifted to the large egg resting nearby. Curiosity flickered in his eyes as he approached it since this was the first beast egg he had ever seen, even counting his memories.
The egg was round and smooth, white-grey in color, and roughly thirty centimeters tall.
"So this is what an actual beast egg looks like," Ash murmured as he raised an eyebrow and reached out to inspect it.
However, what he had never expected was that as soon as his palm made contact with the egg, he received a notification from the system as a translucent display appeared before his eyes.
[Ding! A tameable beast has been detected!]
[Ding! Do you want to bind and make it your first Tribe's Guardian Beast?]
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.