Witnessing the Ritual

Sejuani led the two away from the crowd and found a group of warriors who were gathered together drinking.

"Erkas, come here for a second."

"Um?"

The burly man, who was drunk and dizzy, turned around and saw that it was Sejuani. He immediately sobered up and stood up abruptly.

"good!"

After taking a few steps away from the noisy table with Sejuani, Urcaston couldn't wait to ask.

"You changed your mind? My...longsword?"

"You're going to die! Your brain is even more useless than that sword!"

Sejuani's expression changed, and she glanced at Heron beside her, saying angrily.

"If you dare mention this again, I'll break your jaw."

"All right……"

"Also, do you remember what I told you? How are your preparations going?"

"This is a bit difficult... We'll need at least three powerful warriors, plus mounts, to get there undetected, otherwise the War Mother will immediately discover our disappearance..."

Urkas looked troubled.

"I guess the War Mother didn't agree to this."

"I don't care about that, this is what you and your brothers owe me!"

Sejuani spoke decisively, giving Urkas no room to refuse.

"That's settled then. We'll meet in the open space to the east in a bit."

"Okay, boss, I'll do it as soon as possible..."

Reluctantly, Urkas had no choice but to agree and then go to prepare according to Sejuani's "request".

After giving a brief explanation, Sejuani led Horren and Ashe to the agreed-upon location.

"Erkas? That name sounds familiar?"

Harren remembered the name, and Ashe had also heard Sejuani mention it.

"Is it the one whose jaw you broke?"

"Huh? Is that so? I only heard from Gorgia that Sejuani was prey for something like Urkas."

Herren said with a smile.

"I thought Urkas was from some enemy tribe... so why did you say you were prey?"

Sejuani looked somewhat embarrassed upon hearing this; she really didn't want to answer the question in front of Herren.

Seeing that Heron was waiting for her response earnestly, Sejuani's heart stirred, and she saw the "Power of Entropy" in Heron's hand, her eyes lighting up.

"Let's not talk about that now. What's the deal with this weapon? Did you forge it yourself?"

"This? This is called the Power of Entropy, and it's my best work so far."

As expected, Herren's attention was immediately diverted when it came to his masterpiece.

"Give it a try?"

"Um."

Sejuani casually accepted the Entropy Power that Harren handed her, but suddenly felt a tingling sensation in her palm, as if her entire arm was about to be frozen.

She quickly let go, and the power of entropy fell onto the snow.

"God! This thing bites?"

Sejuani looked at her palms; there was still a pricking pain, but no wounds.

"This might be... a True Ice weapon?"

Ashe crouched down, grasped the handle of the entropy hammer, and stood it upright.

Ashe, whose Ice Bloodline has been fully awakened, is naturally unaffected by the True Ice Weapon, but she can still feel the unique energy fluctuations that belong to the True Ice Weapon.

She had experienced this feeling before, just like the Avarosa longbow she carried, and also like the battle axe and spear her mother had used.

"You know your stuff, it really is a True Ice weapon."

Heron took the power of entropy from Ashe and introduced it with great interest.

"I used cold iron as the main material, and fused the hammer handle with pure ice. This was indeed a bit difficult because pure ice is too hard. Even if it melts, it's hard to break it into fine enough pieces. And then there's the hammer head..."

Listening to Harren's eloquent introduction, Sejuani looked at the power of entropy with some doubt and uncertainty. Unwilling to admit defeat, she reached out again and this time touched the hammerhead directly.

However, the energy fluctuations of the hammerhead, which was completely encased in True Ice, were obviously more intense. Sejuani suddenly felt her entire arm go numb and almost fell to the ground, but fortunately Ashe caught her.

Are you alright?

"No...it's nothing..."

Sejuani's face was a little pale, and the understanding Ashe naturally noticed what she was thinking.

"It's nothing, Sejuani. Just a short while ago, I couldn't touch the True Ice weapons at all, unless it was a life-or-death situation..."

Sejuani was clearly driven by pride, but Ashe knew that she had completely forced herself to awaken her Frostblood by chance... Before that, she had also tried to wield True Ice weapons under her mother's watchful eye.

But she failed just as well, and was terrified, even needing her mother's comfort... In comparison, Sejuani's performance at this moment was much better than Sejuani's.

As for why Heron was able to pick it up? He's even capable of creating True Ice weapons, why bother with such trivial details...

However, Ashe's words of comfort had little effect on Sejuani; her strong will could not be soothed by a few words of comfort.

In particular, she was the only one among the three who couldn't lift the weapon, which caused her great frustration.

Unlike Ashe, Harren didn't offer any comfort. He possessed foresight and naturally knew that Sejuani would also grow old prematurely and become one of the most powerful Warmothers. What was a little setback compared to that?

After this incident, Sejuani lost interest and didn't ask any more questions about the True Ice weapon. Ashe was curious, but to avoid upsetting Sejuani, she didn't ask any more questions either.

This is a real hardship for Herren, who wanted to take the opportunity to show off...

"So, what did you mean by what you said to that Ercas? What are your plans?"

"We need to accomplish something to keep you here... No, Harren, you've already done it. At least this weapon is enough to blind my mother, but Ashe still needs to prove herself..."

"Tonight? So soon?"

"What else? You heard it too. I know my mother. By tomorrow morning, either the Frost Priest will kill Ashe, or my mother will hand her over to the Frost Priest... So we have to get there before then."

As they spoke, the three of them walked to a campfire. Sejuani lit the fire, and in the firelight, she took out a dagger from her bosom and looked at Ashe.

Ashe looked at Sejuani's face, her eyes flickering. She felt that she was all alone now, but she had brought a lot of trouble to this tribe.

She couldn't help but say.

"Maybe I should just go back to the icy sea..."

"No, I can't watch you starve all alone. Either we die together."

Before Ashe could reply, Sejuani had already cleanly and swiftly slashed her palm with a dagger.

"With Herren as our witness, we are sworn brothers..."

"Um... do I need to witness this?"

"Normally, a ritual or shamanic testimony would be needed... but it's not appropriate for us to make a big fuss right now, and besides, I don't think you're any different. Aren't you supposed to be a chosen one of the gods?"

"Um... okay."

Herren stretched out his hands, making a ram's horn shape above his head, and said in a deep voice.

"On behalf of the Mountain's Hidden Flame, I witness this... ceremony. Alright, you may begin... By the way, are you sure you won't get tetanus?"