ETERNAL CULTIVATION OF ALCHEMY

Alex had nothing to do, so he sat by the side, watching everyone prepare for the feast.

With the sun setting beyond the mountain soon, they would fall into shadows by mid-afternoon. And while the shimmering sky gave off some light until evening, it wasn’t much at all.

So everyone hurried.

Alex was quite interested in seeing everything. It seemed that metal was such a commodity in this place that they didn’t even have pots or pans at all. Instead, they cooked their food in giant white pots, which Alex could more or less tell were made out of bones.

In fact, it was most likely the skull of some giant animal. The bones seemed very durable and could not be destroyed so easily in fire. It was the perfect sort of cooking tool.

The way they cooked was also ridiculously simple. Someone prepared the fish before they started, ripping the meat out of the fish with their bare hands. Someone else did something similar with the vegetables.

Then, someone brought water from the ocean and dumped it in there. That would give it all the flavor it needed.

Alex didn’t know how to react to all of that. It was barely any work at all.

A small platform was prepared with wooden planks and wooden posts, with a giant fish skeleton placed over it. It was so massive that it barely fit around the posts at all.

“Such massive bones. Is this some sort of ceremonial skeleton from the past?” Alex asked the old woman who was still there.

“Past? No. Those fish bones are there to show everyone the size of the fish Tara caught on his coming-of-age hunt yesterday,” the old woman said. “It’s the same fish you came out of.”

Alex was a little taken aback. “Wait, that young man killed that?”

That was… quite impressive. ‘How strong is his body cultivation?’

The ceremony for marriage itself was quite simple, but a little weird too. The groom had to pick up the bride on his shoulders and let her caress the bones of his kill. When she was satisfied, she would let him know.

At that point, he would hug her and turn around, allowing everyone to throw rocks at them. The purpose seemed to be to show that he could protect her from everything. They even cheered when he bled.

At the end, he would reveal that he had protected her entirely and then ask the father to give away the daughter.

The Chief played his part, giving away his daughter, which formalized their marriage. Everyone cheered at the new husband and wife, many even shouting at them to immediately have kids.

‘Aren’t they barely 15?’ Alex felt a little weird. It was a different culture, so he couldn’t say much, but it was still concerning that men and women as young as 15 were expected to have children.

He asked the old woman about it, and apparently, it was quite common. The earlier they started having kids, the more kids they would have, which was a great thing for a tribe that needed more people.

“Here you go,” the young girl Mili from before came to Alex with a bowl of soup again. She sat beside him as he began eating. “You weren’t awake yesterday, were you? For the feast.”

“Yesterday was a feast too?” Alex asked. “Did someone else get married?”

“No, for the coming-of-age ceremony,” the girl quickly said. “The one where we found you.”

Alex slowly nodded. “I see. It must have been fun.”

“Hmm, it was okay. There were only seven boys who became adults this time, so not as fun as three years ago when 11 did.”

Alex laughed a little. “So what? The remaining ones who failed stay as kids for the rest of their lives?”

The girl slowly turned to him, her eyes narrowing. “No… they died.”

Alex’s face fell. “What? They died?”

“Of course. The only way to pass the test is to return with a fish you killed. There were 13 who took part, and seven passed. So six died.”

Alex couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He turned toward the old woman, looking for confirmation.

“There is a reason why we want them to have many children. We lose many each year in hunting accidents and ceremonies. We need more.”

Alex frowned. “Or you can just stop the ceremony. They are kids at 15. They still have a long time to go before they’re adults.”

“That is not the ideology of a desert person,” the woman said. “You really came from somewhere far away.”

“If the village is lacking population to begin with, then why do you send the kids to do such a dangerous ceremony?” Alex asked. “Wouldn’t it make sense to stop it?”

The old woman sighed. “It… it started a long time ago when our village used to be big. Since the male population is always higher than the female within the Baylords tribe, they began pursuing women by showing their kills from a hunt. Soon, it became a game, and not long after, it became a ceremony.”

“Each year, they would go out to the sea to prove that they are the ones worthy for the women to choose. The ones who came back alive would have proven themselves. Even then, there were more men than women, so they had to marry from outside the tribe.”

“I used to be someone from a faraway tribe that got married here too. But that changed after the drought many years ago. Without rain, the trees in the mountain died. And as the sea evaporated, the fish moved further in. Life became harder, and one after another, people died.”

“The situation later turned around, but we are still suffering from its consequences.”

Alex sighed. “And you still keep the ceremony? I understand that it might have had meaning long ago, but it is hurting you more than anything,” he said.

“That it may be, but it still can’t be helped. Even now, the male population in this tribe is higher than the female population. So, the ceremony must continue.”

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