Pioneer Lord: I Have Conquering System

After all, Zat was the only Heroic Unit Levi had encountered in a long time.

Naturally, he couldn’t let this Jackal Wolfman go.

Heroic Units generally possessed traits that set them apart from their kin. This Jackal Wolfman, for instance, understood the concept of familial bonds and harbored deep resentment for his mother’s killer—qualities that were clearly extremely rare within the primitive Jackal Wolfman Tribe.

"Very good. From now on, you are the leader of this tribe."

"And since there’s a new leader, the tribe needs a new name. Let’s call it the River Claw Tribe." Giving in to his wicked sense of humor, Levi decided to go all the way for the young Jackal Wolfman.

"Hogg was the name of a great Jackal Wolfman," Levi said, his voice earnest. "You will inherit it now. Don’t bring shame to that name."

"I will, Lord!"

The newly named Jackal Wolfman, Hogg, said excitedly.

He had never imagined that not only would he survive, but he would also be bestowed a noble name and made the leader of the Jackal Wolfmen.

This string of good fortune felt like a reward for all his past suffering. ’I must discipline my tribesmen and make them loyal to the Lord,’ he vowed fiercely to himself. ’It’s the only way I can repay this kindness.’

Jackal Wolfmen were wild and difficult to control, but they were also undeniably excellent Warriors and Scouts.

Now that he had Hogg, a loyal Jackal Wolfman, there was a chance to bring the remaining women and children into the fold.

Besides, Levi doubted that the hatred from a primitive Race, one without even a written language or recorded history, would last for long.

Their current hatred was simply a subconscious reaction to their survival crisis. All their able-bodied men had been killed, leaving the Tribe without Warriors. It was only natural for them to resent the one responsible.

Once they were provided with security and the means to survive, this hatred would simply vanish.

Levi also took in the Jackal Wolfmen because he intended to form a unit of light cavalry scouts.

Individually, the Jackal Wolfmen might not be a match for the Beastman Barbarians in terms of raw strength, but every one of them was a natural-born Scout and rider.

This brought to mind the Jackal Wolfmen’s unique social structure.

A female Jackal Wolfman typically gives birth to a litter of several pups. But, for reasons unknown—be it a gift from the gods or a curse—

there is always one pup in the litter born without Wisdom, a complete and utter beast.

When this non-sentient pup grew up, it was indistinguishable from the wild Jackal Wolves of the Wilderness and was thus fated to become a mount for other Jackal Wolfmen.

They were raised alongside their Jackal Wolfman brethren from birth, and this, combined with their shared Bloodline, created an almost telepathic bond. These Jackal Wolfman Cavalry, riding their own siblings, moved as surely on wolf-back as they did on solid ground.

"From now on, Hogg is one of High Cliff Castle’s own. You’d all better treat him like a comrade."

Fearing the Barbarians might bully Hogg, Levi shot them a stern look as he spoke.

He was especially wary of that lunkhead Zat, who was the most likely to stir up trouble.

The Beastmen grunted in agreement. If their chief said so, they had no objections.

Once Levi turned away, Zat quietly pouted. He didn’t understand why the boss favored this blind little wolf pup so much.

’I’ve followed the boss for three years, and he’s never personally given me a name or a title!’

Hogg was deeply moved. At Levi’s instruction, he cautiously joined the ranks of the Beastman Barbarians.

Among the Barbarians, who stood over seven feet tall on average, he looked like a mere puppy.

With all that business settled, it was time for everyone’s favorite part: looting the spoils.

As a Lord so poor he could barely rub two copper coins together, Levi took looting very seriously. He solemnly declared:

"We won’t take so much as a needle or a thread from the Jackal Wolfmen... We’ll take everything else!"

As natives of the Wilderness, the Barbarians were the very definition of poor themselves. They didn’t even need an order from Levi before they stormed the Jackal Wolfman Tribe and began to tear the place apart, leaving it picked cleaner than a bone. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Unfortunately, the Jackal Wolfmen were even poorer than they’d imagined. After turning the entire Tribe upside down, they only found a few hundred copper coins and a couple of freshly hunted wild bulls. There wasn’t a hint of silver coins or Gold Coins, and finding any weapons or armor was completely out of the question.

In the end, they had to resort to gathering up pots and pans just to have something to show for their efforts.

"Chief, look what I found!"

A Beastman Barbarian suddenly shouted excitedly.

Thinking he’d found something valuable, the other Beastman Barbarians swarmed over, only to break out in roaring laughter.

"HAHA, a chamber pot!"

The onlooking Barbarians howled with laughter. The Beastman was holding up a bronze, two-handled pot.

They had spent enough time in the Human World to know that human nobles kept such things in their rooms for relieving themselves during the night.

Levi took the bronze, two-handled pot, its design vastly different from the styles of the current era. He turned it over and over in his hands, examining it closely. After a moment, he couldn’t believe his eyes. ’This exquisite cloud-and-thunder pattern... and this greenish-blue patina, formed over ages from what was once a nearly pure golden luster...’

A huge grin spread across his face. ’Damn it all, this has to be a Bronze Artifact from the era of Yi Li I! I’m going to be rich!’

It was hard to imagine. A collector’s piece that belonged in a nobleman’s private gallery, an item aristocrats would fawn over, had just turned up in a nameless little Tribe in the middle of the Wilderness.

Levi would bet his late great-grandmother’s life on it: if this Bronze Artifact ever made it to the antique markets in Debei, it would be worth at least two hundred Gold Coins!

The Beastmen had no idea what the Bronze Artifact was worth, but seeing their chief’s excitement, they knew it had to be valuable.

"There’s another one over here, Chief."

Suddenly, Zat pulled a short dagger from a pile of spoils.

It had the same cloud-and-thunder pattern, but its luster wasn’t the greenish-blue of aged patina. Instead, it gleamed with its original bronze color, which was close to pure gold.

Clearly, the dagger’s previous owner had been a diligent person; it was exceptionally well-maintained.

Levi’s heart sank into despair as he mentally cursed. ’You illiterate moron! You wouldn’t know a treasure if it bit you!’

Such maintenance was irreparable damage to an antique’s historical value. The dagger should have been worth at least one hundred and fifty Gold Coins, but now it was worth fifty at most.

And he’d have to sell it as a set with the other Bronze Artifact to even get that.

Levi wished he’d mastered the alchemical arts of aging artifacts—a dash of the Qing dynasty, a splash of the Song, a brew to take it back to the stone age.

"Well, at least there’s still some profit in it," he finally sighed, resigned.

The Beastmen scoured the area one last time but found no other Bronze Artifacts.

Still, Levi was more than satisfied.

The Southern Territory was known for its wealth and civilization, yet in the nearly three years he’d spent there, Levi had only managed to scrape together One Thousand Gold Coins—and that was only by fighting in the arenas.

The Wilderness was universally considered a poor backwater. Yet he had been here for two days, all told, and had already made a quarter of what he’d saved over three years.

He couldn’t help but look forward to what the Goblin and Kobold tribes had in store.

"Lads, move out! Let’s crush the last two tribes!"

With a grand wave of his hand, Levi’s spirits soared.