The entrance rumbled, moving to the back, creating a dust cloud along its wake. It created a wide enough gap along its sides for them to walk through. Following the warrior's lead, the Shishya stepped foot into the Meka Clan, gawking in surprise at the picturesque scenery inside.

A high ground made from rocks, as if cut from a hill; rows and rows of houses on both sides, rock pillars with roofs of sheep and goatskin. A path of sand lay between them, wide enough for ten people to walk side by side.

A wide area of land lay vacant before them, adorned with rock pillars, made into towers over which two warriors stood each, keeping watch. Such towers were placed at various locations, to keep watch of the Clan's safety.

"We kept this area vacant because this is where we assemble our troops while planning to head for an expedition." The warrior said, "This is also because we need enough attack range in the off chance our defences are breached. These towers will help us defend in such times."

The warrior explained in detail, leaving nothing hidden. It was because of his Chief's orders. He was first confused as to why his Chief would order something strange like this. After all, leaking the layout of their Clan would leave them vulnerable to future attacks.

But, the moment the Chief said it was a condition to create another Divya Vaidya, the warrior became enthusiastic. He was more than happy to take the lead, almost tearing up at the honour of being the cause that would awaken the future Divya Vaidya.

The warrior patted a nearby tower, "All of this is obtained from the rock pillar domain to the north of our Clan. For some reason, even if we cut off a rock pillar, it regrows back within 4-5 years. So, we use it for everything here. It is also our prime export to the other Clans."

"Depending on the size and shape, the price of the rock pillar varies." He retracted his hand from the tower, "This one, in particular, would cost 70 sheep had we sold it to other Clans."

They then arrived before a circular building that spanned a height of two grown men and occupied a large area. The building was fully made from stone, with rock pillars carved into symmetrical pieces and lined next to one another. The warrior pointed from the entrance, "This is where we rear our sheep. To avoid such a large structure from moving due to the wind or usage, we had to lay large rock structures in the ground and make holes through which these rock pillars were slid into."

"This way, they would have a solid foundation and wouldn't move and damage each other," The warrior said with a proud tone, "It was our shaman who created such an ingenious method to use this. After this, we used the same method to upgrade most of the buildings in the inner Clan area."

"As for the outer Clan area, we are still upgrading them." The warrior said as they passed by an area similar to an arena. It was a concave area filled with sand, the edges surrounded by stones high enough to act as chairs. Wrestling within were two warriors, engaging in unarmed combat.

They were primarily practicing grappling techniques, trying to throw their opponents to the ground. The warriors were both strong and flexible, their fights looking like a dance. Two torches blazed on either end of the arena, standing around were a couple of onlookers, cheering and commenting for their respecting friends.

Once they were satisfied with their brawl, the warriors each arrived before the torches, clapping their hands into the fire blazing above, repeating it thrice. They then rubbed their hands into the sand before picking up the torch.

It was a short spear, its end tied up with a cloth, shaped into a bun, dipped into oil, and set on fire. The two warriors moved their spears, the flames sparking while specks shaped like leaves danced along their wake, disappearing after a second.

It was a beautiful scene as the warriors clashed with the spears next. Each strike created a flurry of flame specks that danged around. The human bodies danced accordingly, their actions stirring up the wind and affecting the flame specks, creating many formations in the air.

"Amazing," The Shishya commented, gently clapping, unwilling to disturb their fight with her clap but still wished to show her appreciation. The warrior who guided her was slightly stunned upon hearing a voice that was borderline feminine. But after a second, he didn't seem bothered, assuming the other party's voice was like that.

'Maybe that's why he rarely speaks.'

The two then proceeded to different locations in the Clan, with the warrior explaining everything enthusiastically. Some Clansmen were curious of his actions, immediately inquiring the warrior. To them, the warrior repeated the same line over and over again with a prideful tone, easily convincing them.

"The Chief ordered me. It is to help awaken the next Divya Vaidya." He also ensured his voice wouldn't be heard by the Shishya when he spoke of this line. After all, the Chief also informed him to be careful about the matter.

When they passed by a narrow entrance, they heard the sounds of hammer striking metal. The warrior smiled, "This is where our weapons are forged. We have to trade twenty sheep to obtain a person's worth of metal."

He then pointed through the entrance, "It would be dangerous to head inside since work is proceeding at full swing. But you can take a look from here."

The Shishya looked through the entrance, noticing women wearing half-sleeved shirts pick up giant hammers and slam them repeatedly on a sword. Their arms were toned, looking no inferior to the warriors battling outside, each of their strikes resounding like thunder.

They tied a piece of leather stuffed with sand around their ears to guard against the sound. Even when sparks flew from the hitting of their hammer against the sword and fell on them, they didn't seem to mind, continuing to hammer away at it.

After they finished hammering it, they put it in the oven, heating the metal. The ones that had been hammering took a small break until the metal turned hot once again. Having seen enough, the Shishya felt it a bit difficult to bear the heat wafting out from the forge, taking a step back, intending to proceed to another place.

But, after taking a step back, she turned around and noticed that the warrior was looking at the forge in a trance, his face flushed, seemingly admiring their working figures. The Shishya poked his shoulder a couple of times before he gathered his bearings, letting out a wry laugh as he led the way to the next place.

A warrior was wielding a blunt weapon, teaching the kids the ways to fight. He stood in a stance, making the students draw his figure on the sand. After remaining in the same pose for ten breaths, he changed to its successive stance, allowing them to draw it again.

The children only drew a stick figure of him. But, it was easy to memorise his stances in such a way. After finishing three stances, the warrior made the students assume the first stance themselves. They were boys who had only been able to walk for more than a year.

Adjacent to them were slightly older boys, the warrior in charge of them taught slightly stronger stances. They proceeded towards the left progressively in age.

Towards the right along the path they took was a lady, teaching the students about washing clothes. They were all girls. The class next to them consisted of pottery, the one after that was forging, so on and so forth. They consisted of various fields, a stark contrast to the boys who only studied about fighting.

As they passed the school, the warrior looked at the kids that were working hard, his tone turning gentle, "Thanks to the blessings of the Crimson Desert, we had a lot of successful births this year, causing our Clansmen to cross 8,000."

"My Guru said that very few Clans have more than 5,000 Clansmen. Even the great Pakshi Clan from the Harvest Oasis only has around 12,000 Clansmen." The Shishya said.

"Haha," The warrior laughed, "Under the leadership of our Chief, the Meka Clan too would become as great as the Pakshi Clan."

He then pointed to the front, "We have arrived at the inner Clan area."

There was an elevated platform, stretching over a wide area, spanning half the height of a grown man. It was fully uniform, the surface carefully carved and smoothened to prevent any non-uniformity.

There was no sand from that point onwards. Rock houses were built upon that, arranged circularly, with only four entrances, positioned along the four directions. The houses themselves acted as another wall.

The Shishya followed the warrior's lead, scaling the few steps before entering the inner Clan area, walking amidst the walls of two houses. The path was only wide enough for four men to walk side by side.

The houses were duplexes, each larger than ten houses from the outer Clan area combined. Once they crossed the house, they noticed that the houses formed a ring, acting as the wall of the inner Clan area. Moreover, they were the only houses there.

"Most of the children between 8 and 15 years of age live in these houses. They would be playing in this area most of the day, apart from studying." The warrior pointed at the large vacant area that lay in the ring formed by the houses. "There are none here, at the moment, since they are still in school."

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