Su Bai had entered a profoundly mysterious state.
He could neither move nor speak. He could no longer perceive any sounds from the outside world. Instead, countless profound and arcane shamanic characters flashed through his mind.
He focused on digesting the shamanic script.
From the moment he fully comprehended the first shamanic character, the speed at which he recognized new ones increased slightly. Faster and faster it became, until in the end, he could grasp the meaning of a character in just three seconds.
He didn't know how much time passed.
After fully absorbing all the shamanic script, Su Bai found himself in a boundless void. He knew this place—it was his Sea of Consciousness.
There, he saw the familiar crimson glow. Within it drifted a totem that looked like a dragon yet not quite a dragon, like a serpent yet not fully a serpent.
"So this… is the secret of the totem."
Su Bai finally understood. He now knew why the position of shaman was so important.
A totem was also a type of shamanic pattern, derived from shamanic script. And what he had inherited—the shamanic script itself—was the origin, the very source code.
Only after receiving the inheritance could one truly understand the meaning of each shamanic character.
This was perhaps the highest level of security imaginable.
Su Bai slowly opened his eyes.
The world felt completely different.
His eyesight—once blurry due to nearsightedness—had fully recovered. He could now clearly see even tiny specks on distant objects.
Wanting to understand what had changed, he chose the fastest way to get answers.
"System, open the status panel."
[Status Panel]
Host: Su Bai
Stamina: 2.1 (Normal human: 1)
Strength: 2.2 (Normal human: 1)
Speed: 2.1 (Normal human: 1)
Spirit: 12 (Normal human: 1)
Shaman Power: 12 (12/100)
Totem: Flame Dragon
Profession: Beginner Shaman, Novelist
Skill: Healing Art Lv.1 (0/100)
Description:
You have shed the sub-healthy state of an ordinary human and become a shaman possessing extraordinary power. Please remember your original intent.
"The changes are this big… no wonder everything feels different."
Su Bai stared at the panel in amazement.
His stamina, strength, and speed had more than doubled.
Most shocking of all—his spirit had increased tenfold.
"System, does the amount of shaman power depend on spirit?" he asked mentally.
"Ding! A shaman's power is transformed from spirit. Skills obtained from system reward packs consume spirit directly," the system replied promptly.
"So that's how it works."
Shamanic arts consumed shaman power, while system skills consumed spirit.
He had fainted during the night. Now it was already daytime—the next day—meaning he could sign in again.
"System, sign in and claim the assistance pack."
"Ding! Sign-in successful. You have obtained a daily assistance pack."
"Open it."
"Ding! Congratulations, Host, you have received beginner assistance: Hemp Cloth Weaving Techniques."
"Huh?"
Su Bai immediately stood up and looked at the blue-covered book that appeared in his hands. On the cover were several traditional Chinese characters:
Hemp Cloth Weaving Techniques
He flipped it open and couldn't help complaining,
"Ancient-style cover, but the text inside is modern simplified Chinese."
"Still, this book came at the perfect time."
The tribe's clothing problem was finally solvable.
As he skimmed through the book, he found that all the techniques were based on ancient craftsmanship, not modern machinery—completely feasible with manual labor.
In the tribe, only a few people had beast-skin clothing.
Totem warriors usually wore nothing but a beast-skin around their lower bodies.
Women were only given small pieces of beast skin to cover their upper bodies, with skirts woven from dried grass below.
Some children were completely unclothed.
Only future totem warriors like Yan Hua received a full set of beast-skin clothing—and even that likely had something to do with Yan Jiao's status.
Su Bai suspected that most beast skins were used for tents instead, which explained the shortage of clothing. After all, shelter was more important.
"Successor, are you awake?"
A voice suddenly came from outside the tent.
"I'm awake," Su Bai replied quickly, rolling the book up and stuffing it into his pocket.
The tent flap lifted, and Yan Jiao and Cang Shi walked in.
"How is the shaman?" Su Bai asked immediately.
Yan Jiao pressed his lips together, then slowly shook his head.
"The elder has grown tired. The ancestors have taken him away."
"..."
Su Bai opened his mouth but found no words. Any comfort felt hollow.
"Successor, you are now the shaman," Yan Jiao said solemnly.
"The tribe needs your guidance."
"I understand," Su Bai replied seriously.
"Shaman, please go to the main tent. Everything there has been prepared," Yan Jiao said, stepping aside.
"Alright."
Su Bai did not refuse. The tribe needed a pillar of stability—someone seated in the main tent to reassure everyone.
He stood and walked out of the tent, Yan Jiao and Cang Shi following closely on either side, as if lending him silent support.
Once outside, Su Bai felt countless gazes lock onto him.
People watched every move he made. Only after he entered the main tent did those gazes disappear—and with them, much of the tribe's unease.
Inside the main tent, Su Bai looked around.
The layout was the same as before, except the corner had been replaced with fresh straw bedding and a new beast-skin mat.
"Shaman, we did not dare touch anything here. Everything is for you to decide," Yan Jiao said gravely.
"There's no need to change anything," Su Bai shook his head.
"Many of these items are precious. I'll take over gradually."
Removing the old shaman's belongings too quickly would only cause resentment.
Hearing this, Yan Jiao's expression softened slightly.
"Shaman, what should we do next?" he asked.
"What about the shaman's funeral?" Su Bai asked in return.
"We followed his wishes and cremated him," Yan Jiao said.
He took out a thumb-sized white object from his chest and presented it with both hands.
"This is the only thing left after the cremation."
"Relic?"
Su Bai widened his eyes and took it. It felt slightly warm in his palm.