The Ice Wolf Clan was among the big clans inside the towers, especially because of their incredible fighting ability.

Yet despite their overwhelming strength, the clan possessed surprisingly few members.

Part of it was due to their harsh way of life. Only the strong survived among the Ice Wolves, and weakness was treated almost like a disease.

Children were trained from the moment they could walk, pushed into brutal combat exercises and hunts long before adulthood. Many failed to endure such a cruel upbringing.

The other reason was far simpler: the Ice Wolf Clan hardly accepted outsiders. Unlike other clans, they didn’t go after talented newcomers to recruit.

They were traditionalist people, obsessed with preserving the purity of their bloodline, customs, and martial arts. Foreigners were viewed with suspicion, and even allies who had fought beside them for decades were rarely treated as true members of the clan.

However, there was one exception. If someone saved the life of an Ice Wolf clansman, they earned the right to challenge the clan’s entrance rituals.

Only the right to try, acceptance was not guaranteed. Actually, most people failed the test.

The trials were infamous.

The first test was the Hunt of Frost. The outsider would be abandoned alone in the Frozen Fang Mountains during the harshest nights of winter, armed with nothing more than a knife made from monster bone.

To survive three days in that hellish land already bordered on insanity. However, survival alone was not enough; the candidate needed to return carrying the head of a gigantic mountain wolf.

Afterward came the Trial of Blood, where the outsider faced several clan warriors in ritual combat. The goal was not victory, but proving bravery against multiple warriors.

Then came the final ritual. Before the entire clan, the outsider would kneel beside the person whose life they had saved.

The clansman would cut open their own arm with a ceremonial fang dagger, allowing blood to pour into a stone bowl, and give its blood for the outsider to drink.

More than symbolic, the ritual had the actual power of guaranteeing the newcomer access to part of the powers of the Ice Wolves. The <Pact of Blood> was a very powerful and versatile technique.

Some said the ritual was painful, but all Shin had to base off was the vague descriptions from the game. Still, he knew that only then would the clan recognize them as true members.

That being said, among all their weird traditions, there was one that really mattered for Shin and Arlo at that moment. It was related to their leadership method and the reproduction crisis they were facing at that point.

Very weirdly, the Ice Wolf Clan could be described as aggressively hypergamous. Or something like that.

Every year, the clan held a massive combat tournament where warriors fought for the title of Alpha. The winner became the leader of the clan for the following year.

And with that title came another privilege: the Alpha gained the right to mate with all females in the clan.

More than the right, he owned them in a way. With a few exceptions, and a few marriages that were allowed, all females should dedicate themselves to the alpha.

Of course, this right only came as long as they could maintain their position. Next year, the tournament would happen again.

The logic behind the custom was brutally simple: the clan desired the strongest children possible. Allowing only the mightiest warrior to father most of the next generation was viewed as the most efficient path toward creating powerful descendants.

Naturally, this created warriors obsessed with combat.

Men spent most of their lives training, hunting monsters, and working as mercenaries outside clan territory to gather wealth and experience. Foreign diplomacy was also primarily handled by male warriors, since they traveled more frequently through the outside world.

Meanwhile, the women held enormous influence within the clan itself. In a way, they were the ones fully responsible for keeping it running.

They trained the children, protected the villages, managed trade, oversaw the clan’s government, and maintained internal order.

In truth, while the Alpha stood at the top publicly, much of the clan’s true stability rested in the hands of the women, especially the older ones.

The reason for that was simple: it was incredibly difficult for a warrior to remain strong enough to hold the title of Alpha for many consecutive years. Especially because becoming Alpha often left a warrior with far less time to train.

As a result, leadership among the men changed frequently, sometimes every single year. Without a stable governing body behind the scenes, the clan would have quickly fallen into chaos.

That was why the elders held so much authority. While the Alphas came and went, they remained as the foundation of the clan, preserving traditions.

But their system had one problem... Actually, it had many problems, but there was one problem that had become clearly more apparent...

Women were not forbidden from entering the yearly tournament. In fact, several of the clan’s Alphas had been women before.

"And right now your sister is at the top of the clan, right?" Shin asked, already knowing what Arlo wanted.

"Yeah. For five consecutive years, she has won the tournament, and thanks to that, we’ve barely had any babies," Arlo commented.

That was part of the reason why Gut wanted to leave the clan. Their traditions had become a trap that could eventually lead to their downfall. Especially because it didn’t seem like any of the clan’s warriors would be able to defeat her anytime soon.

"I get your point, but I’m not strong enough to defeat that monster," Shin said, raising his hands defensively. "Besides, I’m not even part of the clan."

"Yes, but you’re extremely talented," Arlo replied. "I believe you have the potential to become even stronger than her.

And you already know you can enter our clan. So stop beating around the bush and tell me once and for all: what are your conditions for saving my clan?"

"Very well. First," Shin said, raising one finger, "obviously, I want your help to go through the ritual and officially become part of your clan."

"Of course. I was already planning to do that."

"Second, I need you to train the girl I saved, and I also want you to recruit more people, especially from outside the Ice Wolf Clan." Noticing Arlo might misunderstand him, Shin quickly added, "They don’t need to be women. I just don’t think the Ice Wolf Clan is currently powerful enough."

"Okay... but powerful enough for what?" Arlo asked, confused.

"That doesn’t matter right now. And the third condition is simple: you must keep everything we talked about today a secret. Once I become powerful enough, I’ll call for you. And in the future, I’ll probably give you more orders. You’d better follow them."

"Okay!" Arlo responded in surprise. "I’ll do my best."