The black dragon, who was now very much a human, was still in a heavily wounded state. He was weak, half-conscious, but even so he could sense the presence of a beast nearby.
A very tiny beast with absolutely no 'affinity.'
When he opened his eyes and saw the little rabbit, the first thing he noticed was how the creature was staring at his human form with wide, bewildered eyes. Almost as if it had never seen a man before.
…Hmm?
He couldn't tell if the rabbit was male or female, but he was certain that this little beast was an unmorphed one. Meaning its affinity was so low it hadn't even reached the stage where a beast could morph into a beastman.
No wonder it was shocked by him.
The rabbit looked pathetically weak. It was obvious it had Zero affinity. It didn't even qualify as a low-rank beast.
Was it still a minor?
Or… a defective beastyouth who might never morph into its man-form in its life?
Affinity was the foundation of every beast in this world, regardless of tribe—whether scales tribe, dog family, cat family, winged tribes, shell tribes, or anything in between. A beast's affinity determined everything: strength, rank, and their ability to transform into their man-form or beast-form.
Affinity influenced transformation or morphing in two major ways:
One is when a beast had too much affinity, their body transformed uncontrollably. They could morph into beast form or man form without warning, lose consciousness, and destroy everything nearby in a violent frenzy.
They were high rank beastmen.
The other is when a beast had too little affinity. They never lost that much control, and they always sensed a transformation coming—even if they didn't understand why their body wanted to change.
Their morphing was rare, predictable… and painfully slow. And they are mostly low rank beastmen.
This little rabbit… it had no affinity it was basically a walking blade of grass.
Even Gaffer, the black dragon beastman who had his affinity suppressed to a low level and usually knew when his sudden morphing would come, didn't expect it this time.
His first lover, the blue dragon May Scalden, had broken his heart.
She refused to make a family with him or stay with him, knowing how wanted she was across the whole beast world as a female beastman. Because of that, he lost control of himself and didn't notice he was entering a morphing state.
That was his lover, and that was why he didn't fight back.
Looking at the tiny rabbit… how could such a small animal survive this beast world without any affinity?
The caring thought vanished the moment he noticed two things. One, his little son was wrapped around his ankle and the rabbit was close enough to harm it. Two, his morphing was kicking in.
The clearness in Gaffer's abyssal eyes faded and became hollow. The whites of his eyes vanished, turning thick and pitch black. His consciousness grew chaotic and sticky scales began forming across his skin.
He knew he was gradually losing his man form.
The little rabbit beast beside him was in danger!
Gaffer reached out and placed his hand on the little rabbit's furry ears. They were warm and soft, the fine fluff strangely comfortable to touch.
His hand slid down, and he grasped her ears a bit too tightly. He tried to throw the little rabbit away.
But the moment Linda was grabbed by the ears, like a rabbit thief snatching a sack of carrots, she felt a strange sense of security instead of danger.
She quickly wrapped her legs around his hand as well as her little arms. She hugged him with all her strength.
This warmth… she had never felt it since her rebirth.
But it ended fast.
The man fell unconscious again before he could actually toss her away. It was a thought he didn't even get the chance to act on. And this happened right before he could fully morph so he was back to full man form.
Linda slowly unwrapped herself and examined the man to confirm he wasn't dead.
He wasn't.
Not far off, the scent of edible leaves wafted into her rabbit nose.
This wasn't animal food but humans ate it. Tea, soup, broth, dishes, even fancy intercontinental meals used it. It was also medicinal.
Linda hopped toward it, leaving the man behind. She wasn't going to abandon him. He was too pitiful.
She found the leaves, gobbled them to her heart's content, and took some back for the man. He could eat when he woke up.
But days passed, and the man never woke.
Linda looked at him lying still under the hot sun, day and night. Then she moved closer to his arm. His body temperature was very high, and the sleepy little rabbit who had been his watchman for days yawned.
Linda had just rested her head on his chest and closed her eyes when a sound came from the man's waist. A sharp hiss.
It was the little snake.
Linda stared at it, then reached out her paws to touch it again this time.
"Hisst~" The small creature hissed fiercely, clearly trying to scare the white rabbit.
Linda only gave it a look full of distaste.
She couldn't figure out if it was truly a snake or something else. Its scales weren't like normal snake scales; they were rough, thick, almost old. And its hiss didn't sound like the usual snake hiss either.
But it was wounded. That much she could tell.
Linda tilted her head as she examined it. The longer she looked, the more she felt it resembled the black dragon somehow. But at the same time… it didn't quite look like a dragon cub either.
Her sleepiness disappeared entirely.
In her past life, she died in a car crash. She died young, but before that she studied zoology and worked at her family's zoo and animal care center.
The Ein family had generations of zoologists. The old house was filled with trophies, plaques, and awards from the country and international organizations.
So even in a rabbit body, her instincts were loud. This snake-like creature was injured.
But even if she wanted to help, she couldn't.
She didn't have hands, only two fat paws. There was no medicine, no gauze, no tools. She couldn't even lift the little creature if she tried.
And honestly, if anything, this wounded snake might hurt her instead. Look how it hissed to show how extremely protective of the man it was. One wrong move and she was finished with venom.
Linda forced her eyes away and buried her face in her paws. She tried to sleep.
But she failed.
Her eyes drifted back to the helpless, wounded snake. Then she had an idea. She could use a stick and her burrow.
Linda hopped a short distance away, found a broken stick, and returned quietly. She wasn't planning to hit it. She wasn't looking for death.
She dug a small hole near the man, big enough for the creature to fit inside. Then she hopped back over to where the snake lay.
Holding the stick, she poked the man lightly.
"Hissst!"
As expected, the silver slim beast snapped immediately.
It chased after the stick, and the rabbit, like they were the greatest enemies of its lifetime.
Slowly but surely, the creature reached the hole where Linda waited. She tossed the stick in and the snake followed it right down. Afterwards, it didn't have the strength to climb out again, not with how injured it was.
Linda knew wounded snakes became overly aggressive and needed a warm, enclosed, quiet space to recover mentally and physically. This was the best treatment she could offer.
The tired little rabbit hopped back to the warm spot under the man's arm and curled up again.
This time, sleep came quickly.
It felt like she hadn't slept this safely in forever.
But when she woke up, there was no warm arm. There was no man as well.
She blinked. Then hopped to the hole where she had dumped the silver slim beast. It was empty.
The man and his reptile were gone?
A tiny ache formed in Linda's chest.
She watched over that man for so many hours. She shared her sleeping spot. She even cared for his weird pet snake thing. So she really thought that maybe they would stay together for a bit. Maybe be a tiny team of three.
But they were gone without a trace. And even the leaves… that man didn't even take it along with him.
Meanwhile, high in the sky, a skyship cut through the clouds on the direct route to the Scales Tribe territory.
Inside, several beastman doctors worked quickly. One cleaned and wrapped Gaffer's wounds, while another sealed the silver slim beast inside a thick glass containment case.
The treatment ended, and a doctor injected a sedative into a rat before tossing the animal into the glass case for the little beast's next stage of care.
"Doctor, how are Master Imoogi and his son?" Scliff, the beastman soldier accompanying the mission, asked cautiously.