The next day, Sam woke up a little earlier than the previous morning. Stepping out of his room, he didn't see Qiuye anywhere.
"Qiuye? Are you here?" he called toward Qiuye's room.
There was no reply.
He must have gone out, Sam thought to himself. He picked up his small water bottle and headed outside for a quick wash-up, just like he had the day before.
There were quite a few tribesmen passing by outside. Most of them shot him curious glances, but they didn't come over to strike up a conversation—they just hurried on their way.
It seemed like everyone was busy with something, Sam mused, scratching his chin. It made him feel like the only idle person in the entire tribe.
The afternoon before, he'd wandered around the village with Qiuye. The settlement covered a large area, but the population was small, so the houses weren't clustered tightly together.
Back in his room, Sam rummaged through the woven bag he'd brought back with him, staring at the items he'd collected from the wilderness: a large bundle of blood-clotting herbs and nettlegrass, a small handful of blood-nourishing herbs, the simple water bottle he'd made from palm husks—and then there was the woven bag itself.
Ever since he'd arrived in this world, he'd noticed quite a few people eyeing his woven bag, mostly sub-beastmen.
He carried all his things outside and began sorting through the herbs in the sunlight.
When Qiuye returned, he found Sam squatting on the open ground in front of the house, with a pile of unfamiliar plants laid out before him. They weren't any of the edible wild vegetables the tribe usually gathered.
"What are you doing?" Qiuye walked over and squatted down beside Sam, his eyes filled with curiosity.
"You're back!" Sam replied, sorting through the herbs with his hands. "I'm tidying up these medicinal herbs. I was in such a hurry when I came back that I didn't clean them properly—they're all covered in dirt. I just stuffed them into the bag back then, so I hope none of them got damaged."
"Medicinal herbs?" Qiuye's voice rose sharply in surprise. "You mean these are herbs?" He quickly pulled his hand back and leaned away, as if afraid he might damage them by accident.
At that exact moment, the system sent a task notification.
> **Random Quest**: Teach sub-beastman Qiuye to identify three types of medicinal herbs.> **Reward**: 50 units of usable energy.
"Why are you backing away so far? You came back just in time—help me clean these herbs up!" Sam waved him over.
Qiuye still hesitated to come closer, shaking his head. "I don't know anything about medicinal herbs, and I wouldn't know how to clean them properly. I'd probably ruin them."
"It's fine—I'll teach you. These aren't rare herbs that are hard to find. Come on over!" Sam urged him again.
"Are you sure you want to teach me?" Qiuye looked uncertain, speaking in a soft voice, but he still approached cautiously.
"Hurry up, hurry up!" Sam pressed.
Once Qiuye was standing beside him, Sam picked up a handful of blood-clotting herbs and placed them in his hands.
"This is blood-clotting herb. It can stop bleeding and reduce inflammation. If you crush it up and apply it directly to a wound, it can stop the bleeding quickly and prevent the wound from becoming inflamed, swollen, or festering. First, you need to clean the dirt off the roots."
"Okay, I'll be careful not to damage them," Qiuye said, holding the herbs as if they were something fragile and precious.
"No need to be so nervous—these really aren't hard to find. Xuan's used quite a lot of them before," Sam smiled, seeing his overly cautious reaction.
At the mention of Xuan, Qiuye relaxed a little, his voice softening with concern. "Was Xuan seriously injured back then?"
"He dragged the shadow beast's body back at night. His whole body was covered in wounds, the smell of blood was overwhelming, and he could barely stand," Sam replied truthfully.
"It's a good thing he was still able to drag the shadow beast back," Qiuye sighed in relief, but the look of heartache in his eyes was impossible to hide.
Seeing him like that made Sam feel a little awkward. Fortunately, Qiuye was almost done cleaning the blood-clotting herbs, so Sam quickly picked up a few stalks of blood-nourishing herbs and handed them over to change the subject.
"This is blood-nourishing herb. Eating it can speed up the body's blood production. It's useful in cases of severe blood loss—when used together with blood-clotting herb, it can save a person's life."
After hearing Sam's explanation, Qiuye quickly pulled himself together, his expression turning solemn as he stared at the two types of herbs in his hands. He understood all too well how much these herbs could benefit the tribe.
"Yuqing—are you telling the truth when you say these herbs aren't hard to find?"
Seeing what Qiuye was thinking, Sam nodded firmly. "They're not growing everywhere, but they really aren't rare. Xuan recognizes them too—these are just the ones he and I collected along the way back. If we go out specifically to look for them, we should be able to gather a lot more."
"Could you… teach this to other people too? Especially the hunting team members. They can help collect the herbs when they're out in the wilderness, and… they're also the ones who face the most danger," Qiuye said, his voice trailing off. He knew that knowledge of medicinal herbs was the exclusive domain of the tribe's shaman—a shaman was a tribe's most valuable treasure.
Their tribe seemed to be doing well on the surface, but they didn't have a shaman. Most of the things they knew now had been accumulated through years of trial and error.
They could learn other skills through daily life, but medicinal herbs were different—they couldn't afford to test every plant blindly. Many plants were highly toxic, and every tribesman was precious. The elders had told him that the edible wild vegetables they ate now had been discovered by their ancestors, but countless tribesmen had died from poisoning while searching for safe food.
"Of course I can. Medicinal herbs are meant to be used to help people. If no one knows about them, then even if a life-saving herb is right next to an injured person, they'll die because they don't recognize it. That would be such a waste," Sam replied without hesitation.
As soon as he finished speaking, the system sent another task notification.
> **Random Quest**: Promote the three types of medicinal herbs within the tribe.> **Reward**: 100 units of usable energy; unlocks the *Herb Cultivation* sub-function in the Encyclopedia.
After accepting the quest, Sam kept his expression unchanged and continued talking to Qiuye. "Qiuye, find a time to gather the hunting team members and let them learn to recognize these herbs. I'll need to trouble them to bring some back whenever they see them in the wild."
A grateful smile spread across Qiuye's face as he looked at Sam. "I'll talk to Xia about this right away. I'll ask him to arrange a time as soon as possible."
"And there's another herb I'll need everyone to help me collect if they come across it," Sam added, holding up a stalk of nettlegrass.
"What kind of herb is this one?" Qiuye asked, his curiosity piqued again.
"This is nettlegrass. It's not exactly a medicinal herb—if anything, it's a mildly toxic plant, and its uses are quite special. Look at the tiny black thorns on its leaves. If these thorns pierce your skin, it can cause numbness all over your body, making you too weak to move. If you get pricked by a lot of them, you might even pass out. But it wears off after a while, and you'll be fine with no lasting effects," Sam explained.
"Toxic? Put it down quickly!" Qiuye froze for a moment, then immediately urged Sam to drop the nettlegrass. "What do you want with something like this? It's dangerous!"
"It's okay—I know exactly what it does, so I'm not afraid of it. I need it to make something," Sam replied calmly.
Qiuye still frowned at him, clearly disapproving of the idea.
"Don't worry—I know what I'm doing. I mentioned this to Xuan before. I'll ask him to help me when the time comes, so nothing will go wrong," Sam assured him.
After hearing him mention Xuan, Qiuye finally relaxed his frown, but he still warned him earnestly, "Promise me you won't try to handle this alone in secret. If you're going to do it, you have to get Xuan to help you, okay?"
"I know, I know—I promise I won't do it secretly by myself. I'll definitely tell Xuan," Sam nodded obediently.
With that promise, Qiuye finally let the matter drop.
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