Xia arranged for a few beastmen to carry Luo, his mate, and their son back home. He also assigned someone to keep watch over Luo round the clock, ordering them to report any changes to him immediately until Luo regained consciousness.
Watching Xia handle the tribe's affairs in such an organized manner, Sam thought to himself that this was truly a well-run tribe.
Back at home, Qiuye stared at his own hands in a daze, still reeling from what had just happened. He'd actually helped Sam save Luo's life—an unthinkable feat before today. In the past, any beastman with injuries that severe would have bled to death in minutes, their lives slipping away before anyone could even try to help.
Xia seemed to read his mind. He walked over, wrapped his arms gently around Qiuye, and patted his back in a silent gesture of comfort.
Seeing the two of them together, Sam felt a little awkward and quickly turned to step outside—he didn't want to intrude on their moment.
Xuan followed him out, carrying two large pieces of raw meat. "You and Father probably haven't eaten yet. Let me roast some meat for you."
He expertly found a clear spot, built a small fire, and began preparing the meat.
Sam went over to help him, his brow furrowing slightly as he thought about his dwindling stock of medicinal herbs.
Xuan glanced up at him, noticing the sudden shift in his mood. "What's wrong? Why do you look unhappy all of a sudden?"
"It's not that I'm unhappy—it's just that the herbs I collected before are almost gone. If another emergency like this happens again, I won't have enough to treat anyone."
Xuan nodded firmly. "Then I'll help you gather more whenever I go out."
"I already talked to Qiuye about this earlier. I'm going to teach the hunting team members to recognize these herbs too. That way, they can bring them back whenever they see them in the wild."
"You're willing to teach *everyone* in the tribe to recognize these herbs?" Xuan looked genuinely surprised.
"Why not?" Sam replied, repeating what he'd told Qiuye earlier. "These herbs are incredibly useful for you beastmen who go hunting and patrolling all the time. We definitely need to stock up on them. If only I know how to identify them, I can't go out and collect enough on my own. It would be a tragedy if someone died just because we didn't have enough herbs to save them. Besides, if you all know what these herbs look like, you can treat your own injuries right away if you get hurt out in the wilderness."
Sam couldn't help but frown as he spoke. Why did everyone seem so shocked that he was willing to share this knowledge? Was the role of shaman in this world so exclusive that they hoarded all their medicinal knowledge? It was no wonder that so many ancient remedies had been lost over time—without a written language to record them, keeping this knowledge secret was a surefire way to let it vanish forever. Hoarding knowledge was the last thing a tribe that wanted to grow and thrive should do.
The roasted meat was ready soon. Sam took a piece and began eating, his mind already wandering to other things. Once his own house was built, he definitely needed to find ways to improve the tribe's diet. Roasted meat was delicious, but eating it every day was starting to get boring.
"Oh, right—Xuan, I also wanted to ask you about the nettlegrass. I'm planning to use it to make something, but I'll need your help to bring back a few live small animals for me to experiment on."
"That's the grass that makes people weak and pass out, right?" Xuan nodded in understanding. "I'll bring back a few different kinds of wild animals tomorrow."
"No need for anything too big—small ones are fine," Sam added. "But try to get different sizes. I want to test how effective the nettlegrass is on animals of varying sizes. Once I have a rough idea, I can try it on larger beasts later."
"I get it. Do you have enough nettlegrass? I'll keep an eye out for more while I'm out and bring it back for you if I find any."
"If you see any, that would be great—I'll probably need a lot for the experiments."
"Got it."
By this time, Qiuye had composed himself and came out, pulling Xia along with him.
Xuan handed the other piece of roasted meat to Qiuye, who sat down next to Sam and started eating.
Xia turned to Sam, his expression serious. "Qiuye already told me about your plan to teach the hunting team to recognize these medicinal herbs. Is that correct?"
"Yes," Sam replied. "These herbs are extremely useful, especially for the hunting and patrol teams. If possible, I'd like to teach *everyone* in the tribe to recognize them."
"How about tonight?" Xia said, making a quick decision. "I'll gather everyone at the square once the hunting party gets back."
"That works perfectly," Sam agreed without hesitation. "The sooner everyone learns to recognize these herbs, the safer we'll all be."
After finishing their meal, Qiuye headed off to join the gathering team, and Xia left to check on the patrols. That left Sam and Xuan standing awkwardly facing each other, not quite sure what to say.
Xuan broke the silence first. "Want me to show you the spot where we're going to build your house?"
"Sure," Sam replied, standing up and following Xuan.
The construction site wasn't far from Qiuye and Xia's house—they arrived there in just a few minutes. Two young beastmen were already waiting there: Mu and Lie, whom Sam had met before. Xuan had asked them to help with the building work. Piles of stone and wood were stacked nearby—they'd hauled them over that morning.
Mu greeted Sam warmly, his voice friendly. "You're here! I heard you're the sub-beastman Xuan brought back. What's your name?"
"I'm Sam—you can just call me Yuqing," Sam replied with a smile. He'd noticed over the past few days that all the sub-beastmen in the tribe had two-syllable names, which explained why Xuan always paused slightly when saying his full name.
Xuan glanced back at Sam, but didn't say anything. Lie also walked over and nodded at Sam in greeting—he was much quieter than the last time Sam had seen him, still probably taking time to recover from his grief.
Sam spent the entire afternoon watching them work on the house. Xuan checked in with him every now and then to ask about his preferences for the design. The beastmen worked incredibly quickly—by the time the sun began to dip toward the horizon, they'd already finished laying the foundation.
Just then, an adult beastman came running over, his voice urgent. "Xuan! The hunting party's back! The clan leader is calling everyone to gather at the square!"
With that, he turned and dashed off in the opposite direction, still needing to notify the other tribesmen.
Xuan took Sam back home to pick up the remaining medicinal herbs, then the two of them headed to the square. A large crowd had already gathered there by the time they arrived. They waited for a little while longer until the beastmen Xia had sent out to spread the word returned one by one with the rest of the tribe.
Xia looked over at Sam, who felt his palms growing sweaty. He took a deep breath to calm his sudden surge of social anxiety and nodded at Xia to signal that he was ready.
Xuan walked with him up onto the small stone platform in the middle of the square. Xia stepped forward and began to speak, his voice loud and clear enough to be heard by everyone gathered below.
"I've called you all here today for something extremely important. Earlier today, Luo was brought back to the tribe with severe injuries—he was bleeding heavily and had slipped into unconsciousness. If it weren't for the medicinal herbs Sam brought with him and his skill in using them, Luo would not have survived."
A murmur of shock and discussion immediately rippled through the crowd.
"Is Luo okay now? How did he get hurt so badly?""Herbs? This sub-beastman knows how to use medicinal herbs?""I saw him being carried home at noon—he was covered in blood, looked terrible. I wonder how he's doing now.""His mate hasn't come out of their house since they got back, but their son did earlier. He didn't look sad at all, so maybe Luo's going to be alright."
Xia raised his hand to quiet the crowd, then continued speaking. "Quiet down, everyone. The reason I've gathered you here today is so that all of you can learn to recognize these medicinal herbs—especially the members of the hunting and patrol teams. You're the ones who go out into the wilderness most often, so if you see these herbs while you're out, I want you to collect as many as you can and bring them back to the tribe."
"What? We're actually going to learn how to recognize medicinal herbs?" someone gasped in disbelief.
The crowd erupted into excited chatter—everyone was eager to learn this valuable knowledge.
"Clan leader! Hurry up and show us what they look like!" several voices called out, and many others nodded in agreement.
"Alright, everyone—listen carefully," Xia said, his voice cutting through the noise. "Sam is going to explain what these herbs are and how to identify them. I want absolute silence while he's speaking. Anyone who interrupts him will be escorted off the square and won't be allowed to learn this information."
With that, Xia stepped aside, revealing Sam standing behind him.
All eyes in the square immediately focused on Sam, and he suddenly felt the weight of hundreds of pairs of eyes staring at him. The pressure was immense.
Sam stiffly took a step forward, pulled the three types of herbs out of his bag, cleared his throat, and began to explain their uses and identifying features.
After he finished describing the blood-clotting herb and blood-nourishing herb, the crowd below was clearly excited—but they all clamped their mouths shut tightly, not daring to make a sound, just as Xia had ordered.
They have really good discipline, Sam thought to himself with a hint of admiration. Then he pulled out the last herb—the nettlegrass—and thought for a moment before speaking.
"This last one isn't a medicinal herb—it's a mildly toxic plant called nettlegrass. Its thorns can cause weakness, numbness, and even unconsciousness if they prick your skin. However, it's not fatal—the effects will wear off after a while, and there are no lasting side effects."
"It's not very useful for treating injuries. If you encounter it in the wild, you'll be fine as long as you don't let its thorns puncture your skin," Sam paused for a moment, then added, "If you come across any other unusual-looking plants while you're out, feel free to bring them back for me to identify. We might discover some useful properties—just like I'm currently researching the potential uses of this nettlegrass."
"I'll be leaving these three herbs with the clan leader so he can display them somewhere everyone can see them. That way, you can study their appearance closely and learn to recognize them more easily."
With that, Sam handed the herbs to Xia, then completely ignored the excited shouts that erupted from the crowd below as he quickly stepped back and hid behind Xuan.
That was terrifying, Sam thought to himself, wiping the sweat off his back with his sleeve. The only time he'd ever had so many eyes on him was when he'd had to introduce himself in class as a kid—but even then, the number of people had been nothing compared to this. He'd estimated there were nearly eight or nine hundred people gathered in the square today.
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