"Really? You'll take me out? Out of the tribe?" As soon as Xuan finished speaking, Sam immediately cut in, abandoning the blade in his hand to stare straight at him, his eyes sparkling with eagerness.
Seeing the look of pure anticipation in Sam's eyes, Xuan raised an eyebrow, a hint of pride flickering across his face. "Yes—out of the tribe. But we can only stay within the patrol zone."
"Now? Let's go, let's go!" Sam was over the moon. Qiuye's gathering team worked in the patrol zone during the day, but Qiuye had refused to take him along, telling him to rest well and wait until the house was built and everything was settled before venturing out.
He'd been dying to explore the patrol zone for days. He'd already wasted two days of his Scout function—he was determined to use it before midnight tonight!
"We have to wait until Father falls asleep first," Xuan whispered, pressing a finger to his lips. "He'd never agree to me taking you out at night. Keep your voice down—don't let him hear us."
At Xuan's words, Sam clapped a hand over his mouth and nodded vigorously, his eyes darting nervously toward the door of the main room. Xuan couldn't help but chuckle at his comical expression—only to have his mouth suddenly covered by a hand.
"Shhh," Sam whispered, pressing his palm firmly against Xuan's lips.
Xuan froze for a moment, then quickly schooled his features into a serious expression, nodding at Sam to signal that he wouldn't make another sound.
Sam slowly pulled his hand away, then asked in a tiny voice, "When does Qiuye usually go to bed?" He was getting anxious—if Qiuye stayed up late, he'd waste another day of his Scout function. What's more, if they left too late, his drowsiness debuff would probably start acting up.
"Father's leading the gathering team tomorrow, so he has to leave really early," Xuan explained, walking over to press his ear against the wall to listen to the next room. With his back to Sam, he unconsciously brushed his fingertips over his lips. "It's quiet in there—we just need to wait a little longer."
Sam nodded and sat down obediently on the bed, waiting for Xuan to give the signal to leave.
After about half an hour, Xuan suddenly stood up straight. Sam's head shot up immediately, his eyes filled with hope.
"Let's go."
The two of them crept quietly out of the house. Xuan took a few quick steps ahead to put some distance between them, then in a flash of black fur, transformed into his familiar giant black panther form.
As Sam stood there wondering if the animal hide he was wearing would hold up if Xuan decided to carry him by the scruff of his neck, the panther turned and knelt down in front of him, clearly gesturing for him to climb on board. Sam stared at him in surprise—wait, he wasn't going to carry him like a cub?
A surge of excitement washed over him. He'd thought Xuan had only let him ride on his back yesterday because they were in a hurry to save Luo and Qiuye had been there to help him climb on. He never imagined he'd get to do it again today—did this mean he'd never have to be carried by the scruff again?
All sorts of cheesy fantasy scenes of riding a majestic mount to conquer the world flashed through his mind.
But there was just one tiny problem… he couldn't climb up.
Even when Xuan was kneeling in his beast form, he was nearly two meters tall—when standing, he was a towering four meters. His fur was sleek and glossy, but completely smooth and impossible to get a good grip on.
Yesterday, Qiuye had climbed on first and then pulled him up. Doing it by himself was proving to be way harder than he'd expected.
Xuan turned his head to look at him, and Sam could've sworn he saw the panther's expression flicker from surprise to exasperation and finally to resigned helplessness.
This is *so* embarrassing! Sam wanted to scream. Qiuye looked so gentle and delicate, but he'd climbed onto Xuan's back without any trouble at all. Here he was, struggling like an idiot! He was mortified—system, can we please switch to a different world to conquer?
Luckily, Xuan didn't let him suffer the awkwardness for long. A thick, muscular tail snaked over and gently patted his leg—a method beastmen used to help cubs climb onto their backs.
Sam grabbed onto the tail for leverage and finally managed to haul himself up onto Xuan's broad back. It was so wide that he could lie down on it comfortably.
He fought the urge to bury his face in the fur and take a deep breath. To be honest, no matter how many times he saw Xuan's beast form, it never failed to take his breath away—so majestic, so elegant.
He reached out and stroked the fur tentatively—it was much coarser than the fur on Xuan's head, thick enough to swallow his entire wrist. The texture was *amazing*.
"Hold on tight—I'm going to start moving," Xuan warned, his voice rumbling in his chest. Sam's light touches were making him feel a little flustered.
Sam gave the fur a little squeeze and asked, "Does this hurt?"
"Hardly feels like anything. Just make sure you're secure," Xuan replied, shaking his head slightly.
Sam leaned forward and wrapped his arms around the panther's strong neck, gripping the fur tightly to steady himself. "I'm good—let's go."
Xuan nodded, then paused to glance back at the house one last time. A tall figure stood behind the animal hide curtain—Xia. When their eyes met, Xia didn't say a word, just waved a hand dismissively before disappearing back inside.
Sam had no idea about the silent exchange between them. He was too busy bouncing with excitement on Xuan's back, his eyes shining like stars. He nuzzled the soft fur contentedly—big cat… his big black cat… he'd been craving this for so long, and now he finally got to snuggle with him!
They reached the patrol zone in no time. As they slipped out of the tribe, the on-duty beastmen spotted them and grinned at Xuan in greeting. Meanwhile, Sam was still in heaven, completely absorbed in the joy of petting his giant cat mount.
It wasn't until Xuan came to a stop that Sam reluctantly pulled himself away from the fur. "Why'd we stop?"
"I'm trying to figure out what kind of beast would make a good test target. Do you have any preferences?" Xuan replied, sniffing the air carefully, his nose twitching as he picked up the scents of the forest around them.
"I don't know much about the beasts here—you decide," Sam said softly. "But try to pick something a bit bigger if you can. Small ones won't be much of a challenge—I need to know the limits of this weapon."
"Strength isn't just about size," Xuan pointed out. "I'll look around and find something suitable." With that, he set off again, carrying Sam deeper into the patrol zone.
Sam watched as Xuan moved through the trees, his body low to the ground as he carefully scanned the area for a suitable target. A thought crossed his mind—the system had told him he could disguise its functions as an innate talent and find a trustworthy beastman to help him unlock its full potential. He knew that beastman was Xuan. But should he go through with it?
He pressed his palm against the warm, slightly rough fur beneath him, then rested his cheek gently on Xuan's back. Could there be any other beastman in the tribe more reliable or trustworthy than Xuan? No—not at the moment. And he didn't have the time to wait around or waste opportunities looking for someone else.
Having made up his mind, Sam spoke up. "Xuan—I want to see if I can find something useful around here."
Xuan's footsteps faltered. "Did you sense something?"
The way he phrased the question was interesting. Sam lowered his eyes and said nothing. Xuan didn't press him, just slowed his pace slightly as he continued to walk through the forest.
After a long moment, Sam finally spoke again. "Run straight along this path for about twenty minutes. I have a way to identify everything nearby within that range."
"Alright," Xuan agreed without hesitation. He didn't ask what Sam's "way" was—he just asked, "How long is twenty minutes?"
…"Just keep running," Sam said with a laugh. "I'll tell you when to stop."
As soon as the words left his mouth, Xuan's powerful muscles tensed beneath him, and he took off like a bolt of lightning, sprinting through the forest with incredible speed and agility. Sam's heart raced with excitement as he called out to the system, "System—activate the Scout function for twenty minutes!"
"Scout function activated. Duration: 20 minutes. Cannot be interrupted once started. Timing begins now."
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