Kaelen lay on the bed, his hand still resting on his stomach, turning his head to look at the bowl of porridge placed on the shelf at the head of the bed. Perhaps Sane had cooked the starchy tuber and wild vegetable porridge for him early this morning, placing it at the head of the bed before leaving.
His mood at this moment was very complex.
Calculating the time, the child was about two weeks old. The pregnancy period for a Sub-Beast was very short; it took about five months to complete the term and enter the birthing phase. Right now, there were about two weeks left until winter, followed by three months of winter. Calculating the time, by the second month of spring next year, he would have to leave the tribe.
If he had been alone like before, he wouldn't have had too many concerns, but now it was different. If he left the tribe, his child would become a wandering beastman. Therefore, yesterday he made a bet, gambling on how much affection Sane had for him, and the result was receiving Sane's evasion.
Sure enough, Sane only desired his body. Kaelen's slight hope for Sane had vanished; now, other than being a mobile pheromone provider, Sane was nothing to him and the child.
Having thought things through, Kaelen closed his eyes, allowing his ability to spread throughout his body, soothing the unspeakable soreness as well as erasing all the ambiguous marks on his body. Feeling the magical source energy more abundant than before, he was a bit surprised inwardly. So the "dual cultivation" stuff in the novels he read in his past life was real; his magical source and Sane's beast energy combining together both enhanced the nourishment for the fetus and supplemented his own body.
Only regarding Sane, Kaelen didn't know if this combination brought any benefits to Sane. He still didn't understand how the beast energy of a warrior beastman operated, nor did he understand why, despite both being beastmen, some could awaken their beast energy while others could not.
The beast energy of a beastman was not like Kaelen's ability in his past life. Their beast energy favored physical enhancement; upon reaching the Saint level, a beast core would form, and the average lifespan would reach over a thousand years. It was said that the Demigod and God levels could even coexist eternally with heaven and earth.
However, that was only hearsay, because most of these individuals ended up getting themselves killed before dying of old age. Even the legendary Beast God sacrificed himself in the battle against the God of Decay to protect this continent, becoming the faith in the heart of every citizen of the beastman continent.
Kaelen couldn't help but think deeper. In his past life, he was a low-level mage and also clearly understood faith and gods. Legend had it that every magical creature possessed its own unique ability; some awakened elemental abilities, some awakened strength abilities, some awakened knowledge abilities...
When reading the secrets in Priest Nyx's travelogue, Kaelen had suspected that he had reincarnated into the world beyond the fog. The fact that Sane's beast energy helped his cultivation advance a step further made this thought even more certain.
So, was a beastman's beast energy a type of special ability? Under what circumstances was a beastman's ability awakened? Besides beastmen, could Sub-Beasts awaken abilities? What was the percentage of ability awakening?
Question after question flooded in, dispelling the last bit of sentimentality left in Kaelen's heart. He sat up and quickly finished the bowl of porridge, then opened all the doors to let the light into the house. He took out the charcoal pencil and bark paper, absorbed in writing and drawing, occasionally sinking into deep thought, trying to recall the feeling of awakening his ability in his past life and the operational process of the ability.
"Kaelen!"
The call interrupted Kaelen's train of thought. He lifted his neck, discovering it was completely stiff. Looking at the sky outside the cave, it seemed to already be noon. He hadn't expected to be so engrossed in writing that he completely forgot the time.
Just as he stretched and stood up, Tribe Leader Jaxon's tall and burly figure appeared at the door. As Jaxon walked in, he couldn't stop marveling:
"Oh my, I heard early on that Cassian's group followed your lead in making new houses, but I hadn't had the chance to see it with my own eyes. Seeing it today, it really is quite miraculous. You really do have a lot of ideas, kid!"
Kaelen smiled, inviting the Tribe Leader into the house, then ran to pour water. Kaelen had only taken a few steps when Jaxon's expression behind him suddenly darkened slightly. Jaxon twitched his nose, sniffing the air, and keenly detected the strong scent of a beastman inside Kaelen's house, with the bedroom being the most pungent.
This scent was...
Kaelen brought the cup of water out, and seeing the Tribe Leader standing before his bedroom with a gloomy expression, his heart skipped a beat. Oh no, he had forgotten to destroy the evidence of the crime. Would the Tribe Leader go crazy and run off to fight Sane? When that time came, no matter how slow-witted the tribesmen were, they would realize something was amiss.
Strangely, the Tribe Leader only darkened his face but didn't roar like usual; he merely turned his head to look at Kaelen, his expression full of reproach. Kaelen felt a bit guilty and chuckled nervously to smooth things over.
Jaxon sat down at the table, his hand tapping on the wooden surface with a *thump thump* sound, and said in a deep voice:
"Why are you and Sane tangled up together? Quickly confess honestly, what exactly is going on with you? I am not your High Priest; you can't fool me!"
Kaelen had to face the music. He set the cup of water down in front of Jaxon, then used sign language to recount everything to him. Jaxon's expression turned slightly thoughtful:
"So, not mating is a mutual agreement between the two of you?"
Kaelen nodded.
"Nonsense! Absolute nonsense!"
Jaxon shouted loudly. Kaelen shrank his neck and curled up like a quail. Jaxon sprang up, pacing back and forth in the cave, scolding continuously.
If it were another beastman, he could turn a blind eye and let it pass, but the other party was Sane, a high-level warrior beastman of the tribe. In terms of pitifulness, Sane's circumstances were not much less than Kaelen's.
Jaxon downed the cup of water in one gulp, then let out a long sigh:
"I don't know what the Beast God means by tying the two most pitiful children in the tribe together. If it were another beastman, I might have been able to force him to take responsibility for you, but Sane is different."
Kaelen tilted his head, showing a lack of understanding. Even if Sane was a warrior beastman, it couldn't make things that difficult for the Tribe Leader, right?
"We all agreed to keep Sane's matter a secret." Jaxon noticed Kaelen's doubt and continued to sigh helplessly. Recently, the number of times he sighed had been increasing; he felt like he was about to collapse from sorrow: "However, since you and he have reached this point, I need to let you know a few things."
He slowly recounted Sane's life to Kaelen:
"His Papa was just like your Papa, both were picked up and brought back by beastmen in our tribe. However, your Papa was a coincidence, while Cell had a purpose. From the very beginning, he was a person of the Cipher tribe; infiltrating our tribe was to act as a spy. The reason our tribe was so easily breached was mainly because that person led the enemy into the center of the tribe..."
Kaelen's eyes widened. This matter was truly too serious. Compared to Sane, he was still incredibly lucky. The tribesmen considering him an omen of bad luck would at most only isolate him, but Sane - if the fact that Sane was the son of a spy was exposed, Sane would be hung on the stake and burned to death by everyone!
"That kid is also truly tragic. When his Daddy was dismembered right before his eyes, he couldn't even believe that his good Papa was such a person. He sneaked out of the shelter and went to find that Sub-Beast to get an explanation. Do you know what Sane's condition was when we found him? He was skinned alive by his own Papa's hands!"
Kaelen involuntarily shuddered. Skinned alive! How painful must that have been?
How old was Sane that year? He was five or six years old, the same age as Wilder is now. How could Sane have survived? No wonder he was so allergic to Sub-Beasts; if it were Kaelen, he might have gone crazy and killed all Sub-Beast creatures entirely.
Recalling the bumpy sensation he touched on Sane's back while making love to him, for some reason, a wave of bitterness welled up in Kaelen's heart.
"That year, we all thought the child wouldn't survive. But it seemed his hatred moved the Beast God, so the deity gave him a chance to live. On his deathbed, he awakened his beast energy, becoming the earliest awakened warrior beastman on the Southern Continent."
"Perhaps he was too eager for revenge, which was why he hastily broke through to level 4 like that, and then unfortunately ran into you. You must know that even when our tribe was still prosperous, level 3 was the highest achieved; among the tribes on this Southern Continent, only intermediate cities have warrior beastmen of level 4 or higher."
Kaelen lowered his head in thought. Since awakening the memories of his past life, he always had a hundred tangled thoughts in his heart. He only ever thought about helping the tribe improve their lives by finding edible crops, thinking of methods to make bricks and pottery, researching how to make paper, glass, build houses, weave clothes...
But the most important matter - improving the strength of the beastmen - he hadn't considered until today. Come to think of it, when he gave that knowledge to the tribesmen and helped them get enough food and warm clothes, then what? What would they use to protect it?
If just one of those things were exposed to the outside, it would be enough to lead to the tribe's destruction. He had been thinking too naively!