Take Away My Sickly Beauty [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 29

Keno had been driven out of her home by her father when she was just a cub. Because there was no one to help or provide for her, she had fumbled through life to discover many unique survival experiences of her own.

She moved swiftly through the rain; even though she could not shift into her beast form, her speed was not something an ordinary beastman warrior could compare to. The experiences of evading danger and fighting large, fierce beasts during her cubhood had given her formidable combat power and a wealth of hunting experience.

When she was previously driven out of her tribe, she had been wounded by her fellow clansmen, and it was only because she was caught in the torrential downpour of the White Rain Festival that she fell ill on the road, forcing her to rely on Yaya and Brooke to feed her.

However, after Sana picked her up and brought her back, she had broken into a heavy sweat from a high fever. Every time she suffered a severe illness and fever, the pain would vanish immediately. The “curse” spoken of by others was, for her, the trumpet call of recovery.

Keno skirted around a rocky crag and came to a halt in a grove of trees. Her sense of smell was incredibly keen; even the rain of the White Rain Festival could not stop her from locating Oilwood.

The branches of the Oilwood could burn upon meeting fire even when damp, and during this season, its massive fruits would be filled with white fluff. Those fibers protected the central nut from the bitter cold of the White Snow Festival and could absorb enough water during the Early Rain Festival to ensure the nut germinated and grew. At this moment, it was perfect for padding beds and lining the house to keep it dry.

Sana’s wooden hut was not large; it was just right for two people to live in, and it would feel cramped with even one more person. Therefore, after Keno shattered an Oil tree with her fist, she dragged it away. For such a small house, a single tree was more than enough. She gathered the Oil-fruits scattered on the ground, wove a cage out of long grass to pack them, and then placed everything under a rock overhang to retrieve later.

The stone bed was too hard. Sana’s wooden hut had been abandoned by a beastman in the tribe; that stone bed was uneven, and even someone as strong as Keno felt uncomfortable lying on it. Let alone a fragile female like Sana.

Therefore, she needed Velvet Leaves. When dried over a fire, Velvet Leaves became black, fluffy, and soft, making them very comfortable to lie upon. When Keno was little, she loved gathering many Velvet Leaves to line her small nest.

Of course, there was another important point regarding the Oilwood grove: it hosted Oil-Thirst Mushrooms, which could only grow by feeding on Oilwood leaves. That kind of mushroom was non-toxic and had a good texture, though they were few in number and grew only in Oilwood forests.

Outside the Gryphon Tribe, there was only a small patch of Oilwood, and Keno rarely got to eat the delicious Oil-Thirst Mushrooms. But the resources surrounding the Tabu Tribe were incredibly rich; whether it was firewood, plants, or prey, Keno could see at a glance that the things available to eat and use were countless.

This allowed her tense nerves to relax. This time, she would definitely be able to provide for that sickly female.

By the time Keno finished preparing the Velvet Leaves and tied them with vines to drop them next to the Oilwood, the rain had eased slightly. Keno pricked up her ears to listen to the surrounding movements. Something was rapidly climbing an Oil tree in the woods, its call a faint, unclear hiss it seemed to be a stray Climbing Lizard.

The meat of a Climbing Lizard was tender and delicious, whether roasted or boiled. But the prerequisite was that they needed salt.

The Great Priest once said that very few tribes knew what salt was. Because the Gryphon Tribe was the largest known tribe in the beastman world, many tribes would offer their unique resources to the Gryphon Tribe in exchange for the protection of their warriors. Thus, the knowledge and experience of the Gryphon Tribe were the most abundant.

Keno had secretly learned many skills from the Great Priest; she knew how to find salt and, moreover, how to extract it.

In the beastman world, there was a type of Salt Stone. Its exterior was a green stony shell that, at first glance, looked like an ordinary rock covered in moss. However, it had a bitter scent, and Keno could smell that bitterness.

Although salt could make a beastman’s body healthier and give flavor to food, Keno was still unwilling to try it on its own. A large piece of salt in the mouth would make the tongue so salty it turned bitter; furthermore, it didn’t fill the stomach and would make her extremely thirsty.

When Keno was a cub, she had once licked her stored salt while famished. That day was a total nightmare. She ran to the spring time and again to drink water, eventually filling her stomach with so much cold water that she could hear it sloshing around inside her as she moved.

Her sharp claws pierced through the skull of the Climbing Lizard. Holding the arm-length lizard corpse, Keno shuddered. She would never eat salt plain again in this life!

After packing the dripping lizard corpse into a grass cage, Keno placed it inside a pit she had dug by hand. She was going to find Salt Stones, and naturally, she didn’t want the Climbing Lizard to be stolen by other predators before she returned. She had known how to make this kind of trap since a long time ago; it was enough to trap a Flying Leopard.

Except for the Long-Eyed Python, the overlord of the low shrublands, Keno was confident that in her current state, she could hunt any carnivore.

The low shrublands chosen by the Tabu Tribe lacked large fierce beasts; while safe enough, they also lacked higher-quality prey. For instance, the Fire-Fox Eagle, the overlord of the middle forests, or the Crag Lion, the overlord of the high forests. Their meat could even enhance a beastman warrior’s combat power.

Unfortunately, Keno had only ever found the carcass of a Crag Lion that was nearly rotted away. There was very little edible meat on that lion. But even that amount of meat, enough for a full meal, had significantly boosted Keno’s strength.

It was by relying on her excellent sense of smell that Keno was able to find various long-dead prey before her wings were fully grown, snatching food from the mouths of those damned Carrion Jackals and Carrion Vultures.

Scavenging with them was extremely dangerous. The closest Keno ever came to death was when she was snatched into the high sky by a Carrion Vulture and dropped. A sharp rock had pierced her body, nearly stabbing through her heart. At that time, looking through the rock that had impaled her, Keno saw her own flesh being scraped away; the vulture had even settled down nearby, waiting to eat her corpse.

The sensation of impending death triggered a powerful will to survive. In her desperation to live, she broke through her strength limitations, killed the vulture, and struggled back to her little nest.

And even a wound of that magnitude healed after Keno curled up in her nest and nursed a fever for one night. Furthermore, she was highly resistant to toxins; as a cub, she had eaten many plants both edible and inedible developing a body that couldn’t be poisoned to death.

However, the downside was that she could not be exposed to rain after being injured. Under the wash of rain, she would not develop a fever, and her injuries would not heal. If Sana hadn’t picked her up that day, she likely would have truly died in the storm.

Thinking of this, Keno’s speed in digging for Salt Stones increased. She wanted to go home quickly.

Even though she had only been out for half a day, she remained worried about the person who had saved her in the storm a beastman so weak that even a half-sized omnivorous beast could kill her. Especially since there were no good traps or sturdy wooden fences around the hut where they currently lived.

It was fine during the White Rain Festival because prey was abundant, and those large predators would not target beastmen. But once the White Snow Festival arrived, beast tides of all sizes would be enough to destroy small and medium-sized tribes. Sana’s little hut wouldn’t even withstand the impact of a medium-sized carnivore.

But there was no need to worry. After filling both their stomachs, Keno would set about building their home. At the very least, she wanted to give her future mate a safe little nest.

Of course, what discouraged Keno was that Sana did not consider her an adult beastman.

Dammit, she had to find a way to manifest her beast form as soon as possible!

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