The dinner concluded with cheerful conversations among everyone. As they departed, satisfied expressions adorned their faces, indicating that tonight’s meal had been exceptionally pleasing.
After dinner, Shu Bao and Lan Qing made their way to their tent. Along the path, Shu Bao enthusiastically inquired, “How was dinner tonight?”
Recalling the flavors of the fruits, Lan Qing nodded. “Dinner was delicious.”
Shu Bao agreed, “Indeed, it was.”
Lan Qing added, “Exquisitely tender and delightfully sweet.”
Shu Bao continued nodding, “Absolutely.”
“And the portions were generous.” The Xia Wang tribe members were quite enthusiastic, bringing almost every fruit available.
Shu Bao chimed in, “Yes, there was an abundance.”
Their shared consensus about dinner created a harmonious atmosphere as they chatted and laughed their way back to the tent. Inside, next to Shu Bao’s grassy nest, Lan Qing settled in and bid his furry teammate goodnight.
The next morning, Lan Qing woke up to find his tail pulled into his furry friend’s nest, serving as an impromptu pillow. To ensure his teammate’s rest, he remained still with eyes closed, replenishing his energy.
When Shu Bao woke up, he discovered that he had unwittingly used Lan Qing’s tail as a makeshift pillow. To make matters worse, there seemed to be a hint of saliva on it. Taking advantage of Lan Qing’s still-unconscious state, Shu Bao quickly wiped it off.
As Shu Bao finished cleaning, he looked up and found Lan Qing staring at him with wide eyes. Shu Bao promptly hid his paws behind his back, adopting an innocent expression that screamed, “I didn’t do anything wrong.” He grinned at Lan Qing. “Good morning!”
“Good morning, Shu Bao.” Lan Qing hadn’t witnessed Shu Bao’s earlier actions, but he pointed his tail tip at his head. “Your fur is in a mess.”
“Really?” Shu Bao momentarily forgot about the awkward saliva incident. He hurried over to a wooden bucket filled with water, climbed up, and examined his reflection. As he adjusted his fur, he mumbled, “Is this better?”
Lan Qing observed quietly nearby, reflecting on how wonderful it was to have fur—he could use something to groom his hair. He absentmindedly touched his own bald head with his tail tip.
The new day remained busy. Thanks to an ample supply of snake meat, the hunting team didn’t need to venture out today. The slaves could feast on the leftovers from yesterday’s hunt and wild fruits.
In the task hall, the resource bar surged rapidly. Meanwhile, Lan Qing discussed plans with Shu Bao. They decided to lead a group from the Sishe hunting team to persuade its members to join the Xia Wang tribe. The three former hunting team leaders were the most persuasive choices for this task.
Before departing, Lan Qing confidently patted his chest with his tail tip, promising to complete the mission. Then he set off with the three former hunting team leaders.
As Lan Qing moved farther away, Shu Bao could still vaguely see a shiny bald head among the group—the unfortunate Ming Shi, whom Shu Bao had accidentally set on fire during their initial encounter. It seemed that after being captured a second time last night, Ming Shi had lost some of his luster, even in the bald department.
With the trio out of sight, Shu Bao focused on base construction. Seeing everyone working enthusiastically, he noticed a shortage of tools. He returned to the tent to print additional axes and pickaxes. Luck was on his side—five of them were even enchanted. Shu Bao handed the tools to the high priest for distribution. Meanwhile, he continued researching his own magical staff. Yesterday’s crisis had made Shu Bao realize the importance of strength.
Without Lan Qing’s timely arrival, the Xia Wang tribe would have been in danger yesterday. Although Shu Bao hadn’t found any special wood or stone outside, he had harvested plenty of snake meat, snake skins, snake bones, and even a snake gall bladder containing a rare inner core.
Without thinking, Shu Bao knew that the essence of the Black Python lay in its inner core. If it weren’t for Lan Qing being a vegetarian, Shu Bao would have gladly offered the snake gall to Lan Qing. However, after Lan Qing shook his head and declined, Shu Bao didn’t insist. Instead, he decided to pay more attention in the future and find something good to compensate his snake teammate.
After several attempts with the printer, Shu Bao realized that the low level prevented him from processing the Black Snake scales. Reluctant to use the inner core for a stone staff, he turned his attention to snake bones.
Selecting a suitable length from the bones left over from yesterday, Shu Bao placed it in the 3D printing chamber and chose the option to print a staff. This time, the progress bar moved very slowly, possibly due to the high hardness of the snake bone or other reasons.
After half an hour, Shu Bao was already yawning. As tears welled up from his yawning eyes, the printing pod finally stopped working. Upon opening it, Shu Bao saw a flicker of black light. He immediately realized that the bone wand had been successfully printed!
Although it appeared as a simple bone stick from the outside, clicking on it revealed detailed information:
【Fine Bone staff (Unlimited Durability): Basic Fireball Spell, Basic Illumination Spell.】
Despite having only two skills, the “unlimited durability” caught Shu Bao’s attention. If he understood correctly, this meant the staff could be used indefinitely unless intentionally damaged!
Perfect for novice wizards to practice. More importantly, it confirmed that making a staff from snake bones was feasible. Shu Bao promptly threw another snake bone into the printer.
The wait remained long. After a while, Shu Bao went to find the high priest, handed over the bone staff, and casually said, “Feel free to practice; this staff won’t break!”
The high priest, torn between practicing magic and cherishing the staff, was overjoyed. He accepted the bone staff, knelt devoutly, and seemed ready to perform a foot-kissing ritual.
In high spirits, Shu Bao did a split, accepted the high priest’s gratitude, and then bounced back to his tent, eagerly awaiting the next staff to finish printing.
Sure enough, after waiting for a similar amount of time, the printing pod opened, revealing another successfully crafted basic staff. This time, it was of ordinary grade and lacked any enchantments. Shu Bao made a few more attempts and found that using snake bones to create staff had a very high success rate. Out of five attempts, only one failed, although the subsequent three staff were also non-enchanted and of ordinary quality.
Nevertheless, this was enough to make Shu Bao happy. At least for the short term, he had a reliable source of staff. He meticulously sorted the snake bones in his system bracelet, setting aside those suitable for staff-making. He realized he could create at least fifteen staff from the available bones.
Shu Bao believed that before these fifteen staff were exhausted, he would likely find other materials for staff-making.
With an ample supply of wand resources, the high priest and Mu Bao practiced even more diligently. The Xia Wang tribe members were understanding, allowing Mu Bao to focus on staff usage without the burden of carrying supplies.
As the Sishe hunting team members observed the young man nearby, occasionally shooting fireballs from a single bone, they were both astonished and puzzled. Their desire to become official members of the Xia Wang tribe grew even stronger.
The day went by quickly, and with the help of a large number of tools and manpower, the resource bar of the mission hall had increased from 59% to 83% today. This suggests that perhaps tomorrow, the resource collection for the mission hall will be completed.
In the early evening, Shu Bao paced anxiously at the entrance of the tribe. The Xia Wang tribe members were extra cautious as they entered and exited, so as not to disturb the deity. The high priest followed and reassured him, “Lord Lan Qing is so capable; nothing will go wrong.”
“Then why hasn’t he returned after a whole day?” Shu Bao glanced at the sky, feeling somewhat anxious.
The high priest remained silent, unsure of the answer. As evening fell and the sun dipped below the horizon, there was still no sign of Lan Qing.
Just as Shu Bao was about to leave in restlessness, Lan Qing returned. However, the sight of the three humans and one snake left the Xia Wang tribe members utterly astonished.
Compared to their neat appearance when they left in the morning, they were now soaked, as if freshly pulled from a river. What puzzled everyone even more was that Lan Qing, the little green snake, had transformed into a small black snake, accompanied by a burnt smell.
Despite his appearance, Lan Qing seemed unharmed—just a change in color.
“What happened to you? Even if we said snake meat was delicious, you didn’t need to roast yourself!” Shu Bao expressed great bewilderment at Lan Qing’s charred state.
Lan Qing sighed, coughing twice before speaking, “Don’t ask. The Sishe tribe has a new tribal deity.”
“What?” The high priest was taken aback. Changing the tribal deity without knowing if the previous one had died was a grave taboo—one that could lead to the tribe’s downfall.
“Now the Sishe has renamed itself the Long Tribe,” Lan Qing said, using his tail to brush off a layer of ash, “Their new deity is a dragon with wings, capable of flight and breathing fire. Quite a handful. After I grew larger, I carried all three of them and ran far to escape that dragon.”
Hearing this, Shu Bao discreetly moved away, avoiding the saliva-soaked trio and Lan Qing who was constantly shedding ash.
