Xuan ran at breakneck speed, forcing Sam to cling tightly to his back. The system had already activated the scout function, but there was no feedback whatsoever.
As time ticked by and Sam was about to resign himself to a fruitless trip, the system finally chimed in:"Forty-two meters to the right, there's a grove of jointed trees—similar to the bamboo forests of the host's original world."
"Xuan! Stop!"
Xuan skidded to a sudden halt, jostling Sam so hard he nearly went flying off the panther's back. Thank goodness Xuan's thick fur gave him something to grip onto for dear life. Sam didn't waste a second worrying about it, though—twenty minutes wasn't a lot of time to spare.
"Jointed tree grove to the right!"
Before Sam even finished speaking, Xuan had darted into the woods.
Sam slid off his back and approached the thickest tree, running his hand along its trunk. The shape and texture were *exactly* like bamboo.
"This is just giant bamboo! And if there's a bamboo grove, there *must* be bamboo shoots!"
He knelt down to search for the shoots, while Xuan shifted back to his human form and followed him, keeping a sharp eye out for any danger.
"Found 'em! Spring bamboo shoots!" Sam exclaimed, brushing away the weeds on the ground with his hands.
"You found what you were looking for? What is it?" Xuan stood beside him, watching him clear the weeds.
"Something edible! Have your people never come here to gather them before? There are so many shoots!"
Xuan shook his head, thinking Sam was talking about the jointed trees themselves. "Jointed trees aren't edible—they taste terrible, anyway."
"Of course I don't mean the fully grown trees! Look at this!" Sam grabbed Xuan's hand, signaling for him to kneel down.
Xuan knelt obediently, his gaze following Sam's pointing finger.
"Huh? What kind of food is this? The sub-beastmen in the tribe have never gathered anything like this before."
"This is a bamboo shoot—before it grows into a full bamboo stalk. It's edible, and *delicious*."
Sam reached out to snap off a shoot. The bamboo here was bigger than anything from his original world, and so were the shoots—their outer shells were rougher, too. The moment he applied a little force, he felt the sharp fibers scraping his palms. If he tried to force it, he'd definitely end up with raw, bleeding hands. No wonder the sub-beastmen had never thought to harvest them.
Xuan heard Sam hiss in pain and yank his hand back, so he pulled him gently out of the way.
"Is this the thing you want? Let me handle it."
With that, Xuan wrapped his fingers around the bamboo shoot and *snapped* it clean off with one effortless tug. Sam's warning of "Be careful!" died in his throat.
"Perfect! This is exactly it!" Sam took the shoot, examining it closely and sniffing it to confirm. "It's edible, alright. With a whole grove like this, there must be tons of shoots. I can ask the gathering team to come here with tools later."
"Got it. Do you want to gather some now?" Xuan asked, his eyes on Sam.
"Let's just mark this spot for now. We should check out other areas—my time's almost up." Sam glanced at the remaining scout time: five minutes left.
"Okay."
With that, Xuan shifted back to his panther form. Once Sam climbed on and got settled, he darted out of the bamboo grove and continued running along their original path.
No new discoveries popped up in the next five minutes—though they did spot a small cluster of hemostatic grass and a stand of palm-shell fruit trees. Xuan silently memorized the locations, planning to return to harvest them once Sam's "time limit" was up.
"We can stop now, Xuan. Time's up."
At Sam's words, Xuan slowed his pace and came to a gradual halt.
"Let's go pick that hemostatic grass. You can never have too much of it."
"Sure, I remember where it is."
Xuan turned and trotted toward the patch of hemostatic grass. Once Sam had wrapped the harvested grass in an animal hide, Xuan spoke up. "So, what's next? Keep looking for a beast to test your blade on, or go pick those… uh… bamboo shoots you mentioned?"
Sam thought for a moment, then said, "We can skip the bamboo shoots for now. But I'd like to take some bamboo stalks back to make furniture. Oh, and Xuan—do you know of any beast whose fur is about as stiff as dry grass? It needs to be thin and dense."
Sam was *desperate*—he had to make a toothbrush, *stat*.
"I can bring you some bamboo stalks tomorrow morning when I'm on patrol." Xuan had already figured out that "bamboo" was what Sam called the jointed trees. As for the beast fur, a thought immediately popped into his head. "The fur on a Fanged Beast's neck should fit the bill. I can show you some when we get back?"
"Great—thanks a ton." With Xuan agreeing to all his requests, Sam suddenly found himself at a loss for words.
The two fell silent for a moment, until Sam finally broke the quiet.
"Aren't you curious about anything? At all?"
Xuan looked at him, his gaze steady and unreadable. "You mean the fact that you can find what you need without even seeing it?"
"Yeah." Sam nodded.
"I had my suspicions. Today just confirmed them."
"When did you figure it out?" Sam was genuinely shocked—when had he slipped up?
"On the way back to the tribe. When you found the blackthorn grass."
Seeing Sam's confused expression, Xuan went on. "You'd been sleeping in the sack the whole time. When you came out to eat, you never even glanced in that direction. Plus, there was a tree blocking the view—even if you *had* looked, you couldn't have seen what was behind it. But you just stood up and walked straight over there, like you'd known exactly what was there all along."
Sam was blown away—*completely* blown away. Xuan had picked up on such a tiny detail and deduced he had an unusual ability. His powers of observation and deduction were terrifying!
Watching Sam's jaw drop in astonishment, Xuan reached out and ruffled his hair gently in reassurance.
"I'm not exactly normal either. Don't worry—no one else in the tribe will ever find out about this."
Before Sam could press him for details, Xuan continued, his voice turning thoughtful.
"Ever since I was four years old, I've felt a strange power inside me. It grew stronger as I got older—that's why I always knew I was stronger than the other cubs my age. Especially the day I came of age—it surged, like it had broken through some kind of barrier. No beastman in the tribe can beat me now. But I can feel it—it's not complete. It's missing something. I just have no idea what that something is."
Xuan frowned, clearly troubled by the gap in his power—something that made him stronger than anyone else, yet left him feeling incomplete, like a puzzle with a missing piece.
Sam was too stunned to speak. Xuan had a secret—one he didn't even fully understand himself.
"System—is this what you meant when you said Xuan was different?" Sam bombarded the system mentally.
"Affirmative."
"What's wrong with him? Is he in danger?" Sam couldn't help but worry.
"It is not a bad thing."
With that, the system fell silent, refusing to answer any more of Sam's frantic questions.
Fine—probably another "insufficient permissions" thing. At least it wasn't anything bad.
Seeing Xuan still frowning, Sam reached out and patted his arm gently to comfort him. "Don't worry about it. It's definitely not a bad thing. I've never heard of something bad making someone *this* strong."
[I spent a significant amount of time researching today, so the update is slightly delayed. If you're enjoying the story, a rating or review would mean a lot—your support truly motivates me to keep writing.]