Afterward, he moved toward the adjoining room to look for a fresh set of clean robes.
Faced with a species he had never seen before, Si Bai naturally could not suppress his curiosity.
The moment Bayar turned around, Si Bai quietly rustled beneath the blankets, poked his head out, and widened his eyes full of interest as he stretched his neck to observe the back of this “new species.”
[ You silly host!
Why are you staring at someone with such fascination?!
I never expected you to be this kind of person!
Hmph!
You’re so shameless!
]
The system scoffed.
“…What nonsense are you talking about?
Don’t you think Lord Bayar’s beast form is a little unusual?”
[ ??!
]
So the two of them immediately focused their attention on him while their eyes shining with curiosity.
The upper half of Lord Bayar’s body remained that of a normal human male, bare-chested and perfectly proportioned.
His lower half, however, had transformed into a long serpent tail shimmering with rippling purple light.
No, to be more precise, it did not look exactly like an ordinary snake tail.
His tail was extremely long, nearly ten meters in length, yet it did not drag sluggishly behind him.
It moved swiftly and smoothly, allowing him to glide with remarkable speed.
Countless blue-violet scales overlapped one another across the length of the elegant tail.
They were dense yet seemingly indestructible, displaying astonishing defensive and cutting capabilities.
Mixed among them were occasional bright gray scales that reflected beautiful, multicolored ripples of light.
Unlike ordinary snakes, a faint, translucent fin-like structure grew along the center of his spine and continued down the ridge of his tail.
It gave him a slight resemblance to a fish.
No, more accurately, it was a characteristic of a flood dragon.
A Jiaolong.
A serpent with the bloodline of the ancient flood dragons.
Taking advantage of the time while Lord Bayar went into the adjoining room to change clothes, Si Bai decided to check his current favorability rating.
The result he received was: 8.
Si Bai fell silent for a moment.
After two days of getting along and building a relationship, he had only managed to reach a single-digit value.
That should not be too little…
right?
Not too little, right?
Right??
…Ugh, it was pitifully low.
A wave of bitterness rose in Si Bai’s heart.
At the same time, the system’s nonstop ridicule and criticism echoed in his ears.
Under the double assault, his mood sank even further.
Just then, the system issued another new mission directive.
[ Ding!]
[ Random Mission: Obtain one snake scale from Lord Bayar ]
[ Time Limit: Three Days ]
[ Mission Reward: Unknown ]
Si Bai: “??”
Why was there another hell-level difficulty mission?
[ …This has nothing to do with me!
It’s not my fault!
It really has absolutely nothing to do with me!!
]
The system declared loudly, speaking with perfect confidence and remarkable skill in shifting blame.
“…”
Yeah, sure.
As if he would believe that.
As he rubbing his forehead with a sigh, Si Bai knew that regardless of the circumstances, the mission still had to be completed.
A favorability score of forty.
Judging from the current pace, that would have to become a long-term objective.
With Bayar’s favorability toward him sitting at only eight, how exactly was he supposed to trick a small snake scale out of him?
That was a serious problem.
He would have to think about it very carefully.
That same afternoon, one of the hunting squads that Tiye belonged to returned to the tribe with great fanfare.
Aside from a few sub-beastman who were currently nursing young cub, nearly all the beastmen and sub-beastmen came out to welcome them back and celebrate their return.
At the stone plaza, bonfires were lit one after another.
The festivities would continue until nightfall.
Many of the beastmen carried large beast-hide sacks over their broad and powerful shoulders.
Whenever a hunting team returned, all the food obtained from the hunt would be distributed equally among the tribe members by the tribe leader.
As the tribe’s shaman, Bayar was responsible for presiding over the cleansing ceremony.
The path down the mountain was winding and difficult to navigate, so for convenience, Si Bai simply followed behind Bayar as they descended together.
“Be careful of the rocks.
Walk more slowly.
Don’t fall.”
Seeing him hopping along the mountain path, Bayar could not help offering a reminder.
Only after seeing the other party obediently flash a smile did he finally withdraw his attention with peace of mind.
From a distance, Si Bai spotted a familiar figure waving frantically.
He rubbed his eyes.
The closer he got, the louder the shouting became until it rang in his ears like thunder.
“Baibai!
Baibai!
Look at me, look at me!
Hurry up and look at me!
I’m over here!!”
An orange head bounced energetically above the crowd, desperately trying to attract the attention of the sub-beastman he liked.
Behind him, an orange tail patterned with black stripes wagged rapidly back and forth.
A pair of tiger ears sat atop his head.
The soft, round tiger ears had been flattened beneath a woven vine basket, leaving only two small orange furry tips sticking out from underneath.
The basket itself was filled with freshly picked fruits of various colors.
A sweet and enticing fragrance drifted from them, incredibly tempting.
Si Bai was still wearing his night skin makeup when he went outside.
However, this time, when he applied it, he felt that something was different.
It was not working as well as before.
It seemed as though water had gotten into it.
Si Bai opened the bottle and took a look.
Sure enough, the water had gotten inside.
Remembering how drenched Bayar had looked when he returned earlier, it was obvious that he had gone into the water to retrieve it.
Si Bai suddenly became very curious about where exactly Bayar had thrown the little bottle in the first place.
The fresh air lifted his spirits.
Even his steps became noticeably lighter.
He bounced along the path like a restless little rabbit.