Leaving the family grounds, Li Qi flew while studying his communicator.
After familiarizing himself with its functions, he opened the map.
This was Zhaoguang City's map of the grassland, marked with the grazing ranges of every tribe around its outskirts.
To determine a tribe's strength, one only needed to look at the size of its grazing grounds on the map.
Powerful tribes occupied vast pastures close to the grassland's inner regions, where demon beasts were numerous. They formed the first line of defense against demon beast incursions.
Compared to the large tribes on the front line against demon beast invasions, small tribes faced far fewer demon beast threats on the grassland's outskirts and occupied much smaller pastures.
Some tribes' grazing grounds even required specially drawn lines for their boundaries to be represented.
Studying the tribes marked on the map, Li Qi pondered, "There are quite a few tribes along the route from the family toward Zhaoguang City.
"But based on distance, only nine tribes are suited to take refuge at the family grounds. Another four tribes are closer to other shelters."
Shelters had emerged because of beast tides, and beast tides were periods of demon beast unrest.
During these periods, Planetary Level demon beasts that normally operated in the grassland's inner regions would lead groups of Apprentice Level demon beasts to the outskirts.
Sometimes, even the scarce Stellar Level demon beasts would join in!
Before a beast tide arrived, powerful tribes would gather their scattered clansmen and withdraw into their settlements to defend themselves and reduce losses.
As the large tribes on the first line against demon beasts withdrew their strength, demon beasts that had previously struggled to enter the grassland's outskirts could now easily do so during this period.
The tribes grazing on the outskirts were weak and simply could not resist such large numbers of demon beasts, so they had no choice but to temporarily relocate to large tribes and seek their protection.
Over time, shelters had formed in this way.
"First, notify the nine tribes suited to take refuge at the family grounds and see whether they choose to migrate independently or gather together and move as one.
"After that, contact the other inspectors and see if they have notified the remaining four tribes."
After only a brief consideration, Li Qi settled on his plan.
About ten minutes into his flight, he arrived at the grazing grounds of the first tribe.
Controlling the Bone Shield to stop in midair, Li Qi looked at the map and made a rough estimate of the distance.
"My full-speed flight on the Bone Shield should be around five or six hundred meters per second. I wasn't flying at full speed just now, but I was still moving at three or four hundred meters per second.
"Based on ten minutes of flight time, this place is roughly two hundred kilometers from the family pasture.
"Two hundred kilometers... At the migration speed of those weak tribes, I wonder whether they can reach the family pasture within a day."
Li Qi observed carefully from the air for a long time before finally discovering signs of the owners of this pasture.
There was a black speck on the distant grassland, with wisps of blue smoke drifting above it.
"There."
Muttering softly, he controlled the Bone Shield and flew toward the rising smoke.
As he drew nearer, Li Qi found it somewhat unbelievable. This weak tribe actually had quite a large population!
He counted roughly one hundred and twenty tents. At four people per tent, there were nearly five hundred people.
Five hundred people, yet not a single Planetary Level warrior!
The Royce Family, on the other hand, had fewer than a hundred people, yet six Planetary Level warriors were permanently stationed there.
Hovering in the air, Li Qi lowered his head and fell silent.
The impact of the scene before him far surpassed what he had experienced during the beast tide two years ago.
During that beast tide, he had still been an Apprentice Level Seven Spirit Reader. He had seen people older than himself, yet only at Apprentice Level Four or Five, participating alongside him in their first Beast Tide Trial.
Even then, he had found it deeply shocking.
But only now did he truly understand that not every tribe was the Royce Family.
It was even more different from the peaceful, stable former life lingering vaguely in his memories!
As more and more people gathered below, Li Qi guided the Bone Shield down slowly.
Below, many sturdy young men held bows or spears as they watched the sky warily, some arrows already nocked on bowstrings.
The elderly, women, and children had already hidden inside the tents, and pairs of eyes could still be seen peering through gaps in some of them.
As Li Qi gradually descended, they saw that the visitor was not a demon beast, but a member of the Human Race.
The wary young men breathed sighs of relief and lowered their bows and spears. Some called the elderly, women, and children out of the tents.
Landing in an open space, Li Qi looked over the crowd and found that most of them were only Apprentice Level Five or Six. Only some whose weapons and equipment were clearly better had reached Apprentice Level Seven or Eight.
Apprentice Level Nine warriors were pitifully scarce—there were only two!
After probing with his Mental Force, Li Qi sighed inwardly. Five hundred people, yet only two Apprentice Level Nine warriors. This tribe is far too weak. No wonder it was rated as a weak tribe.
While Li Qi was assessing them, they were also assessing him.
They were extremely curious about this person who had dared to come alone to another tribe.
But when they saw Li Qi's age and appearance, shock appeared on all their faces.
Because he was young!
Far too young!
In their tribe, someone Li Qi's age was not even qualified to undergo their first Beast Tide Trial.
Yet he had dared to come alone to their tribe, which clearly meant he was very confident in his strength. Ordinary Apprentice Level demon beasts were probably no match for him.
"I am the chief of this tribe. May I ask who you are?"
Before long, a burly middle-aged man at Apprentice Level Nine came before Li Qi.
"Li Qi Royce, ranked Eleven in the Royce Family. I currently serve as an inspector."
As he spoke, Li Qi revealed the communicator on his wrist.
The burly man showed a shocked expression. "An inspector? Could it be..."
He could not believe it. How long had it been since the last beast tide? Another one was already coming!
"This is an email issued by Zhaoguang City."
Li Qi activated the projection and displayed the email, bearing Zhaoguang City's seal, before the burly man.
The burly man could read Universal Language. After quickly reading the email, he had no choice but to believe that a new beast tide was imminent.
Seeing that the burly man had finished reading, Li Qi put away his communicator. "Arrange for your clansmen to relocate to the Royce Family's shelter as soon as possible. Time is short, so I'll be leaving first. Other tribes still do not know about the beast tide."
With that, he controlled the Bone Shield into the air and rushed toward the next tribe.
After Li Qi left, an Apprentice Level Eight youth came to the burly man's side. "Chief, he's an inspector. Does that mean he's a Planetary Level powerhouse?"
"No." The burly man shook his head, his expression complicated as he watched Li Qi's departing figure.
He withdrew his gaze and said bitterly, "He is an Apprentice Level Nine Spirit Reader. In terms of strength, he is stronger than me!"
"At such a young age, he's already stronger than you, Chief! As expected of someone from the Royce Family."
Watching Li Qi disappear into the sky, the youth was full of admiration, though even more envy lay beneath it.
After leaving the first tribe, Li Qi flew onward, notifying one family after another.
As night approached, he had visited every tribe suited to migrate to the Royce Family for refuge. He had also notified three tribes farther away, leaving only the last tribe unvisited.
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