47 A Fine Steed for a Hero

Neil left the former Bull Tribe Chief's tent in high spirits. Raul saw the smile on Neil's face and even assumed that Landen had promised Blaze to him.

It was not just Blaze; all the Black-Scaled Horses in Landen's camp belonged solely to Landen. This was not merely the custom of human lords, but the rule among the Barbarians as well.

For the Barbarians, Mana-Wielders within a tribe possessed certain private property and their own tents, but all slaves, resources, and livestock in the camp belonged exclusively to the Chief. Barbarian cavalrymen could choose their favorite horse before each battle, but that did not override the Chief's ownership of the mounts.

Landen's camp was quite vast, consisting of the relatively independent Baron Gallop's camp and the camps of two enfeoffed knights.

Furthermore, the Barbarian tribes that had submitted maintained their complete tribal structures, retaining their property, population, and livestock. However, these subordinate tribes were not situated within Landen's camp, but rather in relatively independent camps on the periphery.

However, the population, Mana-Wielders, and Barbarians obtained through duels or victories since entering the Gallop Plains were divided into the Left Camp and the Right Camp. All the people, property, and livestock within these two camps, as well as the Central Camp where Landen himself resided, belonged solely to Landen.

Listening to the conversation between Neil and Raul from inside his tent, Landen felt a pang of sympathy. After all, before Blaze became a Magic Beast, Neil had indeed been the closest to it, so Landen called Neil into the tent.

Landen was very frank. He told Neil that to tame a Magic Beast horse like Blaze, one had to be at least an intermediate knight. Although Neil now possessed a robust physique, he lacked Battle Qi and could not control Blaze at all.

Landen promised Neil that he would train him to become a knight, and in the future, once Blaze had been bred, he could ride one of Blaze's offspring.

Neil left the tent overjoyed, not just because he would have a Magic Beast horse to ride in the distant future, but more importantly, because Landen truly cared about him, recognized that he was worthy of a Magic Beast horse, and was willing to cultivate him.

Landen found the Magic-Sealing Box left behind by the Bull Tribe Chief. To his surprise, apart from magic crystals, the box was filled mostly with potions in glass bottles, seeds of magical plants, and a book on veterinary medicine.

In the Bull Tribe Chief's tent, there was a small bookshelf containing many animal-hide scrolls and books. Landen carefully opened one scroll, only to find it was a magical illustration: opening the scroll revealed an anatomical diagram of a pack beast. After placing a magic crystal into the base of the scroll, he initially saw nothing special, but when he touched the drawing with his hand, a hallucination appeared before his eyes. It was as if a pack beast were being dissected right in front of Landen; its blood vessels, muscles, and internal organs were clearly visible. Landen could even use his focus to zoom in or out on specific parts of the pack beast.

There were several similar magical illustrations: Black-Scaled Horses, Long-Haired Sheep, Rock Sheep, draft horses, rabbits, and several types of deer. Beyond the scrolls, there were many picture books about herbs and animals, as well as basic notes. The notes actually recorded insights and case studies on the breeding, raising, and treatment of pack beasts. Landen had not expected this Bull Tribe Chief to be a scholar-type veterinarian. However, Landen clearly lacked the aptitude for veterinary medicine; he merely flipped through the books, much like how he would flip through and count the money in a Barbarian chief's treasure chest before putting it into his own.

Landen was in an excellent mood today. After just circling the tent, he ran out. He told his subordinates that he was going to personally inspect the migration situation at the old camp. His subordinates all knew that Landen just wanted to go for a joyride on Blaze, but they were too embarrassed to say it outright.

Before Landen even got close to Blaze, the horse seemed to know by telepathy that Landen was heading out and proactively nudged over to let Landen mount. After Landen swung into the saddle, Blaze even trotted forward with excitement.

The Magic Patterns on the horse's hooves emitted a faint glow, and wind elements automatically gathered around them. One step, two steps, three or four steps—the moment the black hooves with dark red patterns touched the ground, they seemed to spark. As the pace quickened and the strides grew longer, the wind beneath Blaze's feet grew faster. Facing the camp's two-meter-high fence, Blaze lifted its body gracefully and leaped right out of the camp.

The knights, Barbarians, and Mana-Less in the camp all watched as Landen rode his Magic Beast horse and "flew" out of the camp.

"Is that... a Night-Kirin?" a Barbarian suddenly shouted. He recalled the content Landen had taught them about the glorious history of the family—that the strongest among the Black-Scaled Horses were known as Night-Kirins, the namesake of Night-Kirin City and the symbol of the Galloping Horse royal family.

"Yes, that is a Night-Kirin!" Raul naturally knew the significance of the Night-Kirin as well, so he said with great conviction, "Neil, hurry and tell everyone! Our Gallop Tribe, our Gallop Territory, has produced a Night-Kirin! Chief Landen is the master of the Night-Kirin!"

Neil was still staring blankly at Blaze's receding figure. "Ah? ...Right, I understand! I'll let everyone know right now!"

... (Landen rides Blaze, galloping to his heart's content) ...

"Blaze stirs the mighty wind, red clouds reflect in the azure sky;

Galloping across the vast plains, beacon smoke rises at the horizon."

Riding the Magic Beast horse, Landen didn't know how to describe his exhilaration. Racking his brains, he suddenly remembered a song from his hometown. Riding on horseback, Landen recalled the feeling of driving his car onto the highway for the first time back home—that sensation of enjoying the comfort of high-end features while wanting to slam on the gas to test the limits of performance, yet fearing that if he pushed too hard, the car might fly off the road or something might just break in.

Landen enjoyed the pleasure of riding, and Blaze also enjoyed the process of running under the reinforcement of Battle Qi. For Magic Beasts, a Level 0 Magic Beast could only passively sense magic, and breaking through to become a low-level Magic Beast allowed for the simple use of magic, but to truly unleash its power, one needed to condense a magic core in the head to store magic.

Now, as Landen connected with Blaze through his own Battle Qi, it was equivalent to replacing Blaze's own magic with his Battle Qi. Naturally, Blaze hoped to gallop with Landen as much as possible.

Not long after running out, Landen actually saw the old Chief of the Bull Tribe in the distance. For a moment, Landen thought about approaching him to keep this veteran veterinarian in his tribe, but he soon abandoned the idea. Although Landen had experienced several battles since coming to this world, and the blood on his hands could not be washed away even by the Gallop River, he still hoped to be a person with principles and a bottom line, provided his own safety was not at stake.

"Look, what a tall horse!" In the migration procession of the main camp, the first to see Landen was Redbird, who was standing on top of a luxurious carriage.

"What?" Albert was right next to the driver's seat. Landen had spent the night thinking and decided to hand the Mage's Eye mask over to Albert. He had left him plenty of magic crystals to ensure he could maintain continuous reconnaissance.

Albert put on the mask. Through the Mage's Eye, he could clearly see Landen riding a horse that looked like a flame, galloping toward the camp.

"That is..." Albert muttered to himself, "A Magic Beast horse?... No, that is a Night-Kirin horse!"

"Nila! Nila!" Albert shouted loudly, "Go and call all the managers in the camp! Landen has ridden back on a Night-Kirin horse!"

Albert's thoughts were exactly the same as Raul's: to use Blaze to build momentum for Landen. After a dozen battles and the continuous intake of human Mana-Wielders among the Barbarians, neither Albert nor Raul held out hope for finding Baron Hark. The most critical thing now was to make everyone—including the citizens of the Gallop Territory, the Left and Right camps, and even the vassal Barbarians—identify with Landen from the bottom of their hearts.

The knights and cavalry at the very front of the procession could already see Landen. The news of the Night-Kirin's reappearance spread to every corner of the migrating group. Albert had already taken off the mask and ran forward to meet Landen. At this moment, his face was covered in tears. He finally knew which existence had descended upon Landen; it must have been the greatest ancestor of the Galloping Horse family, returning like lightning with the Night-Kirin.