Maple Forest Town was only three hundred li from the Keli Tribe. Traveling at full speed, Andrew and his family arrived at noon the next day.
"Howard, is this the Keli Tribe? Will they accept us?" Janice was a little worried. According to the stories, barbarians were not friendly toward humans.
Howard had fully recovered his spirits and forgotten Matthews's betrayal. In his hand, he carried the carcass of a giant wolf about two meters long. It was a Wind Wolf, a fourth-level magical beast common on the prairie that lived in packs. Just last night, for some unknown reason, a pack of twenty or so Wind Wolves had appeared at the edge of the Far East Prairie, and Andrew's family had encountered them.
Fortunately, this pack had no wolf king to command it, so its fighting strength was not great.
Howard and Andrew had protected Janice and Ling'er well. After a brief panic, Janice had also begun casting fifth-level spells. The three of them routed the Wind Wolves and obtained eight fourth-level magic cores.
Holding Ling'er, Andrew gazed out at the prairie with mixed feelings.
This time, they had come as refugees, and he could not forgive himself for that.
I'm still too weak. Otherwise, my family wouldn't have to suffer like this!
Andrew placed extraordinary importance on his family. In his heart, he would not allow anyone to hurt his loved ones. Yet this time, he had failed.
"Andrew, what's wrong?" Janice keenly noticed his unhappiness.
Andrew came back to his senses. "Nothing, Mom. Let's go. The barbarians here are very friendly. You don't need to worry about them. Wherever we are, as long as we treat people sincerely, they'll treat us sincerely too. Come on, Mom. We need to adapt to life here as soon as possible."
The grand elder received word at once. With two subordinates and Baru, he personally came to welcome Andrew's family.
"My young friend, we meet again so soon." The grand elder smiled warmly.
Andrew said frankly, "Grand elder, our family has come to seek refuge this time. I wonder whether the Keli Tribe will welcome us."
The grand elder said, "Why wouldn't we?"
Andrew smiled. "Then thank you, grand elder. It seems I really do share a deep affinity with the Keli Tribe."
After exchanging pleasantries, the grand elder instructed Baru to take the family to rest. Baru seemed excited to see Andrew, and fighting spirit shone in his eyes. He was very unwilling to accept his last defeat. As he saw it, Andrew was not as strong as he was, so he must have used some trick to win.
Andrew saw what Baru was thinking. He had quite a favorable impression of this competitive young barbarian. In the future, once Andrew had made progress in his cultivation, Baru would probably have succeeded as the Keli Tribe's grand elder, and Andrew would still have to deal with him then.
"Baru, are there any lakes nearby?" Andrew asked. On the prairie, water sources were extremely important. Humans needed somewhat more water than barbarians did. Leaving everything else aside, there was bathing: barbarians might not bathe even once a year, but humans could not stand that.
Baru said, "There's a small lake three li away called Wind Spirit Lake. But it's close to Mogan Forest, and magical beasts often appear there."
Mogan Forest? Andrew became interested. The prairie stretched endlessly, but it also contained plenty of forests and mountains. Those mountain forests were paradises for magical beasts.
With a hint of longing, Baru said, "Yes, Mogan Forest stretches a thousand li across. I've heard there's an eighth-level magical beast, a Windwing Tiger King, in the center of the forest. Half a year ago, a One-Horned Cloud Leopard ran out of the forest and gave birth beside Wind Spirit Lake. The grand elder led some men to kill it, and the cub was sold to humans too. An adult One-Horned Cloud Leopard is a seventh-level magical beast. Hmph, if we hadn't needed the money, I would definitely have kept it."
A seventh-level magical beast's cub? Andrew immediately thought that this was probably why Clayde and the others had come last time. He wondered what price the Keli Tribe had asked. Presumably, it had not been low. Seventh-level magical beasts rivaled high-level warriors and were a rare sight even for many nobles.
After hearing Baru's words, Andrew abandoned the idea of settling beside Wind Spirit Lake. If a high-level magical beast came out of Mogan Forest one day, he would be unable to stop it, and his whole family would become its snack.
The grand elder truly valued Andrew. Not only had he sent Baru to accompany them, but he had also arranged a place for the family to live.
The barbarians' dwellings were extremely crude. Their houses were built from piled stones, with no concern for decoration or appearance, as long as they provided shelter from the wind and rain. In the entire Keli Tribe, only the grand elder's residence looked somewhat presentable.
"You can live here from now on!"
After walking less than a li, they reached a stone house, and Baru pointed at it as he spoke.
"I don't want to live here! It's so shabby!" Ling'er burst into tears at the sight of the stone house. It was hardly surprising. The house was so crude that it could even frighten a child.
Andrew hurried to soothe her and apologized to Baru. Baru grunted a couple of times, his face turning bright red. As the host, he was rather embarrassed to hear a guest say that, especially a five-year-old girl.
Howard thanked Baru first and took the lead in entering the stone house. Janice hesitated, then followed him inside. Seeing this, Baru told Andrew, "The grand elder said that if you need anything from now on, just tell me. I'll be going!"
Andrew knew the grand elder was giving him more opportunities to interact with the Keli Tribe's successor. Watching Baru's retreating figure, Andrew smiled. "What an honest, simplehearted barbarian!"
The stone house was indeed crude, but for Andrew's family at that moment, having somewhere to stay mattered more than anything else. Unfortunately, not everyone thought that way. Ling'er was extremely unwilling to accept it and cried and fussed all day long.
There was simply no reasoning with a five-year-old child.
With no other choice, the three adults began renovating their new home. Under Janice's direction, father and son dug up stones, cut timber, built fences, and planted flowers and grass. After a full half month, they finally created a beautiful country courtyard home.
With its lovely courtyard-style stone buildings, lush green lawn, and peaceful little courtyard, this home was even more beautiful than the one in Maple Forest Town. Not only was Ling'er thoroughly satisfied, but even Baru was dumbstruck when he came later. He had never imagined that a house could be made so beautiful.
Later, when the other barbarians saw it, they all sought Janice's advice and began renovating their own homes. Within a month, the entire Keli Tribe had changed its appearance. Beautiful courtyard homes stood side by side, and every household planted flowers and grass. Passing humans were astonished. Since when had barbarians developed the elves' artistic talent?
Just like that, Andrew's family integrated into the Keli Tribe and became popular members of the tribe.
Once they had settled down, Andrew finally felt at ease. In his view, barbarians were easier to get along with than humans. They had few complicated thoughts and were very unpretentious. Janice soon agreed. The magical implements she made in her daily life were very popular with everyone, which also gave her a strong sense of accomplishment.
Over the past month or so, Baru had often come to challenge Andrew. This young barbarian cared an extraordinary amount about winning and losing. Unfortunately, he left disappointed every time. Compared to half a year ago, Baru's strength had improved greatly, and he was only a step away from the fifth level. Combined with the barbarians' natural gift for strength, he could now take on a human fifth-level warrior alone.
His opponent, however, was even more of a freak and had improved even more.
"Is this your human battle-qi? It's amazing!" Baru had been knocked down once again, his face full of admiration. Just now, Andrew had used lightning element battle-qi to shock his entire body numb. This was also a feature of lightning element battle-qi: it possessed the properties of lightning.
Andrew pulled him up and said, "Baru, there's no need to be envious. In fact, the barbarians' gift for strength is on par with the humans' gift for battle-qi. If you can comprehend strength and successfully become a high-level warrior, my battle-qi won't be able to do anything to you either."
Baru smiled too, his fighting spirit revived. "That's right. As long as I'm strong enough, I can smash anything."
When Andrew returned home, Janice asked with a smile, "Were you sparring with Baru again?"
Andrew washed up. "Baru is a born warrior. I gain quite a lot from sparring with him too. By the way, Mom, Baru told me the grand elder will personally lead a hunting party into Mogan Forest the day after tomorrow. I'll be going too."
Janice was startled. "No, Andrew. That's too dangerous."
Andrew picked up Ling'er and smiled. "It's not as dangerous as you think. The grand elder is a high-level warrior, and more than a dozen sixth-level warriors from the Keli Tribe will be joining us too. Even if we encounter the Windwing Tiger King in the forest, we'll be able to escape."
Janice was still very worried, but she was helpless. "All right. You've always been sensible, even when you were little. You know what you should do." She felt the same way as Howard about this son of theirs: they simply could not treat him as a child. Often, she even felt that her son was more mature than she was.
In truth, Andrew had a deeper reason for being so eager to improve his strength.