Chapter 82: Gift

Chapter 82: Gift

At dawn, Bran dropped a huge wild boar beside the campfire, startling his cousins awake. After a quick tidy-up, he began rapidly preparing breakfast for the group.

Seeing Bran’s actions, Sia praised him: “You’ve improved, knowing to prepare breakfast for your sisters.”

“Eat quickly, we need to get on the road early,” Bran urged.

“I thought you were just passing by and would leave on your own.”

“It just so happened we met. I need your help with some things.”

“Help with what?” Dia asked warily.

“It’s simple. I just want to understand your Trial process.”

“Be more specific.”

Bran explained: “I’ll merely observe, watch some of your actions.”

“What about your Trial?” Dia pressed.

“My Trial is already complete. Don’t look at me like that. I’m not lying to you. It’s just a bit difficult to explain.”

Soon, the cousins believed Bran, because Bran’s Facial Markings could not deceive others, and the power Bran displayed could not deceive others.

“How did you do it?” The girls looked at him curiously.

“Focus on completing your Trial. Don’t think too much. There are things I don’t fully understand either.”

“Tell us, just a little hint is fine,” Dia pleaded.

“I understand what you mean. This method is something you can’t achieve right now. It has something to do with me being a Wizard. If I could boost your strength now, I wouldn’t hide it. After all, you came all the way from the Western Territory because of me.

Some things still need to be observed. Telling you now wouldn’t do you any good.”

…

After breakfast, the group set off. They noticed Bran paid no attention to the Little Bear at all, which struck them as odd.

Sia asked, “We’re just leaving like this, not even calling it?”

“No need to call it. It’ll catch up soon after it finishes eating.”

“Aren’t you afraid it’ll get lost?”

Bran shrugged his shoulders: “Good if it gets lost. I actually hope it clears off sooner rather than later.”

“Why?”

“No reason. Initially, it felt too big, killing it for meat seemed wasteful, so I brought it along for two days, and then it just stuck with me.”

“Bran, you know what?” Dia laughed.

“Know what?” Bran was baffled. His cousin’s attitude towards him seemed different somehow.

“You keep trying to hide your soft heart. You could just say you couldn’t bear to. You call it ‘Little Bear.’ If you really wanted to drive it away, it wouldn’t dare follow you. Just like how you protected us back then. Even though you said harsh things later, it was just talk. You wouldn’t actually do it.”

Bran looked sideways. “Oh, really? I’ll find a chance to try.”

“Stop being so stubborn.”

“I don’t think you’re wise enough to come to that conclusion,” Bran said, looking at his cousin with disdain.

Dia was a bit deflated: “Danny told me.”

“Hah! My Danny wouldn’t tell you that.”

“Fine, it was our Warrior who told us. You said it back then to remind us.”

Bran curled his lip. “What else did ‘your’ Warrior say?”

“I’m not telling you.”

…

“Have you heard of Fairies?” Bran asked.

“Yes,” Sia took up the topic.

“What do most stories say?”

“Most say they live in the Mogu Mountains and like to build Gardens.”

“Are there stories about interactions between Northlanders and Fairies? More detailed ones?”

“Yes. Legend says we lived together a long time ago, and in the end, they betrayed us.” As she said this, the cousins showed indignation.

Then Bran noticed the Little Fairy near his cousins quickly distanced itself from them. Bran could only secretly shake his head and asked again for confirmation: “Betrayal? The story says betrayal?”

“It’s just a story. Is the exact detail that important?”

Bran thought to himself, if it’s not important, why are you so indignant? What a great opportunity. Out loud, he began to console them: “Yes, it’s not important. It’s all in the past. Actually, Fairies are our friends. Some things can only be considered disagreements between friends.”

Bran’s well-meaning reminder only earned him a few eye rolls. But perhaps out of intuition, Dia asked, “Are you hiding something from us?”

But then a huge commotion from behind interrupted their conversation. The Little Bear ran over, looking quite disheveled.

Sia looked excited. “It really caught up.”

…

Bran now wanted to kiss that Little Bear, because it hadn’t run over on its own. Following it at a leisurely pace was a blue tiger. Its fur appeared white, but the tips were a pale sky blue. Several stripes, almost black or dark blue, circled its body.

Bran suddenly smiled. “Now we can try it.”

“Try what?” Dia didn’t react immediately.

“Try whether I’ll still protect you or not,” Bran said with a mischievous grin.

Dia also smiled, feeling relaxed. Since Bran could say that, the situation probably wasn’t very dangerous. But Sia beside her screamed: “A blue tiger! We’ve entered its Territory. It’s all your fault, Bran!”

“Yes, it’s my fault. I just wanted to have you feed the tiger.”

Bran had indeed done it on purpose. He wanted to see if he could encounter this blue tiger. He needed a gift, one that could prove himself, one that could show his strength, to give to his mother. He had heard of this tiger’s cunning. He knew several children had died by this tiger’s mouth. And whenever adult Northlanders wanted to hunt it, this tiger seemed to sense it in advance and ran away. But several hunts had also made this blue tiger much more cautious, no longer provoking Northlander children.

Bran felt this was his chance, a good opportunity. He believed this tiger was a Magical Beast, possessing some kind of sensing ability, which allowed it to evade capture in advance. Right now, this tiger’s senses were affected by him, and within visible range were only children. Faced with the tempting Little Bear, it showed itself without hesitation.

This tiger always managed to avoid danger ahead of time and find easy prey. A long life of comfort had made its physique very imposing, and its fur glossy and sleek. But such an enemy wasn’t hard to deal with. It hadn’t experienced dangerous and difficult fights. Its ability had created it, and also ruined it.

Bran looked at the blue tiger before him, seeing the excitement it showed at encountering weaker prey. This fool seemed to have lost too much of its Predator instinct. It relied too much on its ability.

…

It was a fine tiger skin, without a single scratch on it. Huahua directly gouged out one of its eyes. While it was disoriented from the intense pain, Bran’s knife pierced its other eye…

The cousins were admiringly touching and stroking the tiger skin, while Bran tried to shoo them away.

“It wasn’t really that hard. Solved it in two moves,” Sia said.

“It never was difficult. The hard part was making it show itself willingly. After you complete your Trial, you could easily handle it too. The reason our Warriors didn’t succeed the previous few times was because they couldn’t find it. That’s why it lived until now.”

“Isn’t this partly our credit too?”

Bran immediately denied it: “No. It was the Little Bear that lured it out.”

“Yes, it was. We lured out this tiger, so we have a share in this tiger skin.”

“Based on contribution, that pile of tiger meat belongs to you. If you can’t eat it all, you can pack it and take it away,” Bran promptly crushed their idea.