Chapter 78: Winning the Heart of an Intellectual

Ace lifted his chin with a confident grin.

"Come on."

"Get on my back."

"I promise you’ll be comfortable this time."

Sora climbed down from Lukan’s back and carefully settled onto Ace’s leopard form.

The last time she had ridden him was during the flood evacuation.

Back then, it had been her first time riding on a beastman’s back.

She had been nervous the entire journey, afraid Ace would lose his temper and throw her off at any moment.

But after riding with several beastmen over the past few days, she had long since grown accustomed to it.

Sure enough...

Ace was much steadier than before.

Sora found herself sitting comfortably without needing to cling to his neck for balance.

Seeing there was no longer any entertainment to watch, the wolf warriors laughed and continued following behind.

Xavier and Lucas trailed after Ace, patiently waiting for their turns.

After they had traveled for a while, Xavier finally spoke.

"My turn."

Ace reluctantly came to a stop.

Sora couldn’t understand why they were so obsessed with something that was essentially just transportation.

They looked as though they had discovered some priceless treasure.

Sometimes...

She genuinely couldn’t understand the way beastmen thought.

She briefly considered asking the system for an explanation.

Then she remembered yesterday’s completely unreliable answers.

Forget it.

That broken system couldn’t be trusted.

Among all the beastmen, Xavier’s beast form was the one Sora had been most apprehensive about riding.

Aside from Ryan...

A snake seemed like the least comfortable choice.

Surely those scales would be hard and rough.

Still, to keep everyone from arguing again, she gathered her courage and climbed onto his massive serpent body.

To her surprise...

It wasn’t rough at all.

Instead, the scales felt smooth, cool, and surprisingly soft.

In the summer heat, lying across his body felt almost like resting against cool jade.

It was wonderfully refreshing.

Had she known Xavier’s snake form felt this comfortable...

She might have chosen him from the very beginning.

His enormous body was also incredibly long.

There was no fear of falling off, and Xavier moved with remarkable stability.

She felt completely secure.

Just as Sora was beginning to enjoy the cool ride, Lucas called out from behind.

"My turn."

Sora smiled helplessly.

She climbed down from Xavier and onto Lucas’s magnificent eagle form.

As she settled onto his broad back, she couldn’t help laughing.

Today’s transportation really was diverse.

She had traveled on land...

On a serpent...

And now through the sky.

Lucas’s flight was just as steady as he’d promised.

The morning sun wasn’t too harsh.

A cool breeze brushed gently across Sora’s cheeks as they soared through the air.

It was incredibly relaxing.

Overall, the journey to the salt well had become unexpectedly enjoyable.

When Lucas finally landed, Sora actually felt a little reluctant to climb down.

Since Ryan had never competed to carry her, the wolf warriors naturally didn’t tease him either.

After all...

As a sea beastman, there wasn’t much opportunity for him to carry someone across dry land.

The hidden salt cave lay halfway up the mountainside.

After climbing down from Lucas’s back, Sora led everyone toward the cave entrance.

She deliberately examined the surroundings.

Nothing had changed.

No footprints.

No signs that anyone else had discovered the place.

She quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

Good.

The salt well is still a secret.

The wolf warriors followed her into the cave.

The moment they saw the five natural salt wells inside, every one of them froze.

They had assumed Sora had only found a single salt spring.

No one had imagined there would be five.

Their eyes widened with excitement.

"So much salt!"

"With this much, our tribe won’t have to worry about running out of salt during winter anymore!"

"Forget one winter..."

"This is enough to last our tribe for generations!"

One of the wolf warriors looked at Sora with admiration.

"Kaelira..."

"You’re incredible."

Ryan was equally astonished.

He silently examined the salt wells.

Judging from their size...

The reserve was enormous.

Unlike the vast salt lakes near the city-state, however, this salt was concentrated deep inside the wells.

Extracting it wouldn’t be easy.

He couldn’t help wondering how Sora had managed to collect salt here before.

Thinking that, his gaze shifted toward her.

She stood beside one of the wells, carefully examining its condition.

Her expression was calm and completely focused.

For the first time...

Ryan felt that when Sora became serious, she wasn’t ugly at all.

Lukan walked deeper into the cave and was secretly amazed.

The cave was much larger than he had imagined.

With so many salt wells, Martin would undoubtedly be overjoyed.

Their tribe would never have to worry about lacking salt again.

After their initial excitement faded, the wolf warriors frowned.

One of them scratched his head.

"But..."

"How do we actually get the salt out?"

After confirming everything was exactly as she’d left it, Sora smiled.

"That’s easy."

She turned toward Lucas, Xavier, and Ace.

"Let’s dig several collection pits like we did last time."

The three beastmen nodded immediately.

Without another word, they shifted into action and began digging.

Several wolf warriors looked at one another before asking,

"What about us?"

Before Sora could answer, Lukan spoke first.

"We’ll help dig too."

Then he turned toward Sora.

"Where should we start?"

Sora pointed toward an open patch of ground near another salt well.

"Over there."

Lukan nodded.

"Understood."

He immediately walked over, and the wolf warriors hurried after him, quickly joining the work.

Whenever the chief was absent, everyone naturally followed Lukan’s lead.

The pit they had dug during their previous visit was still there, buried beneath the loose soil they had filled back in.

Just as Sora stepped forward to clear it herself, Ryan walked over.

"I’ll do it."

She didn’t argue and simply nodded.

With Ryan clearing the old pit while Xavier, Lucas, and Ace worked together, it wasn’t long before everything was ready again.

One of the wolf warriors looked around in confusion.

"What now?"

Sora didn’t answer immediately.

Instead, she walked to the edge of the salt well.

Raising one hand, she focused her thoughts.

The next second—

A thick stream of yellowish-brown brine surged upward from deep within the well as though pulled by an invisible force.

The sudden display left everyone staring in shock.

With a flick of her wrist, Sora guided the stream through the air before sending it crashing into the freshly dug pit.

Splash!

Within moments, the pit filled with mineral-rich water.

Meanwhile, Xavier, Lucas, and Ace had already dug a narrow channel leading away from it.

Because the pit sat slightly higher than the surrounding ground, the water slowly flowed through the channel.

As it trickled away, a layer of brownish salt crystals was left behind.

It was the very same salt Sora had brought back to the tribe before.

The wolf warriors finally understood.

One of them exclaimed in disbelief,

"Kaelira... you’re using a water ability?"

They had witnessed her manipulating water before, but they’d assumed she could only sense water sources.

None of them had imagined she could actually draw an entire stream of brine from deep underground.

"That’s incredible!"

"No wonder her beast husbands treat her so differently."

"She’s nothing like the other females."

Unlike the women who usually needed constant protection, Sora possessed strength of her own.

Lukan watched quietly.

This was the first time he had personally seen Sora use her water ability.

Bathed in the cave’s dim light, she stood with one hand raised, effortlessly controlling the flowing water.

Her calm concentration...

Her confidence...

There was something uniquely captivating about her.

No other female in the tribe possessed such grace or capability.

Without realizing it, admiration filled his heart.

Lucas, Xavier, and Ace, on the other hand, weren’t particularly surprised.

They had already witnessed this scene during their previous trip.

But seeing the wolf warriors staring at Sora with open amazement filled the three beastmen with pride.

See?

That’s our female.

She was far stronger than the ordinary females who relied entirely on beastmen for protection.

Among everyone present, however...

The person most shaken was Ryan.

For as long as he could remember, he had believed Kaelira was nothing more than a lazy, foolish, and unattractive female who constantly schemed to climb into powerful males’ beds.

Someone troublesome.

Someone irritating.

Yet during this journey...

Every assumption he had ever made was being shattered.

She could cook.

She could purify salt.

She possessed an extraordinary water ability.

The woman standing before him seemed like an entirely different person from the Kaelira he thought he knew.