The Silly Alchemist
chapter-422

Fishballs and Noodles (3)

Nevertheless, both Athena and Tigress were capable warriors and commanders. Put them on a real battlefield, and you wouldn’t be able to differentiate them from experienced generals.

What they truly needed was a suitable environment for them to hone their skills and gain sufficient experience. In time, they could become fearsome and capable generals of war.

As for Ye Lang, nobody would dare put him in such a position. Should he make the slightest mistake, his troops would fall into disarray.

“Yup, consider this a practice. Apart from giving the younger generation some much-needed experience, this battle will finally decide the difference in our standings. Once the battle is over, our rankings in our respective clans will be determined and finalised.” Athena explained while glancing towards Tigress.

“She has sacrificed so much for you. Even I hadn’t expected that she would give up so easily. Master, you should be grateful for her actions,” continued Athena.

Had she been in Tigress’ shoes–even Ye Lang was her lover! — she still wouldn’t have given up so easily.

Although it was merely a practice, Athena had planned to use Ye Lang against Tigress. The problem was, she just didn’t know how exactly to use Ye Lang to her benefit.

And despite all of that, Tigress still surrendered so easily, just to ensure Ye Lang’s safety and wellbeing.

“Well, you don’t say! She’s my precious! Tigress, go make something for me to eat, I’m hungry…” quipped Ye Lang. There was irony in his words. How could call someone your precious, but then boss them around like that?

But then again, it goes both ways. Had Tigress not showered Ye Lang with this much care and affection, Ye Lang wouldn’t have considered her his precious.

If a relationship were to be one-sided, and both parties did not put in sufficient effort, such a relationship definitely wouldn’t last.

“Yes, Master. What would you like?”

“Fishballs and noodles!”

“I knew it…” said Tigress with a smile. She recalled the time when he ate the noddles she made, it felt like it was just yesterday.

Seeing him enjoy the meals she made, had her feeling a special kind of joy.

“Athena, lend me your horse!”

As Tigress said that, she was already mounting the horse and pulling Ye Lang up the horse with her. She dashed out of the battle zone, leaving everyone else confused.

Athena was in a daze, she felt that Tigress had snatched her horse instead of borrowed it.

“Alright, now that the battle is over, I’m going back to the tiger tribal lands,” announced Athena. Although she was a member of the fox race, both fox and tiger races had always lived together. Furthermore, the engineers of this mock battle all belonged to the tiger race.

Now that Tigress had borrowed Athena’s ride, Athena had to share horses with Taeya.

“Let’s go together!” said Taeya.

Taeya had also planned to go to the tigers’ tribal lands. Like Athena, she had no urgency to head over there, at least not for the moment. Instead, they had to settle matters regarding their victory after the mock battle.

But lately, they’ve found themselves wanting to head to the tiger tribal lands more frequently. They’ve wanted to follow Ye Lang and ask him many questions, but they decided to put it on hold.

……

“Tigress, why do you wear a mask? You don’t want anyone here to recognise you?” Ye Lang suddenly asked, reminded by the look of the mask on Tigress’ face.

Up until now, Ye Lang is still not entirely certain about her identity. Naturally, he’d ask her many questions.

“No, it’s not that. Well, without my mask, the battle wouldn’t have gone my way. People wouldn’t take me seriously if I didn’t put on my mask,” Tigress quickly shot down Ye Lang’s question.

“Gone your way? Oh… with that mask, you’d definitely scare your enemies,” Ye Lang understood her explanation.

It was true enough. With Tigress and her mask, charging on the frontlines, it would have definitely struck fear in the enemies’ hearts. But when she removed her mask, that air of authority and fearsomeness had significantly dropped.

In fact, this was a very common strategy used on the battlefield. There are often highly specialised troops equipped with armour that are designed to look menacing and intimidating. The purpose is to break the enemies’ spirit and hopefully, scare them into submission.

“Furthermore, I don’t want too many people to recognise me. As you once said, we should keep a low profile,” admitted Tigress with a laugh. The mask she wore actually had a significant meaning behind it: it was actually Ye Lang who made the mask.

The mask was not an ordinary mask. Everyone knew Ye Lang had confirmed that, and with that, the mask had some special characteristics.

Tigress was unsure about how many powers the mask possessed, but Tigress knew one of its powers: the mask possessed the Defense Alchemy Formation. This protected the wearer’s face from any and all attacks and damages.

Tigress could never imagine her face from being scarred or damaged from battles. She feared that if her face were riddled with scars, Ye Lang would no longer recognise her.

“That’s right! You should keep a low profile, like me!” replied Ye Lang with glee.

It was ironic that Ye Lang had said that, as the opposite was true for him. Everywhere he went, he attracted attention and trouble, and more than often, it was the most peculiar scenarios. However, Ye Lang did indeed kept a low profile to a certain extent, because not many knew of his escapades and adventures.

……

The tiger tribe was one of the most powerful tribes among the beastmen. Compounded with the unique fox race, its significance and influence grew.

The fox race was a unique one. No other race could match their intelligence and shrewdness, but their strength was significantly weaker than the other races.

Due to them being the only race with superior intelligence, the other beastmen races were envious of them. Hence, the fox race’s territories were often raided and colonised by the other races.

Furthermore, the fox race had historically lacked protective measures to guarantee their safety. With the survival of the fittest as the beastmen’s principle, the fox race was almost massacred to extinction. It was at that moment when the tiger race took in the remaining members of the fox race to protect them.

From then on, the two races lived together. There was soon a new subgroup of beastmen as both races produced progeny but unfortunately, non-‘pure-blooded’ beastmen– those who possessed the blood of two or more races, often lacked any defining traits of beastmen. With that, they were considered to be the pariahs of all beastmen…