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 . . .