Owen's Papa was originally an Omegina of the Snow Leopard Clan. Unable to accept that his cub wouldn't grow up by his side, he had cried and gone on hunger strikes with his mate several times to keep Owen.
However, he discovered that his mate had tried to bite Owen to death a few times while he wasn't paying attention, so he had to grit his teeth and let go.
In the primitive Beastman world fraught with dangers, each species had its own laws of survival, just like the law of the weak being prey to the strong; one must follow nature.
Owen was heartlessly thrown by his Daddy near the Lost Forest, far away from his Papa's cave.
He once secretly ran back to visit his Papa at night, but the result was only an empty cave.
Aside from the towering ancient trees, the surroundings of the Lost Forest had almost no prey; those small prey were simply not enough to fill the gaps between his teeth.
Therefore, every time he hunted, he had to run very far.
The nature of the Silver-Winged Snake Clan made him dislike living in places with many Beastmen and abundant prey, so he stayed here. Fortunately, the powerful wings of the Silver-Winged Snake allowed him to commute back and forth.
Owen had to catch enough food to bring back to the cave to help him survive the long Snow Season.
It was now autumn, and many wild beasts were frantically eating to store fat, so there was no worry about not finding prey.
When the Snow Season arrived, most Silver-Winged Snake Beastmen liked to transform into their beast forms, curling up in their caves unwilling to move, but they wouldn't hibernate; they still needed to eat.
He had just come of age this year; waiting until his rut period in the spring next year, he could go to the exchange gathering to find a mate.
He had to nourish himself to be strong and healthy; only then would an Omegina be willing to follow him.
This time Owen had good luck; on his hunting trip, he encountered an Iron-Horned Beast. Almost all Beastmen wanted to hunt an Iron-Horned Beast.
The fur of the Iron-Horned Beast was exceptionally thick, soft, and kept warmth well, and the meat was tender and delicious.
But its sharp and hard iron horns could pierce through a Beastman, and its running speed was extremely fast. Usually, it required several Beastmen cooperating to hunt one down.
But these things were trivial matters to Owen. He merely narrowed his eyes slightly to lock onto the prey, tucked his wings, dove down from the sky, opened his large, bloody mouth to bite the prey firmly, and then flew straight up into the air.
The poor Iron-Horned Beast had just sensed danger; before it could dodge, it was lifted into the sky.
Having hunted the Iron-Horned Beast, Owen intended to return to the cave to process it, so he flew home quickly.
Meanwhile, Rowan, who was in the cave, had woken up. He propped himself up with his hands against his slightly dizzy head from sleep and sat up.
Resting for a while, he felt his strength had returned a bit.
Looking at the sky, it was already late afternoon, yet the owner of the cave still hadn't returned.
Just as Rowan stood up intending to go outside to check, a loud "boom" rang out, shaking the earth and mountains.
He stumbled along with the tremor, staggering and dragging his injured leg to run outside.
Just taking one step out of the cave, his whole body stiffened; in a flash, the blood in his body seemed to flow backward, his hair stood on end, and his fingers couldn't help but tremble slightly.
He saw a giant black snake with a prey of unknown name in its mouth landing outside the cave.
That black snake also grew a pair of pitch-black wings as thin as cicada wings; its glistening black scales sparkled with golden light under the sunset.
Owen had returned. As soon as he landed in front of his home, he spat the Iron-Horned Beast, which had been drained of blood, out of his mouth.
Then, a scene Rowan would never forget appeared. The fierce beast that was originally a black snake, after a flash of white light, turned into a two-meter-tall man.
Rowan stood stunned on the spot, watching the man with a bare upper body, wheat-colored skin, rippling muscles, wearing a beast-skin loincloth on his lower body, and a handsome but cold face walking quickly towards him.
Undeniably, he was astonished by that handsome face: deep eyes, a high straight nose bridge, and thin lips pressed tight.
Regaining his composure, he showed vigilance, reflexively taking a step back, his muscles tense. His voice was hoarse: "Stand back, who are you?"
Owen's expression looked cold, but in fact, he was extremely nervous inside; this was the first time he had met an Omegina other than his Papa.
Moreover, this beautiful Omegina even took the initiative to talk to him, even though he didn't understand what was being said.
He wanted to reach out and take the Omegina's hand, kiss it, and bow his head to show respect; he often saw his Daddy do that to his Papa.
The moment he reached out, Rowan reflexively used a skillful force to throw him over his shoulder with a sudden move, turning around to strangle his neck and subdue him.
Owen fell heavily to the ground, bewildered, not understanding why he was treated like this, and hadn't even reacted yet. In his perception, Omeginas were very weak; no Omegina dared to lay a hand on a Beastman.
He could feel the body of the Omegina pressing on him trembling slightly. [He is scared.] Owen thought.
He relaxed his body, not resisting, trying to lower his voice as gently as possible to reassure: "I have no malicious intent, respected Omegina, I am very sorry to have offended you."
Rowan admitted he had acted rashly; he shouldn't have actively challenged such a strong opponent when his body hadn't recovered. But he couldn't control it; he thought this person intended to attack him first.
He was surprised to find this person didn't resist at all; clearly, he could have easily defeated him.
Although he didn't understand what the man said, Rowan sensed no malice.
Rowan let him go, stood up from his body, and took a step back. Owen stood up, trying to communicate with the Omegina in front of him, who looked frail but whose features were visibly incredibly beautiful.
He pointed to himself: "My name is Owen, O – w – e – n." Owen spoke slowly twice, then pointed at Rowan: "And you?"
Rowan understood he was saying his name: "Owen?" He repeated it once.
Owen was delighted, the corners of his mouth curving up slightly, nodding gently: "That's right."
Rowan was stunned for a moment again. When this person smiled, it felt like ice melting and snow thawing, a spring garden unable to hide its beauty, like peach blossom petals flying in the spring breeze.
He lowered his guard, pointed to himself, and said: "Rowan."
"Rowan?" Owen repeated awkwardly; the pronunciation was really strange.
In Owen's limited memory, all tribes used the common Kata language to communicate, but this Omegina clearly didn't know it.
Owen asked: "Respected Omegina, where do you come from? Where are your Daddy and Papa? Why are they so irresponsible to leave you alone near the Lost Forest like this?"
Hearing him speak a string of words in a magnetic voice that he couldn't understand at all, Rowan gave up the idea of communicating.
Owen saw the Omegina didn't answer and his eyes revealed a bewildered look, so he didn't say anything more.
Rowan felt his throat dry and itchy, wanting to drink water, so he used his hand to gesture the action of drinking.
This time Owen understood; he nodded, turned around, and walked out, signaling Rowan to follow.
He breathed a sigh of relief and limped behind. Owen turned his head and saw the Omegina's difficulty in walking, so he suddenly squatted down in front of him, abruptly lifting the beast-skin skirt he was wearing to take a look.
This beast-skin skirt had been on Rowan since he transmigrated; at that time, he was only focused on survival and didn't pay much attention.
Although the beast-skin skirt covered his whole body, underneath it was completely empty!