Homeplanet
Just as Xie Luan had heard, the overall development of this planet could not compare to that of other planets. The buildings here were not as prosperous and beautiful as at Gaia or the few other planets he had been to.
There were no towering buildings looming above, giving off a feeling of science and technology, all Xie Luan could see was merely a very ordinary town.
Although it was not prosperous, Xie Luan gently tugged at the sharp forearm of the muka cub next to him and took the cub over to the half sand covered ground with sparse vegetation. There he slowly said to the muka cub, "This is Nick’s homeplanet."
Homeplanet.
He did not fully understand the meaning of this word. The muka cub tilted his head at Xie Luan in confusion, but he still responded with a low hiss.
Xie Luan pattered the sharp forearm under his palm. Aware that the cub might not have understood, he patiently and softly explained, "’Homeplanet’ means that this is the place Nick was born."
The "to be born" in this sentence was not referring to the time the cub hatched, but when the muka cub had come into this world as an egg at the beginning.
The place he was born, the muka cub understood this.
Using his scarlet eyes, the muka cub took in this planet that seemingly gave off a feeling of familiarity but at the same time was very unfamiliar to him. At last he put his eyes back on Xie Luan and lowered his head, snuggling into his arms.
Although his appearance seemed dangerous and terrifying, the way this muka cub controlled his strength as he snuggled into the youth’s embrace undoubtedly showed the dependence he had towards the youth. The way he behaved was just like how any cub would towards their parent.
Xie Luan hugged this large cub back. Once finished, Xie Luan nodded his head to the young man standing to the side, signaling for him to lead the way.
[T/N: Talk about a third wheel, I completely forgot that he was there with them, sorry Duke..]
The place they were going was not the town in front of them, but rather the suburbs a bit away. Currently, they were trying to find a hovering car station.
There were still some normal transportation facilities on this planet. Even though the overall development was lower than that of other planets, Saina was after all not an uninhabited planet.
Sitting in a standard four people hovering car, Xie Luan pulled up the little hood over the head of the nox who as resing in his arms. This time, Xie Luan’s action was not to conceal the identity of this nox, but to shelter the other from the sand carried by the wind.
The vegetation was spares and sand was flying around, the environment in this part of the planet was a little... bad.
Used to a planet with a good environment, Xie Luan, who had just arrived at Saina, found it hard to adapt to the current environment. But it was only like this at first, he soon came to terms with the environment of this planet.
After pulling up the hood, Xie Luan felt a distinct moist feeling on the fingertip of his outstretched finger. The nox in his embrace extended his tongue and gently licked his finger once more.
Being licked by a soft tongue with small little barbs, Xie Luan’s fingertip felt a little itchy. Using this finger he rubbed one of the small horns on the nox’s head.
After more than an hour’s ride in the hovering car, they arrived at what Duke had called the suburbs. It could be seen that these outskirts had indeed suffered from a natural disaster not too long ago when a mountain collapsed.
The area of the village that had been buried after the collapse had not been completely rebuilt yet. When Xie Luan came to the entrance of the village, he saw several adult mukas carrying building materials over to the damaged area in order to repair it.
Hearing a low hissing sound from the nearby muka cub, Xie Luan turned his eyes to the cub only to find that he was looking at the adult mukas in the distance.
When it came to body size, adult mukas were obviously bigger than muka cubs.
Too ordinary people, the cubs of the muka race might already seem huge, but the adults of the muka race were even bigger. By tiptoeing just a little Xie Luan could reach the head of the muka cub, however when it came to the adults, Xie Luan feared that he would have to step on a small stool in order to reach it.
Seeing the adult mukas, the muka cub walking close to Xie Luan instinctively knew that they were of the same race. The cub observed them. Discovering that there was a gap in size and fighting ability between them, the muka cub made a low hissing sound in his throat.
Remembering that this was the first time the cub had seen others like him, Xie Luan raised his hand and patted the muka cub’s forearm. He said in a somewhat cheerful voice, "When Nick grows up you will be just as tall as them, at that time it will even be hard for me to touch Nick’s head."
Xie Luan’s words made the muka cub pause and the scarlet pupils originally fixated on the other mukas moved back to the youth.
He wanted to grow up so that he would have a stronger fighting ability and better be able to protect the youth. At that time he would also be able to get more living resources so that the youth would not need to fight.
But the youth said that if he grew up, he would not be able to touch his head, which made the muka cub hesitant for a bit.
Xie Luan watched as the muka cub motionlessly stared at him and after a short while, the cub suddenly lowered his head. He did not snuggle into his arms like usual, he merely kept his head lowered.
Xie Luan was slightly stunned. However, hearing the muka cub calling out to him after a while, he realized what the cub wanted to say to him. Xie Luan raised his hand to touch the cub’s head which was covered with a hard shell.
Once again letting the young man who brought them to the village lead the way, Xie Luan at last took the muka cub as well as the nox resting in his arms to a single-story house.
“I’m back.”
The mukas in the house had most certainly already heard their footsteps, but Duke still said this as he approached the door.
Xie Luan followed the other in. Right after entering the house, he saw the mukas living in it.
There were eleven in total and not all of them were adults. Judging by their body size, Xie Luan saw three of them who were cubs.
Among these, two of them were slightly smaller than the muka cub next to him, it seemed that these two cubs were under one year old.
A stranger had entered. The mukas in the room quickly noticed this from sensing his smell and footsteps. Xie Luan therefore got to experience being stared at by more than ten pairs of scarlet eyes.
If it had been someone else who had stood there and was being stared at by so many mukas, that person might be too scared to even breathe. But back at the club, the muka cub would watch him attentively just like this every day, he had since long been used to this kind of thing.
The scarlet eyes looked cruel and cold. Xie Luan didn’t cower under the gaze of these mukas, neither did he feel afraid. But at this moment, something happened that not only surprised Xie Luan, but also the mukas standing opposite him.
When the muka cub next to Xie Luan saw that the youth was being stared at like this by the mukas, the cub walked in front of Xie Luan and confronted the many adults standing opposite him, he even made a low hoarse hissing sound from his throat.
He was not being hostile yet, but the voice expressed vigilance. This muka cub showed that he would defend the youth behind him to the other mukas.
Even when faced with a lot of adult mukas who were much more powerful than him, the muka cub had done this.
“Nick.”
After a moment, Xie Luan reacted. He was moved by the cub’s brave attempt to protect him, but he also knew that the mukas in the room were not hostile to him.
Lightly patting the forearm a few times, Xie Luan pacified the muka cub.
Now that the muka cub was once again obediently standing next to the youth, Duke quickly brought up the matter and told the mukas in the room that the youth was the caretaker who had come to help save the eggs.
The largest adult muka in the house was the head of this village. After hearing Duke’s words, the adult muka nodded his head to Duke.
It was easy to sense that the attitude of these mukas all of a sudden changed from observant to friendly. Xie Luan heard several of the adult mukas in the room issuing a low hissing sound. These mukas appeared to be thanking him for coming to the planet to help, even though he had not actually done anything yet.
After being introduced, Xie Luan was led by an adult muka to the place where the eggs that needed help rested.
In a separate room, the eight gray eggs laid on a soft bed, half covered with a quilt.
These were the egg that had been buried during the collapse of the mountain. No injuries could be seen from the surface of the eggs, but once Xie Luan used his spiritual energy to examine them he could feel that the life response of these eggs had truly become very weak.
Each egg was about the same size as the nox nested in Xie Luan’s arms. Although the adult muka was very large and even just a six month old muka was also of considerable size, at the time the cub hatched, the newborn muka was actually small and easy to hold.
Lifting the quilt covering one of the eggs, Xie Luan carefully picked it up and held the gray muka egg in his arms.
He was not sure he could save these eggs, but he had to try his best.
Xie Luan calmed his mind. Lightly placing his left hand on the egg, he began to guide his spiritual energy to call out to the cub who had not yet hatched.
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Translator’s note:
Nick is the best, so adorable. ><