The little monkey blinked, scratched its face, and showed a hint of struggle and hesitation, but soon it handed the pitch-black shard it had just grabbed to James Walker, letting out a few hoarse cries in succession, expressing its desire to exchange it for that oolong resin.

"Alright, I'll give you some more, but I don't want this broken stone. You can keep it." James Walker laughed, took the small clay bottle from the woven basket, and handed it to the little monkey.

The little monkey hurriedly grabbed it, took a sip, and showed a look of intoxication on its face. Its body swayed a few times, then it let out a drunken burp. After tossing both the black stone shard and the small bottle to James Walker, it staggered away with a few leaps and soon disappeared into the jungle.

James Walker looked at the clay bottle, now only half full, smiled slightly, and, not minding, put it back into the woven basket on his back. He then examined the pitch-black stone shard.

Volume One: If Life Were Only as It Was at First Sight

Chapter 2: The Awakening of the Barbarians

This was an ordinary stone shard, only about the size of a baby's palm, irregular in shape. Apart from some seemingly natural patterns on it, there was also a small hollow hole, as if it were meant to be a pendant.

But overall, it didn't look special—just very ordinary.

The only thing a bit strange was that when James Walker held the shard, he felt warmth from it, as if a gentle heat was flowing into his body, making him feel very comfortable.

"Huh?" James Walker looked closely, but after a long while, still couldn't see anything unusual.

"I heard Grandpa mention that, supposedly, a long time ago this place was the land of the Fire Barbarians. Judging by this, perhaps this object contains some power of the Fire Barbarians, which is why it feels warm. Not bad at all." James Walker untied the crescent bone ring hanging from his neck, threaded the shard onto it, and hung it back around his neck. The shard pressed against his chest, and the warmth grew even stronger.

"Time to go home!" The young man strode toward the distant lights, running quickly. At this moment, he didn't notice that the stone shard pressed against his chest flashed with a faint glimmer of light.

As he drew closer, the faint lights before James Walker's eyes gradually became clearer. He could see that it was a tribe surrounded by walls made of massive logs.

The area wasn't large, probably home to only a few hundred people, but in James Walker's eyes, it felt warm and welcoming. Faintly, the sounds of lively laughter drifted out. Through the gaps in the rows of giant log walls, he could see a huge bonfire at the center of the tribe, surrounded by many clansmen, and some women of the tribe were dancing around the fire.

The tribe's main gate was also made of giant logs. When opened, it was usually hoisted up by several ropes, but now it was tightly shut. Several burly men stood atop it, wearing animal skin clothes, their skin extremely rough, with strings of white bones hanging around their necks and bone rings on their ears, exuding a fierce aura. Their sharp eyes scanned the surroundings, but when they saw James Walker running from afar, they all grinned.

"Lasu, Grandpa has been looking for you all day. Why are you only just coming back?"

"It rained just now—did you go to snatch oolong resin again?"

"Grandpa was looking for me? Throw down the rope! I had a pretty good haul this time." James Walker ran a few steps faster, came to the gate, and patted the woven basket on his back proudly, shouting loudly.

As a woven rope dropped down from above, James Walker grabbed it and nimbly climbed up. In just a few breaths, he reached the top of the gate, smiled at the night watchmen, and quickly walked down the stairs at the side.

"This kid is agile and bold. Years ago, he dared to go alone to Mount Oolong to gather herbs. Looks like he'll definitely be the tribe's next ordinary healer."

"Too bad he doesn't have a barbarian body. Otherwise, he might have become a barbarian healer like Grandpa." The burly men watched James Walker walk away and sighed softly.

James Walker entered the tribe and ran along the way. In the grass and wood houses around him, whenever someone saw him, they would kindly call out "Lasu."

The name Lasu didn't refer to him alone, but was a term for all children in the tribe who hadn't undergone the second barbarian awakening.

Not far away, outside a tribal animal skin tent, a little girl of about five or six was watching James Walker, her childish face showing a sweet and innocent smile. She was holding a palm-sized white little beast in her arms, which looked very docile and gentle, like a white fluffy ball.

"Big brother Lasu, did you catch something for Pipi to eat?" The little girl giggled when she saw James Walker.

"Grace, here you go." James Walker laughed heartily, ran over, took a few berries from his pocket, and handed them to the little girl. Amid her happy laughter, James Walker made his way to the center of the tribe, where he saw many clansmen gathered around the bonfire, laughing and chatting.

Outside the bonfire, there was a circle of fire-resistant wooden racks, on which many large, juicy pieces of meat were being roasted, giving off a mouthwatering aroma.

Nearby, a few young women of the tribe saw James Walker running over and greeted him with smiles. In this tribe, the delicate and handsome James Walker was physically different from the others—almost every clansman was much more robust than him, and even these young women were no exception.