Dogs and Dogs

A large bedroom open on three sides.

Ruger flipped through the final section of Demon Skin Spell while eating insect-juice shaved ice. The bottle from the potion he had finished happened to be perfect for holding the shaved ice. The only flaw was that its mouth was not wide enough.

He crunched the ice in his mouth and sighed inwardly once more. Demon Skin Spell was so much easier to learn than Freezing Ray. From this, he could infer that so-called compatibility did not only matter when it was favorable; it ought to have negative cases as well. Among spells that did not suit someone, there should be degrees—slightly incompatible, highly incompatible, and utterly incompatible. He should have thought of it earlier. These were all inevitable possibilities.

"Maybe I should find some sour fruit..."

He looked up at the crystal lamp, which was at the instant of shifting between its upper and lower states.

"One more day, and it should be about enough."

He felt that he could save the last bottle of Spiritheart Potion for some tough nut to crack in the future. This potion would also be useful for cultivating a meditation method, though using Spiritheart Potion to sustain the slow, cumulative grind of meditation was a little extravagant.

Those hot spring vents were all too hot. If he could find one at a suitable temperature, soaking in it while eating shaved ice would be quite the pleasure, he thought.

That female elf's skin was really thick. Maybe once he learned Demon Skin Spell, he could give it a try too. Demon Skin Spell plus Freezing Ray meant that taking a bath was just around the corner. These days, even a kobold needed formidable strength just to have a bath. With skills even a little lacking, one could easily lose one's life in the process.

He was not indulging in pleasure.

This was spell practice, cultivation indispensable on the road to pursuing the mysteries of magic.

After mastering Freezing Ray, the very first thing he did upon recovering was experiment with consecutive casting.

When he had fully recovered through meditation, he could cast Freezing Ray seven times in a row without resting in between before he could no longer keep it up.

To increase both his number of casts and casting speed, frequent use was one good option. Another excellent option was raising his mental power and becoming a second-rank wizard apprentice.

At present, aside from his fixed spell, the zero-ring spell he could use the most times in a short period was Shedding Spell. His mental power could support fifteen uses. The spell itself consumed slightly less energy, and he also had high compatibility with it—and that was without having practiced it regularly.

The problem was that practicing Shedding Spell cost too many tribesmen. They were only a poor little tribe to begin with, and in the past, the tribe's food supply had been insufficient. There was not much fur left on their bodies already.

He could not bear to do it.

Only occasionally, when he encountered someone unpleasant on the road, would he practice it a few times, earning two brief, piercing shrieks.

He swayed to his feet. Balancing work and rest was the true way to learn.

As he walked, he recalled the details of Demon Skin Spell he had just sorted through.

After twisting and turning through the tunnels, he reached his destination. He was going to treat Aisijin to shaved ice! The young kobold girl had definitely never had any before! And while he was at it, he would ask Old Gold Tooth about a few things.

Rumble!

A tremendous noise came from the direction of Gray Longneck Saint Lord's great cavern.

Ruger halted. He happened to be quite close to it.

Rumble!

He gathered his courage and walked forward. After hesitating for a moment, he turned around a passageway and decided to see what was happening.

In this place, he believed he was now qualified to watch the show.

Ever since learning that the dark-gray-skinned female elf and her companions were all at the level of wizard apprentices, his little kobold back had suddenly straightened.

It was not that he was confident of defeating any one of them. Rather, he had suddenly broken through that most terrifying layer of the unknown. It was like Big Silly Hum's fear of him—that unbreakable, deep-rooted fear came from the unknown. With his modest understanding of spells and wizard apprentices, he still feared them, but it was no longer that former fear of having no clue what he faced. It was a rational awe born from the power of spells and knowledge.

Sometimes, even if one died, at least knowing how one had died was far better than dying before the unknown, where fear was concerned.

He pressed himself against the cave wall and poked out half his kobold head.

An absurdly enormous grayish-white serpent entered his view.

So this was Gray Longneck Saint Lord? If so, its neck really was long, he thought.

Across from the great snake stood a small humanoid figure by comparison.

It was too far away for him to tell whether it was a human or some other humanoid creature.

The great snake slowly raised its proud head until it touched the ceiling of the kobold holy ground's cavern. Something about its bearing and aura inexplicably made one feel that it possessed considerable intelligence.

Ruger even somewhat anticipated it speaking, just so he could hear what kind of voice it had.

Just as he was thinking this, a wave of mental energy appeared and echoed through the entire great cavern.

Its reach naturally included this little kobold peeking around from a corner.

"Strange kobold, get out of my territory! The price of provoking me is beyond what you can bear."

The great snake's words startled the little kobold watching from the sidelines.

But after thinking carefully, something seemed wrong. He narrowed his eyes, poked his head out a little farther, and looked over. The one confronting the great snake was actually a tall kobold.

"The Red Horn Tribe will subdue all kobolds. King of kobolds—kobolds already have their own king. The king says he will break the wizard's curse. Kobolds will not need masters in the future. Kobold kingdom—all kobolds will have no masters, only one king! King of kobolds! King!"

The tall but not bloated kobold still spoke awkwardly, his words somewhat muddled and out of order. Yet his ability to speak in long sentences, along with the content of those words, was already enough to shock Ruger.

Before Ruger could recover from his astonishment, the great snake actually began to laugh. Waves of mental energy surged out like tides, every ripple expressing the serpent's mockery.

"Wizards? Ignorant kobold, you actually dream of fighting wizards!" The great snake's raised head swayed back and forth with laughter, striking the cave ceiling and sending dust and rocks of every size tumbling down.

This great snake possessed techniques for using mental power and seemed to have some understanding of wizards as well.

And there was also a kobold with lofty ambitions.

Ruger was thoroughly intrigued.

Rumble!

The towering kobold and the great snake were locked in battle.

For a time, the great snake was actually at a disadvantage.

Only as the snake thrashed did Ruger notice the many wounds covering its body. The missing section of its tail was an especially obvious old injury. It was precisely these wounds that allowed that strange kobold to suppress the great snake.

The kobold's arm muscles bulged as he brought down the broad metal blade in his hand with all his strength.

Crack! A dull impact rang out!

The crudely made blade, thick and broad like a hammer, struck the snake's head and snapped in half down the middle.

The great snake suddenly shot forward like an arrow skimming the ground, clamping its jaws around the retreating kobold. In his panic, the kobold braced both hands against the sideways-biting maw, gripping its fangs and locking the two in a stalemate.

Dust billowed everywhere, accompanied by thunderous crashes.

The great snake began rolling and slamming about wildly within the huge cavern.

"Kobolds don't need masters!"

The kobold shouted, then suddenly snapped off one of the snake's fangs.

The burst of pain made the snake loosen up for an instant, allowing the kobold to break free.

"Don't run this way!"

Seeing that things were going wrong, Ruger turned and fled, but the footsteps behind him told him exactly what might happen next.

His thoughts shifted. With Strength of the Savage Bull empowering him, he turned and charged back.

The grayish-white snake body flushed blood-red. Several short limbs actually protruded from either side of the great snake as it charged at the towering kobold with savage force.

Ruger was closer—and more decisive. The two rapidly closed in head-on. He could see the kobold's wide, startled eyes, then those eyes rolled white. His body kept rushing forward and sliding after he fell, while Ruger, bolstered by Strength of the Savage Bull, simply reached out, tucked him under his arm, and ran.

Witnessing this, the great snake actually hesitated and did not pursue.