Mind and Journey

The scarlet-backed lizardmen seemed not only stronger, but also more ill-tempered than the green-backed ones.

The lizardmen of the past would at least cry out when they met, and he could catch a brief shift in their expressions and emotions, along with subtle little movements—for instance, when launching an attack, they would slightly tilt their heads and quickly sweep their companions beside them with the corner of an eye. But now, the scarlet-backed ones charged the instant they saw him, roaring outright. Every one of them looked as if they were about to glare their eyeballs out of their sockets. Dozens of lizardmen raised their short spears, yet not one made a single unnecessary expression or movement.

"I only wanted to get myself a pair of boots, and here you are bringing me trouble again." Naturally, he was not afraid of these little lizards three or four heads taller than himself.

Watching the lizardmen fall and struggle in all sorts of poses, he instead felt that these fellows had more life in them than before.

This place had always been a hunting ground for kobolds. But after the kobolds' Saint Lords died one after another in several conflicts, their strength gradually waned, and lizardmen began appearing here sporadically. Now, they looked ready to seize the place completely—and even storm the kobolds' den.

The lizardmen already possessed a vast hunting ground no weaker than this one. If they took another territory, their growth would become unstoppable. The inexplicable appearance of meatworms had also greatly increased the value of every territory.

Ruger carried his long staff over his shoulder, with two more carefully selected short spears added to his storage pouch.

Without realizing it, he found himself heading toward a towering, dense forest. These woodland regions made up of unknown plants that were trees and yet not trees were places neither kobolds nor lizardmen normally approached. Their so-called struggle for territory was rather pathetic, really. There were so many places within their own lands that they did not dare enter. They were no overlords of a region; they were more like creatures struggling to survive in the cracks beneath the cavern's vast environment.

He immediately changed direction and decided to go around it.

After traveling all this way, though he remained cautious, he no longer felt the same tension he had just after leaving the small cave area.

Look at this environment—these crises everywhere, some audible and some silent. Wasn't this a dark-themed spring outing? Only, the visitors had to carry clubs and possess spells; vigilance was the brain-teasing game of the outing; splashing blood was the spring breeze brushing one's face, carrying a thread of warmth amid its chill.

Unfortunately, he had no intention of becoming a kobold poet.

As he marveled at the wondrous surroundings, he was also considering how to combine the spells he had already mastered to deal with any trouble that might arise, as well as what spell he should learn next.

He could think further about his choice of spells later. After all, this journey was for that very purpose. Perhaps he might even gain some new spells.

He carried his staff onward until his legs ached. Whenever he could avoid dealing with something along the way, he did not waste time on it, keeping his focus on traveling.

Kobolds had fairly good endurance, and he also had the support of spells. That meant he had already covered quite a considerable distance.

He searched for a patch of ground sturdy enough to rest on.

It could guard against certain dangers coming from beneath the earth.

He had seen Ka Liu mention in his diary a spell capable of turning soil into solid stone. Back then, he had thought that he absolutely had to learn it if given the chance. Unfortunately, as a little kobold, such opportunities would not come easily.

Half asleep and half awake.

Several times, the slightest sound made him open his eyes. Whenever that happened, he desperately wished he had a bonded magical pet.

The Black Book contained a method for contracting magical pets that matched the Demonic Mark Meditation Method, but he had never used it. On one hand, he feared leaving behind the fatal flaw from the rumored tale of someone borrowing a pet to harm its master. On the other, he had no suitable target for a magical pet. He had once held hopes for the little fellow in the nurturing pouch, but it still refused to come out, preferring only to nest inside that eggshell.

He did not know whether it was noon, morning, or night.

He opened his eyes again. After a simple meditation session, he shouldered his staff and continued on his way.

He hurried onward, constantly advancing toward his destination.

Rumble!

A tremendous crash sounded in the distance, followed by sparse scraping noises as some heavy object dragged against the ground.

He hurriedly found a shallow depression and lay flat inside it.

Before long, he saw an old friend.

Gray Longneck Saint Lord's enormous body twisted and swayed as it crawled rapidly into the distance. Along the way, it knocked over who knew how many things Ruger did and did not recognize, as though it were carving out a road.

Ruger lay on the ground without moving.

He merely waited quietly.

Sure enough, not long after Gray Longneck Saint Lord left, a figure sprinting at incredible speed strode after it in pursuit.

This time, he waited a long while before climbing back up.

"Could that be another kobold?"

He thought to himself, then immediately moved away from the area with his staff on his shoulder.

Thinking carefully, that hurried figure did not seem much like a kobold—not even one like Bald Tooth. It looked more like a human, a tall and powerful human.

He did not dwell on it further. He only hoped that all these unexpected incidents would not send him off course and eventually leave him lost.

Perhaps his good hopes had been answered, or perhaps Ruger simply possessed the strong sense of direction of a kobold.

After a stretch of relentless travel without sleep or rest.

He looked up in delighted surprise. The entrance leading to his destination, the small cave area, was already faintly visible in the distance.

Perhaps the lizardmen deserved some credit for this as well.

He looked at the dozens of lizardmen lying at his feet. Among them were scarlet-backed lizardmen, as well as his old friends, the green-backed lizardmen. He had no idea which group this was that he had encountered, nor how many groups there had been. Some were numerous, some few; the largest group had even posed some threat to him.

This hurried journey had been delayed quite a bit by these little lizards, but they had also guided him onto the right path.

Without these lizards, he would already have strayed from his route.

These lizardmen seemed to be traveling in batches to gather somewhere, but unfortunately, he did not speak lizardman and could not ask them anything.

Though the cave entrance seemed already within sight, he forced himself onward for a long while yet.

After his previous experience, he had pinned his hopes of resting on this small cave area. Resting in the open would once again make him keenly aware of how small kobolds were. Perhaps it was the instinct of a social creature at work, but he believed his own weakness also played a part.

Fortunately, he only needed to cut diagonally across this area over a short distance. If he had crossed it in full, the journey might have taken several times longer in the end.

From within that enormous cavern world, the entrance to this small cave zone had not seemed very large.

But once he truly stepped inside, he discovered that the passages here were more than three times the diameter of those on the kobold side.

After walking for a while, he decided to find a place to rest first.

A steady drip-drip sound echoed in the distance, accompanied by a biting chill that had coiled around him from the moment he entered.

He stopped walking instead of venturing deeper, found a corner, and began to rest.

The existence of Foul-Smelling Skin was what gave him the confidence to attempt sleeping alone outside several times, and it was also his greatest reliance.

As his body relaxed, the exhaustion he had accumulated over many days surged over him like a tide. His eyelids drooped beyond his control, and with the steady sound of his breathing, deep sleep arrived as promised.