Time and Life

Ruger was awakened by his own snoring. Whenever he overworked himself, his snores would rise in all directions—from the opening note as he drifted hazily into deep sleep to the lingering final note when he startled awake. Judging only from those two sounds in his memory, they could barely pass for a hometown tune. Sometimes, when he lay in the wrong position, the pitch climbed several notes higher.

The insect meat he had held in his hand and nibbled on before sleeping had somehow fallen to the ground. Still bleary-eyed, he picked it up, brushed away the dirt and dust, and stuffed it into his mouth in two or three bites.

He smacked his lips and had another bottle of shaved ice.

As he ate, he took out the Black Book and flipped through it.

If a kobold did not work hard, then no matter how talented he was, it was all for nothing.

A level-two wizard apprentice? He still had not drunk the Meditation Awakening Potion Half-Man had given him. It was said to increase spiritual power while eliminating side effects.

He had no plans to use it yet. The rate at which his spiritual power improved through the meditation method was already far faster than Half-Man had expected.

A long-overdue session of quiet meditation.

The second Demonic Mark required twelve runes to construct: six old ones and six new ones. Before setting out, he had already mastered two new runes. The runes were gradually becoming more difficult, yet the speed at which he mastered them had not slowed by much.

Sometimes, he even wondered whether meditation methods had compatibility just like spells did. If so, then he and the Black Book—or rather, the Demonic Mark Meditation Method—must have been an extremely perfect match. That sensation of progress made it hard for him to imagine his spiritual power ever running into a bottleneck. Of course, perhaps his level was still too low, and the truly difficult parts lay ahead, beyond anything he could imagine, ready to leap out and give him a fright.

His spiritual space remained as beautiful as ever, possessing a tranquil beauty that was both real and illusory.

A calm sea stretched toward a mysterious distance. The Demonic Mark, like an illusory canyon, hung high in the sky, surrounded by numerous spell models revolving around it. And there was that shining star at the highest point—the zero-ring spell slot that had solidified Foul-Smelling Skin. If he wanted to add another star, he would likely have to wait until he became an official wizard.

He gathered himself and tried the new runes in the Black Book, only to discover that everything was progressing even faster than he had imagined.

He still remembered that unusually shaped wizard apprentice.

That pale-gray, translucent crystal that crumbled with a single squeeze.

His spiritual power really had increased. Hopefully there would not be any bad side effects, he thought.

He had expected as much back in the wilderness, but he had not dared to conduct exhaustion-level meditation training or spell tests there. This time, after trying meditation and mastering two new runes in succession, he recovered his condition and began continuous construction again from the first rune, barely managing to complete ten runes in one go.

Just two more, he thought.

After recovering for a while, he decided to bring Aisijin and the others some roasted meat. Though the storage bag's space was special and would keep it from spoiling, after so many days, he did not know whether it would still taste as good. He had kept himself from eating any on the road. Thinking back on it now, he had been too nervous at the time. He should have swallowed his pride and asked that fire-playing wizard apprentice for some seasonings.

Just as Ruger was about to rise, he sat back down again.

Footsteps were already approaching from the distance. He guessed it was Aisijin. She had probably learned from Bald Tooth that he had returned.

"Big Brother Ruger, every time my belly gets hungry, I come here to look. But you're never here." The kobold girl said it without the slightest hint of complaint in her tone.

Ruger knew that she was merely stating a simple fact.

"Look."

Aisijin held up a black fruit in both hands.

"Big Hum Hum and I would go out to search every time we had eaten our fill, then come back only once we were really hungry. We finally found it—a strange-looking tree. Every time I came here, I wanted to tell you, but you weren't here..." Aisijin beamed as she held the black fruit up before Ruger's eyes, nearly shoving it into the bridge of his nose.

"This is the fruit Big Silly Hum ate?"

Ruger was somewhat surprised. They had really found it.

After all, Big Silly Hum had not picked that fruit up or plucked it himself. The previous Blackclaw Lord had given it to him, so there had been absolutely no clue to follow.

"Mhm." Aisijin nodded happily. "There are more on the tree. I only took a few. Old Gold Tooth wouldn't let us eat them. He said we had to wait for you and listen to you. I listen to you too."

Ruger took the fruit, held it beneath his nose, and sniffed it. Then he clenched it in his hand and began pacing back and forth.

The shackles of the kobolds' short-lived race did not only bind and threaten him. For these friends who had helped him, they too were locks they would inevitably have to face—locks they would find difficult to break free from on their own, like a cord cinched tightly around their necks, tightening bit by bit. He looked at Aisijin. That simple, direct smile of hers might vanish without anyone noticing, never to be seen again. He felt that such a smile deserved to remain in this world a little longer.

He remembered Old Gold Tooth saying that Big Silly Hum's eating the black fruit had actually meant missing a precious opportunity. The first transformation was the easiest time to succeed. Combined with what Bald Tooth had said about what had happened in the Red Horn Tribe, trying to become dragon-descended kobolds by relying on items containing only a faint trace of dragon bloodline aura and impure-blooded draconic beasts would most likely end in failure.

So this fruit could not be eaten rashly.

Still, Big Silly Hum's extraordinary self-healing ability should be unique to this fruit. After all, Old Gold Tooth had said that ordinary dragon-descended kobolds did not have such an ability.

"Can you still find that place? Take me there. I want to see that tree," he said.

A place capable of growing such peculiar fruit, one that even carried a dragon's aura, was certainly unusual.

He only hoped it was not some wounded dragon that had passed through decades ago, spilled a drop of insignificant dragon blood, and happened to water a tree with it—a bizarre occurrence that only had any value at all when it appeared in a legend.

At his words, Aisijin nodded fiercely, as though she had long been prepared.

Seeing her excitement, Ruger became somewhat suspicious. Perhaps Aisijin had even rehearsed beforehand so she could lead him there—such as choosing the nearest, easiest route. She was capable of that. Though he had never pointed it out, deep down, she had always wanted to seem a little smarter.

The two kobolds set off.

At first, Aisijin followed her old habits, proceeding cautiously all along the way.

But gradually, she realized that with Ruger beside her, she no longer needed to be as careful as before. It was even easier than traveling with the hunting party.

The two of them moved farther and farther from the settlement.

Ruger was somewhat impressed that they had dared to come so far. At the same time, he remembered that he seemed to have warned Aisijin to catch insects only nearby and not wander too far away.

Judging by Big Silly Hum's character, he would never have dared disobey. The only possibility was that Aisijin had forced Big Silly Hum to go out with her to search.

Seeing that she still seemed a little unused to it, Ruger had already decided inwardly that he would give this bold and reckless girl a proper scare.

As they continued onward, the terrain grew increasingly complicated.

A small group of lizardmen they could originally have avoided was led by him straight into a head-on encounter with them.

Aisijin immediately crouched down, trying to hide in a low depression.

And at that critical moment.

Ruger seemed to have drifted off and failed to notice her movement. He was just one step too slow, with no time to dodge at all, and simply stood there in a daze.

The sight truly scared Aisijin silly.

She had never seen Ruger fight a whole pack of lizardmen, so naturally she could not imagine such a scene.

He stood there, listening to the lizardmen shrieking in disarray just a few steps away. Everything happened in the blink of an eye. Only when the flying short spear was almost upon him did he turn to look at Aisijin.

"I remember saying that kobolds running off alone are very dangerous. Even if you drag Big Silly Hum along, it won't change much."