And so.
He got moving.
Luo Ge picked up the Red Dragon hatchling and stealthily... furtively, cautiously left the nest, like a thief.
Once the Red Dragon hatchling realized Luo Ge had not abandoned it and left alone, it indeed settled down, obediently curling up in his arms and occasionally rubbing its head against his arm to express its affection.
Before long.
Luo Ge had coaxed the Red Dragon hatchling to sleep.
It was quite well-behaved and did not fuss...
It seemed this Red Dragon hatchling really had mistaken him for its parent. Just like that, Luo Ge not only successfully made his way out of the Red Dragon Mountains.
But before leaving, he also swiped a recently born Red Dragon hatchling from a Red Dragon's nest.
Uh!
If he told anyone about this bizarre experience, probably no one would believe him.
After enduring countless hardships.
Luo Ge successfully reached the summit.
Standing at the highest point of the Red Dragon Mountains' main peak, he looked around, only for the sight before him to catch his attention.
Before his eyes stood a towering, majestic mountain, but instead of snow covering its summit, there was an enormous hollow that even Red Dragons dared not readily approach.
The concentration of mana was outrageously high...
That hollow resembled an entrance to hell, immense and bottomless.
"Wuuu..."
Luo Ge felt the little Red Dragon hatchling in his arms begin trembling, as though something utterly terrifying lay asleep below.
Luo Ge merely glanced down. As he gazed into the abyss, the bottomless abyss seemed to have a pair of eyes gazing back at him from somewhere unseen, making his skin crawl.
"Could this be the labyrinth... the Dragon God Hole?" Realization dawned on Luo Ge.
Only then did he begin to realize that all these years, he had been living at the very bottom of the Dragon God Hole, one of this world's three great, world-class labyrinths, where countless people dared not set foot.
"The Dragon God Hole."
One of the world's three greatest labyrinths.
Countless people trembled at its very name... Rumor had it that deep within the Red Dragon Mountains, an enormous hollow existed atop a mountain that pierced the clouds. Any Red Dragon flying over it would be sucked into the hollow by an immense force and devoured.
No adventurer had ever dared to explore this labyrinth, because even the method of entering it was unclear.
Yet probably no one would have imagined that Luo Ge had actually spent a full two and a half years living, without knowing any better, in a laboratory at the very bottom of the labyrinth.
As Luo Ge gradually took it all in, even he felt this experience was far too dreamlike, downright unbelievable.
Such an absurd experience... probably few people would believe it if he told them.
"No wonder I came across Red Dragon remains on my way up, and so many monsters on every floor."
All the clues in his mind suddenly connected, leaving Luo Ge a little more curious about, and in awe of, that Demon Dragon King.
Demon Dragon King Laplace must have been an extremely formidable figure.
But unfortunately... someone like him had apparently already been killed by Hitogami.
Luo Ge could only feel it was a shame that he had been born at the wrong time. Otherwise, he would at least have sought out that Demon Dragon King for a few drinks.
The scene shifted, and Luo Ge's gaze once again fell on the entrance to the Dragon God Hole labyrinth.
Should I go inside and investigate?
Maybe conquer this labyrinth...
Luo Ge immediately dismissed this dangerous thought. This labyrinth felt like a living creature, and an exceedingly dangerous one.
According to the notes the Demon Dragon King had left behind, this Dragon God Hole labyrinth had more than two thousand floors beneath it.
In short... this was no place to linger. Better to make himself scarce.
Two days later.
With his adorable pet, his very own baby Red Dragon, Luo Ge crossed mountain after mountain and finally left the Red Dragon Mountains.
He wandered aimlessly...
Without realizing it, he arrived in a primeval forest at the foot of the mountains. The good news was that he had successfully gotten out; the bad news was that he was lost here.
Having watched a few episodes of Bear Grylls's wilderness survival show in his previous life and drawn on a wealth of wilderness survival knowledge, Luo Ge gradually began putting it into practice, so at least he would not starve.
Along the way... uh.
He also encountered a few monsters that attacked him: the same Doom Boars he often encountered in the forest at Buena Village.
He had to admit, he had quite a connection with these boar monsters... Though not particularly strong, looking like elite mobs found everywhere along the roadside in the early game, they were quite widespread in the Asura Kingdom.
After hunting down a few boar monsters, he and the baby Red Dragon feasted until they had eaten and drunk their fill. He not only made jerky from the leftovers but also stitched himself a traveling backpack out of their hides.
He made it in the style of the little schoolbag Luo Ge had carried home from school every day during his previous life.
Putting the baby Red Dragon inside his boar-hide backpack made carrying it very convenient, too.
But the little fellow was mischievous... Every so often, it would poke its little head out, clearly full of curiosity about the outside world, finding everything fresh and new.
The human and dragon walked through the forest for who knew how long, and Luo Ge found much more enjoyment along the way.
"I just wonder how long a Red Dragon takes to grow up."
The corners of Luo Ge's mouth lifted as an image of himself riding a Red Dragon and becoming a dragon knight in another world already surfaced in the depths of his mind.
Heh-heh, whoosh!
Luo Ge narrowed his eyes slightly, enjoying his wonderful fantasy.
Suddenly.
Whoosh!
The sound of something cutting through the air suddenly reached his ears, approaching from afar. Luo Ge instinctively sensed the danger in advance.
He deftly dodged sideways, then saw that a feathered arrow had embedded itself in the tree trunk to his left... its tail still quivering slightly.
"Who's there? Do you have a death wish?!"
Luo Ge narrowed his eyes.
Just as he was about to pinpoint the source of the attack, he saw a burly, dark-skinned, middle-aged man with a bare upper body poke his head out of the dense bushes nearby of his own accord.
Have I run into a wild man?
No.
A hunter.
Luo Ge saw no neural signals indicating that the man intended to keep attacking, and for the moment, he could not determine what was going on.
"Huh? There's actually someone here, and a child at that?!"
The man spoke the common human tongue.
When he saw that Luo Ge was alone, with no adults nearby, he was clearly even more surprised.
After all, this forest was not far from the Red Dragon Mountains. It lay on the very edge of the Asura Kingdom's territory and was currently still undeveloped.
People generally did not set foot here. Only a small number of adventurers came here to hunt monsters.
However... Karen rarely saw anyone come here, let alone a child.
This immediately left him extremely surprised.
"Who are you?..."
Luo Ge was already prepared to kill this man in a single strike.
Only then did the hunter react, hurriedly apologizing, "...Sorry, young fellow. My stray arrow didn't hurt you, did it?"
"A stray arrow?"
Luo Ge reined in the faint killing intent in his heart, and his narrowed gaze gradually softened.
"I'm so sorry... terribly sorry. I was patrolling the forest, and when I heard movement over here, I thought I'd run into a monster, so I figured I'd strike first."
"I didn't expect... ah, I'm really sorry I nearly hurt you by mistake. I'm truly sorry."