New Home

After lurking in the tiger's territory for ten days, Jose figured the human allied forces had mostly withdrawn. Only then did he, with his little dragon brother, embark on the journey to find a new home.

During these ten days, he had consulted the map given by the Black Dragon and made detailed plans for the future.

An abandoned mine pit was a matter of chance, but steep cliffs could be actively sought out.

To the north lay a great river called the Volga River. The Volga River originated from the Karakoram Mountains, passed through the Gloomy Forest, and flowed towards the sea. The canyons along the river were a good place. He could dig a hole in the cliff face, and Kashi could also live in the river water along the way.

Of course, Jose would not go to the main current of the river. The competition there was too fierce, and there were intelligent creatures active. What he was looking for were steep canyons along the tributaries, preferably closer to the Karakoram Mountains.

The Red Nest Matriarch, an Ancient Dragon, had a very strong sense of territory. Powerful predators within her territory were either killed or incorporated.

Although she had now fled in defeat, her lingering influence remained. For a short period, no predators would dare to step into the Karakoram Mountains, which gave Jose a period of relatively stable development.

For a Wyrmling, nothing was more precious than a period of stable development.

The journey was uneventful. He was very fortunate to find a satisfactory new home.

It was a canyon sandwiched between two mountains with a river running through it. On the cliff face of one side of the canyon was a natural cave. The entrance to the cave was hidden and narrow, and the internal space was neither too large nor too small, enough for him to live in.

Safety was also guaranteed. The cliff face was like a knife's edge, perpendicular to the ground at a ninety-degree angle. From below, one couldn't spot the cave entrance. The surrounding terrain was steep, and the area was deserted for a hundred miles, with no signs of strong creature activity yet.

The water quality of the river below the cliff was crystal clear. Animals often came to the riverbank to drink. The species discovered so far included wild goats, wild boars, sika deer, and leopards, making hunting very convenient.

"This place is good. Let's settle here. Kashi, you find a place to live too, but don't be too far from me."

"O-okay."

Kashi flew down towards the river. As a True Dragon of the water element, the White Dragon preferred to live near water.

Jose also began to tidy up his new home. First, he leveled the ground of the cave. Then, he broke off the stalactites hanging from the ceiling to avoid hitting his head. Finally, he smoothed out a platform in front of the cave entrance for easier takeoff and landing.

With these improvements, the cave now had basic living functions.

However, the visitor from another world was not satisfied with this.

If nothing unexpected happened, he would be living on this cliff for a long time. Factors such as defense, escape, and comfort all needed to be considered.

He flew out of the cave and observed the terrain around the canyon. A blueprint for the new cave gradually took shape in his mind.

He acted as soon as he thought of it. He flew back into the cave and faced the rock wall, raising his hand to look at his sharp claws.

Immediately, his sharp claws pierced the rock wall. He gripped tightly, and with a crunching sound, a piece of rock as large as a millstone was dug out. The difficulty of a dragon's claws digging through rock was exaggerated if called cutting tofu, but it didn't require much effort.

He looked at his claws again. There were no signs of wear and tear on them.

Dragons were top-tier extraordinary races. Their horns, scales, claws, and other body parts were harder than metal and stone. Combined with their terrifying strength and their fine control over their own bodies, their efficiency in digging rocks was even higher than professional machinery.

"Heave ho! Heave ho!"

Jose dug with increasing vigor.

After half a day, the new lair was excavated.

If the previous lair was a pauper's tent, then the current lair was a simply furnished flat.

Walking inside from the entrance on the cliff face was the original lair, which he had converted into a living room. At the end of the living room was a passage that sloped upwards. After another turn at the end of the passage was the new bedroom.

To prevent his lair from being breached, Jose had carefully prepared a trap.

He specifically smoothed a round rolling stone and placed it in a groove on the side at the end of the sloping passage. As soon as he detected an intruder, he could push the rolling stone out. The rolling stone would roll down the passage, crushing enemies, and finally blocking the narrow passage entrance. He could then make a calm escape through a backup passage.

Even a cunning rabbit has three burrows; Jose had also prepared three emergency passages. Two of them were on the cliff face, with their exits blocked by rocks and camouflaged with plants. The third one even went through the entire cliff, with its exit opening into the forest on the other side of the cliff face.

"If I had spellcasting abilities and magic materials, I could add some magic traps. Unfortunately, my abilities are limited now, so I'll have to make do."

The completed Red Dragon lay on the ground of his new home to rest. Beside him lay a pyramid-shaped pile of red stones, which were iron ore dug out during the excavation.

There was a small iron mine in the mountain cliff where he lived. The ore vein was not large, and the iron content was not high, but it was enough as a snack in his leisure time.

Jose picked up a piece of ore and threw it into his mouth from time to time. The hard ore cracked and broke between the dragon's constantly opening and closing teeth, making a crunching sound like chewing beans. The iron ore was ground into powder and swallowed.

It tasted great!

Not!

Ugh!

Swallowing raw meat no longer had any negative effects on Jose, but the iron ore made him re-experience the concept of disgust. The ground ore powder stuck to his throat, impossible to spit out or swallow, and his mouth felt dry and unbearable.

It felt awful.

After a while, he managed to get rid of the dry sensation in his mouth.

"This is completely masochistic! I hope those unreliable ancestors didn't trick me!"

Jose grumbled. The reason he ate iron ore was that the Dragon Heritage recorded that dragons' scales, bones, and other body parts contained a large amount of metallic elements. Eating gold, silver, copper, and iron could effectively improve the defense of their scales.

Therefore, even though he knew the iron ore didn't taste good, he was willing to eat some.

As the sun set, the sky was ablaze with red clouds. Jose lay on the platform in front of the cave, stretching his head out over the cliff to look down at the river below.

Migrating and digging holes, he had been busy all day and felt hungry. He decided to randomly select a lucky drinker and let it have the honor of becoming one with him.

He saw a brown wild rabbit dart out from the woods to drink water.

Too little meat, bad review.

He waited for a while longer. A sturdy adult black goat emerged from the small woods on the opposite bank of the river. The black goat poked its head out from the grass, looking around vigilantly. Finding no danger, it stepped on the smooth stones and walked towards the gurgling river.

A worthy prey!

Jose stood up and leaped from the cliff. His dragon wings folded tightly against his sides as he let himself freefall, the rushing air whistling past his ears, the scenery blurring as it receded.

Twenty meters above the ground, he suddenly spread his wings, instantly slowing his descent. He glided towards a black goat that was drinking water below.

The setting sun stretched his dragon shadow across the ground, engulfing the terrified black goat. It turned to flee but was firmly grasped by dragon claws descending from the sky, inevitably carried upwards.

With powerful beats of his wings, Jose ascended with the black goat, tracing a graceful arc back to his nest. Only the panicked bleating echoed between the cliffs.

Thank you to the Dragon Slayer Swordsaint for the 104 coin tip. By the way, where did that 4 come from?