Taking a Step Back, the More I Think, the Angrier I Get

When Jose's consciousness returned to clarity, he found himself in Starry River Square once more. The square was much the same as when he'd last left it, with the Phoenix and Jin Ke La statues still standing tall.

"Huh?"

Jose looked at the statues and felt something was off. Both statues were still the same size as him, even though his own size had increased by half over the past three years.

Soon, he stopped dwelling on the size issue. After all, this space was already incredible, so a few peculiar phenomena weren't that surprising.

Before long, another dazzling statue appeared on the white marble plaza. On its square base, an abstract, hollow eyeball floated in mid-air, formed by interwoven "0"s and "1"s.

While any single part of the statue seemed chaotic, the overall composition possessed a unique abstract beauty.

He looked at the inscription on the base:

[Data Vision]: F [Ruler]: A small den, the beginning of dominion. —To wear a crown, one must bear its weight. Are you ready?

As his fingertip touched the statue, green glowing "0"s and "1"s surged from within the eyeball statue. A torrent of data rushed into Jose's eyes, causing a sharp sting.

"Urgh."

In reality, the Red Dragon's eyelids fluttered, and his eyeballs rolled violently beneath them. After a while, he opened his sore eyes.

The Red Dragon's eyes were structured similarly to a snake's. His eyeballs resembled molten, deep red lava, with vertical, diamond-shaped golden pupils that dilated or constricted with the light intensity.

Normally, as long as nothing was obstructing them, a dragon's vision was no different from a human's. But now, lines of green numbers cascaded across the surface of Jose's retinas.

"It really is data-based."

He discovered that no matter where he looked, a set of data would automatically appear on his retina.

Distance: 41m Temperature: 31℃ Wind Speed: 3km/h ...

Rows of green data information fell like a waterfall before his eyes. Things he hadn't noticed before were now clearly labeled with data. Jose felt a slight pang in his teeth. Could it be that from now on, when he looked at girls...

Height: 168cm Bust: 32 Waist: 21 Hips: 34 ...

This was just too amazing! ()

"Erm... Height: 158cm; Bust: 38; Waist: 37; Hips: 39; a perfect 1:1:1 ratio, what kind of godly figure is this?!"

"Master, what did you say?"

"Ah?!" Jose jolted awake and recognized the person before him. "It's nothing, Ergou. What did you come to find me for?"

Ergou automatically ignored the strange nickname. "It's like this, Master. Ever since I got back, the more I thought about it, the angrier I got. I discussed it with my brother, and we've planned to get revenge on the Graytail Centaur Tribe. Preferably, we'll seize their grain."

"Master, the Graytail Centaurs are the largest native tribe nearby. They have dealings with human merchants, exchanging their plundered goods for supplies. Their tribe has accumulated a lot of stored grain. If we pull this off, we won't have to worry about food for two years. Plus, they also possess a large number of horses and herds of cattle and sheep, which would solve your food problem too. It's killing two birds with one stone."

"Centaurs, hmm... let me think about it first," Jose mused, stroking his chin as he recalled the records about centaurs in the Dragon Heritage.

The Tydanore Continent was home to numerous races. Some of these races had evolved naturally, such as humans, elves, and orcs. Others were products of magical energy, like beastmen, gray dwarves, and dark elves.

A considerable portion were also the work of the dragon race, like kobolds, half-dragons, and many other strange and extraordinary creatures.

Regardless of whether they were evil or good, the aforementioned species were products of Tydanore's natural evolution. Centaurs, however, were different; their emergence was linked to the devils of the Nine Hells.

Roughly five thousand years ago, during the Third Era, the Elven Dynasty that ruled the continent reached its peak and then declined, leading to a schism. The elven civil war nearly ignited the entire Tydanore Continent. The flames of war and the scent of death spilled over the planar barriers, attracting the attention of entities from the outer planes, among whom were devils skilled in temptation.

During that chaotic era, devils orchestrated one conspiracy after another. Countless heroes and races were misled by them and fell into darkness. Among these Fallen were the ancestors of the centaurs—the Huma.

The Huma were originally an extraordinary race aligned with good. Upon reaching adulthood, they possessed High-stage strength. They were the guardians of the forests and friends of nature.

Upon hearing of his kin's fall, the Huma King of that time was deeply pained and vowed to save his people.

The Huma King successfully expelled the devils' influence from the Fallen Huma, saving them from falling into the Abyss. However, it was unfortunately too late for the Huma King.

The devils' corrupting power had taken root in their bloodline and souls, making it impossible to expel. The Fallen Huma began a long process of degeneration, eventually evolving into the centaurs of today.

Compared to the Huma, centaurs suffered a severe reduction in size. Their skin changed from a sacred snow-white to an ugly dark brown. Their originally righteous and kind nature also reversed, becoming brutal and cunning.

Everything in the world has its gains and losses, and its losses and gains.

The centaurs lost their robust bodies and their magic for protecting nature, but they were compensated with enhanced fertility. Now, their presence was widespread across the plains, making them notorious grassland bandits.

"What is the scale of the Graytail Centaur Tribe?"

"There are more than thirteen hundred centaurs."

According to human standards for classifying monster tribes, fifty individuals constituted a small tribe, five hundred a medium tribe, five thousand a large tribe, fifty thousand a super-large tribe, and five hundred thousand would be a small nation.

A medium-sized centaur tribe with over thirteen hundred people, where everyone is a soldier, wasn't weak.

"No, there are too many centaurs. Kobolds can't chase down centaurs on the plains. Even if we win, we can't kill them all. If they escape, my existence will be exposed. And don't forget, they have a Khan and elite centaurs."

Like all races, centaurs have a certain chance of experiencing atavism, with the degree of atavism varying from individual to individual. The deeper the atavism, the stronger the individual.

According to human scholars' research, a medium-sized tribe of five hundred people that lacks an Intermediate Stage powerhouse is highly likely to split due to power struggles among Initial Stage elites.

This means the Graytail Centaur Tribe has at least one Intermediate Stage Khan, plus about a dozen elite centaurs with Initial Stage strength. The prosperous Bloodtooth Tribe might be able to fight them, but not now.

"My servant, revenge requires patience. As for the food problem, I will find a way to solve it."

In reality, the food crisis that was so severe it threatened the survival of the Kobold tribe was not an issue for Jose at all.

His confidence didn't come from the all-encompassing Dragon Heritage, but from the knowledge he'd acquired in his previous life. A lush primeval jungle wouldn't lack food.

He planned to go out for a stroll to test his newly acquired abilities and, incidentally, solve the food crisis for his familiars.

But before going out, he needed to understand what forces were nearby. He posed his question.

"Respected master, the five mountain heads around us are all territory of the Bloodtooth Tribe. On the outskirts, there are three Gnoll tribes, and three Kobold tribes that split from the Bloodtooth Tribe. To avoid war, we generally don't hunt beyond our borders..." Ergou said, drawing a sketch on the ground to help Jose understand.

In a short while, Jose had a general understanding of the forces around his territory. There was no one that could threaten him, at least based on the information he had gathered so far.