Chapter 99: The Innocent Weasel.
“If only we had more manpower.”
The commander looked at the remains of the Slaying Dragon, regretting deeply that they couldn’t take it back.
This carcass’s shell submerged in the soil was intact. The Slaying Dragon has a habit of feeding on minerals; metal components would precipitate and grow together with the shell.
Apart from being used as weapon material, the Slaying Dragon’s shell can also be considered a special mineral, with considerable usage value.
In terms of personnel, the Ancient Dragon Investigation Team prioritizes quality over quantity, especially for the first batch exploring the New Continent.
Their most important task is to steadily drive in nails rather than quickly assembling wooden planks outward.
Two investigators took out their skinning knives, selecting several excellent materials to peel off and carry.
After searching nearby for traces of the Spiny Dragon without success, they decided to head back and begin expanding their operational range horizontally.
But considering how late it was, they didn’t act for long before finding a good place to camp, sheltered from wind and rain, and lit a bonfire.
While they rested during the night, Jié Jié slipped away. The commander called out softly but retracted his hand and did not stop him.
This little guy knows this area absolutely better than them. Judging from the detour rabbits hunted earlier, his survival skills are assured.
Although they’ve only been together for a couple of days, they haven’t treated him like a pet that needs restraint or supervision, nor declared any ownership over Jié Jié.
For Jié Jié, this is the foundation for them to get along.
He transformed into a Fire Dragon in a corner far from the campsite and surveyed the surroundings from above.
To his eyes, the two people’s range of movement wasn’t very wide, not even entering the territory of other large monsters.
The sense of superiority brought by flying almost made him forget how far human legs could travel. The firelight emanating from the hard fungal colonies appeared so tiny to the Fire Dragon’s eyes, as were the humans and dragon people resting by the fire.
The Fire Dragon flew towards the ancient tree valley under the night sky, skillfully locating the habitat of the Ancient Dragon People.
The Ancient Dragon People live in trees within the forest, using cocoons left behind after the metamorphosis of large insects as dwellings.
The sound of the Fire Dragon landing woke up one of the Ancient Tree Dragon People, who poked his head out of the cocoon opening.
Only when resting inside the cocoon do Ancient Dragon People not wear hats, revealing their dragon-like faces.
The Ancient Dragon Person and the Fire Dragon exchanged glances, recognizing Jié Jié through those wise eyes.
“…”
The Ancient Dragon Person mumbled while scratching his head, looking in the direction Jié Jié indicated by turning his head, though unfortunately unable to see much due to the dense foliage. Nonetheless, he nodded, deciding to check it out when he had time.
Then he turned around and went back to sleep.
Jié Jié peeked into the cocoon where the Ancient Dragon People lived. Inside, it was filled with soft silk threads, making for a comfortable rest.
These immortal beings don’t care about being disturbed in their current activities since all their time belongs to themselves. They can always find time to continue later.
Without pressure, with good sleep, they won’t experience hormonal imbalances leading to irritability.
Season from his past life might have found it hard to understand why they had such great mental states.
And now he was almost the same as them—time entirely belonged to himself—but the soul of an outsider still felt somewhat restless, thoughts still lively.
Without disturbing the Ancient Dragon People’s rest further, Jié Jié returned to the side of the two people.
By this time, the person keeping watch had changed from the commander to a Dragon People Tribe hunter.
The weasel met the dragon person’s inquisitive gaze and feigned innocence, pretending to know nothing.
Dragon people are sensitive, meticulous, and full of curiosity. The hunter in front might have sensed something, but hadn’t even begun to write down a hypothesis yet.
Jié Jié was quite looking forward to what would happen when he faced the investigation team again in another form, and was equally curious about the hunters’ performance in actual combat.
He had observed the hunters in the investigation team—they were all energetic, incredibly agile, every muscle seemingly under absolute willpower control.
With such thoughts, a plan worth trying naturally came to mind.
Driven by this plan, he quietly left the camp again.
Thus, a new Slaying Dragon left fresh traces in areas unexplored by the two.
Naturally, this was Jié Jié, who also began paying attention to minerals previously overlooked.
A significant portion of monster diets include minerals; metals consumed are precipitated and grow together with shells to enhance hardness.
The Slaying Dragon is among these monsters, as is the Steel Dragon. The metallic luster on their shell features comes from this process.
Exposed mineral vein crystals were completely crushed by Jié Jié, ground into powder in his mouth, and then swallowed.
Different forms share only the disadvantage of lacking independent health bars; otherwise, everything else trends toward more favorable directions. There’s no need to worry about transforming into a Smoky Snow Weasel and suffering metal poisoning.
Just like how a Fire Dragon eating an entire Water Dragon and transforming into a Smoky Snow Weasel wouldn’t cause its belly to explode—don’t try to understand if you can’t.
After manufacturing the signs of Slaying Dragon activity, the clueless Smoky Snow Weasel returned to the investigators, watching them tidy up the campfire.
When they restarted their exploration, Jié Jié darted off in one direction, turning back to sway his long tail and lure them.
“Is this telling us to follow it?”
“It seems the little guy discovered something last night. Let’s go check it out.”
The two ran after the Smoky Snow Weasel and discovered the trail of the Slaying Dragon along the way.
At this point, the Smoky Snow Weasel stopped, showing off its findings.
“Oh, this isn’t good news. Judging by the freshness of these tracks, it’s another Slaying Dragon. How could such monsters appear so frequently?”
The commander became anxious, suddenly feeling fortunate that the ship landed on a steep peak.
“Judging by the depth and size, this one is much larger than the previous one.”
The dragon person frowned similarly, standing up and looking around:
“In fact, the previous Slaying Dragon might have been driven here by it.”
“Only places with abundant mineral veins attract multiple Slaying Dragons, leading to territorial disputes until the opponent’s sword tail shatters and the battle ends.”
“But this is a forest—”
The commander paused mid-sentence, noticing the pulverized crystal shards and bare crystals nearby as pointed out by the dragon person.
“When we stepped onto this land, I had a strange feeling of clarity after the fog lifted—”
The dragon person hesitated, realizing he needed more exploration.
The fog hasn’t been fully dispelled, or perhaps lifting the fog has given rise to more doubts. These doubts should be digested before sharing them.
The commander crossed his arms, waiting for his companion’s explanation, which never came.
The air grew tense, and Jié Jié watched them, unable to understand their words, making it feel like watching a silent drama.
“Let’s continue exploring.”
The dragon person shook her braid, swallowing saliva to break the awkward silence.
“The Slaying Dragon’s trail has disappeared again. Given the freshness, we should have directly sighted it by now, but where is the monster?”
The commander’s wandering gaze wanted to look at the Smoky Snow Weasel but realized it had vanished, only hearing the expected sounds coming from afar.
Trees were shaking, split open by red-and-blue streaks of light.
