"Awoooo~"
Jonavili presented the spoils to Furiel. Furiel looked at the object in the white dragon's claw, her eyes narrowing.
She looked at Jonavili and at Gris, who had approached, then back at the object in the claw before asking.
"You two hunted this?"
Jonavili gestured excitedly, while Gris's voice was trembling.
"Yes."
Furiel's eyes narrowed as she contemplated something.
Then she pulled back, meeting Jonavili's confused gaze, and said flatly.
"I'm not eating it."
It was no joke—a high-tier magic beast. Judging by the size of that lion's head, it must have reached the juvenile stage, at least at the Silver-tier.
One could imagine how much strength they had to expend to defeat such a beast.
Besides, as a red dragon, if she wanted to eat, she could rely on her own strength to hunt. Furthermore, she was currently full and couldn't eat another bite anyway.
Seeing that Furiel didn't want it, Jonavili looked aggrieved, but she was secretly delighted.
'Eat it or not, if you don't, I'll eat it myself.'
Gris, on the other hand, had a greedy look on his face, realizing he could have another delicious meal next time.
Jonavili and Gris returned to their respective sleeping spots. To prevent the meat of the three-headed golden lion from spoiling and to stop the scent of blood from attracting other powerful predators, Jonavili used Frost Breath to freeze it.
At that moment, Jonavili felt a resentful gaze fixed on her.
Looking in the direction of the gaze, she saw Gris staring at her with wide eyes, his expression seemingly saying—aren't you going to save a bite for me?
Jonavili looked at the food in her claw, then at Gris, and then flipped her hand to freeze the whole thing.
'If you want to eat, go catch it yourself.'
Furiel watched all of this silently. She lowered her dragon head without a word, a slight curl appearing at the corner of her dragon muzzle.
...
Time flew like a shuttle, and five months passed in a flash.
Jonavili, now nearly five meters long, arrived at the cave of the white-scaled goblins. Upon entering, she saw a small ice crystal hut.
Sensing a familiar presence, the door of the ice crystal hut was kicked open. Fanni flew out happily, circling around Jonavili.
Ice crystal powder scattered along her flight path.
"Jonavili, Jonavili, you're finally here!"
Jonavili grinned, lifting a claw. Fanni landed skillfully on the claw and said with a smile.
"Hehe, thank you~"
"Fanni, how has the production been lately?"
Hearing that Jonavili only wanted to talk business as soon as she arrived, Fanni's mood dampened slightly, but she still spoke up.
"Jonavili, for the past five months, those goblins have been mining iron ore. Under my supervision, they haven't slacked off for a single moment."
There was one thing Fanni didn't mention: she had deliberately increased the working hours for the white-scaled goblins, leaving them little time to reproduce. As a result, their population had only just surpassed a hundred.
Fanni puffed out her small chest, waiting for Jonavili's praise.
"Mm-hmm, little Fanni is wonderful."
"Hehehe, so when can Jonavili take me out to play?"
Fanni looked expectant. She was nearly bored to death here; her range of activity had always been limited to the immediate vicinity.
Jonavili continued her perfunctory response.
"Mm-hmm, very soon. I'll take you out after my next hibernation."
"Then when is your next hibernation? How long will it take?"
Jonavili ignored the question.
"Let's go. I need to ingest some ore."
With that, Jonavili turned and walked down into the mine. Seeing that Jonavili had ignored her, Fanni's spirits sagged, but she still flapped her wings to follow beside her.
Entering the massive mine, she saw the goblins working diligently to mine the iron ore. Jonavili nodded with satisfaction.
Very good, very motivated, very energetic.
"Erpiezi."
Hearing Jonavili's call, the white-scaled goblin leader hurriedly stopped his work, forced himself to perk up, and ran to kneel before Jonavili.
"Great Master, is there anything you require?"
"Keep up the good work. Also, increase the reproduction efficiency."
"Yes, Great Master."
After dismissing Erpiezi, Jonavili walked to the area where the iron ore was stored, picked one up, and popped it into her mouth.
Every once in a while, Jonavili would come to eat iron ore to increase the hardness and defensive capabilities of her dragon scales.
After eating until she was half-full, Jonavili bid Fanni farewell and left the cave. She prepared to take a stroll over toward the Sleeping Forest.
Flapping her dragon wings, Jonavili flew toward the east.
...
Dogtooth Tribe.
A group of scrawny, humanoid monster sub-species covered in fine red scales moved through the eastern region of the Sleeping Forest.
Holding simple wooden tools, they arrived at a pit trap. Seeing that the trap had been triggered, the humanoid monsters let out excited cries.
"Woof woof woof!"
"Woof! Chief, it's a success!"
A small kobold ran quickly to an elderly kobold, gesturing wildly and letting out excited barks.
Hearing the news, the elder's cloudy crimson eyes seemed to clear significantly, and his back no longer seemed so hunched.
His withered claws grabbed the thin kobold's hand as he said excitedly.
"Quick! Take me to see, woof!"
Supported by two kobolds, the old kobold walked to the trap. Before his eyes was a boar impaled by ground spikes.
This made him even more excited, and he couldn't help but bark.
"Woof!!"
The other kobolds followed suit.
"Woof!! Woof woof!!"
"Wonderful! This winter season will finally be a bit easier to bear."
Although a single boar was only five meters large, the kobolds didn't eat much. If they ate sparingly, it should last them until next year.
While the kobolds were cheering, a dark shadow streaked through the air, but it didn't catch their attention.
"Quick, pull this boar up before any unexpected accidents happen."
"Woof woof!"
The group of kobolds had clear roles and began to move the boar out of the trap in an orderly fashion.
After exerting a great deal of effort, they finally moved it onto the ground.
Just as they were celebrating being able to survive the winter season, a loud thud rang out.
The kobolds were startled and looked toward their chief.
A trembling chief, thick snowy-white hind legs, a chubby white dragon body, and a sinister, crooked-mouthed white dragon head.
A dragon! A true dragon!
Silence. The scene fell into a deathly silence.
Jonavili scanned the terrified kobolds and curled the corner of her mouth.
[Kobold: Approximately one meter tall. Thick hind legs, relatively thin forelimbs, possessing claws. Extremely sensitive to light, they emit a faint phosphorescence in the dark.]
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