The "Turn a Blind Eye" talent allowed his scouting to go virtually unnoticed by any creature along the way.
As long as he kept his body low and moved quietly without making noise, he could spot prey well in advance.
By examining the tracks on the ground, Kael carefully noted down the paths frequently used by beasts in the thickets and their regular feeding spots.
All of these could serve as ambush and hunting grounds for the three wyrmlings.
Two hours passed, and Kael finished exploring the vast bushland in the direction he had initially chosen.
There was indeed plenty of prey, such as wild boars, sika deer, and hares, and for the time being, no Second-Tier or higher-tier magical beasts were found.
As he continued forward, the sound of gurgling water reached his draconic ears.
A river flowed out from the deep forest in the distance, running straight through the entire bushland.
The water was calm and crystal clear, with river stones visible at the bottom and schools of small fish swimming back and forth among the aquatic plants.
Kael's gaze swept over the shoals and deep-water areas, quickly spotting potential prey: a giant turtle sunning its back on the riverbank, and shallow-water crocodiles lurking quietly beneath the surface, waiting for prey to draw near.
Most of the creatures here were tierless or had just stepped into the First-Tier.
The giant turtle lying on the bank completely ignored Kael, and the crocodiles cruising in the water merely gave the shore a casual glance, failing to lock onto his presence at all.
Kael stood quietly by the riverbank, realization flashing in his eyes.
This river running through the thickets was home to fish, shrimp, giant turtles, crocodiles, and more... Rich in resources and almost devoid of danger, it was an excellent hunting ground.
From now on, besides catching land creatures in the bushland, the three little dragons could also come to the riverbank to haul in aquatic catches, greatly diversifying their food supply.
...
The sun had risen directly overhead; it was now mid-day.
A gentle breeze blew by the riverbank, and the river water was clear and cool.
Relying on his "Turn a Blind Eye" talent, Kael devoured a large quantity of plump fish and shrimp from the riverway as if moving through an uninhabited land.
Having replenished the energy spent on morning scouting, Kael felt his muscles and bones stretch, his spirits lifting considerably.
Immediately after, he accurately clamped down on the head of the giant turtle near the river. After killing it, he bit onto its hind leg and dragged it step by step back to the dragon lair.
The journey was filled with the crisp clattering of gravel colliding with the turtle shell, and before long, the lair came into view.
Inside the cave, the two little red dragons who had slept soundly last night were already awake.
Nora was crouching alone on a boulder outside the cave, right where the warm sunlight fell.
Her draconic eyes were tightly shut, her slender body slightly tense, and her brow faintly furrowed—she looked intensely focused yet struggling.
Kael remembered Nora saying she wanted to learn magic.
However, during a dragon's wyrmling stage, the magical organs inside their bodies were not yet developed; learning magic would require waiting until the young dragon stage at the earliest.
Right now, she was likely reviewing her draconic heritage, memorizing magical knowledge, or familiarizing herself with spell incantations.
After all, Kael had worn a similar expression back when he had to memorize textbook passages in his past life.
The other little red dragon, Carlos, was nowhere to be seen.
Hearing the footsteps and the sound of dragging a heavy object, Nora opened her draconic eyes.
Seeing that it was Kael who had returned with food, she ran over to his side happily, looking relieved as if a burden had been lifted from her heart.
“Kael! You're back!”
Immediately after, she reported the situation to him: “Just now, Carlos woke up, saw that you weren't in the dragon lair, and left the nest by himself.”
“Mm, got it.”
Kael nodded slightly without asking further, then placed the giant turtle he had dragged back in a cool spot inside the cave, just like yesterday's boar.
After setting the prey down, seeing Nora resume browsing her draconic heritage on the boulder, Kael walked out of the dragon lair alone.
Following the path he had taken to the rock wall yesterday, he had only gone halfway when a series of collisions and scraping sounds suddenly reached his ears.
Bang! Clack! Thud!
As it turned out, earlier that morning when Carlos went out, he had also happened to pass by this area.
He had found scattered red dragon scales on the ground gravel and seen clear claw marks and impact traces on the rock wall.
Carlos still remembered the duel agreed upon with Kael five years down the line.
Looking at these traces clearly left by Kael's training, his competitive draconic heart refused to let him lose to Kael in the future.
So, he had started training here as well.
Noticing another little red dragon approaching from behind, Carlos didn't turn back, continuing to claw and slam his body against the rock wall.
To be honest, Kael was also somewhat surprised.
Seeing that his two companions didn't just sleep after eating and eat after sleeping, but instead possessed the drive to improve, he felt much more at ease in his heart.
Kael walked over to another section of the rock wall and, just like yesterday, began honing his physical body.
...
A year passed, and the dragon lair hadn't changed much.
The bushland at the foot of the extinct volcano and the small river flowing beside it became the safest hunting grounds for the three little red dragons.
Over an entire year, led by Kael, the three wyrmlings found plenty of food.
This period was also the most peaceful time they had experienced so far.
Every day, Nora studied her draconic heritage outside the cave, while Carlos and Kael frequently went to the rock wall to train.
The three little dragons relied on one another, tempering themselves day after day. But now, it seemed the time for draconic slumber had arrived for all of them.
On this night, the moonlight was serene, and a cool chill lingered over the peak.
The three little red dragons finished devouring a fat wild boar magical beast.
Without any warning, as though the energy inside their bodies had reached its absolute limit, an intense drowsiness washed over all three wyrmlings at once.
“It's time to sleep. I'll go outside to check around.”
With that said, Kael walked outside the cave. Looking up at the starry sky, he exhaled softly and offered a silent prayer in his heart:
“Thank you for the Blessing of the Starry Sky. May I grow stronger and stronger, and eventually travel the world!”
Returning to the cave and seeing that both companions had already fallen into slumber, Kael walked over to a spot reached by starlight, lowered his draconic body, closed his eyes, and entered deep sleep.
As if understanding Kael's prayer, streams of starlight fell upon Kael from the night sky, illuminating his body—especially his draconic wings.
...
In the southwestern corner of the Whispering Forest lay the Broken-Tooth Tribe.
Grok Broken-Tooth squatted on a protruding rock in the tribe, his grayish-green skin glistening with an oily sheen in the morning light.
He wasn't particularly tall, far from large even by goblin standards, but his body was tightly knotted with muscle, like a piece of pig iron repeatedly forged in a blacksmith's shop.
Among goblins, strength was everything.
And Grok was the most promising talent the Broken-Tooth Tribe had seen in nearly a century.
The old priest had said that on the day he was born, a crack suddenly opened in the beast bone worshiped by the tribe, shaped like an open eye.
He said it was an omen that the child was destined to become a powerful goblin warrior.
Thus, Grok had a completely different childhood from other goblins who had to fight for food just to survive to adulthood.
Since childhood, he had eaten the tribe's finest meat, drunk warrior potions specially brewed for him by the old priest, and was trained in combat techniques and battle skills by several veteran warriors in turn.
For goblins, whose maximum lifespan was only sixty years, entering the Second-Tier at age fourteen and the Third-Tier at eighteen made him one of the tribe's top powerhouses, a indisputable pillar of the younger generation.
After he reached the Third-Tier, the old priest no longer kept him confined to the tribe.
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