Chapter 2: Hunting Goblins

The ogre fisherman's corpse would float downstream, so Sakavi didn't need to worry about his identity being exposed for the time being. However, there wasn't just one ogre fisherman, and continuing to stay by the river remained a high-risk endeavor.

Sakavi had to find a place to hide himself and properly heal his injuries before being discovered by the villagers. The goblin tribe mentioned by the fisherman was a perfect place. Goblins reproduce very quickly, are weak in strength, and are often the prey of various magical beasts.

According to the fisherman, villagers rarely hunted or gathered in the area where goblins were active, but goblins would occasionally come to the village to loot. In this way, by staying near the goblin tribe, Sakavi could perfectly avoid the harassment of various magical beasts and villagers.

Normally, goblins are often enslaved by dragons and themselves love to follow dragons to burn, kill, and loot, but that is for adult dragons—at least adolescent dragons.

For Sakavi, who was still in the Juvenile Dragon Stage, he could not subdue a goblin tribe by strength alone. Goblins are different from kobolds; they do not possess dragon blood in their bodies, and being enslaved by dragons is purely because they like to rely on powerful existences.

Following the direction pointed out by the fisherman, Sakavi walked for about three hours and saw the mark he had made again. It seemed he was lost. Originally, goblins often moved near the village, and the ogre chieftain would occasionally lead people to crusade against the goblins, so there was a connecting path between the village and the goblin tribe.

However, Sakavi didn't know the activity range of either side. Fearing being discovered by hunting villagers and also fearing being besieged by goblins, he didn't dare to walk on the road and could only travel through the bushes.

Moreover, the blood scent from the wound on Sakavi's shoulder would attract various predators. Many animals actually like to walk on the road, so he had to minimize contact with various wild beasts now.

As for the problem of being lost, he finally found a solution. Sakavi decided that when night came, he would climb a tree and mimic the calls of an adult dragon. If the goblins, who were very sensitive to dragons, heard it, they would definitely come to investigate.

By then, he could find them by following the scent emitted by the goblins. As for why he didn't directly track the goblins, Sakavi stated that he couldn't beat other wild beasts or magical beasts that might come to investigate.

Compared to the day, goblins prefer to be active at night. For goblins, the night can avoid many wild beasts from the sky, but this does not mean that goblins will not appear during the day. In fact, many weak goblins often face their food being snatched away at night and choose to come out to gather during the day.

After Sakavi mimicked a few somewhat strange roars, he lay on the tree and quietly observed the movement around him. Normal dragon roars carry very powerful dragon might, a capability that a juvenile dragon clearly did not possess.

The goblins in the distance clearly noticed this problem. After about ten minutes, two sneaky big heads appeared in the bushes in the distance.

After some observation, one of them suddenly let out a terrified scream and ran backward, dropping its spear. Its companion had just regained its senses and was preparing to flee when a black shadow jumped down from the tree, pounced on it, and bit its throat.

Looking closely, it seemed to be a pitch-black leopard, more than a size larger than the leopards back in his hometown on Blue Star. The goblin tried its best but couldn't break free.

After the goblin gradually lost its breath, the leopard roared a few times in Sakavi's direction and then slowly retreated with the goblin's corpse in its mouth. Watching the departing figure gradually disappear into the jungle, Sakavi finally relaxed his vigilance slightly.

However, there was more than just this one figure wandering around. It seemed difficult for the leopard to retreat unscathed; tonight was destined not to be peaceful.

After the fighting sounds in the distance gradually subsided, Sakavi approached the goblin lair following the scent. At the edge of a pine forest, he smelled that unique goblin odor. It was a smell mixed with rot, blood, and sewers.

It was hard to imagine what kind of creature could survive in that environment. Enduring the nauseating stench, Sakavi tiptoed toward the pine forest.

It wasn't that he was afraid of alerting the goblins, but rather afraid of attracting a goblin hunting party. As a traditional slave race of dragons, their bullying nature could be called the benchmark of the chaotic evil alignment.

Facing a juvenile dragon only 1.5 meters long, their first reaction would likely be to swarm him. Goblins are omnivores; they will taste anything edible, but what they eat most often, besides pine nuts and berries, is only small animals like mice.

One or two straggling goblins were not a threat to Sakavi. After most of the goblins responsible for gathering left, Sakavi began his hunt. Goblins have a very keen sense of smell, and those who can live to adulthood don't rely purely on luck, so there was only one chance to hunt.

After repeated selection, he finally chose a goblin that didn't look like an adult. Its skin was a dirty dark green, it probably had never taken a bath, and its ears were long and pointed, drooping like tattered bat wings.

It had a huge mouth that stretched to its ears, filled with small, sharp yellow teeth. It was short and hunched, about 70 to 80 centimeters tall, with arms so long they almost reached its knees. It carried a tattered sack on its shoulder, not knowing if it was stolen or robbed, picking pine nuts one moment and catching bugs the next.

The biggest characteristic of children is their extreme curiosity, followed by their playfulness. Utilizing this, Sakavi stretched out his tail and kept moving it toward the little goblin. The little goblin was indeed attracted by this strange black thing.

When it pounced over and grabbed this black thing, the owner of the tail instantly bit its throat. After a period of struggling, the little goblin gradually lost its breath.

Looking at the filth-covered little goblin, Sakavi made a very difficult decision, yet he still couldn't bring himself to bite. In the end, he could only drag the corpse to the creek for a wash before he could barely eat it, and instantly, his stomach felt like it was churning.

Now, Sakavi only had one concept in his mind: who was the guy who started the rumor that dragons would treat goblins as rations?

But life forced his hand; even if it was so hard to swallow, this was still the key ration for getting through the Juvenile Dragon Stage. Who told him goblins were easy to bully?

After eating his fill, it was time to think of a way to fix his fractured wing. Although magic existed in this world, even if he didn't fix it, there would be ways to repair it later. But the problem was that without wings, it was truly a bit difficult to survive in this crisis-ridden forest.

The method of fixing it was also very simple: find a stick, place it on top of the right wing, and then use thin vines to tie the stick and the wing to his body.

Although this method didn't have much effect and he couldn't do strenuous exercise, for his current situation, it could be considered a feasible method.

Because the existence of a dragon affects the surrounding environment, making it more suitable for them to live, for example, the place where a black dragon lives will gradually evolve into a swamp and emit an unusually intense, fishy stench.

Sakavi couldn't stay here for too long and had to leave before the surrounding magical beasts or other unknown existences noticed the environmental changes.

For a place full of hostility toward dragons, any mistake would be fatal. However, the state of a dragon plays a direct role in environmental impact. A young dragon's effect would not be too obvious, but who could guarantee that it really wouldn't be noticed? ===== CHAPTER 3 =====