Do you believe me when I say I’m not a dragon?

Not only that, another giant wolf with a broken arm also retreated to the edge of the cliff in horror. Regardless of his serious injury, he insisted on climbing down the cliff, but in the end he fell down in embarrassment. At this height, there was probably no trace of his body.

What is it that actually causes this creature, which is at a high ecological level in this area, to flee even if it is shattered to pieces?

Mercer turned around and looked towards where the wind was blowing.

With the moonlight shining on him, he saw an overwhelming layer of gray mist.

Chapter 20: Calling

"What the hell are these!"

Mercer opened his eyes wide, his pupils suddenly stood up, and he looked at the mist warily.

He just watched quietly, and then... let the gray mist spread over his body.

He had no reaction to this. Although the scene was visually spectacular, he did not think the fog was dangerous.

——In other words, his body instinctively accepted the existence of this mist.

He was so alert that he just felt the breath in the mist.

Ancient, powerful, majestic...More than that, Mercer also heard a stronger call than before in his heart.

"Come......"

"come on......"

"answer me......"

This voice was so sad and contained a weakness that penetrated deep into the bone marrow. It came from afar on the wind.

What the hell is that?Mercer didn't know either, but he knew very well at this moment that the existence releasing the gray mist was calling him.

After realizing this, a figure gradually became clear in Mercer's mind - it was a huge dragon, with gray scales all over its body, limbs and wings, and a gray mist surrounding its body.

Perhaps this giant dragon used to be so strong, but when he smelled a smell of decay and decay in the gray mist, the dragon in Mercer's heart also automatically added a weak image, and the whole dragon suddenly withered. stand up.

For a moment, Mercer froze on the spot, not knowing how to react.Then, a faint tingling sensation came from all over the body.

Mercer turned his head slowly and looked over his shoulder.During the previous battle with the giant wolf, he inevitably left a few scars on his body, but he didn't care. A thin layer of scales would grow on these minor wounds after a day or so of rest.

But now, he saw that his wound was covered by gray mist at some point. The thin mist covered the wound and soon turned into a gray hard mass.

Mercer could feel that his wounds were healing rapidly, all due to the gray mist.

It's helping me...it's harmless to me...it's calling me...I'm going to find it...

Under the gray scenery, Mercer felt that his brain had become blurry, and his thoughts began to become messy. He finally came to that conclusion-heading towards the center of the gray fog to find it.

With this thought in mind, Mercer came to the edge of the cliff, flapped his wings, and slowly flew up.

The surrounding fog became thicker and thicker, and the steep mountain peaks disappeared behind him. Mercer flew in a hazy way, flying in the direction of his body's instinct.

Gradually, what appeared in front of him was a vast plain.

Mercer had no time to look at the surrounding landscape. The only thought in his mind was to move forward and go to a certain existence.

Until a voice sounded——

[Your image is known to more people. Although they have no time to care about your existence, you have successfully planted a seed in their hearts - obtaining an extraction function. 】

The sudden voice in his head woke up Mercer. He suddenly came back to his senses and looked at the surrounding scenery.

"What's going on? Why am I here!"

He stopped, looked around in horror, and recalled the memory: "I remember just now... I heard something in the gray fog, and then I flew here without knowing it?"

The surroundings were filled with gray mist, as if a layer of gray veil had been cast in front of his eyes. Even the moonlight was dimmed because of this. There was silence all around, and the depressing atmosphere made Mercer break out in a cold sweat - if he had a sweating organ if.

Not only that, the ground on the plain was filled with a large number of corpses. They fell to the ground one after another, and the gray fog became thicker around them.

Judging from the arrangement of the bones, they slowly fell to the ground and died in pain during the migration process.

What would happen to him if he didn't wake up?Become one of these bones?

He gritted his teeth and growled while staring around.

We can't go on like this, we have to get out of here!

As far as the current situation is concerned, Mercer is still far away from that existence. If he wants to leave, it is completely late now.

With this thought in mind, Mercer turned sharply and flew back.

The wings flapped rapidly, taking Mercer to escape quickly in the direction he came from. He didn't know how long he had been flying just now, but he only felt that his body was a little tired, and there were some signs that he could not control his body.

Facts have proved that his guess was correct.

After Mercer flew a certain distance, a long and sad cry suddenly came from behind.

"hold head high--"

The place where the sound sounded was so far away, but it was clearly visible in Mercer's ears. His flying movements seemed to be shaken by a heavy hammer, and then the whole dragon began to flutter in the air uncontrollably. .

——Just when he heard the long cry, a large amount of sad emotions surged into his heart out of thin air. The endless loneliness disrupted his thoughts and made Mercer want to cry.

The black dragon raised his head and looked at the hazy full moon. He opened his mouth unconsciously, his teeth trembled slightly, and his scarlet vertical pupils were full of tears.

What's going on with this emotion?Am I affected by the sounds made by that being?

Mercer blinked and a few tears fell down. While sobbing, he shouted in his heart through the gaps in his thoughts filled with sadness:

"The system...extract it for me!"

[Extracting...The extraction is successful and the skill is obtained: Breath of Fire. 】

The next moment he heard this voice, pain came from his throat, which cheered up Mercer, and the whole dragon regained some clarity from the sadness.

"Roar......"

Mercer covered his throat and growled. This time he really wanted to cry. He had never experienced this kind of situation before, and the involuntary feeling in his body really frightened Mercer.

Taking advantage of this moment of clarity, Mercer immediately flapped his wings faster, wanting to leave this place of right and wrong.

At the same time, a trace of doubt also arose while he was flying - the skill he acquired was flame breathing, but he already had the ability to breathe. What should he do with this extraction?

According to past experience, extraction skills should be about transforming one's own body. [Eat Earth] and [Super Digestion] transform the stomach. [Ferocious Aura] emits a dragon-like aura through the eyes, and changes in the brain are also very important. Normally, then this [Fire Breath] should be a modification of the breath organ.

Fortunately, under the pain, Mercer gradually felt the changes in his throat.

This was the simplest and crudest change. On both sides of the breath organ in Mercer's throat, identical organs appeared.

The most important change brought to Mercer this time was that his breath weight was tripled, which was the simplest and most direct quantitative change.

call--

Almost subconsciously, blazing flames spurted out from Mercer's mouth, burning out the gray mist in front of him.

As the gray fog dissipated in front of his eyes, the sadness that had returned because the pain disappeared receded again.

"it works!"

Mercer's eyes lit up and he intensified his flame spewing again.

During the process of spitting, he felt something in his heart, and the muscles of his throat changed under his control. The unchanging shape of the flame spread out and turned into a small distance and a wide range of breath.

It seems that this is also the ability that the newly acquired skill brings to Mercer, allowing him to more flexibly control the range and direction of his breath through the contraction of his throat.

With the help of his new skills, Mercer burned the gray mist along the way, finally broke out of it, and fled back into the forest in embarrassment.

Chapter 21: Work

——While Mercer was submerged in the gray mist, there were still people working day and night in the villages in the forest.

"Instructor, I got what you asked for."

Kulu opened the door with ease and looked at the people busy in the laboratory.

"Oh, thank you for your hard work."

Lore sat in front of a petri dish, drank coffee, and sighed.

"No need to study anymore?" Kulu looked around. The other scholars were busy with what they were doing, but she was the only one who was doing nothing now.

"I've thought too much. Now I have to wait for these parasites to come into contact with the concoction and observe their reaction later. Don't think that just sitting there has nothing to do." Luo Er rolled his eyes.

"Oh..." Kulu was still thinking of telling her to go to the tavern to relax if she had nothing to do. Recently, she had been spending time in the laboratory, and her too serious attitude made her feel that her instructor was a bit strange.

In comparison, she still prefers the carefree Luo Er who competes with others in the pub to compare his drinking capacity. Now she... is really a bit depressed.

But Kulu also knew that if these parasites really came to this forest, it would be too late to put in ten times the effort now. This is a responsibility that everyone has to fulfill.

It’s not just Lore.Not long ago, after she informed Grandma Lizi about the parasite, her mother-in-law immediately issued a notice and informed the entire village of the incident.Therefore, the whole village was mobilized.

"Forget it, don't talk about it. Did any areas become different while collecting these materials?" As if sensing the sadness in Kulu's heart, Luo Er waved his hand and changed the topic.

"There is nothing unusual in the main activity area of ​​our village, but this time I walked a little further and found that some creatures were panicking for no reason, and many creatures had migrated. Sister Dale speculated that if this continues The ecological chain of the forest will definitely be destroyed."

Kuru replied with a worried expression. Recently, she was entrusted by Lore to Sora and Dell. They were very responsible for Kuru's teachings. In addition, now is an emergency period, so Kuru is studying harder than before.

Although Luol is good at manipulating insects to assassinate prey, Kulu does not have this talent. She is more accustomed to hunting with the longbow commonly used by people in the village.

Therefore, in the past, Luo Er only taught her the basics of hunting, and rarely gave her any guidance on using a longbow.

None of her companions used bows, but Sora, as a heavy crossbowman, had also explored knowledge in this area, which could help Kulu grow.

"Don't worry." Luo Er reached out and rubbed her head vigorously: "We will protect this forest."

After saying that, she glanced at the petri dish in front of the table: "If you have anything to say, let's talk about it later. I'm going to take the next step."

"...Hmm." Seeing that she was concentrating again, Kulu silently responded, turned and left.

She stood at the door, glanced at the busy people in the laboratory, and closed the door gently.

"How's it going? Did she tell you anything?" As soon as the door closed, Sola, who had been waiting at the door, came over.

Kuru smiled reluctantly and replied: "She said...she would protect the forest."

"That's good, isn't it? Luo Er has no arms or legs anyway, so don't worry~" Hearing what she said, Sora laughed immediately and patted Kulu on the shoulder. "Let's go hunting!"

Sora pushed Kulu and walked in the corridor of the ship with the taciturn Dale.

In order to facilitate the transportation of materials and save energy, the spacecraft is usually parked in the open space of the village for any curious villagers to visit.

"...Sister Sola, Sister Dale."

Walking slowly in the corridor, the uncomplicated corridors felt like walking through a maze to Kulu.

"what's up."

"What's the matter?"

"Instructor, has she always been like this when she was with you?"

Luol's seriousness made Kuru feel strange, but as her former companions, neither of them showed any unexpected emotions.

Such a strong contrast made Kulu suspect that the crooked woman who drank in the pub all day long was Luo Er in disguise.

"When faced with danger, even Sola will not be frivolous." Dell said calmly on the side, and then became quiet again.

"Ho, you mean I'm usually very careless?" Sora heard the other party's implication and immediately rolled his eyes: "Don't forget who cried and begged when we were in trouble in the snowfield last time. I don’t want to die?”

Hearing these words, Dell twitched the corner of his mouth slightly and didn't say a word, pretending that he didn't hear it.

"——Anyway, little Kulu, you need to know that our hunter's job is not just as simple as wielding swords and guns. Outside, even a big, muscular hunter will show off his body in his spare time. It's literary and artistic. After all, it's not uncommon for hunters like us to search through an entire library for information in order to hunt." Sora turned around and said to Kuroo.

Different from those hunters who operate in village tribes, or around fixed areas, Sora and the others are engaged in more dangerous and wider-ranging work.

Most of the former have grown up in that fixed area and know the hunting environment and the creatures in it very well. They can almost tell the beast's habits and weaknesses just by looking at it.

But the latter can be said to be completely opposite to it. After the [Catastrophe], [-]% of human beings live on floating islands. They know nothing about the mutated creatures on the ground. This is why hunters are required to conduct research on the ground. Explore to obtain scarce resources on the floating island.Because of this, they are faced with the unknown - no one knows whether this fruit is poisonous, whether this stream is drinkable, whether this creature will spit out spikes, whether it can still move after its head is cut off, whether it can move... They are social creatures.

Hunting is the constant purpose of both types of hunters, but the former's hunting range is a small hilltop, while the latter's hunting range is a world where all kinds of crises lurk.

"..." Kulu nodded silently. She already understood that for Sola and the others, Luo Er's behavior was normal, but even so, Kulu could not be as calm as them. to the situation at hand.

"——That's right!" Suddenly, Sola clapped his hands, "Since you're here, let me show you the world!"

"what?"

Sora didn't explain. She started to change directions in the corridor with Kulu. The intricate corners made Kulu confused and came to a corridor with many doors lined up.

"Kelishi! I'm here to play with you, are you there?"

Sora stood at the door of a room and shouted, then opened the door without knocking.