Vol 2 Chapter 2: Morning Tea

A loud stomp caused by some massive animal or being could be heard across the forest. Its mere step was enough to shake the ground. Such noises woke Foin up early in the morning.

He slowly sat up without even opening his eyes. He quickly searched for his bottle of tea and drank it to start his day, and only then did he finally open his eyes, and he nearly jumped back as he was greatly surprised.

"I completely forgot about the dragon..."

He thought as he tried to regain his composure. He could see the massive head of the dragon staring at him. It was both terrifying and exciting for him. He stared at the beast for a few moments before finally clearing his throat.

"Good morning..."

He said as he slowly pushed himself up from the ground and slightly stretched his limbs. He really needed to make some sort of normal, usable sleeping place, as sleeping on the ground like that was not quite comfortable. For the first few days, it was fine, but now, after many days, it grew quite uncomfortable for him. However, he had no resources and materials to do anything of that sort just yet.

"Human, was it? You said that it would take about a day to make more of that tea you gave me yesterday..."

All the sleepiness had faded nearly instantly as Foin heard the dragon's voice. He nodded while pointing at the hole he had expanded the day before.

"Yeah... I have prepared some tea there... Also, please call me Foin and not human."

The dragon looked at the pit, and although it was not quite visible, it smiled. With one giant leap, it jumped up and landed in the river. It was moving much easier than it did yesterday and almost seemed a tiny bit larger.

"Phew... It seems tasty foods and drinks are quite powerful in this world..."

Foin thought as he stretched his limbs and then looked at his slowly expanding garden. The first thing he did was water his plants using his bucket, which he had just recently made.

Meanwhile, the dragon took a sip from the tea prepared by Foin, and it nodded in acknowledgement. It tasted just like the one it drank yesterday. It was quite refreshing for the dragon, as within a few moments, its effects kicked in, and the dragon's pains were mitigated. Also, it seemed that the tea accelerated the rate at which the dragon's wounds were healing, though it was still slow.

"I have been observing him through the whole night... At first, I thought he was some kind of powerful being since he managed to pull out Aier's blade... However, he seems just like an ordinary being... But for some reason, he is still capable of producing such great plants in this tainted forest...Maybe staying by his side would be beneficial..."

The dragon thought while it savoured the taste of the tea and drank it quite slowly. And in the meantime, it kept looking at Foin out of curiosity.

Foin was able to water his plants in a few minutes and then proceeded to harvest most of the peppers. Just like before, he broke a few of the products to collect their seeds, and then they were replanted. As he was harvesting, he used his bucket as a container so he didn't need to walk that much over and over again.

Suddenly, when he was about halfway done with his harvest, a familiar text popped up before his eyes. One which he had seen already a few times, but now it was followed by an additional one.

"Congratulations! You have levelled up. Required Experience Points increased! All Stats have increased by 1! Ability Points increased by 1!"

"Notice! You have reached level 5! You have unlocked the following skill: Inventory."

"Notice! You have reached level 5! You have unlocked the following skill: Natural Adapter."

The text soon faded, and Foin stopped for a brief moment to look at them, but since he was busy with the harvesting, he decided to check the skills out once he was finished.

"What the hell was that just now?! That was such a pure energy... I must have misjudged him... Maybe he is just pretending to be weak..."

The dragon thought as it witnessed Foin's work. From its perspective, when Foin reached the next level, he was surrounded by suffocating pure energy, which the dragon had not seen before, not even when it was up against Aier. But that energy was short-lived as it disappeared in a few moment's time.

"I need to reevaluate how I look at things from now on... Now I see why that black ant decided to serve him... It witnessed this event already..."

The dragon mumbled to itself as it looked back down at the half-empty pond of tea and just stared at it. Its red colour was able to reflect the dragon's form. It could only sigh as it kept staring at the liquid in the pool.

"Survivor of the fittest... I think I need to follow as well... But seeing how things are going currently... Yes, that is the only way...I must submit, and just like the ant follows him... But I must inform my family as soon as I am healed, which will most definitely take a few more days..."

Thoughts were who sing around in the dragon's mind. Foin's level-up scared it greatly. After shaking its head, the dragon quickly drank the remaining tea and then jumped back over to the flattened forestry area, shaking the ground when it landed.

Foin quickly looked at the dragon, seeing how it had landed. He carefully continued harvesting. However, a loud burst of sound echoed through the area. At first, Foin thought it was the roar of another animal, but as he looked at the dragon, he understood what it was.

The dragon was staring at the large pile of pepper, and it was drooling. Massive drops of its Slavia hit the ground next to it, and as the dragon was in a half-sitting position, it rubbed its stomach with one of its legs.

"It would take hours to break every pepper it wants to eat... Fine, I will lose some seeds, but now I already have quite a large stockpile, so I should choose the easy way."

Foin mumbled under his breath and straightened his back. He made his way back to the large pile of pepper, emptied his bucket, and then looked at the dragon.

"You can eat if you are hungry..."

He replied and quickly resumed his work as he was unsure how many the dragon would eat, so he wanted to make sure that he had enough.