After "The Trial of the Mind" incident, I woke up in a forest. I honestly expected to be lazily thrown aside by the river, but even after a thorough investigation around the area, there was no sign of the Forbidden Forest.

Though, I would be lying if I said I was disappointed. If anything it's a relief I was sent far away. But there was one major issue.

I was lost.

My original plan to use the first trial as a landmark was thrown out the window. Even after my search, there was no such thing even similar to a landmark nearby, just some trees and rocks.

Well it's better then being in that river at least, and it'll also give me some time to gather my strength, especially now that I don't have to rely on my cultivation to evolve. But I do kind of miss it, on one hand it was stopping me from evolving as fast, but on the other hand it was also boosting my capabilities. But weighing the pro's and cons, I'd say I got the better end of the stick.

So that would just leave finding something to kill, whether human or monster. Though preferably the latter, as I still don't enjoy killing something that I use to be. But if it comes to it, I wont hesitate. Though the humane part is one thing, but the other reason would be the human kingdoms.

If I go on a murder frenzy, even if the kingdoms wouldn't want to, I'm sure they'll eventually capitulate to the populace. Plus, me being a baby dragon is probably just the stick on the carrot.

Which is another reason to evolve.

Oh a scent! I should start sniffing more often, I would have missed it if I breathed a second late.

At first it was very faint, but the more I put my mind to it the more vivid it became. My constant sniffing also attracted other smells, some more appealing then others, and some that even provoked my hunger. It was quiet simply put a sea of smells in my nose. Which wasn't exactly the most comfortable thing, but I would get use to it overtime.

Doing a quick double check to ensure the map and Decorite were still on my back I followed the first scent I had smelt. The smell it was producing was quiet pleasant, at least compared to the other scents nearby, but what really interested me was the faint smell of something metallic.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Blood.

In front of me was a small cave littered with small bones, mostly just hares, and baby deer, but I also saw one set of bones that looked similar to the wolves back on earth.

Making sure my body was completely hidden behind the tree, I started sniffing the air around me.

Hm, seems like there's four - no five creatures inside. One scent is also stronger then the rest, which I assume means it's the strongest of the bunch. It's also in the center of the other four monsters, which is why it was harder to detect it's scent.

Unfortunately, the entrance to the den was quiet narrow at the start, but it expanded the farther in it went, giving the enemy inside an advantage against lone targets such as myself. It was also impossible to see very far inside, as some of my night vision was weakened after the purge, though it was quiet minor.

After sniffing once more in case I missed anything, I put the orb that had been in my mouth beside the tree. I also put Decorite, who was still sleeping considering night hadn't failed yet, front of the orb along with the map.

I was going to wait till night before I follow through with my plan.

-----

Just as I was getting fidgety from being forced to stay in one place, night finally rolled around. And with it, Decorite also stirred before waking up from his slumber.

I was already getting impatient, so I quickly pulled Decorite beside me and quickly started to hand him wood. He was confused in the beginning and tried giving back to me, assuming I dropped it, but after repeatedly being hit in the head by wood, he finally got the hang of it and actually held on to the wood.

Of course, Decorite wasn't that big, even compared to me. So he could only hold so much small pieces of wood before he started swaying, trying to not drop any.

Perfect.

I quickly waved Decorite over with my tail, and pointed to the cave entrance, before adopting a running position.

He was a bit confused at first, but as if a light switch had clicked in his head, he suddenly stood up and started fast walking inside the cave.

After approximately 10 seconds I heard the sound of grunts and murmurs from inside. Though those murmurs soon turned into sounds of surprise as Decorite had dropped all the wood with a thud.

Immediately after dropping the wood, he rushed back out with one stick in his hand, I quickly used a weak dragon breath on the stick.

Taking the hint, Decorite quickly rushed back in and threw the burning stick into the pile he had dropped earlier.

Whether from confusion or shock at what had transpired, it took the creatures inside the den a couple of seconds to regain themselves before I heard footsteps in rapid succession.

There was no way I would have won in a fight inside the cave, but all the meant was I had to smoke them out.

As if on queue, four creatures came rushing out in a coughing fit. Their skin was a dark green and their body was horribly malformed. They wore dirtied clocks that had more holes then cloth. In their haste to leave, one of the creature's hood was blown off, giving me a good look at their face.

It was the by far the more malformed part of the creature. Just looking at the number of warts growing on the miss shaped face made me flinch.