*

He was different from the other fishermen. Where the others used rods instead, he cast a net.

He would catch vast amounts of fish, but occasionally he came across a big one, which He would subdue with his fists. Hands dripping blood, he dragged the carcass back to shore. Where it was carefully salted and preserved for sale.

Over time, his arms became steel.

His net would haul back ridiculous amounts of fish, the net becoming a death trap for the marine life. Behind the facade of a silent and peaceful lake, lives were ended every other day, be it through nature or fisherman's bait, or mostly through his net.

He kept to himself, and even wore a mask on his face to hide his identity.

But deep down... behind the silent and taciturn mask, was something... a bit more fragile.

**

"It's a nice day for it..."

I breathed in deeply as I took in the morning view.

Before me, was a bountiful meadow. Lush green grass covered the undulating plains like a carpet.

And it was decorated. Mother Gaia smiled brightly upon the place, and bestowed it with all her glory.

Flowers with different hues as far as the eye can see. The fresh spring breeze gambolled along as though at play, and the flowers and other greenery its willing playmates as they swayed gently to the rhythm. Upon this place, the sky embraced the Earth, as though in a reunion between long lost lovers.

And then I put on a scowl.

"Atlas must be slacking off."*

I tugged the kid by the hands.

"Come along kid, let's get moving."

"Eh? Where?"

"..."

For a kid that claims to want to be Emperor someday, he seems awfully attached to his home.

"Look, kid. You DID say that you want to be Emperor some day right?"

"Yeah, that's why I study and train hard!!"

"So I'm bringing you along for an adventure. Experience would make you stronger much faster than if you just stayed home and practiced."

"But..."

"You still owe me money anyway."

"Guh!!"

A few days ago, he went through 10 rabbit meat skewers. Just yesterday, he ate half of my roasted wolf meat. Even though Lili made me share the chunk of wolf meat that I cooked, I still included it into the debt.

Lili doesn't know, of course. What she didn't know won't hurt her, right?

"Look on the bright side. You pick up something on this journey, food and drink is provided, and you pay off your debt. Isn't this a good thing?"

"Ummm... I guess so?"

"Right, so then it's settled. We have outgrown this place, let's go somewhere else!!"

"At least let me walk..."

And so, dragging the kid by his hands in a way that is fast becoming a recurring theme in this story, I set off away from the fields that covered the outskirts of the Sleepy Fortress.

***

He got his hands on a Harpoon. It was about 3 metres long with a barbed spearhead. It felt light and sturdy in his hands.

He held the weapon in one hand as easily as you would a twig. In his other hand was his trusty net.

The net has been with him for years now. It was a keepsake from his father. He had diligently kept it in good condition, and methodically fixed it when it was broken.

His father had taught him the basics of fishing. They would spend nights hunting in the open sea.

But one ill-fated day during a storm, the boat capsized, and his father was engulfed by the waves. He, on the other hand, survived, but spent 3 days swimming over and over, calling for his father. The ocean even ate the tears he shed in that valiant task.

He weakened from fatigue and lack of sustenance, and fell unconscious.

Yet Lady Luck smiled upon him, and he was washed ashore upon the island.

His hands clutched around the net from his father.

****

"Now that's more like it."

It was a dark, dank and humid cave.

I came across it by accident. A chance encounter of sorts. Let's just say I bent down to tie a shoelace and saw it in the distance. Lucky.

Well, I did recall an ability that I saw in the stat window...

It didn't smell very good, but it was something I was more used to than the fields on the outskirts of the Fortress. If you have gone through the jungles of Brunei, it was thick with the smell of decay, but at the same time it was filled with the pungent aroma of life.

Trees, plants, Fungi, animals and Bacteria feed upon the decay from the undergrowth. It was their sustenance, their way of growth. They grow and grow, living and flourish among the decay...

And eventually die themselves. Their dead corpses fall upon the undergrowth, where over time they are broken down... and returned to the Earth.

As morbid as it sounds, it was a lot more preferable to the verdant and lush green field, which had seemed so artificial, too ersatz for my taste. The cave was exactly as I describe, except for a few minor details that were of little concern to the story. Despite being devoid of vegetation naturally, the strong smell of decay still entered my nostrils.

Coincidentally, I conveniently ignored the bloodbath from that time where I went insane fighting against wolves. It's not as if wolves are particularly difficult enemies... right? *Looks at reader with a threatening expression.*

Good, we are of one agreement then.

Breaking out of my philosophical revelry, I considered doubling back to the town to stock up on supplies, but decided against it. Exploring the place blindly and without due preparation adds to the fun anyway.

"This place seems creepy..." The kid was understandably worried.

"You'll have to go in whether you like it or not. Even an Emperor must dirty his hands sometimes."

"But..."

He needs a bit more persuasion... Let's try this.

"There might be treasure..."

"Treasure? Why didn't you say so earlier!!" The kid dashed in immediately.

"So gullible, like a child... Heh heh heh." I chuckled to myself, pleased at my own quick thinking.

"He is a child anyway, so I best take care of him. It would suck to have him get into trouble. I won't be able to recoup my losses then."

With that happy thought, I headed into the cave.

“T-tring!!”

]You are the first to discover The Abandoned Drake Cave.

Double experience points and gold will be given for 7 days. Rare items will drop from the first monster in the cave that you kill.

Fame + 50.

As I suspected, it was an undiscovered area, which was a rare sight near beginner areas where not even a rock was left unturned. It was indeed, my lucky day. As first discoverers of a new area, we received a bonuses of double experience points and gold, and very rare items will drop from the first mob we kill.

"Hmmm, I might be able to get something good from here."

It would be best to kill a particularly powerful monster then. A stronger mob would naturally give better drops.

However, Drakes are cousins, many times removed, of dragons by nature. They may be far inferior to even wyverns, but a drake is still a powerful force to be reckoned with, especially at our levels.

Well, if they are still living here, anyway. It did say "Abandoned" after all...

"I won't know until I try. Now where's that kid..."

I have not seen heads or tails of him ever since I entered. The place was pitch-black. There was barely any light.

"Kid must have gotten lost."

No surprises here. Oh well, it was nice knowing him. Still... I paused in my tracks, thinking to myself… And an epiphany finally struck me.

"CRAP!!! WHAT IF HE GETS TO THE GOOD DROPS BEFORE ME!!"

Must hurry, hurry!! I equipped my Spear Shaft, and dashed off into the darkness.

*****

He awoke.

Found out that he was washed up upon the shore, on an unfamiliar place.

No strength to move. Lay there for hours.

He got up, dragging his only remnant of his father's memory with him.

******

"Boy, look out there. What do you see?"

"Nothing but Sea... Ow!!"

"Hahaha, look again. In fact, look deeper. The ocean, it is teeming with life. It sustains by feeding upon itself, and creating more life. It is a natural cycle..."

"What do you mean?"

"What I'm saying is that, all life comes from the ocean. Within that origin of yours, lies the salty sea blood of your forefathers. And some day, you will return to the sea. It will call out to you when the time comes..."

The two fishermen that were father and son sat side by side in companionable silence, casting their nets to hunt for fish.

*******

Hungry....

He finally built up enough strength and got up. His stomach felt dry and empty. He took some sea water. It didn't quite agree with him, so he spat it out. But yet, it moistened the tongue, if only for a brief moment.

His stomach grumbled.

At this point, fatigue and lack of food for several days had taken his toll on him. He was like a newborn baby. His legs gave away under him, and he sank to his knees.

Food...

Of course, there wasn't any way he could procure some in his current physical state. He didn't even have the strength to forage for food. In this situation, it was hopeless.

He tugged the net closer to him for a little comfort. At least he still has this with him...

Suddenly, a weight was felt upon the net. He had not noticed it for some odd reason, as fatigued as he is. He pulled the net a bit closer, and that saw in it...

... laid several sweet fish, still alive, but barely since they were removed from the sea. They flip-flopped in a futile attempt, mouths opening and closing as they gasped for air.

Grasping one, he held it close...

... And bit into it. The fish squirmed and struggled at his hand, but just like him, the fish had been weakened from the ordeal, and couldn't break free. The fish blood tasted like iron in his mouth... but it filled him with life. As he chewed the meat rigorously, as though new life was breathed upon him, he recalled his father's words...

"The ocean, it is teeming with life. It sustains by feeding upon itself, and creating more life. It is a natural cycle..."

Through the end of a life, life is started anew in another...

Tears ran down his eyes as he slowly ate the alive but slowly dying fish, as he made a promise to live on...

……………

At this point, he broke out of his revelry. He had felt an immense weight on the net. Bracing his feet against the ground, he tugged and pulled at the net. Whatever was at the end of the net put up a valiant effort to break free.

It was a powerful struggle between the hunter and the hunted. But it was clear that he had the upper hand.

His hand grasped the harpoon.

He could see the silhouette of his quarry in the thrashing water. His arm, strengthened through years of hunting, lashed at the shadow with the harpoon. He felt a good response upon the harpoon as it fiercely pierced into a body.

The water foamed as the shadow struggled. It slowly ran red with its life blood. The struggle continued... But the prey was weakening.

Eventually he tugged out the prey. Gasping and struggling vigorously, it was an alligator pike about several meters long. It had silvery scales and a giant long snout like that of an alligator. A great gaping wound could be seen on its body. It was not long for this world.

He grasped the harpoon in both of his hands and stabbed it into the side of the pike, pinning it to the floor. Reaching the end of its tether, the pike could only twitch feebly as it quickly passed on.

He reflected upon the kill as he carefully withdrew the harpoon from the pike.

The village will eat well tonight.

Life sustains itself by devouring upon itself... and in the process, spreads out and flourishes.

********

"I should have done this a long time ago..." I held up the torch that I have lit, wincing as I rubbed against my head. In my hurry, I had ran into a couple of stalactites in places where the ceiling was lower.

It reminded me of the times where I hit my head while taking public transport. While I was trekking through the jungles of Brunei, I constantly got caught in tree branches and spider webs. While walking through a cave, like I was doing now. Height is pretty overrated, no matter what other people say.

The cave became smaller and smaller as I moved deeper inside. It was pretty uncanny how the creators of this game captured this level of geographical accuracy. Although one must wonder how a drake, let alone a colony of them, was able to live there in these conditions. No wonder they moved out.

"Anyways, I should prepare accordingly."

It was going to be tricky fighting in such cramped conditions, especially with my weapon, the spear. Or more accurately, the spear shaft, which used smashing attacks like a quarterstaff, unlike the spear. It was perhaps an irony that this was the case.

However, Kite foresaw this and taught me certain methods to get around it.

I rummaged in my bag.

"It should be here somewhere... There we go."

I took out my trusty camping knife and some rope. The knife was double edged and sharpened to a keen edge, which was strange for a camping knife, but should be useful for what I had in mind.

"Tie the knot like this... wind it around the hilt... make sure it was not wound around the blade..."

I murmured Kite's instructions as a means of recall as I carefully tied several knots to secure the knife in place, my tongue sticking out in concentration.

"That should do it."

I held up the spear shaft as I took a good look at my work. I had tied the knife around the spear shaft. For the moment, the spear was complete, but it is not at its true state. In a sense, it is complete, yet it is also incomplete. Philosophical thinking aside... I used the identification skill.

"Identify!!"

Knife Ash Spear (Durability 50/50)

Through the process of improvisation, the spear is complete, although not it is at its true state. It would, however, serve as a means of offense, if only for a time. The keen edge of the knife improves the attacking ability of the weapon.

Damage: 20-30

Agility + 10

Restriction: Level 10, Only the Player Character "Howard" may use this weapon. Weapon cannot be repaired.

Soul-linked (this weapon is permanently linked to the Player Character "Howard". Grows as the player character grows.

When Durability falls to 0/50, this weapon reverts to the Ash Spear Shaft instead of breaking. The knife cannot be recovered.

This weapon can be dismantled into its component parts

With the knife, the offensive prowess of the spear shaft has improved slightly. It is in an unstable state, however, and would break easily as a result.

Nevertheless, with the spear that is predominantly based around stabbing, I should be able to fight properly in the cave.

"Now, I should get moving."

I moved on with my improvised weapon, in search of a powerful mob to kill.

Oh, and kept my eye for the kid. He must be hungry right about now.

The cave was dark, but the light of the torch lit the path ahead. The sharpened knife tied around the spear shaft glinted wickedly in the fire light. I moved quickly, taking care to avoid the stalactites that stuck out from the ceiling.

*********

"Guh... I shouldn't have ran ahead."

The child rubbed his stomach as he moved slowly in the darkness.

Excited by the prospect of rare items and treasure, he had ran ahead of Howard, and as a result of the darkness that now surrounded him, he was now lost. To make matters worse, he was feeling hungry right about now. Still, he wasn't too worried.

"So this... is an adventure."

He has not been out of the fortress for most of his time spent here. His idea of an adventure was going out to the fields with his friends to hunt down animals. Or going through the Training Center there and beating on the statue with the sword that was passed down to him.

Ah yes, the sword.

It had belonged to a knight that used to pass by each day to visit the inn that he worked at. The innkeeper had a good opinion of him. After dinner, over foaming cups of beer, he would invite the child to sit on his lap to listen while the knight talked about the many adventures he had been on.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

The child had sat with wide eyes as he took in accounts of mighty dragons and great warriors from generation past. Stories of enormous temples, lost in the sands of time. And a tomb built for a noble king in a distant kingdom by a famous sculptor.

And then he heard of the ultimate goal for all adventurers, which was to become Emperor. And they did it through various means. Dreams often made the man. That was where he promised himself, that he will one day become Emperor. Nevertheless, dreams or otherwise, he was still hungry.

"Some meat would be nice... Or maybe even the fried rice that Mama makes on weekends."

And then he suddenly remembered. He dug through his backpack, and took out a piece of rabbit jerky. Howard had passed him a few pieces when they set off.

"You have a ridiculous appetite... we can't just keep stopping each time to eat when you get hungry. You will have to learn to eat on the go."

Howard had said this as he passed him a few pieces of jerky.

Now, the child took the jerky and bit into it, chewing rigorously at the hardened meat.

"For a guy that is bent on even a few coppers, he has been generous..."

The child's optimistic impression could not have been further away from the truth.

Howard had given him the jerky not out of the goodness of his heart, but rather because it was the lesser of two evils. He was burning through good ingredients and spices each time they had a meal. As such, he was burning through a good amount of money.

Even though the meat was procured from his hunting, and he had hunted down herbs and wild mushrooms to cut costs.

"I can't afford to cook every other day. We only just started our adventure..."

Hence the Rabbit Jerky, which took up the bulk of his rabbit stockpile from his first day of the hunt. It kept well and filled the stomach. It also forced people to chew slowly, which gave time for the brain to signify that the stomach was full.

Of course, he remembered to record down the expense lost each time he cooked a meal.

"Eventually the child should get something good... And it will be mine. All mine... Huhuhuhahahahaha..."

*ahem*

It was an investment for the future.

"Maybe I should charge interest as well. No, that would take too much effort."

He didn't think that coppers could go into decimals when interest got involved...

"Maybe I should round it up to the nearest copper?"

That would surely be the most elegant means of resolving this issue.

"No, I don't have a calculator..."

It is truly the downfall of this generation... that kind of dependence on machinery.

Anyways, the child was busy eating the rabbit jerky given to him by Howard, out of the goodness of his heart and not for any ulterior motive such as the one detailed above. Seriously. Now forgive this author for going off point for so long.

He tore off another chunk of jerky and chewed slowly, while sitting in the dark. It was tough and hard, but it beats the living crap out of stale bread any other day.

"Gotta keep my protein level up."

Everything is a learning and training process for him. Protein lets him build up muscle and hence become stronger.

Growl...

"Weird, I'm eating now, and yet I'm still hungry. Wait, why does this seem like de javu?"

The child suddenly recalled the attack by the wolves. He finished his jerky quickly and drew the sword slung around his shoulder in one smooth movement, slashing downwards at the darkness with a vertical slash.

It caught resistance, which meant that something was nearby. A squeal could be heard as the sword drew blood.

Howard had taught the child what he could remember from his time at the Warrior's Guild.

"That knowledge is somewhat useless to me now, but perhaps you could make some use of it?" was what he said. Don't get too suspicious about this one now, dear reader.

The child took a stance, sword pointing at the supposed enemy in a two-handed grip.

Grunting and growling noises could be heard as whatever he attacked charged at him.

***************

"Hmmmm... double back... past the rock that reminds me of the flying spaghetti monster... All hail the flying spaghetti monster."

I had conveniently drawn out a simple map using a piece of charcoal from a camp fire and some paper. It wasn't very well done due to the disorientating darkness that made it difficult for me to draw, but at least it will help me get around much quicker.

What was weird was the mysterious lack of monsters. You would have thought that I might have come across something right about now.

"Even the game interface said that that there were monsters in here..."

What a disappointment. Well, the cave is abandoned after all. Regardless, I did not give up on the hunt.

"There's got to be some clue around here somewhere..."

However, in this dim light, it was difficult to make any observations. The skill that might help in this situation, Combat Immersion, was only available during combat.

"The quickest way would be to get into a fight. But there's no monsters to be found..."

So I have been doubling back a few times to see if I had missed anything. But so far I have been drawing blanks.

"Hmmm... at this rate we might want to go back and recoup first. I'll go find the kid, and we'll see what he has gotten so far."

I made to head back to the entrance of the cave. Suddenly, I could feel my senses sharpening, my pulse raising in excitement. My muscles suddenly felt tense. It was Combat Immersion activating itself.

From my fight with the wolves, I had gained 2 new skills, Combat Immersion and Berserk Impulse. Initially I had dismissed them as difficult to use in battle. But since then, I had discovered several useful things about both skills, other than helping me increase my Endurance Stat. One of them, for Combat Immersion at least, was as a means of detecting enemies.

Combat Immersion activates itself during the heat of battle, but an initial state would activate when any sign of the enemy was detected, be it subconsciously or otherwise. So even if it was on a minimal level, it still serves as a means to alert me to a sign of danger.

In the distance, I could see and hear with my slightly sharpened senses, signs of a fight ahead. Even in the darkness, I could easily hear the guttural sounds of a beast grunting and growling and see flashes of a sword as it leaves a silvery trail while slashing in wide arcs. There wasn't anyone else that I know of to be in the cave, so my best guess would be the kid.

"Dang it, DROPS!!"

I still haven't forgotten that the first drop bonus was in effect. Otherwise, the kid would have whispered me to gloat about his little victory right about now. With this negative thought in my head, I equipped my newly improvised spear and dashed off in the direction of the fight.

*************

The child was facing off with a mysterious creature. It was difficult to make it out in this pitch black darkness, but he could see a silhouette of the beast. It seemed to be about as tall as a human (please remember this), and wielded a sword and shield as a weapon.

He could also make out a tail in the shadows as he clashed with the opposing sword.

Going by that observation, it appeared to be a Lizard man, which is a member of the dragonoid family, although far lower down the dragonic hierarchy as it would have liked. Nevertheless, it had a good amount of intelligence, and was able to utilize several different kinds of rudimentary weapons, which in this case was a sword and shield.

The child slashed at the shadowed figure, but the sword was handily blocked by the shield. The much smaller sword was a lot easier to use in the cramped cave, but the child was having difficulty getting through the lizard man's defenses. The sword used two-handed would be able to attack with far more force, but the sword-shield combination had a greater amount of versatility. There was more ways to fight and kill with both arms moving individually rather than as a concerted force.

Couple it with the lizard man's natural ability to see well in the dark, and you could guess why the child was having trouble.

"Tch... then I'll have to attack a bit more aggressively then." He held his hand in a Kendo stance, and swung down the sword, calling out a cadence.

"Head!!"

*TWACK!!*

The sword moved in downwards arc, describing a silvery crescent as it sliced at the opponent. The lizard man blocked with the shield, and it bounced off, the child rigorously brought down the sword down again upon the shield.

"Head!! Head!! Head!! Head!!"

*TWACK!! TWACK!! TWACK!! TWACK!! TWACK!! TWACK!! TWACK!!*

He opted to attack with more force, landing a series of vertical slashes to hammer away at the lizard man's defences. The shield absorbed the bulk of the blows, but the lizard man was at once forced to go on the defensive as it desperately looked for an opening to attack.

A simplistic attack however, had less openings to exploit. A great man once said, "there are many more ways a complex plan can fail as compared to a simple one with the same goal in mind".

While complexity is added to cover for weaknesses, at the same time it opens up several more. Therefore, the simplest and most straightforward attacking method was to take a simple attack with the fewest weaknesses and constantly use it in battle. Nevertheless, there was a fatal flaw in this offensive approach. There's something called stamina after all.

At the child's current physical ability, it was difficult for him to sustain this manner of attacking. His stamina was far lower than average for obvious reasons. The series of blows soon weakened over time, and eventually petered to a halt.

The lizard man was unscathed.

Now he was back at square one, with depleted stamina and the Lizard Man was able to weather off the worst of the assault, and still had plenty of stamina to fight with. However, the poorly made wooden shield had been in bad condition, and was severely battered earlier, and as such rendered useless. As such, the lizard man was armed with only a one-handed sword against a two-handed sword user.

Nevertheless, It was its turn to go on the counter attack as it started things off with a backhand upper, its sword searing upwards.

The child swatted the opposing sword away as he turtled up, taking care to parry away the blows with minimal force and create openings for his counter attacks. Both combatants sustained damage as they took hits from one another.

There was plenty of potential left to be realized by the child. He may have had his stamina depleted, but he had a lot of fighting spirit, and was a quick learner, improving by leaps and bounds over the short period of time he was travelling with Howard.

It was simply a matter of taking the child out of his comfort zone and thrusting him into the unknown, forcing him to constantly break through the limits forced upon him. A child has its ambition channelled through such means, and as such grows in a different direction. It was a matter of nurture, as opposed to nature.

The lizard man, controlled by Artificial Intelligence, was no slouch either. Already it is adapting to the new form of offense and defence, and is creating new and innovative modes of attack.

Despite this, it was still locked in a stalemate. It was a constant struggle between opposing parties as both combatants attacked and defended desperately, seeking an opening to deal a decisive blow.

Both were so engrossed in the fight to notice that a third party has impinged upon the battlefield.

********************

I nodded appreciatively at the sight of the two combatants fighting.

"Keuheuheuheu."

An evil laugh from someone up to no good!!

But really, you have to laugh.

The kid was fighting seriously with a lizard man no more than half my size. The lizard was armed with a sword the size of a dagger and shield no bigger than a large dinner plate. It looked to be a fight of epic proportions... if it were compared to those of a fight between kindergartners. Nevertheless, it was a good experience for the kid.

I sat back and chewed on a piece of rabbit jerky as I watched. If he gets into trouble I'll step in and skewer the lizard like a shish kebab. I have always wanted to taste lizard meat anyways. Typical of my ethnic group, willing to eat anything that moves of its own locomotion...

Oh, that kid is going on the aggressive!! What an impressive series of vertical swings!! The lizard man is immediately forced onto the defensive... that shield was heavily battered and rendered useless and was quickly discarded.

And then the blows just petered out due to lack of stamina, and the lizard man swings back with a vicious uppercut!! Is the kid in trouble?!

But what's this? The kid beats aside the sword and counterattacks, and the lizard man defends well before responding with his own!! But wait, the kid parries like a champion and fires off a searing forehand towards the head!! The lizard man defends that as well!! It's a never ending exchange of attack and defence!! Why am I speaking like a sports announcer now? I don't know, but this is a sight to behold!!

I casually watched the duel while eating the rabbit jerky, blow-by-blow commentary going through my head.

Eventually, the exchange was becoming so repetitive that even the lizard man lost its stamina.

Both sides were equally tired... But what's this? It seems that both parties have reached an understanding with one another!! Oh god, are they even shaking hands?!

The kid held out his hand with the lizard man, as though seeing him as an equal. The lizard man gave a toothy grin and accepted the hand shake, gnarled hand grasping the smooth one of the child and shaking once.

It was a scene of hot-blooded manliness out from a shounen manga, shrunken down to midget size. Now I have seen everything...

The lizard man and the child made simple conversation, the lizard man using plenty of hand gestures while grunting and squealing. The boy laughed, and finally noticed that I was standing watching, He ran over with his... new friend.

"How long were you here?"

"Not long. You were enjoying yourself, so I figured that I'd watch. Who's your friend?"

The kid gave a wide smile while excitedly gesturing to the lizard man.

"This little guy says his name is Dwarf Tooth!!"

In response to the child's excitable outburst, the lizard man made a grunt.

"But he says you could call him Tooth. He has a... bit of an issue with his height."

The lizard man nodded sadly. Lizard men do tend to be a lot taller, easily reaching about the size of a human adult. This one was barely reaching up to my stomach.

"Anyways, we fought, and he said that it was fun!! And I told him that we are on an adventure, and he asks whether he can come."

"What the..."

"I'm not kidding. He says that he can bring his own food and take care of himself, so it shouldn't be a problem. Can we bring him along, please??"

The kid looked at me as though begging me to let him keep a lost puppy that he found. I sighed... and gave my consent.

Until today, I still haven't given up the idea of cooking the newly named Tooth. Lizard meat ought to taste pretty good after all. And that was how we got the third member of our little party. We didn't get any good drops, but the child managed to make a friend. It was like the ending of a children's storybook with all the pictures.

To look at it pessimistically, I got myself another mouth to feed. My wallet ought to be crying right about now.

*****************************************************************************************

Author's notes:

*Primordial Titan of astronomy and navigation. Atlas and his brother Menoetius sided with the Titans in their war against the Olympians, the Titanomachy. When the Titans were defeated, many of them (including Menoetius) were confined to Tartarus, but Zeus condemned Atlas to stand at the western edge of Gaia (the Earth) and hold up Uranus (the Sky) on his shoulders, to prevent the two from resuming their primordial embrace.

- Adapted from Wikipedia.