Chapter 17 | Infinite Reincarnation, Starting From a Slime

“Zoe, why did you turn purple?!”

Early in the morning, Vera, who had returned from her hunt like a cat carrying a dead mouse, stared at Zoe in astonishment.

“Could it be that you ate Zoe?!”

“Zoe, I'm here to save you! You despicable purple slime, spit Zoe out right now!”

Then, as if realizing some possibility, Vera assumed her spiny-backed dragon form and warily eyed Zoe.

“Squish.”

「I am Zoe. I've only promoted to Mid-tier, which caused some changes to my appearance.」

“Oh.”

“Wait, Zoe, you promoted to Mid-tier? This color... Has your evil actually seeped into your very pigmentation? That is simply too evil!”

Vera looked at Zoe in awe.

“Oh, right! Here is today's homework. Vera brought it!”

Vera dropped the "dead mouse" she was carrying in her mouth and sat on the ground, keeping her two front claws neatly together in front of her like a cat waiting to be praised.

Zoe suddenly felt a slight pang of guilt.

Was he being a bit too much, making her work for him for free like this?

But then again, this could be considered training for Vera's combat capabilities.

“Squish.”

Zoe tentatively popped up a dialogue box.

「Vera, how old are you this year?」

Vera looked at the dialogue box, read it carefully, tilted her head, and spoke in a crisp, youthful voice.

“Vera is six years old this year!”

“...”

So he had actually overestimated Vera? For a six-year-old white dragon to display this level of intelligence, she must already be considered a genius among her kind, right?

Yet he was actually making a six-year-old white dragon work for free to feed him.

This couldn't go on.

Zoe planned to teach Vera something so she wouldn't keep working for nothing. But what could he possibly teach a giant dragon?

The only thing he excelled at and could teach a dragon seemed to be spitting out various kinds of attacks.

Speaking of which, he could also spit Dragon Flame. In a way, did that count as a dragon's breath?

White dragons usually possessed frost breath, not dragon flame breath.

But since they were both forms of dragon's breath, there had to be some common ground.

“Squish.”

「Vera, next I will teach you how to use dragon's breath. Once you master it and combine it with your flying ability, you'll become much stronger.」

“Breath!”

Vera's dragon eyes lit up. She recalled how Zoe had endlessly spat out various attacks during his fight against the goblin dragon-hunting squad, looking completely unstoppable.

That one-sided slaughter had truly been exceptionally evil!

“Squish.”

「Watch closely, Vera.」

“Dragon Flame Breath!”

Along with the skill's activation, Zoe's mana poured out rapidly as a blazing stream of Dragon Flame was spat out.

The scorching Dragon Flame swept toward the stone wall ahead. Under the heat, the hard rock melted away like snow, leaving behind nothing but a pool of lava.

By the time Zoe stopped [Dragon Flame], his mana had already depleted by 1,500 points.

It had directly consumed half of his total mana.

The mana consumption of spraying it like this was far higher than that of Dragon Flame Bullet.

Zoe looked at Vera and found her completely motionless, as if her brain had melted.

Or rather, having witnessed something so incomprehensible, her mind had crashed.

“Dragon Flame! It's Dragon Flame!”

“Zoe, are you a slime-type giant dragon?!”

“Squish.”

「How could there ever be a slime-type giant dragon?」

“But, but...”

“Well, okay.”

Vera seemed to give up on thinking, but then her eyes lit up again.

“I think I've gotten a bit of a knack for it!”

“Squish.”

[Then you practice your breath here today. If there is anything you don't understand, just come and ask me.]

Vera had no dragon mother to raise her and had been wandering ever since she hatched. She had never received instruction from any other dragon, so perhaps watching Zoe's Dragon Flame Breath really would allow her to comprehend how to use breath attacks.

“Puh-puh-puh!”

Vera stood in front of a boulder and tried her best to use her breath. She closed her eyes and strained, but only managed to spit out dragon drool.

Zoe watched for a moment, then went back to his cave and began his own training.

The next day, Vera returned from her hunt and threw all the questions she had encountered concerning her breath at him.

Standing aside, Zoe patiently answered them one by one through his dialogue boxes.

He possessed exceptionally rich experience in spitting fire, acid, and corrosive gas, which made him perfectly suited to instruct Vera on all the various issues related to breath attacks.

Vera was, after all, very young and a white dragon—the race with the poorest talent and ability among giant dragons—so even after he corrected her, she would still make mistakes on some of the issues.

But thinking about how she was hunting for him for free, Zoe patiently corrected her mistakes over and over again.

Vera would commit his advice to memory very seriously, yet she would still make mistakes.

Every time she repeated a mistake, she would hang her head in deep guilt, as if she had let down Zoe's teachings.

To avoid disappointing Zoe, Vera set aside the lazy nature typical of giant dragons and began actively searching through the inherited memories in her mind during her free time.

Although this knowledge was extremely obscure and difficult to grasp—far less clear than Zoe's hands-on guidance—she still strained herself to comprehend and memorize it.

Just like that, the dragon and the slime got along on this little hill. They passed through the Month of Falling Leaves, where dead leaves fluttered in the wind, and arrived in the Month of Mud (October), with its endless autumn rain.

“Zoe, Zoe, I spat it out! The breath!”

Early in the morning, Zoe, who had stayed up all night training, was awakened by Vera and called outside.

“Watch closely, Zoe!”

“Evil Frost Dragon Breath!”

Accompanied by Vera's shout of her technique name, a stream of icy particles mixed with saliva was spat out by her.

“How is it, Zoe?”

“Squish.”

[Vera is so amazing! If you keep practicing like this, it won't be long before you master a real Frost Breath.]

[You really are the smartest white dragon I've ever seen.]

Staring at Zoe's dialogue box, Vera remained in her cat-like squat, her head raised high like a proud swan.

Although her posture was elegant, her tail, which was thumping against the ground, gave away her ecstatic mood.

“After all, I am the evil white dragon Vera!”

Zoe shifted his gaze from Vera, looking toward the foot of the hill.

“Squish.”

「A monster is coming. Be careful.」

“Homework has delivered itself right to our door!”

Vera showed no fear. Her hunting during this period had already allowed her to cultivate a white dragon's self-confidence in her own power.

Right now, she excitedly spread her wings like a cat locking onto a mouse.

An entity wearing simple animal hides walked out of the forest and climbed the hill. It resembled a beast, with a wolf's head but a humanoid body, walking upright.

“How dare you trespass into the territory of the evil slime Zoe and the evil white dragon Vera! You suicidal gnoll, Vera is going to eat you!”

“Awoo!”

With a leap, Vera pounced in front of the gnoll, striking what she imagined to be her ideal evil white dragon pose.

“Mercy, spare my life, great white dragon!”

“I'm here to deliver a message on behalf of my master, awoo!”

Seeing this, the gnoll hurriedly prostrated himself on the ground and pulled out a beast-hide scroll from his person.

“Squish.”

「Delivering a message on behalf of your master? Who is your master?」

Zoe also hopped over to the white dragon's side at this moment, popping up a dialogue box.

“My master is the lord of this area, the great Shadow Wolf King, the shadow of wisdom in the dark!”

Shadow Wolf King.

Zoe recalled the Hera shadow wolves he had encountered before. A shadow wolf king was a unique individual that would only form within a pack of over a hundred Hera shadow wolves.

It possessed high intelligence, and its maximum level limit could reach Level 40.

The gnoll in front of him must have been subjugated by the Shadow Wolf King.

Since they were both of canine species, the gnoll didn't mind serving a Shadow Wolf King.

“Impudent! This area is the territory of the evil white dragon and the evil Zoe! What on earth is a Shadow Wolf King? I've never even heard of it!”

Vera wasn't wrong.

Hunting in this area for over a month, Vera had never heard of any Shadow Wolf King.

Having demonstrated their strength, Vera and Zoe had indeed become the lords that the other monsters in this area mutually feared and respected.

The vicinity of this hill boasted the densest mana concentration in the region, yet no monster had ever dared to take a single step here.

"The evil slime" had now become "the evil slime that controls an evil dragon" in the rumors of the local monsters.

Zoe guessed that the shadow wolf pack led by this Shadow Wolf King had probably been driven out from the deeper parts of the Great Hera Forest.

Then, aiming for this area with dense mana, it claimed itself to be the lord of this region, wanting to drive Zoe out.

Zoe extended a slimy tentacle and took the beast-hide scroll from the trembling gnoll's hands.

He saw crooked, barely legible characters written on it.

“To the evil hihg sl... [scribbled out] slime, this plase belongs to wolves now, git out, or else, we will eet you!”

Indeed, it was exactly as Zoe had thought.

However, Zoe was not about to give up this area.

Now that he was a Mid-tier Monster, he was already capable of occupying such a large territory and a mana gathering point in the outer fringes of the Great Hera Forest.

The mana concentration here allowed his mana to recover faster, increased the efficiency of his skill training, and accelerated his rate of gathering Experience.