New Goal

"I got some comfortable sleep, thanks to you, Xena."

「No problem Master, I'm happy being helpful for you.」

We're awakened early in the morning. It's too tiring hunting monster from morning to night just like what we did yesterday. Taking out some ingredients, I cooked some light food for our breakfast.

"Xena can you get some dry tree branches."

「Yes, Master.」

Because of her just being awakened, she's still feeling a bit sleepy. After the food cooked, well, it's just skewers. We joyfully eat our breakfast. No, the truth is, only Xena enjoyed the food, not me. It has a terrible taste like the last time, even though I add some edible leaves, the taste didn't improve. Finishing our breakfast and a few minutes of resting, We prepared ourselves for another they of grinding monsters.

"Xena are you ready?"

「Yes! Master!」

Her energy got back after eating, she's very excited to hunt down monsters.

"Let's go!"

We excitedly move and search for prey. Several hours passed and we decided to rest and eat some food. [Divine Heal] can only restore our fatigue, so we still feel hunger after hunting.

*Bite**Swallow**Bite**Swallo-* *Drink*

Well, after the torture of eating some shi-, some food, We continue our leveling up. I stored the body of the monsters that we killed. Some of these dead bodies can be sell for money if we got in a village, town or city. The engraved memories that the Goddess grant me was too vague. For example, I know the names of the monsters and influential people of this world, but I don't know what are their appearances. And another one, I knew that monsters can be sold, but I don't know the specific parts of the monster that are sellable.

Well, When I get in the place where humans inhabit, the first thing I'll do is to get more information so I can avoid doing things that are not normal in the common sense of the people of this world and unintentionally attract their attention.

"This is enough for today."

Dusk arrives already and hunting in the night perhaps pretty hard for me. Xena can do so because of her skill [Night Vision]. But fighting alone is very risky and dangerous for her. I prepared our dinner as usual and sleeps together.

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A week already passed since I got here. For our plan to defeat the hero, we still grinding to level up. But this time we got in big trouble.

"Can we survive fighting this thing."

Right now, we're standing anxiously facing the mighty being while trying to think how to escape this mess. And that mighty being was the master of this territory, a Black Dragon. While we are hunting some horned-wolves, one of these wolves escaped. Xena followed the wolf to kill it, and I also let her do so for her training, but we don't know that a terrifying monster was nesting further ahead.

I'm fighting the other wolves when I heard a very loud roar where Xena's runoff.

"That's not Xena's roar."

I quickly run to her using my [Strengthen] skill to be faster. When I get there I saw a dragon, a jet black dragon to be precise, and it's approaching Xena. I hurriedly kick the ground and instantly got in front of Xena, and right now I'm facing a mighty dragon.

"As a little insect, you have some nerves to intrude in my territory."

The dragon said. Mythical races like dragons can talk like humans if they become an adult. Xena was already an adult only in human age, but in her race, she's still a teenager. I look around to find a way to escape, and I saw a big dead body of a monster. There's a bite mark on its body and some body parts are already missing.

!? maybe this plan would work.

To appease the angry dragon I kneeled and bowed my head like a knight in the presence of a King.

"I'm sorry for disturbing your meal, Mister dragon. We didn't mean to intrude to your territory. Please forgive us. As compensation, I'll give you these gifts."

Opening my storage I take out the bodies of the monsters we hunted. It created a small hill of monsters dead bodies.

"Oh! You're smart one little insect. Because you know what's your position is, I let you get away, for now."

Thank god! It works we're saved! Thanks to my quick wits. All the monsters that we hunted were all disappeared. But I don't regret it, our lives are more important than that monster corpses.

"Yes, I understand, thank you for your mercy."

I moved to Xena and carry her. She passed out when the dragon roared at her earlier. I quickly walked away from the dragon while still watching it. The dragon already forgot about us and started eating my present.

"It's unfortunate that I don't possess any poison with me."

If I have, I'll pour every single drop of it in that dragon's food. Well, the poison wouldn't kill that being, at least it will experience some stomach ache. Even the dragon already out of my sight, I'm still vigilantly looking at its direction. I used [Appraisal] at the dragon earlier and its status was freakin high! that dragon is really bad news! Its level was 125 a genuine monster. When a dragon shows up near a village or town, they would refuge immediately to save their lives. It is truly a walking calamity.

"This distance is good enough, Xena wakes up."

I stop and rest several kilometers away from the black dragon. I gently lay down Xena and wake her up.

「Hmm... Master...? !? M,m, master! We need to run! there's a dragon!!」

Xena jumps up in a panic, she bites my sleaves and tries to drag me away. I can't blame her if she's too frightened and she almost dies by being eaten after all.

"Calm down! Xena, calm down."

A minute passed before she calmed her down.

"Are you okay now?"

She looked at me with teary eyes and jump into my chest.

「Masterrrr...!!! It's so scary....!!! I thought I'm going to be eaten..!! wahhh...!!!」

She cries loudly while in my bosom. So she's still frightened huh. I soothe her until she stops crying. Brushing her fur and patted helps me to put her at ease.

"Are you okay now?"

Repeating what I said earlier, she answered quietly.

「Yes...Master. I'm completely calm now.」

Seeing Xena's face and powerless limbs, I open my storage to get some water, but when I open my water jug it was already empty.

"Xena, our water was already deflated. Let's go back to the river."

While touching Xena I used one my skill in the skill tree of [Spatial Magic] called [Teleport]. Our destination was the river where Xena took a bath. I'd tried using it to go to the City of Erast, the capital of the Ashbourne Kingdom. But it didn't work, well, I knew already that it wouldn't work because of the memory that was transferred to me. I'm just curious that's why I did. [teleport] can only be used in the places you've been to. So unless I get in Erast teleporting there was not possible.

We got teleported to the riverside and drink the river water, I also take some water using my leather water jug.

In my memories, this forest called Disposable Forest. What a dreadful name, right? I don't know why they named it like that but I knew one thing. This forest is very dangerous, based on the name of it and our experience earlier. Only the strong can survive here, is what everyone would think but I'm not convinced about it. Because I believe in what Charles Darwin once said: It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.

That's why I got another objective because of what happened earlier.

"Xena, that dragon is so strong right?"

She nodded vigorously.

"And that dragon also mocked us and called us little insect."

「That dragon did?」

"Yes, It did."

At that time she's already unconscious so it's understandable that she didn't hear it.

"Do you want to take revenge?"

I dropped a bombshell and Xena's frost hearing it. She recovered immediately and quickly respond.

「B,b, but that dragon is super strong! C,c, can we really defeat it!?」

Her answer was tattered because of nervousness. But contrary to what she is, I answered her with composure and determination.

"Yes, we did. That dragon can be defeated with proper preparations and plans."

She stared at my eyes deeply, it's like she's reading what am I thinking. And suddenly she nods and looks at me with strong will power.

「Master, you want to challenge and beat up that dragon, am I right?」

So she's already aware of what I'm thinking. well, the questions I throw earlier was already the hints. If she doesn't pick it up after hearing those questions, I might think of her as a normal airhead.

"Your guess is correct, I want to defeat that dragon who thinks of itself so highly. So would you help me?"

「Yes! Master let's defeat that arrogant dragon!」

She agreed cheerfully. I'm grateful that she agreed because we can't let that dragon alive. When I heard the word "For now." I knew that our lives are already in danger. Now that Xena is in, I dig in my memories to create the best plan to fight and defeat that dragon. An hour passed after so many simulations in my mind, I got the answer to kill the dragon. But before doing that.

"To make our plan successful, we need to level up at least level 100 to have a chance."

Our skills are very powerful but our level is insufficient to challenge it.

"Xena, from now on we will hunt every day and night until we finish our goal. Are you okay with it?"

「Yes! I'm okay with it, Master!」

"Alright! Let's go and hunt again, Xena!"

「Yes! Master!」

We're going to start our new goal right away.

-Two weeks passed-

We're done killing all the goblins in the forest, maybe there's still some but we don't need them anymore. We both become strong, so the stronger monster is our goal now.

-One month passed-

"Good job, Xena."

A village of orcs is exterminated today. Thanks to their bountiful life essence that our level goes up several times. Orcs are very bulky and strong, it has a height of 2 meters but because of our coordination, we easily annihilate them.

-Three months passed-

「You're amazing! Master!」

I'm standing at the top of a wyvern. Because it's the race is a bit related to the dragon so we fought it and won. At the start, we had a hard time because of it flying around. But when I finally decapitated its wings, we easily defeated it.

-Six months passed-

"We did it!"

「Yehey! we defeated it master!」

After a hard time dodging its fast tail attacks, I finally beheaded it, we successfully defeated a peerless manticore. It's an S-rank monster that needs an army of knights and adventurers to successfully subjugate it. We've now rivaled the S class adventurers.

-Eight months passed-

"Status!"

After saying status my stats window shows up. Seeing my window I reveal a satisfied smile. Xena is next.

"Appraisal!"

I nod after also seeing the status of Xena. I excitedly open my mouth to say the good news.

"Xena, we did it! I'm now level 115! and you're now level 110!"

「Yehey! We did it, master! We became stronger.」

We jump up happily. Our goal was at least level 100, it's good that we surpassed it. Our "routine change" was a success. If we didn't change our lifestyle, this goal wouldn't finish in just eight months.

Our routine every day are:

-Waking up early in the morning.

-Eat breakfast.

-Hunt.

-Eat our lunch.

-Hunt again

-Eat our dinner.

-Hunt again.

-Eat at midnight

-Hunt again

And back to the first one.

This past 8 months this is our lifestyle just to take revenge on that dragon. It thinks no one can defeat a dragon because their race is superior, that's why I'll show to that dragon that's not true. To do so, I will become the strongest, the most intelligent, and the most adaptable being, and become the apex predator in this world.

"Wait for me, little lizard."