The luminous threads spiraled upward—slowly, yet undeniably thriving and swaying across Old Gold Tooth's body. From a distance, the old kobold lying on the ground looked like a patch of unusually flourishing bean sprouts.
Luge watched Old Gold Tooth, staring at those glowing threads.
Too bad he was not yet a powerful wizard. If he were a formal wizard, no… maybe even an advanced apprentice wizard, or an apprentice wizard who had studied such things, could deal with these luminous threads, he thought.
Aisjin looked anxious, yet her brimming eyes held only desolation, as if she had already accepted the outcome. The kobold maiden had not even noticed by now that Luge's strength had grown inexplicably enough to grab her, nor that he could actually lug the two burly kobolds around. In the past, she would surely have curiously asked without stopping.
Watching Aisjin's anxious glances from time to time, he also turned to look at Big Dumb Hum.
The kobold maiden would never ask him to move this stinking, heavy hulk for no reason.
Big Dumb Hum had been set down on the ground, sitting weakly.
Noticing his gaze, Big Dumb Hum actually began to tremble. If the blood on him had not matted his fur into clumps, and the fur on his back were not nearly worn away, he would surely have puffed up in fear.
Before Aisjin could speak, Big Dumb Hum had already reached out a trembling hand, though he still did not dare lift his head to look at the smallest figure beside him.
Aisjin pulled out a crude beast-fang dagger.
Under Luge's curious gaze, she began to let blood from Big Dumb Hum's fingers.
But after three tries in a row, before much blood flowed, the wound healed.
"Let me do it."
Luge seemed slightly excited, as if he had found a curious new book waiting to be thumbed through.
"Big guy, bear with it…" He took the beast-fang dagger.
With the Bull's Strength spell effect still not faded, he could absolutely slice open a large gash easily.
Hearing this, Big Dumb Hum's shoulder trembled, and he buried his head so hard his expression could not be seen.
Was this extraordinary healing ability also the effect of that magical fruit? He began to take even greater interest in that black fruit whose true face he had never seen.
"Should I feed this blood to Old Gold Tooth?" he said.
Aisjin nodded hard.
He walked over, took out the long staff, pressed one end against the old kobold's mouth, and pulled Big Dumb Hum's cut palm over. Fresh blood dripped steadily down the tilted staff into the old kobold's mouth. Although an apprentice wizard was probably unlikely to catch something from an ordinary kobold that required prolonged contact to infect, he still did not want to get too close.
The old kobold merely grinned, as if he found all this quite interesting.
Among the kobolds—an aloof race, less than human yet not as emotionally sincere as beasts—Old Gold Tooth was surprised and happy that, on the verge of death, he still had three younger kin of his own kind by his side.
As the blood dripped down.
The old kobold's complexion improved visibly to the naked eye.
This was also what Luge was glad to see: on one hand, to test the blood's effect; on the other, he very much wanted to chat with Old Gold Tooth.
He had actually just heard mention of the sun from this old kobold's mouth, which was truly incredible. Moreover, the old kobold's clear and orderly eloquence, though tiresome because of his chattiness, was absolutely not something a kobold who had always holed up here could possess.
Thinking back now, some things Aisjin had said—such as bug-people rarely appearing in this area—must all have come from Old Gold Tooth's mouth.
Luge also noticed that there really was a gold tooth in the old kobold's grinning mouth, which also should not have been there.
Old Gold Tooth's improvement mostly came from his wounds healing, but the luminous threads on his body showed no sign of weakening at all.
"Oh ho, very good, this is already good enough; this way I can live for a while longer." Old Gold Tooth grinned, casually pulling the luminous-thread straw from his chin and tossing it into his mouth, like chewing on a blade of grass.
The luminous threads showed no change for a long time, but Big Dumb Hum's wound had already begun to heal.
Luge did not cut him open again like a demon.
That was enough.
He removed the long staff, faced Old Gold Tooth, and sat on the ground.
"A kobold who grows luminous threads probably won't live until the next time he's hungry, right?" He looked at the old kobold with bright eyes.
"Heh heh! A rare kobold sage—you are Aisjin's friend, so come, see how long I have lived? Look at my beard, look at my ears, look at my toes; your clever little head has never seen them, and even if you had, more cleverness would be useless. I am not like those kobolds who die quickly. I once served a true dragon, bathed in the true dragon's breath…"
Old Gold Tooth moved the luminous-thread straw in his mouth, as if suddenly lost in distant memories.
"Hmm, but in the end I failed. I did not become a dragonborn kobold; my size is still this small, but my brain became sharper. I am the smartest in my clan—no, I should say the smartest in the tribe. They sent me to deal with those long-eared dark elves. A strong tribe will not be enslaved by those elves. The ore we mined all had to be traded for good things. Dealing with those black pointed ears taught me many things."
Old Gold Tooth looked very pleased, drawing circles with the straw at the side of his mouth.
"That's all stuff you've never seen. Although I am not a true dragonborn kobold, this glowing thing would still need some time to knock me down…"
The words Old Gold Tooth spoke from time to time made Luge's heart jump. Aisjin also sat beside him listening, while only Big Dumb Hum, weaker after the bloodletting, leaned silently against the cave wall with his eyes closed, resting.
The old kobold looked into Luge's eyes, as if trying to see something from them.
"Do you know? Even the weakest dragonborn kobold can live for a very long time—long enough to be hungry countless times, long enough to be not weaker than those dark-skinned pointed ears."
The old kobold moved his lips and pointed the straw at Big Dumb Hum curled up resting to the side.
"This big guy has the scent of a dragonborn kobold, but very, very weak, extremely weak… I need to drink a large mouthful of his blood to sense it. He must have eaten something tainted with a true dragon's breath. But dragonborn kobold blood does not have this kind of miraculous healing ability… Pity the amount was too small; he has already missed this chance, failed like me. If I had been that strong when I was young, I would surely have succeeded."
Seeing Luge's eager eyes, Old Gold Tooth said: "You also can't. You absolutely can't. You're too scrawny. A scrawny kobold means too little latent dragon blood. Even if they stuffed you behind a true dragon's butt and buried you in dragon dung, you wouldn't succeed."
Luge opened his mouth but, rationally, did not retort.
"Why don't you eat grub meat?"
He asked the question he had always wanted to ask. Not eating easily obtained grub meat was an act that seriously violated kobold instinct.
Even starving himself in the end—this could not be explained by simple taste, even though Old Gold Tooth was a special kobold closer to human than beast.
Chapter 13