Tale of the Red Dragon Without Dragon’s Might
Chapter 111: Motion and Stillness

Chapter 111: Chapter 111: Motion and Stillness

"Storytime, we want storytime." Lulu and her friends came running over again.

Pixies occasionally bring him some delicious fruits, whether it’s a way of returning the favor or just to pass the time, after all, one cannot meditate all day long, and going overboard isn’t without reason, so Leon doesn’t mind telling stories to the Pixies during his downtime.

"What story would you like to hear?" Leon asked, swaying on the lounge chair he made himself, "Little Red Riding Hood Versus the Big Bad Wolf, or Snow White and the Seven Calabash Brothers?"

"Little Red Riding Hood Versus the Big Bad Wolf."

"I want to hear Snow White and the Seven Calabash Brothers."

"The last story wasn’t finished... Sophie awakened the old grandpa in the ring, who used to be a legendary Mage, what happened next?"

Amidst the clamor of Pixies chirping away, Leon felt a bit overwhelmed, eventually covering his ears.

"Stop making noise." Leon clapped his hands forcefully, "I’ll tell the story of Little Red Riding Hood Versus the Big Bad Wolf, listen if you want to... A long time ago, there was a lovely little girl, always wearing a red velvet hat, she mastered profound fire spells, and had a little teddy bear named Tibbers..."

It was just enough to placate some Pixies, no need to publish the story online, the quality of the story directly affecting his performance, Leon quickly wrapped up the story.

After Leon shooed away the Pixies, he continued his meditation, meditating until he slept through the afternoon.

It had been almost two months since Leon lived in the Primitive Forest; Leon was napping when a Pixie woke him up by pinching his nose.

Luckily, Leon was in human form and had mellowed out after a long period of meditation, otherwise, he might have slapped someone due to waking up on the wrong side of the bed. Even so, Leon still gave the Pixie, a friend of Lulu’s named Wendy, a tender "brain-buster," leaving Wendy’s head spinning.

"Ouch." Wendy covered her forehead, "Why are you so heartless, someone as pretty as me, don’t you know how to pity and cherish the fair?"

"Your beauty isn’t my concern..." Leon glanced at Wendy, indeed very pretty, like a doll. The problem was, as a Pixie, a tiny creature, not even as big as his shoes, he found it hard to be interested.

"No, what am I even talking about?" Wendy screamed, "Now’s not the time for jokes."

Seeing the anxious look on Wendy’s face, spinning around in mid-air, Leon knew something serious must have happened; he said, "Don’t panic, speak slowly, what happened?"

"Lulu, Lulu got trapped in a spider web, we need to rescue her." Wendy said.

"A spider web?" Leon was startled, "Quick, take me there."

Leon followed Wendy, walking along a creek until they reached a large tree covered in webs, and saw Lulu trapped in the web along with a humanoid spider, an Ettercap.

Leon remembered seeing an Ettercap the last time in the cave leading to the Dark Territory; in fact, Ettercaps mostly live deeper in the forest, as predators to spiritual creatures. They love setting traps with webs to hunt Sprites and Pixies, sometimes even wrapping an entire tree in webs, hoping to catch a Dryad.

Unable to exterminate these malevolent creatures on their own, the naturally shy spiritual creatures occasionally seek help from outsiders like Leon, a familiar face.

At that moment, the Ettercap seemed to be saving Lulu as stored food, just wrapped in a web, not consumed yet, possibly wanting to use Lulu as bait to trap more Pixies or Sprites coming to her rescue, seizing the chance to catch more delicacies.

Leon raised his hand, with just an Object Capture Skill he grabbed Lulu from the web, then with a single Hand Palm Bomb, he killed the Ettercap. A mere Ettercap was not worth his attention; it was a matter of handily eliminating it.

"You’re amazing." Wendy was stunned by Leon’s action, stars twinkling in her eyes, "Are you a Mage?"

"Just a trifle not worth mentioning." Leon, still in human form, was quite modest, unlike when in Dragon Form where he prefers showing off. Speaking, he set Lulu down on the ground and carefully removed all the spider silk.

Wendy flew beside Lulu, gently patting her friend’s face multiple times, finally getting some response.

"Where, where am I?" Lulu slowly regained consciousness, rapidly flapping her wings to fly, "I’m alive, I’m still alive... Thank you, Wendy, thank you, Leon, it was you who saved me, I like you."

"But I don’t like you; you’re too mischievous," Leon said. "Tell me, why did you run into an Ettercap’s web?"

"Here, there were no Ettercapes before," Lulu hovered in front of Leon, gesturing with her hands, "I don’t know why Ettercapes suddenly appeared."

"Alright, I believe what you said." Leon didn’t care too much. Even if Lulu wasn’t lying and the Ettercaps appeared suddenly, it was completely normal for an Ettercap to appear in the Primitive Forest.

Leon went back and continued his solitary cultivation.

Another month passed, and Leon could feel that his cultivation had more than halfway progressed.

Feels a bit slow?

It’s okay if it’s slow, the Foundation Establishment isn’t timed, even what they call the Hundred Days Foundation Building doesn’t need to be completed in exactly one hundred days. Hundred Days is just a metaphor, meaning one needs to persist for at least a hundred days to see effects.

During those days, even though Leon was in solitary cultivation, he still felt that the Primitive Forest was somewhat abnormal.

"Recently, I don’t know why, but the frequency of monster appearances has increased a lot," Des said, sitting cross-legged on a bench. This Wood Elf Ranger was someone Leon met after coming to the Primitive Forest and, even though he was male, his appearance was quite delicate, and he had long hair that fell to his shoulders.

He and Leon became acquainted because he was very curious about the outside world—he would definitely set out on an adventure one day, enjoying an adventure that spans several centuries—having heard that Leon used to live in the desert, a place with scenery he had never seen, he often chatted with Leon.

"What do you mean?" Leon was eating the fruit brought by Des, juice streaming down.

"Ettercaps, which were rarely seen before, have started appearing frequently," Des paused, "Goblins have always been around, no matter how many you kill, but never in such numbers. And someone saw a tall figure moving through the forest, quickly disappearing... The village chief told us to go out as little as possible recently, especially at night."

He looked around and said, "Aren’t you scared living here alone? Do you want to move to our village? I can put in a word for you about your foreign matters."

"No need," Leon knew the Elf Village was wary of him, since he had just come to the forest and nothing extraordinary had happened, earning the Elves’ trust would take several years, if not ten, the acceptance into the Elf Village was purely because of his outstanding appearance, and he still smelled of a fairy, "Don’t let my appearance fool you, I’m actually very strong."

"I know you’re a Mage who can cast lightning spells, but..." Des also found it difficult to persuade the villagers to let a foreigner into the Elf Village at such a sensitive time, and hesitated, "Just be careful then."

Leon nodded noncommittally and changed the subject: "Ettercaps and goblins are no worries, but we should pay attention to that tall figure... I remember I was discovered by your people shortly after I entered the forest, why has the standard dropped so much now?"

"I don’t know," Des shook his head.

"Ogres?" Leon said, "Trolls are also a possibility."

"With the intelligence of Ogres and Trolls, if they saw the village, they would have charged straight at it only to be shot into a wasp’s nest," Des had some experience, obviously having seen many monsters before. This was normal, being an adult Elf, at least over a hundred years old.

"We definitely wouldn’t have missed them," Des added. "It must be some other creatures."

Leon nodded thoughtfully and said, "Green Hag, I think that tall figure is most likely a Green Hag."

"We also guessed that, it’s very likely a Green Hag," Des replied. "Green Hags are tall, can shape-shift, and turn invisible... But Green Hags do not stay in withered forests or swamps; what are they doing here?"

"They might not think we are easy to bully," Des said, raising his bow.

"I don’t know about that," Leon shook his head.

Leon thought it was very likely some mischief by a Green Hag, although a Green Hag’s standard Challenge Level was only a mere 3, lower than an Annis Hag he had encountered before, but a stronger Green Hag was not impossible. If it was a Grandmother-level Green Hag, he might not even be a match for it.

No matter what that creature wanted to do, as long as it didn’t disturb him, it was fine. As long as it didn’t disturb him, Leon didn’t care how those creatures tormented the Elf Village.

Leon hoped those troubles wouldn’t find him, but sometimes, the more you fear something, the more it comes... It seems to be called Murphy’s Law, anything that can go wrong, will eventually go wrong.

It was a pitch-black night, when Leon encountered a group of Meenlocks.