Naisade ate and took things along the way, acquiring a large haul of fantastical plants.
Along the way, he wasn't worried about powerful magical beasts coming to hunt him.
Because of the Dragon Mother's Dragon Might deterrence, no magical beast with a bit of sense would come here to seek death.
One must know that the Dragon Mother goes out hunting periodically, and the magical beasts nearby had long since been swept clean by her.
So, as long as he didn't stray too far from the lair, it was relatively safe.
In fact, besides familiarizing himself with the environment, Naisade had another purpose for this trip: finding a cave.
Honestly, he thought his behavior was quite abnormal for a dragon.
Whether it was walking upright or strange skills like the “Love Stronger Than Gold Seven-Day Lock.”
Spending too much time with the Dragon Mother would make it easy for her to notice something was off, and he also wasn't at ease keeping all the things he collected in the lair.
To avoid trouble, he decided to find a cave to store his belongings, so he could pack up and run at any time.
“Emmm, it’s too damp here…”
Naisade looked at the cave by the water; if he were a normal black dragon, it would be fine here.
But he would have many things to store in the future, and too damp an environment would easily cause them to rot.
He walked towards a spot slightly further from the river, yet not too far, because being near the river meant water and food.
As he walked, a small hill appeared before his eyes, with a naturally formed stone cave on it.
Naisade was overjoyed and strode quickly to the cave entrance; he was very satisfied with its size, dryness, and geographical location.
He unconsciously twitched his nose and immediately frowned, then suddenly began to dig at the dirt on the ground.
Many animal skeletons were buried beneath the soil.
Perhaps a powerful magical beast used to hide here, but judging by the footprints and traces left behind, it hadn't returned for a long time.
Since this cave was very close to the Dragon Lair, its original owner might have already been eaten by the Dragon Mother.
After confirming there were no dangerous magical beasts inside, Naisade walked in.
It was still full of animal skeletons and furs; Naisade wasn't unable to eat these things, but they had little nutritional value.
They could fill his stomach in an emergency, but there was no need when food was plentiful.
He rummaged through these remains and found some shredded cloth pieces.
They looked like human clothing, probably scattered after being eaten by a magical beast.
Sure enough, after some rummaging, Naisade found a sheepskin travel bag.
Inside the travel bag were fire-starting tools, a map, and some strange stones.
Among the fire-starting tools were a box of matches and a tinder stick.
Sizzling!
Light flickered in the gloomy cave; the matches were still usable. Naisade lit the tinder stick for future use.
Hugging a bundle of dry firewood, Naisade built a campfire and began to examine the map before him by its light.
This was a map of the Rotten Scale Swamp. The words on it were not Dragonic, so Naisade couldn't understand them, but he could roughly guess the marked pictures.
There was a route on it that led out of the Rotten Scale Swamp.
“Heaven helps me!”
Naisade would leave the Dragon Mother's sphere of influence someday. If he wandered aimlessly when venturing out, he might accidentally stumble into a human town where strong individuals gathered.
His dragon beast would probably become alchemical material for humans.
Carefully putting away the map, he began to examine the stones he found in the sheepskin bag, illuminated by the firelight.
These stones were colorful, crystal clear, and shone brightly in the firelight.
He noticed one blood-red crystal, ten centimeters long and wide, with black patterns within the red crystal.
He could feel the abundant natural magic contained within this crystal, then swallowed it without a second thought.
Crunch! Naisade felt like he was chewing a candy bean.
Abundant magical power exploded in his mouth. After being absorbed by his gluttonous stomach, the gaps in the scales on Naisade's skin changed from dark red to reddish-black.
This mutation was actually not obvious, nor did it provide any skill talents.
“Maybe it’s not enough yet.”
Naisade could also basically guess that the owner of these relics might have come to the river valley to collect gemstone minerals, only to encounter fierce magical beasts and be eaten.
Then, his gaze turned to the other few gemstones; these gemstones had almost no magic in them, so eating them or not eating them made no difference.
Naisade ultimately held back.
Dragons are very fond of gemstones and precious metals like gold and silver, so dragons love to collect them and sometimes plunder treasures from other races.
Naisade was no exception; if they had abundant magic, he would have eaten them, but these gemstones were still collected, as just looking at them was very comforting.
Afterward, he put away the the gemstones and made some simple modifications to the cave.
He piled large rocks at the entrance to prevent other creatures from entering.
At the same time, he cleared out all the decaying bones that emitted a foul smell.
It wasn't that Naisade couldn't stand the smell, but rather that these smells were likely to attract other predators.
After a day and a night of “renovation,” the entire cave was much cleaner and considerably more spacious.
After working so long, Naisade felt hungry.
Then, Fisherman Naisade came online!
Next to the cave was a slow-flowing pond. Naisade grabbed his fishing rod, ready to cast a few lines there.
It was the same old method: find worms in the decaying trees of the Swamp and put them on the hook.
This time, to improve efficiency, he also used fruits he found in the Swamp and threw them into the pond as bait.
There were many fish in the large pond, and soon a large school of fish gathered. Naisade basically caught one with every cast!
Before long, seven fish of various sizes were laid out on the riverbank.
He ate as he fished, but he found that most of the fish he ate did not provide him with skills or talents.
Naisade speculated that only special magical beasts could provide him with skills and talents.
The “Iron Jaw River Carp” he first caught was actually a type of magical beast.
However, eating more ordinary flesh could also help him grow.
Naisade grabbed a fat fish, tore off a large piece of fish meat, and swallowed it.
It was delicious, but it always felt like something was missing, the taste was a bit bland.
Maybe later he could use the plants found in the forest to make seasonings and have some grilled fish.
Just as Naisade was thinking about how to cook grilled fish, the fishing rod in the water suddenly yanked.
“Holy crap, is it a big one?”
The vine was pulled taut; this force was much greater than the Iron Jaw River Carp he encountered last time!
Naisade followed suit and tied the vine to a large tree, but this fish was smart; Naisade didn't exert force, and it didn't either.
“Am I going to humor it?”
Naisade spat fiercely, then plunged into the pond, swimming towards the struggling large fish.
After a long while, Naisade's scream came from the pond.
“Ow!”