GREED: ALL FOR WHAT?

All four of them waited patiently by the opening in the cave. There is a path that leads down the mountain from the cave. But beyond the path is the open sky. It is as if they are living beside a cliff.

Mother went outside through the opening of the cave. Then she grabbed them with her solidified divine sense and pulled them out. They cout of the cave for the first time. They can't fly yet, but being so high up in the sky is still exhilarating.

Mother said, "Down we go, little ones."

Then she flapped her four wings and plunged down. They didn't go straight down. Instead, they glided across the landscape and created sdistance between them and the mountain as they descended.

The four of them roared in excitement all the way down. Their soft, undeveloped vocal cords made their howls sound like coughing. It was so cute that Mother couldn't help but grin. Their happiness was infectious.

Mother wasn't fast, so they could take in the scenery. Her divine sense formed a barrier that protected them from the wind so they could enjoy the sight of the yellow trees. The mountain they are living on is surrounded by them. The earth and soil are red. It made the yellow leaves especially beautiful.

Even with her slow speed, it didn't take them long to reach their destination. Mother dropped them in a small groove. The groove is only small compared to the size of the mountain. It is 4 kilometers across. While the mountain is 107 kilometers tall.

"We are a tenth of the way down. You will start your training from here, and we will work our way down."

They weren't listening much to her. Their attention was on their environment. It is different from the bland and deary cave that they have lived in since they hatched. Their small, shining eyes were focused on taking in everything that they could see. But they heard her, so they indicated so.

"Alright, Mother."

"Can we go now?"

"Not yet." She said with a scoff. "Not until you hear everything I have to say."

They turned to her then.

She resumed warning them. "You have 12 hours. I will be here waiting for you."

"You can go now."

They scrambled away after getting her permission. The four of them scattered into the sparse woods of the groove. Their first training session has begun.

The groove is mostly a grassy plain surrounding a blue lake. There are sshrubs and trees, but most of them are short. They are all shorter than Mother. So no matter how far the four of them go in the groove, they can always see the form of Mother, like a small blue mountain that stands out against the yellow trees. They can't get lost with her standing out like this.

The fourth chose a random direction to hunt in. He said to himself, "This is my opportunity to finally grow."

His demeanor and posture changed as he went further from Mother. Something previously dormant within him began to awaken. His demeanor seemed to have changed from that of an ignorant dragonling to that of an experienced hunter.

His eyes narrowed, and his senses peaked. Sounds, images, and sensations from the environment went into his mind through his physical senses and divine sense.

His steps were clumsy at first. He was making a lot of noise. But that changed as twent on. His steps beclight. His posture shifted as he hunched. The muscles of his limbs coiled with powerful potential energy. He released that potential energy little by little as he walked, but he also replenished it as his form shifted.

He started out in a random direction, but he wasn't going in a random direction anymore. He has gained direction from the traces in his environment. He is stalking prey now. He is certain of it.

Mother had dropped them beside the lake, so it is not surprising that he cupon the tracks of a prey so quickly. This prey has just returned from drinking from the lake, so its trail is fresh.

He can smell the fresh scent in the air. He can see the fresh depressions in the ground. His divine sense can feel the traces that the prey left behind as it passed through the shrubs. Even its dentition is clear to him from the bite marks left on the leaves it passed by. From all of these, he knows that he has a good chance of subduing it.

He combined every detail he noticed into a profile for his prey. "It has six hoven limbs and weighs 1217 kg. It has one large bushy tail and two short horns, and it is an herbivore."

It is just the right type of prey for him. It is not too big, so it won't be dangerous to hunt. It is not too small either, so its flesh will make the hunt worthwhile. It is also an herbivore, so the fight will be easy.

The frizzy and long hair that it left behind indicates that it is a bushy-tailed govon. As an herbivore, its first instinct would be to run when it spots a predator, so Fourth has to be sneaky and quiet so as not to spook the prey.

Even if he spooks the prey, this hunt shouldn't fail. The bushy-

tailed govons are very fast. Their six limbs give them a high initial acceleration potential. So it will certainly be able to create a large distance between them. But govons can't keep up their fast speed, especially not the bushy-tailed govon. So as long as he doesn't give up, he will be able to catch his prey.

Every possibility had been mapped out in his mind. It is not something a novice hunter can do on their first hunt without any training. But this itself is his training. After all, experience is the best teacher.

Experience doesn't necessarily have to be yours to learn from it. You can learn from the experiences of others too.