Unfortunately, Roge didn’t get the next level in his class, but at the very least he had a fun time doing it. It also gave Hops enough time to look up the other crystals associated with the various resources, Roge looking over the list after a few hours.

  Roge was very glad to have a surplus of money, as he used his orange trees to get the gemstones, costing a whopping thirty five silver for all of them. He quickly set his [Farm Hoard] to process the oranges into dust, not wanting the disconnect to happen with his friends again.

  Each one had seven ranks of the tier zero effects he could put into his plants, which he made sure to spread out between his existing plants. This took a bit of time and effort, but Roge considered it worth it in the end.

  The most surprising portion was that instead of having exhaustion, the dust and flower had the [Refresh] ability. It made some sense, as exhaustion worked opposite to the other resources, but Roge didn’t really like the disconnect.

  Either way, he had access to all of the resource potions at his clawtips. ‘Now I just need the other boost abilities, and I have all of the sets.’

  “Does your book say where to get the boost abilities?” Roge asked Hops, the elf smiling and shaking his head.

  “Unfortunately no. You’re either going to have to find them on your own, or ask one of the alchemists about it.”

  “I’d really rather not have to ask them,” Roge muttered. That earned him a chuckle from Hops, to which he gave a sour look to.

  “So, do we think we have enough time to search the nearby forest today?” Sean asked, to which Roge looked outside at, forgetting he could just look at his [Status] for the time.

  “As long as it’s not too far in…” Roge mumbled.

  “We can at least take a look,” Marge said, thinking everything over. “What’s your fly speed as a fairy?”

  “Around forty kilometers per hour in a straight line.” Roge poked at Alton at that, knowing the minotaur would want to be a part of the conversation. He’d sat in the hoard while they ate, saying something about ‘Not wanting to feel envious.’

  “My top speed should be around the same in the forest. Do you two want to stay near the forest edge while we explore?” Marge asked Hops and Sean, the lion looking like he did not like the idea.

  “I should be able to signal to everyone if need be,” Roge reassured. “And I always know what direction y’all are in due to the ash and bonds.”

  “Plus, I can look around too,” Alton said, sitting in the empty chair they’d left for him. “No one should be able to see me, so it’d be even more stealthy.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” Marge cheered, giving Sean a reassuring pat on the back. “If we see anything bad, we’ll high tail it back to you. Just like always.”

  ~~~

  It didn’t take them much time to head out into the forest, Sean having more information on the quest than the notice said. Apparently, the wild kobolds always approached from the west and grabbed all the food they could, the forest lining that side being not popular with the local adventurers, so no one was able to take pursuit. It was apparently a very low level area, usually only sporting level one or two creatures. Roge thought that might not be the case, as they’d run into way higher threat creatures on their way there, but he had nothing to worry about.

  It took a minute for him to get used to flying again in his smaller fairy wolf form, though once he got the hang of it, both him and Marge set off. He flew over the treetops, looking for any signs of smoke or clearings, while Marge wound through the trees to see if she noticed any tracks. It was fairly easy for Roge to keep up with her, especially since, even when he couldn’t see her, he knew approximately where she was in relation to him.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  Marge shouted him down within thirty minutes of their searching, explaining in quick sentences that she found the trail of the kobolds. It went a bit more north than they were expecting, but after about an hour of flying, they soon reached one of the edges of the forest, smoke being clearly visible from one portion of the tree line.

  Roge flew down to land on Marge’s shoulder once they got closer, not trusting his barely adequate flying skills when potential enemies were around. Besides, he was so light that Marge barely even shifted with his weight, so he decided to wait and see if his dragon form was even needed. ‘Better to be able to escape quickly without the form change confusion…’

  They soon were within sight of the wild kobold camp, Roge’s canine muzzle turning down into a frown when he noticed their burrow. It looked like they made an artificial cave, with at least twenty golden kobolds all shivering and trying to keep warm. Even in his other form, he still kept most of his traits, including his very high cold resistance, so he hadn’t even noticed that the temperature the wind was at would make it unbearably cold for the kobolds. Marge wasn’t even complaining, though now that he noticed, she had heat runes all along her clothing to keep warm in the forest.

  The kobolds also looked way too skinny, some of the humanoid reptiles barely even shivering in the cold, as though they didn’t have enough energy to. Roge could see their ribs poking out from their scaled chests, the undernourishment looking really bad. ‘No wonder they tried to steal from the town…’ he thought to himself, hopping onto the ground and shifting back into his dragon form.

  “Wait here…” he whispered, much to Marge’s silent outrage. He wasn’t very sneaky, as so as soon as he exited the tree line, at least half of the kobolds jumped up and hissed at him from about thirty feet away. It looked like they were about to approach, so Roge very quickly did his harvest from the orange trees and spread thirty of his oranges out on the ground in front of him. He left three in his inventory for his idea, a small smile coming to his face when all of the active kobolds stopped in their tracks.

  Yipping and crying soon filled the area as all of the kobolds swarmed the oranges on the ground, some stronger kobolds even making sure that some of the smaller ones got an orange or two. Roge backed up to make sure they had enough space, just watching them joyously eat and shiver from the cold.

  The largest of the kobolds, which Roge found out only came up to his hips, gently walked up to Roge with a curious but challenging look. None of the kobolds wore clothing, which made Roge even sadder as he looked at the small creature. Roge simply took out another orange, that one he left in his claw as he offered it to the kobold. As soon as the kobold touched his claw, Roge used druidic touch to speak to the creature, it jumping as soon as the connection was made.

  ‘More food. As much as you want,’ he tried to offer, getting a confused look from the kobold. ‘Show?’

  Surprisingly, the kobold nodded. Roge took it as permission to add the leader to his [Farm Hoard], which made the other kobolds yip in alarm. He waited a few seconds, staying still and just looking at the group before bringing the kobold leader back. They looked rather happy, with their scaled tail wagging, before they shivered in the cold. The other kobolds calmed down at this, until the leader yipped their way and tilted their head towards Roge.

  This made way for the kobolds to agree to join his hoard one at a time, each one excited for the general warmth of the plains area along with the abundant food. Expecting for them to want some type of cave system, Roge even designated that as the second environment he had received when his [Farm Hoard] had ranked up. He felt a pang of pain as the last one disappeared, grunting as multiple things ranked up for him.

  He panted as he felt nearly swelled up with energy, the new effect and buff clearly pushing him over the limit for how much growth he could stomach that day. He even noticed his nature-aligned skills getting bumps up in power, groaning at the new verbiage in his [Status].

  He knew exactly what the last added effect did, as when he looked down at his claws, the parts of his scales that used to be black on his chest and palms now were a dark emerald color.

  His [Farm Hoard] was the bigger crux of the matter, in his opinion. With the limitation increase, he had a new magical bond slot, wild form slot, and environment slot open. It felt like he simultaneously got hit with a massive power overdose and a gnawing hunger all at the same time. It wasn’t too extreme, and he could already feel his body adapting, but he laid down on the grass just in case.

  “Roge! What happened?!” Marge yelled, coming over to him looking concerned.

  “Got… too much of a power boost,” he grunted, finally remembering the kobold effect he needed to look at.

  He groaned as Marge gave him a stern look, closing his eyes as the pain slowly went away. “I know. You guys want to make me go on a break for a few days…” he muttered. “And I’ll agree. Just… lemme wait for my magic to calm down and we’ll get back to the others.”

  “Does this happen… often?” Alton asked, the minotaur keeping an eye on the plains in case something snuck up on them.

  “Very nearly happened multiple times during his first few days,” Marge grumbled. “This is, I think, the first time that he’s gotten rank sickness from it, but we’ve been mostly staving it off until now.”

  “No experimentation on adventure days…” Roge grumbled, just laying on the nice, cool grass as the last of the pain went away.

  ~~~

  By the time they got back to the rest of the party, it was nearly sunset, Marge letting Roge rest some more on her shoulder as they traveled back. She got Roge to explain why he thought his plan would work with the wild kobolds, and the answer he gave was one she couldn’t refute. He had to use his dragon form to walk alongside her as he explained, so it slowed their progress a bit.

  Kobolds were lizards, so they’d obviously be predators.? But anything bigger than them they would most likely run away from, so stealing from the town had to be out of desperation. The forest was mainly barren and low leveled, so when Roge saw their starved state, he knew he could entice them to stay in his hoard. He also knew they could eat the foods, as Sean had mentioned them taking *any* kind of food. With that, plus the stable temperature in his hoard, he knew that they would prefer it, and so Roge could complete the quest without violence.

  He repeated his explanation when he got back to the group, Sean looking exasperated while Hops just looked intrigued.

  “Can we see the butler?” the elf asked after writing down all of the abilities.

  “Absolutely not,” Sean growled, grabbing Roge and slinging the annoyed dragon over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. “He is going to rest for a day or two before using any new ability. Just to be safe.”

  Roge sighed as he was carried back, eventually wanting a better seat and turning back into his fairy wolf form. He knew he could have also gone with his new kobold form, as he picked that for his wild form slot, but he didn’t want to piss Sean off even more. He was happy for the changes he’d gotten, but now he knew to not take more than he could chew. Bonding with twenty six kobolds should have been spread out a bit more, though he was unsure how he could have done it differently. It’s not like he could have left some behind to be eaten by other predators.

  “So… I think we should report this to the league,” Hops said, giving Roge a soft pet on his wolf head. “Kobolds aren’t natural to this region, and due to how subterranean golden ones are usually…”

  “You think there’s a portal nearby?” Marge asked, the deer woman looking worried. “Wouldn’t that be to Greed?”

  “Probably.” Hops looks at Roge and gave him a smile. “Each god has a domain, either a Heaven or Hell. Sometimes portals show up to one of them, and when they do, it can be dangerous if left unchecked. Greed’s domain is full of feral dragon-type monsters, so you can see why we think that.”

  “If just the kobolds have been noticed, then it’s a new portal,” Sean commented, also giving Roge a pet. “Which is good. It takes time for it to charge up and let higher level creatures through.”

  “Should be good for levels at least,” Hops commented, giving Marge a smile. “Did you get a lot?”

  “Got more than I was expecting. Turns out Roge hoarding them is just as profitable.” Sean let out a laugh at that, the team joking around the rest of the trip back.

  ‘I love these guys…’