Goblin Dependency

As his limbs moved, he had already stepped onto the Vine Horned Sheep.

Ripping a tender piece of lamb from near the wound, swallowing it, he concentrated, alert to potential dangers from the surrounding forest.

Now, it had been more than half a month since he absorbed the Life Energy left by the Dwarf from the Furious Tide Battle Gang.

Just as he had guessed before, the beasts inhabited by adventurers in the Secret Realm develop at a pace multiple times faster than their counterparts.

The abundant natural resources and the adequate nutritional supply provided by a stable pack, followed by his gradual growth, allowed him to come out alone and have a meal like this.

In ten days, while the other Wolf Cubs were still trying out the regurgitated meat of adult suburban wolves, Xia Nan had already grown to a near-mature juvenile stage.

Moreover, the bloodline of the Temple Night Wolf subspecies within him had completely replaced his original Forest Land Suburban Wolf species identity after development.

Although it was said that he was still an "immature juvenile wolf," in terms of size, Xia Nan was even a few circles larger than the leader of the suburban wolves within the pack.

It’s a bit awkward to talk about.

Even though the suburban wolves instinctively raised their own pack’s pups, they showed no particular abnormality as Xia Nan displayed a food intake and growth rate far beyond his fellow pups, continuously providing him with meat.

But just a few days ago, when his size truly surpassed that of the pack’s leader.

Both the suburban wolf leader and the Wolf Mother began to show noticeable signs of rejection toward him.

Of course, Xia Nan could understand this.

After all, he was merely a wild animal acting on instinct. Though born not long ago, once he grew in size, he was seen as a mature individual that needed to be driven out of the pack.

And now, with his gradually maturing body, he had roughly the ability to move freely in the Primitive Forest and could leave the pack.

But before that, in some measure, it could be said to repay the suburban wolves for their support over these many days.

Xia Nan planned, within the scope of his capabilities, to help them clean up the dangerous creatures around the woodland, while also providing a few meals for himself and his inexpensive brothers and sisters in the nest.

The dead "Vine Horned Sheep" in front of him was one of his achievements in the past two days.

After all, with the size of suburban wolves, it was hard to pose a threat to such large herbivores.

And these seemingly gentle herbivores have a natural hostility towards predators, especially their young, and even have habitats very close to the den.

Xia Nan had seen many times the pack barking to scare away Vine Horned Sheep that inadvertently strayed into their territory.

Leaving them always carried risks, so he found an opportunity to eliminate it.

Besides that, over these many days, Xia Nan had made more discoveries about the Secret Realm itself.

First, the flow of time.

Benefiting from the concentrated thought in his mind, which allowed him to observe from a human perspective of reality.

Xia Nan keenly noticed that the flow of time in the Secret Realm was noticeably faster than in reality.

From a Wolf Cub to a juvenile wolf stage over ten days and nights, reality hadn’t even undergone a full day-night cycle change.

The sea waves, trees, and people on the beach, including the Dwarf adventurer he killed in the Secret Realm who lost the blue glow envelope and fell to the ground, were all in a frozen state.

This made Xia Nan feel both a bit disappointed and somewhat relieved.

On one hand, Stodd Island affected by the ritual is, after all, the venue for the Moon Tide Banquet.

Even if the banquet is about to be held, those invited or wanting to join the fun have already mostly arrived on the island.

But inevitably, there are those latecomers due to various circumstances.

As long as time drags on long enough, some late adventurers might discover the abnormality on the island and report it to the Governor Mansion or some other powerful organizations.

The people forced into the Secret Realm should also get rescued.

With reality’s time flow being slow, such probabilities are greatly reduced.

But on the other hand, he was glad that the ritual would not be interrupted shortly.

After all, he now hopes to use this ritual to significantly enhance his Battle Skill Skill Level.

Having the rare opportunity to use the Dream Weaving Corridor without consuming Energy, he doesn’t want to waste it.

Then, the range of the Secret Realm map.

He wasn’t sure if it was because he was at the edge of the island’s light screen when he was drawn into the ritual or if it was just a coincidence.

A few days ago, while Xia Nan tried to get familiar with the surrounding forest environment and search for nearby dangerous creatures.

He accidentally discovered an infinitely extending "air wall" to the southeast of the den.

He could move, but the air outside the wall seemed infused with cement. The further out he went, the stronger the effect, and only he was affected, whereas other ordinary creatures in the Secret Realm weren’t restricted.

Last night, acting on a guess, he went to check it again.

It turned out just as he had expected—the position of the air wall had retracted a little inward from where he first discovered it.

And this means that his range of free movement is shrinking!

Thinking of this, an inexplicable look flashed across the golden Wolf Eyes of Xia Nan.

A hundred adventurers dragged into the Secret Realm, an evolution mechanism that encourages slaughter, an activity range that shrinks over time...

A strong sense of déjà vu surged in his heart.

But regardless, it is now certain that as the activity space gradually shrinks, the frequency with which adventurers on the map meet will gradually increase.

Under these circumstances, disputes and battles naturally arise.

And as long as an adventurer kills another participant and absorbs their residual Life Energy, they will discover the mechanism of this ritual.

If he wants to gain as much Battle Skill Skill Level through slaughter as possible, he clearly needs to seize the time.

Otherwise, as time goes on, the number of adventurers left will decrease, and the difficulty of dealing with each will increase geometrically as their life levels evolve.

But the key issue now is how he should find these hundred adventurers scattered across the map.

Thinking while eating, he soon became half-full.

The Temple Night Wolf subspecies in the Night Fog Forest evolved powerful bite and neck strength to snatch prey to tree branches to avoid ground predators, allowing Xia Nan to drag the carcass of a Vine Horned Sheep by its hoof, despite being less than half its size.

It didn’t take long to drag it back to the clearing near the wolf den.

Planning to provide a meal for the Wolf Mother and other Wolf Cubs.

But to his surprise, when Xia Nan returned to the den, the five adult suburban wolves responsible for leaving to hunt, which should only return at sunset, had already returned to the territory.

And not only did they not bring back the prey they caught as usual, each was injured, the air filled with the thick sound of tongues licking wounds, and the deep whimpers of suburban wolves.

He could see that the suburban wolf leader was nearly critically injured, with a huge wound slashing down its entire chest from the side shoulder, steps staggering as it walked.

Dragging the massive Vine Horned Sheep carcass to the clearing in front of the den, it served as food while the wolf pack recovered for these days, unable to hunt outside due to injuries.

Xia Nan stepped forward to check the injuries on the suburban wolf leader.

The other instinctively thought he wanted to take the opportunity to seize the leader’s position while injured and bared its teeth, but Xia Nan lightly tapped its head, causing it to subconsciously retract its exposed Wolf Teeth.

His gaze swept over the wounds on the suburban wolf leader’s chest.

"Not beast scratches."

Instead, they seemed more like wounds inflicted with a weapon by some intelligent creature.

Intelligent creature...

A thoughtful and human-like expression flashed across Xia Nan’s furry face.