"Then let's make a pact."

Under the witness of the stars, Ethan proclaimed loudly, "When the day comes that I've nurtured it into an exceptional dragon, I will bring it back to you."

...............

"Old Sen."

Descending from the treetops until the firelight was no longer visible, a bat flapping its wings asked curiously, "Why do even dragons like you so much?"

It was hard to imagine a dragon willing to entrust its egg to a stranger they had only met once. In their plane, dragons were considered the most mysterious and proudest of creatures, seeing humans as no different from insects. Rowena could bet that all known dragon tamers had stolen their dragon eggs initially.

A destined encounter between dragons and humans only existed in romantic stories.

Once, the Round Table Knight Palansi, while drunk, accidentally admitted that his draconic partner was also stolen from a dragon's nest.

"Maybe because I look righteous."

Ethan could only speculate this way. Even if he "randomly" fell into the role of a poacher, it couldn't conceal his innate integrity.

"Hard to say."

Other Shore—wolf form sharply remarked. Instead of dwelling on a dragon's treatment of Ethan, she thought it better to understand this world. While Ethan was chatting with the single dragon mom, she and Rowena formed a scout team, discovering a world almost entirely engulfed by forests, where both humans and magical creatures resided.

At the very center of this world, a giant tree reached up to the sky. If their guess was correct, it was the center of human civilization, a kingdom with territories more expansive than an empire.

And in this kingdom, there existed only one path—Summoner.

"How much do you know about Summoners?"

"If I remember correctly, it's one of the branches of the Hunting Goddess's path."

Ethan could recall reading about mysticism in Ximu Town, where the Hunting Goddess Cynthia was the most frequently mentioned deity, boasting the largest number of believers with the most variety, spawning forms like werewolves and ghouls just from the "simulation method."

Furthermore, among non-mutated people, there were branches like Demon Hunters, Beast Tamers, and Archers.

And Summoners were a high-level branch of Beast Tamers.

This branch wasn't common within the Empire; Cynthia's believers with such abilities naturally didn't want to mingle with the Life Divine Teachings, creating a habitat for hunters.

However, despite knowing Cynthia for so long, she never mentioned which deity she worshipped before the Old Gods War.

The True Gods and Middle-Level Gods derived their power from the Old Gods. Besides the currently active three Evil Gods, other unknown Old Gods like Old An were sleeping somewhere unknown.

"I'm just reminding you, such a social structure isn't something one person can achieve."

Other Shore continued running as she spoke.

No deity could completely "eliminate" other paths.

Moreover, it was clear the humans in this dimension were slightly different from what they knew.

They encountered the initial burly man with a white headscarf and a beard again. Despite being covered in dust and looking bedraggled, he was indeed still alive. When Ethan landed, the burly man was resting against a sturdy tree trunk, and they almost simultaneously widened their eyes.

"You're still alive?!"

Both could see the same thought in each other's eyes.

This guy had been clawed by the single dragon mom in a rage and then thrown from the treetops hundreds of meters high, which would have turned a normal human into a heap of meat.

Even more absurd was that the poaching group members, who should have "died" during the hunt, were all alive and had set up a camp under the giant tree.

"The dragon egg—! This kid got a dragon egg!"

After staring at each other for tens of seconds, the man with the white headscarf disregarded his pain and immediately got up from the ground.

Hearing this, the other members of the poaching group were overjoyed and gathered around.

They were thrilled!

They didn't hide their greedy eyes.

They talked at great length about the information they gathered, including the sales channels for dragon eggs.

The daughter of the Lord of Moon Forest City had just completed her coming-of-age ceremony; her parents were looking for a companion for her, so this dragon egg could be sold for a higher price than usual. Some poaching group members had already started evaluating the price of the dragon egg.

Whether it was an illusion or not, Ethan felt the dragon egg in his arms seemed to be trembling.

Amid the poaching group's chatter, Ethan understood why they were still alive.

When they delayed the single dragon mom, they were "defeated." This was one of the world's special rules: when a Summoner and their companions all lost their ability to act, they would fall into a state of "blackout." Upon waking, they went to a recovery center set by Moon Forest City in the forest and regained their vitality.

Besides the poaching group members, their companions were also in the camp.

Mainly wolves, with some bats with particularly large mouths. Although they looked somewhat different from Rowena and Other Shore, they could generally be considered a similar type of creature.

This scene gave Ethan a sense of déjà vu.

Big-mouthed bats and dirt hounds were very fitting for a poaching group.

From their appearance, Rowena and Other Shore seemed like evolved versions of these creatures.

"Ethan, we were planning to attack the treetops directly! We'd snatch what we can, and even if we can't grab anything, we'd burn the dragon's nest with flames!"

Ethan seemed to understand why this poaching group dared to take such a risk to steal a dragon egg. Although they couldn't last a single round against an adult dragon as Summoners, some rule in this world would protect them, making humans compared to powerful creatures as indestructible as cockroaches.

Not only indestructible, but they also appeared in swarms, rushing together.

The poaching group was ready with traps and various incendiary devices.

"Ethan, you returned just in time. Once the mother dragon falls asleep, we'll launch a full assault!"

The man with the white headscarf, seemingly a minor leader among the poachers, said, "Come, hand over the dragon egg, and then we can prepare for the full assault."

His outstretched hands were evaded by Ethan with a step back, freezing the previously lively atmosphere, and the poachers immediately cast vicious glances.

"Ethan, what's the meaning of this?"

The man with the white headscarf asked, "Is it possible... you intend to keep the dragon egg for yourself?"

The poachers were ready to act at any moment, with bats and wolves gathering and growling.

This scene was all too common for them; as a criminal group, disputes over the distribution of spoils were entirely normal.

"Everyone, give me, Old Sen, a favor, and let's end this matter here."

Before the words fell, a giant figure descended like a battle axe, with two shadows crossing paths in mid-air. A Black Wolf with a body several times larger than other wolf-like creatures, covered in spike-like fur, landed in front of the man with the white headscarf. Compared to it, Other Shore was relatively smaller.

The wolf pack howled; this suddenly appearing Black Wolf seemed to be the leader of these creatures.

It was a type of creature Ethan hadn't seen before, but he suspected this wolf was of a malicious toxic type.

It seemed the poachers didn't intend to give Old Sen any favor regarding this matter.

"You've worked hard, Ethan."

The man with the white headscarf grinned, "But your mission ends here."

If this were an adventure story, this would be the protagonist's first official battle, tailored for teaching purposes, even including the poachers as opponents.

This dimension still held many rules he didn't know, but one clearly stated that during a battle, "trainers" couldn't personally fight.

"It's decided, it's you, Other Shore."

Facing the poachers and wolf pack, Ethan quickly got into the spirit, commanding, "Use Sword of Oath and Victory."

…

This was the last sound the poachers heard.

Soon, their vision was flooded with blinding golden light, followed by a shockwave powerful enough to sweep them and the entire camp away, causing them to lose consciousness in an instant.

Until the end, a lingering doubt remained in their hearts.

What kind of wolf was that?

Why would a wolf use a sword to slash people?