Delton looked down at the map on the table and saw a crude drawing that sectioned into several regions. Fortissimus place a finger on an X inside the largest region, saying, “My village lies here directly near the border between these two regions.” Outlining the two biggest sections on the map with his fingers, Fortissimus continued, “Your tribe is a day’s journey away from ours, but you’re also right at the border.” Fortissimus then pointed to a circle north of the X.

He continued, “The draconian started their stupid war with the birdmen almost three years ago. Since we had to give them ten tons of meat a month, we’ve had to encroach on other hunting territories, causing some clashes between my men and some of the other tribes. Furthermore, this war his completely draining the resources in all of the Savage Lands. Our usual hunting grounds are barren of beasts, and some of the more aggressive tribes have hunted other tribes to geed the draconians and birdmen.”

Olbek sighed, “I’ve been thinking about it these past years, too. I’d have thought this would’ve been a petty squabble, but it turned into this full-blown war. I don’t know how Winglord did it. Those birdmen tribes always hated each other over stupid differences like the size of their beaks. From the hawks to the vultures to the eagles, they’ve staged a rebellion against the draconians and carved out such a huge chunk of the Savage Lands in three years!”

“You’d recall from our previous conversation that we have two options. The first one is rebelling against the draconians. We are in their region after all.”

“Yeah. I want to nip that idea. Your kid has some insights to our weakness during his fight earlier. My race is weak to high temperatures, and some of these muscle head draconians can inherently wield fire. Also, other than you and your kid, you humans are simply too weak against them in terms of power. Even with just the two of you, individuals are simply bloodstains in the face of a full army.”

Olbek sighed as he seemed to pay attention to the map. A strand jutted out from his body as it made an X shaped gesture.

He went on to speak,” Other tribes, such as the wolfmen and the horned devils have tried to rebel, but they were ultimately massacred and eaten by the draconians. Most of the tribes have stopped on rebelling, but from my other contacts and meetings, the Apes and Volken’s tribe are willing to rebel with us.”

Fortissimus shook his head as Olbek continued, “Even then, so what if we’re successful in rebelling. Those birdmen will just swoop in like they did in certain regions, and reap from our own harvest.”

Fortissimus, with a grim look in his eyes, looked to confirm, “So rebelling is out of the question?”

“Yes.”

“Alright then. Let’s move on to the second option,” Fortissimus said. “The plan stays between our two tribes, all right?”

“That sounds good with me.”

“My plan is to force an incredibly pyrrhic war between the draconians and birdmen. You saw how strong my son is. He didn’t even show his full strength when fighting against Chulbek," Fortissimus proudly said patting Caelus on the head. If it wasn’t for his first time fighting slimes, I believe he could have easily killed him."

“Your point being?”

"I need your spy slimes to find the locations of the supply drops of the draconians and birdmen throughout both regions. We only have an idea of a couple from the draconians side, but we have no reconnaissance available in the birdmen region. After giving us the location, Caelus here will then go and destroy the group of soldiers and spread signs of the other faction.”

"You know that plan will only work for the first couple of supply drops.”

“Right, after that, I want your slime spies to find scouting groups. Caelus will then go and sow more discord between the two, eventually forcing the two to fight more and more.

"You’re insane. They’re gonna bleed us dry looking for more food and resources. Us outside tribes are gonna suffer from these large battles.”

Fortissimus smiled and asked, “Do you mind giving me some slime remnants?”

After a brief silence, Olbek motioned to one of the slimes behind him, and the slime dripped out a pool of its own body, causing its perimeter to reduce by one inch. Olbek grabbed the pool of slime remnants and placed it on the table.

Fortissimus nodded then went to a knapsack behind him and grabbed some herbs, blood, meat, and other weird materials. He also took a pot from underneath the table and slammed the slime pool inside the pot, causing a heavy thud to echo out in the hall. He then threw in a various combination and ratios of the materials. Mixing it all together for a couple of minutes, the concoction expanded and eventually solidified.

Throughout the process, Caelus grew queasy, and he eventually had to go to one of the windows to throw up.

Delton also threw up, but he had vomited an entire day’s worth of food already, so he was mainly dry heaving from watching the mixture. Lucius belted out another laugh pointing at Delton and Caelus.

Fortissimus ignored Caelus and grabbed the solid product from the pot. It looked no different from a slab of meat. Slicing out a cube of it and skewering it, he started a small fire in the chimney at the back. Then, he started roasting it on the open flame.

After a couple of minutes, the ‘meat’ got a nice char, and the smell of meat spread around the hall. Delton smelled the familiar aroma, and could not help himself from drooling, as his stomach growled. He shook his head quickly and slapped himself multiple times, “What the hell’s wrong with me? That came from a slime!”

Lucius laughed again and said, “You’re not fooled. Slimes are actually a delicacy in many areas beyond the Savage Lands.”

After roasting the ‘meat,’ Fortissimus placed the skewer on the table next to the map. Grabbing a knife from his belt, he sliced into the meat, revealing a pinkish center with juices flowing from it.

“This is the fruits of my research these past couple of years. Try it.”

Olbek snatched the ‘meat’ with a tentacle-like strand and absorbed it, exclaiming, “Mmmmmmmm! This is just like a wild boar’s meat. Juicy and tender. Yet fatty. Most of the taste and texture are there. How the hell did you come up with this?”

Fortissimus gave Olbek a sad look, then said, “Through the sacrifice of my stomach,” causing Olbek to jiggle with laugher. Fortissimus continued, “If your tribe is willing to give 8 tons of slime remnants a month, my men will hunt 2 tons of meat and forage for the several tons of herbs and materials. The combination of these materials will be able to give us 20 tons of ‘meat.’ Your tribe only needs to give 5 tons of meat a month, right, and you don’t need meat to survive. You can stockpile the extra for when the battles get more and more hectic.”

“You’re crazy! You’re asking too much,” one of the slimes behind Olbek screamed out.

Olbek gestured with his tentacle and said, “Pardon my first son. He has a point though. While we slimes can regenerate. It still takes up a lot of energy and resources.”

"We can provide you with draconian and birdmen blood and materials. This should offset some of the costs of regeneration. With the combination of the ‘meat’ and the active sabotage, this war should end in two years, with both sides taking severe losses. By then, our sacrifices will not be in vain.”

Olbek grumbled and said, “Since you are an old friend, I’ll trust you for three months. I expect results soon, and not just ‘meat’ and resources, but also word of more and more battles between the draconians and birdmen.”

Fortissimus smiled and extended his hand, “You’ll hear some results as soon as tomorrow.”

A tentacle extended itself, then wrapped around and shook Fortissimus’ hand. Olbek said, “I look forward to it. My slimes shall come with 8 tons within 2 weeks.”

Olbek motioned and the other two slimes left the town hall. Fortissimus guided the slime group, after showing them around, out of his village and sighed.

The sun now stood directly above them. Fortissimus looked towards Caelus and said, “It’s time you meet up with the hunters. They’ve probably been waiting since the morning.”

Soon Caelus’ body vanished in a blur.

"I suggest you go after him. My past self is probably just watching my brother train right now, not necessarily the most interesting thing,” Lucius said without taking his eyes off the screen.

"How the hell am I supposed to follow him?! You saw how fast he moves.”

“Your ethereal body can float, too, you know? Also these are your dreams, you can change your view, like I made you do before.”

“Seriously. How the hell do I do that?”

“Come on, kid. You’re not that stupid. These are your dreams. Just think it,” Lucius groaned and cursed, answering Delton.

Focusing on the back of the blur in front of him, Delton’s view zoomed past the forests and arrived right behind Caelus, who had just met up with a group of hunters. There were several crates and wagons filled with salted meat behind them.

Due to his incredible physique, Caelus’ height had reached the torso of the hunters, and his body contained muscles that not even some of the hunters have developed well. Unlike the hunters, however, Caelus was not wearing armor or carrying any weapons.

After conversing for a minute, the envoy of theirs traveled for some time, coming upon another group at a clearing.

Several of the trees have been uprooted or cut down, and several figures sat on the them. This group of no more than 20 was filled with draconians. Behind them were hills of meat and weapons. The one leading the group had blue scaly skin and green eyes. The blue draconian met with the hunter leader and ordered his soldiers to grab the food.

These draconians constantly jeered at the hunters, but having grown accustomed to such insults, the hunters did not flinch. Some of the draconians were interested in Caelus, saying things like, “Boy, you still smell fresh of milk!” or “Don’t bother with him, he’s too young and bony!” Caelus stared at the draconians silently, during the transaction.

Delton shivered at the sight of and pressure from the draconians, falling down on his butt. Not being able to pick himself up, he could only stare on as the transaction continued.

After finishing up, the envoy headed back to regroup with the other hunters. Delton turned his body over and focused at the departing Caelus’ back. His view changed instantly to right behind the group. No longer feeling as much pressure from the draconians, he stood up and swore, “Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.”

The envoy then passed by another group of creatures that can only be described as bipedal stacks of rocks, dragging behind wagons filled with shiny metals. Each rock creature was the at least twice the size of one of their hunters and each had a marking of a mountain on their ‘chests.’ They moved by dragging their ‘feet’ on the ground, leaving behind lines on the ground.

The one leading them was thrice the size of the hunter leader and spoke with a low monotonous, slightly raspy, voice, “Ah. Fortissimus’ tribe. That bastard owes us big for killing in our hunting grounds, as if he thinks we won’t notice. Do you think he’d notice, it we kill some of his hunters?”

At these words, the group of hunters placed their hands on their weapons. However, the hunter leader simply responded, “Mountain God, we were chasing a herd of beasts from our territory. By the time we had killed them, we were in yours. I apologize on behalf of the village head, for not telling you sooner.”

Silence and tension filled the distance between the two groups, while Mountain God let out a low hum.

Mountain God let out a low hum for a minute, then said, “Oh. In that case. My apologies. Come on men. We gotta give these pieces of scrap to the draconians.”

The rock creatures continued to drag their feet on the ground as it went around the group of hunters, who were having difficulty in hiding their smiles.

This time both Lucius and Delton, who had cold sweat on his back, started laughing. Delton exclaimed, “Old man, have you ever heard of the saying, ‘dumb as a rock’? These weird creatures perfectly embody that saying. Hahaha.”