In the early morning, the air still carried a bit of the night's chill. As soon as Draven stepped outside, the Serpent Ancestor slithered up his pant leg, sliding smoothly up to his waist and coiling itself comfortably there.

  "You're becoming more like a belt every day," Draven said, looking down at it. He tugged at his waistband and frowned."Is it tighter than yesterday? I hope I haven't gained weight again."

  The Serpent Ancestor lazily flicked its tongue, giving no reply, but it tightened its coils just a little, as if mocking him.

  Liliana rubbed her eyes as she came out of the house, looking sleep-deprived. Her steps were unsteady, her gaze unfocused. She followed right behind Draven, yawning and kicking at small stones on the ground, clearly not fully awake.

  "She can stay up late too?" Draven glanced back at her, a bit puzzled. No phone, no computer, not even any novels to read— how was she staying up late?

  He reached out to grab the little spiral horn on Liliana's head and gently lifted her face to look at her.

  He raised an eyebrow."You've got dark circles under your eyes thick enough for smoky makeup. What were you doing last night?"

  Liliana rolled her eyes at him and turned her head away, saying nothing.

  Draven then looked over at Sylvia standing nearby. The elf girl looked radiant, her skin glowing softly, and her eyes held a hint of excitement. The stark contrast between her and Liliana's worn-out, exhausted state was obvious.

  A flood of chaotic images suddenly crossed Draven's mind, twisting his expression.

  "Last night, you two…" he began cautiously.

  "No," Sylvia said nervously, shaking her head, but her eyes darted evasively.

  In truth, she herself didn't fully understand what had gone wrong last night. At first, she was simply using the pure elven energy inside her to help Liliana awaken her faint wood elf powers, just like she had the previous nights.

  But somehow, the magical energy flow between them accelerated rapidly and spiraled out of control.

  The small amount of energy Liliana had been storing was almost completely drained by Sylvia in one go. Liliana's current state was entirely due to this magical exhaustion— she now depended on food and rest to recover.

  But since Liliana had strictly forbidden her from telling Draven, Sylvia could only lower her head, like a student caught in trouble.

  "All right, all right, go rest," Draven sighed, gently patting Liliana's small horn and giving her a light push to signal her to go back inside for some sleep.

  In her current condition, it was hard enough to even lift a shovel, let alone transform into a giant bear for work. The fish pond wasn't urgent anyway— she could rest for a couple of days.

  Today's schedule was much lighter. Sylvia would continue learning plant magic with Viola, while Draven could finally get some real work done. He planned to take care of the fishing net.

  At first, he had planned to make the net from plant fibers, like hemp or ephedra, which could be found outside the village. But extracting fibers from these plants was extremely labor-intensive— first peeling off the outer bark to soak and soften, then painstakingly crushing and twisting the fibers into thread.

  For a village where labor was precious, that was a huge waste of time. But chatting with Viola last night sparked an idea.

  "Snake skin," Draven muttered softly.

  Viola had casually mentioned that a snake den near the village entrance had produced several new snakes lately, and she worried the little ones might get bitten. But to Draven's ears, that wasn't a threat— it was a resource.

  Snake skin naturally had toughness and flexibility, was light yet strong— perfect for making fishing nets. Thinking this, he immediately went to find Green Serpent.

  "You snake people are so close to snakes anyway, I want to get some snake skin to make fishing nets," he said straightforwardly.

  He expected Green Serpent would have to catch and skin snakes on the spot to help, but instead, Green Serpent slapped his forehead and said,"We've got some! In the village warehouse! Leftover from making belts, never used."

  Draven's eyes lit up.

  He hurried to the village and rummaged through the storage shed next to the chief's house. Sure enough, after a while, he found several bundles of processed snake skin beneath a pile of miscellaneous items. Cleaned, dried, and thinned out— all ready to use.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  Not only that, he also uncovered some other overlooked goods: a few crude bowstrings, some bundles of brown rope, even a sack of dried meat jerky made from some unknown beast skin.

  "This place really hides some treasures," Draven nodded with satisfaction.

  Then he called all the female kobolds together."Come on, no daydreaming, get to work."

  He took out a piece of snake skin and personally demonstrated how to cut strips, twist ropes, and tie knots. His movements weren't fast but were very meticulous. The kobolds watched intently, not wanting to miss a step.

  From morning till noon, hundreds of slender, strong snake skin cords filled the yard.

  "Now, let's start weaving the net," Draven clapped his hands and pointed to the empty ground nearby.

  This part didn't require his attention. The kobolds already knew how to weave hunting nets, though they had never used such fine snake skin material before. They quickly got into rhythm, moving efficiently and cooperatively.

  When the first fishing net was hung to dry under the eaves, Draven couldn't help but smile. Though the colors varied and the patterns weren't uniform, its strength and elasticity far exceeded ordinary hemp rope nets.

  The fishing net made from snake skin couldn't be especially delicate—the cords were too thick to create the kind of sticky net that could cling to fish scales. So, the very first fishing net in Black Flag Territory used the simplest and roughest design of a hand-thrown net.

  When fully spread out, the net formed a circle about six meters in diameter. Around the edges, a ring of polished stone weights was sewn in, spaced every few inches, ensuring the net would sink quickly once thrown into the water.

  Draven stitched a loop of rattan and snake skin to secure the net around his wrist, adding an extended pull cord with a small barbed hook at the end to lock the net's rope.

  With a twist of the waist and a strong throw, the net would fully unfold in midair, falling into the water like a spiked umbrella. Then the stone weights would drag it down, trapping the fish underneath.

  Once the net had sunk, a quick pull on the hand rope would draw the sealed fish catch back to shore. The principle was simple, but the technique was tricky—especially for those without experience.

  Draven weighed the net in his hand, then turned to signal the villagers gathered around to disperse and get back to their tasks.

  He wanted to try it himself first—to see if this rough handmade net would actually work in real waters. There was no need to make too many at once; a sample test was most reliable.

  Just as he was about to mount his horse and set off, he noticed Liliana had quietly come up beside him, staring curiously at the net.

  "When did you get here?" Draven raised an eyebrow.

  Liliana tilted her head and smiled but didn't answer. He didn't press and just pulled her up onto the horse. Nightmare Horse snorted and, with four strong hoofbeats, leapt into the air, heading for the riverbank.

  Having rested briefly inside earlier, Liliana was now fully energized, sitting in front of him and fidgeting nonstop—asking questions one moment, touching this or that the next, and occasionally nudging his chin with her head.

  "Can you stop moving?" Draven felt a bit awkward, holding the net with one hand and hugging her with the other, afraid she might provoke a reaction.

  Finally arriving at the riverbank, Draven dismounted awkwardly, bending over slightly to hide his body's reaction, then gently patted Liliana's little horns on the head.

  Liliana hugged her head, turned around, and pouted,"Why did you hit me?"

  Draven didn't bother explaining. He certainly wasn't going to say it was because her twisting and nudging had stirred something up.

  By the shore, the simple wooden raft used earlier to move supplies was still there. Draven dragged it back into the water and tossed Liliana a pole to push and steer it to the river's center.

  Standing on the raft, he secured the wrist loop, took a deep breath, and then threw with all his strength.

  Liliana's eyes widened as the net unfolded like a black cloth in midair, shimmering faintly with snake-scale reflections in the sunlight, then splashed into the water with a sharp sound.

  A few seconds later, Draven yanked the rope hard; the net tightened, dragging water with it as it was pulled back up.

  He looked at the struggling fish trapped inside and couldn't help but laugh,"It worked. Damn, it really worked!"

  Inside the net were at least a dozen small fish about the size of a palm, their silver scales flashing as they thrashed against the mesh.

  Liliana's eyes sparkled with excitement,"I want to try too!"

  Draven pulled the raft to shore, motioned for her to transform into her big bear form, and dug a shallow water pit on the beach with her bear paws. He filled it with some river water and placed the freshly caught fish inside for the time being. Then Liliana switched back to human form, and he taught her how to throw the net.

  Liliana lifted the empty net and imitated his earlier movements. She threw it, but the net didn't unfold; it just splashed onto the water's surface, drenching her face.

  She froze for a moment, then angrily pulled the net back and threw again—no unfold. Third try—still nothing.

  "Damn fishing net!" Liliana stomped her feet in frustration, cheeks puffed out like a pufferfish.

  Meanwhile, Draven had started a fire on the shore, preparing to roast the fish. He built a woodpile, then slowly burned it down to charcoal using a stick embers technique. No rush—since the fish were alive, he could wait until the coals were hot enough to cook.

  Liliana, still angry, transformed back into her bear form and jumped into the water to try catching fish with her paws. Her clumsy bear paws splashed wildly, scaring even more fish away, and she ended up catching none.

  Draven glanced at the splashes over her bear head, sighed, and focused back on roasting the fish.

  Half an hour later, the charcoal fire was blazing, filling the air with the rich aroma of cooked fish. Draven called out to Liliana's bear form to come back for the meal.

  She climbed out of the water looking disheveled, her wet hair plastered to her face, muttering something under her breath as she plopped down and began gnawing on a fish, frowning as she ate.

  "Didn't catch any?" Draven teased with a smile.

  "Shut up," Liliana mumbled, mouth still full of fish bones.

  But after just a few bites, tears suddenly fell from Liliana's eyes.

  Startled, Draven thought she'd choked on a fishbone and quickly took the fish away."What's wrong? Are you okay?"

  Instead, Liliana threw her arms around him, buried her head in his chest, and sobbed softly,"Draven, I want to be your woman, like Sister Viola, okay?"

  Draven froze. His brain felt like it had been struck by a heavy blow—completely shutting down.