Outcast

By the end of the week, the Thinblood had extended the cave by 3 feet on all sides and has made his sleeping nook much more comfortable. His claws were repeatedly ripped and torn.

The repetitive task helped to distract his mind from the loneliness, and pain of being abandoned. Every time he thought about it, sharp pains would show in his heart.

The only good part of his day was when the meat was brought in, he would wait until he was finished digging for the day before devouring it. His dragon core would then send most of the blood to his claws repairing and even strengthening them a little.

Now his claws only started to bleed near the end of his day. To relieve himself from the boredom, he would take breaks throughout the day and go hunting for mice and small lizards in the tunnels near his cave.

Quickly, he learned that his dragon eyes could see both in the dark, And have a heat vision making it much easier to pinpoint targets.

Catching the prey is another matter though, By the end of the week, he had only caught 2 lizards both on the last day. When the overseer came back to take him to his worksite he was pleasantly surprised to see that he had grown significantly.

Now 2ft in length with thin translucent scales covering him entirely, his limbs no longer shaking when he is standing but even had a slight build of muscle, and finally he noticed his claws are longer, curved more and darker than before.

"Not bad snake, But that was the easy part. We fed you every day for a week because as a newborn you were useless to us. You now owe us 7 pieces of meat or 13 copper pieces. Before you can ever leave the mine you have to pay us back. Even if you become a wyrm this debt would stop you.

From now on, you only get fed once you complete your task and the size of the food you get is determined by how quickly you finish your assignment. If you fall behind the deadline you then owe me more" he says as he leads the Thinblood to a newly dug cavern.

He peers into the dark cavern and asks " whhat are thhe tasks I need to accomplish?"

"You are still pretty small for your age, so I'm going to use you as a scout. You will crawl through small crevices to see if they open up to bigger caverns we can use and if its stable. it's fairly dangerous work as it could collapse, or sometimes there's something living in the cavern.

Because it's more dangerous than a regular digger position, most don't last for more than a month. Come on, I will have one of the more experienced Scouts show you how to do it".

They walk over to another thinbloods cavern.

"Snake, get out here I have someone you need to teach," says the overseer.

A dull black thin Kobold comes out of the cavern. As he does the Thinblood realizes that Snake must be his actual name as he doesn't have any limbs.

"This the one you want me to teach?" asks Snake in an odd hissing voice.

His deformity must go beyond just his limbs thinks the Thinblood noticing that Snakes fangs drip venom.

"Yes, just show him what to look for and what to avoid. Thinblood, you won't get fed today as you arent completing any tasks for the mine. So if you come across anything tasty I suggest you get it"

After that, he shuffles away leaving Snake and the Thinblood by themselves.

"What's your name?" hisses Snake

"I don't have one" Thinblood manages to say.

"Thinblood works, for now, I guess. Come on, I will show you how to stay alive."

Making small talk as they make their way to a cavern. The Thinblood learns that Snake has been here for two years already.

Like the Thinblood, Snake was abandoned at birth when his parents realized that he was born without limbs. In actuality, Snake wasn't a Thinblood anymore. His bloodline purity was peak Low blood.

But due to his deformities, he was thrown into the mines.

"This is easy for me, but for you, keep your forelimbs ahead of you. And keep your hindlimbs behind you so you don't get stuck"

Explains Snake before slithering into the crevice. Thinblood follows him in doing as Snake tells him.

"Smell the air. Notice how it's not still? how it pushes against us? that means there's probably an opening head of us. Look for big cracks above or below us. Try to feel for tremors."

Snake begins to explain all the tricks to scouting.

"We are coming onto an opening, we have to be careful of creatures that may live in there. Mainly rats, they by themselves are not usually dangerous but rarely are they ever by themselves where there is one there is usually at least a dozen.

If you ever find yourself surrounded and can't escape find a corner and put your back to it. grab one of the enemy and kill them while also using it as a shield from the others until its dead then grab the next."

They reach the opening and slowly crawl out and look around while smelling the air.

"Smell that? That means there are rats here. Not a lot about 7 or 8 I would say. Let's take them out since neither of us is going to be fed today"

Snake slithers while smelling out the rats with Thinblood following.

They find a den and wait outside, after several minutes, three of the rats come out and Snake strikes strangling one while biting another injecting venom.

Thinblood rushes the last rat biting the back of the neck and shaking back and forth until the neck breaks. He drags the body over and starts eating it.

"If your dragon core works cultivate now," Snake says while eating both of the rats he killed before closing his eyes and cultivating himself. Thinblood activates his Dragon core and channels the energy from the rat into it.

slowly dragon blood comes out from it.

It enters his organs fixing a small amount of the birth defects he was born with. While it may seem he is normal, several of his organs are damaged, or defective making it unlikely he would live very long if left alone.

Thinblood notices that when Snake is cultivating a slightly poisonous aura surrounds him.

"Interesting, it seems you didn't inherit Selena Bloody Fangs poison element. It happens on occasion. Listen, the only way to stay alive as a scout down here is by helping each other out.

So, when either of us gets a job. We should let the other know, that way we can watch each other's back. We split the food 50/50. My last partner just disappeared, I think he went on a job without me and died. So do we have a deal?"

"Deal"