The Dragon's Pact: A Princess for the Flame

Chapter 32 – Add some ingredients

Harutamoto-no had fully immersed himself in his role by now.

No matter how real the environment seemed, in his eyes, it was just a game. And since it was a game, it was meant to be played.

Only with a player's mindset could he go further.

He looked around and noticed a large amount of wood and stone piled up on the prairie, clearly prepared in advance.

"Are these the materials for building the Starter Village?"

Thinking this, Harutamoto-no walked over to the wood and stone, tentatively reaching out to touch a stack of wood.

The slightly rough texture felt just like the sensation he got when watching certain movies.

[Construction Wood]

[Task Triggered: Build a House. You can use your imagination to consume wood and stone to build your dwelling. Currently, you have 100 units of wood and 100 units of stone available.]

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[Upon completion, meeting the requirements will earn you 500 Invasion Points.]

As the system prompt appeared, the wood in his view began to be cut into neat planks, and the stone transformed into blocks of various sizes.

Harutamoto-no frowned slightly, realizing he could control the movement of the blocks with his gaze, but this ability only worked on the wood and stone, not on other players.

"Is this the power of mind control?"

"I wonder when I'll fully possess this incredible ability."

With a hint of anticipation, Harutamoto-no carefully controlled a stone block onto the ground, then placed another on top, watching as they automatically fused together, appearing as one.

He gave it a push and found it immovable, incredibly sturdy.

"Truly astonishing..."

Harutamoto-no marveled as he began constructing his house like stacking blocks.

Other players on Sakura Island soon discovered the secrets of the stone and wood and began building their new homes in the game according to their own ideas.

...

Meanwhile, in the Silvermoon Forest.

Su Nian had already opened the golden treasure chest.

Initially, he couldn't open it because, as a monster guarding the chest, he didn't have the permission. But he could turn his claws into a lockpick.

However, upon opening it, Su Nian found it empty.

He speculated that the chest might just be a medium for delivering rewards, only accessible to players.

"This is ridiculous. It's bad enough being unable to be human after crossing over, and now I have to guard a treasure chest?"

"Screw this!"

Su Nian's dragon face darkened, his claws cracking with tension. Suddenly, a cunning idea flashed in his mind, and a sinister smile spread across his face.

"Big Grey Wolf, Pipi Snake, and you all,"

Su Nian pointed at the group of monster leaders below the rock wall and instructed:

"I remember your territories have quite a few treasure chests, right? Bronze, black iron, bring them all to me."

"And Polikri, bring me those bombs and poison gas traps your kobolds made. I have a use for them."

"Damn it, you want me to guard treasure chests, huh... heh heh heh..."

...

Half an incense stick later, a pile of various treasure chests had accumulated in front of Su Nian.

Through testing, he discovered that time inside the chests was relatively static, meaning he could store living things inside without any issues.

The pile of treasure chests was diverse, ranging from the lowest-grade wooden chests to slightly better silver chests.

The wooden chests mostly came from Bugs Bunny, who seemed a bit embarrassed.

"Don't be discouraged. As long as you keep training with Big Grey Wolf and exercising daily, you'll grow stronger."

Su Nian glanced at Bugs Bunny, whose strength attribute had increased by two points, and whose biceps were faintly visible, and praised him generously.

As a leader, it's essential to give your subordinates enough encouragement.

After motivating Bugs Bunny, and under his grateful gaze, Su Nian opened all the treasure chests one by one and began filling them with contents.

"The wooden chest is too small... let's put a few War Hornets in it."

"The black iron chest... let's put a venomous snake in it. One might not be enough, let's add another... Pipi Snake, why are you standing there? Go catch a few dozen venomous snakes for me, the most poisonous ones."

"The bronze one, just right for a touch-triggered poison gas trap... add some of my acidic molten flame for good measure..."

"The silver one, fill it with bombs, all bombs, pack it full! Polikri, dig out the crap you guys took this morning and stuff it in there, hurry up!"

As for the golden chest...

Su Nian frowned. There was only one golden chest, and he planned to save it for later as bait when needed.

After finishing all this, he led his group of underlings, carrying the various treasure chests and with Anna on his back, heading towards Sakura No.1 Starter Village.

Since the world became semi-digitalized, he also obtained a world map. However, apart from the areas he had occupied and explored, the rest was shrouded in darkness, covered by a hazy black mist.

But the players' starter villages were different; they were marked on the map as bright red dots.

Su Nian zoomed out on the world map for a rough look.

The entire Southern Continent was filled with thousands of red dots.

It's hard to imagine how many players had descended.

But one thing Su Nian was entirely sure of: these players were a complete disaster for all living beings in this world.

Unfortunately, Su Nian had no choice. He could only influence a few nearby starter villages; he didn't have the time to deal with the ones further away, so he had to take it one step at a time.

Sakura No.1 Starter Village was located on the prairie outside the Silvermoon Forest. Although its main part was far away, the designated safe zone had already extended near the Silvermoon Forest.

As for how Su Nian knew, it was because there was a massive semicircular green shield in his view.

He had just sent a kobold in to test it, and as soon as the kobold stepped into the green shield, it was immediately teleported out by a mysterious force.

The kobold returned to the group, looking bewildered, having completely forgotten what had just happened.

"Tch, it's really an unequal war. Although players are weak at first, there are so many of them, and now they have seven days of absolute safe development time..."

Su Nian thought with resentment.

But he wasn't entirely helpless against the players inside the shield; he understood players well.

Players are full of exploration spirit.

They would never be content to just circle around in one territory.

Exploring new landscapes and opening maps is what they love to do.

And on the boundless prairie, the most attractive places are, of course, the Silvermoon Forest and the Silvermoon Mountains.

"Alright, everyone, hide these treasure chests in the nearby bushes, hide them well, don't make it too obvious! You can place one or two in open areas."

The monsters, though unsure of what the Black Dragon intended, had no use for the treasure chests anyway, so they all complied.

"Alright, back to training, no slacking off."

Now that the gifts filled with his heartfelt intentions were ready for the players, it was just a matter of waiting for them to open them.

Thinking of this, Su Nian cracked his dragon claws, and a sinister, cruel smile appeared on his pitch-black, menacing dragon face.