In the new town, giant oak trees grew at a speed visible to the naked eye. The light green essence of nature spread in the air. White balls of light swam between the trees. Then, trees rose from the ground. Very soon, these trees exceeded the limits of ordinary trees. In just a short ten minutes, there was already a forest as far as the eye could see.
What followed was a change in the natural laws of the world. Any powerful individual could sense that something was changing in the air. That intense feeling of being in another world was impossible to get rid of. The will of a new dimension had arrived.
What followed was a wooden door that suddenly appeared in front of the giant oak tree.
The door was more than twenty meters tall and fifty meters wide. The decorations on the door were still in the wood spirit style. Vines wrapped around the wooden door frame, and the carvings were all flowers and trees. It was a simple and natural beauty.
Little Samantha looked like a tiny bean in front of the enormous door. But when she placed her hand on the door handle, she attracted everyone's attention.
* Clap! *
When Samantha lightly pushed open the door, it slowly opened, and the adventurers discovered that it was even brighter on the other side.
* Boom! *
The gigantic foot of the ancient tree shook the earth. The gigantic plant war machine that could only grow in the Forest of Dreams was the first to pass through the door. The wood spirits' heavy armor had finally arrived at this new type of town. Following them were the wood spirit guards with all sorts of strange machines.
They weren't like the forest fairies in fairy tales who were driving magic carriages. Instead, they were driving mechanized troops, and their tiny bodies were currently sitting on the cushions as they tip-toed to operate the handlebars of the motorcycles. There were actually six wood spirits stuffed into the hopper next to them. I couldn't help but think back to a certain motorcycle parade in a certain large country. There was also a joke on the internet about how a single motorcycle could carry an entire battalion of soldiers …
Only now did everyone finally heave a sigh of relief. These seemingly cute little fellows were the true elites of the wood spirit species. Their arrival signified that Oak Town was now a part of the Forest of Dreams.
That wasn't the only thing that made the wood spirits feel surreal. They all carried the newest dwarven guns and cannons. They also had steam valves on their waists that could shoot out shiny ropes and grappling hooks into tree trunks within half a second, allowing them to roam freely in the trees. These were guerrilla warfare tools that I had specially prepared for them.
Although the wood spirits had natural magic talent and excellent magic talent as mages, the newly born wood spirits had no intentions of rejecting mechanical products. In fact, it was quite the opposite. Due to our special relationship with Thorn Garden, not only was the wood spirits highly interested in the newly born field of magical engineering, they even ordered a large number of mechanical products and sent out many members to study and research magical engineering. They hoped that magical engineering would truly become the wealth of the wood spirits.
The wood spirits' research and purchasing choices were all based on their own strengths and weaknesses. Their strengths were obvious, and they had many advantages, but there was no need to go into detail. Their weaknesses were their short stature, which meant that they lacked mobility and melee combat abilities. That was why the wood spirits were especially interested in transportation tools and long-range weapons. (They already had magical plants and strengthened outer shells, so they didn't need mechas.)
However, judging from how the wood spirits were tiptoeing on their motorcycles, it was obvious that it would be quite difficult for them to use normal-sized transportation tools. In fact, Samantha even requested that I make a special transportation tool for smaller bodies. When I suggested a certain design, Samantha revealed a rare smile of satisfaction. But the next day, not only did she completely change her mind, she even formed a team to hunt me down. How ridiculous.
"… That idiot was the one who pointed out that the design was for a baby carriage. I'm definitely going to teach her a lesson. Hmph, with this body type, a large baby carriage is obviously perfect for it. Forget it, even if this design is rejected, I still have a backup design. "
"Do you even need someone else to point it out? Samantha was far too innocent to notice. You actually installed a baby bedbell on top of the motorcycles? Don't you know that Samantha has already treated this as the greatest shame of her life? You even dared to make a backup design? Let me guess, is it a baby chair or a baby bed? "
"… Neither. It's a children's electric scooter! You can run on it with just one foot! Harloys, do you need one? "
"What I need is for you to become enlightened and help me return to my normal body type … Fortunately, you didn't mention skateboarding shoes. Have you heard that there's a brainwashing song going around recently? You want me to sing it for you …"
Cough, let's not talk about these minor incidents for now. From a certain standpoint, the wood spirits had a rather special relationship with me.
Outsiders would obviously think that we were on the same side. In fact, the Three Virtues would indeed listen to me.
Even now, Samantha was still in control of the wood spirits. This meant that almost all of the wood spirits were under my command. But if you looked at the root of the wood spirits, Amelia was the true creator of the wood spirits. My current authority was equivalent to Amelia's authority to entrust things to me. Once Amelia woke up and we had conflicting opinions, I felt that the wood spirits would probably still listen to their mother …
"Is this what happens when a child sees his parents fighting? Most of the time, the child won't side with his father who's working so hard to earn money, but will side with his mother who's always by his side and raising him?"
The silly cat's words made me feel mysteriously uncomfortable, but I still nodded in agreement. She was right. Although everyone knew that it was correct to side with reason rather than family, it was likely that most people would choose to side with reason rather than with reason.
"Not only that, from a foundational standpoint, they only listen to me because Amelia wants them to listen to me. This is especially true since they're an intelligent species that has its own will from birth. Amelia's existence is the Forest of Dreams that raised them, and they're incredibly dependent on each other. It's likely that under Amelia's leadership, the wood spirits will become the most united intelligent species in all of history."
For me, this was an acceptable result. I didn't have any ambition to take over the entire wood spirit species, but …
"For some reason, I feel incredibly uneasy whenever I think about how such a powerful species is under Amelia's control."
"… Don't say it. I'm also worried that she'll suddenly go crazy and come up with some strange idea. In the past, when she went crazy, the amount of damage she could do was limited. If the entire wood spirit species goes crazy together with her, that'll be quite the joke. "
Alright then, when I considered the insane Plants vs. Zombies, as well as the fact that the wood spirits were climbing higher and higher on the Calamity Rankings, I felt more and more like I was in danger. This was no different from a crazy woman who might go crazy at any moment holding a nuclear button in her hand.
What? I fit all of those conditions perfectly? I was in danger as well? I really wanted to defend myself, but I suddenly felt that what she said made a lot of sense. For a moment, I was actually rendered speechless.
"… Perhaps, at least, barely, I can still act according to my own rules. At the very least, I'm slightly more stable than Amelia."
Cough, getting back to business, there was nothing I could do about it even if I was worried. Let's see if I could come up with a "safety valve" when the time came.
Right now, after the wood spirits took over this city, the happiest ones were the Contract Heroes. After all, they had worked so hard for so long, and it was time to reap the rewards.
Since there was expected to be a major battle, the wood spirits rewarded the Contract Heroes quite handsomely with Justice Points. Although the heavy responsibility of the final battle had been taken over by someone else, the Contract Heroes had already done their part. Although they didn't receive any bonuses, their basic rewards wouldn't be deducted.
Meanwhile, I also received a little toy of my own.
"Oak Town Miracle Battle Bronze Medal?"
"… Did I get one as well? I only defended the city. "
Military achievement medals were also a part of my credit system. And in this generation where Knight warriors were the norm, there was nothing more tempting than military achievements, combat achievements, and honor. The past evaluation system was far too crude. Only the nobles would record their past achievements on their family emblems.
Even for the nobles, if they wanted their achievements to be recorded in their family records and emblems, they would only be able to record their achievements as great as the Dragonslayer. This was something that would rarely be seen in one's entire lifetime. Warriors born as commoners would only be able to prove their past achievements with their mouths. If they weren't able to reach the level where bards would brag about them, then they would never be able to make a name for themselves.
But now, things were much simpler. A small military achievement medal would prove that you had participated in this battle and made corresponding contributions. Even if it wasn't used to prove anything, it would still be quite cool to wear. Perhaps it would even be able to trick young girls.
"It's just a war victory medal. It won't cost many copper coins, but it'll definitely win people's hearts. It'll also be easy to increase their loyalty … Once they have a bunch of medals, they won't just toss away all the achievements they've worked so hard to accumulate, right? From a certain standpoint, this is also wealth that they've worked so hard to accumulate. "
Considering the fact that the people of this world were quite intelligent, I had seen quite a few fakes and imitations before. Perhaps a certain credit system like this would soon appear in the world. And since this type of war victory medal would have a serial number and record of the recipient, it would probably be impossible to obtain one no matter what.
I also wore one, but it was a gold medal. This time, there were three types of war victory medals: bronze, silver, and gold. Bronze was the reward for participating in the war, and the number of gold medals for participating in each battle definitely wouldn't exceed a single digit. As for the last one, I seemed to have contributed the most out of all the mortals, so I also received a gold medal.
I heard that the Goddess of Wealth had locked herself in her room after she self-destructed. Considering how greedy she was, I asked Big Sis Mary to give Beyana a 24-karat gold, diamond-studded, custom-made war achievement medal when I returned the two God Equipment to her. I even made it glow in the night. Even if she didn't wear it, she could hang it around her neck like a light bulb. Even if she didn't wear it, she could still use a string to hang it around her neck as a light bulb. Even if she didn't wear it, she would still be able to see it shining from a kilometer away.
But several days later, at dawn, I discovered a shooting star above my head. Before I could even make a wish, I discovered that it was flying directly towards my head. If it weren't for my quick reactions, my head would have been smashed apart.
"… Hey, hey, hey! You're not giving me any face at all. Even if you don't want to accept it, you don't have to do this. "
When I discovered that the fatal "hidden weapon" was actually that custom-made military achievement medal, I naturally became furious.
"… That can't be. Beyana shouldn't be such a person. Let me take a look …"
The silly cat flipped the medal over and read out the words on it.
"'Thank you, venerated Goddess of Wealth, for self-destructing. She was a noble Goddess, a pure Goddess, a Goddess who had transcended all vulgar tastes. The light she gave off when she self-destructed illuminated our path forward. Her tombstone is a milestone in our progress. In order for history to remember her glory, I shall erect a statue of her, engraving the glorious moment of her self-destruction — Roland Mist.' … Roland, I'm truly astonished that she didn't descend to the mortal world to kill you."
Actually, if it weren't for the fact that someone was currently blocking the entrance to Beyana's Divine Kingdom, it was likely that the Goddess who kept shouting "Let go of me! I'm going to kill that bastard!" would have done exactly as Harloys had said.
"What? I'm just doing what I usually do, giving top-level equipment a bit of fashion. In this day and age, Myth-ranked equipment doesn't have some yellow words on it. No matter how powerful its stats are, it'll still seem weak. "
"… Um, considering the Goddess' past deeds, you should give your money pouch to me for safekeeping. At the very least, I can't let my stomach suffer together with you. It's immoral to abuse cats. "
"You only remember that you're a pet every time you're in an advantageous position. How convenient."
Although I was rambling on and on, it seemed that I had really accidentally offended the Goddess. Considering that I didn't have good luck with money to begin with, I directly handed over my money pouch. However …
"Ah, where's my money?"
"… Was it stolen? Did the curse come so quickly? "
"… Beyana! How did you steal so quickly!? "
[… I have two pieces of news, one good and one bad. The good news is that you weren't cursed. The bad news is that you don't need to be cursed, which means that your luck is already zero. Don't accuse others wrongly this time. You're just unlucky. The good news is that at your current level, you don't need to worry about your luck getting worse. You really don't want to consider changing your job class to a spearman? The curse of Luck E seems to be a blessing to you.]
Alright then, I directly ignored my System's comment. Since my System guaranteed that it wasn't a curse, I felt slightly more reassured. I still had a headache dealing with the "petty" Goddess of Wealth.
"Harloys, do you have any money? Otherwise, we'll have to sleep on the streets. "
"… Have you ever seen a cat that carries money and spends money? How about you pawn off your gold medal? "
"… I can consider it. However, I have an even better idea. You can transform into a magic sword, right? Then, I can pretend to be a lucky person who found a God Equipment on the battlefield and have those profiteers come to us of their own volition. Then, we'll sell you off, and you can come back yourself. That way, you'll be able to earn enough money to pay for your meals. Hey, don't run away! I'll give you a third … okay! Half! "
In the end, my plan to punish the profiteers failed due to the fact that the "goods" themselves didn't cooperate. In the end, the wood spirits took us in, so we didn't have to pitifully sleep on the streets.
The Gods had all returned to their own Divine Kingdoms, leaving Ah Gen in my care. As for Marie and the gay God, Marie wasn't interested in military medals at all. She did extort a batch of high-quality wine from me. As for the gay God … I couldn't even defeat a gay God that kept looking at me lovingly. I couldn't even wait to avoid him. How could I possibly take the initiative to interact with him?
Thanks to Little Red's assistance, I finished preparing my first evolution ritual. The blood pool I put down could now be used as a swimming pool.
"That's strange. She's so willing to give me her blood. Something seems off about Little Red recently. Could it be …"
"… Spring is here. Everything is coming back to life. It's time for animals to mate again."
Harloys lazily added to my troubles, but how could I possibly allow myself to be confused by her? I kept thinking about it, and finally came to a realization and came to a conclusion.
"… Could it be that she picked up something unclean on the ground and ate it? How old is she? How could she do such a foolish thing? "
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
