Chapter 69: New Expansion, The Dragon’s Awakening

Chapter 69: New Expansion, The Dragon's Awakening (Please Subscribe)

Hearing this, Cao Xing suddenly understood.

From the moment they were born, the Tree Spirit Clan had been guarding the Pale Tree.

That forest was their territory and also their home.

Ever since their home was destroyed, they had internally regarded themselves as homeless people.

Now that they had come to someone else's territory, they subconsciously viewed themselves as outsiders.

This was a deeply ingrained belief of theirs.

Cao Xing shook his head. "In my territory, there aren't so many rules. Since you have become my subjects, you will naturally be treated equally."

"Now, in the name of the Lord, I invite you to enter the dining hall."

Cao Xing's words carried a tone that brooked no refusal.

The Tree Spirit Clan members looked at each other again, and the Tree Spirit woman said, "Thank you, benevolent Lord."

Then, they entered the dining hall together.

When the Tree Spirit Clan members saw the various delicacies already laid out on the dining table, they couldn't help but salivate profusely.

The Tree Spirit Clan looked like creatures carved from ice, but in reality, they were also flesh and blood and needed daily sustenance.

The food before them instantly triggered the deepest cravings in their hearts.

Cao Xing said, "Well then, enjoy yourselves to the fullest."

Having received Cao Xing's permission, the Tree Spirit Clan members could no longer hold back.

They approached the table, picking up roasted bear meat, wolf meat, and dry cheese, devouring them greedily.

As they ate, they uttered sounds of admiration.

"Oh my god! Such delicious bear meat, such delicious wolf meat, my tongue is about to melt!"

"Mmm, it's so delicious. I've never had such a sumptuous meal in my entire life."

"Praise this benevolent Lord! It is he who has bestowed upon us this bountiful food!"

The other Tree Spirits also chimed in, "Praise the great Lord."

A flurry of system prompts appeared before Cao Xing.

[Your territory member: Arni has enjoyed delicious food, loyalty has increased, current loyalty: 74]

[Your territory member: Karla has enjoyed delicious food, loyalty has increased, current loyalty: 72]

[Your territory member: Nive has enjoyed delicious food, loyalty has increased, current loyalty: 71]

[Your…]

Everyone's favorability increased.

The living conditions of the Tree Spirit Clan were also very harsh, because the Pale Tree was sacred and inviolable.

So, within their sphere of activity, resources were extremely scarce.

At this moment, the petite Nive, while devouring the food on the table, cast her gaze toward Cao Xing, seemingly wanting to say something.

But in the end, she couldn't summon the courage.

While the Tree Spirit Clan was eating, Cao Xing turned around and walked outside.

Because he couldn't wait to check the attributes of the items he had traded from Hilton.

Especially that golden shield!

[Paladin's Shield (Gold) Lv.10]

[Quality: Rare]

[Armor: 123–129]

[Bonus Effect ①: Constitution +20, Spirit +20]

[Bonus Effect ②: Intermediate Deflection (When receiving a physical attack, reduces damage caused by the opponent's Strength by 20 points)]

[Bonus Effect ③: Intermediate Magic Resistance (When receiving a magic attack, reduces damage caused by the opponent's Spirit by 25 points)]

[Bonus Effect ④: Knight's Protection (Applies a protective shield to all allies, with a durability equal to 20% of the ally's current HP, lasting for 120 seconds, cooldown 20 minutes)]

…

"Holy crap… What powerful attributes!"

Over a hundred armor, plus several special effects, all enhanced the shield user's survivability.

One could imagine how amazing Liu Muxue's defense would be once she held the Paladin's Shield!

And the most powerful one was naturally the last effect, [Knight's Protection].

Combined with his talent, it was equivalent to permanently increasing the maximum HP of all allies by 20%!

This was a massive boost; if applied to the Mammoth, it would directly increase its HP by 3,000 points!

Unfortunately, this equipment had a level requirement.

It required reaching Level 10 to be equipped.

However, for Cao Xing, reaching Level 10 was not too difficult of a task.

With a look of joy, Cao Xing began to inspect the second item, which was a secret potion.

[Vitality Secret Potion (Blue): After consumption, increases Constitution by 10 points for 180 minutes.]

(Want to know the secret behind the Count's nightly revelries? That's right, this is it!)

…

"As expected, it's a secret potion that increases constitution!"

Although Cao Xing hadn't seen the attributes beforehand, he had deduced the potion's effect based on his previous experience playing the game on his tablet.

10 Constitution points was not low; it was comparable to the stat increases of leveling up three or four times.

Of course, this was only before the Second Tier.

After the Second Tier, the attribute points gained from each level-up would be greater.

Cao Xing drank it without hesitation.

Since he was a squishy mage, he naturally had to do everything he could to improve his survivability.

[Successfully consumed [Vitality Secret Potion]. Constitution has increased. Talent [Eternal Power] has taken effect; the status has become permanent.]

"As expected, potions can also be boosted by my talent."

"10 points of Constitution has added another 200 HP to my pool. Very nice."

Cao Xing nodded with satisfaction and tossed the [Paladin's Shield] to Liu Muxue.

Liu Muxue looked at the gorgeous golden shield in her hands with surprise in her eyes.

She had been by Cao Xing's side just now and had witnessed his entire transaction with Hilton.

She naturally knew how incredibly precious this golden shield was.

If put on the trading market, it would definitely shock all the Survivors in Area 174.

However, Liu Muxue had already quietly made up her mind to develop the territory well alongside Cao Xing.

There was no need for superfluous words of gratitude; she simply put the shield into her backpack in silence.

Besides, her entire self belonged to Cao Xing now, so what did a piece of gold equipment matter?

Right at that moment, Cao Xing and Liu Muxue suddenly felt a violent tremor beneath their feet.

Rumble!

The tremor came so suddenly that the buildings in the entire territory shook slightly.

Liu Muxue subconsciously grabbed Cao Xing's shoulder.

The subjects were also so frightened that they stopped their work.

The group of Arctic People was thrown into a frenzy, shouting and screaming with exaggerated expressions.

"Oh! Heavens, what is happening?"

"Is the earth moving?"

"No, the Earth Mother is hungry! She wants to devour the filthy Arctic People!"

"Wuuu, Mother Goddess above, please forgive us!"

These Arctic People all knelt on the ground, kowtowing repeatedly and performing prayer gestures.

Living underground all year round, earthquakes were the most terrifying natural disaster to them, claiming many Arctic People's lives every time they occurred.

Fortunately, the tremor came quickly and subsided just as fast.

However, both Cao Xing and Liu Muxue saw surprise in each other's eyes.

Because the tremor just now wasn't confined to their area; the entire Gale Snowfield, and perhaps even the entire Western Continent, had felt it!

The [World Channel] was already in complete chaos, with a massive number of Survivors posting frantically.

"Was it really an earthquake?"

Cao Xing was extremely puzzled.

Before they could even react,

a system prompt appeared.

[Attention all Survivors! Time remaining for the Novice Protection Period: 39 hours 17 minutes…]

[After the Novice Protection Period ends, some changes will occur in the game content.]

[New Expansion: The Dragon's Awakening is about to begin.]

[The sleeping Ancient Dragon: Zhuoma is gradually waking up. Its seeping dragon power has transformed into Ice Nests, which are frequently appearing all over the world.

A large number of Ice Nest Monsters, Ice Nest Eyes, Zhuoma's Minions, and other monsters will emerge from the Ice Nests.

As time passes and the dragon's power continues to recover, the monsters appearing in the Ice Nests will become increasingly powerful.

Your goal is to defend your respective territories from the attacks of these Ice Nest Monsters and destroy more Ice Nests.]

[Note! Ice Nests appear randomly. To allow Survivors to adapt as quickly as possible, small-scale Ice Nests will appear during the Novice Protection Period.]

…

Just as the prompt ended, all the Survivors saw what looked like a meteor shower falling from the sky.

Those meteors landed all over the world, creating massive craters.

Boom! Rumble!

Violent tremors occurred repeatedly.

The world chat channel instantly fell into complete chaos.

Li Zheng: "Holy crap! What happened? The system says a dragon is about to wake up?"

Leonardo: "A new expansion is opening. This is the system's way of letting us adapt in advance."

Kenichi Murata: "A dragon? It seems this hero is finally going to play the role of a dragon slayer!"

Muhammad: "You are all wrong, this is divine punishment! It is a punishment for us. In fact, we should have died long ago. Coming to this world is just to pay for our sins. Everyone will die, Hahaha! Everyone will die!"

Wang Zhuang: "The guy above, stop going crazy here."

…

The chat channel for Area 174 also saw a sudden flood of messages.

One of the Survivors named Jiang Na cried out, "Oh my god, a meteor landed near my territory! It turned into an Ice Nest, and a bunch of monsters covered in ice spikes are crawling out of it!"

When the other Survivors in Area 174 heard this, they were astonished. "Holy crap… So these meteors are the Ice Nests the system mentioned."

"Sister Jiang Na, how strong are those monsters?"

Jiang Na was silent for a moment before posting again, "Phew… It seems fine. They are all Level 4 or 5 monsters. I can still handle them!"

Hearing this, the other Survivors also breathed a sigh of relief.

However, the system had also prompted that this was only the early stage of the dragon's awakening, with only a slight leakage of power, so the monsters appearing in the Ice Nests were not very strong.

As the dragon gradually woke up, the level of the Ice Nest Monsters would also rise.

Right at that moment, Ji Xinyue also shouted in the chat channel, "An Ice Nest has also appeared outside my territory. Oh my god, so many monsters are crawling out!"

Le Hangyu: "I see it too, damn it!"

Qiao Weichao: "Fuck! This Ice Nest crushed my Arctic People to death, I fucking…"

Zhang Yuzhe: "Brothers, quickly go back to your territories! The Ice Nests won't hit our territories directly!"

The Survivors retreated to their respective territories one after another.

The sudden turn of events caught everyone off guard.

…

After looking around, Cao Xing closed the chat channel.

"It seems that Ice Nests have appeared near the territories of many Survivors."

"But fortunately, this is just a warm-up by the system. The levels of the monsters appearing are not high, which is meant to help Survivors adapt to the changes in the game after the Novice Protection Period ends."

Cao Xing breathed a sigh of relief.

The sudden tremor had indeed made him a bit flustered as well.

Liu Muxue blinked her beautiful eyes and asked softly, "Axing… The system says the dragon is about to wake up. Is the dragon very powerful?"

Cao Xing nodded. "Of course. Didn't you hear Hilton say that the Northern Continent was almost destroyed because of the awakening of a dragon?"

"The Ancient Dragon on our continent is probably about the same."

"Ah? That's so terrifying…"

Liu Muxue looked worried.

Cao Xing smiled and said, "Don't worry. According to the system prompts, it will probably take some time before the dragon fully awakens."

"Besides, if the sky falls, the tall ones will hold it up."

"The natives of this world are much stronger than us. If the dragon really awakens, they'll be the first to face it."

"If even they can't hold out, then there's nothing we can do anyway."

Hearing this, the worry on Liu Muxue's face dissipated a bit.

She looked at the man with a look of adoration in her eyes.

He always seemed to have a way to solve any difficulty.

Right at that moment, Cao Xing suddenly felt a gust of wind overhead.

He raised his head and clearly saw a meteor streaking across the sky.

Then, it crashed directly near his territory.

"Boom!!!"

The violent tremor exceeded any of the previous ones!

The snow on the ground was sent flying, and the buildings in the territory shook violently.

Cao Xing was stunned. "Holy crap? Did it land right on my head?"

Before Cao Xing could even check, his subject Cao Yi cried out from outside.

"Lord! Something has crashed near our territory!"

Cao Xing hurriedly walked over.

Even the Tree Spirit Clan, who were eating in the dining hall, were startled, and they all came out as well.

Then, everyone saw that about eight hundred meters away from the territory,

a pure white nest, looking like an ice sculpture, had appeared, with a powerful wave of energy constantly fluctuating within it.

"Roar! Roar!"

Beast-like roars echoed from it.

A look of understanding appeared in Cao Xing's eyes. "So this is an Ice Nest."

At this moment, the Tree Spirit Clan members stared intently at the Ice Nest.

One of the Tree Spirits exclaimed in horror, "Oh my god! That is the power of the Ancient Dragon!"

Hearing the words 'Ancient Dragon', all the Tree Spirit Clan members showed immense terror.

"Why? We have already come to the Western Continent, yet the dragon still won't let us go?"

"The dragon has already destroyed our home. Is it going to destroy our final sanctuary as well?"

"Wuuu… We are a cursed race. We should have sunk along with the Pale Tree…"

The Tree Spirit Clan was in absolute despair at this moment.

Nive even slumped directly to the ground.

The other subjects watched this group of pale-skinned people.

However, they did not think the Tree Spirit Clan's reaction was exaggerated.

After all, these people had already experienced a dragon disaster once, where their home was destroyed and their clansmen died in droves.

This event had left a deep psychological scar on them…

…