After understanding the game mechanics of the Rootless Grass, Shu Bao’s actions became even faster, winning games almost continuously—scarecrow games, old chicken catching little grass, jump rope, and other entertainment activities.
By the end, Shu Bao was somewhat lost in the fun, finding the Rootless Grass to be like a top-tier VR game simulator. However, being a diligent mouse, Shu Bao did not let himself get too absorbed, even though the games were extremely enjoyable.
Rejecting the energy strands offered by the remaining Rootless Grass, Shubao patted the leaf of a particularly persistent one. “Ten is enough. I’ll come back to play another time. The mouse needs to go home.”
With the Rootless Grass eagerly surrounding him, Shu Bao transformed back into mouse form and sprinted toward the tribe. This time, however, his movements in the dark were quite conspicuous, as ten glowing green Rootless Grass plants floated above his head.
Clearly, Shu Bao’s frequent game playing had caused a backlog in the energy transfer, resulting in the ten Rootless Grass plants’ energy not being fully transferred. They were now all floating above Shu Bao’s head.
Although the green glow above his head felt a bit awkward, the unexpected windfall kept Shu Bao’s spirits high, and he practically bounced back to the tribe. Besides completing his task, Shu Bao had also received a slew of buffs, such as passing exams without fail, “open another bottle” after opening a cover, a future partner with high attractiveness, never tripping over manhole covers and many others.
Though Shu Bao might not use most of these buffs, the lack of negative effects led him to believe that the Rootless Grass was indeed a lucky charm.
Arriving at the tribe’s location, the familiar bedroom door appeared before him. Opening the door, Shu Bao transitioned from the chaotic world to the real world.
Surrounded by the comforting light, the glow of the Rootless Grass above his head dimmed. As Shu Bao walked out of the mission hall, under the sunlight, the Rootless Grass appeared just like ordinary grass.
Thus, the Xia Wang Tribe people saw that the deity, upon returning, had not brought back any creatures but had instead brought back a bundle of grass, which floated lushly above his head.
The high priest praised, “Indeed, the deity is impressive. This way, you won’t be exposed to the sun and will definitely stay cool.”
Shu Bao looked up calmly and nodded, “Exactly, that’s how it is.”
Thus, the Xia Wang Tribe people began to imitate the trend. While they couldn’t find such magically floating grass, they could certainly wear grass on their heads. Thus, following the previous trend of dark, top-heavy headgear, various oddly shaped green grass hats started to become popular.
Looking at the lush green surroundings, Shu Bao felt he had perfectly blended in and no longer needed to worry about the green color. Instead, he focused on studying the blueprint he received after completing the quest.
Shu Bao spent quite a while adjusting the blueprint and eventually decided to place the Magic Academy in the northwest corner of the tribe. The construction materials for the Magic Academy were quite substantial. In addition to 200 units of wood and stone, it required 50 units of metal ore.
The magical materials were even more numerous: 10 Fire Phoenix Feathers, 10 Sunken Ice Crystals, 10 Thick Earth Crystals, 10 Qingmu Dye, and 10 Golden Snails. It was evident that these materials corresponded to the five elements of wood, fire, earth, metal, and water.
Among these magical materials, none sounded easy to obtain. Shu Bao was particularly surprised by the Fire Phoenix Feathers. In this dark world, where even the Eastern Dragon didn’t exist, was it possible that a Phoenix might?
As a mythical bird on par with the Dragon in power, Shu Bao figured that simply fighting or plucking feathers wouldn’t work. It would be best to find a molting Phoenix and collect the feathers that fell beneath its tree.
Of course, this was just Shu Bao’s wishful thinking. Besides the Fire Phoenix Feathers, the other four magical materials were equally puzzling. It seemed that the next time Shu Bao visited the tavern, he would need to discuss these materials with his snake teammate.
With the new blueprint in hand, the Xia Wang Tribe became busy once again. Wood and stone were manageable; they had previously stockpiled a significant amount, and now it was just a matter of transporting it to the blueprint area. The real headache was the 50 units of metal ore.
Currently, the Xia Wang Tribe lacked mining capabilities. Metal ore could only be extracted from some surface deposits with pickaxes, so the amount of metal ore obtained was very limited. After smelting, the final yield was sparse.
This scarce metal also had to be used for the tribe’s daily development.
Previously, when Lan Qing was in the tribe, he had designed several farming tools, metal swords, and arrows, all of which required metal. For the time being, the tribe could not spare any extra metal for the blueprint area.
The High Priest informed Shu Bao of this situation and asked whether they should pause the crafting of weapons and farming tools to concentrate the metal ore on the blueprint.
“No need,” Shu Bao replied. “The construction of this blueprint is not something that can be completed quickly. The efficiency of metal ore extraction is low, so it’s more important to focus on improving our own strength. I will find a way to solve the metal ore problem.” Until the mining technology was activated, other methods for obtaining metal ore were still needed.
Suddenly, Shu Bao thought about the Golden Snails among the Magic Academy’s building materials and became very curious. If Golden Snails had gold, might there also be Silver Snails or Iron Snails?
Having just returned to the tribe, Shu Bao couldn’t sit still and wanted to visit the snake teammate again. However, he had previously tried and found that after returning to the tribe, opening the bedroom door during the day did not allow him to return to the chaotic world; clearly, the door was one-way.
Although he couldn’t return to the chaotic world immediately, Shu Bao didn’t waste any time. He went to check on the two dragon eggs, where the cracks on the eggs had become more pronounced. The dragon egg guardian, Mu Bao, was very excited, pacing around the eggs all day. Seeing Shu Bao approach, Mu Bao finally stopped and said, “Deity.”
Shu Bao nodded and asked, “Has there been any significant activity with the dragon eggs?”
Mu Bao shook his head. “Aside from occasional tapping sounds, there has been no other activity.”
As soon as the words were spoken, the tapping sound from inside the dragon egg began again. This time it was noticeably more urgent as if it were eager to come out. Mu Bao was somewhat surprised, “It wasn’t like this before.”
Shu Bao approached the dragon egg, raised his paw, and touched it. Against the backdrop of the enormous egg, the fluffy little creature seemed particularly small. Yet this tiny fluff instantly triggered a strong reaction from the dragon egg.
The two dragon eggs began to tap in a rush, and the vibrations and cracks in the shells became more pronounced.
Finally, with a crunching sound, a piece of one eggshell was broken!
In an instant, it felt like everyone’s breath was held, and all eyes were fixed on the small opening.
Under the intense and focused gaze of the crowd, an eye appeared at the small opening. The huge vertical pupil, with just a glance, exerted an immense pressure on everyone present, making them feel as if they might kneel on the spot.
The next moment, the orange-yellow vertical pupil vanished, and sharp claws began to widen the opening. Soon, the eggshell was split into two parts, and with a young dragon’s roar, a golden-colored hatchling emerged before everyone’s eyes.
The hatchling, still with part of the eggshell on its head, curiously looked around and occasionally roared as if calling for something. Unfortunately, the Xia Wang Tribe members all looked puzzled, unable to understand.
As everyone was confused, a somewhat exasperated voice came from beneath the eggshell, “I’m not your mother!”
The voice immediately captured the hatchling’s attention. Its head drooped. Upon seeing the small, helpless, and furry “mother”, it let out a joyful roar.
Shu Bao was almost blown away by the dragon’s roar; after all, he had numerous Rootless Grasses floating above his head and could not withstand strong winds.
It was the first time Shu Bao realized he could understand the dragon language. However, considering the circumstances, it might be the work of the acting dragon. Perhaps when he agreed to raise the dragon egg, a contract was established between the caretaker and the dragon egg, which led the hatchling to recognize him as its mother and also enabled him to understand the dragon language.
“I’m a male mouse. I can’t have such a big child, really!” Shu Bao tried to get the hatchling to change its address.
However, the newly hatched dragon baby was very persistent. It called out “mother” while trying to climb out of the eggshell. After turning around inside the shell, it finally opened its mouth and began to crunch and chew on the eggshell.
As the hatchling devoured the eggshell, it grew at a visible rate, expanding from a baby that could be held in one’s arms to a giant infant that could swallow a person whole.
The Xia Wang Tribe members: “…” Isn’t this dragon growing a bit too fast!
Shu Bao, on the other hand, remained quite calm. After all, he had previously surmised that the dragon in the Long Tribe was already several dozen meters long. It seemed normal for his own newly hatched dragon, which had consumed the nutrient-rich eggshell, to grow to five or six meters so quickly.
As the hatchling gnawed on the eggshell, the other egg became increasingly impatient, with continuous impacts from inside as it tried to break free. However, whether due to the eggshell’s strong quality or the insufficient force, after much effort, it only managed to widen the cracks a little.
Despite their fear of the suddenly grown dragon, the Xia Wang Tribe did not leave. Instead, they gathered around the other egg, anxiously watching it and quietly discussing whether they should intervene and assist manually.
Eventually, the dragon egg demonstrated the strength befitting a dragon. With a loud crack, the hatchling burst through the eggshell, splitting it in two. This showed a stark contrast to the other dragon that had meticulously chipped away at its shell.
The newly hatched dragon, like its sibling, was also searching around for its mother. Once again, Shu Bao sighed and explained that he was not the mother.
The hatchling ignored this and, instead of eating the eggshell, it rolled over and snuggled up against the large, fluffy “mother” with its massive body.
Seeing the enormous baby dragon beside him, Shu Bao decided to let the little dragon’s misname slide for now and correct it later. He tapped the dragon’s head and pointed at the remaining eggshell, asking, “Aren’t you going to eat this?”
Only then did the dragon shuffle over and start devouring the eggshell with great appetite.
As the eggshell was consumed, the giant dragon began to grow rapidly, much like inflating a balloon. The Xia Wang Tribe was compelled to keep their distance, as the expanding size and the pressure from the two hatchlings made them wary of getting too close.
Shu Bao, acting as a competent caretaker, moved back and forth between the two giant babies, overseeing their eating habits and ensuring they did not become picky or wasteful.
Fortunately, both dragon babies were well-behaved and ate every bit of the eggshell. After finishing, they let out satisfied burps and then turned their attention to Shu Bao.
Feeling the weight of responsibility, Shu Bao was somewhat overwhelmed by the task of educating the young dragons. Ultimately, he named the golden-colored dragon “Jinzi” and the one with a long silver stripe on its back “Yinzi”.
The two giant babies accepted their names with delight, responding with joyful roars.
