Chương 176: Reborn as the Dragon — Chapter 176 - Upholding Justice

Faced with a brand-new World BOSS mission, Elder Li immediately called a short meeting with the core players of Tianchao No. 1 Newbie Town. The verdict was unanimous: mobilize every player in the town, pool enough Invasion Points to activate the teleportation array, and send Li Chen through. The World BOSS rewards were simply too good to pass up. Li Chen was the highest-level player in the world, and Tianchao No. 1 Newbie Town was his strongest base. How could they not back him?

How could they not fight for a piece of it? In under ten minutes, they had the Invasion Points. Li Chen stepped onto the teleportation array and activated it.

"Brother Chen, go get 'em! Players from other regions are nothing, destroy them!"

"Brother Chen, I love you~ I want to have your babies~""Brother Chen, I don't have much to offer, but you have to take these two Superior Healing Potions — I pulled them from a treasure chest, they're not in the shop!"

"Damn it... Li Chen! We're rival guilds, but I'm still asking you to go all out! Don't you dare embarrass us Tianchao players!" Each voice carried the hopes of an entire town. Li Chen's shoulders felt heavy. He was going alone. But he carried something larger than himself, the unshakeable will of everyone standing behind him.

"Everyone," he said. He stood with his sword and gave a slight nod.

"I go to this battle, and I will not fail you. With this sword in my hand, I will show them what Tianchao is made of." The moment the words left his mouth, a pillar of purple light dropped from above. A deep, resonant hum. Li Chen vanished from the array. The same scene was playing out across the world....

"Tagoshi Shishi — you are the greatest warrior of our Tagoshi clan! Do not disappoint us! Take this freshly forged Murasame Blade!" Yoshida Shushi received the katana from the middle-aged man with both hands, expression grave and composed.

"Father. Wait for my return." He rose, gripped the blade, and walked into the teleportation array with steady, unhurried steps....

"McCree. The guns you asked for." Two gleaming silver pistols slid across the table toward the man in the cowboy hat.

"Not bad~" McCree picked them up, turning them over.

"The organization knows how to spend."

"We sourced them from Beautiful Country at considerable cost. Looks clean, performance is roughly on par with the Mauser C96."

"Good enough." McCree took both pistols in hand. His fingers moved, and the guns spun and wove between them like a pair of dancing butterflies. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

"Kill the World BOSS. Bring back the rewards. Don't let the boss down." McCree tilted his cowboy hat up slightly and smiled.

"Relax. You know who I am. I seriously doubt every other region happened to get a top-tier assassin dropped into this world too."... [Ding! Due to unknown reasons, your Exposure has decreased again.] [Please investigate the specific cause yourself, Host.]"Gah?" Su Nian was lying flat on his back on the cold stone floor. He blinked, and a strange, low rumble escaped his throat.

"Exposure went down again?"

"I was just resting. What's happening out there?" Not knowing anything was deeply uncomfortable. And the System, as usual, refused to elaborate. He was tucked inside a cave. Outside, the midday sun was at full blast, the hottest part of the day, and no time to be pushing through open terrain. He had reached the edge of the Moriqan Plain, and the Sakura Players' No. 2 Newbie Village was close now. One more day's travel, at most. Which meant this was exactly when he couldn't afford to rush.

The monsters' condition mattered. Pushing them under a blistering sun just to shave a few hours wasn't worth it. Better to hole up during the heat, then cover more ground after dark.

"Brother, what's wrong?" A soft, drowsy voice drifted up from somewhere near his belly. His roar had woken Anna.

"Nothing. Just a mosquito bite. Go back to sleep, Anna~""Mmm... but Anna can't sleep anymore~" The little girl lifted a small hand and rubbed her eyes. Then she got up, climbed slowly toward Su Nian's neck, grabbed hold of his head, and planted a firm kiss right on his snout.

"Anna's awake! She wants a kiss from brother~" How was he supposed to say no to that? Su Nian delivered a full-rotation, extended, turbocharged smooch.

"Hehe~" Anna's smile afterward was even sweeter than before. She curled up between his shoulder and neck like a contented little cat, all pink cheeks and soft warmth.

"Brother," she murmured, "ever since Anna drank the dragon milk the day before yesterday, she's noticed the magic power inside her body has grown a lot. Why is that? It's so strange..." Her breath was warm and soft against his ear. The question, however, made Su Nian acutely uncomfortable. How exactly was he supposed to answer this?

"Well, Anna, it's like this," he began carefully.

"Dragon milk, as the most refined essence of a dragon's body, naturally contains a large concentration of dragon aura."

"When you drink it, the connection between the dragon heart and your body grows stronger. It accelerates the dragon heart's process of transforming and adapting to you."

"That's why you feel your magic increasing. Completely normal."

"But," he added quickly, "as good as dragon milk is, you really shouldn't drink too much of it."

"Why not?" Anna spread her wings, gave a single light flap, and floated up until she was hovering right in front of his face. She wrapped her arms around his snout, her pretty face tinged pink. In the dim cave light, she looked soft and warm and a little dangerously charming. Her eyes were bright and hazy, and the emotion shining in them wasn't exactly innocent. Something is wrong. Su Nian's instincts fired. The dragon heart's influence on Anna was already this pronounced?

Where had his pure, naive, blissfully oblivious little companion gone? He made one last attempt.

"Dragon milk is like wine. Too much and you get drunk. Getting drunk leads to trouble."

"And besides — your body is still adapting to the new dragon heart. You can't absorb too much all at once. It could be harmful." Anna was not convinced. She hadn't inherited the full breadth of dragon knowledge. But even a sliver of it held an enormous wealth of understanding, and she knew perfectly well that everything the black dragon was telling her right now was nonsense.

"Hmph~" She crossed her arms.

"Brother is lying! ╯^╰""Dragon milk is clearly wonderful! It enhances Anna's magic, improves her body, and the dragon aura inside helps her fuse with the dragon heart faster, the effect is practically on the same level as a dragon's heart blood..."

"Brother is just making excuses because he doesn't want to give Anna any!" She hovered in midair, hands planted on her hips, her small frame tilted slightly forward. Her gaze was wounded, accusatory, and completely devastating. Her pink cheeks puffed out like a little pufferfish. Su Nian stared at her, every inch of her radiating that infuriating combination of adorable and impossible, and genuinely did not know whether to laugh or give up entirely. It wasn't about being unwilling.

The thing was, dragon or human, a person had to have principles. Had to have a bottom line. He could not yield to evil forces. He absolutely could not surrender to darkness.

"Come on, please! Anna wants it~""Brother, please~ you're the best, you know you are~""Anna loves you the most in the whole world~ please please please~" The little loli's wheedling, coaxing voice filled his ear, a hero's ruin, a warrior's undoing, the grave of dragons everywhere. Su Nian came to a quiet realization. Sometimes, surrendering to darkness... Was actually the righteous thing to do. This Anna was absolutely a menace. ➤ Next: Attacking No. 2 Starter Village