【Slaughter Mission completed.】
【Obtained mission reward: Ability Enhancement.】
【Please select one reward from the following three options.】
【Limb Regeneration: You will gain powerful self-healing capabilities. Unless killed instantly, you will eventually return to peak condition over time.】
【Strength Doubling: Your Strength attribute will increase by 1 level from its current rank.】
【Hardened Dragon Scales: Your dragon scales will undergo a special transformation. Your Defense attribute will increase by 1 level from its current rank.】
"Choose one out of three."
Looking at these three rewards, Xia'er felt somewhat indecisive.
Although Xia'er really wanted to 'quickly grab all of them', it was clearly unrealistic; she could only choose one from among the three.
Without hesitation, Xia'er directly chose 'Limb Regeneration'.
Compared to offense and defense, Xia'er felt that staying alive was the most important thing.
Many dragons died because of greed, died because of arrogance.
Perhaps it was for balance's sake; otherwise, a race that only needed to sleep peacefully for a hundred years to directly step into the Legendary tier, if it lacked arrogance and greed, conceit and recklessness, then the entire world would belong to this race.
【Selection successful.】
【Slaughter Mission has been updated.】
【Slaughter Mission · First: Kill 1000 intelligent beings with a challenge rating of Level 3 or above.】
【Slaughter Mission · Second: Kill one of the following: 'Deep Sea Sharpfang' Karuluk (LV15) / 'Bear Troll' Lucas (LV15) / 'Dwarf King' Jandres (LV15).】
Seeing the second Slaughter Mission, Xia'er raised an eyebrow.
Karuluk, the Fishman King.
Lucas, didn't recognize him, but he was probably from the troll race mentioned earlier.
Jandres, judging from the prefix title, he was the king of the Dwarf Kingdom occupying the southern part of the Karugu Highlands.
All three were leaders of powerful forces in the surrounding regions.
The list didn't include frogmen, lizardmen, Griffons, Giant Eagles, or Valentina, clearly indicating that the leaders of these factions were not considered major powers in the current region.
It showed that these groups weren't particularly strong.
Xia'er gave a slight nod, then turned her gaze towards the entire Bright Scale Bay.
The surrounding Bullywugs were utterly terrified by the sudden bloody massacre.
One moment, they were immersed in the joy of a bountiful harvest.
The next moment, their revered leader and strongest warriors were easily slaughtered by this terrifying dragon, as easily as they caught fish!
"Gul... gul-gua..."
Fear, like icy seawater, instantly flooded the entire Bright Scale Bay beach.
The Bullywugs, having lost their backbone, let out despairing whimpers.
The iron fish spears in their hands clattered to the ground, impossible to hold onto any longer.
There were no roars of anger, no courage for revenge, not even the audacity to express grief.
In the face of the deathly fear brought by absolute power, only the most primal instinct remained.
Flee!
Like a school of startled fish, they shrieked in terror, scrambling on all fours in a mad dash towards the depths of the island, towards the damp, dark caves.
Xia'er cast a cold glance at the scattering Bullywugs, a hot breath laden with a toxic aura puffing from her nostrils.
These inferior frogmen weren't worth wasting even the slightest bit of her energy to pursue.
Their current fear was more valuable than their submission.
It would become the cornerstone of her rule, making future challengers understand the consequences of resistance.
Her gaze shifted towards the slightly more prominent cluster of buildings at the island's center—Greg's 'royal court'.
Unlike other Bullywugs who preferred cave-dwelling, likely driven by vanity gained from trading with humans, Greg had built his residence above ground.
To Xia'er's eyes, the structure before her was less of a palace and more of a clumsy, mud-sculpted toy.
Hastily built from mud mixed with seaweed and gravel, its walls were crooked, its roof covered with seaweed and tattered fishing nets. The entire structure looked fragile and crude, brimming with a primitive aura.
"What's the point of this? It's neither imposing nor dignified, just a monkey wearing a crown."
Xia'er shook her head, not even bothering to look for an entrance. Her massive dragon claw lifted and stomped hard on the fragile mud wall!
"Boom!"
With a dull, thunderous crash, Greg's painstakingly built, mud-sculpted palace, a symbol of his 'royal authority', instantly crumbled beneath Xia'er's foot.
The entire 'royal court' turned into a chaotic ruin amidst billowing dust.
Xia'er paid no mind to the rising dust. Her huge head plunged into the rubble, her thick tail impatiently sweeping aside obstructive dirt as she began rummaging through the wreckage of Greg's treasury.
Having been Frog King for so many years and trading with humans, he must have accumulated some treasure.
Soon, Xia'er's efforts bore fruit.
Inside a half-crushed rattan box inlaid with some shell decorations, Xia'er found her target.
Using Mage Hand, Xia'er carefully pried open the box lid, and her heart couldn't help but leap with joy.
A small pouch of gold coins, about twenty or so, engraved with the portrait of some human king, seemingly the currency of some nation, emitted a metallic luster that somewhat mesmerized Xia'er.
Besides this small pouch of gold coins, there was also a pouch of silver coins, considerably more numerous and heavy.
Apart from that, there were the pearls collected by the Bullywugs.
Several baskets woven from tough sea vines were filled with white pearls of varying sizes, their luster soft and warm.
The quality of these pearls was clearly much better than the inferior goods on Matras's necklace from White Pearl Island. They were plump and perfectly round, the true specialty and main trade item of Bright Scale Bay.
Looking at the gold coins and baskets of pearls before her, a glint of pure, unadulterated greed finally appeared in Xia'er's cold, vertical pupils, brimming with satisfied light.
These shiny things were trophies befitting her status!
Thinking this, Xia'er used Mage Hand to gently play with these spoils, carefully listening to the crisp, pleasant clinking sound produced by the friction of gold coins, silver coins, and pearls. She temporarily cast aside any thoughts of ruling plans, simply enjoying the satisfaction brought by conquest and plunder.
After indulging for a little while, Xia'er took a deep breath, somewhat reluctantly pushed these jewels and coins aside, exhaled, and then took out seven or eight gold coins and over ten silver coins.
"Roughly forty percent of the total..."
Xia'er thought silently to herself, "I'll bestow this forty percent upon Saga, to have Saga continue serving me."
Feeling a bit reluctant, Xia'er's first instinct was even to have the thought 'withhold one coin', but soon this thought originating from her Green Dragon bloodline was forcefully suppressed by Xia'er.
The greedy cannot achieve great things.
If one wants to scheme for a foundation lasting ten thousand generations, one cannot indulge the nature of a Green Dragon.
As for future plans, Xia'er's approach was quite simple and brutal.
These Bullywugs seemed to have strong opinions about her rule.
In that case, Xia'er didn't expect some kingly aura to emanate and have the frogmen immediately bow down and submit.
Fight!
Completely conquer all the Bullywugs on the dozen or so small islands to the south!
Such a task would be time-consuming and laborious.
While Xia'er could personally handle it and complete part of the Slaughter Mission, it would be somewhat time-consuming.
Rather than that, it would be better to hunt some magical creatures that could increase her nutrition.
These Bullywugs, even if eaten, wouldn't provide much growth.
Thus, Xia'er planned to have Saga lead the currently subdued Bullywugs to attack other Bullywugs.
To have these Bullywug tribes reunite under one rule!