Chapter 222 - 140: November: Month of Harvest
This month is the Month of Harvest.
The second phase is about to end. Some lords have already taken a commanding lead in points, while others are still working hard in silence.
To help the lords who have fallen behind improve their strength, "Random Treasure Chests" will spawn in the wild this month.
"Random Treasure Chests" can contain any type of chest you have opened yourself during this phase, with a very small chance of containing a chest that someone else has opened.
The time to test your luck has arrived!
Will you be blessed by the Goddess of Destiny?
Or will you be favored by the goddess of misfortune?
Let us wait and see!!
As expected, and just as the announcement had proclaimed, November was to be a month for everyone to develop quietly and prepare for the final sprint.
After seeing the system message, Lin Yu went to sleep without a worry.
Other lords, who were already prepared, dispatched their scout units, rushing into the wilds to search for the newly spawned treasure chests.
「Meanwhile, in Opal Hass’s territory.」
Opal Hass gazed at the nearly one thousand transcendent-grade heroes before him, extremely satisfied with his decision.
He spoke to his left hand. "Marcus, what do you think? This batch of heroes is pretty good, right?"
An eye opened on the back of his left hand. "Opal, why are you so unwilling to let your soldiers accept our symbiosis?"
"If you did, you could acquire a large number of transcendent-grade soldiers."
Opal Hass shook his head. "Sigh, how many times have I told you? You don’t get it. Your symbiotic ability is so powerful that it’s only valuable when used on heroes. Otherwise, what’s the difference between them and rocks on the ground? Why else would I have gone to all this trouble to buy so many Excellent Tier Hero Summon Scrolls?"
To purchase enough Excellent Tier Hero Summon Scrolls without drawing too much attention, Opal Hass had fully leveraged his status as a descendant of an old noble family from Cuiwei Star.
He had his subordinates—both those he brought to the contest and those he recruited during it—buy the scrolls separately, promising to reimburse them for double the cost upon their return to Cuiwei Star.
Their purchases drove the price of Excellent Tier Hero Summon Scrolls sky-high, which, incidentally, meant that Mei Yuan was able to buy far fewer of them.
As far as the other lords from Cuiwei Star were concerned, they had actually done a good thing. Not only did many low-level lords earn a ton of points, but it also reduced the number of hero bodies Mei Yuan could prepare for his elite Eye Demons.
"Sigh, it’s too late to say anything now. The invasion is over. What a shame to miss this month’s opportunity to acquire a large number of Eye Demons."
"Hahaha, fewer Eye Demons is a good thing! A very good thing! If they became widespread, how would I get a huge reward from the Empire?! How would my family rise to the next level?"
Opal Hass was already blinded by fantasies of his reward. He failed to notice that while the effects of "Symbiotic Amplification" were visible in the system information, even with an Eye Demon in symbiosis with his own body, he still couldn’t see its specific details. Or perhaps he had noticed but subconsciously ignored it; he would never allow his own judgment to be wrong.
...
Early the next morning, Lin Yu woke up and forwarded the information about treasure chests spawning in the wild to the military center.
Soon, a report from the Phantoms appeared on the desk in the great hall of the Lord’s Mansion.
"My lord, the information has been relayed to all off-duty territory members."
"Currently, approximately 10,000 soldiers and 2,000 heroes are searching in each of the four cardinal directions—east, west, north, and south."
"We guarantee that not a single treasure chest will be missed."
Lin Yu had not yet removed the blockade of plants around the perimeter of his territory. The White Bone Wilderness, the Goblin Forest, the Northern Grassland, and parts of the eastern mountain range were still surrounded by the defensive flora he had planted.
During the October invasion, it was fortunate that the invaders could only advance toward their target territory. If they had been able to move outward, the Eye Demons attacking Lin Yu’s land would have had an existential crisis. No matter which direction they turned, they would have encountered his defensive plants, become completely lost, and been unable to locate his territory.
Therefore, Lin Yu wasn’t the least bit worried about other lords snatching up all the wild treasure chests. He had already cordoned off a massive area, making it impossible for any other lord to enter his domain to look for them.
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「Meanwhile, in Mei Yuan’s territory.」
A group of lords had arrived with their armies.
"Lord Mei Yuan, we had an agreement that you’d pay back the points this month. How can you go back on your word?"
Below the city walls, one of the lords shouted, fuming.
Mei Yuan rushed over when he heard the commotion. Standing on the city wall, he shouted down, "Lord Xiong, didn’t we agree I’d pay you back double the points at the end of this month? It’s not right for you to come demanding them now! And the rest of you, didn’t we also agree I’d pay you at the end of the month?"
"If I don’t come now, will there be anything left for me at the end of the month?" Lord Xiong’s voice was immense, a near-roar that echoed from below the city walls. "I’ve heard that you spent all the points we lent you on Excellent Tier Hero Summon Scrolls to summon heroes."
"That’s not what you told us you were doing—investing it to make a profit."
"All of us lords are counting on those points to retire on Cuiwei Star! With what you’ve done, there’s no way you can pay us back at the end of the month. Are you trying to kill us?"
"That’s right! Without those points, how are we supposed to live on Cuiwei Star in the future?"
"Lord Mei, we all lent you the points because we trusted you as a person! You can’t treat us like this!"
...
Below the city walls, the lords who had come to collect their debts all began to clamor.