After learning just how high the reward for a Tier-4 bounty mission was, Zhao Xuan could hardly wait to strengthen his own power.
However—
Instead of choosing the hardest and most lucrative of the third-tier bounty missions, he deliberately selected a regular third-tier mission instead.
The reward: seventy thousand credits.
The mission location: a farm outside the city.
Objective: drive away a pack of second-tier beasts that had been freeloading—eating and drinking—for days at that farm.
Leaving the Ability Users' Guild, Zhao Xuan hailed a cab and hurried straight to the farm where his newly accepted mission awaited.
About an hour later, he arrived.
The farm owner had already received word from the Guild and was waiting anxiously at the entrance to greet him.
Although he had been told Zhao Xuan's age beforehand—
—when he saw him in person, he still couldn't help but be shocked.
As the farmer himself put it:
"My own son's two years older than you, but he's only a second-tier ability user…"
Under the farmer's guidance, the two of them headed briskly toward where the beasts were.
Along the way, Zhao Xuan asked for the details.
The squatters were a group of nine Bee Monkeys—a full troop of second-tier creatures.
Bee Monkeys, often called Lazy Monkeys, were true to their name: unbelievably lazy.
They did nothing but eat and sleep.
Eat, sleep, wake, eat again.
Their movements were painfully slow—just taking a single step could take them ten whole seconds.
In the wild, such sluggish creatures would have a hard time surviving.
Therefore—
Bee Monkeys had a secret weapon.
On their elbows grew venom glands. When they groomed their fur, these glands would secrete poison, coating their entire bodies with a thin layer of venom.
…
Soon, with the farmer leading the way, Zhao Xuan arrived at the orchard on the western side of the property.
"Mr. Zhao, it's here! Those Bee Monkeys have been clinging to this orchard for weeks. The harvest season's almost here—if I can't drive them out in time, half a year's investment will go up in smoke!" the farmer said anxiously, pointing ahead.
"Leave it to me."
Zhao Xuan reassured him, then strode into the orchard.
The place was eerily quiet.
As he moved deeper in, the closer he got to the Bee Monkeys, the more half-eaten fruit he saw littering the ground.
Before long, he spotted them.
The Bee Monkeys were sprawled along the trunks of various trees, snoring away.
One of them seemed to stir at the sound of his footsteps.
It cracked one eye open, glanced lazily in his direction, then promptly closed it again and went back to sleep.
"...Rustle, rustle."
Zhao Xuan didn't bother being polite.
He strode beneath one of the trees, gathered his strength—
—and leapt!
Using Moon Step, he vaulted up onto the trunk and swept his leg across in a powerful kick, sending the sleeping Bee Monkey tumbling to the ground.
But even then, the creature didn't so much as twitch.
It just kept right on sleeping.
Thinking it was just a fluke, Zhao Xuan quickly jumped to another tree and kicked down another one.
Same result.
It hit the ground and continued snoring.
The other seven were no different—completely ignoring him, lost in their dreams.
Zhao Xuan looked down at the heap of lazy monkeys, black lines forming across his forehead.
"They're still asleep?"
"How am I supposed to drive them out like this?"
"Don't tell me I'll have to carry them out of the farm one by one?"
"No, no, that's not going to solve the problem."
"According to the farmer, this troop has totally settled in—they've got food and shelter here, no reason to leave. Even if I throw them out, they'll just come back in a couple of days."
"I'll have to give them a lesson they won't forget—make them realize this place isn't safe to stay in!"
Zhao Xuan fell into thought.
After a brief pause, his eyes lit up.
"That's right! I remember—in my Partial Dragon Transformation, my body naturally emits a faint Dragon's Might!"
"And a dragon is a high-tier lifeform. That kind of pressure should be enough to terrify a bunch of low-tier beasts like these!"
No sooner had he thought of it than he acted.
He quietly activated his Azure Dragon Fruit ability.
In the next moment—
A vast, ancient, primordial aura—Dragon's Might—rolled out from his body.
"Chirp! Chirp! Chirp! Chirp!"
Almost instantly, the lazy monkeys who had been snoring away all leapt up in panic.
They shrieked and chattered nervously, eyes filled with fear!
One of them—the leader—screeched a few times, then charged straight toward Zhao Xuan.
"Oh? Still dare to fight back?"
Zhao Xuan swung his leg.
Thud!
"Chiiiii!!"
The leader was sent flying.
Zhao Xuan had been expecting a fight—
—but to his surprise, the remaining eight Bee Monkeys didn't even try to help.
Instead, they turned tail and bolted!
And their speed—was anything but slow.
"It works!"
Zhao Xuan's eyes lit up in delight.
He chased after them, using his Dragon's Might to drive the troop out.
Only when he saw them cross the farm's boundary did he finally withdraw his ability.
"So Dragon's Might does work on lower-tier creatures. That makes things much easier…"
Zhao Xuan's gaze gleamed.
"If I remember right, the Guild has quite a few similar third-tier missions, doesn't it?"
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