Incomplete Figure

Shredded smoked cod, rice, eggs, cream, and curry, mixed with a bit of vegetables, all stirred together to make a fish and egg fried rice.

In his memories, the buffet breakfast at Fluorite Castle never lacked fish and egg fried rice.

"Liking fish and egg fried rice is also a form of happiness," Russell said while eating grilled meat and fried eggs with jam, occasionally taking a bite of the fried rice in his bowl, lamenting idly, "At least I can enjoy happiness every day. Unlike me, who can't even get a stir-fry when I want one."

His good mood diminished slightly by a mouthful of fish and egg fried rice, but Russell was still in high spirits because the Little Dream Dragon had been found.

It also meant a steady stream of Elves would be coming in from now on.

After breakfast.

Russell bid farewell to his parents and, as expected, received a batch of supplies as sponsorship – not much, just three large carts.

Including the five large carts of supplies gifted by the Baron earlier, he had now received eight large carts of supplies sponsored by his parents.

"Father, Mother, thank you for your generous gifts. I will work even harder to govern Wuyou Snake Manor well, and quickly train a team of Knights to protect the safety of Guangguang River Valley, and head to the snowfields to slay Snow Ghosts, contributing to humanity's restoration!"

The Snow Demon had frozen the entire Dragon's Rest Continent.

But when the Dragons awakened, humanity began to ride Dragons and launch a counterattack against the Snow Demon, restoring their dominion over the once warm continent.

Meryl felt proud of her son's ambition: "The Dragons are watching you, Russell."

The Baron waved his hand: "Hurry back to your fief. If you keep coming like this, you'll move Fluorite Castle to Wuyou Snake Manor."

Russell laughed heartily: "That's because of your generosity, Father."

"Russell, when are you going to take me to Wuyou Snake Manor to play?" Laura asked, covering her mouth in dissatisfaction.

"I'll definitely take you when I have time!"

Ruffling his sister's head, Russell then mounted his horse and, with the three large carts of supplies, galloped towards his territory.

The journey was smooth, and Lord Ross didn't come to provoke him.

When the carts stopped at the entrance of the manor's courtyard, Charles, who was supervising the construction of the Windmill Mill, had already ridden over.

"Haha, I knew it. Baron Lord dotes on you. As long as you show your face with the Birch Worm, I guarantee you'll receive generous gifts."

"It's a shame such days can't last," Russell replied.

"Who knows? Maybe tomorrow, maybe the day after, you'll find another Spirit Worm. You never know."

"I hope so."

The two walked into the manor's courtyard, one after the other.

Charles chattered on: "For the construction of the Windmill Mill, stones are easy to get; just chisel a few from Curved Blade Mountain. But lumber is a bit difficult. We definitely can't cut down the birch trees, and there are no other trees in the territory."

"Even if there were, we can't cut them, especially those marking the boundaries of the fields. They must be protected properly," Russell said.

"Then we'll have to buy lumber in town now."

"Buy it from Red Falcon Manor. I remember Lord Ertlas loves planting trees. A lot of the lumber for Fluorite Castle was bought from Red Falcon Manor."

Lord Ertlas was one of Baron Gloomlight's vassals, enfeoffed at Red Falcon Manor at the foot of Dagger Mountain on the eastern side of Guangguang River Valley.

As one of the Baron's capable assistants, Ertlas was also a Phantom Beast Knight and had even taught Russell basic martial arts for a few days when he was young.

Russell planned to take this opportunity to build a good relationship with Ertlas, so they could support each other when hunting Snow Ghosts in the snowfields in the future. "Teacher Charles, I'll write a letter. You can deliver it to Red Falcon Manor and buy enough lumber from them."

"Alright, I'm happy to help."

Fate was not on their side. The weather, which had been cloudy, suddenly turned into a drizzling rain in the afternoon.

The construction of the Windmill Mill had to be halted. Charles wasn't in a hurry to buy lumber and stayed with Russell in the manor's courtyard, tasting Black Pearl Wine.

Eric was unwilling to just sit around: "My Lord, I'll take Tom and the others to patrol the borders."

"You're going out on patrol in this weather?"

"The more the weather is like this, the more we need to be wary of danger. If the serfs encounter danger, they might not even be able to raise an alarm."

Eric was dedicated to his job, so Russell naturally wouldn't stop him.

"Put on your rain cloaks before you go."

"Understood."

The horses' hooves faded away on the wet charcoal-slag path.

Charles looked out from the upstairs window and sighed: "The arrival of this rain means the ice age has completely receded, and Glimmering River will rise."

"I was planning to keep watch over the Insect Grass," Russell said with some annoyance.

With the Little Dream Dragon's return, he had intended to camp outdoors for several consecutive nights, scouring the vicinity of his territory for any potential Spirit Worms.

Now, that had to be put on hold.

By nightfall, the rain had not only not stopped but had intensified. Russell, unable to camp outdoors, could only hide in his bedroom, enjoying the comfortable and warm large bed.

"Caw!"

In the Dark Dreamscape, the Little Dream Dragon arrived as promised.

This further convinced Russell that the Little Dream Dragon's absence for the past three days was due to a severe injury from a Dragon Flame, forcing it to rest.

Now that it had recovered, it naturally reported for duty punctually every day.

"Let's go, let's take off and see if we can find any new gains near the manor's annex," Russell said as he rode the Little Dream Dragon. He circled around the manor's annex, sometimes looking at the Glimmering River, which had begun to rise, and sometimes flying high before diving down.

With no new discoveries, the main focus was playing.

"Snow Cream, tell me, how can we expand the Dark Dreamscape so that I can grasp everything in the territory even when sleeping at home?"

"Caw caw." The Little Dream Dragon was only interested in playing.

Russell could only talk to a brick wall.

However, at this very moment, he suddenly noticed a dim, incomplete figure charging in from the boundary of the Dark Dreamscape, emitting a very faint blue glow.

"Huh, someone's here!" Russell immediately rode the Little Dream Dragon and flew towards the glowing figure. He discovered that the figure was sneakily approaching the manor's annex and did not belong to Eric, Charles, or the others; it was a stranger.

"There's Battle Qi. This is a Knight. Judging by the intensity of the glow and the silhouette, it should be an Armored Knight!"

Russell quickly assessed the person's level.

Only the torso and hands of the figure were glowing, with no light visible on the legs. This was a very typical characteristic of an Armored Knight. Because not all meridians had been opened yet, the Battle Qi could not circulate to the legs, and thus they did not glow.

He rode the Little Dream Dragon and flew directly in front of the Incomplete Figure.

He watched as the figure kept looking back, using the rain to cover its movements, and quietly crept to the outer wall of the manor's annex before climbing to the second floor with its hands and feet.

"Damn it!"

Russell frowned. "Who the hell is it, sneaking into my manor's annex! Could it be people from the Xiangshui River Cave?"

An Armored Knight was an absolutely formidable figure to the free people of the caves.

Before Russell could ponder further.

The Little Dream Dragon opened its mouth: "Caw."

It was tired and didn't intend to maintain the Dark Dreamscape any longer; it wanted to go back.

"Don't... Snow Cream, think of a way to wake me up! Someone is trying to harm me right now!" Russell quickly pleaded for help.

Unfortunately, the Little Dream Dragon had no idea what was going on. It threw him off and then flapped its wings, disappearing around the corner.

"Damn!"

"Idiot Snow Cream!"

Russell was helpless. In the instant the Dark Dreamscape collapsed, he could only loudly self-suggest: "Wake up, wake up, someone is trying to assassinate me!"