Feeding the Dragon with Gold Coins

Russell was never a magnanimous person, not in his past life, and certainly not in this one.

"My Lord, what do you intend to do?" Charles, at some point, had quietly changed his address, no longer calling Russell by name.

Eric frowned, "This person is cunning and difficult to subdue."

"Why should I subdue him? He's already given me enough reason to kill him by luring the Snow Ghosts to invade my manor," Russell said in a deep voice. "Teachers, and Knight Captain Chris, I'm currently thinking about how to kill him."

Lone Wolf Lisbon had already crossed his bottom line.

Luring the Snow Ghosts to invade, disregarding the manor's property and the serfs' personal safety, was a path to death.

"Killing him won't be easy either," Knight Captain Chris said. "If he dares to show himself, I can help Young Master Russell kill him, but this person is inherently cunning. If he hides in the caves and doesn't come out, it will be very difficult to find him."

The caves surrounding Guangguang River Valley were connected by secret passages, forming a comprehensive transportation network. The area might even be larger than the entire Guangguang River Valley.

Once someone hid within, finding them would truly be like searching for a needle in a haystack.

"That difficult?"

"If Baron Lord were to take action, pressure the cave dwellers, and then dispatch a knight squad to block the exits, it should be quite easy."

"Then forget it. If I have to trouble Father for such a small matter, what qualifications will I have to govern the manor and fiefdom?" Russell quickly rejected the idea of asking the Baron for help. Relying on the Baron for everything would only damage his reputation.

An excellent lord would be able to recruit excellent followers in the future.

Knight Captain Chris chuckled, "If you need anything, please don't hesitate to ask."

Russell thanked him, "When it's absolutely necessary, I'll trouble you then... Alright, let's stop talking about this unpleasant matter and continue the celebration!"

The celebration didn't last until nightfall.

In the afternoon, Knight Captain Chris took his leave and disappeared down the slag road on his Nightmare Ghost Horse. After all, he was the Knight Captain of the castle guards, not Russell's personal knight. Being away from his post for too long would obviously displease the Baron.

"My Lord, do you really intend to kill Lone Wolf Lisbon?" Charles brought up the unfinished matter from before.

"Of course."

"If you truly want to kill Lisbon, I believe the Wildcat Sisters are key. Perhaps they can be used to lure Lisbon out."

"No rush, we can discuss this further," Russell had calmed down. "Lisbon must be killed. If he's not killed, I won't feel at ease. However, killing him must not hinder my efforts to subdue the Xiangshui River Cave. Therefore, we need a complete plan."

Eric suddenly said, "My Lord, let me infiltrate the Xiangshui River Cave and scout the situation first."

"No, there's no need for such a risky endeavor."

"Then..."

"Let's wait. Wait for the Wildcat Sisters to come," Russell smiled slightly. He had already shown his strength, and now he just needed to see if he could attract butterflies.

Charles looked puzzled, "Will the Wildcat Sisters come? Catherine didn't say she would come again before she left."

"If she didn't intend to, she wouldn't have come to deliver the message on a rainy night. Since she's willing to befriend me, she naturally chose to do so when I was weak." Russell felt he had a seventy to eighty percent chance of guessing the Wildcat Sisters' intentions. "Wouldn't you agree, Teacher Charles?"

Charles sighed in admiration, "My Lord, you are becoming more and more like Baron Lord."

"You flatter me. I am still learning from my father."

"Dragon's Gaze, I believe you will soon surpass him and bring glory to the Fluorite Mushroom Family."

"That's my elder brother's task."

"But you can forge a new foundation. Wuyou Snake Manor is too small for you; it's merely the starting point for your ascent."

"Hmm, that's true. Teacher Charles, Teacher Eric, let us work hard together for it."

Charles bowed, "We will follow your footsteps closely!"

Beside him, seeing Charles's elaborate flattery, Eric did his best to suppress the urge to roll his eyes. He then thumped his chest heavily and grumbled in a muffled voice, "We will follow your footsteps closely!"

Night.

Russell continued to sleep in the manor's separate courtyard.

The Insect Grass had grown safely, and it was no longer appropriate to camp outdoors under the pretense of guarding it. Moreover, after a major battle during the day, he needed to rest well.

"Caw!"

The familiar Dark Dreamscape, the familiar Little Dream Dragon.

"What is this between us, Snowflake? Are we destined to only meet in dreams?" Russell posed a new question.

However, the Little Dream Dragon couldn't understand and only cawed, carrying Russell around the outlined manor courtyard in circles.

"Sigh, it's useless to ask. You're just an idiot." Russell raised his middle finger.

The Little Dream Dragon found it amusing and waved its small forelimbs, raising a finger like a tiny matchstick: "Caw caw caw!"

"Stop cawing and go check my bedroom. See what the Hail Bead is glowing about."

The man and dragon returned to Russell's bedroom. Besides the Dark Gold Ceramic Armor, the Green Ceramic Sword, two small pearls, and the light from the Gem Lamp Fixtures, they could also see a drawer in the bedside cabinet emitting a faint blue light.

The light gathered into a cluster, clearly emanating from the Hail Bead.

Upon seeing this cluster of light, before Russell could figure it out, the Little Dream Dragon suddenly cried out loudly: "Caw! Caw! Caw!"

"What, you want it?"

"Caw!"

Russell was surprised, rarely seeing the Little Dream Dragon react so intensely, so he immediately waved his hand, "If you want it, take it!"

The next moment, the Little Dream Dragon plunged its head into the drawer. In the Dark Dreamscape, besides magic creations, everything else is illusory. Thus, the Little Dream Dragon passed directly through the drawer and brought its head close to the Hail Bead.

It opened its mouth, its tongue flicked, and the Hail Bead was swallowed.

Then.

It even let out a comfortable burp: "Gah..."

"You can actually eat things in the Dark Dreamscape?" Russell was very surprised, then he himself tried to touch the Green Ceramic Sword.

Unfortunately, his arm passed through the light of the Green Ceramic Sword, unable to touch its physical form.

This was the same as the results of his previous experiments.

"Snowflake, you try. Can you get this Green Ceramic Sword?" Russell patted the Little Dream Dragon's head, guiding it to grab the Green Ceramic Sword.

The Little Dream Dragon didn't understand, but it imitated him, extending its claw to grab the Green Ceramic Sword.

However, the result was the same as Russell's previous attempt. Its claw passed through the light of the Green Ceramic Sword, unable to touch its physical form.

"Hmm?" Russell couldn't understand this.

He pondered carefully, "Although the Dark Dreamscape is an illusion formed by referencing reality, Snowflake does have the ability to interact with reality through the Dark Dreamscape... Before, it breathed out Birch Worms, which was an interaction, and now it's swallowing Hail Beads, which is also an interaction."

It's just that the number of interactions was too few for Russell to determine what kind of behavior fell within the scope of interaction.

"Never mind, I'll explore it slowly later."

There was still plenty of time, and Russell had enough time to unravel the mysteries of the Dark Dreamscape.

He looked closely at the Little Dream Dragon, "After eating the Hail Bead, I don't feel any change in you... Tsk tsk, I'm really extravagant now, starting to feed gold coins to a dragon."

The Hail Bead was a gold coin.

Most serfs probably never even saw what a gold coin looked like in their entire lives; silver coins and copper pieces were enough to meet their daily needs.

"Take off, let's sleep after flying around for a bit." Russell rode the Little Dream Dragon, beginning his idler's journey again.

However, after flying for a short while, he noticed something was wrong: "Snowflake, has the Dark Dreamscape gotten bigger? Before, only a small half of this tree was in the Dark Dreamscape, but now, more than half of it is in the Dark Dreamscape!"

Happy Spring Festival, everyone! May the Year of the Dragon be auspicious!