25 Shouting Slogans

Chapter 26: 25 Slogans

"All sorted."

Emerging from Lupe's mansion, Yuan Chen gave Mordas and the others a thumbs-up gesture from afar.

Seeing the calm and collected expression on Yuan Chen's face, Mordas and the others, who had been somewhat tense, finally relaxed.

Previously, Yuan Chen had been staying in Lupe's mansion. However, considering that the Meat-toothed Beasts had just migrated there and were unfamiliar with the surroundings, and that differences in customs might lead to conflicts with the villagers, Yuan Chen had accepted the Meat-toothed Beasts' request for a tent and set up camp nearby.

"Kid, stay away! This isn't playtime. Be careful, these big cats with knives might eat you up!"

Yuan Chen made a scary face, but the children nearby weren't frightened. Instead, they looked at the busy Meat-toothed Beasts with even greater curiosity.

Mordas was somewhat speechless at this. "What are you talking about? We Meat-toothed Beasts aren't savages who eat raw meat and drink blood...

Fine, we do have a habit of eating raw food, but that's due to our physiology. If you keep talking nonsense, I'll sue you for defamation!"

"Don't worry. Once the hunt is complete, we'll be heroes. Dragon Slayers... this achievement alone will be enough for all the countries in Runeterra to treat us with respect!"

Hearing this, a yearning flickered in Mordas's eyes...

Although Mordas deeply disliked the elders in the tribe, there was no doubt that, having been born into a Meat-toothed Beast tribe, even if only through upbringing, Mordas possessed an unimaginable desire for hunting.

And for any hunter, killing a dragon would undoubtedly be the most glorious achievement of their life!

"How did you convince that woman?" Mordas couldn't help but ask. "Weren't you afraid of failing? Hunting a dragon... even if successful, the village will suffer heavy losses, right?"

Yuan Chen gave Mordas a strange look upon hearing this, and asked back with a bewildered expression, "Why do you think she cares about the village?"

"Huh?"

"To put it another way... why do you think she would put the village first?"

Having shooed away the surrounding kids, Yuan Chen decided to speak freely.

"She's part of Ixialia's ruling class, a noble Yuentar, a distinguished Elemental Master, a Master Figure who advanced Ixialia's understanding of the Earth Axiom.

If it weren't for her sister, she should still be sitting on the Elemental Pedestal, worshipped and respected by thousands of Element Apprentices."

"Exiled to this poor, remote place, and after only a decade or so, less than a generation, you expect her to accept that she's become a commoner?

No... rather than a commoner, given this village's environment and transportation, it's more like a savage's dwelling."

"Her demands and desires aren't for this so-called village to become part of a county. It's for her family to regain its former status. This talk of standing with the villagers is utter nonsense.

It's only because she can't leave this place and her family members lack significant Magic Talent that she's been forced to accept this situation."

"Do you think the most important part of my previous actions was convincing her?"

"Isn't that right?"

Hearing Yuan Chen's words, Mordas's face showed a hint of surprise--

Although he had learned about human society and even studied human books specifically, Mordas was not human after all.

Regarding this, Yuan Chen said, "The process of persuading them was actually just to make these villagers waver."

"Facing a Dragon, anyone would be afraid. Fear represents rejection and escape.

So, you have to actively stir up their inner desires, hopes, even greed, and let them fall into a fervor for the future.

It's like a gambler who's high on luck; they know there's a huge risk, but they can't refuse this desire that comes from the depths of their soul."

"But they are afraid, afraid of bearing all of this themselves. So when they are undecided, they will subconsciously look for an 'authority' to help them choose. They don't know that Lupe is not on the same path as them at all.

So all I have to do is to inflate their yearning for a good life, thereby blurring their perception of the crisis... And when they asked Lupe, I knew I had succeeded."

Hearing this, Mordas opened his mouth but found himself unable to offer any evaluation. Finally, after a long silence, he sighed somewhat powerlessly, "I can see... the Carnivore Beast Tribe still has a long way to go."

Mordas once saw Lupe as someone similar to himself. However, Mordas was for the future of the Carnivore Beast Tribe, while Lupe was for the future of the village... Mordas truly believed this.

"It doesn't have to be that long," Yuan Chen shrugged, saying indifferently.

"In the end, this is all just a dirty trick among nobles. It's just a way to deal with these simple Mountain People whose cognition is blocked, who think the outside world is full of war. If it were a place like Demacia or Noxus, I wouldn't do this."

"Why?" Mordas seemed a bit surprised. "Isn't this very effective? I don't feel any pressure..."

"That's because these villagers have no idea about the outside world, and they've never even left this mountain forest."

Yuan Chen complained.

"The great nobles of Demacia and Noxus have been immersed in these dirty tricks for hundreds of years. For a Utopia like Ionia, where the concept of 'country' hasn't even formed yet, how much can you expect me to understand about this?

If I were really in Noxus or Demacia, I wouldn't show off my inferior skills by playing these old tricks in front of them."

Hearing Yuan Chen's retort, Mordas scratched his head and continued to ask, "If not this way, then how will you do it then?"

"Of course, I'll play to my strengths."

Yuan Chen gave a thumbs-up, his face full of nonchalance. "I use dirty methods against Mountain People, and against these great nobles who are masters of dirty methods, I naturally have to use methods they are not good at."

"What method?"

"I suggest we just take direct action."

"Huh?"

Hearing this, Mordas was stunned, not expecting Yuan Chen's solution to be through violence...

But upon closer thought, Yuan Chen had drifted from Ionia all the way to Ixialia, essentially a lone traveler. Without worries for the future and possessing formidable strength, it seemed like a viable plan.

Hearing Mordas and Yuan Chen's conversation, Nedeli, who had been dozing nearby, couldn't help but pout: "A weak house cat..."

"Say less. You still need me to help you drink water."

Yuan Chen rolled his eyes.

Because she had been attacked before, Nedeli had extreme distrust towards Meat-toothed Beasts. While she wasn't overly resistant to villages, her innate upbringing made her despise this kind of "civilization."

For this reason, she'd rather sleep in the bushes of the nearby wilderness than rest in a relatively comfortable house.

"Tch,"

Nedeli didn't speak. Her experiences during this period told her that she couldn't win an argument with Yuan Chen.

Just as that scoundrel said, she couldn't confront him using methods he was proficient in.

"Get some rest. We have work to do tomorrow."

Yuan Chen yawned lazily. He glanced at the tent, then at Nedeli. After some thought, he moved his tent closer to the bushes.

Just in case some ignorant kid, while playing, ran over and accidentally kicked open the line Nedeli had just fixed with wooden boards.

Nedeli merely glanced at it, then closed her eyes and fell asleep, guarded by a pack of Cougars.

The night passed without incident. The next morning.

Stretching his arms, Yuan Chen emerged from the tent. After a simple wash-up, he waved a water ball towards Nedeli. Though impatient, Nedeli could only silently and blankly suck it down for the moment.

The Villagers woke up earlier than Yuan Chen. Since they had decided to participate in the dragon hunt, most of the Villagers wore an indescribable excitement on their faces.

After a night of discussion, the Meat-toothed Beasts had listed out the preliminary preparations they needed.

Wood, Steel, Stone...

Looking at these blueprints for large hunting equipment, the Villagers gained more confidence in the Meat-toothed Beasts' ability to hunt dragons. Before long, they were heading to the stone mountains and forests in groups to chop and gather.

The Blacksmith, who had questioned Yuan Chen yesterday, was now relentlessly forging in his smithy, swinging his large hammer. Rough Steel rapidly turned red under the heat of the Flame Axiom.

His hammer rose and fell continuously. The originally rough and uneven ore was forged at an astonishing speed, and impurities visibly decreased.

After the Meat-toothed Beasts assembled the hunting equipment they had previously dismantled, the masters at the armor shop began to carefully enchant them—

For ease of use, hunting equipment like the Ballista were directly set up near Nedeli's previous beast den.

Using magic to disperse the surrounding Beasts and mask their own aura, the enchanters held tools like shovels and continuously carved on the Ballista, occasionally inserting some seemingly expensive crystals.

It wasn't any profound magical enchantment, just simple carvings of Axiom lines. The true enchanter was Lupe, who was establishing the terrain around the beast den—

As a mage of the Earth Axiom, Lupe prepared to set up some powerful, large-scale magic arrays here that would be enough to influence the Elemental Dragon.

It was foreseeable that this would be time-consuming, but for the sake of safety and success rate, Lupe continued to carve as soon as she recovered her energy.

Some simple details were handed over to other enchanters. For the glory of her family, her progress was quite rapid.

The hunters of the Meat-toothed Beasts were also not idle. After completing the reorganization of their hunting equipment, more than thirty Meat-toothed Beasts dispersed in twos and threes. Some hunted beasts, preparing ample supplies.

The other part concealed their presence and headed towards the Elemental Dragon's lair to ascertain the dragon's condition, strength, length, and other physiological information, as well as its preferred elemental attributes, to facilitate targeted enchantment by Lupe and other enchanters.

It was at this time that the civilization's potential in Ixialia was fully displayed. Even the children could handle some detailed spellwork through the simple utilization of the Elemental Axiom.

Although the entire village had only a few hundred people, their efficiency in magic was even higher than that of a thousand-strong Noxian team.

If they underwent military reform, Runeterra would immediately gain a new magical powerhouse...

Well, the first to be affected would be Piltover... they had always been very interested in Ixialia's mineral resources.

"Then I'll start working too."

Hearing Yuan Chen's words, Mordas, standing beside him, raised an eyebrow. "What bad thing are you planning now?"

Perhaps it was because they had spent a lot of time together, Mordas's attitude towards Yuan Chen had changed from initial respect mixed with a bit of caution to a relaxed, friendly demeanor... mainly because Yuan Chen was very different from the prophets people usually imagined.

Mordas remained in the village to facilitate communication with Lupe and the other villagers, preventing unnecessary conflicts and contradictions due to the cultural differences between the Meat-toothed Beasts and the Ixialians.

"What kind of person do I seem to be in your eyes? Why do you always assume I'm up to no good?"

Yuan Chen was speechless for a moment, then said:

"I just want to prevent these villagers from going back on their word once they calm down, so we need to ensure this atmosphere is maintained at least until all the hunting facilities are enchanted... How good is your calligraphy?"

"..." Mordas remained silent; he merely stretched out his thick-knuckled beast claws.

Yuan Chen curled his lips at this, quickly realizing his foolishness – even the literate Meat-toothed Beasts were still roughnecks.

"Do you have a pen?"

"...Would a quill do?"

Mordas pointed to a tent nearby – he had brought some souvenirs from human society.

"Not really... I'll see if I can find something else."

Soon, Yuan Chen found what he needed.

He approached the resting Nedeli, tilted his chin, and said to the wild girl, who looked at him with wary eyes, "Lend me a lion."

"Dream on."

"I'm only using your tail, don't be so nervous."

"Heh, I have a tail too." Nedeli sneered disdainfully, "Do you dare to come?"

"Then you turn into a leopard first."

"It's a Cougar!"

Nedeli corrected Yuan Chen's incorrect statement with annoyance, then asked suspiciously, "What exactly do you want?"

"You transform first."

Hearing this, although still displeased, Nedeli still transformed into her Cougar form. A moment later...

Yuan Chen tucked the Cougar-form Nedeli under his left arm and arrived at the village wall. He then dipped Nedeli's tail into a Paint Bucket filled with White Paint.

Perhaps because of the coldness of the White Paint, Nedeli instinctively bristled, "What exactly are you doing?!"

"Don't move, it'll affect my performance!"

As he spoke, Yuan Chen, with Nedeli under his left arm and holding her tail with his right hand, wrote several neat Square Characters on the village wall--

Work one day as three, run into big cities and counties.

As bold as a person dares, as miserable as a dragon.

Fat Saiyan Dragon, only small in body. Work together with one heart, kill dragons like killing pigs.