Wine Fox

The outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest.

Seeing a primeval forest like this in person, with its towering trees, was still awe-inspiring enough to make Li Chen admit he was a country bumpkin.

He had barely entered the outskirts when he spotted a hundred-year soul beast. Without hesitating, he immediately ordered the Iron Golem to attack.

Although the Iron Golem looked somewhat clumsy, it actually had the speed of a power attack system Soul Saint. In the blink of an eye, it was standing before the hundred-year black wolf.

With a swing of both arms, it sent the black wolf flying into a tree. Before Li Chen could even step forward, he saw the black wolf turn into a yellow soul ring and a heap of experience points.

"Wait, why did you kill it outright?"

He looked at the soul ring before him, then at the Iron Golem. The golem just stood there. He only acted according to instructions, and only understood simple commands.

"Ah, forget it. At least kills by the Iron Golem give me experience points too." Li Chen sighed and put the black wolf's entire corpse into his backpack.

He would have the villagers butcher the soul beast's corpse when he got back. Its hide, bones, blood, and meat might not be worth as much as a soul bone, but with his crafting table, perhaps he could try some special crafting recipes.

He then took the Iron Golem along to search for the next soul beast, but none of the ten-year or hundred-year soul beasts they encountered could withstand even a single attack from the golem.

Because of his martial soul, his own actual combat strength was not particularly high. Dealing with a hundred-year soul beast would still be somewhat difficult.

Here in the Star Dou Great Forest, he had to keep Creative Mode as his life-saving trump card. He could not casually activate it just to kill a soul beast.

The end result was that the Iron Golem steamrolled everything along the way, while Li Chen failed to obtain a single soul ring. It was getting on his nerves. Who had designed this rule that only the killer could absorb a soul ring?

Was that rule really reasonable? Who could it even restrict?

After two hours, Li Chen was getting tired from walking. He discovered a secluded cave in a small hill, and upon reaching its entrance, he noticed that there seemed to be a soul beast inside.

"Attack."

The Terrorclaw Bear resting inside the cave had no time to react before it was sent flying into the cave wall, letting out an enraged roar.

But all that greeted it was another attack from the Iron Golem, beating it within an inch of its life. Just as the golem was about to finish it off-

Li Chen hurriedly gave the command, "Stop." He had finally found a soul beast that could withstand the Iron Golem's iron fists.

Taking the stone sword out of his backpack, he drove it through the Terrorclaw Bear's neck. When he saw a yellow soul ring tinged with purple float out, he quickly sat down and began absorbing it.

It was only a hundred-year soul ring. Even one from a high-tier soul beast like the Terrorclaw Bear posed practically no strain for a level 30 prospective Soul Elder.

Once he had fully absorbed it, his previously accumulated experience points, combined with those provided by the soul ring, brought him straight to level 33.

[Congratulations! The player has broken through level 30! You may add 1 more MOD.]

Ignoring the system notification for the moment, he moved on to the most important step: setting and entering the command.

He quickly entered the "Time Stop" command, then waited three seconds. When the command block displayed no error, he decisively selected confirm.

Once the command was successfully set, he immediately tested Time Stop's effects, since he still had Creative Mode as a fallback.

After he activated the soul skill, falling leaves froze in midair, all the surrounding sounds vanished, and the entire world was put on pause.

Even the sword he threw froze in midair after leaving his hand.

About three seconds later, Time Stop ended. Only then did the sword he had thrown continue flying and embed itself in the cave wall.

Unfortunately, such a powerful soul skill came with a restriction. Like Creative Mode, it could only be used once a day.

Now, let's see what random choices I get for my second mod. Hopefully, there'll be something useful.

[Please select the MOD you wish to add from the following three MODs.]

[Touhou Maid]: Adds 1 maid and her associated items. Your maid can cook, farm, chop trees, mine, fight, and more for you.

[Random Crafting]: Every crafting result will change at random. With good luck, you might even craft blocks of diamond from wood.

[Soul Master Survival]: Obtain a "martial soul" and acquire soul rings by killing monsters. Absorb soul rings to level up and gain skills.

Random Crafting was just like the earlier Lucky Blocks: far too unpredictable. With this mod, he could obtain all kinds of resources in the future simply by digging up dirt.

But his stance remained the same. He had an instinctive aversion to uncertainty and anything that relied on luck. Perhaps he had spent too much of his previous life as a luckless soul.

And that third mod-why don't you take a guess where I am right now? Can't you roll some better mods?

Fortunately, this roll included one with Wine Fox. People always said you could lure a silly maid away with a cake, but in reality, who wouldn't want a capable maid?

Maid, go clear out the Creepers by the entrance, then switch to a pickaxe and head down into the mine for some iron. Harvest the wheat on your way back and stuff everything into your backpack. Remember to use the bell to switch to home mode. Once you're home, put the wheat into Create's millstone and grind it yourself, then make yourself some cake. After you've eaten, act cute and dance for me. When you're done dancing, go sort out the items at the mob tower, then stir-fry a couple of dishes for me.

After he selected the first mod, an item called "Maid Summon" appeared in his hand. It worked much like a spawn egg.

When he used it, a young Wine Fox appeared before him, about the same height as he was. As for her name, he simply called her Wine Fox.

"Can I request a refund for getting a minor?" Li Chen asked the system.

The system still gave no answer, but the little Wine Fox before him looked up with tear-filled eyes, the pitiful picture of someone about to be abandoned. "Master, do you want to abandon Wine Fox?"

"No, no. Little Wine Fox is so adorable. How could I abandon you?"

As he spoke, he reached out and rubbed her head, paying particular attention to her fox ears. He had to admit, they felt really nice.

If he had not still been in the Star Dou Great Forest, he would have loved to keep petting her.

"Can you use this Teleportation Stele?"

Little Wine Fox glanced at it and said, "Of course I can."

"Then let's go home now." Li Chen took her little hand and walked over to the Teleportation Stele. After pouring soul power into it, he sensed a teleportation node.

He guided his soul power toward that node, and a small formation spread beneath his feet. In an instant, he and little Wine Fox returned to the Small Village Outside Suotuo City.

The soul power consumption was a little high, though. At level 33, he could probably only teleport with someone else about five times. Perhaps he should look into whether he could install an alternative energy source.

"Wait, where's my bodyguard?"

Soon after returning, he realized something seemed to be missing. He turned around, and that enormous Iron Golem of his was nowhere to be seen.

He had been so focused on asking whether little Wine Fox could teleport that it had never occurred to him that the Iron Golem could not come along.

"Be good and wait here for me."

With that, he teleported back to the little cave in the Star Dou Great Forest and saw the Iron Golem standing there in standby mode.

Only after ordering him to guard the place did Li Chen teleport back again.