First Kill Reward: Snakefolk Priest Recruitment Scroll

Poof!

That axe strike carved a bloody gash straight into the Snowfield Viper's smooth body, tearing open its flesh in an instant.

[-8]

A damage number floated up.

The Snowfield Viper felt the pain and bit down even harder.

However, while under the effect of unlimited health regeneration, Dazhuang was like a man pumped full of adrenaline.

He grabbed the Snowfield Viper and hacked at it in a frenzy.

Poof! Poof, poof!

[-10]

[-9]

[-9]

The sound of blows landing on flesh rang out one after another.

After biting him a few times, the Snowfield Viper seemed to realize something was wrong.

Its health kept dropping, and soon it had fallen below 80.

Yet its opponent was clearly weaker than itself. Even after all this, he was still full of energy!

The viper was dumbfounded.

It also realized that something was off about the enemy in front of it.

It twisted around and tried to slip away.

Cao Xing had been watching the Snowfield Viper's movements from behind. Seeing what was happening, he hurriedly called out, "Don't let it escape, Erzhuang. You get in there too!"

"At your service, my lord!"

Erzhuang obeyed and charged in, joining the fight against the Snowfield Viper.

With Erzhuang's help, the Snowfield Viper's health drained even faster.

Poof! Poof, poof!

The two stone axes kept chopping into the viper's body.

Before long, its health had dropped below 30.

Meanwhile, after a brief rest, Cao Xing had recovered a little of his mental energy.

So he raised his staff, and the nearby Frost Power gathered.

Before long, an ice orb the size of a fist had formed at the tip of Cao Xing's staff.

"Go!"

Cao Xing swung his staff.

The ice orb shot out instantly.

Then it struck the Snowfield Viper's body and burst open with a pop!

[-21!]

A huge damage number appeared above the Snowfield Viper.

Its health hit zero, and it collapsed for good.

A system notification appeared.

[You successfully killed Snowfield Viper lv2. You gained 30 experience points.

[Combatants: Dazhuang gained 15 experience points; Erzhuang gained 15 experience points.]

[Congratulations! You are the first creature in this region to kill a wild monster. You received the First Kill Reward: Snakefolk Priest Recruitment Scroll*1.]

Seeing the power of the [Ice Orb Spell], Dazhuang and Erzhuang both looked stunned.

"My lord, your power is truly awe-inspiring!"

"My lord is so powerful!"

Cao Xing glanced at them calmly.

These Polar Folk were easily impressed.

That was how the Frost Mage class worked. Its high damage came with high costs.

That one Ice Orb Spell had drained all the mental energy he had struggled to recover.

Meanwhile,

Cao Xing walked over to the Snowfield Viper's corpse, and a system notification appeared before him.

[Snowfield Viper corpse (can be dismantled)]

Cao Xing clicked dismantle.

In an instant, the Snowfield Viper's body disappeared.

Then a damaged snake hide, more than a dozen pieces of bright red snake meat, and a purple venom sac appeared on the cold snow.

[Damaged Snake Hide (White)*1]

(Although damaged, it can still be used to make simple leather clothes.)

[Fresh Snake Meat (Green)*17]

(Fresh snake meat. 1 piece of snake meat = 5 food.)

[Venom Sac (Green)*1]

(A snake's venom sac. If applied to a weapon, it might have an unexpected effect?)

Seeing the items on the ground, Cao Xing looked delighted.

"Whoa! So much snake meat, and a snake hide too. What a haul!"

Seventeen pieces of snake meat meant a full 85 food!

Most importantly, they now had something besides dry bread to eat.

And it was delicious snake meat!

At that moment, Dazhuang and Erzhuang stared fixedly at the bright red snake meat on the ground, swallowing audibly.

"Meat... it's meat!"

"Good heavens! How many years has it been since we saw meat?"

"Erzhuang, pinch my beard. I'm not dreaming, am I?"

The Polar Folk were creatures who lived in the underground world year-round. They rarely got to eat fresh meat.

Cao Xing didn't know what their lives were like, but from some conversations among the Polar Folk earlier, he could tell their environment must have been harsh.

Erzhuang tugged on Dazhuang's goatee and cried out, "Dazhuang, you're not dreaming. This is real meat!"

"Good heavens! If anyone would let me have a bite of delicious meat, I'd give my life for them!"

Cao Xing knew the Polar Folk were saying this for his benefit.

"All right, pick up the pace with your work. Tonight, we'll all have snake soup."

At that, Dazhuang and Erzhuang scrambled to their feet and shouted,

"Long live the lord!"

"We'll get right to work!"

Then the two Polar Folk picked up their stone axes and went off to chop wood, full of enthusiasm.

Watching them work with such enthusiasm, Cao Xing collected all the materials on the ground.

He looked at Liu Muxue beside him and said,

"Did you remember, sister-in-law?"

"When you run into enemies in the wild, you have to fight like that to kill them."

Liu Muxue hugged the shield to her chest and nodded firmly. "Mm-hmm, I'll remember, A Xing."

Cao Xing nodded, then led her back toward the bonfire.

The moment they stepped into the area covered by the bonfire, much of the cold was driven away.

"Brr!"

The two of them shivered.

This time, they had spent about seven minutes outside.

According to Cao Xing's estimate, their maximum time outdoors was now fifteen minutes.

If they could make cold-resistant clothes, they could stay out much longer.

Cao Xing glanced at the resources in his territory.

[Food*105, Wood*36, Stone*54]

"I still don't have enough materials to build a Sewing Workshop. Looks like I won't be able to make one today."

"Then, are there any other ways to keep out the cold?"

Cao Xing looked at the Polar Folk beside him, dressed in thick snow clothes.

Clearly, the clothes the Polar Folk wore were thick and had good cold-resistant properties...

At this point, most survivors were probably thinking about using force to take the Polar Folk's clothes.

But you'd better not do that.

Because the moment you killed the first Polar Folk, your standing with their race would drop by 50%.

When you killed a second Polar Folk, you would become completely hostile toward their race.

Not only would you be unable to recruit Polar Folk to work for you from then on, but any Polar Folk you encountered along the way would also attack your camp.

Cao Xing thought to himself, "Forget it. I'll just get through today like this."

"By tomorrow, I should have enough wood and Stone to build the Sewing Workshop."

Just then, Cao Xing remembered the first-kill reward the system had given him. It seemed to be a recruitment scroll.

He took it out of his backpack, and its attributes appeared before him.

[Snakefolk Priest Recruitment Scroll: Summons a level 5 Snakefolk Priest to assist the lord in battle.]

[Occupies 2 population.]

Seeing the system description, Cao Xing's expression brightened.

Well, would you look at that! It was a scroll that could summon a level 5 creature!

This was a great reward!

However, Cao Xing had never encountered the Snakefolk race when he played the game before, so he didn't know what they were like.

Of course, it was also possible that he hadn't reached the later stages of development and hadn't explored the entire game.

The vastness of this world exceeded Cao Xing's imagination.

[Would you like to consume the scroll and summon a Snakefolk Priest?]

"Yes."

As soon as the words left his mouth, a six-pointed star formation appeared out of thin air before Cao Xing.

The next moment, the formation blazed with dazzling light.

Liu Muxue watched Cao Xing's actions with curiosity from beside him.

At the same time, they suddenly felt a powerful, chilling presence descend.

Then a cold wind swept past.

A creature with a twisting, winding body appeared, its entire form snow-white.

Its five-meter-long snake body was covered in scales, and its slender tail swayed idly across the snow.

Yet atop that serpentine body was the head of a human woman.

With her slender eyes and sharply defined features, she radiated an alluring air at first glance.

Cao Xing and Liu Muxue stared in shock at the enormous snake woman.

"S-so... such a huge snake..." Liu Muxue murmured, her mouth slightly agape.

Cao Xing was seeing such a creature for the first time, and it was beyond anything he had imagined.

"So this is what the Snakefolk are like? They certainly live up to their name."

At that moment, the creature, with a snake's body and a human head, stared at Cao Xing with deep green eyes. Then she parted her dark purple lips and spoke softly.

"Esteemed Lord, I am Ilena, Snakefolk Priest, at your service."

The Snake Person's attributes appeared before Cao Xing.