Chapter 16: A Massive Surprise, Accidentally Becoming a Tycoon!
To hold a key position in the military headquarters, one must be at least rank ten—a measure of comprehensive strength, not merely individual combat ability.
Before such a colossal force, he now felt as insignificant as an ant.
At that moment, a cold wind blew, and Su Mu instinctively hugged his arms tighter.
“Damn it, why is the night in the Dark World so freezing?” Su Mu muttered in complaint.
Just then, a light suddenly illuminated the space around him.
Looking up, Su Mu saw Blade Drawn standing beside him—he didn’t know when he had arrived—holding the Sacred Flame Altar that Su Mu had dropped earlier.
It was this sacred flame that had driven away the darkness and brought a glimmer of warmth.
The little Divine Dragon seemed to sense Su Mu’s downheartedness as well. It flew to perch above his head, spreading its wings wide to shield him from the icy moonlight of the blood moon overhead.
It knew its master was cold and wanted to help him ward off the chill.
“Blade Drawn!”
“Little Divine Dragon!”
A surge of warmth welled up in Su Mu’s heart, dispelling the lingering gloom that had hidden there.
“What is there to fear? I still have Blade Drawn and Little Divine Dragon. This Dark World is my land of growth,” he thought.
“Even if the mastermind behind the scenes is a rank eleven powerhouse, one day I, Su Mu, will surpass him, defeat him, and sever his head.”
A wave of heroic spirit rose within Su Mu, and he transformed once again into the cheerful, confident young man he had always been.
“Ha ha ha.”
Su Mu laughed and addressed Blade Drawn and Little Divine Dragon, “Blade Drawn, Little Divine Dragon, thank you for comforting me. Actually, I’m not that fragile—I just remembered some unhappy things.”
“Rest assured, I will lead you both down the path to become the strongest lords. We will all become the mightiest beings in the entire world.”
“Do you believe in me?”
Click, click.
Blade Drawn nodded vigorously; the clattering sound of his skeletal neck filled the air. The ghostly flames in his eye sockets flared brightly, clearly showing his faith in Su Mu.
Su Mu smiled wryly, feeling that purchasing Blade Drawn had been the right decision.
A roar!
The Little Divine Dragon shot a dazzling stream of dragonfire into the sky, expressing its excitement. Clearly, it too believed in Su Mu.
“Little Divine Dragon, I will make you the mightiest Dragon King,” Su Mu said with a smile.
Another roar!
The Little Divine Dragon released another burst of flame skyward, then settled on Su Mu’s shoulder, affectionately rubbing its head against his cheek.
“Ha ha ha!”
Su Mu wrapped an arm around the Little Divine Dragon and ran circles around the ruined city lord’s mansion. Blade Drawn stood quietly to the side, watching their playful antics, a faint smile curling the corners of his skeletal mouth.
“All right, thank you both for fighting alongside me today. Let’s get some rest early; there are many things waiting for us tomorrow.”
After some frolicking, Su Mu grew tired and stretched, ready to end the day’s intense battles and fall into sleep.
Though the area was still dangerous, the threat level had dropped significantly to grade D. With Blade Drawn and Little Divine Dragon guarding him, he had no worries about his personal safety.
Su Mu pulled out a tent card and flicked it gently. A windproof tent materialized before him.
He bid goodnight to his two comrades, crawled inside, unrolled his sleeping bag, and soon drifted into a deep slumber.
Blade Drawn naturally took position at the tent’s entrance. Being a skeleton, he neither felt cold nor fatigue, and thus willingly assumed the night watch.
The Little Divine Dragon settled on the tent’s left side, folding its wings over its body as it lay down to sleep. As a creature of the underworld, it was unfazed by the cold ground or the dark aura here—in fact, it found the temperature much better than in hell.
...
A ray of sunlight pierced the darkness; dawn had come.
The Dark World also had daytime and a sun, though that sun remained cold and unfeeling. While it brought light to this realm, it failed to bring warmth—the temperature stayed below freezing.
Daytime was relatively safe for human lords; most powerful dark creatures preferred to roam at night.
The dark beings wandering the plains now were mindless, weak creatures posing no real threat to Su Mu.
“Time to patrol my territory!” Su Mu yawned as he crawled out of the tent, setting off with Blade Drawn and Little Divine Dragon to explore his domain.
Soon, Su Mu found his first surprise.
He discovered an enormous warehouse—two thousand meters long and wide, over sixty meters high—inside which spiritual stones were piled like mountains, forming eight enormous heaps.
The three of them looked like ants in front of these towering piles of spirit stones.
Staring at the glittering stones, Su Mu’s mouth watered.
“Holo Eye, help me count,” he ordered.
Su Mu activated the Holo Eye’s counting function immediately.
[Item: Level 3 Spirit Ore]
[Quantity: 18 million units]
[Usage: Can replenish energy or be used to purchase any supplies needed by the lord.]
Eighteen million units of spirit ore?
That equated to eighteen million dragon coins!
Su Mu’s mind short-circuited—he had never seen so many dragon coins in his life.
Considering Dragon Nation’s current wages, an average person earned 3,000 to 4,000 dragon coins monthly, about 60,000 annually. Eighteen million dragon coins would take them 300 years to earn without spending a penny.
Even for a lord, earning more—say 20,000 dragon coins per month, or 240,000 annually—would still take over eighty years. Yet, the average lord’s lifetime was only about 36 years.
Moreover, lords had huge expenses; a single battle could cost hundreds of thousands of dragon coins, far beyond their salary.
Therefore, to develop, lords had only two paths: either borrow from the great financial tycoons and become their wage slaves, or, like Su Mu, take risks, seize lordships, and mine for themselves.
There was no third way.
In any case, Su Mu’s sudden acquisition of 18 million spirit ore was an immense windfall, far surpassing ordinary wealth limits.
“Wait, I think I miscalculated. That’s level 3 spirit ore; only level 1 spirit ore exchanges one-to-one with dragon coins.”
“The exchange rate for level 3 spirit ore is 0.3 to 1, meaning my wealth is actually 54 million dragon coins!”
“Damn, I didn’t expect Su Mu to suddenly become a ‘dog tycoon’!”
Su Mu realized his error and recalculated, astonished to find his wealth had tripled.
His excitement soared to new heights; he was at a loss for words.
A ‘dog tycoon’—something he had always despised.
Yet here he was, becoming one himself.
“Indeed, people always end up becoming what they hate most,” Su Mu thought.
Soon, he accepted the reality of being a dog tycoon with his strong heart.
“Since I’m a dog tycoon, I’ll be the biggest dog tycoon in the world! Let’s go explore elsewhere and see if there are more surprises!”
Su Mu commanded Blade Drawn and Little Divine Dragon, and together they continued to patrol their territory.
Before long, Su Mu discovered a second surprise.