Fate Online: Shadow

Chapter 536: Village Plans

The events caused another sensation in the web, especially from the players in the affected kingdoms as they were the ones who were the most affected with the presence of the Snow Dragon in the area.

[The White Dragon once again spotted in the seas south of Sunrise Empire! Could it really be the one behind the recent disasters in the seas?!]

- Bloody hell, we were raiding a random Wild Boss that respawned when it flew over us! It was only for a moment, but it brought us horrid debuffs that we all thought we were all going to die! On the bright side, the Wild Boss also wasn't spared, and we were able to easily kill it after that, probably thanks to the Dragon? I don't know.

- Its Dragon Fear dumbas*! It causes an overall 70% reduction on everything! It was awful! My legs were shaking after it flew over us! This is already the second time that I was inconvenienced because of it!

- But it makes you wonder why it keeps going back repeatedly to the Isles of Skrova!

But so, what if we're curious? Those players in that Kingdom don't even know what's going on! Bloody useless!

- Shut up! Are you picking a fight with us!? Do you want our Dragons to release its Dragon Breath on you?!

- Dragon? More like an oversized lizard! It can't even fly! Hahaha!

- I would like a Dragon as a mount! Anyone have a clue how to get one? I can pay, I'm rich!

- Capture a Lizard, then you'll have one!

- (Link) If you go and watch this YouTube video, then you'll find how to get one!

- F*ck you! The heck was that!?

- Hahahaha, what an idiot!

Aside from the Monster Horde that has been a hot topic lately, Sonya's appearance on the southern edge of the continent has also caused quite a stir in the online world since Dragons are rarely seen and every player has always dreamed of taming one!

Meanwhile, inside the "Lord's Mansion", which was just a massive log cabin.

'So that's what she had been up to lately' Shadow thought when he accessed the web and saw the threads discussing the sightings of the silvery white dragon.

Right now, the ones that are inside are only Shadow and Old Buck, whose expressions now have become more solemn, a mile away compared to his expressions and actions from earlier.

"Now, please recount to me the changes of the village while I was away, Old Chief" Shadow said, just seeing the changing numbers on his Lord's Menu is not as reliable to personally seeing or hearing it from someone who had seen the changes firsthand.

"Ahem!"

Old Buck cleared his throat before saying, "My lord, from the moment you took over this village and the time you left. We have slowly seen an increased number of adventurers venturing this far out. Some of them had even made this place their home and occupied the abandoned houses. As you might have already noticed when you arrived, the village had also slightly expanded with the wall expansion.

Food consumption has also increased ever since the Adventurers started trading their meat in exchange for services, making the villagers healthier. Right now, our current main concern is mostly on agriculture and opening a road outside of Neverwinter, since in doing so, it would boost the economy of the village and finally ending decades of isolation, My Lord"

Rubbing his chin while looking out the window, Shadow turned his eyes towards Old Buck and said, "What about the security? I noticed that the militia seems to be wearing new leather armors now compared to before"

He still remembers how the leather armor the members of the militia wore the first time they arrived here at Snow Village; they were full of scratch marks, and some were even peeling off.

Old Buck smiled at Shadow's words and replied, "It was all thanks to you, my lord. Everything had started going well since the day you became the Count of Neverwinter. People must have heard about your adventures and also ventured out to replicate your success"

What Old Buck mentioned just now wasn't just Shadow being the Count of the village, but the entirety of the Forbidden Zone, Neverwinter!

He had made clear that he wasn't just the lord of the village, but of the land.

A Count whose territory is comparable to a medium sized Kingdom!

It makes one wonder why no kingdoms had ever ventured to Neverwinter and swallowed it.

'Success? I really wouldn't call taking over a village in the middle of nowhere a success, but in terms of status, I am indeed successful since I'm the first player to receive the title of a Count'

"Then how many active Adventurer teams have settled in the village?"

'Probably players from the Nine Guilds or just skilled players, they're the only ones who had the resources to venture this far'

Shadow still remembers how many potions of all kinds they had wasted before they arrived at this village, which was enough to buy a medium sized car.

After all, the monsters weren't the main problem, but the unmerciful weather of this land.

"Yes, there's currently only two, My Lord. One is called Kang Totem and the other, The Pioneers, should we call them over?" Old Buck respectfully asked.

Shadow waved his hand and said, "There's no need. Instead, let's go for a walk, I want to see the changes in the village while I was gone"

He left the cabin with Old Buck following behind him and the first one he saw after leaving the place was Solitary Tempest playing with the two siblings.

Both of them smiled at each other after his girlfriend noticed them coming out, and the two men then continued on their way after.

"My lord! Please have a taste of our barbecue!"

"My lord, I made this scarf especially for you! It would be an honor if you receive it!"

"Thank you, I'll use it well!"

They started walking throughout the village while exchanging greetings and engaging in small talks with the villagers.

"My lord, this is the new garden we had recently set up. We used a quarter of the land and it's now able to sustain the current size of the village with an excess produce too" before long, the two men arrived in the northern part of the village where the villagers had set up the new farm.

It wasn't entirely big, but it also isn't small, probably around 300 or so square meters.

The field is currently bustling with different kinds of plants, mostly filled with root vegetables like potatoes and carrots, though there was a small section for collards, tomatoes, leeks and scallions.

"Wow, this is amazing. Did you purchase some of the seeds from the Adventurers?"

As someone who also has an interest in gardening, Shadow was amazed at the sight of the bountiful garden, but at the same time, it also left him with a question since he still remembers that the village had mostly lived on potatoes, potato shoots and carrots.

"Indeed, My Lord! We wanted to get more from them, but it seems they only brought a few when they came here" Old Buck nodded.

'Hmmm…must be players who took a Life Profession as their Second Class. It's either a Chef, a Gardener or an Alchemist. But just like what Old Buck had said, if we want to make this village have a rapid economic growth, then we'd need to open a road that would connect us to the outside world.

One of the keys into turning that into reality are those Lifestyle Players, we just need to have some concrete plans on how to attract them here'

The reason why Shadow wanted to target players who took Lifestyle Classes was due to them predominantly just casual players, but most of them are rich!

There were already instances where these kinds of players had hired the services of skilled teams to escort them into dangerous places just to harvest or mine resources required for their class.

A few had even hired entire guilds!

"Wait, I just remembered. What about the players from the Flame Rose Guild, Old Chief? Did they leave?" Then Shadow suddenly remembered the guild they came here with and immediately asked the old man beside him.

"Oh, they're the ones who call themselves Kang Totem, my lord. I'm just not sure why they called themselves like that since I've never heard a Totem called Kang" Old Chief answered with a little confusion in his voice.

"Ohhh" Shadow made a sound, but he was thinking about something inside.

'It sounds like a name that women would pick, and I saw a team consisting of only women earlier, though I didn't get a good look at their emblem. Could it be them?'