Seized by the System

The white python coiled inwards as nausea overcame it, as if poisoned by the huge claw that had just gashed its neck.

It strained to raise its head to look at the flame dragon in fear. It had watched its fair share of video recordings on the flame dragon, and was quite familiar with the flame dragon’s appearance and aura.

However, now that it was face-to-face with the actual thing, it finally understood why its blood and memories, as well as that fierce rat demon, had told it that the Celestial Dragon Form really was the bane of all monsters and demons.

An unexplained fear settled deep in its bones; it felt like it was a newborn chick in the face of a poisonous snake.

The rat demon, capable of killing it within seconds, was itself incapable of facing the flame dragon. Right after being located, it was torn to pieces and killed.

The snake demon looked at the flame dragon’s emotionless eyes; the wide orbs seemed to pay no heed to good or evil. It dared not move, as if its entire body were frozen in ice.

The serene moonlight cast itself upon them, amalgamating with the strange, dead silence of the night that was usually rife with a cacophony of insects, but eerily absent tonight.

Vigilante A was still a mere human, so in regular circumstances he wouldn’t have showed up on the doorstep of the Zhao family, members of the society who did more good than bad. This was a complete coincidence; both parties held no grudges towards each other and Madam Zhao had never done any evil deeds, so the other party had no reason to summon the Celestial Dragon Form against her.

However, this was different, as the Celestial Dragon Form had possessed Vigilante A. Who was controlling the dragon now? Was it Vigilante A’s consciousness, or the True Dragon’s willpower that was birthed from the cohesive psychokinesis of everyone in China?

Frozen with fear, the only things still mobile were the racing thoughts in its brain.

If it had been the former, then it might have a chance to live. However, if the currents pointed to the latter, the flame dragon would instinctively eliminate every monster and demon in its sight, regardless if they were good or evil.

However, the snake demon’s burning questions had an answer:

The flame dragon rushed towards it with its mouth wide open; a red-hot, immaterial object shot out from its open jaw, and descended from the sky…

In that moment, the snake demon, immobilized by the True Dragon’s aura, could only watch as the red-hot object rushed towards itself.

That instant seemed to lack an end. As it stared death in its cold, cruel eyes, countless thoughts appeared in its mind. ‘My husband, my daughter, I can no longer take care of you both; my disciple, your “Dragonization Ability” is actually called “Four-legged Dragonization Ability”, and it’s still incomplete; my husband, I’m also not the Dragon Princess but rather just a snake demon. On top of that, those mice really weren’t nice to eat, but they did help strengthen my power, although I had to eat a few meals of my disciple’s cooking to clear the taste from my mouth…

‘Wait, why am I able to come up with so many thoughts?’

The white python wondered to itself. After a brief moment, it shook its head lightly, and was surprised to find that its head was once again agile. Its neck which had been slashed open also seemed to have healed.

Not only that, it felt that the scales around its neck had grown stronger, and the dizziness it was experiencing after being attacked was all gone too.

‘Could it be that Vigilante A’s human consciousness was controlling the Celestial Dragon Form? So that breath of fire was actually healing my injuries? If that is indeed true, then this person’s willpower must be incredibly strong!’ Madam Zhao couldn’t imagine somebody with a strong enough willpower to go against the True Dragon’s; one which every person in China had a part in forging.

The white python remained stunned in silence for such a long time that it didn’t realize the flame dragon had departed. It only slowly returned to reality as an incredibly alluring smell wafted into its nose.

It turned towards the direction of the smell, and realized it was coming from the carcass of the massive rat.

‘How disgusting, don’t eat that! No, that’s an utmost delicacy! Eating it will strengthen your magic, move “Four-legged Dragonization Ability” a step forward, improve your luck and you’ll also be able to absorb that massive rat’s battle experience.’

Two conflicting instincts fought for dominance in the white python’s mind.

‘You can’t even go up against a mouse, and you dare call yourself its mortal enemy! What if you meet your own mortal enemies, like eagles or cat demons? How will you face them? It’s not every day that you’re lucky enough to meet a flame dragon! If they came for your family…’

This sudden thought made Madam Zhao get over the inherent disgust and hatred all humans felt towards rats. Her slender body slithered over to the carcass slowly…

…

Within the System Space.

A System Notification read, [ Your Ally, Snake Demon Liu Ruzhi was attacked by Massive Rat Demon Bai Ruoshuang.

Massive Rat Demon used “Rat’s Quick Claw”, Crit! Weakness attack, poison attack, decapitation attack!

Liu Ruzhi was hit… Natural Trait “Sturdy” activated, Liu Ruzhi defended against decapitation.

Liu Ruzhi’s weak spot was hit, critical injury!

Liu Ruzhi was poisoned.

Liu Ruzhi suffered an attack of 2400 points.

Liu Ruzhi’s Hidden Natural Trait “Fortify” activated, Liu Ruzhi continued to battle…

…

The System is currently in True Dragon form, the System used normal skill, “Flame Dragon’s Claw Attack”.

The System attacked Massive Rat Demon Bai Ruoshuang.

Massive Rat Demon was inhibited by the System’s Passive Skill “Deterrence” (Primary), strength significantly debuffed.

Massive Rat Demon was hit, Massive Rat Demon suffered an attack of the Yang Attribute and was suppressed by True Dragon’s Celestial Aura, tearing attack!

Massive Rat Demon suffered an attack of 3000 points.

Massive Rat Demon was killed.

The System has received 48 thousand experience points. The System chose to not level up, but to temporarily store experience points.

The System obtained Rare Equipment “Aura-Masking Jade”, effect: masking one’s aura to avoid being detected by the enemy, effect automatically activates upon equipping. The effect can also be distributed to others with the use of magic; the effect on others will last for a week.

The System eliminated a serious threat towards the people of China. The System protected the breeding process of China’s Totem – Celestial Dragon Form. Host has obtained Favorability from the Celestial Dragon Form • Wood, Favorability is now at 3.

The System has obtained a massive amount of Heroic Fame.

The System has obtained a massive amount of Morality, first level and second level Morality Bars have been replenished to full amount. ]

As Fang Ning read the wall of notifications, the System took the chance to speak up.

“I listened to you and used quite a bit of experience points to save that snake demon Madam Zhao from being decapitated. If I hadn’t used my dragon’s saliva to save her, she would’ve died from the poison that massive rat demon got into her bloodstream through the open gash. Because of this, your Mission Rewards will be deducted again.”

Fang Ning was slightly dumbfounded before he came to a realization and reacted immediately, ‘No, that won’t do. I still have a serious matter that needs this fellow to deal with. I’ll let the previous happenings go, but I can’t let it do so this time.’

Instantly, Fang Ning said, “No, that won’t do. You saving Madam Zhao was something you should have done, so how can you deduct that from my Mission Rewards? If she hadn’t been attacked, we wouldn’t have seen that notification that said an Ally was attacked, and the map wouldn’t have shown that rat near our Ally. We found that rat thanks to Madam Zhao. If it weren’t for her, we would have lost not only 48 thousand experience points, but also that rare treasure. The experience points you used to heal her injuries barely reached 10 thousand, right?”

The System was speechless for a moment before it spoke up again, “If you put it like that, I should be rewarding her and not you. As for her reward, didn’t I leave that rat’s carcass for her? Eating that rat would definitely strengthen her drastically, given her nature.”

“Why do you always enter ‘The System is processing’ mode every time we talk about deducting my Mission rewards! Everything that happened just now was possible because of my tips and setups; if it weren’t for me, you would’ve given up on chasing long ago and would have returned to farm gophers for experience points. You see, I contributed the most, I lead us to today’s victory, any comments?”

Fang Ning thought that the System would give in after hearing his words.

However, the System was actually extremely shrewd when the time to give out Mission Rewards came along, which wasn’t what Fang Ning had expected at all.

“Of course I do. After I killed all three rat demons, the notifications said that I had protected the breeding process of some Celestial Dragon Form, but the three Favorability points were given to you instead. Isn’t that an amazing advantage? Although I’m not sure what the Celestial Dragon Form is exactly, but it must be something quite amazing. Why would that massive rat try so hard to destroy it before it was born otherwise?”

“Nonsense! That supreme totem has been passed down since ancient times in China, so of course it’s amazing. I’m Chinese, so they definitely recognized my spiritual will; you’re not even human, and it’s not possible for them to know of your existence, so giving you those Favorability points would be terrible. You didn’t actively give me those points though, so they don’t count as Mission Rewards. So, what else are you going to say?”

“I really have nothing to say this time… What Mission Rewards do you want?”

“Look for a way to fix or stop the Internet connection from disconnecting on a massive scale.”

This was what Fang Ning truly wanted as a reward, nothing would compare to continuously surfing the Internet. When the Internet disconnected for two days the last time, Fang Ning suffered terribly. After the vitality of the land had returned, he had never experienced the Internet disconnecting for two days straight; at the very least, he could still access the Internet on his phone.

After a brief moment, the System finally answered: “The disconnection was caused by the giant rats underground; they’re building their nests. I did some searching just now, and a lot of people have posted ways to solve the problem but those ways are always refuted by other people. Currently existing technology makes a lot of those methods hard to carry out. They had said that if the methods really do work, then why couldn’t they exterminate small mice? It seems that we can only use some new mysterious approach, but I can’t think of anything so you’ll have to come up with a plan that I can carry out.”

Fang Ning wasn’t surprised to hear this answer. What he wanted was for the System to do all the work, and he had already come up with a plan.

“I have a plan for that. By the way, other than that last rat that you left behind, the other two rats’ carcasses are in the System Space right?”

“Yeah. They don’t have any special characteristics like that giant spider from last time, so I can’t use them to craft any rare equipment. I’ve exterminated their souls, so all that’s left are husks, which are quite useless.”

“What are you talking about? They’re the keys to solving the giant rats’ crisis.”

“What are you going to do?”

“You’ll understand when the time comes.”