"Is it a ring?"

Chang Long asked as she approached, having been delayed by the effort of pulling the Sovereign Sword out of a thick rock, which had cost her a considerable amount of sweat.

"Hm... it looks like a ring. Look at its size,"

Wet Trash Can replied in agreement.

"But it's strange, isn't it? Look, its eyes and wings move. Isn't it a pet?"

Oliang inspected the Hoop Dragon ring with interest.

"It's a ring. The system notified me. It also boosts my dark element power by a hundred percent, increases attack power by 10,000, defense power by 30,000, and grants the title of King of the Royal Cliff when worn,"

Siegfried replied in a low voice, trying to contain his excitement.

"Good heavens! Your ring is more powerful than ours,"

Oliang exclaimed with excitement.

"Does this mean you can walk around the Royal Cliff without any beasts daring to attack you!?"

Wet Trash Can asked in amazement, imagining the beasts of the Royal Cliff bowing to Siegfried as he walked past.

"I don't think it would be that extreme, Can!"

Siegfried replied, looking a bit embarrassed by the teasing.

"By the way, how did your egg get here? I remember leaving it with Kitsune,"

Chang Long asked, looking around.

"Master!"

Kitsune quickly ran up to Chang Long, whispering in her ear amidst the curious gazes of the boys.

"Hey! Are you the ones responsible for all that chaos?"

Aden arrived, having traveled at high speed but still missing the key event. He joined Siegfried and the others, slightly out of breath.

"Hey, Aden. How did you get here?"

Wet Trash Can greeted him.

"Drago and Rafael asked me to come. I had to come as a guild mission,"

Aden said with a chuckle.

"Didn't they come with you?"

Oliang asked.

"They couldn't. With the Guild Leader absent, they had to stay behind to manage and handle various tasks,"

Aden explained, glancing at Siegfried standing with Chang Long.

"I decided to take some vacation time,"

Siegfried said, smiling cheerfully.

"Whose egg just hatched!?"

Aden asked excitedly upon seeing the broken eggshells on the ground.

"Mine,"

Siegfried replied, showing Aden the Hoop Dragon ring.

"Wow! That's awesome, and it looks cool too. How did it hatch? And..."

"Come on! We'll tell you all about it,"

Wet Trash Can and Oliang interrupted, dragging Aden away to share their thrilling experience, intending to make him envious.

"Siegfried, I'm leaving first,"

Chang Long bid Seigfried farewell as she turned to leave, intending to find the egg Kitsune had left in the bushes.

"Huh? Where are you going, Chang Long!?"

Siegfried quickly asked when he saw her about to leave.

"I'm going to find my egg. It went to joined in with some abandoned monster eggs again,"

Chang Long replied.

"Then I'll come with you. I want to see your egg joining in with the monster eggs too,"

Siegfried smiled.

"Suit yourself,"

Chang Long replied with a sigh and started walking, leaving the three boys who were excitedly exaggeratingly recounting their near-death experience behind.

Peach Blossom walked out of the beauty salon feeling fully confident. She was back to looking beautiful and poised, and her pink egg with bouncing red heart patterns was also reacting. The red hearts that used to bounce were now glowing and spinning in circles around the egg.

"Hehehe, I wonder what my brothers will say when they find out that my egg is reacting. Even though Oliang and Xan's eggs reacted before mine, there's no way Siegfried's egg has reacted yet since he's busy with guild stuff,"

Peach Blossom laughed proudly, unaware that her beloved brother's egg had already hatched.

"Should I call to boast...? Oh, right, I need to get my clothes repaired because I had to fight so hard. And I should buy a few new outfits too!"

Peach Blossom muttered happily to herself, recalling how her clothes got torn up while escaping a rutting rhino beast the size of a pickup truck.

Hearing that its owner was going to buy beautiful clothes, Peach Blossom's egg flashed red and pink with joy. Peach Blossom, seeing this, hurried to the clothing store.

When Peach Blossom was still disheveled, her egg had turned partly to stone, about one-tenth of its surface, causing her to panic. But when she saw herself in the mirror, she panicked even more and decided to put the egg's condition aside and head to the beauty salon.

As soon as she stepped into the salon, the egg began to revert from its stone state, which Peach Blossom did not notice. By the time she finished choosing her full beauty course, the egg had completely reverted and started glowing faintly. As she was undergoing the beauty treatments, the egg's glow intensified, causing quite a stir among the other customers and staff.

After completing her beauty regimen, the heart patterns on the egg stopped bouncing and instead glowed alternately in red and pink, spinning around the egg.

Peach Blossom chose her outfits based on the egg's reactions. If she picked a sturdy, practical outfit lacking in beauty, the egg's glow would dim. But if she chose a beautiful, luxurious outfit with low defense stats, the egg's glow would brighten significantly.

"This won't do. I should check out the player market. They often have beautiful outfits dropped by monsters with decent defense stats, unlike the low-quality ones in the system shop."

With that thought, Peach Blossom headed to the bustling player market, located not far from the player services building. She wandered through the various stalls, enjoying the shopping experience. Male players could not help but stare at Peach Blossom and her glowing egg in awe.

Although Peach Blossom liked to make herself the center of attention and enjoyed being doted on by everyone, she was not an easy woman who flirted with just anyone. Her behavior was due to being accustomed to having her father, brother, and her brother's friends spoil her since childhood. These people always taught her what was appropriate and what was too much. However, few people knew this, and many thought she liked to flirt with men indiscriminately, but she never cared about those opinions.

"Oh! This outfit is so beautiful,"

Peach Blossom exclaimed with delight when she finally found an outfit she liked. It seemed her egg liked it too, as it started glowing a bright red, almost blindingly so, as soon as Peach Blossom touched the outfit.

"Oh, do you have an interesting toy there, Miss Peach Blossom!"

The owner of the outfit asked, astonished. Peach Blossom did not respond, she simply inspected the outfit thoroughly, checking if it was a complete set and examining its attributes.

"If you're interested, Miss Peach Blossom, I'm happy to offer you a special discount!"

The merchant said. He did not mind that she ignored his comment because he knew from the Pendragon Guild that Peach Blossom had always been this way.

"How much is it?"

Peach Blossom asked politely after she had thoroughly examined the outfit.

The outfit that caught Peach Blossom and her egg's attention was made of light, airy fabric decorated with white lace. It included gloves and a hair bow, and the boots were white leather knee-highs adorned with lace flowers. Many female players had their eyes on this outfit, but none could afford it, so they could only look longingly.

"Twenty-five million coins,"

the merchant replied cheerfully. Peach Blossom almost fainted at the price. If she bought it, Siegfried would surely be furious. She had already spent a lot on her beauty treatments earlier.

"A... after discount!?"

Peach Blossom asked weakly.

"Not yet, but if you sell me that strange egg of yours, I'll knock off five million!"

The merchant offered, eyeing the egg in Peach Blossom's hands with interest.

"My strange egg is only worth five million coins?!"

Peach Blossom asked in disbelief. If this merchant knew that her egg would hatch into something high-level, he would certainly not offer such a low price. But why would she tell him that when she had no intention of selling it?

"Well, we don't know what it will hatch into, so five million is already a high offer,"

the merchant replied.

"That's not what I call a discount,"

Peach Blossom said, looking coldly at the merchant who faltered at her words.

"Uh..."

The merchant stammered.

"Twenty-five million is nothing; I can afford that. You don't need to pretend to be generous!"

Peach Blossom said irritably, handing her credit card, which would pull the money from her brother's account to the merchant.

"In that case, may I take a look at your egg, Miss Peach Blossom? Just a look!"

The merchant said after swiping the card and handing her the outfit.

"Sure!"

Peach Blossom said, handing over the egg without a second thought, confident that no one could steal it.

"Thank you very much! I've priced the outfit at twenty million for you. Please take it,"

the merchant said, immediately taking the egg to the back of the shop.

"Hey! Give me back my egg. You said you'd only look at it,"

Peach Blossom shouted in shock, clutching the newly purchased outfit and following him.

As soon as the egg sensed it was not being held by its owner, it began to glow intensely hot, causing the startled merchant to drop it. Both the merchant and Peach Blossom watched in horror as the glowing egg hit the ground.

"No, my egg!"

Peach Blossom screamed, glaring at the merchant who had tried to trick her. She tossed the expensive outfit she had just bought and summoned a long gold staff, immediately casting a powerful spell at the merchant.

"Ack!"

The merchant cried out in pain as a fireball hit his head, followed by another to his feet, quickly engulfing him in flames.

"Who do you think you are... trying to trick me? This is too little punishment for you!"

Peach Blossom shouted. Onlookers, knowing Peach Blossom's high level and her backing by the Pendragon Guild, dared not interfere.

"Anyone who doesn't want to die, get out of the magic circle now!"

Peach Blossom's shouted coldly, prompting the stunned players to grab their belongings and run away from the area with magic circle.

After hearing the daring merchant's agonized screams long enough, Peach Blossom raised her staff high and pointed it at the burning merchant. Blue lines sprang from the magic circle, filling the area within a five-meter radius. (Due to being in a town and not a combat zone, the attack radius was halved unless in emergencies like a beast invasion.)

Crack!!

As the light line touched something, an explosion would obliterate everything within the circle, sparing only the caster standing at the center. The screaming merchant's burning body vanished, burst into light and vanished immediately, unknowingly absorbed into Peach Blossom's egg lying amidst the abandoned white outfit.

"Player Peach Blossom has received the Succubus Outfit Set from the quest egg, which weakens all male creatures and players by 10%,"

the system announced just as her magic circle vanished. Peach Blossom's eyes widened as she turned to check on her egg.

Meanwhile, Siegfried, hoping to spend more time alone with Chang Long, was disappointed by Kitsune's constant presence and the arrival of the three men who had followed them and set up camp to watch Chang Long's egg absorb energy from abandoned monster eggs. Siegfried felt like crying.

Everyone decided to stay with Chang Long until her egg finished feeding and then return to the city together. Each had their reasons: Oliang and Wet Trash Can wanted more gourmet food from Chang Long's Horn of Abundance, Aden had questions for her, and Siegfried simply wanted more time with her.

"By the way! Chang Long, have you heard about this?"

Aden asked during dinner, pulling out a photo from his shirt to show her.

"What's this?"

Chang Long looked at the picture curiously, just like everyone else. Except Siegfried, whose eyes widened in shock, not expecting Aden to have a picture of Chang Long.

"What the heck! Isn't this a picture of Chang Long?"

Wet Trash Can exclaimed, recognizing the pose of the person resting against the tree.

"You're right! I remember now. Chang Long was completely out cold back then,"

Oliang agreed.

"So, it is Chang Long, but the appearance has changed so much that I almost didn't recognize it. What happened?"

Aden smiled, pleased with his correct guess.

"Where did you get this picture?"

Chang Long asked, her tone serious, as it was obviously a candid shot.

"Some players from the Journalists and Writers Association. They said they were coming to find Sleeping Beauty at Royal Cliff but got trampled by the migrating beasts,"

Aden explained.

"Journalists Guild... could it be him! And what is this Sleeping Beauty thing?"

Wet Trash Can asked, confused.

"I don't know. I just heard that group of players referring to this picture as Sleeping Beauty,"

Aden shrugged.

"Who is him!?"

Siegfried, who had been silent, asked in a tense voice.

"Someone from the Journalists and Writers Association. He said he was coming to investigate the first migration of the beasts. That guy had a camera with him. He must have taken the picture when Chang Long was asleep, as no one was guarding her then. We were all busy clearing the area to set up the camp,"

Oliang replied thoughtfully.

"Kimhant!!"

Chang Long hissed through gritted teeth, her voice icy cold. 

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