Chapter 161: Reward

This battle was actually over the moment Li En successfully injected the "Snake Venom."

After the most difficult-to-oppose Beast Princes (mature) and the Mind Flayer Brain went mad, Li En's group had already completed the mission for Moradilka and could even return directly to Princess Dai Niya to claim their reward.

But as long as other Beast Princes remain active, the Underworld is destined to remain unstable; if one truly pulls out a team or catalyzes maturity again, it will be another catastrophe. Even just a mature Magical Girl of the Beast type could cause a city to collapse.

And now, the dead are truly dead; at least within sight, there are no hidden dangers left.

After this battle, no one will underestimate the true "Beasts" and "Beast Magical Girls" again; they are on a completely different level from the Beast Cult.

For the surface dwellers, the most important gain was not merely the hunting of the Beast Princes.

"Thank you all for your efforts; we will remember your dedication. The City of Radiance and Moradilka shall become eternal allies, and we will fight future crises together." Li En also knew that diplomatic pleasantries were just for show and didn't need to be taken seriously.

In the city hall where Li En and others first arrived, they finally completed the expected audience and received a personal award from the City Lord, Velna.

A few hours earlier, she had opened the "Treasury," allowing Li En's group to pick some rewards there. The shelves were full of rare Magical items, truly impossible to refuse.

Li En touched the pale red bracer on his arm, quite satisfied.

A Fire Giant's bracer, a very high-quality Gauntlet of Might; it not only provides a boost to strength but also offers a certain degree of fire resistance and fire manipulation enhancement.

To achieve this level, it was already a product of an ancient Alchemy Master among the Dark Elves.

"Good stuff! Take it!"

Lord Lord Lord Kuku immediately took a liking to this Magical item and advised Li En to accept it on the spot. Often, the value of a Magical item isn't determined by market price, but by compatibility.

This Gauntlet of Might, shaped from Fire Giant materials, preserved the Fire Giant's talents and abilities as much as possible, making it quite compatible with Li En.

Now, as his physical hardware gradually upgrades, the fixed strength level of the "Cursed Ogre Gauntlet" has become a constraint rather than a buff.

To grow further, he indeed needed to switch to a normal Gauntlet of Might.

And equipment like the Gauntlet of Might, which all warriors need, is easy to get at low tiers, but the moment it becomes slightly stronger at higher tiers, the price skyrockets.

It wasn't simply a matter of being valuable but unavailable; a good item would be snatched up the instant it appeared, especially something like this that preserved the Fire Giant's signature talent.

It not only slightly increased fire resistance and damage but also came with a talent ability called "Meteor Throw," allowing thrown objects passing through the hands to be imbued with the talent's flames.

Its only problem might be that it preserved too many abilities. As a trade-off for other powerful forces, it even retained the body temperature of a Magma Giant (the advanced form of the Fire Giant); without fire resistance, one probably couldn't use it at all, and even those with low fire resistance would find it very uncomfortable.

"A very nice hand warmer." Yet Li En was quite satisfied. "Giants truly are a treasure trove from head to toe."

Just then, Lord Lord Lord Kuku heard this and added two words at this moment.

"Gaga. Don't let the Giants hear you say that. And don't let them see your gauntlet..."

Li En understood this well; wearing Dragon-scale armor in front of Dragonkin or wearing Giant gauntlets in front of Giants was a classic example of seeking death.

"... Uh. Actually, they will turn red-eyed just seeing you. So wear whatever you want." After thinking for a moment, Lord Lord Lord Kuku added.

Now, it was Li En's turn to lose his composure.

"Do they have a grudge against me? Do Giants have the ability to recognize us..."

Lord Lord Lord Kuku shook his head; if this world had the ability to find the Thousand-Faced Dragon, the reincarnation would have been terminated long ago.

"Giants and Dragons, especially the relationship with Dragonborn, is much like the relationship between Dragons and Beasts—probably mortal enemies ending each other's eras." Li En fell silent; it seemed like everyone was an enemy of the Dragon, had he boarded the wrong ship?

"Compared to the enemies of the Thousand-Faced Dragon himself, the public enemy of the Dragon race isn't much." Perhaps time was running short, so Lord Lord Lord Kuku reminded Li En.

With Li En's growth, the True Dragon aura on him would undoubtedly become thicker and thicker; by then, Beasts and Giants would not be friendly toward him.

"Why do you always say 'True Dragon'? Is there a difference from the current Great Dragons?"

"It's probably like the difference between ancient people and modern people. Modern Great Dragons are descendants of True Dragons, but descendants of True Dragons aren't just Chromatic and Metallic Dragons. Now, the Chromatic Dragons call themselves True Dragons, but there's actually a lot of water in that claim."

After pondering for a moment, Lord Lord Lord Kuku still reminded him.

Actually, he also needed to be careful with the Dragon race; the attitude of the Five Chromatic Evil Dragons toward Dragonborn wasn't good (unless you were the same color), and the Metallic Dragons had a very poor attitude toward the Chromatic Dragons and their Dragonborn.

As a Red Dragon Dragonborn, he had to taste the tradition of internal Dragon strife; even if he met a Red Dragon, there was a high probability they would try to enslave him, as Red Dragons were notoriously bad-tempered.

"Uh, it feels like there are enemies everywhere."

"In a world of constant planar wars, there are naturally racial enemies everywhere. You're actually doing well; after all, weak races don't have the qualification to be natural enemies of a True Dragon Dragonborn..."

Lord Lord Lord Kuku only mentioned it slightly; he hadn't even mentioned that if the Thousand-Faced Dragon were to seek enemies, it would probably be Tiamat, the Mother of Evil Dragons, the ultimate BOSS in at least a thousand legendary stories, and she wouldn't have as many enemies or troubles as him!

The small interlude passed in a flash; at least for now, Li En couldn't put down his newly acquired Giant gauntlet, and judging by the joy on others' faces, they had also gained a lot.

The Goddess Velna was indeed an honest person; if she said she would reward heavily, she meant it.

Now, the alliance banquet held under internal pressure finally solidified the relationship between the two cities in a formal diplomatic setting.

The matriarchs of the other families outwardly gave full support one by one, but inwardly they were certainly very unhappy.

They would definitely cause trouble later; it just depended on whether the Goddess could suppress them. Li En also understood that this wasn't because Velna was particularly friendly to the surface, but simply because the stance of the First Family, the City Lord's family, differed from the other families.

The First Family always demanded stability; they had nowhere left to rise, and the entire city was their property, so it was no wonder they would heavily reward those who saved the city.

If the "Deer" were truly fully unsealed, although it would mostly affect the surface, it would also bring huge changes inside and outside the city of Moradilka.

Even if the Deer had no interest in the Underworld, the strategic value of Moradilka would plummet, and even the Gods might "divest."

And if the Dark Elves used it as a vanguard attack on the surface, the First Family would definitely be replaced, with a more powerful Dark Elf family moving into the city.

For the First Family, no change was the best development, and an alliance with the surface met their expectations.

For the other families, becoming the First Family was the top priority; they longed for any possible change, and colluding with external enemies was almost a mandatory choice.

This mechanism might bring reform and vitality to Dark Elf society (which was very rare for Elf society), but it also wasted most resources on various forms of internal strife, making it hard to say whether it was a good or bad thing.

"At least in the short term, these families won't be able to make trouble."

Seeing the two Goddess sisters with faint divine light shimmering around them, the other matriarchs could only behave for a while.

After all, due to this great victory, the First Family enjoyed strong divine favor, and in a theocratic society, the attitude of the Gods was the most important.

At the same time, the other families suffered heavy losses this time. On one hand, at the end of the city defense battle, each family used up their reserves to deal with the giant beasts rushing into the city.

On the other hand, the noble ladies who went out to execute the mission to eliminate the Brain barely returned a few, such as the eldest daughter of the Third Family, who lost both her man and her dragon.

The First Family's thinking was also very straightforward: use the peak of their authority to establish a development trend prioritizing stability; for this, they also paid an extra price to express their family's "sincerity."

"... Alekne Talabar, the eldest daughter of the First Family, will serve as ambassador, establishing an embassy in the City of Radiance to strengthen ties between the two cities..."

Alekne managed to leave the Underworld as wished, though it was unknown if this was what she expected now.

But "betting on both sides" also vaguely implied that even Verna had little certainty about the future. Since her sister disliked the Underworld, let her develop elsewhere.

Thus, Li En's diplomatic mission was a great success: not only was an alliance signed, but a certain level of cooperative diplomatic relationship was established between the two sides. Most importantly, through this event, the beast-related factions were definitively defined as mutual mortal enemies to be hunted down together.

The diplomatic activities ended here; next came the grand ball and the cold buffet. The Divine Maiden even personally took the floor to dance a piece, a victory dance offered to the Gods, thanking Him for His protection along the way.

To be honest, she danced quite well, especially given her revealing attire.

After the dance, a faint divine light seemed to descend, as if her "mother" had received this gift.

"After working hard to settle the big matter, she doesn't claim credit for herself, but attributes all glory to the leadership in public. Ah, Verna has done so well; it truly isn't by chance."

And this divine favor completely forced the other families to bow down helplessly; for the people of the Surface, this was good news.

The ball grew ever more lively. If this were Rose's era, the arrangements afterward would likely have been various large-scale parties too indecent to describe. The Mirror Goddess is a neutral deity, yet she does not overly suppress the Dark Elves' nature.

There was no mass party, but some noble ladies did come to invite Li En to rest in a side room. In such balls, people pairing off afterward is also normal in Dark Elf society; it's just that it is usually women who take the lead.

Li En refused. With Miss Shaliman on his left and the Purple Rose on his right, he seemingly had to refuse as well.

Tonight, there were actually other arrangements.

"The last night," Li En said, still holding back from entering Dragon Sleep; perhaps he simply wanted to chat with Kuk longer.

He also hoped time would slow down a little.

But what must come will always come.

(End of this chapter)