"So, Anniceta, do you... remember anything about last night after Papa left?"
Luo Weiwei's question confused Anniceta at first, but she didn't think much of it.
"No, I don't. Why do you ask?"
Luo Weiwei's face turned a bright shade of red in a heartbeat.
"Nothing, nothing, it's nothing at all! I was just... wondering."
Raising her eyebrows, Anniceta grinned and jokingly asked, "Oh my, am I just that good that you've fallen for me already~?"
Luo Weiwei blushed even harder as she quickly looked away, though she sneaked a few quick peeks at Anniceta's chest and thighs. Anniceta pretended not to notice.
Activating her armor, Anniceta noticed a slight disappointment in Luo Weiwei's eyes, though she didn't make anything of it and yawned, stretching as she did so.
"Alright Luo Weiwei, let's see what my troops got for you!"
Opening her inventory, Anniceta's eyes twitched a few times.
'I expected them to harvest a lot, but this is ridiculous...'
With Luo Weiwei's expectant gaze on her, Anniceta sighed and waved her hand, bringing out tens of thousands of fruits, a mountain of corpses, and several hundred trees, one of which was attached to a dead turtle.
An unexpected harvest was a still-living monster that resembled a 1 meter long, 69cm tall fish with grey scales on the top half of its body, rust colored scales on the bottom half, and a mouth full of numerous teeth that were so sharp, every time it snapped its mouth shut, the air would scream as it was being sliced!
Nuts, weeds, ancient rocks, and a lot of weeds made up most of the rest of the loot, with a few oddball exceptions.
One of which was a still-beating heart that was ripped out of who-knows-what, a pair of gloves that read "Mouth Kisser" on either one, 9 strange, multi-colored, oval stones which were oddly warm, a bow that looked like it was made out of crystal, a black and red saber that emitted a sinister feeling, a gold colored spear that had lions engraved on it, and a black stone war maul, which looked like it contained the universe within.
PSSST!
Seeing the absurd number of items and corpses, Luo Weiwei sucked in a sharp breath of air through her teeth.
Her breath quickened as she scrambled towards a large, purple-grey colored tiger that had a whole host of 5 meter long, pitch-black tentacles hanging off either side of its spine, and a series of dagger-like spikes at the end of its tail.
Poke Poke... Clang!
Luo Weiwei gently poked the creature's mouth with her shoe to make sure it was dead, and upon seeing no reaction, attempted to slap the creature with the same shoe.
All she gained from her actions were a painfully numb arm and a low ringing in her ears.
Anniceta chuckled and waved her hand, casting "Serene Spring Breeze", a minor healing spell, at the same time.
The ringing in Luo Weiwei's ears and the numb feeling in her arm were washed away with what felt like a cool Spring breeze hitting her slightly toasty skin in a sunflower patch next to a weathered barn 3 blocks down from- cough cough.
She felt great.
With a chipper attitude and a bright smile, Luo Weiwei ran up and hugged Anniceta, who was quite startled by this sudden action, with an enthusiastic smile on her face
"Thank you so much Anniceta! Do you know what that monster is?!"
With not a clue on her mind, Anniceta shook her head.
"No. Care to tell?"
Luo Weiwei beamed and said, "That's the extremely deadly Dark Grasping Tiger! It's a 3rd wave Boss monster! With it dead, we automatically get a pass on the 3rd wave!"
Her eyes immediately locked onto 50 corpses of what appeared to be 210cm tall, anorexic-looking women with sickly grey-yellow skin, gnarled, dirty hair, a mouth full of sharp, serrated teeth that looked like they belonged on a shark, two hands with 4, 45cm long fingers, and disgustingly dirty, smelly, and deadly-looking nails.
Luo Weiwei let out a small squeal of excitement.
"Anniceta, look at these monsters! They're simply called "Fog Ladies", mainly because they only attack and show themselves in the Deadman's Fog, a phenomenon that's feared by even the most hardened of veterans. Nobody has ever walked out of it alive, hence why we all call it the "Deadman's" Fog.
How in the world could your troops manage to survive in the fog, and even kill 50 of the most elusive monsters that the Deadman's Fog has to offer? Can you tell me the secret? Please?"
Anniceta chuckled and waved her hand nonchalantly.
"Sure, I can tell you. The reason is quite simple actually. The Deadman's Fog isn't a phenomenon, but rather, a perfect mix between a corporeal and conceptual entity.
It releases monsters a full major rank above the person who becomes enveloped within.
Despite its gruesome reputation, it's not malicious. Rather, it's doing what it was intended to, that being to test the City Lords of this world.
It probably assumed that my troops were City Lords, like you, and tried to "test" them. I can't say I'm surprised either, as my troops are designed to be able to fight opponents that are at least 2 major ranks above them for weeks on end without stopping.
Don't even think about asking a God to restrain it, the Deadman's Fog can't be killed, sealed, or chased off.
In addition, it would also cause their Divine Power to go berserk, turning them insane in the process."
'Thanks for the info, System.'
"Ding Dong! (≧◡≦)<3"
'...'
Luo Weiwei was stunned and although a tiny bit skeptical, she ended up trusting Anniceta's words, as there was proof right in front of her.
Making a mental note to tell her Papa later, Luo Weiwei's eyes locked onto a large pile of red fruits that looked like a mix between a tomato and a pear.
Luo Weiwei actually started to drool as she picked one up and was about to eat it, until she remembered that Anniceta was still waiting for her to go over the items.
"Go ahead an eat whatever you want, I have nowhere to be any time soon anyways."
Turning towards Anniceta, Luo Weiwei saw that Anniceta had her helmet off and took a bite out of one of the red fruits, only to grimace at the taste.
'This tastes like a pineapple. I hate pineapples...'
Seeing Anniceta's distaste for the fruit, Luo Weiwei nervously asked, "If... If you're not going to finish your Pango Fruit, could I...?"
Anniceta chuckled and handed the Pango Fruit to Luo Weiwei, who quickly scarfed it down, almost as if she were afraid of it being taken from her.
After finishing the fruit, Luo Weiwei sighed happily and smiled at Anniceta.
"Sorry, I just got really excited that your troops were able to harvest Pango Fruits.
Pango Fruits are sought out by many beings. Even Gods have trouble resisting the allure of them.
That's because there are a few reasons. Eating an entire Pango Fruit will make you completely immune to any and all poisons, even Divine grade poisons, for 10 years, making it a hot commodity for Nobles and people in the higher echelons.
Another would be the boosts it gives to people's skills. Just eating those two fruits helped me raise my skill effectiveness by 400%!
One of the biggest reasons, however, is it's beautifying effects! Eating a whole Pango Fruit will allow the consumer to retain their youthful looks for at least a 100 years, making them even more popular with the female Nobles.
A single fruit can cost more than what Papa makes in an entire year.
They're super rare and extremely difficult to obtain them. Any living creature will be met with lethal force by the trees which these fruits grow on.
Even worse, they only grow where there's a lot of death and/or dead entities, like skeletons, zombies, and vampires."
After listening to the last part, Anniceta's mind immediately thought of her Psychopomp Assassins.
'It was probably them who harvested these Pango Fruits. I mean, technically, they're Shades, which count as a non-living entity. I'll command a few of them to harvest more of these, they sound valuable.'
Meanwhile, Luo Weiwei went to a massive mound of crystals, each large chunk containing a rainbow-ish color and hue.
With sparkling eyes, Luo Weiwei gently picked up a smaller chunk and immediately felt a warm surge of energy that flowed into her body, nourishing her and increasing her level a few times as well.
"These are the extremely rare Supreme Nourishment Crystals! A piece the size of a person's thumb could sell for at least 2,000 Platinum Notes, and there's at least 30,000 chunks the size of my torso! There are more crystals here than what the Alfheim Royal Treasury is rumored to hold!"
Item after item, corpse after corpse, Luo Weiwei inspected all of her gains, and finally, after the last item was put down, she began to scan them.
Anniceta helped by using her Psychokinesis skill to levitate the items and corpses so Luo Weiwei didn't even have to get off of the throne that Anniceta had made her from a solid block of gold that her troops found from who-knows-where.
She used a white bird's feathers for the cushioning, which required Anniceta to literally beat the cushions to death, as despite being made into cushions, they had a tinge of sentience in them that was left behind by the bird before Anniceta killed it.
Thus, she started raining down hard on the cushions, with tens of afterimages caused by her Flying Fists of Fury skill.
Luo Weiwei then contacted her Papa, who nearly passed out once he saw the harvest that Anniceta provided his daughter.
"Miss Anniceta, do you mind if-"
Anniceta cut him off mid-sentence with a grin.
"It's not me who you should be asking. Rather, you should ask Luo Weiwei instead. After all, these are her items, though I appreciate your willingness to ask first."
Nodding, Luo Tian and Luo Weiwei discussed what they would bring back, only to come across a problem.
"My dearest daughter, with this many items and given how valuable they are, I had to contact the Emperor through an emergency channel.
He's almost here with a whole host of appraisers, so I'll talk with him and hopefully get him to give us a small cut-"
"F*ck him."
Anniceta's crude comment caught the father and daughter pair off guard.
Anniceta looked them both in the eyes as she indifferently explained herself.
"Even though I say this stuff is yours, it's actually mine, since it was my troops who gathered it all in the first place.
That being said, do you really think I'd let someone steal my stuff from right under my nose? If they dare to try and give you any less than a 100% cut, then I'll beat them until they're on death's door, heal them, then repeat the cycle until they comply. If they know what's good for them, they won't make me go that far, but I hope they do, it's been quite a while since I've beaten up some Gods."
Luo Tian's face turned as pale as a sheet of paper, but before he could caution Anniceta against using that kind of language directed towards the Emperor...
"Who is going to beat who up?"
A dignified looking man wearing ornate, gold colored armor appeared beside Luo Tian, with 20 Royal Appraisers appearing right after.
Anniceta sized up the Emperor with a gleam in her eyes, until she sensed something was wrong.
'Isn't he... kind of weak? Actually, isn't EVERYONE here weak? System, run a scan and tell me everyone's rank besides my own.'
...
"Ding Dong! Scan complete!"
"Ding Dong! Individual known as, Luo Weiwei, is a Low Platinum rank Elven Saintess Supreme!"
'Ohh! That sounds like a great class! I'll have to nurture her well!'
"Ding Dong! Individual known as, Luo Tian, is a Middle Saint rank Elven Battle Merchant!"
'What the heck is a Battle Merchant? Does he whack people on the head while mentioning bargains?'
"Ding Dong! Individual known as, Emperor Cao Cao, is a Lesser Grand Immortal rank Divine Elven Heavenly Leader!"
'No wonder he felt weak, he's not even a Lesser God rank cannon fodder, he's a Lesser Grand Immortal rank jar of sewer water. Some Emperor...'
"Ding Dong! The Bean Counters are all Low Grand Sage rank!"
*Snickering*