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The remaining eleven Gonzalez folks were booking it in every direction.

But nowadays, Blackwood\'s no small fry!

As the Blackwood crew grew, they\'ve racked up about seventy assorted regular beasts, even including two power beasts.

And over at Gratitude Village, with its thousand-strong population.

A hundred strong adults have been hunting with the Blackwood folks, all aiming to beef up and guard Blackwood, including six at the Foundational level!

"Take \'em out, Miller said whoever offs a Gonzalez gets to guard Blackwood and snag some sweet rewards!"

"Serious? No one better hog this from me!"

"Charge, bros!"

At that moment, twenty strong adults cornered a Gonzalez Psychic, unleashing a barrage with twenty bows.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—"

Long after, these twenty adults dug through a pile of arrows to find the Psychic\'s body, squabbling over who landed the kill shot.

It wasn\'t until Julian swung back with a hammer, smashing the last Psychic against a wall where he couldn\'t be pried off.

Ethan finally took a sip of water.

"Congrats, Blackwood has led your forces to defeat the invading enemy."

"Gain Spiritual Tribute +200!"

"Counts as an invading enemy, huh?"

A hefty Spiritual Tribute in the bank, Ethan felt pretty good.

And in the event log, one entry caught Ethan\'s eye!

"Your descendant Lucas battled a Level 6 Foundational Energy Psychic, striking a deadly blow with minor injuries, gaining deep insights into swordplay."

"Basic swordplay progress hits 50%, earning the skill, Sword Glow!"

"Sword Glow: Use light and power in battle to blind your enemy and strike a deadly blow."

...

"What a sneaky revelation."

Despite the gripes, Ethan had some respect for Lucas. The dude figured out the basic sword moves on his own, hitting 50% proficiency, which is pretty sharp.

Others barely scratched 20%.

Then Ethan watched the Blackwood folks clean up the battlefield, scooping up the loot.

"Scored some loot, power gear: Mystic God Pendant"

"Scored some loot, technique martial arts: Autumn Wind Step"

"Scored some loot..."

Equipment exploded all over the place!

No wonder folks say war\'s the fastest way to wealth.

Ethan checked out the haul, nothing much he wanted, but it was a big deal for the Blackwood crew.

"Thought I might stumble upon another epic spear, but looks like that\'s a long shot."

He suddenly remembered that mysterious spear.

Fiddling with the space ring on his index finger, inside was a spear glowing blue, covered in mysterious runes, quite the standout.

...

"Forebearer, all Gonzalez folks have been wiped out, Amelia\'s taken them to nourish the beast blood fruit tree!"

Nathan reported as usual in the ancestral hall.

Ethan sped up the game time, letting Blackwood keep growing.

He pondered a bit.

The final call was to hold off on developing the iron ores; they just didn\'t have the muscle to defend it yet. Coveting more iron ores would just rack up casualties. Better to grow slowly with what they\'ve gained.

As for whether Forest Town would launch a major attack on Blackwood?

Ethan wasn\'t sweating it, just like he wouldn\'t dare send the Purple Thunder Python or the War AI Bionic Robot to Forest Town. The four big families of Forest Town didn\'t know Blackwood\'s real strength and wouldn\'t dare come knocking!

After all, every Psychic that came to Blackwood bit the dust.

Their families were too big to risk it all, not knowing what the other side had up their sleeve.

And as time went on, until Blackwood Year 26, Forest Town hadn\'t dared invade Blackwood, just kept poking around.

"Blackwood Year 26, Gratitude Village hit by a plague, solved by Amelia after discovering it was a revenge act by Forest Town\'s Gonzalez. Amelia used her medical skills to cure it."

"Congrats, Amelia\'s efforts in curing the villagers and solving the plague earned you Spiritual Tribute +200!"

"Amelia gains the trait—Miraculous Healing."

"Miraculous Healing: Success rate of treating patients increases by 20%!"

...

"Gratitude Village hit by a psycho killer, and 9-year-old Olivia, book in hand, dashed to the crime scene. She pieced together the clues and nailed the perp sent by Forest\'s Garcia to mess with folks\' heads."

"Scored Spiritual Tribute +30!"

"Olivia gains the trait—Keen Insight."

"Keen Insight: Keeps her head cooler under pressure."

Trouble keeps rolling in from Forest Town, but it all just boosts Blackwood\'s experience...

"The young\'uns can handle most troubles themselves now."

Ethan was pretty stoked about that.

But while watching the Blackwood crew level up, he kept an extra eye on Olivia.

This Blackwood sickly kid still hadn\'t managed to muster any special abilities.

"Olivia, take care of yourself, no need to stress over family stuff."

Under the beast blood fruit tree, which had grown another sibling under Amelia\'s care, reaching human height. Amelia, busy planting special herbs, saw her sister coming and cracked a smile, "Got a beast blood fruit here for you, sis. Eat it, and you might just break through to Iron Will, get your health back on track."

Young Olivia stubbornly shook her head, "Can\'t do it, sis. I\'m following the path of Heaven and Earth, reading the sage\'s books. My body is a temple. I heard the modern literary sage thrived on grains alone, and enlightenment came naturally."

"How many literary types are out there?" Amelia patted her sister\'s head, "Sis, we\'ve got resources, maybe take the easier path."

Olivia shook her head again, clearly not ready to give up her quest.

"Ah? Going for the literary path?"

Watching the sisters\' exchange pop up in little text bubbles above their heads, Ethan finally got why Olivia hadn\'t become a Psychic.

Turns out the kid wasn\'t into cultivating psychic powers or munching on special pills and resources!

Even he knew about literary types...

But from what he remembered, in a thousand years of psychic resurgence history, successful literary types were few and far between...

As for before the psychic resurgence, whether folks like the sage Confucius were real, Ethan couldn\'t say.

But from the sisters\' chat, it seemed literary sages did exist in this game world.

And Olivia, always a bookworm, aimed to follow that path.

"Hope she makes it."

Ethan shrugged. After all, everyone\'s got their own gig, and he should respect that.

Time marched on.

"In Blackwood, year 27, Nathan chugged a ton of beast blood fruits and stumbled upon a freaky power herb in the Silver Iron Woods. After munching on it, he blasted through to the ninth level of Foundational Energy!"

"Lucas, rolling deep with the Blackwood crew, raided a black iron ores operated by Forest\'s Gonzalez gang, snagging a hefty haul of black iron ore!"

"Ha, think you can ores under my watch? Hand it over, buddy!"

Ethan couldn\'t help but crack up at the game updates.

He might\'ve ditched mining himself, but that didn\'t mean he wasn\'t interested in those veins!

He\'d already tipped off Nathan to keep an eye on the ores, letting the folks from Forest Town do the heavy lifting. Sure enough, the Gonzalez crew developed the vein, and although they sent some heavy hitters to guard it, they slipped up now and then.

Grinning, Ethan watched as Lucas and his squad carted off the ore back to base.

His phone rang.

Ethan grabbed it and answered the call.

"Mr. Ethan, great news, found a buyer for your blood fruits, 3000 Energy Stones."

Alan\'s voice came through, "And if you\'re cool with my speed and the price I got, there\'s bigger deals ahead. Just a heads-up, you might wanna launder that incoming cash, you know, being a student and all, sudden big bucks might raise eyebrows."

3000 Energy Stones for just 20 fruits? Ethan was floored by the price!

These were just 100-point power fruits, usually, a potion offering that much power would barely fetch 20 Energy Stones!

If he could pull 100 beast blood fruits a day...

Thinking of the massive sum made Ethan\'s heart race!

But he kept his cool, "Pleased with the deal. As for the Energy Stones... we\'ll talk. Just wondering if Alan could score some contraband?"

"Contraband?"

Alan paused, then seriously added, "Mr. Ethan, you know, if you\'re after a star-destroying cannon, that\'ll take some time to get back here."

"..."

A star-destroying cannon? Does he think I\'m gearing up for a space war???

Ethan hung up, shot Alan a text, then stepped out. After gaming all day, it was time to grab some grub.

Glancing around his place, he momentarily couldn\'t tell if he was still in the game or back in reality.

"Man, got way too sucked into the game."

Ethan shrugged.

Just as he was pulling a cake from the fridge, he noticed Lisa peeping through the peephole. "Lisa, what\'s up?"

Lisa turned, waving her hand, "Commander, you stir up some trouble?"

"Huh?"

Something felt off.

"Old lady Quinn\'s been pacing outside, eyeing our place."

Ethan\'s mouth twitched, "Let her watch."

Great, wasn\'t stalked by classmates at school, now an ancient lady\'s camping at my door, probably steamed about something earlier. If old lady Quinn catches me, won\'t I be in for a world of hurt?

Shaking his head, Ethan went back to his room. If anything came up, he\'d just call the security guard, Mr. John.

He\'d just sat down and taken a bite of cake when...

Ding ding dang! Sparks flying, Julian was hammering away!

"Your descendant Julian, after snagging some black iron ore, kept refining it and had an epiphany while hammering the iron. He crafted his first iron sword using the blood of a mystical beast to unlock the sword\'s potential, drawing the power of the universe into the blade."

"Julian crafted his first power-enhanced gear, earning the title—Ninth Grade Power Equipment Craftsman!"

"Earned trait: Iron in the Soul..."