Little Conquerors (I)

Aug. 31, 2054. Monday. 7:00 AM.

Zero was busily going around the Village doing small errands. After the admittance of the Cat People, the livelihood of the Village grew enormously. Naturally, new problems arise, but they are easily managed. What did bother him the most was the constant threat of invasion by monsters. Zero scanned through the usual day's paperwork with the paper in hand. The Lunar

Rabbits were moving the trees towards the almost completed fairy ring.

"We must finish the Resurrection ring as quickly as possible," Zero spoke out loud. He was thrilled to know that the Resurrection ring would be completed today. The possibility of being transferred towards the City of Diadem when he dies was no more. The fairy ring was a large building like the one that he had visited when he first died. It was a specially constructed building that allowed the players to respawn without interference. Right next to the Resurrection

Ring was the Church of Infinity's building, towering beside the Fairy Ring like twin monoliths.

Zero wondered why Bishop Sanya and Bishop Etran just up and left Bishop Anglo behind. He knew that the two Bishops were going to be watched even more attentively than before for helping them kick off Russ out of the Village. He never understood their extravagant ways, even when building the temporary church.

"Bishop Anglo. I'm glad to see that you are doing well." Zero gave him a respectful bow. A young boy with a couple of followers followed closely behind him as they were out for a walk.

"Hello, Zero. I'm glad to see you on this joyous occasion. It seems the Resurrection Ring has been almost completed."

"Yes, thanks to your mentor's support and help, we were able to get this far."

"I miss them, but the Lord of Infinity will guide us to a prosperous day." Bishop Anglo smiled. He stopped to admire the work the new players, baby dragons, Lunar Rabbits, and even the Cat People were doing to help finish the construction. For the New players, the contribution points and rewards from finishing the construction would help them grow. Bishop Anglo continued to walk, enjoying his walk through the Village.

"Not bad." M2 was next to him, chewing on grain like he was smoking. "This will give new and old players a place where they can set their hometown, especially for people like us who are on the run. Dying and Resurrection at the City of Diadem does not sound pleasing."

"Very." Kiyro was pleased with quickly the construction was going. "Even though the new players automatically have their location saved here, the older players can't. It's difficult to stay

alive in the wilderness with limited supplies."

"How long does the village have till the supplies last?"

"Well, depending on the amount of meat I gathered and with the plants that I planted from the seeds I received, it should be another month before the elven seeds that your kind gave me will be able to be harvested. You don't know how much that helps. However, the problem lies from now till the harvest. Therefore, hunting more monsters for food and scavenging has become a priority."

"Don't worry about scavenging for plants; my people are great in that aspect."

"I noticed. I can't thank you enough."

"It's no problem. With the free transportation we get here, it's just something we could do to help out till we arrive."

Zero was glad that the Cat People were here to help defend the place. Work was plenty, but the number of residents didn't even reach up to three thousand.

"Young Dragon!" Bob was running towards him with heavy breath. Finally, he stopped and kneeled over, exhausted.

"Bob? What's wrong?" Zero helped him up so he could catch his breath.

"There is a large group of monsters flying towards the village," Bob spoke so fast that Zero had difficulty catching everything he said.

"Monsters? Damn, again?" How many times had it been since he had to strike down the

unwanted monsters making their way into the Village? He had already had to twice this morning. Unfortunately, the number of monsters invading the Village became more frequent as days passed, especially since a month had passed in the game.

"What the heck is happening? At first, the monster invasion only happened when the Village landed to recuperate its magic. Now, as weeks pass, it's getting worse?" Zero was not like this at all. By the rate the three-month trip was over, the continual invasion of monsters had a high chance of increasing.

"Show me where it is, Bob," Zero quickly stated. He was following Bob, who was leading the way.

They ran to the large stone fence slowly built on the outer walls of the Draconis Village. It is toward a good twelve feet. Even a small gate was established to allow people to enter and exit. Zero, M2, and Bob dashed out the gate and into large farmland on the eastern side of the wall.

A large number of Vampire Bats were the size of a goose, attacking the live stocks. Eight small dragons of each color and their partners were combating the Vampire Bats flying around them. Like annoying gnats, they attacked and flew away, angering the dragons.

Even seeing the combat up close, it was not in any way a favorable situation.

"Get down here, you rats!" A black baby dragon was fuming in anger. He blew curtains of a small fire at the bats, but they all dodged it quickly. His partner raised his bow, shot a couple of arrows, and missed.

"We can't keep this up, or we're going to die before we can kill them!"

"I know, damn it. I'm too small to catch them," the black dragon jumped up like a piranha trying to take a chomp out of its body. The other dragons were busily running around chasing them in circles.

"You can't be serious." Zero watched, a bit ashamed that these baby dragons had difficulty trying to kill a Vampire Bat. Vampire Bats was considered one of the weakest monsters in the forest.

"Khahaha. Do you see those fools?" The other larger dragons pointed and laughed.

"They can't even kill a vampire bat!"

"I swear, why did they even choose this race?"

"Hey. Hey, be nice. We all went through that phase." The larger red dragon slipped in and killed all the Vampire Bats effortlessly in the blink of an eye.

The eight small dragons turned red in embarrassment. The black dragon out of the group ran over and head-butted the one who made fun of them.

"Shut your trap! Just because you're leveling up faster than us doesn't mean you get to say rude things."

"Why, you little!" The large red dragon raised its claws and swiped downwards toward the baby black dragon. Even their partners were neck-to-neck, going against one another, trying to kill each other.

Zero and M2 rushed in. They quickly broke up the fight.

"Stop!" Zero commanded. He picked up the dragons by their neck and dangled them in midair.

"Who?" The red dragon puffed out the fire, but it did not phase Zero at all. When the red dragon noticed who it was, he went silent.

"Have both of you forgotten the rules? That you're not to harm each other?"

"No." They both squeaked.

"Good, because I swear, I will throw you both in a dangerous area till you both go back to level 1."

Both dragons squeaked.

"I swear. I won't kill him." The red dragon was the first one to talk. "I was just playing, you know."

"If you say so, but heed my warning, there are serious consequences to breaking the laws of the Drezo Regalia."

"Yes, sir," The red dragon was the first one to be let go. Both the red dragon and his partner left the scene. Other people and dragons that were looking left quietly as well.

Zero examined the small black furball. He couldn't help but smirk at the black dragon in hand.

"Your name?"

"My name is Valiant, and my partner is Reeds."

A small human girl with black hair stepped out from the group of newbies who were still in their newbie clothes. She tightly clutched a wooden bow in her hands and stared at Zero nervously.

"If I may, may I have Valiant back?" She squeaked.

Zero handed Valiant back to Reeds as if it was some kind of dirty rag. "Well, Valiant, you should ignore those idiots and continue with what you were doing. You fell right into their trap."

"I know, but they been doing it every day. They pick on Valiant the worst. I finally got fed up with it."

Zero felt disgusted and anger rising in him. He hated bullying and people like them. They were always one out of the whole group, considered a bad apple in the barrel.

"You're the Chief Librarian of this place, aren't you?" Valiant asked in awe. "The first ever Drezo Regalia known in existence?"

"Yes."

Valiant almost jumped out of Reed's arm in excitement. "I saw you giving the speech to everyone. It was so cool! Not only that, I heard stories about your exploits. So, hey guys, it's Zero!"

Everyone almost clamored among each other as they surrounded him like bees. Then, finally, they stopped in front of him excitedly like a newborn puppy.

"The first dragon in existence!" A white baby dragon squealed in delight. She was zipping around him like a hurricane.

"Calm down, Den. It's not the end of the world." A green dragon rolled his eyes. He was the last one to come over. "Efron has a headache watching you speed around like that. Give your partner a break, will you?"