Family heirloom, then turned into a demon girl

Chapter 479 Mission: 04-4 The Running Beast
Do we need to complete the game first?

Nero wasn't surprised by the shopkeeper's request. She simply asked, "What's the content?"

For now, everything is still going according to her plan. Although she was slightly disappointed that the sign on the shop door didn't directly show "leopard" as a clue—because that meant the puzzles would be a little more complicated—the fact that the shop of the [Beasts of the Pack] in the market area was the hiding place of [Leopard's Gold] remained undisputed.

Now we'll see how they make things difficult for people who want to earn coins through the game.

"Please buy one thing you want from every shop in this market area."

Oh, so it's about spending money.

Fortunately, Nero still has some control over how to spend money. Even better news is that she also needed to buy some things for her new community's base.

In other words, it's not a waste.

"But we have to go to every store... that's really time-consuming."

"Please note that it must be something you genuinely 'want'," the shop assistant reminded with a smile. "If you just buy some random things to get through customs, it won't count."

In other words, there's no way you can get away with something as trivial as saying, "What I want just happens to be the cheapest item in the store."

Then, new words appeared on the game document in Nero's hand. After confirming that the reward upon completion was "The Golden Seal of the Leopard," Nero politely nodded to the shopkeeper and then turned to leave.

The game starts by testing financial resources, which aligns with Nero's understanding of the purpose of the "Seven Beasts' Gold and Seals" game. To achieve a monopoly on the Boundary Gate, the game must ensure that participation from large communities is not worthwhile, while participation from small communities is impossible to pass. To ensure that the latter do not pass the game easily due to the emergence of some extraordinary genius, it is necessary to restrict their access from multiple angles.

Buying the same item from every shop isn't just a matter of spending money. More importantly, for small communities, the amount they "need," or rather, "use," is limited. Unlike large communities with many members who can consume whatever they buy internally, small communities would face enormous waste trying to accomplish this, potentially even crippling their entire economy. However, if a small community with business experience grits its teeth, buys the items, and resells them to recoup its costs…

Then there will naturally be other trials, such as combat strength, to come and put you at a disadvantage.

But they couldn't say anything; after all, that's the rule of the sandbox garden. No way to solve it through the game? Then why not look for the problem within themselves? Do they think the organizers will always indulge the participants?

Fortunately, this won't happen with the new community, Devil May Cry.

After buying a whole bunch of things and storing them in his Gift Cards, Nero returned to the [Beasts of the Pack] shop and received the "Golden Seal of the Leopard" while buying the last item. To be honest... Gift Cards are rare items, and smaller communities might even have trouble transporting them.

Nero couldn't help but sigh inwardly: "The Beasts of the Horde, how treacherous they are!"

Getting back to the game itself, the so-called "Leopard's Golden Seal" is actually just a gold coin with a leopard image printed on it.

But here's the problem—after buying the goods, you're also given a free gold coin. Given the purchasing power of gold, even if the coin isn't officially minted, it sounds like you've made a profit, right?
Why doesn't anyone exploit this bug to farm money?
The Beasts of the Pack would probably laugh heartily at this. That's the most insidious part of their group; the so-called "Golden Seal of the Leopard" contains nothing of gold whatsoever!

This was just a golden toy coin. Even its weight was vastly different from real gold; you could feel it the moment you held it. Nero couldn't help but want to exclaim: "The Beast of the Pack, how cunning!"

Although she hadn't yet figured out how these people managed to slip fake gold coins into the game rules that clearly stated "collecting gold"... it was just too insidious!
These people are simply demons!
But it seems they always were.

After finishing his reflection, Nero put away the game items and turned his attention back to the game's rulebook.

Next, we need to find the next place, which is the "tiger's" house in the puzzle.

The puzzle describes a "wild boar" breaking into a "bear's" home after drinking the "bear's" honey, and then escaping after a fight. Predictably, this level will be related to "combat."

A place used to test the fighting ability of the contestants.

However, relying on just this one condition didn't seem to provide a clear answer, so Nero looked at the other items, hoping to find some clues.

The first thing to consider is the "bear." The document describes the "bear" as "the fox trading honey with the bear," so the "honey" is the key to solving the puzzle, a crucial clue connecting the "bear" to the mission location.

The answer to this question didn't trouble Nero for long; she quickly came up with an explanation: mead.

This is a very ancient traditional beverage, arguably one of the most important drinks in Northern Europe. And naturally, it is the same in the northern part of this miniature garden, where demons and elves roam and plant resources are scarce.

This also explains why the "wild boar" went straight into the "tiger's" house after drinking the "honey"... the answer is that it got drunk.

So, "Bear's Home" is a tavern opened by the [Beasts of the Pack].

The "wild boar," drunk, wandered into a battleground and managed to escape after a fierce fight. So this place must be...

Oh, and there's one more condition that might hold true. Tigers are solitary animals, so a fight with a wild boar is one-on-one. Adding this condition, the answer becomes pretty clear.

"The Gladiator's Arena." A "wild boar," after getting drunk and getting into a fight, or perhaps in debt for various reasons, enters the arena to battle.

This current speculation is quite reasonable, and Nero immediately began searching for the arena at the outer gate of 6667000.

This might be the easiest part of the whole game. It tests your combat skills—specifically, it tests your "single" combat skills within the "Arena."

This might be a problem for a small community, but for Nero, who has the blood of a fully awakened demon and can easily destroy planets from the outside world, it's not even an appetizer.

(End of this chapter)