Chapter 403 - 393: Blizzard Bird

Everyone was in a frenzy, their hands moving nonstop.

"You damn animals, slow down!"

"My hand speed, honed from over twenty years of being single, is finally paying off."

"Come on, pros, please go a little slower."

"You animals, at least leave one for me!"

...

The auction house was a chaotic free-for-all, but none of that concerned Moira Lynch. Right now, she was facing a much bigger problem.

Moira stared at the Blizzard Bird before her, and it stared right back.

"Coo?"

The Blizzard Bird suddenly chirped at her.

Due to their past connection, Moira knew that the Snow Maiden and the Blizzard Bird were friends. Since she was now the Snow Maiden, that meant she and the Blizzard Bird were friends too.

However, this Blizzard Bird was clearly different from the one she’d met before.

The difference was that this one acted more like a bird. The previous Blizzard Bird had a very human-like look in its eyes.

When Moira didn’t react, the Blizzard Bird suddenly lowered its head and nuzzled against her.

"Do you need something?" Moira asked, stroking the Blizzard Bird’s head. ’Wow, it’s so soft,’ she thought.

The Blizzard Bird nodded and spread its wings. The area at the base of one wing was completely stained red with blood—it was clearly injured.

Just then, several small Blizzard Birds poked out from under its feathers. They were fluffy and looked just like little snowballs.

After a brief exchange, Moira learned that the Blizzard Bird had just escaped from a party of players.

The players had wanted to kill it and capture its chicks to keep as pets.

Although it had managed to escape, it was severely injured and wanted Moira’s help.

"How am I supposed to help you?"

Moira frowned slightly. She had to leave soon and couldn’t stay here indefinitely.

[Ding! Special Quest triggered: The Blizzard Bird’s Plea.

The Blizzard Bird has asked for your help. How can you refuse a good friend? Please help the Blizzard Bird evade the pursuing players.

Quest Reward: The loyalty and gratitude of the Blizzard Bird family. Favorability will be maxed out instantly.

Quest Failure or Refusal: Your friendship with the Blizzard Bird will be reduced to zero.]

’All right, so I have no choice but to accept this quest.’

After accepting the quest, she had to figure out what to do with this family. One, two, three, four, five... a family of five in total.

She started by checking the Blizzard Bird’s stats and skills.

After looking them over, Moira couldn’t help but marvel. ’These stats are enough to make anyone jealous.’

The Blizzard Bird had over a dozen skills alone.

Her eyes lit up, especially when she saw a skill named Ice Domain.

It was a domain-type skill that allowed the Blizzard Bird to create an Ice Domain in a thousand-square-meter area around it.

The Ice Domain could perfectly simulate the environment of the Northlands. ’Isn’t this exactly what I need?’

She didn’t need a thousand square meters; it would be enough to just cover the valley.

"Would your family be open to moving?"

Moira gave the family of five a gentle smile.

The Blizzard Bird tilted its head in response. "Coo?"

...

In the end, after Moira’s tireless trickery persuasion, the Blizzard Bird finally agreed to go with her.

Moira purchased an item from the System Shop that could temporarily store living creatures. After placing the Blizzard Bird family inside, she returned to her territory.

An item that could store living creatures indefinitely was far too expensive for Moira to afford, so she bought a cheaper version.

’Well, not exactly cheap,’ she mused. It just had a time limit. The creatures could only stay inside for an hour at a time and had to be let out for air afterward.

Otherwise, they would suffocate.

That’s right, you read that correctly. Despite being an in-game NPC, the Blizzard Bird could actually suffocate.

Upon returning to her territory, Moira immediately released the family of five.

She felt a little grateful now that she’d had those people clean up the valley beforehand.

Having just arrived in a new environment, the Blizzard Bird was very unsettled.

Of course, a big part of the reason was that the temperature here was far too high for it.

Seeing this, Moira said, "Blizzard Bird, you can use your Ice Domain to transform this place. Don’t make the area too large—just enough to cover this valley. The valley is quite big; it should be plenty of space for your family of five."

At her words, the Blizzard Bird nodded. It then tilted its head to the sky and let out a cry, and a wave of icy energy burst forth from its body.

The surrounding temperature began to drop at a visible rate. Then, a single snowflake drifted down from the sky.

It was snowing.

The people working in the territory suddenly felt the temperature drop and couldn’t help but shiver.

One of them looked up and witnessed an incredible sight.

A cluster of gray clouds had appeared overhead not far away, from which white snowflakes were gently falling.

As the Ice Domain took effect, the temperature plummeted. In response, Moira felt the power of the Snow Maiden within her steadily awakening.

Through her and the Blizzard Bird’s combined efforts, the environment within the valley was soon transformed to their liking.

The Blizzard Bird built its nest in the deepest part of the valley and went to recuperate. The little chicks, meanwhile, played joyfully in the newly formed snowy vale.

[Congratulations to player Moira Lynch for completing the quest. Reward obtained: The Blizzard Bird’s Gratitude.

Bonus Surprise: Obtained one Guardian Beast, the Blizzard Bird.

While you are away, the Guardian Beast will be responsible for protecting your territory.]

’Don’t tell me the Guardian Beast is the Blizzard Bird?’

Moira glanced toward the depths of the valley. ’It’s very likely.’

’Man, this quest was definitely worth it.’

Just as she was basking in her good fortune, another system notification sounded: a large sum of money had been deposited into her account.

"Everything sold out that fast?"

It seemed those items were even more popular than she had imagined.

Just then, Patience’s renovation blueprints were ready.

After reviewing Patience’s blueprints, Moira was very satisfied and immediately began the large-scale renovations.

There were two renovation options before Moira. The first was to hire people, just as she had for cleaning the territory.

The advantage of this method was that it was cheap. The disadvantages were that the quality couldn’t be guaranteed, and it would be slow.

The second option was to pay the game system to do it directly.

The advantage of this was speed. The entire process, from start to finish, would only take anywhere from a few minutes to an hour.

The disadvantage: it was expensive.

But aside from the cost, there were almost no other downsides. Plus, the system would even handle future maintenance.

After a moment of thought, Moira chose the latter.

She was impatient and didn’t want to wait.

After paying the hired workers and sending them on their way, Moira immediately submitted the renovation plan to the system.

Once the system showed the submission was complete, nearly two-thirds of the funds in Moira’s inventory were instantly deducted.