Chapter 231: Male Competition

Hearing this, everyone was stunned.

However, Drake was the first to react.

"Yes, Leader. I’ll go find some stones right away."

The moment he finished speaking, his figure vanished from before the crowd.

Seeing Drake leave, Nick Wilde immediately disappeared as well, moving so quickly that it was almost as if his body had dissolved into smoke.

Ace watched the two of them rush off to move stones. Seeing that he had gained no advantage, he threw his head back and laughed.

"Serves them right!"

Hearing him laugh so loudly, Lucas looked at him with an expression that was difficult to describe.

Did Ace really think they had won?

The biggest winner here wasn’t any of them.

It was Sora.

Still, Lucas had to admit that Sora had handled the situation rather cleverly. He couldn’t help feeling a little proud of her.

Xavier crossed his arms and looked at Sora.

"You certainly calculated everything well. You managed to dodge the whole situation just like that."

Sora raised an eyebrow.

"Dodge what? Isn’t this exactly what you wanted to see?"

There was a smug little smile in her eyes.

That expression was incredibly charming.

Looking at her, Xavier felt his heart itch.

He absolutely loved this side of Sora.

She was clever, quick-witted, and always seemed to have a way of turning troublesome situations around.

She was simply too captivating.

Beside them, Lukan listened quietly. A faint smile appeared on his face, and his eyes were filled with unmistakable affection.

Kaelira really is becoming more and more of a little rascal.

Seeing how cleverly Sora had handled the situation, Damien’s usually calm eyes also revealed a faint trace of admiration.

His Little Female was truly impressive.

The more he watched her, the more interesting she became.

Ryan was smiling as well.

In the end, none of them had gained an advantage except Sora.

She really made him admire her more and more.

With that, the noisy argument finally came to an end.

After Sora settled the mentally exhausting dispute, she was just about to find somewhere to sit and rest for a while when the familiar voice of the system suddenly began ringing in her mind.

[Ding! Congratulations, Host! Ryan’s heartbeat value has risen to 200, and his attraction value has risen to 200!]

[Ding! Congratulations, Host! Xavier’s heartbeat value has risen to 300, and his attraction value has risen to 300!]

[Ding! Congratulations, Host! Ace’s heartbeat value has risen to 150, and his attraction value has risen to 150!]

[Ding! Congratulations, Host! Lukan’s heartbeat value has risen to 150, and his attraction value has risen to 150!]

[Ding! Congratulations, Host! Lucas’s heartbeat value has risen to 150, and his attraction value has risen to 150!]

The sudden barrage of system notifications left Sora slightly overwhelmed.

Although the increase in points was obviously a good thing, the way they had suddenly risen so dramatically was rather inexplicable.

"System, what’s with this sudden increase in points?"

They had jumped by so much all at once.

Back when she had first started, the values had increased at an agonizingly slow pace, sometimes moving only by tiny decimal points.

"Host, have you forgotten? Your total target score is 1,000. Although your scores have increased significantly now, they are still far from enough. Moreover, the love levels of several Beast Husbands are still stuck at the ’Attraction Value’ stage. Host, you need to work harder!"

If the system hadn’t reminded her, Sora would have almost forgotten about the 1,000-point target.

It wasn’t that she had lost her motivation.

It was mainly because the rewards the system had given her so far weren’t particularly useful.

Naturally, she had become somewhat lazy.

If her life weren’t still tied to the system, she would have wanted to unbind herself from it ages ago and run away.

Why had she ended up bound to such a stingy and unreliable system?

It wasn’t powerful at all!

Of course, those complaints remained firmly inside Sora’s head.

She would never dare say them aloud.

"What is the third level of the love Value?" she asked instead.

"It is called the Romance Value."

Sora’s mouth twitched.

Romance Value?

That didn’t sound normal at all.

In fact, it sounded rather abstract.

She remembered that people with a Romance Value tended to become completely consumed by love. When they were in a passionate relationship, they seemed to be overflowing with energy, as though they had been injected with an endless dose of enthusiasm.

But when they encountered conflict, they could become completely depressed.

"How am I supposed to conquer this?" Sora asked helplessly. "It’s too abstract. I don’t even know where to start."

She couldn’t possibly deliberately pick a fight with one of them just to see whether they became depressed afterward.

That would be ridiculous.

"According to system detection, one of the current targets already displays these symptoms. Host does not need to deliberately trigger them."

Sora blinked.

"There’s actually something this convenient? I don’t need to conquer it directly? Then what exactly do I have to do?"

"The Host only needs to guide the target out of that emotional state after something happens."

Sora’s expression immediately darkened.

"You mean I have to go through this with every single target?"

"No, Host. The system detected this bug and has already corrected it. As long as the Host successfully guides the individual who develops the Romance Value tendency, everyone can be upgraded to the Romance Value stage."

Sora listened in a daze.

This broken system really seemed to have suffered some kind of malfunction.

The tasks it issued were becoming stranger and stranger.

Still, that wasn’t what she cared about most.

She only cared about the rewards.

"So, if I successfully upgrade them all to the Romance Value stage, what reward will I receive?"

"The Host’s Water Elemental Ability will be enhanced. In addition, there will be several surprise gift bags."

Sora’s eyes immediately lit up.

*Now that’s more like it!*

As long as her Water Elemental Ability could be strengthened, everything else was secondary.

She was already at Level Seven.

If the system enhanced her ability even further, her strength would naturally increase as well.

At the thought of this, Sora finally began looking forward to the mysterious Romance Brain stage.

"However, I must remind the Host that the favorability points must not decrease. Otherwise, all previous efforts will be wasted."

Sora nodded solemnly.

"Don’t worry. I’ll guard those points with my life."

Before she could think about the matter any further, movement came from the direction where Nick Wilde and Si Cheng had disappeared.

The two men were incredibly fast.

Before long, they returned with long wooden poles resting on their shoulders and large stones they had already shaped into roughly circular forms.

They dropped the materials beside Sora.

Without saying anything, both men picked up large handfuls of rice stalks from nearby, placed them inside their newly made Stone Mortars, and began pounding with the wooden poles.

*Thump! Thump! Thump!*

The rhythmic sound echoed through the area.

Judging from the force behind every strike, it was obvious that both men were putting all their strength into the task.

The other Beast Husbands, who had originally been working normally nearby, immediately quickened their pace after hearing the pounding.

Various Supernatural Abilities were activated almost simultaneously.

Claws flashed.

Palms struck.

Powerful legs moved.

Waves of supernatural energy surged through the area.

Blue, green, gold, white, and other colors of light appeared one after another, creating a dazzling display.

For a moment, it looked less like rice processing and more like a magical battlefield.

Sora stared at the scene in disbelief.

These men were actually competing over who could pound rice faster.

She couldn’t help wondering whether they were capable of smashing their Stone Mortars into perfect circles with all that strength.

Sure enough—

*Crack!*

A wooden pole snapped.

Then another.

And another.

Within moments, the sound of five or six wooden poles breaking rang through the area.

Yet none of the men stopped.

The broken poles were discarded, and they immediately rushed into the forest to find new ones.

Soon, they returned and continued pounding with even greater enthusiasm.

Sora watched the entire spectacle speechlessly.

She had to admit, though...

This subtle male competition was actually working wonderfully for her.

A large pile of white rice was being processed at an astonishing speed.

Sora scooped up some of the freshly processed rice, her face lighting up with excitement.

"You all did a great job today. Tonight, I’ll let you experience the charm of properly cooked rice."

The moment those words left her mouth, the men became even more energetic.

They worked as though their lives depended on it.

Especially Lucas, Ace, and Xavier.

The moment they heard Sora promise them a delicious meal that evening, their eyes practically lit up.

They had been looking forward to her cooking from the beginning.

Of course, it was slightly irritating that Nick Wilde and Si Cheng were benefiting from the competition too.

Still, those two had worked hard as well.

So technically, they hadn’t received anything for free.

That thought made Lucas, Ace, and Xavier feel a little better.

After Sora gathered the processed white rice and carried it back to the Wild Kitchen, she immediately began preparing dinner.

The first thing she did was cut a length of fresh bamboo and split it into several sections.

With such good rice available, it would have been a waste not to make bamboo-tube rice.

Fortunately, although fresh beast meat wasn’t suitable for her current plans, she still had plenty of cured meat and sausages that she had prepared earlier.

They would work perfectly.

After cutting the bamboo into sections, Sora placed the pieces into a pottery vat filled with water and let them soak.

While waiting, she went to gather additional ingredients.

She found several mushrooms and some wild peas nearby.

Life in this primitive world was nothing like shopping in a modern supermarket.

Ingredients weren’t available whenever she wanted them.

There were no shelves filled with neatly packaged food.

There was no market where she could simply purchase whatever she desired.

She had to work with whatever nature provided.

Therefore, Sora had gradually developed a habit of mixing and matching ingredients.

Whatever she could find, she would turn into something edible.

Once she had gathered enough ingredients, the bamboo sections were ready.

Sora washed the freshly milled rice carefully.

Then she added the mushrooms, wild peas, and sliced sausages.

After that, she added an appropriate amount of salt and some of her homemade sauce.

The aroma alone was already making her hungry.

Finally, she covered the openings of the bamboo tubes with clean, broad leaves and secured them carefully.

Then she placed the bamboo tubes over the fire.

Soon, the flames began licking the bamboo.

The heat slowly traveled inward, cooking the rice and allowing the flavors of the mushrooms, peas, sausages, salt, and sauce to blend together.

Sora watched the bamboo tubes carefully.

There were nine people in total.

So, in the end, she prepared approximately twenty-seven portions.

With that much food, there would be more than enough for everyone to eat their fill.

And after witnessing the extraordinary male competition over the Stone Mortars, Sora had a feeling that tonight’s meal was going to disappear very quickly.