Good heavens—was he, the head of the Environmental Protection Department, now going to be like those Overlord bigwigs, using rewards to test the Overlords' cubs, the Monarchs' cubs, and even Zou Tianwang, Senior Sister Bai, Yin Huan, and the rest??

Ah, this.

"Ahem, that won't be necessary. Let me see—as for resources to serve as rewards, I should have some here..."

Shi Jin felt it best not to trouble the Dragon King of the Sea with such a matter. Better to tempt those Overlord cubs with Time-Accumulation Fruits—especially for the slow-growing Dragon race, a time-attribute exotic treasure like the Time-Accumulation Fruit, which granted a temporary higher realm, should still be quite valuable...

Requesting Sick Leave

I'm sick, and irritable. These past few days I've been running around everywhere handling paperwork plus writing ten-thousand-word updates, and I still haven't finished. Now I've caught a chill—all sorts of ailments have flared up: cervical spondylosis, tenosynovitis, a cold, and migraines. After my midday rest my head is spinning, and I sat there bitterly for hours unable to write a word, so I can only request one more day of leave.

Then let me explain a bit. My health has never been great. While writing my first book, Courtyard Tree, I had to take a leave of absence from school in the later stages because of surgery; back then, to recover, I could only update weekly. After finishing Sect Master, I had another surgery, and then barely two months into writing Beastmaster... the surgery has flared up again. I truly had no choice—my body couldn't hold up, so I chose to go full-time, mainly to rest and recover. So when I see rumors saying I gave up my studies to earn more money, it gives me a real headache...

Finally, I'll adjust the update schedule for Time-Accumulation as well. From now on it'll be [one chapter around 12 noon] and [one chapter around 23:00]. Updates resume tomorrow. If my health permits, this will be the last leave request this month. I hope you understand.

ps: A reader asked whether mechanical pets modeled on ancient creatures or phantom beasts take animal form. No—they're definitely still modern machinery, like Gundams, fighter jets, and warships. They'll only use the skills of ancient creatures as templates; their appearance won't be closely related. The most important thing is that they look cool...