Athena in Tower Defense Game! [LitRPG]

0030 – Successful Defense And Rewards

The power of the Iron Beetle's mandibles increased, deforming the snow armguard as it bit down, continuously squeezing Athena's right arm, causing her intense pain.

"Aaargh!"

"AAAAAHHHR!"

With her left hand, she exerted force to grab the Iron Beetle's wings and forcefully pull it backward with all of her strength, tearing off its wings.

In pain, the Iron Beetle relaxed its mandibles and was flung to the ground by Athena.

Immediately, she used her spatial backpack to retrieve the snow armguard squeezing her arm, then grabbed an axe and viciously smashed its flat side onto the struggling Iron Beetle's body, causing its shell to crack open due to sheer impact.

Athena heard a notification sound and looked towards the courtyard gate. The Iron Beetle that had been entangled had broken free from the thorny vines, leaving scattered vines on the ground.

The Grass Ball Panda rushed over, holding onto the Iron Beetle's legs to prevent it from flying away. While protecting its head with one paw, it was occasionally bitten, curling up into a pitiful ball, showing no awareness of danger.

Carrying her axe, Athena approached. Sensing the threat, the last Iron Beetle began to struggle frantically, held tightly by the Grass Ball Panda. Raising the axe and then lowering it, Athena stared at the immobilized Iron Beetle, a bold idea forming in her mind.

Quickly, she stuffed a small piece of wood into the Iron Beetle's mouth, which was easily crushed. Without hesitation, Athena stuffed a piece of ore into its mouth.

Could a flying creature be tamed, and if so, how?

Even with its mouth sealed shut, the Iron Beetle remained defiant. Athena signaled the Grass Ball Panda to give it a firm slam. The Iron Beetle stopped struggling, its emerald eyes gradually dimming until it finally perished. Knowing it couldn't escape, it chose self-destruction in an unknown manner.

Athena was particularly concerned about the corpse of the Iron Beetle on the ground. The beliefs of the Snowstorm Beast, the self-destruction of the Iron Beetle, and the appearance of the Sun City—all were different from the usual tower defense game.

"Is this a normal tower defense?"

This time, the response was from the system, not in purple font. Athena didn't inquire further, only calling the three little ones to help clean up the scene and move all the Iron Beetle corpses into the small wooden house.

Arriving at the low stone wall, she picked up the scattered thorny vines and placed them at its base. The broken vines instantly melted into green juice, absorbed by the roots. The previously broken gap also regrew, and the tightly closed flower buds opened, blossoming into beautiful flowers.

However, what surprised Athena was that among the flowers this time, one had actually bloomed in rainbow colors, dazzling and magnificent. Athena gently touched the petals with her intact left hand.

"Thank you for your hard work."

Even without the wind, the flowers continued to sway.

The room quickly filled up, and the remaining items were put into the backpack. The things to be smelted were now overflowing from the house to the outside, a mix of joy and pain.

The previous five iron ores had been successfully smelted, yielding ten pieces of hot iron, all sold for 10 silver coins. The three little ones followed her back into the house, and upon opening the door, they were greeted by the aroma of meat.

Quickly removing the pot from the fire, she scooped out some porridge with a wooden spoon, blew on it to cool it down, and tasted it. The fragrance of lean meat mixed with the softness of rice, creating a rich and unforgettable flavor.

Previously, when bored, she had carved out several rough and ugly wooden bowls from a block of wood, and now they came in handy.

She placed three wooden planks on the ground and poured some porridge into them. The Grass Ball Animals immediately approached, wanting to eat, but Athena held them back.

"Eat it when it's cooled down."

She started to enjoy the rare delicacy while blowing on it to cool it down, opening the rewards in the mailbox.

The most eye-catching was the exclusive [ World Stone ], indicating that besides randomly obtaining it from specific openings, one could also receive a World Stone every three times they achieved an S+ evaluation.

With a golden card page of the Snowstorm Beast in hand and now this World Stone, she could once again go to Sun City. Thinking of the swordsman who was on the brink of death when she last left, she wondered if he was still alive.

Skipping the World Stone, she took out a blue shimmering package and three white ones.

Just as Athena eagerly prepared to open the packages, she remembered the frequent prompts in purple font, which took away her sense of surprise.

"Can the package opening prompt function be turned off?"

...

Indeed, this time there were no prompts in purple font. With great anticipation, Athena picked up the first white package.

A bottle of mineral water and a compressed biscuit, quite ordinary. The second white package contained an axe and a sickle, while the third white package contained 50 wooden blocks.

Calming down her excited heart, she rubbed her hands on the grass mat, then reached out to the blue shimmering package with a nervous heart.

After a flash of light, two blueprints appeared on the ground.

"YES!"

What a stroke of luck!

This was a blueprint that allowed one to manufacture many bows and arrows as long as they had sufficient materials. With bows and arrows, if put up for sale on the market, one would have a prosperous and stable income in the future.

After the huge surprise, Athena quickly calmed down. Although she had the blueprint, she didn't have a corresponding craftsman. This thing couldn't be manufactured by herself, but required a craftsman...

Where could she find a craftsman? Did she have to sell this blueprint?

Shaking her head, Athena decided to put the blueprint aside for now. There was no hurry; there was still plenty of time.

The other thing in the blue package was a blueprint for an Arrow Tower.

A series of harvests made Athena, and even her slightly aching right arm, seem insignificant.

Opening her attribute panel, she tentatively exchanged for some attribute points, cautiously adding 0.1, 0.1 to each attribute. Once the pain became unbearable, she immediately stopped.

Finally, she successfully exchanged for 220 experience points, adding 2.2 attribute points.

With only 0.1 difference in agility to reach the critical value, and mental reaching its limit at 3.6, she stopped increasing her own attributes.

A warmth spread through her body, and her previously slightly aching right arm recovered. Apart from feeling a bit mentally fatigued, her body had returned to its optimal state.

Indeed, risks and rewards were proportional.