Chapter 31: Became Mates, Mate Beast Mark

Chapter 31: Chapter 31: Became Mates, Mate Beast Mark

The temperature in the room gradually rose. The air bubbled with such a thick, romantic tension that even the moon hid behind the dark clouds in shame.

The next day, Ophelia woke up enveloped in a scorching heat. Her waist felt sore and limp, aching from being held so tightly. She shifted, trying to escape, but the arm wrapped around her waist abruptly tightened. She swatted at Tyler’s arm, but to a male beastman, her strength was nothing more than a kitten’s scratch—utterly harmless.

Tyler slowly opened his eyes and nuzzled the back of the little female’s neck.

"Princess, you’re awake."

Ophelia rolled her eyes. "No, I’m not. You’re seeing things."

Tyler chuckled softly and kissed her slender, fair neck. Stark naked, he slowly sat up and got out of bed. Ophelia could even see a highly energetic "little Tyler." Thinking of last night’s madness, her face flushed red. He casually picked up the animal skin skirt from the floor, wrapped it around his waist, and then dug out a clean animal skin skirt and a bandeau from the woven basket to dress Ophelia. Having no strength in her limbs, she let him do as he pleased.

Bored, she tugged at Tyler’s pale golden hair cascading over his chest. Taking a strand, she lightly brushed it against his robust pectoral muscles, slowly trailing it downward. When she reached the position over his heart, she couldn’t help but blink. "Is this... my Mate Beast Mark?"

Tyler followed her gaze and saw a cute little Golden Dragon, coiled up with its head raised proudly, resting right over his heart.

"Why is it here?" she asked. Most of the Mate Beast Marks she had seen were on arms or backs; it was rare to see one right over the heart. Even her father’s Mate Beast Mark was on his shoulder.

A smile tugged at the corners of Tyler’s lips. He took her hand and pressed it against his Mate Beast Mark, letting her feel his beating heart beneath it.

"As long as it doesn’t stop, it will always love you."

Moved, Ophelia tilted his sharp jawline and curled her lips into a smile. "You’ve got quite the sweet-talking mouth."

"Mhm. From now on, I’ll only say these things to you."

Tyler kissed the little female’s delicate earlobe, making Ophelia shrink her neck from the ticklish sensation. She wondered why it felt like something had been unleashed from within Tyler ever since they became mates.

"I’ll go make breakfast. Aren’t we taking Klein and the others to the cave today?" he asked.

"Mhm."

Ophelia lay back down on the bed, and her consciousness entered her farm space.

The sixty animal skins she had traded for fruits yesterday had already been converted into 600 points. Upgrading the space to Level 6 required 200,000 points. Level 5 truly was a massive bottleneck; this astronomical requirement was absolutely killing her. It seemed she still needed to work hard at selling her goods.

She now had a growing collection of Crystal Stones on hand: 5 Yellow Crystal Stones, 16 orange ones, and 75 Red Crystal Stones. Checking the system, she suddenly discovered that 5 Yellow Crystal Stones could be exchanged for 200,000 points, meaning one Yellow Crystal Stone was worth 40,000 points. However, the orange and Red Crystal Stones could not be exchanged due to having too many impurities. The space would only unlock the forging room to refine and purify Crystal Stones once it reached Level 10.

(Current points: 200,600)

She spent 200,000 points to upgrade the farm space to Level 6.

Farm Space: Level 6, Area: 350 square meters.

[Farm Breeding Ground Unlocked.]

Breeding Ground: Level 1, 100 square meters.

The animal icons in the store were also lit up.

Piglet: 20 points. Level 1. Maturation period: 120 hours (5 days). Area required: 5 square meters. Yields one 200-pound adult pig.

Lamb: 20 points. Level 1. Maturation period: 120 hours (5 days). Area required: 5 square meters. Yields one 200-pound adult sheep.

Other livestock shared similar stats.

However, it was currently summer and there was no shortage of prey, so she didn’t plan on starting livestock breeding just yet. Instead, she spent all her remaining points on crop seeds. Remembering the millet and pumpkin porridge she had mentioned to Ali before, she selected 5 bags of rice, 5 bags of millet, 5 bags of wheat, 5 bags of pumpkin, 5 bags of sweet potato, and 5 bags of corn. In total, she bought thirty bags of seeds, completely spending her 600 points.

Eighty square meters of wheat had already matured, freeing up 80 square meters of empty land. Combined with the newly acquired space, she had a total of 130 square meters available. The system automatically planted 13 bags of rice.

The next batch of crops to mature the fastest was 100 square meters of wheat, which would take 10 hours. Five bags of lychees and five bags of watermelons would mature in 52 hours. The slowest were the bok choy, green peppers, potatoes, and tomatoes, which still had 70 hours left—nearly three days before they could be eaten. Oh, how she longed for stir-fried meat with chili peppers, hot and sour shredded potatoes, and hot and sour cabbage!

Ophelia swallowed her saliva and exited the farm space.

Just as she finished eating breakfast, Klein and Ali came looking for her.

Ali looked at the Orah mandarins served as an after-meal fruit on the table. "Ophelia, is this fruit tasty?"

Seeing her greedy little look, Ophelia smiled and handed her the peeled mandarin. "Try it and you’ll find out."

Ali nodded and stuffed a segment of the mandarin into her mouth.

"It’s sweet and sour! It’s so good. Brother, you have to try some too." She forcefully shoved a piece into Klein’s mouth, giving him absolutely no chance to refuse.

Klein furrowed his brows and swallowed the fruit. "If you like it, we can trade for some to take back. Stop acting like such an ignorant country bumpkin."

"But I really haven’t seen any of the fruits you have here, Ophelia! And they’re all so delicious."

"HISS!" Ali suddenly covered her mouth with a sharp hiss of pain.

"What’s wrong? Did you bite your tongue?"

"I’m fine, Ophelia. It’s just that I’ve got a blister in my mouth, and my nose hurts a little."

Ophelia took a closer look and immediately understood. "You’re experiencing internal heat. You ate too many lychees last night."

"Ah? Internal heat? Is it serious? Am I going to die?" Ali’s little face scrunched up in distress like a bitter melon.

Klein’s expression also grew serious.

Ophelia rubbed Ali’s head and chuckled softly. "You won’t die. Just drink plenty of water and you’ll be fine. In the future, don’t eat too much fruit all at once."

Ali licked her lips, looking somewhat regretful. "Well... alright then."

Tyler had been standing guard silently by the side without saying a word. Klein keenly sniffed the air and noticed that the scent on Ophelia seemed to have changed. He slightly narrowed his tiger eyes and looked at the expressionless male. He clearly saw a little Golden Dragon with a coiled tail imprinted right over the male’s slightly heaving chest.

They had actually become mates.

Looking at the mate mark on Tyler’s body, Klein stroked his chin. What blatant favoritism this was. To imprint the beast mark over his most vital organ—he had unreservedly offered up his heart.

The group left the tribe and headed toward the secret cave. Upon reaching the entrance, Ophelia stopped in her tracks.

"You guys wait outside for a moment. I’ll go in first to see if they’ve delivered the food."

"Alright."

Ophelia bent down and slipped into the narrow cave. Ali, driven by curiosity, tried to follow her inside but was blocked by an arm.

"Huh? Why are you stopping me? I just want to take a look inside."

Tyler’s expression was indifferent. "The Princess will let you in later. You cannot enter right now."

"What’s the difference between now and later?" Ali scratched her head, unable to figure it out.

Sensing the situation, Klein raised his voice, "Ali, come back."