Chapter 546: King of Ideas in the Forest

The Northern Domain, Deer Spirit Ice and Snow Ecological Tourism Village.

A room that looked like an animal hide tent on the outside, but had been renovated into a brick house on the inside, complete with Magic Energy wiring.

The Magic Vision Device was playing a news program from the Red Dragon Broadcasting Station.

“The former Broken Tooth Dragon Hunting Corps officially announced yesterday that it has signed a contract with the Zog Group, becoming the Broken Tooth Dragon Breeding Corps. It is dedicated to applying its years of accumulated biological knowledge of the Dragon Race to the field of nurturing Juvenile Dragons.

“Furthermore, the Dragon Breeding Corps, along with the children from the Deepwater City Dragon Race Kindergarten, will star in Feilin’s first-ever Shadow of Evil featuring both humans and Dragons. Stay tuned.

“The transformation of the Broken Tooth Dragon Hunting Corps is an important step in the Dragon Race’s integration into society…”

Little Deer watched the Magic Vision Device, taking notes in his little notebook for essay ideas.

‘The Dragon Hunting Corps’ transformation is an adaptation to the changing times. When faced with a changing world, one must learn to adjust to new things and seize new opportunities…’

Frozen was a strange kind of Shadow of Evil. Most of the actors who were in it didn’t go on to pursue acting careers, instead returning to their quiet lives. It was as if that Shadow of Evil was just a small side quest in their lives, having little effect on the main story.

Little Deer’s older brother, Grove, was still the same Ice Gatherer as before, but he had learned the art of ice sculpting and now helped build the Ice and Snow Paradise every winter.

This was because Magical Machines were now used for ice gathering. While they increased efficiency severalfold, they also eliminated the need for so many workers.

During the summer, Grove would go into the mountains to gather wild produce. He had originally planned to return to the village to help out during the summer.

But as it turned out, there were no tourists in the village during the summer; summer was the off-season for tourism in the Northern Domain.

The entire original Deer Spirit Tribe had become a rural tourism village and relocated to a spot closer to Winter City.

This made it more convenient for the tribespeople to go into the city and for tourists to visit.

The only thing the tribespeople didn’t understand was just how bored the outsiders must be to want to experience what was once their arduous and exhausting way of life.

The Elder Grandma was no longer as resistant to the outside world.

Opening the tourist village was also just a way to give the tribespeople something to do.

In truth, they weren’t short on money.

Because the Deer Spirit Divine Remains had been requisitioned, the Zog Group gave the tribe a large subsidy each year.

But the Elder Grandma firmly believed that if people didn’t have honest work, they would waste away.

And what counted as honest work?

There was no clear definition for that.

Oh, right. The Elder Grandma’s prophecy sessions were the most popular attraction in the village.

She used the most theatrically mystical methods to deliver the most scientific, big-data-driven “prophecies.”

As for the tribe’s original site, it had been completely sealed off by the Zog Group, who claimed it was a critical server facility.

The relocated village was situated between the original site and Winter City, which led to another of the village’s unique features.

It had the fastest internet in the entire Northern Domain.

“Testing internet speeds in Deer Spirit Village” once became a trending topic on YouTube, with many influencers flocking there to follow the trend.

He wasn’t sure if it was just his imagination, but Little Deer felt that the last time he saw the Deer Spirit, It seemed a couple of sizes larger.

Little Deer had been very attached to his old home, and when he learned the tribe was moving, he was sad for days.

Then, he was won over by the convenience of a life with Magic Energy piped right into his house.

‘It was just too convenient.’

No need to burn firewood; he just had to turn on a heater, and the whole room would become warm. He no longer had to sleep under layers of thick, heavy blankets.

He’d heard that the Northern Domain was even planning to follow Deepwater City’s example and install running water in every home—water that would just flow out when you turned a tap. The very idea was amazing.

As for Little Deer himself, he was now in school.

He was keenly aware that he wasn’t cut out for acting. He figured it was better to study hard so that one day he, too, could create amazing things like heaters and running water systems.

To achieve that goal, he had to get into Hogwarts.

An extra-thick desk calendar in his room displayed a countdown: 913 days left until the Hogwarts entrance exam.

But right now, his grades were nowhere near good enough.

Especially in language arts.

He never expected his language arts to be so poor, while he was surprisingly decent at the sciences, which he had never studied before.

Especially the essays. On the essay portion of the Hogwarts entrance exam, which was worth a total of sixty points, he had never scored higher than forty-five on the practice tests.

‘He just couldn’t get the hang of it.’

So, he had no choice but to buy a huge pile of prep books, like Manchu Essay Explanations, Analysis of Excellent Compositions, and One Thousand Golden Sentences for Exam Essays…

‘It was strange, though. The Hogwarts entrance exam had only been held a few times. Where did all these perfect-score essays come from?’

‘Could it be that the test creators deliberately leaked them to sell prep books?’

Still, the books were pretty useful. At the very least, he learned the formulaic approach to writing. What he lacked now was a more polished style and a good collection of source material for his essays.

This was why he watched the news every day.

‘He needed both historical anecdotes and knowledge of current events.’

‘Be comprehensive!’

Just as he was about to continue outlining his material, the door was thrown open.

“Little Deer! Little Deer! Quick, change the channel! The premiere of Snow Child is about to start!”

The ones who came in were a few of Little Deer’s friends from the village, all around his age.

“I’m practicing my writing. Don’t be so loud.”

“Who cares about writing! Hurry up and watch the cartoon!” one of his friends said, snatching the remote control.

As the number of Magic Vision Stations grew, the Magic Vision Devices had been upgraded to come with remote controls.

“It’s not like you don’t have Magic Vision Devices at home. Why do you insist on coming here to watch?”

Little Deer pretended to be annoyed, but secretly, he was thrilled.

He didn’t really want to watch the news either, but he felt guilty when he wasn’t studying. At times like this, he needed someone else to take on the “blame” for him.