Athena in Tower Defense Game! [LitRPG]

"Don't kill them," Athena calmly took away the parchment from the lost soul's hands while saying leisurely.

The lost soul knew its little trick had been discovered, quietly retracting the spreading black threads on the ground. Only then did Athena open the parchment.

"Something terrible coming?" Athena frowned, staring at the parchment intently, contemplating interrogating the lost soul for clarification.

But the lost soul agilely dodged her oppressive gaze, shaking its heads repeatedly, indicating it knew what she wanted to ask.

Under Athena's scrutinizing gaze, the lost soul still spoke up, its voice still tender.

"I really don't know, I just feel the darkness stirring recently, and it's terrifying!"

After staring at it for a while, realizing she couldn't inquire further, Athena returned the parchment to the lost soul. She truly feared this guy would be so 'broke' that he wouldn't even have parchment for the next message delivery.

After the lost soul left, Athena patted the heads of the two lions as encouragement and returned to her room.

Something terrible?

It shouldn't refer to the iron beetles; what could it be? Even the lost soul didn't feel afraid of the last nest.

---

While Athena contemplated, the purple text issued familiar prompts once again. Seeing Athena unaffected, still lost in thought, the purple text issued another prompt.

"It's too late to go out risking it." A white package, if it were blue or gold, she might consider it herself. But despite her recent exploits, the risk in this case was too high for some unknown reason. Probably a monster far stronger than her? Anyway, no sane person will bet their life on a toss coin. 

---

The ball of grass twirled around Athena's legs persistently, even when she pushed it away, it came back relentlessly.

"Meow~ Meow Meow~"

When it came back, it didn't forget to slap the rabbit over and then meowed at Athena with innocent eyes, a real sly cat. Meanwhile, it ran back and forth between Athena and the wooden door.

Athena understood its intention, picking it up from mid-air as it attempted to pass through the door.

"No." A cold statement shattered the grass ball cat's as it lay on the ground, whimpering.

The grass ball cat could move in the darkness without being corroded by it, coupled with the rabbit's ability to carry weight, sending them out together might actually bring the package back.

"This time, we don't know if there are monsters accompanying the package. Sending you out is asking for trouble."

Hearing this, the grass ball cat excitedly dragged the panda over again.

Fight, transport, reconnaissance, can they go out now?

Unfortunately, Athena's gaze remained cold. Of course, she believed they could bring the package back. But it's just a white package, and these three little ones are precious assets themselves, plus their loyalty, though it has increased significantly, it's still below 80.

The three huddled together, each more mournful than the other, one more plaintive than the next, like they were holding a criticism meeting against Athena.

There are barriers around, if the three of them escape, it would take some time to catch them again, although it would be troublesome.

But trust is mutual...

Athena finally left the three of them at the door, "If you encounter enemies you can't beat, run away quickly."

That's acquiescence.

Opening a crack in the door, they bounced out joyfully.

Once again, she wrote down the received information on the slate with charcoal, waiting for almost half an hour, and they still hadn't returned.

Athena wasn't worried, leaving a small crack in the door, she chose to enter the realm of dreams.

Before the morning sun could enter the room, Athena felt shortness of breath and chest tightness, abruptly awakened.

Opening her eyes, she stared firmly at several creatures bouncing back and forth on the bed, occasionally jumping over her belly. She beat each one and put them in the corner, facing the wall.

There was a white package there, brought back by the three little ones after Athena fell asleep last night.

A standard reward.

Athena unpacked the package in front of them, placing the items in front of them.

"It's yours." Athena said calmly, although it was they who found it.

The three of them happily circled around their harvest.

While boiling water in the pot, Athena did a set of exercises, then went out to practice archery. Returning, she prepared a hearty breakfast, intending to cook lean meat porridge with the rice she got earlier.

---

Thinking about the axe she threw into the smelter yesterday, Athena entered the small wooden hut on the right. Reaching out above the smelting furnace, a pop-up window appeared.

Athena successfully obtained two pieces of iron and inspected their descriptions.

This was the first time Athena had seen an item priced for direct sale to the system market. Although items like wood blocks and weeds can be sold to the system, their prices are extremely low. 1 silver coin equals 100 copper coins, how much can she buy with that?

And with the five pieces of iron ore she obtained earlier, Athena took them all out and chose to smelt them.

She hit the jackpot, she could sell as much of this iron ore as she wanted, she had been eyeing the items in the system market for a long time. And because the special mission had ended, all the items in the system, like blankets, were back on sale.

As well as the three special ores she had obtained before, and the remaining 20 ores, she eagerly took out these two types of ores and placed them on the workbench, trying to smelt them next to the furnace.

She thought she could get rich overnight, but she still fell short. Thinking from another angle, she couldn't smelt them now, it must be because these two types of ores were more valuable.

This kind of ore, named [Ore], was transparent white yet exceptionally sturdy. Athena initially suspected it was diamond, but later dismissed that idea.

As far as she knew, this ore could only be used to upgrade the level three shelter, she didn't know anything else about it.

As for the special ore, its information was even more of a series of question marks. As for the two pieces of iron she smelted first, Athena chose to sell them to the system and received two silver coins.

---

With over two hours left, Athena browsed through the system store.

With only 2 silver coins in her hand, she once again felt impoverished, because many things in the system had dropped in price after the scene ended, and the lighter had dropped from 1 gold coin to half price, 50 silver coins!

Finally, she spent 1 silver coin to buy a quilt, 49 flame enhancers, two pairs of grass shoes, and various seasonings, spending every penny.

Why not buy all flame enhancers?

After so long, she finally had a quilt, but unfortunately, she couldn't use it now because of the scorching weather outside. Sleeping on a grass mat was cooler.