Chapter 36: Dragonbone Pattern

This was, up until now, the only time Duoya had shown any real emotional fluctuation.

In fact, before Su You chose Duoya as her candidate, she had already guessed that Duoya would be a difficult NPC to recruit. After all, the more powerful an NPC was, the higher their demands for the territory would be.

If Su You had chosen Duolin or Duomi instead, her chances of successfully recruiting them would have been much higher, since those two weren’t particularly strong NPCs, and they were both quite young.

Youngsters, inexperienced in the ways of the world, are much easier to persuade (or fool).

But she still chose Duoya, because every NPC has their own preferences and needs—and what Duoya wanted was this bow.

That was also why Su You had felt confident she could get Duoya to join her territory.

Because she had seen the half-exposed broken bow, recognized the material it was made from, and guessed who its owner was.

“You really know what this material is?” Duoya seemed a little agitated, staring straight at Su You, trying to read any sign of guilt or uncertainty from her face.

But she saw nothing.

“That’s right. Not only do I know what this broken bow is made of, I also know how to obtain the material.” Though, in truth, she only knew the method—she’d never actually acquired it herself.

This material was no ordinary thing. Even back when she had a max-level account, she’d never managed to get her hands on it, let alone now.

As for Duoya in front of her… it was even less likely she could get it.

“What do you want? As long as it’s something I have, I’m willing to trade it for this information.” Duoya did have some doubts about whether Su You was lying, but she couldn’t think of any reason for Su You to deceive her—after all, there was nothing for her to gain.

So she was willing to believe Su You, though her trust was tinged with a sense of “trying anything in desperation.”

Less than a year after her father left, her mother passed away in grief, and even the young sable her father had given her… Now, all she had left was this bow.

As long as she could repair it, she was willing to pay any price.

At this moment, Su You didn’t know about Duoya’s mother or the young sable, since those were part of the “supplementary story”… Su You only knew that such stories existed, not what they contained.

A supplementary story meant the system would automatically fill in a reasonable backstory, giving these NPCs a reason to be here.

Otherwise, if Duoya’s father had left but her mother was still around, there’s no way she would have abandoned her mother just to wander the world in search of a way to repair a bow.

No matter what, an object can’t compare to a living person—Duoya wasn’t an irrational person.

But now, she was all alone, and the only thing worth remembering was this bow. That’s why she could travel mountains and rivers, all across the land, just to repair it… In this way, the story made much more sense.

Some people, after learning about the concept of supplementary stories, might wonder, “If you don’t choose Duoya, wouldn’t she at least get to live with her mother?” It’s as if the player’s choice is the butterfly’s wing that erases Duoya’s mother from existence.

But that’s not actually the case.

If Su You hadn’t chosen Duoya, then Duoya simply wouldn’t exist in this world at all.

…

Back to the present—Su You actually didn’t mind telling Duoya about the material and where it came from. But her ultimate goal was to gain favor, to get Duoya to stay.

But from the look of things, Duoya’s idea was to learn the source of the material, then try to get it herself and repair the bow.

That was exactly what Su You didn’t want to see.

“I can tell you about the material for free, but then what? What are you planning to do?” Su You didn’t wait for Duoya to answer before continuing, “I don’t know what this bow means to you, but I can tell you clearly—even if you know what the material is, you won’t be able to get it.”

Duoya: “…”

Duoya didn’t know Su You wanted her to stay, so she was confused as to why Su You was saying all this.

After all, there was no real connection between them—they were just strangers. Whether or not she could get the material, what did it have to do with Su You?

No matter how clever Duoya was, she was no match for Su You—after all, Su You had cleared the game before and was well-versed in the art of talking to NPCs.

So, just as Duoya was about to say, “This doesn’t really have much to do with you, Lord Su,” Su You spoke up again.

“Let me tell you about the material first… It’s called ‘Dragonbone Pattern.’ But it’s not the bone of a dragon, nor is it the bone of any other creature. It’s actually a type of tree that grows in a dragon’s lair, nurtured and irrigated with dragon blood.”

If nothing else, just from the name alone, you could tell this material was extraordinary.

And after hearing the details, it was even clearer how rare and precious it was… In fact, “rare and precious” didn’t even begin to describe the scarcity of Dragonbone Pattern.

No wonder Su You had never managed to get it before—dragons were not easy to deal with, and if they were willing to irrigate something with their own blood, it meant the Dragonbone Pattern was valuable to dragons themselves… Which made it even less likely they’d ever trade it away.

Maybe it was because what Su You said was so shocking, but Duoya’s eyes flickered with suspicion and confusion.

She didn’t really trust Su You’s words, even though she couldn’t see any reason for Su You to lie.

“Lord Su, this is my father’s bow. He was just an ordinary hunter—how could he possibly have a bow made from something as rare as Dragonbone Pattern?”

It wasn’t that Duoya was belittling her father, but she simply couldn’t believe that someone powerful enough to possess Dragonbone Pattern would die to a pack of wolves.

In other words, if this really was a Dragonbone Pattern bow, then how could it fail against wolves?

Duoya wanted to believe it was made from Dragonbone Pattern, but only if her father hadn’t died.

To Duoya, what Su You said was completely contradictory, though Su You herself “didn’t know” where the contradiction lay.

But in reality, Su You did know Duoya’s story, knew who the bow’s owner was, and knew that an ordinary hunter couldn’t possibly have a bow made from Dragonbone Pattern…

But so what?

Whether an ordinary NPC could have a Dragonbone Pattern bow wasn’t Su You’s concern. All she needed to do was prove what she said was true… in other words, to prove that this was Dragonbone Pattern."