Chapter 37: Bountiful Harvest

Chapter 37: Bountiful Harvest

A smile froze on Chi Zhonglin's face, his mouth slowly dropping open. After a long pause, he exclaimed, "Holy sht!"

Ren Mian estimated the distance with his eyes, amazement filling his eyes as he sincerely exclaimed, "That shot must have gone over 200 meters! You've surpassed the level of a Super Ranger with that arrow; even a Legendary Ranger wouldn't be much better!"

Ji Xinghuo turned around and smiled, "It's all luck."

Ren Mian gave a meaningful laugh but didn't say anything further.

"Damn!" Chi Zhonglin finally regained his senses, looking at the spider corpses all around and his own clean state. He couldn't help but exclaim, "I've been in the Star Realm for three to four years now, and I've never experienced such an easy battle. It's over and I didn't even do anything."

Jiang Nancai's figure appeared beside him, "Do you think that's a bad thing, Zhonglin?"

"Of course not, it feels amazing!"

Chi Zhonglin nodded repeatedly, his eyes shining with enthusiasm as he looked at Ji Xinghuo, "Now I know how it feels to have a good archer in the team. The difficulty of battles has dropped by more than one level, and I don't have to risk my life anymore."

"Xinghuo is truly amazing!"

Jiang Nancai's face lit up with admiration. She had killed one of the Shadow Prowling Spiders, but aside from that, she hadn't exerted much effort.

Ji Xinghuo gave her a slight smile.

"Let's clean up the battlefield."

Ren Mian's mood was also pleasant, but he didn't forget their main task. The battle had ended quickly, but it had been quite loud, and it might attract other dangers.

The four of them began to cut up the spider corpses.

Jiang Nancai was skilled in this area, as she was adept in culinary arts. She efficiently cut up the creatures' organs and knew exactly where to find the exotic species within the monsters.

Ji Xinghuo learned from her, using his tactical knife to collect the exotic species.

The Strange-ranked Shadow Prowling Spiders each had an exotic species called "Shadow Escape", located in the spider's brain. It appeared as a pea-sized gland, pitch-black like ink, soft like a lump of sheep droppings.

"Shadow Escape" was a quality exotic ability.

While it wasn't a core ability of the "Shadow Blade" profession template, it was still essential and would sell well. Its price was around 150,000 Asian Yuan.

With nine spiders, they had collected nine exotic species, totaling more than 1.35 million Asian Yuan! Ji Xinghuo couldn't help but be astonished.

No wonder the Exotics were so rich. The earnings from a single battle could match the salary of an ordinary person working for ten years.

As he cut up the exotic species, he also retrieved the arrows he had shot, finding that only a small portion of the arrowheads were damaged or the shafts deformed. With a little repair work, most of them could be reused, saving him a lot of money on arrows.

Finally, they turned to the elite-level spider.

The four of them approached the corpse, staring at the massive spider before them. Even in death, its ferocious and ugly appearance was still intimidating.

There were burn marks on the spider's corpse, obviously caused by high-temperature electricity.

The Capacitor Arrow was stuck in its body, having pierced straight through its brain.

"That's 10,000 Asian Yuan saved."

Ji Xinghuo smiled as he said this to Chi Zhonglin, responding to his earlier comment. Then, he walked forward and pulled out the Capacitor Arrow. The tough superconducting alloy arrow was undamaged, though the shaft was a bit twisted, the interior remained intact.

"You're amazing!"

Chi Zhonglin was thoroughly convinced.

While he could have taken down this elite Shadow Prowling Spider, it would have been difficult for him to prevent it from escaping, let alone defeat it so effortlessly.

Ren Mian examined the spider's corpse and said, "An elite leader like this should have more than one exotic species."

"I'll take a look."

Jiang Nancai used her short dagger to cut open the spider's head and rummaged around, digging out a "Shadow Escape" exotic species. Then, she carefully cut open the area where the chest cavity connected to the spider's legs and dug deeper, searching for another exotic species.

This was the first time Ji Xinghuo had seen such a large monster up close, and he curiously reached out to touch it.

As his hand touched the cold, icy skin, suddenly, a interface popped up in his field of vision, and his face twitched slightly before returning to calm.

This interface was also divided into two parts, with the left side displaying information and the right side showing a virtual form of the spider.

[Monster: Shadow Prowling Spider]



[Rank: Elite]



[Exotic Species: Shadow Escape, Balance, Mental Scream]



The left side displayed the monster's information, while the right side, on the virtual form, indicated the locations of the exotic species. Shadow Escape was marked as missing from the brain, Balance was located in the chest cavity where the eight spider legs connected, which was the area Jiang Nancai had cut open, and there was another exotic species in the brain.

Mental Scream?

Ji Xinghuo examined it closely and saw that the exotic species for Mental Scream was a piece of brain tissue membrane, intertwined with the brainstem, making it very difficult to discover.

"Found it!"

Jiang Nancai used the tip of her knife to pull out a clump of white fibers from the spider's chest cavity. They writhed slowly, resembling living things.

This was the exotic species for "Balance".

It was a basic exotic ability, found on many monsters, so its value wasn't too high. Its market price was around 30,000 Asian Yuan.

"Let me see." Ji Xinghuo directly took the exotic species in his hand.

As a Ranger, his profession template included Balance, so he was curious. As he held it, an information interface appeared before him.

[Exotic Species: Balance]



[Grade: Basic]



[Fusion Success Rate: 81%]



[Upgradeable: Yes]



Ji Xinghuo thought to himself that the fusion success rate was only 81%. According to his earlier speculation, a higher success rate meant a higher degree of fit. While 81% was a good success rate, it was still much lower than the rates for Flash Step and Star Power.

"It seems I shouldn't fuse with Balance." He had already ruled out this exotic species.

After finding the Balance exotic species, Jiang Nancai didn't stop. Instead, she switched to a katana and cut off all six of the spider's legs, keeping only the very ends.

"Nancai?"

Ji Xinghuo was a little puzzled.

"The meat from the legs of the Shadow Prowling Spiders is a delicacy, especially the lower part of the legs. I'll cut them off and take them with us. When we set up camp, I'll cook a delicious meal for everyone."

"I detected a unique magnetic field emanating from it just now, something I've never encountered before, different from the other Shadow Prowling Spiders." Ji Xinghuo spoke with a mix of truth and exaggeration.

"Let me take a look."

Ren Mian took out a segment of the briar.

Under her control, the briar quickly grew and drilled into the spider's head, then inflated it like a balloon without causing an explosion. Each organ in the brain was dissected and laid bare.

"There really is one!" She immediately found the exotic species and used the briar like a tentacle to coil around the brain membrane, bringing it forward.

Ren Mian quickly identified it and exclaimed in delight, "It's Mental Scream!"

Chi Zhonglin and Jiang Nancai were also surprised.

Mental Scream was a quality exotic species, not of high grade but extremely rare. It could launch an invisible spiritual attack on a target, making it extremely difficult to guard against.

This was one of the template abilities of the "Mind Hacker" profession, valued at about 800,000 Asian Yuan.

"It's a good thing I didn't let that monster get close to me, or I would've been in for a world of hurt." Chi Zhonglin's face paled at the thought.

If one fell victim to Mental Scream, their body might be fine, but their head would be in agony for days.

Ren Mian looked thoughtful, "I found it strange earlier that this spider swarm was too large, with more than half the usual number. Now it turns out that it had mastered Mental Scream, which is why it could control such a massive swarm. I've heard that there's a very low probability that Shadow Prowling Spiders will awaken Mental Scream, and today we actually encountered one."

"Sister Mian is truly knowledgeable." Ji Xinghuo took the opportunity to flatter her.

"If it weren't for your reminder, I would've overlooked it." Ren Mian didn't take credit but instead said, "You're the one who took down this leader, and we didn't put in much effort. The Mental Scream exotic species was also discovered because of you, so this exotic species is yours alone."

"What do you think, Zhonglin and Caiyi?"

The two naturally had no objections.

Ji Xinghuo didn't hesitate and graciously accepted it after expressing his thanks.

Holding it in his hand, the interface of the Myriad Star Pupils displayed the information. The fusion success rate of Mental Scream was only 73%, indicating that it wasn't a good fit for him.

"Let's go."

Without further delay, the team collected and packaged the exotic species and left the forest.

Under the reflection of the galaxy, the four traveled through the dim forest.

Their traveling speed at night was naturally much slower than during the day, and without any paths in the forest, the complex terrain made their progress slow. After walking for about ten hours, they had covered less than fifty kilometers.

Along the way, they encountered three more battles.

Each time, Ji Xinghuo detected the enemies ahead of time and alerted his teammates.

Then Ren Mian would activate the "Thought Necklace" she wore around her neck, connecting the team's thoughts and seamlessly coordinating their battle strategies.

However, these battles weren't intense. There were only one or two strange monsters each time, no elites, and their numbers were small.

Ji Xinghuo alone handled them with a few arrows, without the need for anyone else to step in.

As night was falling, Ren Mian chose a campsite under a tree in a secluded mountain hollow.

First, she set up a large tent big enough for the four of them to move around in. She then scattered a handful of seeds around the perimeter, which grew into a thicket of sturdy thorn bushes within minutes, providing cover for the tent and preventing any light from escaping.

Mixed in with the bushes were a few beast-repelling grasses, which emitted a pungent and unpleasant odor that could drive away many approaching beasts and insects.

On the outermost circle, she planted "Bellflowers" on the ground. If stepped on, these flowers would make a ringing sound, like an alarm bell.

Between the bellflowers and the tent surrounded by bushes, there were resilient briars and a type of cone-bearing fruit that exploded on contact, shooting out sharp spikes in all directions.

Ji Xinghuo was amazed by the setup.

The functional abilities of a Plant Witch were indeed formidable, seemingly limitless.

The interior of the large tent was quite spacious, almost half the size of a room, and not at all cramped. A glowing lantern hung from the top of the tent, providing bright light.

Jiang Nancai cooked dinner for everyone using the meat from the spider's legs, and it was indeed delicious, just as she had promised.

"Tonight, I'll take the first watch with Xinghuo." After dinner, Ren Mian made the arrangements, "I'll take the first half of the night, and you, Xinghuo, can take the second half."

"Okay." Ji Xinghuo indicated that he had no problem with that.

Another responsibility of the archer was to stand watch, and this task was usually rotated among the team members with the strongest senses.

Ren Mian sat at the entrance of the tent.

Ji Xinghuo and the other two teammates got into their sleeping bags and soon, the sound of their steady breathing filled the air.

Before falling asleep, Ji Xinghuo opened the interface of the Myriad Star Pupils. From the day's battles, he had gained 15 points of Spiritual Source Energy.

13 points came from the group of spiders, with the elite Shadow Prowling Spider providing 4 points, and the remaining 2 points from the subsequent encounters.

15 points! Ji Xinghuo felt exhilarated.

The progress of the Rotating Magnetic Field was at 102/359 for the first level. If he could gain more than 10 points of Spiritual Source Energy every day, he would be able to reach the second level in just over a month! In addition to the Spiritual Source Energy, there was also the 800,000 Asian Yuan value of the Mental Scream exotic species, as well as the earnings from other exotic species. Today's income had definitely exceeded one million Asian Yuan.

On the first day of hunting, he had earned back the money he spent on equipment.

It was indeed a bountiful harvest!

After tallying their gains, Ji Xinghuo felt content and soon fell asleep, eagerly anticipating the adventures that awaited them on their hunting trip.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end