A Bountiful Harvest

A Bountiful Harvest

The smile on Chi Zhonglin's face froze. His mouth slowly fell open, and after a long while, he finally blurted out, "Holy shit!"

"That was over two hundred meters, wasn't it..." Ren Mian visually estimated the distance, her eyes filled with disbelief. She praised him sincerely, "That shot of yours has probably surpassed the level of a super Ranger. Even legendary Rangers are no better than this!"

Ji Xinghuo turned around and came back with a smile. "Luck. It was all luck."

Ren Mian gave a meaningful chuckle but said nothing more.

"Damn!" Only then did Chi Zhonglin recover his senses. Looking at the spider corpses strewn all around and then at how spotless he was, he could not help sighing. "I've been in the Star Realm for three or four years, but I've never had such an easy fight. I didn't do a thing, and it was already over."

Jiangnan Caiyi's figure appeared beside them. "Does Zhonglin-jun not like that?"

"Of course I like it. It feels incredible!"

Chi Zhonglin nodded repeatedly, his gaze at Ji Xinghuo filled with fervor. "So this is what it feels like to have a good shooter on the team. The difficulty of battle drops by more than one level, and I don't have to fight for my life anymore."

"Xinghuo-jun is truly amazing!"

Jiangnan Caiyi's face shone with admiration. She had killed one Shadow Lurking Spider herself, but aside from that, she had not needed to do anything.

Ji Xinghuo gave her a slight smile.

"Clean up the battlefield."

Ren Mian was in high spirits as well, but she had not forgotten the important matter at hand. The battle had ended quickly, but it had caused quite a commotion. It might attract other dangers.

The group began cutting up the spider corpses.

Jiangnan Caiyi was skilled at this sort of work. She was proficient in cooking, deft at cutting apart prey organs, and familiar with where Ability Seeds could be found on monsters.

Ji Xinghuo learned from her and used his tactical knife to collect the Ability Seeds.

Every unusual-grade Shadow Lurking Spider possessed Shadow Stealth. The Ability Seed was located in the spider's brain, shaped like a soybean-sized gland. It was pitch-black and soft, like a pellet of sheep droppings.

Shadow Stealth was a high-quality ability.

Although it was not the core ability of the Shadow Blade Class Template, it was indispensable as well. There was no need to worry about finding buyers, and it sold for around 150,000 Asia Yuan.

They collected nine Ability Seeds from the nine spiders, worth more than 1.35 million in total! Ji Xinghuo clicked his tongue in amazement.

No wonder Aberrants were so wealthy. The gains from a single battle could equal ten years of wages for an ordinary person.

As he cut out the Ability Seeds, he also retrieved the arrows he had fired one by one. Only a small number had damaged arrowheads or warped shafts. After minor repairs with tools, most could be reused, saving him money on buying arrows.

Finally, only the elite spider remained.

The four of them came to the corpse. Looking at the enormous spider lying before them, its hideous and ugly appearance was still somewhat frightening even though it was dead.

There were scorch marks on the spider's corpse, obviously caused by high-temperature electric currents.

The Capacitor Arrow was embedded in it, having pierced straight through its head.

"That 10,000 Asia Yuan wasn't wasted."

Ji Xinghuo said this with a smile to Chi Zhonglin, answering his earlier remark, before stepping forward to pull out the Capacitor Arrow. The arrow, made of hard superconducting alloy, was undamaged. Only its shaft was somewhat bent, while its interior remained intact.

"You're ruthless!"

Chi Zhonglin was thoroughly convinced.

It would not have been difficult for him to kill this elite Shadow Lurking Spider, but if it tried to flee, it would have been hard for him to stop it. Killing it this easily was out of the question.

Ren Mian examined the spider corpse for a moment and said, "As an elite leader, it should have more than one Ability Seed."

"I'll look."

Jiangnan Caiyi used her short knife to cut open the spider's head. After rummaging around for a few moments, she dug out a Shadow Stealth Ability Seed. Then, at the center of the spider's chest cavity where its legs connected, she carefully cut it open and dug deeper in search of another Ability Seed.

It was Ji Xinghuo's first time seeing such a huge monster up close, and he curiously reached out to touch it.

The moment his hand touched its icy skin, an interface suddenly popped up in his vision. His expression changed almost imperceptibly before returning to calm in an instant.

This interface was also divided into left and right sections. The left side was an information panel, while the right showed a virtual image of a spider.

Monster: Shadow Lurking Spider

Level: Elite

Ability Seeds: Shadow Stealth, Balance, Mind Shriek

The left side displayed the monster's information, while the virtual image on the right marked the locations of its Ability Seeds. Shadow Stealth was in the brain and was shown as missing. Balance was located at the connection point of the eight spider legs in the chest cavity, precisely where Jiangnan Caiyi had cut open. There was also another Ability Seed in its head.

Mind Shriek?

Ji Xinghuo examined it carefully. The Mind Shriek Ability Seed took the form of a piece of brain membrane mixed in with the brain matter, making it extremely difficult to detect.

"Found it!"

Jiangnan Caiyi used the tip of her knife to pick a clump of white fibers out of the spider's chest cavity. They looked like tangled strands of hair, slowly writhing as if alive.

This was the Balance Ability Seed.

It was a basic ability found on many monsters, so it was not particularly valuable. Its market price was around 30,000 Asia Yuan.

"Let me see." Ji Xinghuo took the Ability Seed directly in his hand.

The Ranger Class Template included Balance. He was somewhat interested, and the information interface opened before him as soon as he held it.

Ability Seed: Balance

Grade: Basic

Fusion Success Rate: 81%

Upgradeable: Yes

Only an 81% fusion success rate. Based on his previous speculation, the higher the fusion success rate, the greater the compatibility. Balance already had a decent success rate, but it was still far worse than Flash Step and Star Force.

Looks like I shouldn't fuse Balance. He had already ruled out this Ability Seed.

After finding the Balance Ability Seed, Jiangnan Caiyi did not stop. She switched to a katana and chopped off all six of the spider's legs, though she kept only the terminal sections.

"Caiyi?"

Ji Xinghuo was a little confused.

"Shadow Lurking Spider leg meat is an excellent delicacy, especially this section at the end of its legs. I'll cut it off and take it with us. When we make camp, I'll prepare a fine meal for everyone." Jiangnan Caiyi explained with a smile. "Then, I'll ask Xinghuo-jun to judge it."

"I'm already looking forward to it."

Ji Xinghuo replied, then pretended to be curious as he crouched down and cut at the spider's head a few times with his knife. He casually asked, "Could there be another Ability Seed?"

"Oh?" Ren Mian raised an eyebrow beside him. "You think there is?"

"I sensed it emitting a very unique magnetic field just now. I've never encountered it before. It was different from the other Shadow Lurking Spiders." Ji Xinghuo spoke with seven parts truth and three parts falsehood.

"I'll take a look."

Ren Mian took out a length of thorny vine.

Under her control, the vine rapidly grew and burrowed into the spider's head. Then, as though inflating a balloon, it forced the entire head apart without making it burst. Every organ and section of the brain was separated, all laid out clearly for them to see.

"There really is one!" She immediately found the Ability Seed. The thorny vine wrapped around the piece of brain membrane like a tentacle and delivered it in front of her.

Ren Mian quickly identified it and said in surprise, "It's actually Mind Shriek."

Chi Zhonglin and Jiangnan Caiyi were both taken aback as well.

Mind Shriek was a high-quality Ability Seed. Its grade was not particularly high, but it was extremely rare. It could launch an invisible mental attack against a target and was exceptionally difficult to guard against.

It was one of the Class Template abilities of a Mind Hacker, worth around 800,000 Asia Yuan.

"Good thing I didn't let that monster get close to me, or I would've suffered badly." Chi Zhonglin looked shaken.

If he had been hit by Mind Shriek, his body might have been fine, but his head would have hurt for days.

Ren Mian looked thoughtful. "I found it strange earlier. This spider swarm was far too large, more than half again as large as usual. So it had mastered Mind Shriek, which was why it could control such a huge swarm. I'd heard before that Shadow Lurking Spiders had a very small chance of awakening Mind Shriek. I never expected to actually encounter one today."

"Ren-jie is truly knowledgeable." Ji Xinghuo flattered her at the right moment.

"If you hadn't reminded me, I would have overlooked it." Ren Mian did not take credit. Instead, she said, "You killed this leader, and we barely contributed. We only found the Mind Shriek Ability Seed because of you, so you should have it all to yourself."

"Xiao Chi, Caiyi, what do you think?"

Naturally, neither of them objected.

Ji Xinghuo did not put on a show of refusal. After thanking them, he accepted the Ability Seed.

Once it was in his hand, the Myriad Stellar Eye interface displayed its information. Mind Shriek had only a 73% fusion success rate, indicating that it was not particularly suitable for him.

"Let's go."

After collecting and packing the Ability Seeds, the team did not linger any longer and immediately left the forest.

Beneath the Milky Way Reflection, the four traveled through the dim forest.

Their movement speed at night was naturally far slower than during the day. There were no paths in the forest, the terrain was complicated, and after around ten hours of travel, the team had advanced less than fifty kilometers.

They encountered three more battles along the way.

Each time, Ji Xinghuo spotted the danger in advance and warned his teammates.

Then Ren Mian activated the Thinking Necklace around her neck, linking the thoughts of the entire team so they could face the battle in perfect coordination.

However, none of these battles were particularly intense. There were only one or two unusual monsters each time, no elites, and very few enemies.

No one else even needed to act. Ji Xinghuo ended each battle with a few arrows.

As night approached, Ren Mian chose a campsite beneath a tree in a secluded hollow.

First, she set up a large tent among several trees, large enough for all four of them to move around in. She scattered a handful of seeds around it, and within minutes they grew into a dense patch of sturdy, thorny shrubs that covered the entire tent. They provided protection and prevented light from inside the tent from leaking out.

Several Beast-Repelling Grass plants were mixed in with the shrubs, giving off a pungent and unpleasant odor that could drive away many nearby beasts and insects.

Along the outermost perimeter, Bell Flowers had been planted in the ground. They would make noise when stepped on, like an alarm bell.

Between the shrubs surrounding the tent and the Bell Flowers, tough thorns and a kind of spiky chestnut fruit filled the space from the ground to midair. At the slightest touch, they would explode and shoot large numbers of spikes in every direction.

Ji Xinghuo was amazed.

The utility of a Plant Witch was simply too strong. They could do practically anything.

The large tent had plenty of internal space, nearly half the size of a room. It was not cramped at all, and a fluorescent lantern hung from the top.

This was a type of plant as well, and its light was bright.

Jiangnan Caiyi made everyone dinner using the spider leg meat. Just as she had said, it was incredibly delicious!

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

"Alright." Ji Xinghuo had no objections.

Another duty of a shooter was standing watch. This task was usually handled in turns by the members of the team with the strongest senses.

Ren Mian sat at the tent entrance.

Ji Xinghuo and the other two teammates took out their sleeping bags and climbed inside. Before long, steady breathing could be heard beside him.

Before sleeping, he opened the Myriad Stellar Eye interface. From the several battles today, he had gained 15 points of Spirit Source Energy.

Thirteen points had come from the spider swarm. The elite Shadow Lurking Spider had provided 4 points, while the remaining 2 points came from the later battles.

Fifteen points! Ji Xinghuo was exhilarated. The progress of Rotating Magnetic Field was level one, 102/359. If he could gain more than 10 points of Spirit Source Energy every day, he could raise it to level two in just over a month! Besides the Spirit Source Energy, there was also the Mind Shriek Ability Seed worth 800,000, along with his share of the earnings from the other Ability Seeds. His income today had definitely exceeded one million Asia Yuan.

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

It was an absolute bumper harvest!

After tallying his gains, Ji Xinghuo was thoroughly satisfied. Filled with anticipation for the rest of the hunting journey, he soon drifted off to sleep.