She had 94 crossbow bolts left, so she'd save them if she could. After all, she didn't have a blueprint for making more.
This fight would mainly rely on skills.
[Small Light Ball Technique: Attack Skill. Damage dealt: Own spell attack +10 Spirit consumed: 10 Cooldown: 60 seconds]
Each cast dealt 130 damage—enough to take down the version of herself from five hours ago in one hit.
Even with a one-minute cooldown, the monsters couldn't get in, so she didn't have to worry about getting hurt.
The only thing she had to watch out for was letting them escape. That was why she'd taken out the Star Feather Repeating Crossbow.
The sea breeze carried the smell of blood away. Ji Xinghe looked at the dark red stains on the beach. "The sun's so strong, the blood's almost dried up..."
To keep the smell from fading, she grabbed a crossbow bolt and viciously slashed at the Great Black Shark's corpse.
The next moment, fresh, hot blood gushed out again.
Suddenly, a string of strange objects rose from the waves ahead.
When they drew closer, Ji Xinghe finally made them out: a clump of dark green stuff that looked like seaweed.
Her gaze sharpened. She swung her right hand forward. "Small Light Ball Technique!"
The pale white orb struck the clump of seaweed dead on: -130 HP.
[Rank One Ink Blood Grass Beast (Level 3)]
[HP remaining: 70]
[Attack: 10, Defense: 10]
[Skill: Split Rebirth (After death, it can split into Ink Blood Grass Seeds and revive)]
"So that's how it works..."
She hadn't encountered this kind of rebirth monster in her previous life. She had no idea how tough it was.
Ji Xinghe rested her chin in her hand and thought for a moment. Then she kept her finger pressed on the Star Feather Repeating Crossbow's firing button. The moment she lifted it, a bolt would shoot out automatically.
If it didn't run, she could wait a few dozen seconds.
Sensing the attack, the Ink Blood Grass Beast raced toward her, the seaweed beneath it moving like legs.
It couldn't die for good, so what was it afraid of?
There was delicious food over there, and that person smelled so good. It wanted to eat her.
In less than a minute, the Ink Blood Grass Beast reached the Protective Shield.
Right on time—Ji Xinghe's skill had finished cooling down.
One cast later, the Ink Blood Grass Beast was floating on the water.
[You have killed a Rank One Ink Blood Grass Beast above your level. Experience Points +3, Wow Coins +1]
As soon as the system's mechanical announcement ended, the seaweed that had split apart all over the Ink Blood Grass Beast's body pieced itself back together.
This time, she could see its status panel directly.
[Rank One Ink Blood Grass Beast (Level 2)]
[HP remaining: 170]
[Attack: 10, Defense: 10]
[Skill: Split Rebirth (After death, it can split into Ink Blood Grass Seeds and revive)]
Ji Xinghe frowned. "Why did it drop a level? And its HP's full again?"
Then she released the trigger, and a bolt shot straight out!
[Hit the Ink Blood Grass Beast. HP -60.4, Bleed triggered -1, -1]
[Skill hit the Ink Blood Grass Beast. HP -130]
[System: You have killed a Rank One Ink Blood Grass Beast above your level. Experience Points +2, Wow Coins +1]
The next second, the thing pieced itself back together again.
[Rank One Ink Blood Grass Beast (Level 1)]
[HP remaining: 130...]
"It dropped again. I wonder how much longer it can keep going," Ji Xinghe thought.
Meanwhile, the Ink Blood Grass Beast finally reached the Protective Shield.
It was happy to be so close to the delicious-smelling food. Then another light orb struck it.
[System: You have killed a Rank One Ink Blood Grass Beast. Experience Points +1, Wow Coins +1]
After using her skill four times in a row, her Spirit was struggling to recover.
Before the fight, she hadn't expected to run into an Ink Blood Grass Beast, so she hadn't loaded bolts into the Star Feather Repeating Crossbow.
The next moment, the creature finished re-forming with only 100 HP left. It turned around, only to be killed outright by two of Ji Xinghe's bolts.
[System: You have killed a Rank One Ink Blood Grass Beast. Experience Points +1, Wow Coins +1]
[Rank One Ink Blood Grass Beast (Level 1)]
[HP remaining: 130...]
It was still level 1. It seemed it wouldn't drop any further.
After that, Ji Xinghe was like a bug in the system: every time the Ink Blood Grass Beast re-formed, her arrow was already on its way.
The system announcements rang continuously in her ears.
Half an hour later.
Ji Xinghe rubbed her aching head and looked at her empty quiver and less than ten Spirit left. With no choice, she let the Ink Blood Grass Beast escape...
Seeing it was still alive, the Ink Blood Grass Beast trembled all over.
Then it turned and fled without looking back, as if afraid Ji Xinghe would catch it again.
She didn't even get the monster's corpse!
At least she'd gained 57 Experience Points, 54 Wow Coins, and 5 Raw Wood Treasure Chests, so it wasn't a total loss.
"My ways of attacking are still too limited."
She had to get more bolts to prepare for the Beginner Trial. If all else failed, she'd have to fall back on her old trade and make Wood Arrows herself.
But arrows she made herself wouldn't get an attack bonus, and she'd thought it would take too much time. That was why Ji Xinghe hadn't considered it before.
Who would've thought her bolts would run out in barely half an hour?
She put the Star Feather Repeating Crossbow and both corpses back in her backpack.
Ji Xinghe turned and went back to the Shelter, then took out the Water Purifiers she'd finished making.
"Water Purifier"
"Property: Purifies unfiltered water such as seawater and lake water. Purification ratio: 1000 ml seawater : 500 ml Pure Water.
Purification per hour: 1000 ml seawater"
Each purifier produced 500 ml of Pure Water an hour. She had nine of them, which meant she could collect 108 L of Pure Water a day.
There were too many Water Purifiers to fit in the living room, so she put one beside the kitchen and placed the rest by the entrance.
The right side had been bare. Putting the Water Purifiers there made it look much better.
She was running low on wood, and there were only 100 units left in the Storage Box.
Ji Xinghe opened the Trade Market. She had 50 wood left, so she took it off the market at once.
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