Monkey-Head Mushroom Seeds

This Monkey-Head Ghost was still alive.

Its mouth was visibly opening in a silent roar, yet not a single sound could be heard. It was exceedingly agitated.

It raised its head toward Chen Fan, opened its blood basin of a mouth, bared its fangs, and let out a threatening silent roar.

It struggled desperately, but could not break free at all.

Each time it swung its claws, it left a trail of black mist in the air.

"Rip!"

Crippled Monkey had already thrust his spear at the first opportunity, striking the Monkey-Head Ghost squarely in the mouth. He swiftly pulled it out and stabbed again. Before long, the Monkey-Head Ghost lost all signs of life and collapsed where it stood.

"Nicely done."

Chen Fan let out a long breath. So far, things were progressing fairly smoothly. Tonight, he might harvest more than ten Eerie Stones!

This was an excellent start.

Tomorrow, he could use these Eerie Stones to make more Beast Traps and keep rolling the snowball bigger and bigger. Before long, he would escape his current predicament of scarce resources.

The original knife had been too short.

It was too easy to get hurt.

So he dismantled a stick from the Wooden Hut, tied the knife to its end, and made a simple spear. The results were not bad.

"Dig up the corpse."

Chen Fan tossed the Beast Trap back into the darkness and gave the order.

The Eerie Stones dug out now could be used to make more Beast Traps. Although there was no extra hemp rope left, it could still be thrown into the darkness and used once more tonight. Even a mosquito was still meat, let alone something far more substantial than mosquito meat.

Over the following stretch of time.

Chen Fan kept his eyes on those hemp ropes. Like an angler, he continuously pondered his next plans.

Manpower was a major problem.

So far, he only had Crippled Monkey to help him. That was not enough manpower. If he had one or two more people, they could be weaving hemp rope for him right now.

Very soon—

An Eerie Stone was dug out from the Monkey-Head Ghost's head and lay quietly on the ground. Just then, another hemp rope began to sway. Chen Fan immediately sprang up from his chair and yanked the rope hard.

Another Monkey-Head Ghost caught in a Beast Trap was dragged into the camp.

Crippled Monkey, who had been waiting for some time, thrust out his spear again.

The two had already developed a certain degree of tacit understanding in their cooperation.

Another Eerie Stone was added to the account. This time, however, something extra dropped as well. After the Monkey-Head Ghost died, a cluster of white-glowing matter spilled from its mouth, like a handful of gravel.

"Young Master!"

Crippled Monkey's eyes lit up. "A Ghost Material dropped. After Strange Entities are killed, fragments of some of their corpses can form Ghost Materials. For example, the Ghosthide Map was made by an Artifact Refiner using the scalp of a Human-Skin Ghost as material."

"The schoolteacher taught us about it in class."

"Only..."

"This doesn't look like Ghost Material. After all, the other Monkey-Head Ghosts didn't drop this. Monkey-Head Ghosts are Strange Entities without Ghost Materials. This looks more like an Exotic Treasure!"

"An Exotic Treasure?"

"It should be an Exotic Treasure. A very small number of Strange Entities and ghost monsters carry special Exotic Treasures. Killing them can yield those Exotic Treasures, such as building blueprints. Their values vary, and they are treasures that can only be obtained by killing ghost monsters. They cannot be crafted by people."

"But we need to find an appraiser at the market before we can learn exactly what it is."

"..."

Chen Fan said nothing. He picked up the cluster of gravel from the ground. It was wrapped in an almost transparent membrane, like fish eggs, and a panel slowly appeared before him.

-

"Exotic Treasure Name": Monkey-Head Mushroom Seed.

"Exotic Treasure Grade": White.

"Exotic Treasure Effect": Must be planted in 'Farmland.' The maturation period is three days. Consuming it after maturity can enhance physical fitness.

-

He nodded thoughtfully. It was the seed type.

Did this need any appraiser?

Wasn't the panel writing it crystal clear?

He roughly understood this world now. Whether it was building blueprints or Exotic Treasures, their panels could be directly viewed. But the natives of this world could not see the panels, making the process extraordinarily cumbersome. In that case.

Perhaps he could go browse North River Market. He could see the panels for all Exotic Treasures. Wasn't that far more direct than any appraiser? He might even stumble upon a bargain.

"I know what this is."

Chen Fan stuffed the cluster of seeds into his clothes, accepted the Eerie Stone Crippled Monkey handed him after digging it out of the Monkey-Head Ghost, and, once he had exactly two stones, made another Beast Trap and tossed it into the darkness. "Get back to work first."

Time trickled by.

Suddenly.

The thick darkness, viscous as essence, rapidly receded. Eternal Night ended, and the rising sun once again shrouded the entire world.

Day had broken.

"Whew."

Chen Fan let out a long breath and rubbed his slightly stinging eyes. After working all night, he was rather tired as well. He had no idea how those anglers managed to fish through an entire night. This was physical labor too.

Yet an irrepressible smile showed in his weary eyes.

Last night's harvest had been extremely plentiful.

He had killed a total of thirty-seven Monkey-Head Ghosts!

He had used two Eerie Stones to invest in Beast Traps, leaving him with thirty-five Eerie Stones in hand.

The camp's total assets at present.

Were five Beast Traps and thirty-five Eerie Stones.

"You go sleep first."

Chen Fan waved, signaling Crippled Monkey to go inside and rest. He did not continue investing in Beast Traps, mainly because he was unsure whether there were only so many Monkey-Head Ghosts nearby. During the first half of the night, the harvest had been abundant, with something taking the bait every so often.

But during the latter half of the night, there had been very few.

A long time would pass before one took the bait.

He suspected there might only be that many Monkey-Head Ghosts nearby, or perhaps Strange Entities preferred to move about during the first half of the night.

"..."

Just then—

His brows suddenly furrowed as he looked outside the safe house. A lone Beast Trap sat on the wasteland, and a tuft of white monkey fur was caught in it.

By now, he was very familiar with this fur.

It was precisely Monkey-Head Ghost fur.

But this had clearly fallen out while something broke free. Monkey-Head Ghosts could not break free from Beast Traps unless...

He walked over, retrieved the Beast Trap, and picked up the tuft of monkey fur, rubbing it between his fingers.

It was tougher than the fur of ordinary Monkey-Head Ghosts.

Could it be... the leader among these Monkey-Head Ghosts?

Had it sensed that a large number of Monkey-Head Ghosts had died here last night and come to investigate? Would it come again tonight?

"..."

Thinking of this, his eyes narrowed slightly. The man in the green robe had made it very clear before leaving: aside from some weak Strange Entities, most Strange Entities merely loathed Eerie Fire and did not wish to approach it too closely. That did not mean they could not approach. If his guess was right, there might be a major crisis tonight!

He had to prepare in advance.

He had originally wanted to build a patch of Farmland to grow Monkey Head Mushrooms, but that plan would have to be set aside for now. He needed to survive tonight's crisis first.

He set his sights on one of the basic buildings on the Endless Night Lord Panel.

Level 1 Arrow Tower.

It could deal a certain amount of damage to low-level Ghost Beings. Construction required ten Eerie Stones.

This was it!

He placed ten Eerie Stones on the ground, slowly closed his eyes, and confirmed construction through the panel with a thought.

(End of Chapter)