Search and the Wild Boar King

Hearing the thunderous noise, Wang An felt things might be tricky.

One cry had silenced every beast, giving it something of a beast king's presence.

It was very likely a creature that had used a Class Change Stone, and quite possibly a gigantic wild boar.

Creatures like those had thick hides and tough flesh, and traveled in herds.

Even with the top-tier compound bow Wang An carried, killing one with a single arrow would be extremely difficult.

Unless an arrow went through its eye and straight into its brain, or struck its heart from another direction, it could take five or six arrows without much trouble.

But by then, it could already have charged right up to him.

And once wounded, its squeals might draw other wild boars over.

Otherwise, why would people say, "First the boar, then the tiger, then the bear"?

For ordinary people to hunt a wild boar weighing several hundred jin or more, they generally had to bring dozens of hunting dogs and surround it to have a chance of wearing it down. An ordinary hunter who encountered one could only run.

Fortunately, after cultivating for so long, Wang An's physical attributes had risen to a truly terrifying level.

With a Jing attribute of around 1.7, Wang An could deliver a straight punch with a terrifying 650 kg of force.

He could probably snap a tree as thick as a wrist with a single punch, so he had plenty of fighting strength.

Even if he had to go head-to-head with the wild boar, he wouldn't be at much of a disadvantage.

When he returned this time, he would need to increase his compound bow's draw weight. An ordinary top-tier compound bow was gradually failing to keep up with him.

The sounds in the mountain forest had fallen silent for a short while.

They gradually rose again, but the creatures seemed to be avoiding something, moving much more quietly and cautiously.

After things quieted down here, Wang An withdrew most of his consciousness back to his main body and focused on cultivating.

On his second day in the mountains, he packed up his tent, intending to go down into the valley for a look. The sound last night had come from that direction.

Confident in his skills, Wang An was bold enough to take a look from a distance and see whether there was an opportunity.

As Wang An descended and neared the foot of the mountain, he saw two meteorite craters not far ahead.

He didn't have to think to know that the meteorites had already been used.

He continued along the edge of the mountain's foot until he reached the middle of the valley.

A massive wild boar was rooting through the grass, eating the roots.

The boar had a pair of tusks several dozen centimeters long. Its entire body was a deep black, and the bristles along its back stood up like steel needles.

It was about the size of an adult water buffalo. Wang An estimated that it weighed at least 800 jin, enough to be considered a wild boar king.

As he came down the mountain, Wang An had also spotted other wild boars moving about in several places.

Wang An quietly observed the wild boar king's movements and found that it always foraged around a particular spot, which was highly suspicious.

Pleased to have noticed this pattern, Wang An kept changing positions to observe the central spot from different angles.

At last, he discovered that it also seemed to be a meteorite crater, though it was concealed by traces of the wild boar king's activity.

The wild boar king had lingered around the crater without leaving, convincing Wang An that the Class Change Stone there had very likely not been used.

Any other wild boars that came close to forage were driven away by the wild boar king.

It's become a spirit! Wang An marveled inwardly.

Discovering that the wild boar king had not yet used the Class Change Stone made him happy. So much time had passed without him finding an unused Class Change Stone that he had grown somewhat dejected.

He began working out a plan to kill the wild boar king.

Charging straight over to grab it involved far too many unknowns.

If he charged over and the wild boar defended it with all its might...

No, that was very likely what would happen. This wild boar had become a spirit.

Then he'd be out of luck.

So it was safer to look for a chance to kill the wild boar king in a single blow.

As time passed, the sun climbed to the middle of the sky.

The weather was excellent today, with not a cloud for ten thousand li.

The temperature quickly climbed to twenty or thirty degrees, and the wild boar king stopped foraging and returned to the meteorite crater to rest.

After watching all morning, Wang An felt his chance had come. He set down the supplies in his backpack and went in unburdened.

Taking only his compound bow and its equipment, he slowly crept closer.

The wild boar king was in a low-lying spot, and Wang An approached slowly from higher ground, giving him an excellent view.

He stopped about forty meters from the wild boar king, the limit of its perception that he had established through several tests.

Wang An picked up his compound bow, nocked an arrow, and slowly drew it to full draw.

He activated the [Precision] skill and aimed at the wild boar king's eye.

A mysterious feeling welled up in his heart.

Following the skill's guidance, Wang An adopted the optimal position to attack and gently squeezed the trigger of his bow release.

A brief, sharp sound rang out.

Without checking what had happened to his target, Wang An immediately nocked another arrow.

He fired, shooting three arrows in succession.

Only then did Wang An stop to see how his target had fared.

He saw an arrow lodged in the wild boar king's eye. It let out an earth-shaking howl that shook the mountain forest, then kept tossing its head.

The arrow that struck its eye might have injured its brain, leaving it moving in utter confusion, without direction. Gradually, it stopped making much sound as well.

The other arrows had also struck its body, and one specially customized hunting arrowhead had hit the wild boar king's artery.

Streams of blood gushed from the grooves in the arrow.

If he hadn't shot the wild boar king in the eye, Wang An might have had to face it and the other wild boars rushing over from behind head-on.

Seeing that the wild boar king had lost its ability to move, Wang An immediately rushed over, took the Class Change Stone from the crater, and retreated at once!

Before long, five or six wild boars heard the commotion and came running over, squealing.

Paying them no attention, Wang An picked up his other supplies, returned to the mountainside, and continued onward, heading down all the way.

Later on the journey, Wang An spotted a severely poisoned weasel in the distance.

Its body had turned blue-black, and it was eaten by a bamboo pit viper concealed in the undergrowth. The viper was already more than a meter long.

Its entire body was a vivid green, like top-grade jadeite.

If Wang An's perception hadn't already become exceptionally powerful, he would nearly have missed it.

He had intended to get rid of the bamboo pit viper while he was at it, but it sensed him before he could get close and quickly fled.

On the third and fourth days, Wang An finished checking most of the meteorite landing sites to the southeast. He found four usable Class Change Stones and five that had been used up.

On the fifth day, Wang An decided to travel from the end of the southeastern branch ridge to search the branch ridge to the north.

He soon found two usable Class Change Stones.

There were two paths north, one to the left and one to the right. Wang An decided to take the route closer to the valley first.

In a small valley, he found some bloodstains and traces of human activity, along with several torn tents and supplies that hadn't been taken away in time.

There were also several porcupine quills about half a meter long. Seeing these traces of human activity,

Wang An recalled that the village chief had previously mentioned an exploration team assembled by a company that had taken the northern route.

It was very likely them. Judging by the length and hardness of the porcupine quills, they were nearly as powerful as arrows.

However, an exploration team like theirs couldn't have set out without hunting weapons. Attacking a porcupine from a distance, a few people with bows could have shot straight through an animal with so little defense.

Judging from the distance between the quills and the campfire, the injuries could have been caused by the porcupine approaching the group at night.

And since it had attacked under cover of darkness, the quills might have struck like arrows, causing the group to flee in a panic.

From this, Wang An knew there was no need to go farther. The route they had taken from the village should already have been explored.

With so many people, they couldn't possibly have searched less thoroughly than Wang An alone, so there couldn't be much left behind.

In the end, Wang An returned to the fork and explored along the path on the right.

By the time he returned to the village, it was already the eighth day.