'Huh?'
As time passed, the prompts in two directions changed.
During the time he was chopping trees, the lightning leopard under the squirrel hole had left; the only danger left was the squirrel's claws.
And the prompt under the pile of dry branches had changed too.
[East: lots of dry branches, good fuel for your bonfire. But under the branches there's a Gale Snake, it's lying in wait, be careful of being attacked.]
Now it had become…
[The Gale Snake is digesting a frog, you can take the chance to attack it; high probability of winning.]
After a moment's thought, Ethan decisively chose to kill the Gale Snake.
After all, raiding the squirrel hole could wait.
As for what kind of thing a Gale Snake was?
The name alone sounded fierce.
The Gale Snake had swallowed a frog, so its speed was certainly slowed. If Ethan didn't take the opportunity to kill it now, and waited until it finished digesting, it might not be so easy later.
He walked east.
This place was a bit farther from Ethan's hut, and the mist was noticeably thicker.
Ethan could only see about two meters of ground around him; any farther and it was all white.
The forest floor was littered with a lot of dry branches.
Seeing the prompt said "no danger," Ethan picked them up along the way.
[Dry Branch +1]
[Dry Branch +1]
[Dr…]
After picking up about seven or eight dry branches, Ethan finally reached the place where the prompt warned of a poisonous snake.
[Danger!]
[Under the dry branches one meter ahead, there is a Gale Snake. Although it is digesting a frog, if you're not careful it could still bite you.]
[Gale Snake: famed for speed; it moves like the wind, comes and goes at will. Highly venomous, if it breaks even a tiny bit of your skin, you will die within three seconds, you won't even have time to drink an antidote.]
Ethan stared fixedly under the dry branches.
Sure enough, he saw a brown snake as thick as a baby's arm, its belly bulging high, 'Inside must be that unlucky frog, being digested.'
The venomous snake lay motionless, like it had indigestion.
Plus, the pattern on its body naturally matched the color of the dead wood.
Coiled on the dry branches, it didn't look much different from a rotten log; if not for Ethan being able to see the prompt, he'd probably have been bitten.
Raising the rusty metal axe high, Ethan chopped down at the snake's head.
The next second.
The snake's head fell to the ground, mouth open, as if it still wanted to attack Ethan.
As a homebody who liked watching Discovery, Ethan knew how developed a snake's nervous system was.
So before the head could react, he swung another axe.
He smashed the snake's head into a pulp.
[Snake Meat +2]
[Snake Gall +1]
[Venom Fang +2]
[Wind-type Beast Core +1]
"Not bad!"
Ethan stroked his chin, having a system was really convenient.
The instant he killed the venomous snake, it was directly decomposed into various materials and ingredients.
He could understand the snake meat and snake gall.
'But what is this [Wind-type Beast Core]?'
'Could this be some immortal-cultivation game?'
Ethan was startled and hurriedly took out the Wind-type Beast Core to look.
[Wind-type Beast Core: obtained with a certain probability when killing creatures in the mist. Many uses. (You can't cultivate immortality with it, get over it, you chunni!)]
╮(๑•́ ₃•̀๑)╭
"So it isn't an immortal-cultivation game after all, what a pity!"
'But… these items actually have extra descriptions.'
'The system is pretty thoughtful.'
Ethan also checked the snake meat, its descriptions were different.
[Snake Meat: tastes sweet, restores some hunger, nothing special. (Raw: Do not eat raw, roast before eating.)]
[Snake Gall: Clears the eyes and liver; after consumption grants some poison resistance. (Permanent!)]
[Venom Fang: Good material for making poison arrows. (Toxin from the venom sack is already attached, no worry about fangs lacking venom.)]
"Not bad. This snake gall actually have a special effect."
He didn't know how many he'd need to eat to be safe from snake bites.
Anyway, the snake gall didn't need processing, he tossed it into his mouth.
[System Prompt: Satiety +2, Poison Resistance +1]
'Satiety?'
Ethan opened the magic book and silently called up the character attribute panel.
Sure enough.
His attributes appeared in the magic book.
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
[ID: 888-Ethan Vale (Name Changeable)]
[Strength: 5/10]
[Agility: 7/10]
[Satiety: 6/10]
[Poison Resistance: 1/10]
[Status: Fatigued, please rest soon.]
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
"Looks like the attribute cap is 10, unless gene mutation or athlete exceptions."
"And since I just ate a snake gall, Poison Resistance increased by 1, does maxing to 10 mean immunity to poison?"
For now Ethan couldn't be sure.
He could only wait and see if killing and eating more snakes would raise it.
When Poison Resistance rose to 10, he'd know.
After finishing off the poisonous snake, Ethan turned his gaze to the direction of the squirrel hole.
.
.
.
Time passed. After two more fights, it was getting late.
Less than an hour remained before the mist would return.
Ethan could even feel the surrounding mist gradually thickening.
Earlier he could see two meters; now, his visible range was less than a meter.
As time went on the mist would thicken, and the threats in the mist would come with it.
'I have to hurry.'
Ethan quickly walked toward the squirrel hole.
He had the prompts, so he clearly knew which directions were dangerous and which weren't.
So…
He only needed to take big steps forward and watch his footing so he didn't trip on tree roots.
Soon.
Ethan arrived at the dead tree.
It was a huge dead tree, and the squirrel hole was about three meters up. Through the thin mist, Ethan could only make out the tree's outline and the hole's location, he could hardly see what was up there.
The dead tree was bare.
Ethan thought about climbing up, robbing the squirrel hole would be a bit difficult.
Moreover… If he reached the squirrel hole without equipment, he wouldn't be able to spare a hand to pull things out.
Besides, there was a squirrel in the hole, staring hungrily.
If it scratched him a few times, even without serious injury, wounds could get infected, 'Not worth the risk.'
In this place without medicine, Ethan didn't want to take that chance.
'But…'
'Since it is a tree, I can probably chop it down, right?'
Ethan grinned and swung his rusty metal axe.
[Dead Tree: Durability 49/99]
'Nice!'
Dead trees were easier to chop than normal ones, two swings and it could fall.
Ethan struck the tree.
The squirrel must have sensed the threat; it ran out of the hole and stood on a trunk over two meters high, baring its teeth and staring at Ethan.
ヽ(#`Д´)ﾉ
"Chit! Chit Chit!"
"Chit! Chit! Chit! Chit!!"
It squealed, like it was protesting that Ethan had destroyed its home.
[Squirrel: Adult, has a certain chance to be tamed, good at gathering nuts and ripe fruit. Claws have some attack power; threat level low.]
'Already an adult?'
'Then there's no value in taming it.' [T/N: You like em' yo..]
Anyone who's played games knows, once a pet is adult, even if tamed, its tameness is much lower than a juvenile.
There's basically no point in taming it.
Ethan picked up a stone from the ground.
He threw it at the squirrel. Before the squirrel could react, it fell from the tree.
[Squirrel Meat +1]
[Hide +1]
The squirrel was too small.
There really wasn't much from it.
But a mosquito meat is still meat, Ethan naturally wouldn't waste it.
"Little squirrel, let me see."
"What good things are hiding in your nest?"