"Cluck! Click!"
At that moment, the wild chicken locked in Ethan's trap cage, envious of the white hawk's food and drink, let out a cluck and deliberately paced around the cage, making noises to attract Ethan's attention.
Ethan glanced over and immediately understood.
The wild chicken was probably hungry too. Yesterday it had mistakenly entered the trap cage and couldn't find food. After being locked up all night, it was clucking loudly from hunger.
Ethan scanned the food in his storage.
There was one piece of roasted rabbit left.
But Ethan wasn't willing to give a whole piece of meat to a chicken, 'Besides, chickens probably don't eat meat, right?'
He looked again, and all he had was a handful of nuts, pine nuts, pistachios and the like, unroasted hard-shell nuts that didn't look tasty and were a hassle to eat.
Ethan threw a small handful to the wild chicken, so it wouldn't starve.
"Cluck! Cluck!"
The multicolored-feathered wild chicken was delighted. After circling once, it suddenly arched its butt.
"Cluckle!"
A white egg rolled right out of the chicken's rear end.
Ethan's eyes lit up.
He'd kept this hen yesterday mainly to prevent his meat from spoiling, but he hadn't expected this extra harvest.
"Not bad, not bad!"
"If I find some tomatoes later, I can make tomato-and-egg stir-fry."
Ethan was thrilled.
He put the egg into storage and gave the hen a few more nuts.
Feed it well and it'll lay more eggs.
"Burp~"
After eating the fragrant roasted meat, Ethan belched contentedly.
After tidying up, it was nearly eight in the morning, "Time to get to work."
The sun rose higher, the fog around the wooden house dispersed quickly, and through the window Ethan could make out the scenery around the house more clearly.
He opened the door and breathed in the fresh air.
As soon as he stepped outside, the usual prompts flashed.
[East: Outer edge of the Mist Forest. Lots of trees, if you're short on wood, this is a good spot.]
[South: The Lightning Leopard fought desperately with monsters in the mist and is now licking its wounds. If you want to take action, today is a good opportunity. A lucky chest has appeared near the Lightning Leopard, and it may contain what you want.]
[PS: Although you have a rusty axe, there's a good chance you'll get injured. If you have a ranged weapon, your odds of victory will be higher.]
[West: About 50 meters away there's a patch of low shrubs with a beehive. Honey is sweet, but beware of bee attacks. Consider using fire, resin + poisonous thorn is a good combination.]
[North: Yesterday's acid rain left small animals badly injured; today the chances of setting empty traps are high.]
Ethan glanced at the four directional prompts.
It seemed yesterday's acid rain had given him many advantages but also caused problems.
For example, small animals on the grassland were injured and reluctant to leave their nests, so even if he set trap cages, the chance of catching nothing was high.
Given that, Ethan decided not to waste time and go set traps on the grassland.
Today's exploration would focus on the Lightning Leopard to the south and the beehive to the west.
From the system prompt about the southern Lightning Leopard, Ethan learned it was badly injured. With his rusty axe he had a chance to beat it, although he might get hurt. But if he had a ranged weapon his win rate would be higher.
After upgrading the tool table last night, he could now craft bows and arrows, maybe he could make a ranged weapon and go hunting.
Ethan went to the tool table.
[Level 2 Tool Table: Can craft Double-Edged Axe, Stone Axe, Short Bow, Arrows, Vine Armor, Cotton Clothes, Intermediate Backpack, Basic Bracers…]
[Short Bow: Can attack targets within 50 meters; beyond 50 meters accuracy drops. Crafting requirements: Vines 32/2, Beast Tendon 0/1, Bamboo 19/1]
[PS: Remember to craft arrows. Arrows: Bamboo 19/1, Feathers 0/2, Bronze 110/1]
The moment he saw the arrow ingredients, Ethan realized that bronze was used to make arrows.
And the consumption was quite large, a single arrow needed 1 bronze. He didn't know if arrows could be recovered; otherwise that bronze cost was brutal.
He lacked beast tendon and feathers.
Ethan thought for a moment, then turned his gaze to the hen.
The hen, happily eating nuts a moment ago, instantly backed up several steps, terrified by Ethan's stare, looking at him as if to say, 'W-what d-do you want to do?'
[Hen: Can produce one egg per day. Dismantle yields: 2 pieces of chicken meat, 1 portion 'kill hen to take egg', 10 down feathers]
"No feathers?"
"It seems the chicken's feathers aren't eligible."
Ethan sighed and then looked at the white hawk.
The hawk also stepped back one pace; his owner's stare was seriously spooky.
[Common Spirit Pet, White Hawk (80% juvenile): Expert at hunting and tracking. Claws have great attack power and can easily take down a goat. Food: meat and anything with spiritual energy.]
[Status: Loyalty 100%, slightly startled!]
[PS: The white hawk will replace its feathers again upon maturity.]
"Oh?"
Ethan saw the white hawk's prompt change.
Its maturity had reached 80%, one more upgrade and it'd be an adult. He thought that if it ate a little more good food, it would level up.
Ethan decided to give it a spirit stone.
He'd collected 36 spirit stones this round and could make more by selling water, so he wasn't short.
"Chirp!", the hawk brightened.
It stared with bright eyes at Ethan, looking delighted, seemingly asking if that treat was really for it.
"Yeah, it's for you, eat it," Ethan replied.
The hawk approached the spirit stone, swallowed it whole, and began chewing with a crunch.
After eating the spirit stone, the hawk shivered and suddenly grew about half a meter.
In an instant, the hawk became over a meter tall.
Almost like the giant eagle from The Return of the Condor Heroes, maybe when it grew up it could be a mount?
One that could fly.
Unfortunately, the hawk's new prompt quickly dashed Ethan's hopes.
[Basic Spirit Pet, White Hawk: Hunting expert, claws strong and powerful. Temporarily not mountable; requires an elemental riding device to be ridden.]
[Status: Loyalty 100%. Eagle Eye state extended to 10 minutes!]
[Feathers 1000, collectible!]
Ethan immediately gathered all the hawk feathers scattered on the ground.
Now he had all the materials for arrows, only one beast tendon was missing.
"What an irony."
If he could kill that Lightning Leopard, he could certainly get a beast tendon, plus some hides and other materials.
But making a short bow was intended to help him kill the Lightning Leopard.
If he couldn't kill the Lightning Leopard, he couldn't get the beast tendon.
If he couldn't get the beast tendon, he couldn't make the short bow.
This… was a perfect closed loop.
═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═
[email protected]/AmbitiousTranslator
🥳Joining P@treon keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining.🥰 You can access upto 20 advance chapter through P@treon.