Unless the animals on the grassland are hunting, they should all have their own territories.
Because of that, when Bai Qiu and the others hunted the hyenas, they weren’t disturbed by any other species on the plain.
When the elite-grade individual appeared, Ning Xingxue, Huang Qi, and Zhao Daqiang automatically stepped back—just as they’d agreed at the start—to let Bai Qiu have all the elite monsters to himself.
“Phew! Good thing he’s not using that bow, otherwise we wouldn’t even have any small fry left to kill!” Zhao Daqiang sighed.
“Heh, how many hyenas did you guys take down?” Huang Qi suddenly asked.
“Six.”
“Eight.”
Huang Qi grinned smugly and said, “You’re slipping, Brother Qiang. We both use bows, yet I killed seven this time!”
“You little punk! If you hadn’t been stealing my last hits all the time—! You’ve got no shame at all!” Zhao Daqiang snapped, glaring at him.
Ning Xingxue could only rub her temples helplessly. “I don’t know what you two are so happy about. The three of us together didn’t kill as many as he did… and that’s when he’s using what’s basically a trap-tier staff.”
“Ha! Xingxue, you still want to compare yourself to him? You know, you kinda remind me of the plains.” Huang Qi said mysteriously.
“What do you mean?” Ning Xingxue asked, confused.
“No! Pebbles! At! All! Hahaha!” Huang Qi yelled the punchline and immediately took off running, leaving Ning Xingxue frozen in place, completely bewildered.
Zhao Daqiang covered his mouth with his fist, pretending to cough—but the grin tugging at his lips made it impossible to hide that he was trying not to laugh.
Honestly, at this point, trying to compete with Bai Qiu really was a bit overconfident.
After all, the young man hadn’t even shown his full strength from beginning to end.
“No pebbles… no—wait—” Ning Xingxue replayed Huang Qi’s words in her head, suddenly realizing the joke.
Her face turned cold, and she stormed off in fury, glaring at the distant Huang Qi.
The latter was already long gone—over a hundred meters away—but their eyes met across the distance.
Run!
Chase!
…
“Ding! You have slain an Elite Hyena! EXP +135!”
The system prompt rang out, and both Ning Xingxue and Huang Qi stopped running.
When they walked closer, they saw Bai Qiu’s expression didn’t look too happy.
He said flatly, “Let’s just clear out the whole area. My quest can’t be completed here because of the environment.”
If even the weakest elite, the hyena, couldn’t fulfill the quest’s requirements, there was no point in trying lions or buffaloes.
They might as well wipe out the monsters quickly, gather the special plants, and look for treasure chests.
When Bai Qiu took out his Darksteel Longbow, everyone’s faces changed.
…
“Huff… huff…” Ning Xingxue and the others were gasping for breath, faces pale.
They had realized something serious—when it came to farming monsters, they couldn’t even begin to compete with Bai Qiu.
He just stood there—his full-map vision and full-map attack range, combined with arrows that never missed and always killed in one hit—made him unstoppable.
The three of them had worked together flawlessly, locating a lion pride and taking it down in just a few swift moves.
But when they looked back at the map—there wasn’t a single beast left alive.
Bai Qiu had already killed everything.
And right after that, the elite monster spawned…
Full-draw shot — instant kill.
“Bro… seriously?”
They finally understood why Bai Qiu had proposed the rule of “you kill what you get.”
With him around, there was no such thing as “snatching monsters.”
The only time they could even touch lesser mobs was when he was busy dealing with an elite one.
Bai Qiu didn’t mind.
In his eyes, these beasts weren’t worth fighting over anyway—the drops were nothing special, just meat and leather at best.
But Ning Xingxue and the others didn’t see it that way.
Even putting aside the chance of getting an item card or something similar, just the meat drops alone were worth fighting over.
After all, the meat from a single buffalo could feed a large number of survivors back in the Safe Zone.
Although they could form teams to scavenge supplies outside, the city’s infrastructure had completely collapsed—no more deliveries, no new stock.
It was only a matter of time before they’d run out of everything.
After regrouping with everyone, Bai Qiu said,
“Now that all the monsters are cleared, I’ve marked on the map where the special plants are most densely located. Once you’ve collected a hundred plants, you’ll automatically unlock a skill—Gathering.”
The group exchanged looks, deciding to swallow their resentment for now.
After all, Bai Qiu really did feel like a seasoned veteran dragging a bunch of newbies through a dungeon speedrun.
“The Gathering skill doesn’t take up a slot in your skill list,” Bai Qiu continued.
“Also, I’ve got a lead on three treasure chests. Within our accessible area, there are three spots where the vegetation grows particularly thick and tall—those are the most likely hiding places. Of course, there’s also a chance one’s at the bottom of that small pond.”
“Got it, boss!” Huang Qi saluted playfully and immediately dashed toward one of the marked spots.
Zhao Daqiang and Ning Xingxue glanced at each other, then each picked a different location to head for.
After their previous experience, they knew they had to move fast—whoever learned Gathering first would have a big advantage.
Bai Qiu was puzzled by their sudden urgency, but didn’t dwell on it.
He turned and walked toward the pond.
Purplebell Water Lily (E+)
Description: A plant that grows underwater. When mature, it blooms on the surface. It can be used to brew special potions or eaten directly. Consuming in large quantities increases Water-elemental mana affinity.
He had noticed earlier that mana affinity might determine how efficiently one could absorb and convert a certain element’s magical essence—thus increasing the power of that corresponding magic.
He also realized that while his total mana capacity wasn’t low, his staff-based spells often felt underwhelming.
They required time to cast, lacked range and burst compared to archery, and weren’t nearly as mobile as melee combat.
Perhaps this was related to his mana affinity.
He wanted to test it, thinking it might be tied to his Tidal Staff quest progress—but when he saw that this plant could be used to make special potions, he decided to hold off for now.
If his guess was right, the upcoming treasure chests would likely contain formulas for crafting those potions.
Still, the most important thing at the moment wasn’t diving into the water to harvest plants.
Bai Qiu turned to look at a nearby Purplethorn Fruit Tree and reached out his hand.
Just before his fingers touched it, a flash of white light appeared—and over twenty fruits materialized in his inventory.
The system chimed to notify him of a successful harvest.
“So that’s how it works.”
Looking at the now-bare Purplethorn Fruit Tree, Bai Qiu’s suspicions were confirmed.
The so-called Gathering skill was essentially powered by a small amount of mana expenditure, with the system assisting in the process.
In other words, the tiny bit of mana he used acted like a “power-on button” for the system’s gathering function.
Yet, the force the system employed felt strange—eerily similar to the energy used during teleportation.
He stepped up to another Purplethorn Fruit Tree, this time channeling his mana into the ground, letting it seep into the tree, and using his mental power to assist.
The fruits detached cleanly from the branches and floated straight into his hand.
“It worked!”
— The end of the Chapter–
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