Natsuyu looked at Kushida Kikyo, who was gazing up at him with a smile. His vision was involuntarily drawn to the force of "mountainous" gravity for a brief moment.
What a girl full of "heart"!
Natsuyu quickly looked away and took out the Stone Workbench. Under Kushida Kikyo's curious gaze, he crafted two new backpacks, earning a constant stream of praise from the little angel mode of the Two-faced silly miss.
To be honest, being flattered by Kushida Kikyo felt pretty good.
Who doesn't like a beautiful girl surrounding them with admiration?
While secretly enjoying it, Natsuyu feigned calmness as he handed the Simple Backpacks to Kiana and Sakuraba Ema. After receiving another round of thanks, he continued to team up with the sweet-talking Kushida Kikyo to collect Berries.
Once everyone had gathered enough Berries, Natsuyu asked Kiana to lead the way, preparing to head to the grassland area to hunt small animals.
On the way to the "Rabbit Grassland."
Natsuyu pointed to the side and said softly, "You guys go ahead, I'm going over there to pick up some Twigs."
He planned to find a deserted place to shout the incantation, claim his new Achievement rewards, and unlock those two long-range killing machines: the bow and the crossbow.
Natsuyu wanted to produce a batch of bows and crossbows before hunting the Round-headed Spiders.
Bows aside—he guessed not many people would know how to use them.
But the crossbow was different; it was very easy to pick up. Even a child holding a crossbow could threaten the vast majority of animals.
The Round-headed Spiders weren't particularly strong. Equipped with crossbows, they could achieve a long-range kill without taking any damage, which was much easier than throwing an Axe.
Hearing that Natsuyu wanted to go pick up Twigs alone, Kushida Kikyo and Sakuraba Ema reacted immediately:
"Natsuyu-kun, shall I help you?"
"Natsuyu, I can handle this kind of thing too."
Natsuyu obviously couldn't take them along. Just as he was preparing an excuse to fool them...
Yukinoshita Yukino said with a serious face, "Let Natsuyu go by himself; he can find us on his own."
Nice assist, Lord Flat-no!
Kushida Kikyo suddenly thought of something, subconsciously glanced at Natsuyu's pants, and nodded. "Okay, we'll head over first."
Natsuyu smiled at Yukinoshita Yukino, said goodbye once more, and turned to leave.
Yukinoshita Yukino lightly brushed her long hair, lifted her head, and remained silent.
Sakuraba Ema's face turned slightly red. Watching Natsuyu walk away from a distance, she covered her cheeks.
She almost went to "pick up twigs" with Natsuyu—how embarrassing.
Kiana blinked her sky-blue eyes, feeling that the others were a bit too concerned about Natsuyu.
Isn't he just going to pick up some Twigs?
...
"Deng~ Long~ Zhan!"
A rather cringe-inducing shout suddenly rang out across the plain.
[You have received rewards: Bow Crafting, Arrow Crafting, Crossbow Crafting, Experience 15.]
New recipes instinctively appeared in Natsuyu's mind:
Bow: 1 Twigs, 1 Spider Silk.
Crossbow: 1 Logs, 1 Twigs, 1 Spider Silk.
Arrow: 1 Twigs, 2 Feathers.
Among them, the Logs for crafting the crossbow could be replaced with Stone to create a Stone Crossbow.
When crafting Arrows, Stone could be added to create a sturdier stone arrowhead.
Feathers could be replaced with materials like leaves.
[Natsuyu: Level 4 (23/30)]
Killing the monster added 3 points of Experience, and combined with the 15 points from the Achievement, he was very close to leveling up again.
The pity was that his current two Achievements were stuck on finding Iron Ore and finding an Intermediate Monster, which couldn't be completed in the short term.
But the Round-headed Spider colony in the forest made up for this, giving Natsuyu a sufficient reserve of Experience to increase his level.
'I wonder if killing rabbits gives Experience.'
This was the reason Natsuyu followed Kiana to find rabbits first.
If possible, he wanted to reach Level 5 before hunting the Round-headed Spider colony for extra safety.
If not, he could still obtain food, so it wouldn't be a wasted trip.
Natsuyu took out the Stone Workbench and crafted a crossbow.
The Wooden Crossbow was about half a meter long, with limbs that were slightly longer. It looked full of resilience, had considerable weight, and felt very powerful.
Natsuyu felt the string made from Spider Silk.
The originally thin Spider Silk had become much thicker once turned into a string. He tested it with his finger; the toughness was good. Aside from the texture being a bit soft, it didn't have that fragile feeling of snapping upon being pulled.
[Wooden Crossbow (100% Durability): Ordinary Weapon.
30m effective range, 50m lethal range. Effective lethal range varies based on Arrow type.
Evaluation: One arrow, one kill!]
Natsuyu then used leaves and Twigs to craft an Arrow.
[Leaf Wooden Arrow (100% Durability): Ordinary Weapon.
Fragile fletching results in an effective range of less than 10 meters.
Evaluation: You're really using leaves to make an arrow?]
If you don't want me to use leaves, give me some Feathers then?
Natsuyu curled his lip, placed the Leaf Wooden Arrow into the crossbow's groove, pulled the string back until it clicked into place, raised the Wooden Crossbow, and aimed at an Oak Tree ten meters away.
He pulled the trigger.
Twang~~!
The crossbow string snapped taut, vibrating continuously as the massive force launched the Arrow.
Whoosh—!
The Wooden Arrow shot out rapidly, carving a streak through the air.
The leaves serving as fletching shattered the moment it was fired, causing the Wooden Arrow's angle to drift.
The Wooden Arrow eventually managed to hit the Oak Tree ten meters away, but it only struck the edge, piercing the bark and getting stuck inside.
Natsuyu now had a better understanding and activated Appraisal again.
[Wooden Crossbow (95% Durability)]
[Leaf Wooden Arrow (0% Durability)]
'It can only be used 20 times? I hope the durability issue is because of the Spider Silk string. If other materials only have 20 uses too, the cost-effectiveness is a bit low.'
Natsuyu gathered some materials on the spot, crafted 19 Leaf Wooden Arrows, put them into his Simple Backpack, and hurried to catch up with the group, arriving beside Sakuraba Ema.
Sakuraba Ema subconsciously sniffed the air.
Noticing this, Natsuyu looked over curiously.
Sakuraba Ema shyly avoided his gaze, her cheeks flushing pink as she whispered a defense, "I-I didn't do it on purpose! Natsuyu-kun is very healthy, there's no strange smell!"
Question marks popped up over Natsuyu's head.
What is this girl even talking about? jpg
...
The Grassland.
Natsuyu crouched in the yellowing grass, looking at the large white rabbit ahead that was buried in its grazing.
This rabbit, not counting its ears, was a full thirty to forty centimeters tall. It was very meaty; one was likely enough to feed a girl with a small appetite for an entire day.
Under the curious gazes of the girls, Natsuyu took out the Wooden Crossbow and a Leaf Wooden Arrow, got ready, and aimed at the large white rabbit.
The girls hid behind Natsuyu, looking at the crossbow and bolt with surprise. They suppressed their curiosity, not daring to breathe.
Two seconds later.
Twang~~
Whoosh—!
Blood splattered. Natsuyu put away the Wooden Crossbow and stood up.
The girls behind him followed suit, beginning to breathe again as they all looked at the scene in the distance.
The large white rabbit had been pierced through the left side of its belly by the Wooden Arrow, pinning it to the dirt. Its legs convulsed twice before it lost all life, crimson blood flowing out and staining its none-too-clean fur.
Beside the rabbit's corpse, a tuft of clean white fluff and a piece of raw meat about the size of an adult's palm—skewered by a single bone—dropped out of thin air.
"We did it!"
Kiana jumped up and cheered.
Sakuraba Ema looked at the large white rabbit with a bit of pity, then swallowed her saliva and licked her lips, muttering in a low voice, "I wonder what Rabbit Meat tastes like..."