Natsuyu clapped his hands lightly, drawing the four girls' attention. He spoke up, "Ema, please take care of Kikyo."
"Kiana, thanks to you this time, you put in the most effort. Get some good rest; leave the remaining cleanup to us."
Kiana scratched her head and gave a goofy giggle. "Really? Then I'm truly going to slack off!"
Natsuyu's smile was gentle. "Mhm, you've earned it."
"We consumed a lot of resources this trip. Yukinoshita, the two of us will rest for a bit, then collect some resources before heading back."
Hearing this, Yukinoshita Yukino replied without a change in expression, "I believe I can move out now."
Seeing that she was also covered in sweat and had carried Kushida Kikyo for so long, Natsuyu knew her physical strength must be severely depleted. He said softly, "I want to rest for a while first, so just consider it waiting for me."
Yukinoshita Yukino looked at Natsuyu's relaxed demeanor, suspecting he was saying that just to look after her. But then she remembered Natsuyu had been busy running back and forth and his physical strength must indeed be low, so she felt she was overthinking it.
Sakuraba Ema proactively raised her small hand. "I want to help too."
What a good child.
Natsuyu gave an approving look but wagged his finger in refusal. "Ema, you just focus on taking care of our two great contributors."
Being called a great contributor, Kiana loftily raised her head, suddenly feeling even more justified in slacking off. She joked:
"I want Ema to help massage my shoulders!"
Sakuraba Ema smiled kindly and nodded. "Sure, but I need to take care of Kikyo first."
Kiana immediately stood up. "This young lady will help too!"
Kushida Kikyo felt very happy seeing Kiana take the initiative to get close to her.
This place is simply heaven~
Sakuraba Ema: "Eh, eh, Kiana, wipe your hands clean before you grab the berries!"
"Hehe, I'll pay attention, I'll pay attention."
Natsuyu watched the girls becoming lively because of Kiana and shook his head with a chuckle, walking toward the small earthen mound.
Yukinoshita Yukino walked over and said succinctly, "Time to work?"
"Mhm, let's see how much loot the spider warrior drops. This doesn't require you; keep resting."
Natsuyu raised his hand toward the small mound and began tapping rapidly.
Every few taps, he would obtain a 1-cubic-meter dirt block.
Seeing this, Yukinoshita Yukino realized Natsuyu actually wasn't tired and had said those words just to look after her. Her mood became slightly complicated.
After staring at Natsuyu's back for a while, Yukinoshita Yukino picked up a backpack, squatted by his side, and began packing the dirt blocks into it.
Natsuyu looked over in surprise.
Yukinoshita Yukino wanted to tuck her hair back, but seeing her dirty hands, she lowered them and revealed a perfectly elegant smile:
"I have been an honor student since I was a child."
I didn't ask you that.
Natsuyu chuckled.
The headstrong Yukino was quite cute.
"Then I'll trouble you to help."
"Mhm."
The two joined forces and dug out the mound in a few minutes, revealing the suppressed spider warrior beneath.
Beneath the big spider's corpse, a large amount of green blood flowed out, soaking the soil and filling the air with a foul, pungent odor. Beside it sat a large piece of green meat.
Natsuyu covered his nose, took out his stone axe, and with an expectant look, began tapping.
A minute later.
Natsuyu looked at the loot in his hand and activated appraisal.
[High-grade spider silk: material.
Tougher spider silk. When used for armor and weapon crafting, the resulting item attributes are increased.]
[Essence monster meat (freshness 99%, rots in 7 days): intermediate ingredient.
When consumed, restores physical strength, lowers mood, provides high satiety, and causes food poisoning.
Evaluation: A precious ingredient, yet it possesses negative effects.]
Natsuyu looked at the two-finger-thick spider silk in his hand and nodded in understanding.
He had felt before that the wooden crossbow only being usable 20 times—such low durability—was a problem with the spider silk. Replacing the material should increase the durability.
As expected, one could obtain more durable high-grade spider silk from the more advanced spider warrior.
But the problem was that this spider warrior had only dropped 1 strand of high-grade spider silk; the drop rate was outrageously low.
With such a massive size, only dropping 1 strand of spider silk—was that reasonable?
Natsuyu felt somewhat helpless.
However, the drop rate for meat was quite high.
[Essence monster meat * 80]
Natsuyu stared at the deep green large meat slices in his backpack. No matter how he looked at it, they seemed very bad, as if they were inedible.
He would try boiling them after going back.
A furnace should be able to cook food, right?
With wandering thoughts, Natsuyu gripped Yukinoshita Yukino's reaching hand, climbed out of the deep pit, and took out the stone workbench, preparing to test the effects of the high-grade spider silk.
Soon, a brand new wooden crossbow was crafted.
The bowstring looked no different from a regular spider silk string.
With a skeptical look, Natsuyu activated appraisal.
[Wooden crossbow (100% durability): ordinary weapon.
50-meter effective range, 70-meter lethal range. The effective lethal range changes depending on the arrow type.
Evaluation: A 50-meter range is not the limit of the string; it is the limit of the oak.]
50-meter effective range?
Even the range had increased!
A hint of joy appeared in Natsuyu's eyes.
He had originally thought high-grade spider silk would only increase the durability limit of the wooden crossbow, but he hadn't expected it to give the wooden crossbow a major upgrade.
A 50-meter range was nearly double the 30-meter range, but it was more than just that.
A spider warrior might be able to jump and attack someone 30 meters away, but it definitely couldn't jump and attack someone 50 meters away.
Furthermore, an increase in range meant the power of the crossbow bolts would also increase.
A regular wooden crossbow firing stone-tipped wooden arrows had just enough power to shatter a spider warrior's armor.
The upgraded wooden crossbow, when paired with stone-tipped wooden arrows, could already penetrate a spider warrior's armor.
If he encountered a spider warrior again, he might be able to kite and kill it using only this high-grade wooden crossbow!
Natsuyu was overjoyed; he finally had a means to combat intermediate monsters.
Afterward, he grumbled again that the loot drop quantity was extremely unbalanced.
Such a large spider warrior only dropping one strand of high-grade spider silk—was that reasonable?
Wait.
A flash of inspiration hit Natsuyu as he thought of something.
Could the thick spider silk spat out by the spider warrior be dug up to get high-grade spider silk?
The more Natsuyu thought about it, the more tempted he became. He immediately put away the workbench and the high-grade wooden crossbow and said:
"Yukinoshita, I'm going to the creek to collect a batch of resources. Do you want to come?"
"Mhm. As I said, I will do my share of the work."
The look Natsuyu gave Yukinoshita Yukino was exceptionally gentle.
What a great girl, even taking the initiative to work overtime.
If anyone called Yukino a burden in the future, Natsuyu would be the first to disagree!
Yukinoshita Yukino couldn't stand Natsuyu's gaze.
Good grief, she actually saw the kind of kindness and gratification in it that she saw in the eyes of her grandparents. What on earth was this guy thinking?
"Warm man-kun, if you keep staring at me, I'll have to consider giving you a new nickname."
"How does 'criminal suspect-kun' sound to you?"
Yukinoshita Yukino crossed her arms and launched an attack with an elegant smile.
Natsuyu suddenly smiled with relief.
Every time he wanted to give Flat-no some respect, she would open her mouth.
If I say Flat-no is a burden, does anyone understand?
Natsuyu didn't bother with Bug-no. His heart was set on his high-grade spider silk as he walked quickly toward the creek.
Yukinoshita Yukino curled her lips, feeling happy about achieving victory in their verbal sparring. Like a winning hen, she held her head high and chest out, following behind Natsuyu to reach the messy creek battlefield.
Natsuyu used his axe to chop the spider silk. Seeing the drops, he revealed a joyful smile.
Haha, I've succeeded!