Cheng Zongyang finished organizing his things. He left the marketplace cabin and found a sturdy tree branch outside.
He had just been thinking about it. 'If I want to earn Points quickly, my only option is to kill every creature I can find.'
Since the blueberry patch was teeming with snakes, he might as well hunt a few more.
Rather than running all over the place, it would be better to clear out all the snakes in the blueberry patch first and reap the rewards! Not only would he get Points for the kills, but the quest also involved collecting Snake Galls.
Besides, the snakes were so plump; the meat alone could feed him for a while. He could even take some to sell at the black market in the county town.
Kill four birds with one stone!
So, he used his Firewood Knife to chop off a section of the branch, which he sharpened into a long staff. Then, he used a hemp rope to tightly bind the Firewood Knife to one end of the staff, fashioning a makeshift Long Saber.
He gave it a few swings. Once he felt it was easy to handle, he took a sip of saltwater and left, carrying only the burlap sack. Everything else was left in the marketplace cabin.
A short while later, he reached the blueberry patch, gave it a quick look, and moved to a new spot.
And so, chaos erupted once again in the patch that had only just quieted down.
"Damn it, this place is a total Snake Cave!"
As he swung his three-meter-long, self-made Long Saber, one startled snake after another slithered out.
Cheng Zongyang's eyes and hands were fast. Without hesitation, he chopped down every snake he saw!
With each chop, he would move on to the next snake, regardless of whether the previous one was dead. At the same time, he periodically retreated to dodge the snakes lunging at him.
The notification boxes kept popping up, annoying Cheng Zongyang, so he turned them off and switched to audio alerts instead.
Some snakes weren't killed in one strike and were left writhing and struggling in place. Others were chopped in half, their two segments twisting on the ground. Still others furiously chased after Cheng Zongyang, launching counterattacks.
The patch of bushes spanned well over an acre, and there was no telling how many snakes were hidden inside.
Cheng Zongyang knew he couldn't let them surround him, so he kept moving as he hacked away.
He was too fast for the snakes to catch, creating a scene like he was kiting them.
As Cheng Zongyang continued his hit-and-run tactics, chopping every snake he saw, the snakes that appeared later—both those chasing him and those fleeing the blueberry patch—were gradually getting smaller.
Fortunately, killing these smaller snakes still awarded Points, though only between 0.1 and 0.5 each.
But their sheer numbers made up for it.
After being busy for nearly an hour, the blueberry patch, a veritable Snake Cave, finally stopped spitting out snakes. Naturally, that also meant nothing was chasing him anymore.
From a short distance away, Cheng Zongyang watched the many snakes still writhing, struggling, and crawling about on the path as they died. For a moment, he felt his skin crawl.
He'd never had any particular feelings about snakes.
If he couldn't sell them for money and eat them, he really wouldn't have wanted to bother them.
Of course, he knew that plenty of snakes must have escaped; this couldn't possibly be all of them.
But at the very least, they wouldn't be living in that patch of bushes anymore.
These snakes had lived here for so long that the blueberry patch had practically become a Snake Cave. But with his arrival, they were forced to flee their homes and seek refuge elsewhere.
He didn't rush to collect the bodies. Instead, he called up his Attribute Interface.
——
Name: Cheng Zongyang
Age: 15
Points: 59
Equipment: None
Skills: Archery (Specialization)
——
"Only 59?"
Cheng Zongyang stared at the ground full of snakes still writhing in their death throes, a little stunned.
[Killed Silver Ring Snake (Juvenile). +0.1 Points]
Suddenly hearing the notification in his mind again, Cheng Zongyang came to a sharp realization.
'That's right, a lot of the snakes aren't dead yet, so the Points haven't been tallied!'
Sure enough, just as he had that thought, his Points increased by one.
Now he could rest easy.
'After killing so many, I thought that was all I was going to get.'
After that, Cheng Zongyang waited for half an hour until the notifications for incoming Points finally stopped.
By then, his total Points had increased to 145.5.
"Nice!"
Cheng Zongyang clenched his fist, extremely excited.
'I've definitely got enough Points for the Ironwood Bow now!'
Next, he began collecting the snake corpses in his burlap sack.
He didn't remove the Snake Galls out in the open, choosing to take everything back with him. He planned to return to the cabin, remove the galls from the smaller snakes, keep the meat for his family to eat, and sell the larger ones.
One sack wasn't enough, so he had to make two trips.
Back at the cabin, he loaded some of them into a back basket. Only then had he gathered about two-thirds of the total. He even picked up many of the severed snake parts that didn't contain the gall.
In times like these, nothing could be wasted.
'Now the family won't have to worry about meat for a few days.'
'It's a shame the marketplace doesn't buy snakes, otherwise I could have earned another wave of Points from these corpses.'
'There's more here than we can eat. Maybe I can take some to the county town to sell today.'
Back in the marketplace cabin, Cheng Zongyang walked up to the counter. As he looked at the Ironwood Bow in the display case, its information appeared again.
——
[Ironwood Bow]
Description: Made from hundred-year-old ironwood from the Wilderness World and the sinew of a Horn Python aged ten years or more.
Grade: White
Durability: 300
Weight: 2.3 (kg)
Maximum Range: 300 meters
Effective Range: 150 meters
Points: 100
[Note: Comes with fifty free Ironwood Arrows.]
——
"Purchase!"
With a thought, a notification box appeared before him:
[This item costs 100 Points. Are you sure you want to purchase it?]
[Confirm] [Cancel]
"Confirm."
Instantly, 100 Points were deducted, and a longbow with a reddish-brown body and a pale-yellow string materialized on the counter.
Next to it was a Quiver, neatly packed with long arrows the same color as the bow's body.
Being a lover of the Bow and Arrow, he immediately picked it up to inspect it.
Compared to the family heirloom bow he usually used, it was slightly heavier, but not by much.
He took the bow and drew the string. A powerful resistance prevented him from drawing it easily, forcing Cheng Zongyang to steadily engage the Power of his waist and back muscles.
Slowly, the bowstring was drawn back until the longbow formed a full moon shape.
Even though Cheng Zongyang had enough strength to casually hoist a two-to-three-hundred-jin wild boar, he couldn't help but marvel at the bowstring's immense draw weight.
'Based on my experience, this bow must have a draw weight of around 100 kilograms! I won't be able to draw and shoot it continuously. I'll probably have to rest after shooting ten arrows at a time.'
He now had a general understanding of this bow's capabilities.
But he was also amazed by the strength of the ironwood, that it could withstand such a massive draw weight.
With his usual Bow and Arrow, he wouldn't dare to casually pull it to a near-full draw with all his strength for fear of it snapping. Besides, that bow wasn't difficult to draw at all.
Eager to test it, he took the Ironwood Bow outside and aimed at a tree trunk.
Draw, aim.
He drew the bow to a near-full moon. The next second, with a TWANG, the arrow vanished in a streak of light.
A strange, whistling sound cut through the air in the woods.
With a THUD, the Ironwood Arrow sank into a tree trunk nearly a hundred meters away.
The fletching quivered!
"Hot damn, the accuracy is perfect! This Bow and Arrow is incredible!"
If he ran into that Black Panther again, at the distance they'd faced off before, he was confident he could shoot an Arrowhead right into its head!
He walked over and, with some difficulty, pulled out the Wooden Arrow.
The Wooden Arrow's Arrowhead was metal, so its piercing power was naturally top-notch. Cheng Zongyang felt the 100 Points were well spent.
Next, he returned to the marketplace cabin, put away the Bow and Arrow, and began to process the snake corpses on the floor, removing their Snake Galls.
Another wave of Points was on its way.