Chapter 42: Chapter 42: Gathering

Translator: 549690339

“Fried Meat (Blue): Food, Effect: Eating it can increase your hunger level by 70 points. If you eat for more than 20 seconds, it can increase your Vitality Points by 15.”

“This is almost like a diluted Blood Replenishing Elixir!” Song Jian was surprised.

Looking at Li Ke’er, who was holding a large bowl and sipping snake soup, Song Jian suddenly felt that she was like a game sister-in-law.

“Ke’er, this fried meat attribute is really good, you actually understood such a strong recipe, that’s awesome!” After thinking for a long time, Song Jian could not bear to eat it and just stored the fried meat into his inventory.

“Really? Hehe, 1 must!” Ke’er’s eyes curved into crescents as she held the bowl and drank with even more joy.

After grasping the cooking skills, Li Ke’er bought a Fine Iron Pickaxe and followed Song Jian towards the small grove outside the highway.

Since Song Jian had collected it, the pale gold pine tree never appeared again, unlike other trees that would regrow a few hours after being collected.

When Song Jian and Li Ke’er arrived at the grove, there were already a few people chopping trees with stone axes, including Wang Qiang, the leader of the Green Wolf Gang, who they knew.

However, Wang Qiang looked ragged at the moment, not only was he without any underlings, he was also blind in one eye and left with only one arm, his body full of blood, as if he had just crawled back from a battlefield.

Seeing Song Jian and Li Ke’er, a trace of fear appeared in Wang Qiang’s eyes, and his body couldn’t help but tremble.

Song Jian just coldly glanced at Wang Qiang, didn’t pay him any heed, and said to Li Ke’er next to a giant rock, “Ke’er, you mine this rock, I will go collect wood.”

It seemed that Wang Qiang was in a bad state. All his underlings had fled, he had become a one-armed commander, and was seriously injured.

“Alright, Little Cheap Brother!” Li Ke’er obediently nodded, took out a small, delicate, Fine Iron Pickaxe from her bag, and struck at the rock with all her might, shouting “hey-oh, hey-oh” to cheer herself on.

Song Jian gave a slight smile, chose a willow tree, and threw a heavy punch towards it;

After a few days of growth, these willow trees were now thick enough to be encircled by arms. Everyone else who came here was using stone axes to harvest, only Song Jian was using his fists;

Song Jian’s peculiar way quickly attracted the attention of others. Wang Qiang glanced at Song Jian punching the tree and, as if realizing something, shivered uncontrollably. Although he wanted to leave, he hesitated yet was reluctant to leave. Finally, he ground his teeth, walked alone to the edge of the grove and began to collect from the farthest point away from Song Jian.

“Hey, do you think that guy is stupid?” Someone watching Song Jian punching the tree for a long time whispered;

“Doesn’t it hurt? Can pain levels be adjusted in this game?” Someone asked out of curiosity, even bringing up the system interface to examine it closely.

“Is he practicing boxing, or is he gathering wood?” Someone asked with a puzzled expression;

However, soon, people saw chunks of wood falling from the trees and turning into white light that entered Song Jian’s inventory, and the rate of wood falling was very fast, even faster than their collection with tools;

Five or six minutes later, a willow tree was completely harvested by Song Jian. His Chopping Skill and “Bare-handed Combat (Punch Palm Kind) (Basic)” improved a bit. However, his two skills, which were both at level four, required an enormous amount of skill proficiency, so the effect wasn’t noticeable yet;

“Damn it, is it true? You can gather with your fists, doesn’t that mean we can save a lot of money?” Many people who saw Song Jian’s collection from start to finish were dumbfounded.

For a moment, many people began to mimic Song Jian, punching trees.

“Damn it, it’s so painful!”

“My hand is injured, bleeding, this tree is harder than a rock!”

Those who punched the tree a couple of times grimaced in pain. After hesitating for a long time, they ultimately chose to collect with stone axes; after all, this was only a game, and many people had yet to realize what this game truly implied.

After more than two hours of cutting trees with tools, their durability dropped fast, leaving only Song Jian and Li Ke’er in the small woods.

“Heave ho, heave ho~”

Although it was physically demanding, Li Ke’er was working with a lot of spirit. She’d already excavated a third of the massive rock. She was just like a diligent little squirrel, constantly nibbling on a huge nut;

Each willow tree could provide Song Jian with thirty to fifty units of wood. In just over two hours, Song Jian had gathered almost five hundred units of wood. The amount of wood in his bag had exceeded two thousand standard units, only five or six hundred short of three thousand units. Even if Li Ke’er’s more than two hundred units of wood were added, it would take at most three hours for Song Jian to complete the collection of all the wood;

After another two hours, Li Ke’er finally finished mining the huge stone. She wiped the sweat from her forehead and began to laugh gleefully;

“Little Cheap Brother, I’ve collected fifty units of stone, and my Mining Skill has upgraded to level 2.” Li Ke’er shouted loudly, looking like she was expecting praise;

“Good job, good job, Ke’er is awesome!” Song Jian gave a thumbs up to Li Ke’er in praise.

“Hehe.” Li Ke’er wore a smug expression.

Seeing Song Jian punch the trees, Li Ke’er tenderly asked, “Little Cheap Brother, doesn’t your hand hurt?”

“Ke’er, you wouldn’t understand.” Song Jian said with a slight smile, “When 1 collect wood materials with my fist, not only can I save a lot of money, but I can also improve my skill level. Now my Chopping Skill and [Hand-to-Hand (Fist Strike) (Basic)], both of these skills have reached level four. It won’t take long before they could be upgraded to level five.”

“Little Cheap Brother, you’re really amazing!” Li Ke’er said with admiration.

Song Jian looked up at the sky and said to Li Ke’er, “Ke’er, it’s getting dark. Why don’t we go back now and collect more when it’s daylight tomorrow?”

Li Ke’er nodded and looked toward the edge of the woods.

About a dozen meters from the edge of the woods was a grassland, beyond which was a black fog, impermeable to vision;

“Little Cheap Brother, what do you think is in that black fog?” Li Ke’er suddenly asked, pointing to the black fog on the other side of the book.

“I don’t know. How about we go and take a look?” Song Jian turned his head and suggested.

“Sure, maybe we can leave this city and go somewhere else. It’s usually like this in games. The place where we’re born is just Novice Village. When our level is high enough, we can go to other places.” Li Ke’er’s eyes curved in a smile;

Song Jian held Li Ke’er’s hand and walked towards the edge of the woods.

The closer they got to the black fog, the more uneasy Song Jian felt. It was as if they were walking into the mouth of a primordial beast step by step.

Their steps slowed down and when they were about five or six meters away from the black fog, both of them stopped in their tracks simultaneously;

“Little…Little Cheap Brother… I’m a bit scared…” Li Ke’er’s face was full of panic.

Song Jian stared hard at the black fog. The originally slowly moving black mist began to churn violently as they approached it. It was as if something was waking up from a deep sleep;

“Little Cheap Brother, let’s go back.” Li Ke’er tugged hard at Song Jian’s hand;

“Alright, alright.” Song Jian wiped the sweat from his forehead. Unconsciously, his whole body was soaked in sweat, and his clothes stuck to his body, making him feel very uncomfortable;

Just as they turned to leave, a huge eye appeared in the rolling black fog, emitting a soft golden light. It stared unwaveringly at the receding figures of the two, not moving at all;