Chapter 20: Discovering the "End
He accepted the quests to collect Wolf Hide and Red Ore.
These two quests had no time limit and didn’t count toward his active quest limit. Accepting them would also clear slots in his quest log, allowing new ones to appear.
As for the ginseng, he decided to ignore it for now and reconsider in a couple of days.
If he couldn’t gather enough Points for the Cultivation Technique in the next two or three days, it wouldn’t be too late to sell the ginseng then.
He pulled up his quest log, where three quests were listed.
As he examined them, a pictorial guide for the Wolf Hide and Red Ore appeared. This would make it easier for him to identify what the Red Ore looked like.
He quickly organized his belongings, took his Ironwood Bow, Ironwood Arrows, and other weapons, slung the basket over his back, and left the Marketplace Hut.
He paid no mind to the Black Panther carcass off to one side.
Standing in the doorway, Cheng Zongyang scanned the area and saw plenty of animal tracks on the ground.
’It seems animals can get close to the Marketplace Hut; they just can’t enter it. The Insect Repellent Medicine is still necessary.’
’I explored to the east yesterday. It was relatively safe, and I saw sika deer there. I’ll focus on exploring the eastern region today; it’ll make mapping easier, too.’
With his decision made, Cheng Zongyang no longer hesitated and headed straight east.
Drawing on his previous experience, he followed the markers he had left and continued to draw his map as he went.
At the same time, he was focused on earning Points, so he couldn’t afford to be picky. Every little bit counts.
Therefore, he didn’t let a single creature that could crawl, run, or jump get away.
This went for everything from snakes and insects to rats and ants. He even killed every squirrel, bird, and chameleon he saw, regardless of whether they were worth any Points.
The Points slowly added up—0.5 here, 1 there. By the time he reached the stream where he had hunted the brown bear, almost half an hour had passed.
In that time, Cheng Zongyang had already acquired 18.5 Points, and his basket was stuffed with all sorts of small prey.
’The biodiversity in this forest is beyond anything I could have imagined.’
He felt a surge of emotion, now more confident that he could earn enough Points to buy the Cultivation Technique today.
Arriving at the stream, Cheng Zongyang observed the rapid current. It suggested a significant drop in elevation and a large volume of water upstream, but the fact that the brown bear could stand in it to fish meant the water wasn’t too deep.
He took a look around and found the tracks of many different animals along the bank.
’Looks like a lot of nearby creatures come here to drink,’ Cheng Zongyang mused. He slowly squatted down to wash his hands.
The moment his hand touched the water, however, he snatched it back, his face a mask of astonishment.
’Ice-cold water?’
He never would have expected the stream’s water to be ice-cold, not in a primitive forest like this during the summer.
’Could there be a snow-capped mountain nearby?’ Cheng Zongyang wondered.
Only meltwater from a snow-capped mountain could be this cold, which meant the mountain couldn’t be too far away.
’Or am I on the slope of a snowy mountain? Or at its foot?’
Seeing no other signs of animals, he stopped thinking about the water’s source.
However, just as he was about to leave, a gray wolf abruptly appeared on the opposite bank.
It had materialized out of thin air!
This startled Cheng Zongyang, who warily gripped his Firewood Knife.
The gray wolf was clearly startled by him as well. It stopped dead in its tracks, spun around, and "vanished."
’That timid?’ the thought flashed through Cheng Zongyang’s mind.
But a moment later, the way the wolf had just disappeared made him consider a possibility—the other side of the stream was the boundary of the current forest area.
The "edge" of the area he could explore.
To test his theory, he glanced at the stream, then cut a branch from a dead tree to probe the streambed as he waded across.
The stream was only four or five meters wide, and he crossed to the other side in a few steps. But after walking less than two meters, he was blocked by an invisible "wall."
Though it looked like the forest continued on, he couldn’t see a single living creature over there.
That was why the wolf’s sudden appearance had been such a shock.
’I can’t get out, but animals can get in. That means I won’t have to worry about hunting all the prey to extinction before the area expands.’
To be safe, he retreated to the opposite bank and began to follow the stream upstream.
Based on the difference in elevation between the north and south, combined with the stream’s flow, he guessed that the Marketplace Hut must be located somewhere on a large mountain.
This was a crucial piece of information for understanding the layout of the map.
As he followed the invisible barrier, Cheng Zongyang gradually realized that it encircled the entire mountain.
He was eighty percent certain.
It was like a bowl turned upside down over part of the mountain.
But that raised a question...
Just how big was a mountain that contained a five-square-kilometer area? And he still wasn’t sure if he was on its slopes or at its base.
The facts bore out Cheng Zongyang’s theory as he explored, hunted, and followed the perimeter.
By the time it was past Noon, he had finally returned to the spot where he’d hunted the brown bear.
He hadn’t encountered any major dangers, other than a few steep cliffs, and hadn’t run into any other powerful beasts.
Back at the Marketplace Hut, Cheng Zongyang dropped his gear and a large, makeshift stretcher by the door. Panting, he took a long rest.
Dragging six or seven hundred pounds of loot all that way had utterly exhausted him.
About fifteen minutes later, he took out his flint and steel, started a fire, and prepared to roast some meat.
He was starving!
He tossed four snakes, each weighing three or four pounds, into the fire. Then, he used his knife to sharpen two wooden sticks, skewered two snow rabbits that he had already skinned and cleaned by the stream, and set them up to roast by the fire.
The snow rabbits weren’t small; even after being skinned and dressed, they each weighed four or five pounds. The snake and rabbit meat would be more than enough to replenish his energy.
Next, he began to process his morning’s haul.
Five black grouse, one wild boar, and two sika deer.
These were the high-priority kills he’d brought back.
In addition, there were eight snakes, four pheasants, and some valuable Medicinal Materials.
As for the smaller catches like squirrels, he had left them behind. There were too many, and he couldn’t have carried them all.
He moved the black grouse, wild boar, and sika deer into the hut, placed them on the counter, and sold them all.
Points +11.
These animals were all on the Marketplace Hut’s procurement list, so he naturally wasn’t going to waste them.
This mountain was teeming with prey. If not for the ones he couldn’t catch and those that escaped beyond the barrier, he would have earned even more Points!
Then, he took a fist-sized piece of Red Ore out of his basket.
He had spotted some stones near a cliff face that looked similar to the ones in the quest’s pictorial guide.
He hadn’t been sure if they were the correct type, and since he had no inspection Skill, he could only pick up a large, loose piece to bring back for identification.
He placed it on the counter and selected the option to complete the ore quest.
A prompt box appeared—
[Insufficient Weight of Red Ore. Quest cannot be completed.]
’So it really is the right stuff!’ Cheng Zongyang’s eyes lit up.
There were plenty of loose ore fragments near that cliff. Even if he had to do some digging, it wouldn’t take much effort.
Now he had a stable source of Points!
With that, he summoned his personal panel.
—
Name: Cheng Zongyang
Age: 15
Points: 339
Equipment: Ironwood Bow
Skill: Archery (Specialization)
—
Seeing his Points at 339, Cheng Zongyang’s spirits soared.
’I have enough Points for the Cultivation Technique and the Insect Repellent Medicine.’
He took back the ore and looked at the sales counter.