4: Section 4

He didn't stay idle either.

With the help of his Gathering skill, a giant pitfall eight meters long, three meters wide, and four meters deep quickly took shape!

At the bottom of the pit, Su Ming urgently drove in six or seven bamboo spears, each about two meters long!

For camouflage,

He also laid down six dried bamboo poles and hurriedly scattered withered branches and fallen leaves over the pit.

Even though the trap was as crude as could be, with a wild boar's brain, it shouldn't be seen through... maybe, probably...

"Snort!—"

Heavy breathing easily blew away the fallen leaves within a two-meter radius.

Severely corrupted hooves pawed at the ground.

A large amount of humus soil was kicked up, and dust spread, quickly covering the surrounding area!

Rumble!—

The earth trembled under the Corrupted Wild Boar's wild charge!

Watching a monster the size of an RV launch a charge, its starting speed comparable to a speeding heavy truck, Su Ming, surprisingly, didn't panic much.

On the contrary,

He was so calm it felt unfamiliar even to himself.

Taking a step back,

He held his hands out as if embracing the air.

Just as the Corrupted Wild Boar was about to rumble over the pitfall,

A seven-meter-long dried bamboo pole dropped into Su Ming's arms out of thin air. With a slight adjustment, one end was braced against a rock protrusion behind him, while the other end was angled at 20 degrees, facing the impact of the Corrupted Wild Boar.

Bang!—

The bamboo pole successfully interrupted the Corrupted Wild Boar's charge.

But how could mere plant fiber withstand an impact comparable to a hundred-ton truck? Along with a surging shockwave, the ten-centimeter-thick bamboo pole, as if stuffed with explosives, disintegrated in the blink of an eye, torn into countless plant fragments of various sizes!

Su Ming, acting as the human fulcrum, fared even worse.

He was sent flying three meters away, failing to keep his footing upon landing and rolling once on the spot.

As he stood up with trembling hands, Su Ming realized with a shock that his hands were already a bloody mess! Waves of piercing pain surged, making his head spin.

To the point that,

He even doubted if he had been given a concussion by the impact.

Fortunately,

Thanks to the interruption from the dried bamboo pole, the Corrupted Wild Boar's charging momentum was forcibly stifled, and its RV-sized body crashed into the four-meter-deep pit with a thunderous boom!

Given the Corrupted Wild Boar's physique, a four-meter drop wasn't even enough to count as a tickle.

But...

The bamboo spears at the bottom of the pit were the lethal killing blow!

Wrist-thick and two meters long!

Those were materials Su Ming had carefully selected and processed through a second round of Gathering!

Fact proved once again that stockpiling enough materials in advance was the right move!

Shaking his dizzy head, he walked toward the pit with unsteady steps.

At the bottom of the pit,

The Corrupted Wild Boar was still struggling violently.

Its vicious, wild panting grew increasingly rapid!

Thick, foul blood continuously gushed out, with black-red blood clots visible everywhere. The pungent smell of blood made Su Ming frown slightly.

Pierced through the body by six bamboo spears, he knew this wild boar was as good as dead.

But...

Su Ming couldn't bring himself to be happy.

"That was way too lucky..."

It was fortunate this was a Corrupted Wild Boar and not a Stone-skinned Wild Boar covered in a stone shell!

If it had been the latter, those bamboo spears would have struggled to even break its defense!

"No, my weapons must be upgraded!"

His 'insufficient firepower' phobia triggered, Su Ming didn't even bother with the Corrupted Wild Boar. He immediately found a clean spot and started working.

Ten minutes later.

Once the system detected that the Corrupted Wild Boar was completely dead, the notification finally arrived late.

[Ding!—]

[The Corrupted Wild Boar has died!]

[Congratulations, you have obtained: Class EXP +25, bristle-tusk spear (Green) *1, Corrupted Bone (White) *1]

He looked back with disbelief.

So,

What was the point of him just now, enduring the pain and working hard to polish an obsidian spear?

Dammit!—

He stood up indignantly.

He abandoned the half-finished stone spear he had just been polishing and ignored the still-warm wild boar carcass in the pit.

With his cheeks slightly burning from embarrassment, the youth walked away from this scene of trouble with firm steps... Damn it! He had been stockpiling materials for so long he almost forgot this was a real-life version of a single-player adventure game, not Steve Su's pixel world!

Chapter 5: Tail and Hunt

The bristle-tusk spear was unlike any design Su Ming knew of.

A three-meter-long flexible wooden shaft with fine grain and excellent texture, it even had strange runes engraved on it, filled with a sense of mysticism.

The three-foot-long sharp spearhead was made from two ferocious beast tusks, shaped and fused together using an unknown craftsmanship!

Clearly,

This kind of spear was not forged for ordinary people.

[Weapon: bristle-tusk spear (Green)]

[Category: Polearm · Spear]

[Attributes: Piercing +5, Tenacity +3]

[Effect: Corrupted Fang (When dealing damage to a target, automatically inflicts Corrupted Curse, reducing target's defense by 50%)]!

Piercing +5 could make attacks more lethal.

Tenacity +3 could make the spear more durable.

And the additional effect of Corrupted Fang gave Su Ming the confidence to face a Stone-skinned Wild Boar head-on!

Unfortunately,

Over the next few hours, Su Ming didn't see another wild boar.

A lone forest wolf, perhaps starving to the point of madness, actually treated Su Ming as prey... As for the result, one could only say that the newly acquired bristle-tusk spear was truly powerful.

The wolf carcass, nearly torn in half by a single spear thrust, indicated that Su Ming's current attack power was severely excessive for such ordinary beasts!

Of course,

The inhabitants of this primeval forest were not limited to forest wolves and wild boars.

Ordinary animals like wild rabbits, hedgehogs, pheasants, lynxes, venomous snakes, jungle deer, and bamboo rats were also common.

But when facing Su Ming,

These animals were all very alert, sensing something wrong from afar and disappearing instantly.

Su Ming didn't mind this.

The environment prevented him from fully utilizing the high speed his 13 points of Physique should provide, and since these animals clearly wouldn't give much experience, he let them be and went with the flow.

What truly caught Su Ming's attention,

Was a group of Kobolds patrolling in a loose formation on a forest path!

Now this was a standard fantasy creature!

Hiding in a patch of low shrubs fifty meters downwind, Su Ming watched these creatures with eyes full of curiosity and interest.

The height of these five Kobolds was between 1.2 and 1.4 meters.

Their ugly and massive heads caused their head-to-body ratio to be severely unbalanced.

Behind their rounded, protruding ears was a pair of horns so short they were almost negligible.

What interested Su Ming the most was that the rough skin of these Kobolds was stained with a large amount of rock dust... Su Ming had reason to suspect that a Kobold mine was nearby.

The reason being,

They also had half-extinguished candles on their heads.

Unless the environment required it,

Kobolds wouldn't dress themselves up in such a foolish manner.

Gripping his bristle-tusk spear, Su Ming lowered his body and followed them silently.

There was no rush to start a fight.

Following them to locate their lair was the key.

It couldn't be helped.

Resources in the Northern Territory were scarce.

Even though civilization had entered the Iron Age, those who could actually afford iron tools were limited to tribal elites or the warrior class.

If a Kobold mine really existed,

Su Ming could gather iron ore!

Once his Gathering skill leveled up, it might even be possible to gather iron ingots directly!

Following the tracks of the Kobold patrol,

After rounding a patch of low hills, Su Ming's pace gradually slowed down.

For no other reason than he had found a road with obvious signs of artificial excavation, even though it hadn't been maintained for a long time and looked like it had been abandoned for ages.

But...

"Kobolds can build roads? I find that hard to believe!"

It wasn't racial discrimination on Su Ming's part.

With their sharp teeth and mouths, Kobolds were naturally unsuited for delicate infrastructure work like this!

In other words,

This dungeon world absolutely contained traces of civilization!

And most likely, it was a human civilization!

With this thought,

Su Ming's pace unconsciously quickened slightly.

A few minutes later,

Piles of abandoned slag were discovered!

A few more minutes passed.