Not long after, three plates of steaming hot poisonous bird tongues stir-fried with winter bamboo shoots, two large and one small, were served to the table.
The portions were so small.
Li Fan, accustomed to eating large portions of meat, sighed inwardly.
“Esteemed hunters, as the cat food contains an enhancer, meow, it will temporarily maximize the efficacy of the ingredients. Therefore, within seven days of consumption, please refrain from eating cat food or large quantities of rare beast meat again. Otherwise, it may cause ingredient rejection and produce unknown harmful reactions within your body. Also, please reduce unnecessary physical exertion and lower your metabolism, as this will also prolong the effects of the cat food.”
The attending Felyne, standing by the table, provided detailed instructions regarding the consumption of cat food.
Hmm… it’s pretty much in line with my previous assumptions and the information recorded in the recipe book.
“May I ask, how long do the effects of the cat food last?”
Li Fan tentatively inquired.
“The shortest recorded duration is three days, the longest is eleven days, meow. Typically, it lasts around seven days. Also, the effects of the cat food will gradually diminish over time.”
The attending Felyne provided the answer.
“I read in a recipe book that eating bitter bugs every day can extend the duration of the cat food’s effects. Is that true?”
Li Fan asked.
“That… is indeed true, meow! But please, absolutely do not say I told you.”
The attending Felyne whispered a reminder.
The party then began to eat.
The poisonous bird tongues were pale pink. Li Fan took a bite; it was smooth and tender, with a crisp texture when chewed. It tasted similar to grilled squid, but felt more delicious and delicate.
There was no spectacular juggling performance from the Felyne chef team, nor any triumphant poses after the meal.
Li Fan found the first cat meal to be somewhat bland.
As for whether the poison resistance effect had been activated, apart from a direct poisoning test, it was hard to say for sure.
However, given how strictly the Guild controlled high-level monster ingredients, it couldn’t possibly be just a placebo.
After noon, the party shouldered their packs and headed towards the Forest Hill.
Thanks to the well-developed land transportation system in the village, the first leg of the journey could be covered by herbivore bus.
On the bus, Li Fan studied the detailed markings on the map.
He deeply felt the impact of the rear villages and towns on hunting.
The map of the dense forest provided by Port Orah, let alone lacking information on mineral veins and monster distribution, even had errors in basic area depictions.
In contrast, the map of Forest Hill provided by Kokoto Village not only had various conventional information marked, but also included water sources, hunting spots for ingredients, and even abandoned public campsites.
It could be said that they had a complete grasp of the Forest Hill area.
Of course, environmental constraints severely limited the development of Port Orah.
However, for the hunter party itself, they would certainly prefer to hunt around Kokoto Village.
No wonder the Kalara Village branch always focused on building outdoor outposts.
Li Fan recalled Kalara Village and realized that the Guild’s development there seemed to be in its nascent stages.
Five hours later, as dusk began to fall, the party disembarked at the temporarily closed Outdoor Outpost No. 2.
By common sense, a large abandoned campsite that could accommodate multiple parties would be a good choice.
Not only would the location be more secure, but when multiple parties converged at night, they could exchange monster information gathered during the day, and the pressure of night watch duty would be significantly reduced.
However, Li Fan’s party not only was unwilling to go there, but even wanted to stay as far away as possible.
After moving away from the trade route, Kankann was released to carry the packs. Li Fan chose an area with the fewest abandoned campsites nearby and began to advance.
“Why is Kankann trembling a bit? Is it because we’re too heavy?”
After walking for a while, Eudora curiously asked.
“No, I suspect Kankann has sensed the presence of monster eggs.”
Li Fan explained.
“Oh! Then won’t the pressure of finding food for this hunt be much smaller?”
Eudora said with surprise.
“Let’s not. We’ll still eat some Jaggi and Kelbi. I’m afraid Kankann might not come back if we steal eggs here.”
Li Fan voiced his concern.
Kankann’s ability to steal eggs was indeed top-notch.
But if it failed even once, it would be goodbye forever.
The plains of Forest Hill offered excellent visibility, allowing for timely warnings of danger.
The party traveled at a brisk pace until late at night, finally reaching their target location.
This was the junction between the plains and a mountain range.
Eudora quickly found a cave in the mountain rock face, with a good elevation and concealment.
The only drawback was that there was already an abandoned campsite inside.
But there was no helping it; the better the terrain, the more likely it was to become a campsite for parties.
Li Fan entered to investigate and, judging from the traces, determined that it had been abandoned for a considerable time. He decided to use this cave as their camp.
After working until one in the morning, the camp was finally established.
After Eudora and Dielu went into the tent to rest, Li Fan released Kuku.
“This rock crevice is a bit wide. Kuku, see if you can wedge yourself in.”
Kuku approached the cave entrance and stuck its head forward. If its two claws hadn’t been firmly planted, it would have almost fallen off the edge.
“As expected, it won’t work… Never mind, we’ll just have to take turns on watch.”
Li Fan put Kuku back into its ball and washed his face to clear his head.
The sun rose, and sunlight streamed into the cave.
Dielu, who was on the last watch, stretched by the campfire.
She crawled into the tent and called Li Fan and Eudora to wake up.
“Dielu, you and Eudora will guard the area around the camp for now. The main objective is to gather food. We’ll hunt together once I’ve identified our target. This might take two to three days.”
“Understood, meow.”
After outlining the plan, Li Fan donned his hunter’s leather armor, slung his pack over his shoulder, and a coil of rope over his shoulder.
He went to the cave entrance, looked up at the sky for a moment, and released Kuku to climb onto his back.
With a powerful flap of its wings, Kuku took off from the cave edge and rapidly ascended, soon reaching the summit of the mountain rock.
The summit area was small, with an irregular shape covering only about thirty square meters in total.
After recalling Kuku into its ball, Li Fan drove a rock piton deep into the mountain rock. After confirming its stability, he tied the rope and lowered the other end to the cave entrance of the camp.
Then, he took out a camouflage net covered with leaves from his backpack and set it up with four wooden supports.
Once the camouflage net was erected, Li Fan lay down on the ground beneath it, took out a small notebook, placed it in front of him, and then picked up the binoculars hanging around his neck to scan the various parts of Forest Hill.
The boundless plains stretched out, with green grass swaying in the wind.
A family of two large and one small herbivores was leisurely strolling on the grassland, a scene that felt incredibly peaceful.
Suddenly, a strong gust of wind blew, and the herbivores quickened their pace.
Li Fan sensed something approaching and quickly adjusted the zoom magnification of his binoculars, extending the visual range.
As expected, a wyvern covered in dark green armor appeared in the field of vision.
With a draconic roar, circular sound waves emanated from the wyvern’s toothy mouth.
The herbivores bolted, and the wyvern chose the largest one, swooping down.
The sharp claws on its feet, three in front and one behind, pierced the back of the herbivore and gripped tightly.
*Whoosh~ Whoosh~*
With powerful wing beats, the air pressure from the wind flattened the surrounding grass to the side. The hovering female wyvern lifted the herbivore off the ground.
The herbivore struggled with its four limbs, letting out a cry. Its seemingly futile struggle caused the female wyvern’s body to tilt slightly.
The female wyvern was forced to increase the frequency of its wing beats, ascend, and readjust its flight posture.
Only after the large and small herbivores had escaped did the suspended herbivore gradually quiet down.
“The younger a Rathian is, the greener its carapace tends to be, gradually turning dark green as it grows… but without a standard for comparison, it’s impossible to tell.”
Li Fan muttered, reluctantly lowering his binoculars.
However, remembering that the eye-like markings on the wing membranes could also serve as a basis for age determination according to literature, he raised his binoculars again.
The closer the markings were to a black semi-circle, the younger the Rathian. If they extended into a question mark shape, it indicated at least late middle age.
Li Fan recalled and compared the markings.
“This Rathian is an old auntie. Let’s call her… Auntie Mo.”
As Li Fan spoke, he picked up a quill pen and began to write in the small notebook in front of him.
No. 1, Auntie Mo. When hunting herbivores, she drooled but didn’t eat them on the spot, instead carrying them away.
It’s presumed she’s returning to her nest to feed her young, a maternal Rathian.
Affection Index: ★★
After finishing writing, Li Fan continued his observation under the cover of the camouflage net.
Except for descending to the camp for lunch via the rope, he spent the entire day at the summit of the mountain rock.
By the campfire at night, Li Fan looked at the gathered intelligence and felt quite satisfied.
“How was the progress today?”
Eudora asked, chewing on a large piece of beast meat.
“We had many discoveries. We sighted a total of five Rathians: Auntie Mo, Yingying, Sisi, Broken Tail Sis, and Little Dummy.”
“These… are all Rathians, meow?”
Dielu tentatively asked.
“Yes. Among them, Auntie Mo has rich combat experience but is a bit old. Yingying and Sisi are in their prime, but Yingying’s flight posture is not good; there’s a lack of coordination between her wings when flapping, which will surely cause problems if she flies fast. As for Sisi… her legs are as thin as bamboo sticks. As you know, lower limb strength is very important for Rathians. Broken Tail Sis is ruthless and of a suitable age. She injects poison into any prey before killing it, seemingly afraid of having her food stolen. However, as her name suggests, Broken Tail Sis has a large portion missing from her tail, an old healed wound, likely beyond recovery. As for Little Dummy, she seems perfect in all aspects, but this afternoon she was toyed with by a Great Maccao… Uh, I’m not talking about you, Kuku, don’t mind. If it’s not due to inexperience, then Little Dummy has a problem with her intelligence…”
Li Fan spoke volubly.
Suddenly, he noticed that Eudora and Dielu by the campfire had stopped eating and were looking at him with strange expressions.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, it’s just that… your understanding of Rathians is very professional. You truly are a hunter who has worked as a compiler.”
Eudora praised.
“Agreed, meow. I’ve read a lot of information about Rathians, but I can’t discern the differences between them.”
Dielu concurred.
Li Fan was a bit bewildered by the praise.
This shouldn’t be the case; Eudora and Dielu should theoretically be capable of making these distinctions as well.
Could it be that…
Suddenly, Li Fan thought of a possibility.
If weapon usage in the game was a benchmark for skill,
Then the monsters in the game represented the pinnacle of their species!
Li Fan recalled the various details of Little Dummy’s body and found that compared to the monster models in the game, Little Dummy was indeed the closest in physique.
“No wonder I found Little Dummy the most pleasing to the eye…”
Li Fan realized that his selection of individual monsters seemed to have been influenced by the game.
However, this deviation was indeed in the right direction.
“I’ve decided. We’ll start by capturing Little Dummy tomorrow.”
Li Fan stated resolutely.
“So soon? Didn’t you say the observation would last two to three days?”
Eudora was somewhat surprised.
“I just remembered a criterion, and Little Dummy meets all of them. It’s her.”
Li Fan explained.
The next morning, the entire party, clad in hunting gear, was ready to depart.
“Due to the extreme instability of the Forest Hill environment and the high alertness of the monsters, I’ve decided to first incapacitate Little Dummy, then seal off the area with a Twilight Barrier, and then engage in combat capture. If any part of this plan fails, we’ll return to camp to rest, resupply, and summarize our shortcomings, aiming to achieve the capture within five days!”
“No problem!”
“Understood, meow!”
Eudora and Dielu seemed confident in Li Fan’s deployment.
The party descended to the plains using the rope and then began to split up.
“Come out… cough, cough… Giant Ape.”
Taking out a Poké Ball emitting a yellow mist, Li Fan threw it forcefully.
The Barroth, named Giant Ape, appeared on the ground and lifted its nose, inhaling deeply.
“No need to look, I’ve prepared it all for you.”
Li Fan said, tossing it a pouch containing dozens of blue mushrooms.
Giant Ape grinned, sat on the grass, and used its pink tail to roll up the blue mushrooms, shoveling them into its mouth.
Dielu, clinging to Li Fan’s leg, peeked out half her head, looking as if she was peeking.
“I’ve investigated this area. No monsters will target you. If you lack mushrooms, you can pick them yourself. We might need the Twilight Barrier as early as this afternoon. Can you prepare it?”
Giant Ape, having just scratched its armpit, scratched its head, let out a burp, and suddenly propped itself up on its front paws, lifting its hindquarters.
Seeing this, Dielu was about to run, but seeing Li Fan standing stiffly in place, showing no intention of leaving, she suppressed her urge to flee and stayed.
Giant Ape glanced at Li Fan, who hadn’t run, and was a bit surprised. It slowly crawled over.
After a moment of eye contact, Giant Ape clenched its fist and extended it.
Li Fan naturally raised his hand and met its fist.
Giant Ape grinned, turned towards the jungle on the mountainside, let out a roar, and then rapidly climbed upwards.
“Did Giant Ape agree, meow?”
Dielu tentatively asked.
“Yes.”
“Why, meow?”
“Perhaps because of our extraordinary bond.”
Li Fan speculated.