Pulling out the hunter's knife from his lower back, Li Fan calculated the distance and made two holes in the small wooden barrel, then put it on his head.
"Xiao Fen, how is it? No features at all, right?"
"That's right, meow... but your voice has a bit of an echo."
Dilu observed for a moment and replied.
"Perfect, I don't even need to disguise my voice."
Li Fan was even more satisfied with the wooden barrel helmet.
An unremarkable hunter's leather armor set, plus a very common and versatile small wooden barrel.
With this combination, it was impossible to identify him by his equipment.
In other words, Li Fan had now become an untraceable hunter.
The moonlight grew stronger.
Occasionally, when he encountered hunter teams or merchant caravans, they would still cast curious glances at Li Fan.
However, the small wooden barrel worn as a helmet attracted less attention.
The reason was that the appearance of monster equipment itself was already diverse.
Mighty and handsome, beautiful and elegant, strange and bizarre...
Having seen so much, wearing a wooden barrel was no longer unusual.
Guan Guan, as he was called, traveled swiftly through the night. At dawn, after a full meal, he unloaded his cargo, lay down on the ground, and began to sleep.
Since his front paws always felt comfortable when holding something, Li Fan gave him a wooden barrel.
This method of traveling at night and resting during the day was something Li Fan had researched and was using for the first time on a long-distance hunt.
The advantage was that in the dangerous wilderness at night, they were always traveling.
It was as if they were already fleeing before encountering any danger.
Although one of Li Fan or Dilu had to stay awake to guide Guan Guan, as long as they managed their time properly, both the person and the cat could get half a night's rest on Guan Guan's back.
This way, after resting in the morning, they could set off again in the afternoon, ensuring both safety and efficiency.
As for the long-distance carriages at the village entrance, Li Fan had considered them.
However, the amount of supplies he carried was too much, making the transportation costs very high and the speed very slow.
Kara Village did not have hot air balloons or airships, so riding Guan Guan became the best option for long-distance travel.
Dilu set up a small pot and poured in ingredients to cook.
Li Fan put on his eye mask and rested his head on Guan Guan's thigh to catch up on sleep.
At nine in the morning, Li Fan woke up to eat, and then it was Dilu's turn to sleep.
Although traveling was hard, the person and the cat surprisingly enjoyed this wilderness life.
After eating, Li Fan found a hard mineral vein nearby and struck it twice.
Clang! Clang!
The blade vibrated and bounced back, causing pain. A small amount of Qi flowed in.
"Kuku, wag your tail quickly!"
Li Fan said, holding the knife with both hands and facing Kuku.
Kuku bent its hind legs and vigorously swung its body, its red tail whipping out like a whip.
Li Fan stomped on the ground, his body rotating backward. The small amount of Qi stored in the Jawblade Type 1 transformed into blue mist, which dispersed with the blade towards the front of his body.
"Spirit of the Void..."
*Splat!*
Li Fan shouted the two words with great momentum, only to be sent flying by Kuku's tail whip.
The blue misty Qi floating in front of him then dissipated.
"This Spirit of the Void slash is too difficult."
Li Fan complained and simply lay down on the ground.
However, he still mentally reviewed the shortcomings of his previous attempt.
Lack of strength, plus hitting the mineral vein which caused the attack to bounce off, resulted in very little Qi being obtained.
With little Qi stored, the amount of blue misty Qi that could be dispersed was naturally limited.
This required more precise control over the coverage area, thickness, and timing of the incoming attack.
Just as Li Fan was summarizing, Kuku came behind him, grabbed the sword sheath strap with its beak, and dragged Li Fan to his feet.
This was not Kuku's first time participating in the Spirit of the Void slash training.
Originally, Bear Big was supposed to be the training partner, but after successfully executing the Spirit of the Void slash, one had to quickly draw the sword and slash upwards.
Li Fan did not want to develop a habit of retracting his attack during training, and he was afraid of hurting Bear Big, so he asked Kuku to use its tail whip attack for practice.
This way, even if the slash was successful, the upward slash position would be offset by the tail.
If it failed, although Bear Big and Kuku would not attack with full force during training, getting hit once would still hurt.
Wow!
Kuku stood at the position Li Fan had designated and let out a joyful cry, indicating it wanted to do it again.
Clearly, in its eyes, this was not training, but a very fun interactive game.
"Come on! Get ready!"
Li Fan said, raising his knife and slashing at the mineral vein.
In the afternoon, Li Fan, covered in bruises, loaded Guan Guan with a pack saddle and set off again.
Two days later, after a long journey, they finally arrived at the Flooded Forest.
Everywhere they looked, there were lush trees and rocky mountains covered in green vegetation.
Countless thick vines hung overhead, intertwined.
*Swish! Swish!*
Water that barely reached their ankles flowed rapidly on the ground, with fish occasionally leaping out of the water or swimming past their feet.
"These hunter's leather boots really have good waterproofing."
Li Fan stomped his feet in the water and exclaimed.
"Old Bai, the Girros species live in a region called the Muddy Swamp. Should we set up camp there, meow?"
Dilu looked at the map and asked.
"Is the Muddy Swamp deep enough?"
Although the hunter teams they encountered along the way were becoming fewer and fewer, for safety's sake, Li Fan wanted to find a more remote location.
After all, the mission to hunt the Girros was just a pretense.
"According to the guild's danger level classification on the map, it's quite deep, meow."
"Let's set up camp there."
Guan Guan began to run on the water's surface.
He ran all night. The area of the Flooded Forest was beyond Li Fan and Dilu's imagination.
Upon reaching their destination, Li Fan found a small cave in a rock crevice.
They set up the tent and started a campfire.
Neither the person nor the cat had the energy to cook, so they took out portable rations that tasted like canned luncheon meat, ate a hasty meal, and decided to rest.
"Dilu, you go to sleep first."
"Okay, meow..."
Dilu rubbed his eyes and stumbled into the tent.
Li Fan went to the edge of the rock crevice, confirmed that no one was around, and opened a Fullness Ball.
The released Puffball appeared on the water below.
After looking around for a moment, Puffball looked up at Li Fan in the rock crevice.
"How is this environment? It's perfect for you, isn't it?"
Li Fan waved his hand and said.
Puffball flicked its tail, splashing into the water, and sent two Biterfish flying into the air, then caught them with its open mouth.
Its long neck bulged slightly, and the Biterfish were swallowed.
A family of three Lagiacrus in the distance, seeing Puffball suddenly appear, froze for a moment before the entire family quickly fled.
"Puffball, I'm entrusting your safety tonight to you."
After giving the order, Li Fan was about to return to the tent to rest.
"Mew..."
Puffball let out a low purr, its fox-like head gently rubbing against the rock wall, as if giving a reminder.
Li Fan had not spent much time with Puffball, so he couldn't quite understand the meaning. He could only climb down the rope to see what was happening.
"What are you worried about?"
Li Fan asked.
Puffball slowly turned its body, its fox-like head approaching the rock wall again.
Li Fan curiously turned his head to look at the rock wall behind him, and three claw marks deeply etched into the rock caught his eye.
"Are you trying to say... this is a Nargacuga's territory?"
Li Fan asked tentatively.
Mew....
"It's okay, don't worry about us. The rock crevice of the camp is so narrow that a Nargacuga can't get in."
Li Fan comforted it, but then he thought that something was not quite right.
"Right, a Nargacuga can't get in, and you can't get in either..."
Soon, Li Fan had a new speculation: "Wait a minute, you're so sensitive to the traces left by Nargacuga. Did you have contact with one before? If that's the case... you originally lived in the Flooded Forest! You migrated to the vicinity of Kara Village to avoid the Nargacuga!"
Mew! Mew!
Puffball's cries changed from low to high.
"No way, doesn't that mean I brought you back again..."
Li Fan was a little speechless.
He had thought Puffball would like the environment of the Flooded Forest, but it turned out they had left from here.
"Go back into the sphere first."
Li Fan said, putting Puffball back into the Fullness Ball.
Considering Puffball's almost blank combat experience before coming to the vicinity of Kara Village,
Li Fan speculated that Puffball had not fought with Nargacuga, but had always been avoiding it.
The Flooded Forest was so vast, and two five-star monsters without deep-seated hatred or hunter guidance would have a very low probability of a fight to the death.
Even if they were fighting for territory, the weaker party would do their best to escape after a certain degree of combat.
Or, like Puffball, who simply didn't want to fight and chose to migrate.
After a brief analysis, Li Fan felt that the danger level of Nargacuga was not high.
After all, he wasn't here to hunt Nargacuga, and the Flooded Forest was so vast that it would be difficult to encounter one.
After using vines to create some camouflage on the outside of the rock crevice, Li Fan released Kuku.
"Kuku, I'm leaving the safety of the night to you. It's very dangerous here, absolutely do not... Oh, you're too big to get out anyway. In any case, just guard this crevice and don't let anything through."
After giving instructions, Li Fan returned to the tent to sleep.
The next day, the sky was clear.
Sunlight shone into the rock crevice.
Li Fan walked out of the tent and saw Kuku still guarding the crevice, feeling a little moved.
Upon closer inspection, he found that its beak was stuck in the rock crevice and it was asleep, so he put it back into the Poké Ball.
After tidying up his equipment, Li Fan moved a large barrel he had placed in the bushes and began to prepare for collecting Bubble Slime.
"Xiao Fen, I did some research before. The Bubble Slime that Kara Village buys is only 60% concentrated. Do you know why?"
"I don't know, meow."
Dilu, who had brought a small bucket, listened attentively.
"Because Bubble Slime is only produced in large quantities when Puffball is fighting, but no one dares to collect it during a fight. If you collect it afterward, most of the surrounding area is water, and it will easily be diluted by the water."
"I see, meow..."
Dilu suddenly understood.
"But we're different. We have Puffball, and the vast Flooded Forest as cover. The concentration is directly 100%. So, what should we do?"
"Hmm... sell it as a unique, highest-concentration Bubble Slime and dominate the detergent industry, meow!"
Dilu raised his paw.
"Wrong!"
"Meow?"
"We need to dilute it! Lower the concentration to 70%, otherwise, if a large quantity enters the market, it will quickly attract suspicion."
Li Fan explained.
"I see, meow."
Dilu suddenly understood.
Puffball soon appeared. After listening to Li Fan's requirements, it began to spin in place.
As it spun, countless bubbles floated outwards from beneath it.
After spinning a certain number of times, it lifted its tail and slowly lowered it over the large wooden barrel.
Li Fan stood in front of the large wooden barrel and squeezed the purple fur at the tail, and the viscous Bubble Slime dripped into the bottom of the barrel.
Although Dilu was shorter, he stood on a small bucket and could also squeeze the purple fur with his cat claws.
"This job is suitable for Bear Big."
Li Fan wiped the sweat from his forehead, thinking of Bear Big's powerful bear claws.
He felt that just a simple squeeze would increase efficiency by several times.
Two hours passed, and Li Fan felt that the highly concentrated Bubble Slime had been injected sufficiently.
Then, he and Dilu used small buckets to add water frantically.
After sealing the lid, the large wooden barrel was tipped over and rolled repeatedly on the ground.
Seeing the first barrel of finished product completed, Li Fan and Dilu both showed relieved smiles.
"Old Bai, how much can this barrel sell for, meow?"
Dilu asked excitedly.
"The measurement is the same as a potion bottle, one bottle can sell for 500z. This large barrel... can hold at least 100 bottles, which is 50,000z."
"50,000z, meow!"
Dilu raised his paw and fiddled with it, clearly lacking a concept of such a large number.
"We have three more large barrels like this."
Li Fan held up three fingers, and Dilu became even more confused.
"It's too terrifying, meow!"
"Of course, if we supply too much, even Bubble Slime will eventually see its price drop. So, we must control the supply cycle."
Just as Li Fan was making long-term plans, a green signal flare exploded in the sky.
*Clang!*
Judging by the distance, the launch point was nearby.
Li Fan quickly put Puffball back into the Poké Ball, then dispersed the accumulated foam around him and checked the situation outside.
"Hold on in there! We'll be there to rescue you immediately."
Following a loud male voice, Li Fan saw a hunter wearing Rathian armor holding a katana with a green blade, confronting a mass of congealed foam.
"Six-star Hunter Medal, meow!"
Dilu exclaimed, looking at the medal on the man's chest.
"Brother, please don't be agitated. There's no Puffball here, we're just collecting Bubble Slime."
Li Fan tried to negotiate.
"No Puffball? Uh..."
The man gripped his katana and cautiously circled the foam mass, discovering that there was indeed no Puffball. He then carefully sheathed his Flying Wyvern Blade [Veridian], which was dripping purple venom, into his scabbard.
Seeing Li Fan, who was wearing a wooden barrel helmet, emerge from the foam.
The man's steady emotions became agitated again.
"Hunter's leather armor set, Jawblade... looks like Type 1."
As the man muttered, three more hunters emerged from the bushes.
"Boss, where's the Puffball?"
A thin male hunter asked, reloading his heavy bowgun while warily scanning the surroundings.
"There are only traces of a lot of foam at the scene. It shouldn't have gone far."
The man informed him.
"Huh? The target isn't here, so why did you fire the rally flare?"
A female hunter wielding dual Rathalos blades asked, confused.
"It was my misjudgment."
The man said with some helplessness.