Li Fan recalled the state of Paofoo. After previous battle failures, it had indeed been training hard, even upgrading its Water Stream to Cutting Stream.
However, in terms of combat desperation, it truly paled in comparison to the Zinogre.
In his memory, Zinogre, Golden Lion, Brute Wyvern, and Diablos.
The attitude these four monsters displayed in combat was truly to kill their opponents without reservation.
Perhaps this savage nature further enhanced their combat prowess.
"When the Zinogre's internal temperature reaches a certain level, its tail blade will become superheated, further increasing its attack power. However, at the same time, the normally hard outer shell of the tail blade will soften. Some areas of its body will also experience similar high-temperature surges beneath the skin, especially the throat area where flammable mineral powder is accumulated. If conditions permit, this is the best time to sever its tail," Yin Tie informed him.
"Severing the tail... is that a bit difficult for the team?" Li Fan tentatively asked.
"It is indeed difficult, but once achieved, the Zinogre will suffer a severe blow, both physically and mentally. Those with weaker willpower might even lose their fighting spirit entirely."
"So, the ecological information about two Zinogre fighting also had a similar situation." Li Fan recalled.
In the eyewitness descriptions of the ecological report, when two Zinogre met and clashed tail blades, the one whose tail was severed first, regardless of its condition, was considered to have lost the duel.
"In short, if you can sever its tail, do so as much as possible. Otherwise, before that happens, the Zinogre will fight to the death," Yin Tie stated. The Blazing Greatsword Yin Tie used against Paofoo was crafted from Zinogre materials.
The advice given was undoubtedly authoritative. Combined with the relevant ecological information, Li Fan's understanding of the Zinogre deepened further.
The issue of insufficient Poké Ball quality immediately became apparent.
According to the progress of the Pokédex unlock, Great Balls were equivalent to four-star monsters, while Silver Cap Balls were for five-star monsters.
Coupled with their desperate fighting characteristic, it was possible that even a near-death Zinogre might not be capturable.
At this moment, Li Fan thought of the special Poké Ball unlocked by upgrading the Pokédex: the Ultra Ball.
The description on the Pokédex read: "When a monster displays its strong combat prowess in front of you, severely injures the monster, and gains its recognition, the capture success rate will be greatly increased."
If I sever the Zinogre's tail, would that count as fulfilling the condition?
Li Fan felt that the effect of this ball seemed to have a strong targeted effect on Zinogre.
While other monsters would indeed feel pain and fear when severely injured, their mental will would at least not collapse.
When a Zinogre suffered a severed tail, it would immediately become dejected.
A rudimentary capture plan quickly formed in his mind.
The next evening at 7:50 PM, the team arrived at the Meowster Chef restaurant as agreed to have a Felyne meal.
Seeing the "Closed" sign at the entrance, Li Fan thought there might be a problem with ingredient supply. However, as soon as the Felyne at the door saw the team arrive, it quickly opened the door and ushered them into the pitch-black restaurant.
Upon inquiry, they learned that to host the team for a Felyne meal, Meowster Chef had been closed since the afternoon for preparations.
As they took their seats at the dining table, the torches in the kitchen were lit one by one.
In the darkness, five Felynes wearing chef hats stood in a row, revealing themselves.
"Meow! Meow!"
After the five Felynes bowed in unison, the head chef, Deer, stepped forward.
"The materials the team requested are ready, would you like to enjoy them now, meow?"
Li Fan was surprised by the ceremony involved in eating a Felyne meal in Kamura Village. He nodded and confirmed, "Yes, please add extra salt to mine, thank you."
"No problem, meow!" Deer finished speaking and leaped back into the line with a backflip.
Is it here? Could this be...
Li Fan seemed to have a premonition of what was about to happen.
Boom! The stove exploded with flames!
Clang! Clang! Clang!....
The onions on the cutting board were quickly sliced into pieces and then tossed high into the air.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Two Felynes leaped up. One held a colander, and the other held two seasoning bottles.
After catching the onion slices, they seasoned them mid-air.
Thus began the juggling act of preparing the Felyne meal.
Li Fan watched for a moment and couldn't help but rub his eyes.
In the dazzling display, it was quite difficult to see all the details clearly.
Eudora and Dilu, however, were perfectly immersed, clapping and cheering.
Two minutes later, three plates of food were placed on the dining table.
Li Fan, feeling a bit dizzy, picked up a piece of meat and tasted it.
He found that the meat of the Great Jagras tasted somewhat similar to beef, but the muscle fibers seemed more delicate.
"Phew~ Delicious!" Eudora had already finished before Li Fan had even taken two bites.
"Uh... should I share mine with you, meow?" Dilu tentatively asked.
Eudora swallowed and refused, "No, the portions of Felyne meals are strictly regulated... Deer! Another five servings of roasted Great Horned Owl meat!"
At nine o'clock in the evening, the team returned to the forest by riding a small truck pulled by a Lagombi.
After Eudora returned to the research institute to rest early and Dilu fell asleep in the wooden house, Li Fan, carrying the Zangetsu, entered the forest.
Creak!
Chewing on a Strength Seed, Li Fan drew the Zangetsu and confronted Kuku.
The night bird Yeyue, perched on a branch that was bent down to the ground, watched quietly from the side.
"Kuku, don't hold back during training later. Swing your tail with all your might."
Wow! Kuku responded.
A bright blue light emanated from the Zangetsu.
The slashes derived from the Courage Style Greatsword's charge-up had a slight delay in execution.
However, since it could charge both the Spirit Gauge and the Courage Gauge simultaneously, it was necessary to adapt its application as much as possible.
After hacking at a wooden stake a few times, he accumulated a small amount of Courage Gauge.
He then faced Kuku and began to try to charge the Courage Gauge by using the Giant Blow to strike the Courage Guard.
Crack! Crack! Crack! ...
Nine strikes, and Li Fan successfully defended against all nine with the Courage Guard, then sheathed his sword and retreated.
Kuku seemed particularly surprised by this, as in normal practice sessions when performing a cleave, even when Li Fan was in top condition, he would fail 2 to 3 times out of 10.
Moreover, his state after a successful defense was different.
The Foresight Slash was a forward slash after stepping forward.
The Courage Guard involved sheathing the sword and stepping back.
After five charge-up derived slashes and nine tail whips to defend against attacks, the Courage Gauge was just about full. If it were a Zinogre, I wouldn't have so many opportunities to attack, but at the same time, the Zinogre's attack power is on a completely different level from Kuku's... Let's tentatively assume that defending against 4 attacks will fill the Courage Gauge.
After Li Fan calculated this in his mind, the next step was to train the Spirit Gauge charge.
When the Courage Gauge was full, the Spirit Blade Slash Type 1 gained a new derived move called the "Heavy Spirit Blade Slash."
The Heavy Spirit Blade Slash required timing an attack to clash with the monster's incoming attack to unleash it, which was similar to the timing required for the Foresight Slash.
With the dual enhancement of Spirit and Courage, the Heavy Spirit Blade Slash was not only extremely powerful but could also partially reflect the monster's attack power.
Unfortunately, in a training scenario, to achieve the ideal level of activation, the attack needed to have sufficient impact.
Similar to the Courage Guard, it required a Hammer Hunter to spar with.
However, this was not only very dangerous but also not very effective.
But Li Fan was different; he had a bunch of monster sparring partners. The only concern was not to injure them.
"Kuku, the following training is a bit dangerous. Swing your tail as fast as you can."
Upon hearing the instruction, a dizzy Kuku shook its head vigorously, planted its feet, and swung its tail with full force.
Li Fan activated Foresight, his eyes fixed on the trajectory of the swinging tail.
Clang! The Zangetsu was swung diagonally from bottom to top, as if to form a barrier with the slash.
The blade collided with the base of the tail, and a pale blue wave of energy exploded outwards with a ringing sound.
A powerful recoil force caused Kuku's tail swing to veer off course. It could only adjust its balance with quick steps, its claws moving several meters before it stabilized.
I understand! No wonder the Courage Style Greatsword is effective against Zinogre. Li Fan suddenly realized.
Zinogre's balance was not poor, but due to the imbalance in its body structure and the constant addition of molten metal minerals to its tail's surface, its tail blade's swing involved almost its entire body's strength.
If this strength were to be reflected back by the Heavy Spirit Blade Slash, even a portion of it would easily cause its entire body to lose balance.
"Wow..." Kuku let out a mournful cry.
In previous tail-swinging practice sessions, Li Fan was always the one getting beaten.
Today, not only could he not knock it away even with all his might, but he was also almost thrown off balance by the strange recoil. He felt a bit disheartened.
"That's the feeling! Come on, Kuku, again!" The successful release of the Heavy Spirit Blade Slash excited Li Fan.
Two days later, at noon, deep in the forest.
After loading the supplies, Li Fan installed a sunshade on the riding seat, and the team then rode the Little Fool towards the Sandy Plains.
"The client is a caravan on the Sandy Plains, and the request was made two months ago. The reason given is that a Plesioth attacked the caravan while it was traveling, and many goods were swallowed... Only a designated area is mentioned, with no description of the individual monster. It seems we'll need to get more information from the local branch." Eudora, flying high in the sky, felt the contract was a bit troublesome.
"Two months have passed, the information should have been updated by now," Li Fan speculated.
"Not necessarily. The ecological environment of the Sandy Plains is harsh. The conditions at the guild branch might be even worse than the Ancient Forest, and they have to defend against all sorts of terrifying monsters. They might not care about this general contract," Eudora said helplessly.
"Then we can only rely on the local standards." The team had never been to the Sandy Plains before; this was their first time venturing there.
Four days passed, and the meat chunks hanging from the carriage gradually decreased. The landscape below also transformed from lush green to barren desert.
During the flight, Li Fan learned a lot about navigation and geography. If they got lost, they could follow migrating monsters from a distance and determine their destination based on their ecology. Sometimes they would also follow ground caravans or airships in the sky.
After a bumpy journey, they finally arrived safely.
Ugh~ Ugh~ Meow~
Two pale-faced hunters and a Felyne walking unsteadily. They groaned intermittently as they made their way towards the Sandy Plains outpost. The team's poor condition was mainly due to the fact that although the flight was fast, it was utterly uncomfortable. They bumped while eating, bumped while sleeping, were buffeted by strong winds during the day, and couldn't get a moment's rest at night. It was an extremely grueling travel experience.
After walking for nearly half an hour from the landing site, the team arrived at a fortress built within a ring of sandstone. Looking at the pedestrians and residents on the main street, Li Fan felt that this place was not only larger than the Ancient Forest's Port of Orah but also much more prosperous. At the very least, essential facilities like the blacksmith shop, canteen, and inn were present.
Following the signs, they found the guild branch. As soon as they pushed open the door, a dark-skinned female attendant greeted them from behind the counter.
"Welcome to the Sandstone Cave Branch!"
"Hello, I'm here to update the quest information." Eudora walked to the counter and presented the contract.
Li Fan and Dilu sat at a round table, unscrewed an empty bottle containing healing potions. They used a hunter's knife to cut off a small amount of Ice Crystals, put them in, poured in water, and shook it vigorously.
Ska! The clear water quickly solidified into ice crystals, clinging to the inside of the bottle. Li Fan poured out three cups of shaved ice. After drinking one cup, he leaned back in his chair, feeling as if his soul had been elevated, and he was completely refreshed. Dilu also happily propped up its paws.
"For the local gathering quest, please add two more Ice Crystals to the order." Li Fan said, taking out a written purchase order and starting to write.
"Because the Plesioth was lurking in the sand dunes during the attack, the client couldn't describe its individual characteristics. The Sandstone Cave Branch, with the client's consent, has changed the target to any Plesioth within the designated area... Is this cup of shaved ice for me?" Eudora placed the updated contract on the table and looked at the remaining shaved ice.
"Yes, meow." Dilu replied.
Eudora raised the cup, drank it down, and sighed, slumping back in her chair.
"Beware of Yian Kut-Ku, Congalala, Diablos, Brute Wyvern, Seregios, and Zinogre appearing in the area... As expected, there are no specific markers." The harsher the natural environment, the poorer the information gathering results of the investigators in the field. The Sandstone Cave Branch simply recorded the species that had been confirmed. As for their exact locations, they likely lacked the ability to track them in detail. However, since there were no villages or other settlements around the Sandy Plains, there wasn't much necessity. The marked water sources and hunting grounds were more numerous and reliable than the maps of Kokoto Village. It was likely that the investigators on the Sandy Plains had diligently compiled and marked them to cope with the harsh environment.
Next, Eudora went to procure supplies locally, while Li Fan and Dilu went to negotiate emergency rescue services with the local Felyne rescue team. After both parties finished their tasks, they would meet at the inn in the outpost. Felynes looked almost identical to Felynes, but their fur color was predominantly black. Because they were unwilling to be domesticated by humans and dragon people, Felynes were more independent in their thinking than Felynes. Since some Felynes had a habit of stealing, very few could become companion cats. Following the dense paw prints on the sand, Li Fan and Dilu walked through the street and arrived at a dome-shaped hut made of sandstone. Li Fan bent down to pass through the low doorway, and more than a dozen Felynes in the courtyard simultaneously turned their gaze towards them.
"Hello, meow! My name is Dilu, and I'm here with Hunter Li Fan to discuss support from the rescue team." After Dilu introduced herself, all the Felynes turned to look at the Felyne wearing a red scarf at the end of the courtyard.
"Oh ho, business is here. My name is Eller, and I need to see the contract first, meow." Li Fan immediately presented the contract.
"Oh ho! Plesioth is indeed dangerous... Hmm, according to the rules, a deposit of 2500z is required first. If the rescue is successful once, one-third of the total contract fee will be charged, meow!" Eller quoted the price after looking at the contract.
"What about facing a Zinogre for rescue?" Li Fan tentatively asked.
"Oh ho!!! That means pretending to encounter it without accepting a contract and attempting to hunt it, meow!" Eller exclaimed in surprise.
"Uh... you're quite the expert." Li Fan was surprised that this Felyne knew so much.
"This kind of thing is essentially testing the guild's bottom line. No, it's not allowed..." Hearing this, Li Fan and Dilu simultaneously drooped their shoulders.
"You have to pay extra, meow!" Seeing that there was still hope, Li Fan asked, "How much extra?"
"A deposit of 10,000z, and 20,000z per successful rescue, meow."
"What if the rescue is not activated?"
"Then the deposit will be refunded, and only a standby fee of 2,000z will be charged for deployment, meow."
"Deployment standby fee... So you'll be on-site during the hunt?" Li Fan asked in surprise.
"Of course. Before confirming the hunt, we'll fire a signal flare, meow. We'll start fighting after our rescue team arrives. If the Felyne rescue team only deploys in a normal manner against a Zinogre, then it will only be a corpse retrieval service, meow," Eller explained.
"As expected of a professional team, they've thought of everything." Li Fan immediately paid the money and received a rescue contract imprinted with a paw print, along with two Felyne rescue team exclusive signal flares.
Leaving the dome-shaped hut, they saw a wounded hunter being pushed back. However, when the hunter said he couldn't afford to pay the remaining rescue fee, several Felynes came to the side of the flatbed cart and lifted it forcefully. The hunter was dumped onto the sand. He then shakily got up, wanting to retrieve his Greatsword, but was told by the Felynes who had taken it that it had been pawned and could be redeemed once the money was collected. With a sigh of resignation, the hunter could only leave, leaning against the wall.