Bright flames flickered from the hearth of the stone stove, casting a few dancing shadows across the rock walls of the cave.
In front of the stove, Lin Ke calmed his surging thoughts.
Thinking too far ahead was useless; he was currently surviving in extreme cold, so he needed to solve his immediate problems first.
Sitting on the stone chair, Lin Ke closed his eyes and recalled wilderness survival videos he had watched back in his past life.
Images, text, videos…
When he opened his eyes again, under the passive effect of his learning talent, he felt as if he had picked up a few more skills.
Lin Ke pulled a log about 1.2 meters long from his backpack, retrieved his hunting knife, and used the firelight to start carving and crafting.
He had saved this long piece of wood specifically when breaking apart the supply crate.
It had good thickness and length, taken horizontally from the crate’s lid.
He intended to fashion a simple fish spear out of it.
After all, he needed a proper tool to catch the fish swimming in the pool behind him.
Going into the water to catch them by hand was the dumbest method.
Humans became the masters of all creation precisely because of their ability to make and use tools.
Spearfishing would not only secure food for his survival, but also complete his novice task for the Hunter class.
More importantly, he wanted to test the actual effect of his Hunter talent.
The hunting knife was extremely sharp.
Combined with his 7 points in Agility and 6 points in Strength, Lin Ke swung the knife so fast it left an afterimage, without any fear of cutting his own fingers.
Thin wood shavings fell like snowflakes, quickly piling into a layer beneath him as the block of wood gradually took the shape of a long shaft.
Once the shaft was fully carved out, Lin Ke used the blade to scrape off the burrs and smooth the edges.
Fumbling through the wood shavings at his feet, he picked up a slightly larger chunk of wood he had sliced off earlier and carved out two pencil-thick, five-centimeter-long wooden pegs.
Then, holding the knife in his right hand and taking one end of the wooden shaft in his left, he carefully made a cross-shaped cut twelve centimeters deep.
He then jammed the two small wooden pegs crosswise into the slit.
This split the end of the shaft into four tips.
He sharpened and polished the four tips with his knife, then spent a moment gathering the wood shavings from the floor to feed into the hearth—not wasting a single bit.
Lin Ke stood up, cut several dozen long strands of black beast fur from the edge of the tent, and rolled them between his palms to twist them into a meter-long fine cord.
He wrapped the cord tightly around the base of the split shaft dozens of times over the pegs.
This secured the four tines and prevented the split from splitting further during use.
Thus, a hand-crafted four-pronged spear was complete.
[Four-Pronged Spear] (Tool)
Quality: Common
Description: A wooden fish spear crafted by a hunter.
Quite sufficient for dealing with modest-sized fish.
P.S.
It’s for fish, not badgers.
Lin Ke picked up the freshly made fish spear and walked over to the pool, full of confidence.
But when he leaned down to look, he was struck dumb.
The opening of the stove’s hearth faced away from the pool, so no light reached it.
The surface of the water remained pitch-black, and he could only make out vague dark shapes swimming beneath.
In an environment like this, spearfishing was out of the question.
Right then, he needed to solve the light source issue first.
The stone stove couldn’t be moved; it was built directly into the bedrock floor of the cave.
As for making a torch or building another campfire by the pool for light, Lin Ke ruled that out immediately.
Firewood was scarce as it was; he couldn’t afford to waste it.
Looking around, his gaze landed on the clusters of glowing plants growing along the cave walls, reminding him of the item details he had seen earlier through the Eye of Truth.
He walked over and carefully plucked a piece of Glowmoss about the size of a ping-pong ball.
Squeezing it in his hand, the pink, fur-like ball of Glowmoss felt cool and moist, soft like a ball of jelly.
Shaking it near his ear, he could hear a sloshing liquid sound inside.
This was far more interesting than just looking at 2D icons in a video game.
[Glowmoss] (Moss Plant / Tool)
Quality: Common
Description: A bioluminescent plant that grows in dark places.
Can be used as slinger ammunition.
When loaded into a slinger and fired, it emits light at the point of impact, illuminating the surroundings.
P.S.
Striking a Flying Wyvern’s head with this will also make it see stars.
“I don’t have a slinger, but throwing it by hand should work just the same.”
Lin Ke aimed at the rock wall on the far side of the pool and hurled the Glowmoss with all his strength.
*Splat!*
The moment the soft Glowmoss hit the wall, it burst like a water balloon, splashing its internal liquid across a large section of the rock.
The area splashed by the Glowmoss liquid instantly glowed with a soft pale purple light, illuminating a huge area.
The small pool was now completely visible under the light source.
Looking into the pool, Lin Ke was momentarily dazed.
Under the purple light, the pool was crystal clear, almost invisible, as several dozen fish swam gracefully within it, looking as if they were gliding through thin air.
*All seemed to float in midair, backed by nothing.*
It was a line from the classical poem *Record of the Small Stone Pond* that he had memorized in his childhood, yet it was the most accurate description of the pool before his eyes.
Lin Ke lacked literary talent, so he could only offer a heartfelt exclamation.
“Damn, this water quality is fucking amazing.”
After being briefly awed by the pool, Lin Ke raised his spear.
Under heaven and earth, eating came first.
He targeted a fish swimming near the edge of the pool, raised his spear, and thrust downward.
The spear broke the surface, sending ripples that blurred the water and instantly breaking the tranquility.
Alarmed, the fish sped up.
There was no resistance of hitting a solid target.
When Lin Ke pulled the spear back out of the water, the tines were completely empty—not a single fish scale was caught.
In truth, Lin Ke knew the outcome the moment he threw the spear.
Water refracted light, so the fish he saw was merely a refracted image; the fish’s actual position was slightly lower.
Middle school physics.
He had just remembered it—thankfully he hadn’t returned all that knowledge to his teachers.
Grabbing the spear again, Lin Ke stared intently at the water.
Seeing another fish approach, he assumed a throwing stance.
Under intense concentration, the fish’s movement seemed to slow down in Lin Ke’s vision: a long, slender pink body, a fierce spiky dorsal fin, and scales glistening as it swam.
*Little guy looks pretty vicious.*
[Pink Aberrant Fish] (Aquatic Creature / Ingredient)
Quality: Common
Description: A fish whose appearance has remained unchanged since ancient times.
Widely distributed across the New World, it possesses tenacious vitality and can survive purely by filter-feeding on microorganisms in the water.
P.S.
Firm flesh, best braised.
Lashing out forcefully with the spear, water splashed everywhere.
When Lin Ke pulled the spear back, a fish about twenty centimeters long was impaled on it.
Even with three tines piercing its body, its slender pink frame squirmed and thrashed, desperately trying to escape.
“Its vitality really is tenacious.”
Lin Ke tried to store the fish into his backpack.
It failed.
It seemed the backpack couldn’t store living organisms.
Placing the fish a distance away from the pool, Lin Ke stepped firmly on its body, pulled out the spear, and set it aside.
He then pulled out his hunting knife, carefully avoided the sharp dorsal fin of the Pink Aberrant Fish, and drove the blade into its head, putting an end to it.
A distinct beam of white light emerged from his arm, following the dagger into the wound on the fish’s head.
*Is this the Hunter talent, Slaughter?
What a miraculous feeling.*
*Ding~*
A crisp prompt sounded in his mind:
[Task Completed.
Obtained 10 EXP.
Reward has been delivered to your inventory.]
Pulling out the knife, two tiny crystals—one red and one white, combined smaller than a single grain of rice—rolled out from the wound on the fish’s head.
If he didn’t have sharp vision, he would have missed them entirely.
Pressing down with his index finger, he picked up the two crystals and brought them up to his eyes, squinting hard until he was almost cross-eyed to see their shapes clearly.
The red one was an irregular crystal with multiple facets, resembling the Philosopher’s Stone from Western mythology.
The white one was a tiny transparent sphere, so small he couldn’t see what was inside.
[Tiny Fragmented Crystal of the Fish] (Bloodstone)
Quality: Poor
Description: Consuming this slightly restores stamina.
P.S.
Why doesn’t it boost Strength?
Because it’s way too small!
[Soul Essence of a Weak Fish] (Soul Crystal)
Quality: Poor
Description: Pressing this to your forehead slightly relieves mental fatigue.
P.S.
Need I say more?
o(*￣▽￣*)o
*Fine!
The blood and soul essence of a single fish really is too negligible.*
Lin Ke licked the red stone into his stomach and pressed the Soul Crystal against his forehead to test their effects.
Indeed, he felt a warm current in his stomach and a cool sensation in his brain, but it lasted for only about three seconds before dissipating.
The quality was too poor to make any real difference.