Raising Ducks for Daily Rewards-Chapter 58: Rat Beast
One step.
Two steps.
Three steps...
Fengyu was only fifty steps away from the rat nest, moving extremely slowly, his right hand holding a flute, the left moving rapidly in his sleeves.
Rustle
A blow of wind made the young early spring leaves rustle.
Swish
Just as Fengyu concentrated, he suddenly felt an attack coming from the front!
Bang!
"Fwoooooo-"
A small targeted stone, about to hit him, was suddenly stopped by several leaves suddenly gathering in a protective formation.
Crack
The stone cracked and fell down, becoming earth.
"Silver Feather Spell, Shoot!" Fengyu called out while a second tune played in his flute –
"Fwuuuuu-"
A silver feather flew out and through the flute that suddenly hovered in the air, going right to the direction the stone came from.
"Squeeek! Squeaakk!" a panicked voice sounded as a rat with yellow-brown fur appeared right ahead.
It saw the feather approaching it and was about to dig back into the earth, but it was too late.
Slash!
The feather landed squarely on its body, slashing through it from the bottom to the top, separating the body in the middle and splattering blood all around.
"SQUEEK! SQUEAAAK!"
"SQUEEAAAAAAAK!"
Two loud voices were heard, revealing the location of two rats.
Just when Fengyu thought they would attack to avenge their companion, he suddenly saw them jump up, about to fall into the earth!
"Earth Hardening Spell, Harden!" on his side, without knowing when, Ming already stepped forward and hit the ground with his hoe while casting a spell loudly.
In an instant, the earth hardened in front of him, spreading all the way to the duck in mere moments!
The two rats about to dig deeper felt their claws weaken.
"Squeeaak! Squeeeaaaak!" they talked with each other, splitting up in two different directions.
"It’s a feign, they’re about to attack!" Fengyu said, pushing his spiritual power to activate the Tune of Protection again –
Just as he thought, the two rats, now distanced, attacked from two sides –
Stone bullets rose from the air and flew towards Ming in a sneak attack.
Ming had to keep up the hardening spell, else they might flee.
So instead he pushed his spiritual power into his bracelet –
Instantly, a thin barrier formed around him, slightly yellow, seemingly protecting his whole body.
Crack
Crack
The two bullets hit the barrier but didn’t pierce it, instead they cracked and fell down.
Seeing this, the rats were shocked and looked apprehensively at Fengyu.
"Squeeeaak!" This time, they truly ran away.
One to the north, the other to the east.
"Silver Feather Spell, Shoot!" Fengyu cast again, a silver feather shooting to the rat running east.
Swish
Splatter 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎
This time, the feather landed more targeted on the rat’s head, piercing it right through.
Fengyu calmed down and walked forward to one of the rat’s corpses, on his way he patted gently on Ming’s shoulder, telling him he could stop the spell.
"SQUEEEEEAAAK!" they suddenly heard a loud squeaking loudly in the distance.
A few seconds later, he saw Ling and Wind Claw return with a rats corpse.
The corpse hovered in a water ball in front of Ling.
Some blood could be seen on Wind Claw’s feet, a testament to the murder.
"It was easier than I thought," Ling’er suddenly said, sighing somewhat surprised.
"These are just rats. In the Beast Encyclopedia they have two main ancestries – the Treasure Seeking Rat, which is said to be extremely mythical, comparable to the Pixiu.
The other is the Giant Rat, which is from the ancestral category of gigantified beasts, a common evolutionary path of beasts.
Besides that, there are a few other bloodlines, though none of them are as widely known as others."
Fengyu told them about the rats as a way to reflect on his own knowledge.
"Then, should we keep them and sell them?" Ming asked, not knowing the price of these but thinking they should be worth something.
Hearing this, Ling shook her head, "The fur is maybe worth three spirit stones, rat’s tail can be sold for one stone and teeth for two stones. The flesh can be sold for another three.
The price of this is so low, it would be a wasted trip to take them back."
"So cheap? Then how do beast hunters make their living?" Ming asked in surprise.
"How? Hmm..." Ling was confused and looked over to Fengyu for an answer.
"Rats aren’t very aggressive and have been domesticated by spiritual herders for a long time, so their materials aren’t worth much.
Beast hunters focus hunting beasts that haven’t been domesticated to really gain some benefit.
They will only kill domesticated animals to eat them.
As for domesticated animals... naturally herders have various ways to improve the quality of what they sell.
This wild low-grade earth rat might only be worth less than 10 spirit stones, but a good herder should be able to make its fur grow soft and glossy, the teeth sharp and pointed, and the tail long. The meat will also be of a higher quality.
Together the price rises from less than 10 to thirty to fifty, which is a huge improvement.
Hehe, you didn’t think we spiritual herders are poor, did you?" Fengyu chuckled.
Just as spiritual planting is the foundation for countless materials, his Spiritual Herding is also the foundation for countless materials.
The creation arts are split into two categories:
Production and Crafting.
Production Creation Arts produce raw materials – the two leading arts are Spiritual Planting and Spiritual Herding.
Whatever material you need will likely be produced by these two.
Crafting Creation Arts refine raw materials into items – the five most known and notable being alchemy, weapon refining, sewing, talismans and formations.
They each represent the needs of cultivators – cultivation resources, offensive measures, protective measures, emergency measures and housing.
In a place where both production arts and all five crafting arts are found, you can expect for cultivators of all talents to rise and fall.
"Zimu, look for a slightly stronger foe this time." Fengyu turned to Zimu who hid behind him this whole time.
"Quack," Zimu nodded and pointed in another direction with his bill
