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Chapter 195: White-Eyed Mouse Offspring
🕑 Added 2024-09-15 04:45:47 +0000 UTC【Text simulation complete. Would you like to continue simulating?】
"No."
The screen in front of Rhett gradually faded away.
After the simulation ended, Rhett quietly reflected on the results. After a moment of silence, a look of realization flashed in his eyes.
Overall, this simulation didn't reveal any significant or unexpected events. It was relatively calm.
Whether it was the Blood God Cult, the organization behind Blackstar and Goldsand, or even the coastal region of Donglan, nothing major happened. Everything developed steadily for a year.
"However... the Circle Tower inviting me in June? It seems they want to learn more about the Blood God Cult..." Rhett pondered. Could it be that the Circle Tower had discovered some hidden secrets? But he wasn’t in a rush to make a decision. There was still half a year before he needed to act, so he decided to let things unfold for a while.
"And as for Coiling Dragon becoming a huge hit, even though I had mentally prepared for it, seeing it turn out so overwhelmingly successful is still a pleasant surprise..."
"Father, what are you thinking about?" Tylers tilted his head in confusion.
Rhett snapped out of his thoughts and smiled at Tylers, saying: "Nothing much. I was just thinking that since we're here in the White Rat Range, it would be a shame not to hunt a bit.
Perhaps... in such a vast range, with more magical beasts than in the Dark Stripe Eagle Range, we might even find a magical beast cub for you."
"Really?" Tylers' eyes lit up with excitement. "Thank you, Father!"
"Heh, I can’t guarantee it, but I’ll do my best."
"I believe in you, Father. You're unstoppable!"
"Haha, let me remind you again, no one is unstoppable..."
Amidst their laughter, Rhett led Tylers into the White Rat Range to begin their hunt.
As the first light of dawn pierced through the hills of the White Rat Range, the stars gradually faded, and the sky began to brighten.
At this moment, Rhett led Tylers through the dense forests and mountains on foot.
Earlier, during the dead of night, Rhett had been wandering aimlessly with Tylers until around 4 a.m. when he spotted three-fingered footprints that resembled the ones left by the Ice Spiked Bear during the extreme cold when the Snow Elf appeared.
Following the trail, they had been searching through the forest for about an hour.
Suddenly, Rhett stopped in his tracks.
Tylers noticed and also stopped, conjuring a stream of water to sip from, refreshing his throat before asking: "What’s the matter, Father?"
"Hmm, nothing much. Over there... it seems we’ve found an Ice Spiked Bear. Our target is within reach," Rhett said casually. "Looks like we’ve also found breakfast."
"Yay, I want roasted bear paws!" Tylers said with a grin.
Rhett chuckled.
In his perception, about a kilometer to the west, an Ice Spiked Bear was snoring, and the footprints led directly to it.
As they drew closer, the bear stirred slightly, sensing the unmasked approach. With a sudden roll, it stood up from the ground.
Bending its knees in a defensive posture, its deep blue fur rippled in the wind. Its large eyes locked onto the intruders who had disturbed its sleep.
"Roar!"
Seeing the two humans, the third-level Ice Spiked Bear became furious. It pounded its chest with loud thuds, then charged toward Rhett with heavy strides.
The ground trembled, causing fallen leaves and branches to bounce, and birds to scatter in panic.
Rhett remained calm, effortlessly channeling his spiritual power to cast an earth spike spell.
Whoosh! A sharp, earth-yellow spike shot up from the ground, piercing the Ice Spiked Bear’s chest in an instant. Thud! Blood gushed out like a fountain.
"Groooan!"
"Groooan!"
The bear’s heart was pierced, halting its steps as its body trembled. It let out continuous cries of pain.
Its once fierce eyes now held only fear as it gazed at Rhett, the rage completely gone.
Feeling its life force rapidly draining and weakness setting in, the bear grew even more terrified.
But the angle of the spike was tricky, slanting upward and entering from the back.
This left the bear stuck, unable to move forward or backward, trapped in a hopeless situation.
Its struggles only worsened its injuries, making its cries louder as blood soaked its fur, like the blood-red sun of a winter evening.
Beautiful but fleeting! "Tylers, hurry! It won’t last long. Finish it off with some spells!" Rhett urged from the side.
"Oh, right... okay." Tylers responded hastily, gathering his spiritual power to cast a first-level dark spell—Shadow Arrow!
Whoosh! A dark arrow shot out silently, aiming for the bear’s throat.
But Tylers, still inexperienced in combat, found it too difficult to target the moving head, so he aimed for the larger area of the throat.
Splatter! The sound of water splashing.
The impact was minimal, fitting the dark spell’s stealthy nature.
"Tylers, your combat experience is seriously lacking. Its neck is untouched. How could you aim there?" Rhett said with a sigh. "The chest wound is obvious—make it worse!"
Tylers blushed in embarrassment at his poor judgment, silently vowing to devote more time to magic training when they returned.
Following his father’s instructions, he focused all his efforts on casting spells at the bear’s chest.
One after another, Shadow Arrows flew out, worsening the Ice Spiked Bear’s wounds...
Finally, under Tylers’ relentless assault, the bear’s massive body couldn’t take the torment any longer. It let out one last wail before collapsing backward with a thunderous crash!
Thud! The impact sent up a cloud of dust with a heavy sound.
【Family member has slain an enemy two ranks higher: Fate Points +2】
A familiar screen appeared before Rhett, and he smiled softly.
"Father, this will be our breakfast. I’ll handle the preparation!" Tylers rolled up his sleeves and pulled a small tool kit from his pocket, retrieving a skinning knife. His eyes gleamed as he looked at the bear’s body.
"Wait, Tylers. Our breakfast might be delayed a bit," Rhett said, staring at the corpse.
Seeing Tylers' confused look, Rhett explained:
"The Ice Spiked Bear has a strong scent, especially after death, when the smell of blood becomes even stronger. If we leave it here in the White Rat Range, it’s bound to attract other magical beasts."
"Well... okay." Tylers nodded thoughtfully, reluctantly agreeing to his father’s plan.
Rhett dismissed the earth spike, letting the bear’s body rest on the ground, and then led Tylers away from the area.
Sure enough, within minutes...
Thump, thump, thump
A series of chaotic footsteps echoed through the forest, accompanied by a gust of wind.
A hungry, greedy roar erupted as a third-level Flame Tiger dashed in, drawn by the irresistible scent of fresh meat.
Bursting through the dense forest, the tiger reached the clearing, where it found its long-time rival—the Ice Spiked Bear! Seeing its enemy lying lifeless, the Flame Tiger’s eyes gleamed with joy and greed! This Flame Tiger had often clashed with the Ice Spiked Bear over territory and food. They had fought many times, with no clear winner.
This morning’s hunt had turned into an unexpected feast! "Roar!"
Letting out another roar, the Flame Tiger couldn’t contain its hunger any longer. It leaped toward the bear’s body, eager to devour it.
But then, something unexpected happened.
"Don’t dirty my food, though... you’ll soon join it!" Rhett said with a chuckle as he jumped down from a tree, pleased that the Flame Tiger had taken the bait.
Calmly watching the tiger in mid-leap, Rhett focused his spiritual power and instantly cast a Spike Earth spell.
Whoosh! A sharp, earth-yellow spike shot toward the tiger’s fiery-red eyes, slicing through the air with a fierce whistle! Splat! The spike pierced the tiger’s eye, causing a mix of red and white fluid to splatter in all directions.
"Roar!"
"Roar!"
The tiger’s agonized cries echoed through the morning air.
It was as if the forest itself had awakened, with the rising sun in the east responding in kind.
The Flame Tiger’s body trembled as it fell to the ground, quickly trying to flee. But another spike struck it from behind, piercing its belly!
The tiger was immobilized, its sharp claws unable to break free from the solid spike.
As the tiger lay there in despair, Tylers rushed over, firing a Shadow Arrow into its already damaged eye.
Soon, the tiger’s dreams of a morning feast ended as it lay dead beside its old rival.
【Family member has slain an enemy two ranks higher: Fate Points +2】
Another screen appeared.
Rhett nodded and began to reflect. Now that Tylers was a first-level Magus, even killing second-level magical beasts only granted 1 Fate Point. The Flame Tiger, a third-level beast, had just yielded 2 Fate Points.
With that realization, Rhett found himself reminiscing about the days when Tylers was still an ordinary person, and hunting second-level magical beasts in the outskirts of the Dark Stripe Eagle Range could earn him 3 Fate Points per kill.
After a moment of silence, Rhett made a decision.
"It seems that the magical beasts in the White Rat Range shouldn't be harvested too early."
The Dark Stripe Eagle Range is destined to be the family's hunting ground in the future, but the White Rat Range and even the Thunder Bear Range, with their connected paths, could also be hunting grounds one day.
According to Rhett's plan, Dick, who is three years old now, could start helping with hunting low-level magical beasts by the time he's about ten, provided he trains diligently.
With Rhett protecting him and standing in front, he could ensure that Dick wouldn't be critically injured by a dying magical beast.
By that time, Rhett's three sons would undoubtedly have improved in strength, reducing the efficiency of harvesting Fate Points. They would no longer be the best choice for gathering Fate Points.
Even though seven years is a long time, Rhett is currently only a fifth-level Magus. The difficulty of cultivation will increase exponentially as he progresses.
Perhaps draining the White Rat Range and the Thunder Bear Range now could boost his strength further, but that would be akin to exhausting future potential.
There are still multiple stages to go from a fifth-level Magus to the Saint Realm.
Especially at the Grand Magus stage, based on past experience, each breakthrough could require tens of thousands of Fate Points.
Not to mention the Saint Realm.
Thinking about this gave Rhett a bit of a headache. Therefore, maximizing benefits by letting ordinary people do the harvesting seemed like the best strategy.
"Father, are we going to continue with the same plan as before? You know... like you said, 'waiting for a rabbit at the stump'!" Tylers thought for a moment before repeating a proverb Rhett had taught him.
Rhett snapped out of his thoughts and looked at Tylers:
"That's right. Let's give it another try."
Two weeks flew by.
During this time, Rhett and Tylers continued their hunting plan in the White Rat Range.
Due to limited manpower and transportation capacity, Rhett could only carry the most valuable magic crystals from the magical beasts and some special parts, like fangs and horns, that he had collected from the underground cave.
Firegrip flew overhead, carrying two bags in each claw, with additional cargo strapped to its back.
It had become their personal "cargo transport"!
On September 21st, Rhett recalled the recent simulation and thought, "Today, we should encounter that pregnant Ice Mouse."
In the White Rat Range, the most numerous magical beasts are naturally the White-Eyed Mice. These creatures aren't particularly strong in combat, but due to their high intelligence and reproduction rates, they dominate this area.
In the past, people had tried to control a White-Eyed Mouse tribe by capturing their leader, hoping to gain substantial profits.
But the White-Eyed Mice are cunning, intelligent, and rebellious, making it nearly impossible to control their tribe by capturing their leader.
Even taming them is much more challenging than taming ordinary magical beasts.
Rhett hadn't forgotten that in the simulation, he had encountered a pregnant Ice Mouse fighting three White-Eyed Mice. After saving it, he followed the trail to their lair and found three offspring.
Only Tylers, who had made contact first, successfully tamed one of the offspring. The other two were brought back and given to his friends, Mykoff and Vedis, but since they had been delayed, they couldn't tame them.
"If I catch these three offspring and bring them back to the territory immediately, perhaps the chances of success will be higher." Rhett thought.
He glanced to the left, where a faint gray-yellow line marked the ground—a stream trickling by. White-Eyed Mice prefer cool, damp environments or places with plenty of water, so Rhett planned to follow this clue along the stream.
By the time evening came, Rhett and Tylers stopped. They had reached the end of the stream, standing at the edge of a waterfall. Below, the water cascaded down into a small river that spanned over a dozen miles, with a tributary leading into a distant forest.
At that moment, Rhett's eyes gleamed with excitement—he had sensed the sound of a fight coming from below!
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