Volume 1: Chapter 19 – Roasted Eggs
Fatty struggled to free himself from the mud, and finally wrenched his head out. There was mud all over his face, and his nose and mouth were filled with rotting weeds. He spat a few mouthfuls, expelling a gross mixture of blood and mud. “Boss, I’m okay! Hurry up and deal with it!”
Knowing that Fatty had avoided death, Zhang Mu sighed a breath of relief. He drew his sword and rushed towards the Anaconda.
Sun Bing’s situation was very dangerous. The Anaconda tightly constricted around his body. A Suddenly, kaka sound of the bones cracking began coming from him, and his Health Points were suddenly reduced by half. At this critical juncture, Zhang Mu jumped onto the Anaconda and skidded along its slimy body. With the soft green glow of his sword, he fiercely pierced it at a point seven inches away from the snake’s head. He successfully made a huge wound, blood gushing out continuously from it.
The Anaconda howled in pain as its Health Points immediately plunged by the hundreds. Immediately the Anaconda released Sun Bing, twisted its body and flinged Zhang Mu away.
At this time Chen Ling mustered up her courage and hacked right at the tail of the Anaconda with her axe. However she could just barely cut open the Anaconda’s scales, causing damage of less than 10 points, because her attack power was not high enough. With another flick of its tail, Chen Ling was tossed away.
“Hiss! Hiss!”
Zhang Mu had become the primary target of the Anaconda after he had considerably damaged his health. Because the distance between them was too close, there was no way for Zhang Mu to dodge the attack. He had to use the skill【G.o.d’s Blessing】to block the Anaconda’s attack. With this he created an opportunity for himself, immediately striking back with his dual-wield swords at the Anaconda’s triangular head. The Dinichthys’ Sword had great sharpness and attacking power, while the fine iron dagger had much lower attacking power. Zhang Mu’s Strength attribute was not high enough to cause a lot of damage. If Zhang Mu didn’t have an equipped ring, perhaps even the fats of the Anaconda wouldn’t be broken through.
The Anaconda’s continuous attacks were parried off by that G.o.dly invulnerable light of Zhang Mu’s skill. Zhang Mu took this chance to slash right at the Anaconda, yet he could only shave off about 50-60 of the Anaconda’s total Health Points. At the time when his invulnerability ended, Zhang Mu immediately turned tail to leave. The snake, however, was too fast, and with a sweep of its tail it whipped Zhang Mu right into the field of reeds.
“-45!”
Such a terrifying damage!
Fortunately, he had his Leather armour. Else, with this one attack, he would have definitely died!
Were it a battle on land, Zhang Mu would definitely not be frightened. However, it was going to be a hard fight with the current terrain. Especially so when there was no solid ground. When he landed, Zhang Mu fell right into the swamp, as the field of reeds was growing on mud. Only his head stayed above water. The water plants and reeds suddenly entangled around him due to the sudden force of the landing. It was as if there was some water spirit waiting for this moment to find another body to possess.
“d.a.m.n!”
Zhang Mu struggled a few times, yet there was no way to break free. The Anaconda came right at him. Without waiting, he took a deep breath and dived into the mud, making the Anaconda bite into an empty s.p.a.ce. The snake became furious at the miss. Just when the Anaconda was about to enter the water in chase of its target, an Ice Arrow came flying over, hitting its head and causing a staggering effect.
Leng Yun was simultaneously healing Fatty and using her staff to attack the Anaconda.
“Hiss -!”
Right when the Anaconda turned over towards Leng Yun ….
Fatty was ready – Brutal Charge!
Boom!
During this violent clash a huge area of the reed field caved in once again. With Fatty’s charge and his sword attack that caused 38 damage, the Anaconda was finally dying! Without waiting, the Anaconda immediately whipped at Fatty with its tail, before deciding to retreat from the battle. At that moment when it was about to escape, a sword suddenly shot up from underneath the water, stabbing right at the Anaconda’s less protected area – its abdomen. This attack was the last straw that finally broke the camel’s back. With a final hiss, the Anaconda fell down with all its weight.
The Swamp Anaconda dropped two items.
Fatty once again climbed up onto the field of reeds. While lying on the ground, coughing and sneezing out a mixture of blood and mud, he cursed, “This really is a h.e.l.lish place. It’s creeping with vicious things everywhere ! Hey grandma, quickly give me some Health!”
Leng Yun frowned, “I’m out of mana, I cannot heal you anymore.”
“What?” Fatty clutched his chest painfully, “I only got half of my Health left yet you can’t nurse me back to full health? How can you even be a Nanny?!! Ah, this is so painful that I’m going to die! Boss, save me!”
On the other side, Sun Bing and Chen Ling finally managed to pull Zhang Mu up from the swamp. Currently, the five of them were covered from head to toe with a sticky stench of mud. It was really depressing. Leng Yun’s mana was entirely consumed the moment she cast a single Ice Arrow.
Within the team, Fatty and Sun Bing were the only two with heavy injuries. Fatty had suffered from a solid tail strike under the full strength of the Anaconda. Many of his bones were broken, some even causing internal damage to his organs. He kept vomiting blood due to the heavy internal injuries. Sun Bing was also tightly constricted by the Anaconda, so many of his bones were broken as well. It was only due to his skill, Hardened Skin, that his pain was temporarily eliminated.
Zhang Mu’s injury albeit lighter than the others’, was quite serious as well. His left shoulder had suffered a tail strike. It was fractured and dislocated, causing his whole hand to be swollen blue. Chen Ling suffered only minor injuries, the only person who was not hurt at all being the long-range mage – Leng Yun.
Leng Yun had a doctor background, and thus she knew some first aid skills, which she immediately put into practice, giving a few people some temporary treatment.
Zhang Mu took out a bottle of Health Potion and gave it to Fatty, “The last Health Potion. Use it.”
【Lower Common Health Potion】Restore 2 Health every second for 10 seconds. Interruptible by attacks.
Fatty’s internal injuries were more serious. If not restored, his Health will decrease over time. Therefore the last Health Potion was given to him. In this world, Health Points did not recover automatically. As for Mana, it could only recover 1% every five minutes. Leng Yun being a level 5 Elemental Mage had maximum Health Points of only 38 life points, and mana as much as 75, but its recovery rate was too slow.
However, there was no other choice but to wait.
Zhang Mu’s left shoulder was injured so much that he could no longer wield his sword. It was up to Leng Yun to go and collect the battle rewards now.
【Gigantic Snake Battle Hammer】 (Common Black Iron), Level 5 Single-handed weapon, +10 physical attack, 2% chance of causing dizziness per attack.
【Skill Upgrade Scroll LV1】 A magic scroll capable of upgrading a skill.
The single-handed battle hammer was especially useful for any knights or warriors equipped with a shield. Sun Bing had been using an ordinary hammer so far. Now he could finally change his weapon to a better one. One-handed weapons generally did not have high attacking power. The majority of blunt weapons had a stun effect, making them very suitable for Knights.
Zhang Mu was flabbergasted at seeing a Skill Upgrade Scroll as a drop from the Swamp Anaconda. After all, even a LV1 Skill Upgrade Scroll had such a high value on the market that it made it difficult to purchase. Its value between players was worth at least one F-cla.s.s skill book. It was useless for Zhang Mu, as his most valuable skill 【G.o.d’s Blessing】was already LV2. He saw that there was no real value is upgrading his 2 other skills, so this LV1 scroll was given to Leng Yun to upgrade her 【Healing HandLV1】.
【Healing Hand LV2】, DD rank skill, Highest possible upgrade: LV5, consume 2 mana to recover 5 Health Points every second, 1 meter distance, zero cooldown.
LV2 Healing Hand was a lot stronger than LV1, with its distance of cast doubling and its healing effect becoming more potent. It upgraded from consuming 1 mana per second to restore 2 Health into consuming 2 mana person second to restore 5 Health.
Clutching his left shoulder, Zhang Mu while said, “We are all injured, so we cannot continue our journey. It’s better to find a safe place to rest for now.”
Everyone headed towards the middle of the field of reeds. They would be resting here until their injuries healed, before continuing to the other side of the bank. Players’ const.i.tutions were different from normal civilians’. As long as their Health Points did not hit zero, regardless of how severe their injuries were, they would not die.
“Captain, come over.” Chen Ling used Fatty’s jungle blade to clear away dense reeds for an open s.p.a.ce to rest. Yet, to her surprise, she discovered “something special here.”
Zhang Mu walked over, “What did you find?”
Chen Ling poked aside the reeds, showing six fist-sized green eggs on the surface. These were probably just some waterfowl eggs. It was hardly surprising n.o.body had focused on what exactly they were. Yet, around the eggs there appeared to be some kind of text inscription. Apparently, it was a game item!
[** Bird eggs], FF grade ingredients. Description: ** Bird is a type of gentle and wild birds. The egg is especially delicious and is a popular ingredient used by many.
Fatty asked curiously, “What is so strange about the egg?”
“Looks like it’s some kind of system-produced ingredients. I don’t know if it’s any different from normal eggs. Let’s try roasting it.” Zhang Mu, pretending that he had not seen such an item before, turned towards Leng Yun, “You did not get hurt. Please help us find some reeds for us to start a fire.”
“Are we roasting it for real?”
Leng Yun had treated Zhang Mu’s injury recently. According to her experience, due to internal fracture, he should be hurting very badly from the injury. Even though she helped sooth some of the pain, any ordinary man would still be unable to bear it. It was alright that Zhang Mu’s expression showed that he is fine, yet now? He actually had the mood to roast some eggs!?
But the captain had spoken. Leng Yun went off in search of some dry withered reeds. A small fire was raised, six whole eggs being roasted on top of it. After about ten minutes, when the eggs were fully roasted, the group actually realised there was some strange change to the eggs.
【Poor Roasted Egg】, F grade food, food roasted poorly, Recover 12 Health Points, Increase 5 Maximum Health Points, Duration of 60 minutes, Unable to stack.
Seeing such effects, everyone immediately felt elated.
These processed ingredients certainly became wondrous food. Not only could they fill their stomachs, they could also recover their Health and increase a specific attribute for a certain time. Such a discovery certainly solved their current plight.
Zhang Mu already knew of the result. In fact, there were many system-determined ingredients. Most of it needed some form of special gathering skills in order to obtain them from monsters. Such freely-found food ingredients like the eggs were considered to be relatively rare.
After peeling off the eggsh.e.l.l, a jade-like delicate egg white was seen emitting out a very attractive aroma. Its texture was good and its taste was absolutely delicious. Such items were definitely worthy of being system-a.s.sessed food ingredients! Comparing these roasted eggs with the common chicken or duck eggs, the difference was as huge as between heaven and earth! The common eggs were simply tasteless! Ultimately, the most important part of the roasted eggs was not the taste, but the ability to restore Health Points.
Fatty ate two of the six roasted eggs, and licked his lips, with his eyes shining. “f.u.c.k, I’ve lived for three decades, yet this is the first time I’ve ever eaten such delicious eggs. Eh? My injuries are not even hurting anymore!”
Zhang Mu announced,”We should look for more eggs. I believe that within such a huge area, there’s definitely more eggs within.””
“Yes!”
This is an exciting major discovery!
This kind of roasted eggs, with the ability to restore Health Points… Not only were they delicious, but they could also satiate one’s hunger, and could be fitted easily into one’s backpack. This was definitely a rare find! Especially when they would pa.s.s through the jungle, Leng Yun could now save her precious mana and use it only in dire situations!
It took over twelve hours of searching before they finally found 21 of【**Bird’s Egg】!
For the first time, the five of them felt that being able to eat eggs was actually a blessing for them.