Chapter 17

The battle ended, and the squad members busied themselves with extracting beast cores and skinning the carcasses, each organizing their own spoils. When they heard Cen An ask for the complete beast corpses, they didn't object, simply helping him carry them back with care.

On the way back, Cen An learned that the current period was known as the Gloomy Rain Season. This season marked the final stretch of the rainy period. From now on, the rain would fall incessantly for the next two weeks, growing heavier and heavier until the final week, when torrential downpours would make it impossible to even step outside. Consequently, few people ventured deep into the mountains during this time, and everyone scrambled to gather extra food, firewood, and hay to survive the coming weeks. Once the Gloomy Rain Season passed and the rains ended, the temperature would rise, signaling the start of summer.

Cen An finally understood why he had seen so many villagers foraging that day. "Does the beast tide today have anything to do with the Gloomy Rain Season?"

Qu Yue frowned and shook her head. "Not at all. There has never been a beast tide during the rainy season; this is the first time. Fortunately, it was just a small-scale tide."

Cen An nodded. It seemed he would need to stockpile more supplies over the next week. The Gloomy Rain Season, he mused? There were plenty of items he could utilize, provided his luck held out...

By the time they returned to the village, dusk had already fallen. The squad members helped him drop off the beast corpses; they kept their distance, leaving the pile not far from his house. After seeing them off, Cen An collected the carcasses into his backpack. Though he hadn't achieved his original goals for the mountain trip, the haul was substantial. There were 37 beast corpses in total—all his. Aside from the ones he had killed himself, the beasts that perished from his Jade Burst Crystal Pills were also credited to him. Within the entire ability squad, it was unlikely anyone had harvested more than he had.

He didn't delay, processing the spoils right where he stood. He had become quite proficient at extracting cores and peeling hides.

"Hmm? Why does this Howling Rabbit have two cores? Do Level 2 beasts have two cores?" Cen An looked at the cores in his hand, puzzled, and pulled over another Level 2 beast corpse. Sure enough, he extracted two more. He realized then why the squad members seemed so well-off; the number of cores increased as the beast's level rose. Did that mean Level 3 beasts had three cores and Level 4 beasts had four? Or were there mutations involved?

Setting the question aside, Cen An finished processing the batch. Out of the 37 beasts, 29 were Level 1 and 8 were Level 2. In total, he harvested 45 cores, 37 portions of meat, 25 animal hides, and three portions each of duck down and bird feathers. It was a massive harvest!

He quickly tanned the hides, then ducked into his small, dilapidated shack. He stuffed the hearth with plenty of wood, boiled two full pots of hot water, and enjoyed a steaming bath. After washing and drying his clothes, he felt refreshed, but he wasn't ready for bed yet. There was still important business to attend to.

He retrieved the obsidian idol and placed it squarely on the table. Yesterday’s friction was in the past; today, they would try to get along better. According to the rules of the obsidian idol, the more precious the offering, the higher the chance of receiving something good. He had originally planned to look for rare materials in the mountains, but the beast tide had disrupted his plans. No matter—he had a backup plan.

The meat from today's catch was in his backpack, and combined with the rat meat he had previously saved, he had 48 portions in total. Cen An carefully selected 10 different types of beast meat and opened his crafting recipe. Ten different varieties could be combined into a dish called "Ten-Treasure Meat Medley." Depending on the level of the beasts, this dish was categorized into "Low-Grade," "Mid-Grade," and "High-Grade." Since the ingredients were beast meat, it was obviously inedible for humans... which meant it had only one function: as an offering to the idol.

[‘Ten-Treasure Meat Medley (Low-Grade)’ crafting complete!]

A large meatball appeared in the wooden bowl before him. It was a rich, brownish sauce color, glistening with a bit of savory gravy, and it looked remarkably appetizing. Cen An couldn't help but swallow hard; he was craving meat. He coughed lightly, placed the fragrant wooden bowl in front of the idol, and began to pray.

He had burned incense and bathed; surely this warranted a decent reward?

The obsidian idol emitted a flash of silver light. White light indicated common items, silver meant rare, and gold meant legendary. Could his luck finally be turning? Cen An felt a surge of excitement.

As the silver light faded, an item appeared before the idol.

"This is..." Cen An was stunned. It was a cyan-colored vessel, shaped somewhat like a dew-collecting plate, both archaic and exquisite. The inner wall was carved with intricate cloud and rain patterns, while the outer wall was inlaid with a ring of teardrop-shaped gemstones, adding a touch of mystery and nobility.

[You have obtained the 'Rain and Dew Essence Vessel']
[Rain and Dew Essence Vessel:
Grade: Rare
Type: Utensil
Effect: Capable of collecting essence from rainwater. Players simply need to place the vessel outdoors during rain to automatically gather energy from the water, transforming it into 'Rain and Dew Essence.' Consuming the essence restores a significant amount of health and a portion of ability energy.
Note: The collection speed depends on the volume of rainfall; the heavier the rain, the faster it collects.]

It really was a rare item! And since it could collect rainwater essence, wasn't it perfect for the rainy season? Cen An stood up immediately, ignoring the fact that it was still raining outside—or rather, because it was raining, it was the perfect time!

He grabbed his straw raincoat and conical hat, clutched the vessel, and dashed outside. The virtual protection zone around his home was always active, so he didn't have to worry about the rare item being stolen. He placed it three steps away from his shack, where there was no cover, ensuring it would collect the maximum amount of rainwater.

As the cyan vessel was placed on the ground, raindrops fell into it one by one. The cloud and rain patterns on the inner wall seemed to activate, glowing with a faint blue light, as if gathering tiny specks of blue stardust. It looked like a slow but steady process. Seeing that everything was in order, Cen An headed back inside.

Rain and Dew Essence could restore a large amount of health; he had just added an incredible specialized medicine to his apothecary shelf. Holding onto these high hopes, he drifted into a deep sleep.

The next day, the rain was indeed heavier. If yesterday was a drizzle, today was a steady downpour. Cen An spent ten minutes finishing breakfast and couldn't wait to check the vessel. It had already collected a small pool of essence—about four or five drops, glowing like a flicker of blue light. He inexplicably felt like he was playing an idle game.

But he had work to do today. The Gloomy Rain Season had arrived, and he needed to hoard more supplies while the rain was still manageable and he could travel. Food was the top priority. He had plenty of vegetables left—a few heads of baby bok choy and nearly twenty white radishes. However, he only had three canisters of wheat flour left, enough for five meals at best, and absolutely no meat. Thus, meat and starch were his urgent needs. As for firewood and hay, with the duration of the rain unknown, the more he had, the better.

He had to return to the bamboo forest.

Cen An donned his raincoat and hat and headed into the mountains. There were even more villagers out than yesterday; many elderly people who usually didn't dare to climb the mountains had emerged. Cen An had asked yesterday: typically, after a beast tide, another wouldn't follow immediately. On the contrary, because the beasts drawn to the area had been eliminated, the mountains were actually safer than usual.

He retraced his path from the day before. Sure enough, he didn't see a single beast. After an hour of walking, he reached the area where the tide had occurred. He didn't stop, instead checking his map and continuing deeper. The bamboo forest was hidden in a canyon between the mountains, and before he even approached, he could smell the fresh, clean scent of bamboo. On the map, this area was now illuminated, and the local specialties were marked.

"Bamboo, bamboo shoots, bamboo fowl, and bamboo worms..." Cen An studied the map carefully. "And fruit trees? I wonder what kind of fruit they are. Never mind, I'll cut the bamboo first."

He took out his axe and struck at a sturdy stalk on the perimeter. Having grown undisturbed for years, the forest was so dense that a person could barely squeeze through. The ten-meter-tall bamboo stalk soon toppled over.

[Congratulations, you have obtained Bamboo x3]
[Congratulations, you have obtained Bamboo x2]
...

The system announcements rang out tirelessly. Cen An shook the raindrops off his hands and moved to the next stalk. He would occasionally stop to dig up bamboo shoots that had sprouted. As for the bamboo worms and fowl, whether it was his poor eyesight or the fact that they had been scared off by the noise, he didn't see a single one.

By the end of the morning, he had accumulated 50 units of bamboo. Not stopping to rest, Cen An took out some hay. Two units of hay could be crafted into a thin rope, and three into a thick one. He crafted a dozen of each, then took out the bamboo.

Now came the main event. Two units of bamboo and three thin ropes could make a small trap; eight units of bamboo and four thick ropes could make a medium one. As for a large trap... he would hold off on that for now; after all, the bigger the trap, the larger the prey, and he wasn't ready to deal with those yet.

Cen An crafted 10 small traps and 3 medium ones in one go. The benefit of the map became clear—he cross-referenced it to place the traps in areas frequently visited by animals. To increase his chances, he added bait. One portion of beast meat could be crafted into three portions of bait; he made 30 portions and distributed them generously among the traps. The thick, bloody scent of the bait added an unusual atmosphere to the quiet, rain-drenched forest.

The traps required waiting, so Cen An dug up a dozen bamboo shoots and then set his sights on the "fruit trees" marked on the map. Having been here for so long, he had eaten meat a few times, but he hadn't tasted fruit even once. He was craving it. Since he had to wait anyway, he decided to go take a look.