Chapter 50: Viper

Xu Xin glanced at the foot of the hill, where the group of wild boars from earlier was now resting.

About a hundred meters ahead, there was a herd of cattle that looked extremely strong. The ferocious horns and massive bodies of the bulls were even more intimidating than the tusks of wild boars.

Through the forest, a few wild deer and foxes could be faintly seen.

Xu Xin could also see a large orange tiger suddenly pouncing out from the forest. Howls of wolves could be heard from afar from time to time.

"…Forget it." Xu Xin gave up. It was too dangerous. At least wait until he went back and made a crossbow, having a means of ranged attack, before considering entering this area.

Fighting wild beasts in close combat, one-on-one might still have a chance, but with so many wild beasts, if he accidentally attracted several, even wearing iron armor Xu Xin couldn't withstand it.

Although he didn't plan to go deep into this area, Xu Xin didn't want to go back now.

He still wanted to hunt a few more beasts, to obtain more animal tendons and hides. He still had too few materials.

Wild boars were a relatively suitable hunting target. If he could see lone wolves, that would be even better. Under the protection of iron armor, a single wolf posed basically no threat to Xu Xin.

With luck, he might be able to find a wolf to use as a mount. He always carried his mount contract with him.

Although wolves were slightly weak in individual combat power, they had excellent endurance. When hunting, they basically chased herds of sheep or deer until prey fell or collapsed from exhaustion. Adapted for long-distance running, they were very suitable as mounts.

He observed the beasts below and the red dots on the map, but couldn't find any lone wolves. The wild boars also seemed to have gathered together because their companions had just been hunted, with none appearing alone.

"This is a bit troublesome. If I had a ranged weapon, I could lure a few out secretly. With this iron armor and long spear, I can only charge in." Xu Xin felt somewhat helpless.

After an internal struggle, Xu Xin gritted his teeth and decided to enter the range of this resource area, but not go deep inside. He would just circle around the outskirts to see if there were any opportunities.

Being short on materials was really frustrating.

Xu Xin didn't sneak down, but chose a spot relatively far from the wild boar herd and walked down from the hill openly, entering the resource area. After all, even if he was careful, it wouldn't help; the clothes on his body would make noise.

The interior of the ring-shaped hills was also a jungle, but unlike Xu Xin's side, this side of the jungle was full of vitality, with various wild animals moving through it.

This side seemed more like a real jungle.

Xu Xin saw many wild beasts he hadn't seen before.

A wild rabbit suddenly darted past him, disappearing into the grass. That rabbit was so fat that Xu Xin swallowed on the spot.

"When I make a crossbow, I'll practice on these rabbits!"

"Een." Coco suddenly patted Xu Xin with her little paw, pointing to a position on the left front.

Xu Xin looked over, squinting for a long time before seeing what Coco was pointing at.

On the rocks over there, a snake as thick as three fingers was lurking. The snake's color was very similar to the rock, almost blending in completely when lying on it. If Coco hadn't alerted him, Xu Xin might not have noticed it at all.

Because of the giant anaconda in the lake, Xu Xin was now quite sensitive to snake-related things. His first instinct was to take a detour, but on second thought, he was now wearing iron armor. This snake probably couldn't break through his defense.

"Coco, stay here. I'm going to kill that snake," Xu Xin quietly reminded Keke.

Snake meat, snake skin, snake venom, snake gallbladder – those were all good things.

"Een." Coco also responded softly, then climbed up a nearby tree in a few moves, lying on a branch watching him.

This little one, not afraid of such big wild boars before, but quite scared of snakes.

Xu Xin was just the opposite of Coco. Wild boars might still be able to harm him, but snakes basically couldn't.

He walked past the rock where the snake was lurking as if he hadn't noticed it, like he was just taking a stroll.

The iron armor made a noise. Under Xu Xin's peripheral vision, the rock-like snake moved slightly, then suddenly sprang up!

Here it comes!

Xu Xin didn't reach out to block, because his hands weren't protected, but all other parts except his hands were wrapped in iron armor.

The rock snake directly coiled around his leg, biting down on Xu Xin's greaves with a crisp sound.

Then there was the sound of something breaking. The snake made a hissing sound and fell to the ground, starting to writhe.

The snake's teeth had been directly shattered by the iron armor!

Xu Xin quickly raised his foot wearing iron boots and stomped hard on the "seven-inch" point of this three-finger-thick snake.

The so-called "seven-inch" point is actually the position of the heart. Xu Xin had heard that a snake's heart is located just below the head.

He directly stepped on that spot with one foot, while stomping down hard towards the snake's head with the other foot!

The snake's body under his foot twisted frantically, coiling around Xu Xin's leg. After a few seconds, it stopped moving.

Out of habit, Xu Xin stomped twice more on the snake's head and "seven-inch" point, then took out his stone spear and stabbed a couple more times to finish it off.

"Dealing with these small beasts while wearing iron armor is really as simple as killing chickens."

After confirming that this three-finger-thick snake was dead, Xu Xin took out his boning knife.

When coiled up, this snake didn't look very long, but after Xu Xin stretched it out, it turned out to be nearly two and a half meters long. With its three-finger-thick body, it actually looked quite frightening.

Coco had also jumped down from the tree and was curiously flipping over the snake's corpse with her little paws.

"Don't mess around, it might not be dead yet. It could jump up and bite you!" Xu Xin teased.

"Een!" Coco was so scared she jumped directly onto Xu Xin's shoulder, making him laugh.

The snake's corpse was dissected in just a few cuts.

[Obtained Exquisite Snake Skin (Blue)*1]

[Obtained Venom Sac (Green)*1]

[Obtained Snake Meat (Green)*15kg]

[Obtained Snake Gallbladder (Green)*1]

[Obtained Snake Tendon (Green)*1]

A good haul!

After the bear paw, another blue-grade resource appeared!

It was a blue-grade animal hide!

Animal hides currently had two main functions: making backpacks and making leather armor. He had glanced at the crafting table earlier and saw that leather armor required animal hide and animal bone as materials.

Xu Xin, who had already crafted blue-grade iron armor, thought he no longer needed leather armor. But through today's practice, he realized that iron armor was only suitable for head-on confrontations.

If he wanted to hunt those alert and fast herbivores like deer, sheep, rabbits, etc. in the future, or if he wanted to sneak in without alerting anyone, iron armor might be counterproductive.

If possible, he also wanted to make a set of blue-grade leather armor.

Of course, this blue-grade animal hide in his hand should be used to make a blue-grade backpack first.

Xu Xin then looked at the other materials.

[Venom Sac (Green): Contains all the venom of a poisonous snake. Can be used to make poison arrows or to poison weapons.]

[Snake Gallbladder (Green): The gallbladder of a poisonous snake. Can be used in medicine, for brewing alcohol, or for consumption. A precious material! Process quickly, or it will lose its effectiveness.]

The venom sac could be used to make poison arrows! Poison arrows were a great weapon!

With ordinary crossbows, if they didn't hit vital points, they basically wouldn't cause much damage to wild beasts. But poison arrows were different, breaking the skin was enough to cause damage, at least restricting the beast's movement.

Xu Xin hadn't expected that his crossbow would be upgraded before he even made it.

As for the snake gallbladder, it seemed to be a medicinal material, but he didn't know what it was used for, only that it was quite precious. He didn't have any alcohol now and couldn't soak it in alcohol. After returning, he would dry it for storage. He had heard that snake gallbladders could be dried into snake gallbladder powder for storage.

Glancing at the depths of the jungle, Xu Xin stopped advancing.

Now that he had obtained three animal tendons and a blue-grade animal hide, this hunt was already very satisfactory. He didn't want to risk his life by continuing forward.