At noon, Tang En, who was lying motionless against a tree trunk, suddenly jumped up and ran straight to Xiaoshi Village.
Fortunately, Tang En met the old farmer again.
After the old farmer understood Tang En's purpose, he readily lent him a short-handled axe.
Tang En took the axe and went back to the woods, and found a big tree with a tall trunk and dense branches in a remote place.
After spitting on his hands twice, Tang En climbed up the tree grunting.
"Observe the terrain first and choose your foundation."
As Tang En muttered to himself, his eyes lit up and he set his sights on a thick tree branch.
This branch is broad, thick and solid, with many small branches supporting it, making it the best choice as the foundation of a wooden house.
"The next step is to lay a solid foundation and build walls."
…
Two hours later,
"Wahahaha...I'm a fucking genius."
Tang En danced under the tree, looking at the wooden house above his head with a sense of accomplishment.
Of course, if someone else came here and saw Tang En's "masterpiece of genius," they wouldn't think of a wooden house. This strange structure on the tree branch was more like a barrel than a house. A barrel with a shape that would challenge one's imagination.
Once something is done, of course you need to find a professional to evaluate it.
Tang En entered the killer system space, and the old butler was staring at Tang En's "genius masterpiece" on the screen.
"How is it? Not bad!" Tang En looked happy.
The old butler nodded: "Well, it feels a bit artistic."
"Oh, really? I just did it by chance, it was a complete accident, haha..."
The old butler sighed softly, "That's definitely a masterpiece. No normal person could create such a postmodern abstract work."
…
Although the cabin's appearance was heavily criticized, the old housekeeper still reluctantly acknowledged its practicality, saying that as long as it didn't encounter bad weather, the cabin was safe and reliable.
Then, after failing several times, Tang En finally put together a simple crossbow using short pieces of wood of moderate hardness and softness, extremely tough vines, etc.
It's simple, the grooves aren't cut precisely, the string isn't evenly spaced, the arrows are of varying weights, and everything is manually controlled. From a practical point of view, it's a complete failure, and from an aesthetic point of view, this thing, bound in green vines, is a joke. But at least it can fire arrows.
Looking at the crude crossbow, Tang En commented with emotion that its merits outweighed its flaws.
The old butler's evaluation was that it was suitable for close combat.
The old butler's assessment was professional and spot-on. While this crossbow looked awful, and used... well, it was also awful. But it was undeniable that, after the old butler's guidance, the crossbow's lethality was still guaranteed. With its sharpened arrows, it could easily penetrate an unarmored target within three or five steps.
As for three or five steps away? Didn't you see the old butler's comment? It's suitable for close-quarters attacks. Five steps away, with the crossbow's aim, it's hard to say where it will hit...
While a crossbow could be considered a short- to medium-range weapon, its accuracy range had to be at least fifty to one hundred steps. Tang En's design of a short- to medium-range crossbow as a close-combat weapon was a remarkable feat.
The crossbow was successfully made, so of course he had to give it a try. After all, dinner was still unsettled. Tang En had taken the rye bread Father York had given him as lunch and digested it early.
As it was his first time hunting, Tang En was quite excited. After walking about a few hundred meters into the woods, he successfully spotted a pheasant with bright feathers. The pheasant was foraging, pecking at something on the ground from time to time.
When Tang En approached fifty meters, the pheasant looked around vigilantly. Tang En quickly crouched down and secretly placed the crossbow in front of him.
However, before Tang En could take aim, the pheasant suddenly flapped its wings and flew away, quickly disappearing from Tang En's sight.
"Damn it!" Tang En angrily pounded the ground. "I'm not even ready yet, why are you running away?"
It was a bad start! However, Tang En was not discouraged and continued to explore forward.
The environment in this otherworldly world was truly wonderful, with fresh air and abundant wild animals. As Tang En continued to advance into the forest, he discovered a lot of prey, including pheasants, hares, bamboo rats, and more.
However, the wild animals were so alert that before Tang En could even get close, most of them had already moved away, as if they had foreseen the situation. An hour passed, and Tang En hadn't even fired a single arrow.
Damn it! Tang En was furious. He didn't even bother hiding his presence. From dozens of meters away, he launched a crossbow at him.
Whoosh, whoosh...
The crossbow arrow is quite powerful. Every time it is shot, there is a sound of breaking through the air.
But this accuracy... well, when Tang En aimed, the crossbow arrows shot out of the range. When Tang En learned from his experience and deliberately aimed slightly off target, the results were even more outrageous.
Coo, rustle...
Chickens flew off and rabbits fled, leaving the jungle in a chaotic mess. He fired numerous crossbow arrows, but none landed successfully. Some of the arrows were so off-target that even trying to retrieve them was impossible.
First hunt, total failure!
Tang En returned to the killer system space in a dejected and dusty state.
The space still resembled a forest. The old butler was fiddling with a strangely shaped crossbow. In front of him, a pheasant was foraging in the bushes about a few dozen meters away.
"Swoosh", the old butler casually raised his crossbow and shot an arrow rapidly. With a click, it hit the edge of the pheasant's claw.
"Gugu..."
The pheasant was obviously startled and flapped its wings quickly, trying to fly away.
"Whoosh!" Another sound of flying through the air was heard. The low-flying pheasant fell to the ground with a mournful cry, as if struck by lightning, and lay motionless.
"It's indeed difficult to use this thing for long-distance hunting." The old butler threw the crossbow to Tang En, who was stunned at the side.
Tang En checked the crossbow in his hand over and over again. Yes, the markings and the shape were the same as the one he used outside.
"Don't be so surprised. I told you that the killer system space can change in a thousand ways."
"I'm not surprised by this." Tang En shook his head, putting on an admiring expression. "Old Butler, your archery skills are simply divine, and you use, uh, a crossbow like this."
The old butler said, "You will be like this in the future too. As a qualified killer, you must fully understand the weapons in your hands in the shortest possible time."
Tang En raised his eyebrows, with an expression that said, "Here you go again," and said, "You'd better teach me how to use a crossbow properly, or I'm going to go hungry tonight."
"No rush." The old butler waved his hand and a light screen appeared, showing the process of Tang En's hunting.
Looking at his own embarrassment from the perspective of a bystander, Tang En's face turned a little red.
"Do you know why these animals react even when you're not close?" the old butler asked himself, answering, "Wild creatures are extremely sensitive to every movement within their visual, olfactory, and auditory ranges. Some alert creatures even have an instinctive sense of danger, so when they sense danger approaching, they quickly move away."
Tang En looked at the prey that had been scared away on the screen, nodded in agreement, and asked, "Then how can we get close to them without being discovered?"
"Good question. This requires the use of the assassin system's hiding skill tree..."
"Oh, so you were waiting for me here. Don't bother yourself, old butler. I won't be a killer." Tang En suddenly realized that, after all, he was still being asked to learn the skills of a killer.
The old butler's face remained calm. "We're discussing your food now. Even if I want you to learn assassin skills, it doesn't conflict with the current situation, does it?"
Tang En touched his nose and said, "Well, that's true. Then continue."
"Let's take an example." The old butler waved his hand, and the dead pheasant in the distance disappeared, and a gray hare appeared. As soon as the hare appeared, it looked around, appearing to be very alert.
"Animals have limited perception, so if you master the basic hiding techniques, you can do this..."
The old butler calmly started towards the hare, not hiding his presence or making any unusual moves. But after he walked nearly ten meters, the hare showed no reaction at all.
How could this be possible? Could this rabbit be fake? Having just witnessed the sharp instincts of wild rabbits while hunting, Tang En immediately thought of something else. However, this old butler always had a calm expression on his face, so he shouldn't be so frivolous...
There must be some trick! Where is it? Where is it?
"Hmm!" Tang En, who was observing carefully, had his eyes lit up when he saw the rabbit's head turning towards the old butler nimbly, but the old butler seemed not to see it and continued to walk over calmly. The hare also withdrew its gaze and looked elsewhere.
Oh my god, this is so fake... Oh, that's not right. From the old housekeeper's perspective, it seemed like there was a tree between the two...
No way, could it be a coincidence? Tang En quickly dismissed this possibility, because when the hare turned around for the second time, the old butler passed by a tree at the right time.
So that's how it is... But then Tang En frowned again. Even if that was the case, what about the hare's hearing? Those long ears were real. A living being that big would definitely make some noise when walking.
While Tang En was puzzled, the old butler had already walked to the side of the hare.
At this moment, the hare was nibbling the grass beside it, but it was still alert and would occasionally look up and check its surroundings, its long ears moving nimbly. However, it would never have guessed that there was a person standing quietly next to it.
Looking at the nimble hare and the quiet old housekeeper, Tang En suddenly felt a chill in his heart. He unconsciously twisted his neck and glanced back secretly.
"This is the basic invisibility. Do you want to learn it?" asked the old butler who had returned the same way.
Tang En looked at the fat hare that was still vigilantly eating grass in the distance and nodded heavily.
…
At dusk, in the woods south of Xiaoshi Village, a pheasant was happily pecking at seeds on the ground.
After a while, it suddenly raised its head and looked around. There was no other creature in sight. But somehow, it seemed a little hesitant. However, the food on the ground still tempted it to lower its head and peck at it. The greedy pheasant didn't know that it had walked into a trap.
"Puff", with a light sound, something like a cover took it in.
"Cuckoo..." The sounds of frightened roosters crowing and flapping wings continued to come from the cover.
"Wahahahaha... dinner is settled!"