boyutpedia Chapter 16 [Beastmaster Druid] Progress
Chapter 16 [Beastmaster Druid] Progress
Song You put the neatly stacked bills aside, stood up from his chair, and stretched his limbs.
A busy week left even this Druid, blessed with "physical fitness," feeling somewhat mentally exhausted. But after calculating his income, that fatigue was dispelled by a new surge of motivation.
Money is a good thing, but we don't have enough right now.
He went into the house, grabbed a machete from behind the door, put on a pair of thick work gloves, and finally took a snakeskin bag. The animal traps on the back mountain were like a thorn stuck in his heart; he wouldn't feel at ease until they were removed.
"We didn't find Huang Daxian, but we found these iron turtles first." Song You weighed the machete in his hand, the blade gleaming coldly under the lamplight.
He stepped out of the courtyard, glanced up at the silhouette of the back mountain shrouded in night, and then strode towards the familiar path.
The mountains and forests at night are a completely different world from those during the day.
The chirping of insects rose and fell, the wind rustled through the leaves, and occasionally the calls of unknown birds drifted from afar, adding a touch of eeriness to the quiet night.
Song You, however, was not intimidated at all.
The "Body Fitness" ability also slightly enhanced his night vision; although the surrounding environment was dim, the outlines were clearly visible to him.
More importantly, as a druid of this land, everything in these mountains and forests felt familiar to him.
He quickly located the spot where the first animal trap had been found.
He smashed it and threw it in the bushes; it was still lying there. Song You walked over and dragged it out of the bushes.
He examined the rusty weapon, pondering to himself. This thing, though harmful, was also a manifestation of human hunting ingenuity—a tool.
As a Beastmaster Druid, my duty is to guide living beings and establish a natural cycle, not simply to protect them.
However, animal traps, which attack indiscriminately, disrupt the balance of nature and must be eliminated.
He tossed the animal trap into the snakeskin bag, intending to dispose of it properly when he got back. Just as he straightened up, a line of text flashed through his mind.
[Druid Journal: You have cleared a trap that threatened the creatures of nature, contributing to the natural cycle.]
[Druid Log: Beast Mastery Druid Beginner Progress +2%, Current Progress: 30%]
A warm current surged through his body, clearer than ever before, and he felt his connection with the mountains and forests had deepened.
"Clearing one increases the progress by 2%?" Song You was stunned for a moment, then a surge of joy welled up inside him.
This is much faster than building a bond with the chicks!
He was immediately filled with energy, and his grip on the machete tightened.
"Good grief, isn't this just giving me free experience points?"
Without further hesitation, he began searching outwards in a fan shape, using the location of the first animal trap as the center.
He walked carefully, using his machete to clear away fallen leaves and weeds from his feet.
He hadn't gone far when he found a second animal trap hidden under a tree root.
This time, having learned from experience, he quickly destroyed the mechanism and tossed it aside.
[Druid Log: You cleared a trap that threatened nature creatures. Beast Mastery Druid beginner progress +2%, current progress: 32%.]
As expected, prices have gone up again!
Song You felt the natural power within him becoming increasingly active as the progress bar increased. It flowed gently through his limbs and bones like a tranquil stream, nourishing his body.
He felt full of energy.
His gaze shifted and he saw a small tree that had been blown down by the wind. The trunk was about the thickness of a bowl and it was lying across the road, blocking his way.
Song You walked over, grasped the middle of the tree trunk with one hand, focused his energy in his dantian, and slightly tensed the muscles in his arm.
"rise!"
With a low shout, he effortlessly lifted the sapling off the ground with one hand, as easily as lifting a sugarcane.
Song You himself was startled.
"My strength... has increased this much?"
He put the sapling down and then tried lifting it again to make sure it wasn't an illusion.
He estimated that his current single-arm strength was at least over 100 pounds, which was not much different from those muscular men in the gym who lifted weights every day.
No need to spray pesticides.
"The power of the Druids is truly a wonderful thing." Song You flexed his wrists, feeling quite pleased with himself.
Now, let alone animal traps, he felt he could even take on a real bear in the mountains.
His confidence soared, and he continued his "mine-clearing" work.
Over the course of the night, he managed to find seven or eight animal traps, of varying sizes and styles, but without exception, he violently dismantled them all, turning them into scrap metal.
The progress of the [Beastmaster Druid] has also soared to 44%.
Song You threw the last animal trap into the scrap metal pile and breathed a sigh of relief.
Huge gains!
He was about to head home when he caught a glimpse of a few black hairs on a patch of mud not far away.
It's that same kind of fur again!
He walked over, squatted down, and examined it carefully.
This time, the hairs were more numerous and intact than those found on the bark last time. They were dark brown, coarse in texture, and the roots still had some dried soil attached.
Song You picked up one and rubbed it between his fingers.
The feel, the roughness.
A thought suddenly flashed through his mind, and a word popped into his head.
Pig bristles!
"This thing looks a lot like wild boar bristles," Song You muttered to himself.
When he was a child, he heard from the village elders that there used to be wild boars in the mountains, but they disappeared as more people came.
Could it be that they've come back again?
He stood up and looked around at his surroundings.
Not far from the orchard, there were still some gnawed peach pits on the ground. He had suspected that a weasel had done it, but now it seemed that the weasel's small body couldn't have gnawed such hard peach pits.
"If it was a wild boar, then the matter of it stealing peaches makes sense."
Song You stroked his chin, pondering to himself.
Wild boars are troublesome creatures; they're strong, have a bad temper, and love to root around. If they make their home on the back mountain, my orchard and vegetable garden will be doomed sooner or later.
More importantly, wild boars are protected animals; they cannot be attacked or killed, only driven away.
But how to drive them away is another problem.
Sigh, I'll go back and check it out.
As he was thinking, he suddenly heard a rustling sound coming from deep in the woods, as if something was rustling the bushes.
Song You immediately became alert, gripped the wood-chopping knife in his hand tightly, lowered his body, and quietly crept towards the direction from which the sound came.
He pushed aside the last bush in front of him, and the sight before him made him freeze in place.
In the open space not far away, a large, furry black shadow was facing away from him, its head buried under a tree, huffing and puffing as it worked on something. In the moonlight, its thick limbs and short tail were clearly visible.
It really is a wild boar!
Song You's heart skipped a beat.
He never expected that he would run into this local tyrant in the back mountains when he just came out to clear some animal traps!
The wild boar seemed to sense something; it stopped rooting in the ground, its ears perked up warily, and it sniffed the air intently.
It suddenly turned its head, its two small eyes flashing with a fierce light, piercing through the night and staring straight at the spot where Song You was hiding!