Chapter 8: [Unique Treasure Na]: Monkey-Head Mushroom Seed
????The Monkey-Head Ghoul was still alive.
??Its maw gaped wide in a silent, furious howl—fangs bared, eyes blazing with agitation. Though no sound escaped its lips, its rage was unmistakable. It thrashed violently, straining against its bonds, each swipe of its claws leaving trails of inky blackness suspended in the air.
??“Crack!”
??Crippled Monkey moved with practiced speed. His spear darted forward, plunging straight into the ghoul’s mouth. With a deft twist, he wrenched the weapon free and stabbed again. In monts, the ghoul’s struggles ceased; its body collapsed limply to the ground.
??“Well done.”
??Chen Fan exhaled, feeling a weight lift from his chest. So far, everything was proceeding smoothly. Tonight, he might just collect more than ten Ghoststones—a promising start.
??Tomorrow, he would use these Ghoststones to craft more Beast Traps. If he could keep this montum, steadily accumulating resources, he might soon escape this desperate, resource-starved existence.
??The old knife had proven too short—dangerous to wield up close. So, he had torn a sturdy branch from the cabin, lashed the knife to its tip, and fashioned a crude spear. It worked surprisingly well.
??“Harvest the corpse.”
??Chen Fan tossed the Beast Trap back into the darkness and gave the order.
??The Ghoststone he’d just extracted could be used to make another Beast Trap. He was out of spare hemp rope, but even tossing the trap into the night ant it could be used at least once more. Waste not, want not—even the smallest gains counted, and this was no trivial matter.
??Ti slipped by.
??Chen Fan watched the lines of hemp rope like a fisherman waiting for a bite, his mind spinning with plans for the night.
??Manpower was a serious problem.
??Right now, Crippled Monkey was his only helper, and that simply wasn’t enough. If he had even one or two more people, they could be weaving more rope right now.
??Before long—
??He dug a Ghoststone out of the Monkey-Head Ghoul’s skull and set it quietly on the ground. Just then, another rope began to twitch. Chen Fan sprang from his chair and hauled it in with all his strength.
??Another Monkey-Head Ghoul was dragged into camp, its jaws snapping in mute fury. Crippled Monkey, already in position, thrust his spear once more.
??Their teamwork was growing more seamless by the minute.
??Another Ghoststone for the pile. But this ti, sothing else fell alongside it—a faintly glowing white mass tumbled from the dead ghoul’s mouth, like a handful of pale sand.
??“Young Master!”
??Crippled Monkey’s eyes lit up. “It dropped ‘Ghost Material’! Occasionally, after killing certain Ghostbeasts, fragnts of their bodies beco Ghost Materials. The Ghostskin Map, for example, is made from the scalp of a Human-Skin Ghoul and crafted by an artificer.”
??“My old teacher used to talk about it in class.”
??“But...”
??“This doesn’t look like Ghost Material. The other Monkey-Head Ghouls never dropped anything like this. They don’t yield Ghost Materials at all. This seems more like a ‘Unique Treasure’...!”
??“A Unique Treasure?”
??“It must be. Rarely, Ghostbeasts and Ghostfiends carry special Unique Treasures. When you kill them, you can obtain these treasures—like Building Blueprints, for example. Their value varies, but you can’t make them by hand; only by killing Ghostfiends do you have a chance to get one.”
??“But you’ll need to take it to the market and have an appraiser identify it to know exactly what it is.”
??“...”
??Chen Fan didn’t respond. He picked up the glowing mass from the ground. It was wrapped in a nearly transparent mbrane, reminiscent of fish eggs. As he touched it, a system panel appeared before his eyes.
??[Unique Treasure Na]: Monkey-Head Mushroom Seed
??[Treasure Grade]: White
??[Treasure Effect]: Must be planted in ‘Farmland.’ Matures in three days. Eating it after harvest will enhance physical attributes.
??So, it was a seed.
??What appraiser? The panel spelled out its effects in plain language.
??He was starting to grasp the rules of this world. Whether it was a Building Blueprint or a Unique Treasure, the system panel always displayed their properties directly. But the locals couldn’t see these panels, which made everything unnecessarily complicated for them.
??That ant...
??He could go to Jiangbei Market and hunt for bargains. If he could see the system panels for all Unique Treasures, there was no need to rely on appraisers—he might even pick up sothing valuable that others had overlooked.
??“I know what this is,” Chen Fan announced.
??He tucked the seed into his shirt, took the Ghoststone that Crippled Monkey handed him, and, with two Ghoststones in hand, crafted another Beast Trap to toss into the night. “Back to work.”
??...
??Ti slipped away.
??Suddenly, the thick, oppressive darkness receded in a rush. The Eternal Night was over. Dawn spilled across the world once more.
??The sky brightened.
??“Whew...”
??Chen Fan let out a long breath, rubbing his gritty eyes. He’d been busy all night—he couldn’t imagine how those old fishern managed to endure this kind of grind, night after night. It was truly exhausting labor.
??Yet despite his weariness, he couldn’t help but smile.
??Last night’s harvest had been enormous.
??Thirty-seven Monkey-Head Ghouls slain!
??He’d spent two Ghoststones on more Beast Traps, so he still held thirty-five Ghoststones in hand.
??A quick tally of his camp’s assets:
??Five Beast Traps and thirty-five Ghoststones.
??“You should get so rest.”
??Chen Fan waved Crippled Monkey toward the cabin. He didn’t invest further in Beast Traps for now—he wasn’t sure there were any more Monkey-Head Ghouls in the area. The first half of the night had been busy, with frequent catches, but things had slowed to a trickle later on.
??Maybe there were only so many ghouls nearby. Or perhaps the Ghostbeasts were more active in the early hours.
??“...”
??Just then—
??His brow furrowed. Outside the safehouse, a lone Beast Trap sat on the Wasteland, and tangled in its jaws was a tuft of white monkey fur.
??He recognized it instantly.
??Monkey-Head Ghoul fur.
??But... this one was noticeably tougher than the usual kind. It must have co loose as sothing struggled to break free—the thing was, Monkey-Head Ghouls weren’t supposed to be able to escape a Beast Trap. Unless...
??He strode over, retrieved the trap, and rolled the tuft of fur between his fingers.
??Definitely coarser than the rest.
??Could it be... the leader of the pack?
??Maybe it had co to investigate after sensing so many of its kind being slaughtered last night. Would it return tonight for revenge?
??“...”
??The thought made his eyes narrow. That man in the green robe had said it plainly: except for a few weak Ghostbeasts, most simply disliked Ghostfire and avoided it, but it wasn’t as if they couldn’t approach at all. If his guess was correct, tonight could bring real danger.
??He had to prepare.
??He’d planned to build a plot of farmland for the Monkey-Head Mushroom, but that would have to wait. Surviving tonight ca first.
??His gaze shifted to one of the basic buildings on the Eternal Night Lord Panel.
??Level 1 Arrow Tower.
??Capable of inflicting solid damage to low-level Ghostbeasts. Cost: ten Ghoststones.
??That was it!
??He laid out ten Ghoststones on the ground, closed his eyes, and confird the construction through the panel.
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