Chapter 38: Curio

Because of the Gathering Art, Xu Feng used it on each Fish Monster corpse. He often obtained materials such as fish scales, fish eyes, and fresh fish meat.

For cooking materials like fresh fish meat, Xu Feng naturally used them to train Suyi’s Cooking Art, that special cooking skill. But for other materials like fish scales and fish eyes, which were used in Forging, Xu Feng had no way to use them right away. It was a pity to throw them away, so he just piled them all up in the room.

The boring days passed one after another. Xu Feng had already gotten used to such a life in his previous life, so he did not feel uncomfortable.

On this day, Xu Feng went into the Resort Lake again. The Fish Monsters by the lakeside had all been cleared out. Those Fish Monsters no longer dared to come ashore now. If a small group encountered Xu Feng, they would only be killed. If a large group charged ashore to kill Xu Feng, he would immediately hide far away, never fighting them head-on. Over time, those Fish Monsters lost interest in dealing with Xu Feng and just hid entirely in the Resort Lake. If Xu Feng wanted to hunt them, he had to go deep into the Resort Lake.

He dived into the lake. Ahead, there were two One Star Fish Monsters holding spears. Xu Feng slowed down and quietly approached them. When he was still over ten meters away, the two Fish Monsters seemed to notice something and became alert.

Then, Xu Feng started to speed up and rushed towards them.

The two Fish Monsters also spotted Xu Feng. Gripping their spears, they pounced on Xu Feng at the same time.

Swinging his longsword, he slashed and cut one Fish Monster in half. Then, he turned and spun, the longsword slicing across the other Fish Monster’s waist, cutting it into two pieces.

He picked up their weapon, the spear, and glanced at it. It was just an ordinary item, not very useful. Xu Feng casually threw the spear away and habitually cast Gathering Art on the two corpses.

Soon, several items appeared on the two corpses.

“Hard Fish Scale”, “Fish Monster Eyeball”, “Fish Monster Gills”.

Three items appeared on the Fish Monster corpses.

“Huh, the Gathering Art can actually collect Curios?” Xu Feng curiously widened his eyes and said in surprise.

The first two items were materials needed for Forging and alchemy, but the third item, “Fish Monster Gills”, emitted a faint green light.

Xu Feng picked up the items and started to check the attributes of the third item.

Fish Monster Gills. Special Item. Attached Skill: Underwater Breathing. Underwater Breathing: Once activated, allows breathing underwater for sixty minutes. Skill cooldown: three hours.

“Good item. With this, I don’t have to worry about surfacing to breathe air every time.” A faint smile appeared on Xu Feng’s face.

This was the bad part about fighting underwater: needing to surface periodically to breathe. If the battle was intense, one could easily die trapped underwater due to lack of oxygen, which would be such a pity. Therefore, Xu Feng never dared to attract too many monsters in the water, afraid of being entangled and having no time to go up for air. With this item, Xu Feng could stay active underwater for a long time, which was much more convenient.

Just as Xu Feng was feeling delighted, he suddenly saw a dark shadow moving slowly on the lakebed ahead, which looked somewhat like a human form.

Xu Feng swam behind a large rock, quietly peeked out, and looked over.

A monster over two meters tall, resembling a large crab, was holding two large claws and slowly walking on the lakebed.

The Insect Crystal on this monster’s forehead was still black, but the edges of the black had faint streaks of crimson light constantly flashing.

“This is a Two Star Peak monster, almost reaching Three-Star!” Xu Feng tightened his grip on the longsword.

The more powerful the monster, the higher the level and value of the items collected from its corpse. Moreover, such an Insect Crystal could give Xu Feng at least around ten Innate Attribute Points.

After hesitating for a moment, Xu Feng activated Underwater Breathing and charged towards the crab monster.

The crab monster seemed to have noticed Xu Feng too. Before Xu Feng could get closer, the crab monster swung its two large claws, trying to pin Xu Feng.

Dodging the crab’s attack, Xu Feng thrust his sword at the crab monster’s body, but found that his attack only left a shallow scratch on the crab monster’s body, not even breaking its defense.

Xu Feng frowned. Since he couldn’t even break the opponent’s defense, his movements immediately became more fluid as he started circling and moving around the crab monster.

Seeing Xu Feng, the crab monster seemed to see food. It became completely frantic, its mouthparts opening and closing, releasing a stream of bubbles. Its two large claws swung even more forcefully, smashing towards Xu Feng with all its might.

Xu Feng could only grit his teeth and endure. Running away here was not an option; he could only brace himself and kill the opponent.

Although the crab monster’s body was covered in a thick layer of shell, its shell wasn’t seamless; there were gaps that showed as it moved.

Xu Feng was already extremely familiar with insect monsters. His longsword, like an embroidery needle, stabbed into the gap where the large claw connected to the body. A trickle of blood emerged from the gap.

The crab monster’s movements became even more frenzied. Its large claw slammed hard onto Xu Feng’s back, taking away over one hundred of Xu Feng’s Health Points.

Gritting his teeth, Xu Feng stabbed into another gap on the crab monster’s chest, then suddenly used Cleave.

With a boom, the water rippled. A large piece of shell on the crab monster’s chest was lifted off by Xu Feng, revealing the purplish-red flesh inside.

The crab monster couldn’t help but retreat a few steps, its body writhing uncontrollably. It charged at Xu Feng recklessly, as if wanting to perish together with him.

If Xu Feng had encountered such a monster underwater under normal circumstances, he would probably have lured it ashore and then hunted it. But with the item allowing underwater breathing, Xu Feng even skipped the step of luring the monster and directly charged to fight it head-on.

With one move of Cleave, Xu Feng removed a large piece of shell from the crab monster’s chest. Immediately, this spot became the crab monster’s weak point. Xu Feng no longer continued attacking the gaps in the shell but struck the crab monster’s chest repeatedly.

The crab monster’s purplish-red blood gushed out in large amounts. In a short while, it dyed the surrounding waters entirely purplish-red.

Xu Feng was afraid the battle would take too long. If it attracted a group of Fish Monsters, all his efforts would be wasted. Glancing at his Cleave, which had one use left, Xu Feng gritted his teeth and directed another Cleave at the crab monster’s chest.

With a tearing sound, half of the crab monster’s body was split open. The purplish-red flesh exploded out, splattering in all directions, quickly churning the surrounding waters into Chaos.