Bai Qiu let out a sigh and said, "Shiyao, for a gathering skill that depends on probability like this, it all comes down to luck."
Then, under Zhang Shiyao's puzzled gaze, he began using his gathering skill.
Her expression shifted from confusion to surprise, then to outright shock as she watched Bai Qiu handle the herb in his hand.
She couldn't help but feel nervous for that poor plant because…
This was already the tenth herb Bai Qiu had tried to gather!
The previous nine Redstem Grass had all, without exception, turned into ash.
"Brother Bai Qiu, you're… so unlucky!"
After that, Bai Qiu gave up on gathering Redstem Grass altogether.
Instead, he occasionally took one out, rinsed it clean with water, and chewed it raw, while casually killing a few Crimson Feather Chickens along the way.
The deeper they went, the more Redstem Grass there was, and the stronger the Crimson Feather Chickens became — their levels rose from 7 to 10, and all their attributes now had a "+" after the E rank.
However, for Bai Qiu as he was now, those monsters were nothing more than fodder he could take down in a single strike — the difference in power was just too great.
That said, because of their higher levels, the experience rewards were also better.
This secret realm was meant to be explored by up to five players, meaning it was originally designed for a team of five whose base attributes were around E+.
That would have been the normal difficulty.
But Bai Qiu's level and stats had long surpassed that range — his two highest attributes had already reached C-.
Exploring this secret realm was as easy for him as a fully-geared jungler clearing camps in a game.
The only thing he lagged behind in was gathering — where he had been thoroughly outperformed by a little girl.
Moving forward again, about two hundred meters ahead, he spotted two Elite Crimson Feather Chickens.
Bai Qiu raised an eyebrow — it seemed that even though this was an E-rank secret realm, not all the monsters here were E-level.
He glanced back at Zhang Shiyao, who was still diligently using her gathering skill.
He didn't want to disturb her.
After all, the Elite Crimson Feather Chickens were around 1.5 meters tall — if a little kid saw one, she might get scared, right?
Crimson Feather Chicken (Elite) – Level 10
Strength: D-
Magic: D-
Endurance: D-
Agility: D-
Skill: Flame-Charged Peck
Description: Larger and more energetic than an ordinary Crimson Feather Chicken. It can continuously gather energy on its beak up to 20 centimeters long.
Looks like even elite Crimson Feather Chickens don't have any ranged attack abilities, Bai Qiu thought to himself as he drew his Darksteel Longbow and fired two arrows.
Ding!
Killed Elite Crimson Feather Chicken ×2. EXP +79 ×2.
Obtained Rare Crimson Feather Chicken Meat ×2.
Obtained Crimson Feather ×30.
Obtained Rare Crimson Feather ×4.
Obtained Rare Crimson Beak ×2.
Recovered Darksteel Arrow ×2.
The aggro range of an Elite Crimson Feather Chicken was roughly 100 meters, and each one was about 130 meters apart.
Normally, if you didn't make too much noise, they wouldn't interfere with each other.
However, Bai Qiu's powerful shot not only pierced through both elites but continued flying for over 50 meters beyond them.
The loud commotion drew the attention of more elites in the back.
Without hesitation, Bai Qiu began taking them down one after another.
He knew that he was getting close to clearing this secret realm.
After a long period of gathering, Zhang Shiyao's E-rank Gathering Skill finally leveled up to E+.
Not only did it reduce the gathering time by one second, but her failure rate had also dropped — now, on average, she only failed once every twenty attempts.
However, as the Redstem Grass grew denser, she could no longer keep up with Bai Qiu's pace.
...........
Ten minutes later, Bai Qiu finally cleared out all the elite Crimson Feather Chickens in the valley — there were twelve of them in total.
Fortunately, each one occupied its own territory far apart from the others.
For a team of five E-rank players, taking them down one by one wouldn't have been too difficult.
"About eight hundred meters ahead is the Crimson Feather Chicken King's nest. It's too far to see its stats, but it shouldn't be too weak. Once you finish gathering everything here, I'll use my Noble Phantasm to kill it directly."
Bai Qiu swallowed the milk in his mouth and called down to Zhang Shiyao, who was working several dozen meters below.
Right now, he was sitting atop the shaft of his Darksteel Heavy Spear, whose tip was embedded half a meter deep into the rock wall.
Because of that, the spear didn't wobble at all, allowing him to sit securely.
Below the spear, a series of Darksteel Arrows were lodged into the rock face like makeshift steps, each spaced roughly four meters apart.
Zhang Shiyao responded with a soft "Mm," signaling that she'd do her best, munching on bread and drinking milk as she continued to gather herbs.
Her relentless effort made Bai Qiu feel a bit guilty.
He had already tried to persuade her to take a break, but she stubbornly refused to stop…
So he decided to leave her be and began focusing on his own skill comprehension — Mana Manipulation.
If the system-recognized skill Gathering relied purely on luck, then Mana Manipulation was entirely dependent on personal ability.
It wasn't about condensing mana for attacks or defense, but about meditating to sense the mana within one's body — gradually learning to guide its flow from an uncontrollable, blood-like state to something he could actively direct.
It required long, patient meditation.
An hour later…
Zhang Shiyao had advanced nearly 400 meters ahead of Bai Qiu, now only about 400 meters away from the Crimson Feather Chicken King.
Bai Qiu slowly opened his eyes, feeling that the time was about right.
Wiping the cold sweat from his forehead, he retrieved his Darksteel Heavy Spear and began pulling out each embedded arrow, returning them to his storage card.
He had discovered a small exploit that greatly improved efficiency: by storing all his arrows in the storage card, the quiver would automatically begin regenerating new ones.
Then he could take them out again, repeating the process endlessly — this way, he had already stockpiled hundreds of arrows in his backpack.
This method significantly increased his margin for error, though it still consumed a considerable amount of mana.
After all, a full quiver wouldn't produce new arrows or absorb mana.
Constantly removing and regenerating arrows drained his mana over time, but for someone like Bai Qiu now, that level of mana consumption was barely worth mentioning.
Tap tap tap!
Bai Qiu dashed toward the Crimson Feather Chicken King's territory, quickly overtaking Zhang Shiyao, who was still focused on gathering.
Knowing that Bai Qiu was about to activate his Noble Phantasm, Zhang Shiyao stopped collecting herbs and hurried after him — she too wanted to see the power of this so-called "Noble Phantasm," a Level 10 liberation skill often referred to as an ultimate move.
Racing forward, Bai Qiu soon entered the Crimson Feather Chicken King's domain — and it immediately noticed his presence.
"Cock-a-doodle-doo!"
The enraged Crimson Feather Chicken King stood up, flapping its wings furiously as it charged straight toward Bai Qiu.
Crimson Feather Chicken King – Level 10 (Commander Class)
Strength: D+
Magic: D+
Endurance: D+
Agility: D
Skills: Flame-Charged Peck, Fire Breath
Description: A giant Crimson Feather Chicken standing 2.5 meters tall. Its body stores an immense amount of fiery energy — unless you have sufficient strength, it's best not to provoke it.