[Strange Sword Style: EXP 8032/10000]
Ethan's Strange Sword Style experience was now stuck at 8032.
Aside from the first two or three waves of Strong Acid Ants, when Ethan used the mana-hungry Spread Across Like the Stars skill, he couldn't bear to use it again afterward.
Part of the reason was that he couldn't keep up with the mental energy consumption.
But the main reason was that he couldn't bear to waste so much experience.
So he simply stood above and used Strange Sword Style to pick off enemies one by one.
At first, he killed them individually.
Later... Ethan was already able to kill three ants at the same time with one sword.
His highest record was three and a half. If the Godslayer Sword had been longer, Ethan estimated he could have skewered ten Strong Acid Ants in one strike.
As for why it was three and a half, that was because with the last half, Ethan only pierced half its head. It didn't die, so he had to stab it again before it finally died.
But even after being this careful, Strange Sword Style's experience only reached 8032.
It was still about 2000 short. To be exact, he still needed 1968 experience points to level up.
That was really annoying.
Because Ethan was also curious about what the next move of Strange Sword Style would be.
Strange Sword Style was already powerful enough.
That only made Ethan look forward even more to the fifth move of the Eight Forms of God-Slaying and what kind of powerful sword technique it would be.
As for the two clowns, Harriet and Charlie, Ethan didn't care about them at all.
Anyway, the one who suffered from not signing a Lord Contract with him was actually Harriet herself.
Because Ethan could kill her anytime he wanted.
And when that happened, the woman probably wouldn't even know why she died.
This was called... being too clever for your own good.
[System Notification: Desert Tree Protection Progress 1/3. One hour remains until the second wave of attacks. Please prepare in time. The monsters in the second wave are Blade Sparrows.]
[Blade Sparrow: Its feathers can turn into blades. It can launch a total of three blade feathers from its wings and tail to attack prey. It does not have particularly strong defenses. Arrows are recommended!]
'So the first wave is already over?'
'The difficulty isn't that high.'
'But this second wave...'
'Blade Sparrows?'
'It is one thing that they can fly, but they can even shoot weapons?'
'Isn't that a bit too strong?'
Fortunately, Ethan still had Rich Guy Arrows. Against these birds, one shot would definitely take one down.
But the problem was... he wanted to level up.
If all the Blade Sparrows were killed by Rich Guy Arrows, then how was he supposed to grind levels?
He was only two thousand experience points away from leveling up.
If only these Blade Sparrows could stay alive but lose the ability to fly.
It would be best if they were half-crippled and fell to the ground, just like those Strong Acid Ants, letting him kill them one by one for experience.
'Hm?'
'Half-disabled but not dead.'
'It isn't impossible.'
Thinking of a certain possibility, Ethan immediately brightened up.
'Anyway, isn't there still an hour before the next wave?'
'Perfect. I can use this hour to test it out.'
'If it doesn't work, then forget it.'
'At least I can still collect another batch of materials and wouldn't lose out.'
'But if I can really turn the next ten thousand Blade Sparrows into experience points? Then my Eight Forms of God-Slaying would probably gain another big chunk of experience.'
After jumping down from the tree, the first thing Ethan did was start collecting the Strong Acid Ant corpses covering the ground.
"Collect!"
[Strong Acid +1]
[Earth Beast Core +1]
[Wood Beast Core +1]
[Strong Acid +1]
[Advanced Mud +1]
[Earth Beast Core +1]
[Wood Beast Core...]
Countless materials poured into Ethan's pocket at high speed, almost like one of those games where you catch falling ingots.
But Ethan still felt that collecting alone was too slow.
Whoosh!
He blew a whistle and called the birdfolk group down to help collect.
As for Harriet and Charlie standing on the tree branch, they naturally looked eager to move as well.
But Ethan gave them a cold glance.
Harriet lightly stamped her foot, then sat back down on the branch in anger and cursed, "Cheapskate!"
"Heh! Heh!"
Ethan responded with a death smile.
Then the four of them quickly began collecting the Strong Acid Ant corpses all over the ground. Fortunately, the corpses were clustered together, and each collection could gather more than ten at a time.
And once a Strong Acid Ant corpse was collected by Ethan and the others, it automatically disappeared from the ground.
Only a shallow green bloodstain remained.
So the collection speed was fairly fast.
Otherwise, just collecting ten thousand Strong Acid Ant corpses would probably have exhausted them.
About ten minutes later, the four of them finally finished collecting all the Strong Acid Ant corpses on the ground.
Ethan instantly obtained...
[Strong Acid +10000, Wood Beast Core +7502, Earth Beast Core +6423, Advanced Mud +784]
The reason he obtained a total of 13,925 Wood and Earth Beast Cores was that some Strong Acid Ants possessed both Wood and Earth dual-element beast cores.
However, most Strong Acid Ants only had a single-element beast core, either Earth or Wood.
This haul made Harriet, who was standing on the tree branch, so jealous she could barely stand it.
While Ethan was collecting the beast cores, he received a total of...
[From player Harriet: Critical Jealousy +55]
[From player Harriet: Envy, Jealousy, and Hatred +25]
[From player Harriet: Critical Jealousy +35]
[From player Charlie: Envy +20]
[From player...]
Anyway, the envy and jealousy from those two never stopped.
This wave not only earned Ethan a pile of beast cores and Strong Acid, but also nearly 1055 Worship Points.
It was basically free profit.
After dealing with all the Strong Acid Ant corpses on the ground, Ethan finally began carrying out his "injure only, don't kill" Blade Sparrow plan.