Earth’s Best Gamer

After spending a few minutes digesting the energy of the fruit, Lu Zhishen yelled out in joy, “So much… So much strength, master! I feel like I’ll be reaching the Extraordinary Rank-2 very soon!”

A single Red Pip was not enough to boost him to the next rank straight away. Still, he did receive extra strength when he was summoned to this world, including the time when the “Black Serpent Soul” had also improved his body.

“I wonder how powerful an original Red Pip is. Too bad we didn’t get to see one when the ape messed up the tree,” said Ji Ye.

He moved a fist around and felt an obvious improvement in his strength.

Such simple yet effective elixirs and medicines often showed up in cultivation stories. He wondered how much money he could get if he spent Rare Honor points to transfer a Red Pip back home and sell it to rich people, such as a certain “Middle East prince who had a terminal disease” that often showed up on the forum. He’d probably start a war if he did that.

“If only we could keep it…” Ji Ye glanced at the tree again. “Wait, it’s changing colors?”

While resting, he placed his Black Serpent Sword nearby and accidentally dropped some ape blood near the base of the tree, after which the trunk base became slightly redder.

“The tree relies on beast blood to grow. No doubt the blood of a Mandrill is the best fertilizer. Chief Lu, lets head back and gather all the dirt on the way later, so we don’t waste the blood.”

The ape had lost a ton of blood from all the open wounds inflicted by the sword as it ran away. Apart from this, Ji Ye was planning to ask the setters to deliver the blood of their kills from then on instead of discarding it. Hopefully, the tree would keep giving them fruits.

It would be even better if they could replant the tree inside the settlement grounds, though he wasn’t going to recklessly try without first knowing how to safely uproot the tree without killing it.

Also, he was just reminded of another matter as he searched the cave. Since this ape had a secret place to keep treasures, what about the Black Serpent? He had completely forgotten to check the serpent’s pool the day before.

“… All right. There, master. No one will notice if the smell doesn’t get out,” Lu Zhishen said after re-camouflaging the entrance.

Instead of going for the mountain peak right away, Ji Ye asked Lu Zhishen to conceal the cave entrance and then made another surprising suggestion, “Chief Lu, since we came all the way here, how about checking the other parts of the mountain?”

According to the forum, an area within 500 meters of the settlement should be designated to respect the latter’s “theme.” Creatures, plants and landscape included. So what about farther away?

Ji Ye had been keeping tabs on his distance while chasing the ape. They were almost at the edge of the “neighborhood” right then. It would be for the best to take several steps further and check what was out there.

“Sure. After you, master.” Lu Zhishen nodded.

“A dead end, huh?”

After walking for two minutes or so, they came to an abrupt stop at a cliff, as if somebody had decided to remove that part of the mountain.

As they stood close to the edge, they could see nothing down there apart from thick mist that hid everything from their view. The mist was not as terrible above the cliff, which allowed Ji Ye to see what was across the abyss thanks to his enhanced sight.

The other side looked like a whole different world from where they were standing.

Also, he saw several creatures moving over there. Those looked like humans at first, but each of them had three eyes and sharp beaks on their faces. They seemed to be intelligent, judging from the simple wooden armors and the crude tools like ropes and clubs held in their claws.

As Ji Ye watched, several “Eagle Men” were communicating by using body language, before they began putting something on the floor.

“An alien tribe, eh? As expected.” Ji Ye narrowed his eyes.

That wasn’t surprising at all. Lu Zhishen had mentioned something about curious invaders when he visited the area. Those “Eagle Men” clearly fit that bill, since they knew how to make tools and communicate efficiently.

As for what they were exactly, they could be fantasy creatures native to this world, or real aliens summoned as other “game testers.” For the moment, there was no way to figure out the answer, because no player had ever reported dealing with “non-human players” yet.

Fending off all the usual monsters around a settlement was already a pain, let alone traveling all the way through their turf and exploring unknown territories. Ji Ye and Lu Zhishen wouldn’t have gone there either, if not for the fleeing Mandrill.

It could be that the “aliens” had shown up in that area for a similar purpose.

Just as Ji Ye was entertaining that train of thought, a giant, bear-like creature with wing membranes under its armpits suddenly came into view and fled in another direction, away from the “Eagle Men.” The bear’s purple fur was clotted up with its own blood, caused by several arrows stuck in its body. One of the arrows even got its eye.

Several groups of “Eagle Men” went to surround it up while yelling loudly.

When the winged bear was pinned down, a particularly big “Eagle Man” raised a weapon that was shaped like a bow and unleashed a blue beam.

Poof!

The beam precisely hit the bear in its back, penetrating its body and coming out at the front.

The bear didn’t slow down. It kept running toward the cliff, attempting to jump over it to escape.

Crash!

Before it could make it, it stumbled into several hidden rope snares and was brought to a stop.

The “Eagle Men” went after it, weapons raised.

The bear howled madly and caused the ground around it to break apart using its sheer voice. It was clearly another Extraordinary monster.

But it had no way of fighting back when all of its limbs had been captured. Also, those “eagle-men” moved way faster and displayed superior strength compared to common humans, which allowed them to suppress the bear with ease.

The bigger member lifted its weapon again and was about to give the trapped bear the finishing blow.

However, it tilted its weapon in the last second, just before releasing the shot.

“Watch out, Chief!” Ji Ye saw the arrow coming and quickly called out.