4: Chapter 4 First Kill Success! The Busy Hunter

An energy arrow shot out; the fire fed on the wind, and the wind bolstered the fire's power. The arrow pierced through the Drone's body, leaving behind nothing but a blackened insect corpse and a red crystal that dropped beside it.

Li Yuan picked up the quail-egg-sized red crystal. This was the spoils of war—life essence.

"Hello, host. You can absorb life essence through consumption." The system's customer service was very thorough.

Unexpectedly, the seemingly hard crystal melted the moment it entered his mouth, like a drop of cool spring water.

He immediately looked at the data in the corner of his vision.

The most important part:

【Remaining Lifespan: 71:51:48】 → 【72:21:48】!

"My lifespan increased by 30 minutes!" Li Yuan breathed a slight sigh of relief, but then thought, "Such a big bug is only worth half an hour..."

Then:

【Energy: 0.1】→ 【Energy: 2.2】! (2.1 energy points were recovered from the kill)

"Luckily, this is also how energy is replenished." Li Yuan sighed in relief again. "I used 4 points and recovered 2; it's a bit of a loss."

Immediately after, the energy figure ticked up again: 【Energy: 2.3】.

"Why does this energy recovery even have decimals!!" Li Yuan complained weakly, then looked at the Light Guardian still standing beside him: "At least the summoned minion can still be used."

Then, Li Yuan noticed a new line of data appearing below the status bar: 【Essence: 1】.

Essence? What on earth is that? Li Yuan once again consulted the system.

"Hello, host. life essence is the fundamental origin of living beings, containing 'Leap Energy.' When life essence is absorbed, Leap Energy is extracted and can be used to increase your class rank." It was still the sweet voice of Customer Service 1518.

Following her words, on the class panels for the Lord of Light and the String-Controlling Weaver, a new line of small text appeared beneath the class names: (Rank 1 0/1000).

Good grief, it won't show up unless I ask? Li Yuan felt this system was a bit of a scam.

"host brother, it's my first time being a system customer service agent, so I'm sorry!" A flirtatious, familiar female voice rang out. Fine, the 'green tea' act was showing; this system was looking more and more like a behind-the-scenes final boss.

What should he do next?

Time waits for no one. If he wanted to live, he had to keep hunting!!

Successfully hunting a Drone and gaining 30 minutes of life brought Li Yuan a bit of comfort.

However, 30 minutes was too short...

He had to keep hunting.

Under the system's guidance, completing the kill so effortlessly gave him the courage to face Drones. As for Zerglings, Roaches, and the like... if it runs, don't refactor it!!! So says the CV Engineer.

Based on the brightness of the light spots, Li Yuan chose a similar one and spent over ten minutes finally reaching the location. Luckily, it was another Drone.

Unfortunately, when he tried to hunt it himself, he discovered his hands were shaking like a leaf, making it impossible to aim.

"Closer, a little closer." Since he couldn't aim, he would shoot from point-blank range.

Just as he approached within about 10 meters, the aimlessly wandering Drone suddenly seemed provoked. Its massive mandibles faced Li Yuan as it spat a glob of green venom and then lunged forward.

Startled by the huge mandibles, Li Yuan's legs went weak, and he almost fell onto his backside. Fortunately, the guarding Light Guardian reacted in time, flashing forward to block the venom before engaging the enemy.

Calming himself slightly and looking at the Drone right in front of him, he used the lingering adrenaline to quickly draw his bow and notch an arrow. Thoughts flashed through his mind:

【Song of Battle - Normal Shot】!

【Elemental Resonance: Thunder Element Enchantment】!

【Elemental Resonance - Wind Blade】!

【Elemental Resonance - Fire Rocket】!

With 2 energy points deducted, a light arrow flashing with lightning and carrying a sharp aura streaked past. Then, flames erupted from within the Drone, leaving behind only a pile of ashes and a red-glowing life essence...

"Scared me to death, scared me to death..." Li Yuan couldn't stop patting his chest, trying to soothe his racing heart.

Finding the target, aiming, and getting close had taken nearly 40 minutes in total. But regardless, a successful hunt was a good start.

Next, relying on the basic courage brought by the will to survive, Li Yuan continued his hunt within these ruins.

There was no sophisticated plan, only a simple cycle of "Find Drone - Approach Carefully - Full Power Strike - Next."

During this time, for someone like Li Yuan who had zero shooting experience, the String-Controlling Weaver's skills didn't always hit. If not for the margin of error provided by the bits and pieces of energy recovery each time, Li Yuan would have given up and died long ago.

However, arrows of different attributes had different effects.

The ice attribute could freeze the insects into a large block of ice, making it take forever just to dig out the life essence.

The fire attribute could burn the insect corpses to ashes, leaving only the life essence, which was the most convenient.

The thunder attribute skills were the fastest, while the wind attribute skills were the sharpest; the arrows that pierced through the insects after killing them still retained lethality.

In the end, the combination of Thunder Enchantment + Wind Blade + Fire Rocket was Li Yuan's favorite; it hit wherever he aimed and rarely went off course.

Li Yuan also discovered that his summoned minion, the Light Guardian, was exceptionally tanky.

After a day of fighting, including being ganged up on by two Zerglings and four Drones for half an hour, it showed no reaction at all.

But it really was like tickling; after hacking at a Drone for half an hour, it hadn't even broken its skin.

Most importantly, he discovered the effect of the talent Source of the Northern Darkness.

In addition to the 2.1 energy points recovered each time he consumed a Drone's life essence, he could also recover an extra 0.1 energy every 10 minutes.

This 0.1 energy kept gathering toward his Dantian, seemingly related to that talent called Intent of the Northern Darkness.

But 0.1 every 10 minutes? As expected of F-rank!!!!

As the color of the sky began to transition into a deep, inky blue, Li Yuan was already exhausted.

Night was coming...

The shrieks and rustling sounds of wandering Zerg nearby made his scalp tingle.

"I have to find a place to hide!" This thought was incredibly intense.

He once again summoned the system's life essence map, but this time he focused on the terrain contours. He needed a place where he could hide, that could be defended, and preferably had only one entrance.

Leading the still-shining Light Guardian, he began to move quickly through the ruins and debris.

The collapsed rooms he passed either had too many gaps and were drafty on all sides, or were filled with twisted metal, making them impossible to stay in.

The blue of the sky grew deeper and deeper, and an inexplicable chill descended with the night.

Finally, near the edge of the original plaza, a relatively intact building structure caught his attention. It looked like a temporary command post for ground crew at a small Starport.

Most of the structure was buried underground, with only a slanted metal staircase leading to the surface. Most importantly, the command post's blast-proof metal door still worked!

"Here!" Li Yuan's eyes lit up.

He approached cautiously, signaling the Light Guardian to go in first.

The Light Guardian entered first, its light-forged body dispelling the darkness of the underground command post. By this light, Li Yuan saw the situation inside:

This was a multi-level composite command post covering several hundred square meters, with a corridor connecting rooms on both sides and stairs leading to the next floor.

The corridor was covered in bloodstains, though it was unclear if they were from humans or insects. There was also a broken weapon rack in the corner. The power equipment for the entire command post was still functional.

It was deathly quiet!

It seemed there were no other living creatures!