I Start with a Mysterious Island-Chapter 84: The Third Little Fruit from the Magical Little Tree

Chapter 84: Chapter 84: The Third Little Fruit from the Magical Little Tree

All Lin Li wanted was for the Exotic Beast Hunters to leave quickly, so he naturally refused Chen Gangshan’s help. "Thanks, but it’s not necessary. I can handle this myself."

Seeing his offer of help rejected, Chen Gangshan gave a slight smile. He said a few words to his teammates and the other hunters who had come to assist, and then the group departed.

Lin Li watched the group of Exotic Beast Hunters leave and let out a long sigh of relief. After all, it wasn’t as if this was his private land.

If the Exotic Beast Hunters had shown no intention of leaving and had simply wanted to watch him process his four kills, he wouldn’t have been able to make them go.

Through his Perception, Lin Li felt the Exotic Beast Hunters, their bodies radiating Spiritual Energy Waves, grow more and more distant until they finally moved beyond his maximum sensory range.

’Of course, there’s another possibility. The departing Exotic Beast Hunters could have stopped circulating their Spiritual Energy, which would prevent me from tracking their location with my Spiritual Perception.’

’However, that’s highly unlikely. After all, they have no reason to do so.’

’Mutant Beasts could launch a surprise attack from the tall grass in these hills at any moment. And unlike me, they can’t just escape to the Mysterious Small Island with a single thought.’

’So, they need to keep their Spiritual Energy circulating at all times. That way, if they’re ambushed by a Mutant Beast, they can react instantly and counter-attack.’

Once he sensed that all the Exotic Beast Hunters were gone, Lin Li bent down, extended his left hand, and placed it on the mangled, bloody body of the gray Bear Beast.

With a single thought, the mangled gray Bear Beast vanished. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

* * *

On the Mysterious Small Island, enveloped in a vast, white mist.

The mangled gray Bear Beast materialized before the Magical Little Tree. An instant later, a faint golden Spiritual Light bloomed from the crown of the lush, leafy tree.

In the span of just a few breaths, the enormous gray Bear Beast—a creature with the strength of a Second Rank Initial Stage—was completely converted into white mist and absorbed by the Magical Little Tree.

Had Lin Li been present, he would have discovered that after the Magical Little Tree absorbed the gray Bear Beast’s Flesh and Blood Essence, its progress bar had instantly jumped from seven percent to ten percent.

Once the Magical Little Tree retracted its faint golden Spiritual Light, a tiny black fruit, the size of a grain of rice, appeared on one of its branches.

The Magical Little Tree had produced another fruit. This one, surprisingly, was black. A faint golden Spiritual Light flickered across the surface of the tiny, ink-black fruit, a sign that despite its unappealing color, it was something extraordinary...

* * *

After sending the mangled gray Bear Beast to the Mysterious Small Island, Lin Li pulled his phone from his pocket, opened the Superfast Recycling app, and ordered a medium-sized transport drone.

The moment the order was placed, the system confirmed it and dispatched a medium-sized transport drone to Lin Li’s location.

Perhaps because fewer customers ordered medium-sized transport drones, Superfast Recycling dispatched this one even faster than the small drone Lin Li had ordered last time.

The system indicated that the medium-sized transport drone would arrive in about fifteen minutes. Taking advantage of the wait, Lin Li found a large, leafy tree by the creek and sat down in its shade.

"Hssss..." Lin Li sucked in a sharp breath as he checked his injuries.

The gray Bear Beast had entangled his legs with its fur and slammed him into the ground several times.

While he wasn’t seriously injured, his chest and shoulders were covered in scrapes and bruises.

’Lesson learned. I can’t let a Mutant Beast bind my feet with its Superpower again,’ Lin Li grumbled to himself as he applied healing ointment to his wounds.

After treating his minor injuries, he began cultivating to restore his depleted Spiritual Energy.

Just as he’d expected, going all-out against the gray Bear Beast had allowed him to kill it quickly.

However, while the fight hadn’t taken much of a toll on his physical stamina, it had drained more than half of his Spiritual Energy.

The Mutant Beast clearing operation organized by the Exotic Beast Hunter Guild was scheduled to run for ten hours today, from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Less than two hours had passed since the event began, and his Spiritual Energy was already more than half gone. If he didn’t recover it, he’d probably have to pack it in and head home by noon.

Beneath the leafy tree, Lin Li sat on the grass with his back against the trunk. As he began to circulate his Spiritual Energy and cultivate, the ambient Spiritual Energy in the air started to rapidly converge on him.

Before long, a considerable amount of Spiritual Energy had gathered in a one-meter radius around him.

Having eaten the second small, cyan fruit from the Magical Little Tree, Lin Li’s cultivation aptitude had once again improved.

The efficiency of his current cultivation session was proof of this. The amount of Spiritual Energy he gathered in such a short time far surpassed what other Cultivators of the same level and average aptitude could manage.

Normally, if he were to rely on his body’s natural regeneration instead of cultivating, it would take him four to five hours to recover his spent Spiritual Energy and return to peak condition.

By actively cultivating, however, he could recover in just one and a half to two hours, provided he wasn’t interrupted. This cultivation speed was more than five times faster than it had been before he ate the small fruit.

* * *

The rolling hills were usually a very quiet place.

Aside from the chirping of insects and birds, the only other sounds were the occasional roars of a few Mutant Beasts.

But today was a different story. The hills were bustling with activity, a cacophony of sounds rising and falling from all directions.

With dozens of Exotic Beast Hunter teams—more than three hundred Hunters in total—entering the area, the Mutant Beasts that lived here and posed a threat to Rongcheng’s North District were being subjected to a systematic culling.

"After it! Don’t let that Mutant Beast escape!"

"Block it, quick! It’s heading for the creek! Don’t let it get in the water!"

"Did you hear? Someone’s already killed two Second Rank Initial Stage Mutant Beasts."

"Yeah, I heard. They were two pretty tough Bear Beasts."

"Damn, our squad’s only managed to kill one High-Stage Tier One Mutant Beast. We need to pick up the pace! We’re falling way behind."

"Hey, friend, our squad saw this one first. See? It’s still got an arrow in it from one of my teammates."

"All right, fine! We’ll go find another target..."

The distant clamor grew louder, and Lin Li, who was sitting under the tree recovering his Spiritual Energy, interrupted his cultivation and stood up.

By now, nearly an hour and a half had passed since he had loaded the black Bear Beast and two rabbit beasts onto the transport drone.

Although Lin Li hadn’t recovered all of his spent Spiritual Energy, he was close to full.

The amount of Spiritual Energy he now had would be enough to last him until the end of the clearing operation, as long as he didn’t try to take on another Tier Two Mutant Beast.

’Time for lunch. An army marches on its stomach. Gotta eat to have the strength to hunt more Mutant Beasts.’

Lin Li pulled out his phone to check the time and saw it was nearly twelve o’clock.

He then started a fire to cook lunch. He was having noodles, but not instant noodles this time—he was preparing proper hand-rolled noodles.

...