Chapter 3 Main Course

  Ji Ran's hiding cave was not too far from here. After collecting the spoils of war, they followed Ji Ran towards the cave.

  It's said to be a spoil of war, but it's actually just an ordinary red-tailed wolf. There are many other corpses of red-tailed wolves, but the body parts of such ordinary wild beasts aren't very useful - although the meat can be eaten, the taste of wolf meat isn't particularly good.

  "These corpses can just stay here, they'll be eaten by other beasts soon enough. This Flame Wolf is pretty good though, it's almost at level three already, the quality of its magic crystal should be decent."

  Uncle Hu - now Ji Ran already knows he's called Leis - is delighted. Their adventure party has come to this Blue Pine Forest, and their goal is to hunt down magical beasts and obtain spoils of war. Although the Red-tailed Fire Wolf isn't considered a particularly rare magical beast, it's still a harvest, after all.

  Ji Ran didn't intervene in this matter, after all, he had just crossed over into this world not long ago. Apart from knowing that this was a world of magic, he hadn't obtained much other information. However, he did have some common sense regarding these so-called magical beasts, because this world and the two games he played were to a large extent very similar. It's just that in the xianxia game he played, these magical beasts were called yao shou instead.

  He also knew about the magic crystal, after all, he had hunted down one or two magical beasts in the past half month. Speaking of which, this thing is similar to the demon beast's demon dan, it's a very good material that can be applied to many aspects. Although he was the one who killed the Red-tailed Fire Wolf, but since he had picked up someone else's leftovers, he didn't dare to take it directly. Anyway, encountering this group of people was already his greatest gain.

  The mountain cave where Ji Ran hid was actually quite good, located on a small hillside, with high terrain, and the rainwater wouldn't flow in when it rained. At the entrance, there were several large stones, with vines hanging down from above, and beside them grew several clusters of shrubs. Even if someone passed by, as long as they weren't careful to lift those vines, it would be very difficult to discover this mountain cave. Of course, this was also after Ji Ran had made some arrangements.

  The cave is dry and well-ventilated, with a spacious interior that makes Lais and his group look very satisfied: "This cave is really good, it can be used as a long-term base. It's also close to the area where second-level and third-level magical beasts are mixed together, we'll stay here for a few more days... Ji Ran, you won't mind, will you?"

  Ji Ran smiled and shook his head: "Of course not! I'd rather hope to walk with you guys. I'm lost here, after all, I have to leave this place. Relying on myself, I don't know how long it'll take, but if you guys help me, that would be much simpler."

  After hearing Ji Ran's words, Lais thought for a moment and then clapped his hands: "Alright! That's settled then! You're now the temporary member of our adventure team!"

  Lais' decision did not receive any opposition from others, so it was basically passed. Of course, Jiran didn't think things would go so smoothly and was slightly stunned. However, looking at these people, they don't seem to be the kind of people who are insincere, so there shouldn't be a problem, right?

  After entering the cave, Lais and others first found a place to rest. In a corner of the cave, Ji Ran had spread out dry and soft hay, which was a good place to rest.

  In the cave, there were also many other things stored. For example, some tubers and dried wild vegetables, as well as some pine nuts and other dried fruits. As for meat, there wasn't much storage, Ji Ran knew that there were few methods of storing meat that didn't use salt, and besides, this place had all sorts of wild beasts, so if you wanted to eat, you could just hunt them at will.

  During the trip, several people also hunted a few pheasants and rabbits, which were enough for dinner.

  Arriving at the cave, Ji Ran immediately started to get busy. Dealing with those prey, selecting some wild vegetables and tubers, washing them clean and cutting them into blocks. There was a small stream not far from the cave, making it very convenient to fetch water.

  "Wow, I just saw your sword technique, it's very unusual and quite different from ours. But it seems to be very powerful... especially that last move, I didn't even see how you did it!"

  Two young men were brothers. Now the younger of the two brothers was helping to gather that red-tailed fox while chatting with Ji Ran.

  Now Ji Yan also knows the names of these two brothers, the older brother's name is Ban and the younger brother's name is Beck. Ban's personality is more steady, using a sword shield; while his younger brother is more lively, more skilled at using a long spear.

  "Hmm... That's my family's traditional sword technique, called Four Seasons. Actually, I'm not very proficient in using it, and I really regret not practicing harder when I was at home." Ji Ran shrugged his shoulders.

  The swordsmanship called "Four Seasons" is correct, but it's not some kind of ancestral swordsmanship. Instead, it's one of the two games he plays, "Sword Hero Unparalleled", inside which there's a school called Cangjian Mountain Villa, and this is their signature swordsmanship. This swordsmanship is named after the four seasons, with 24 moves in total, corresponding to the 24 solar terms.

  These sword moves are all basic sword moves, and their power is related to the amount of true energy invested by Ji Yan. And the last sword move is not an ordinary sword move, but a style of sword technique.

  Sword skills and sword moves are different, with different bonuses. After infusing true energy, the power is even more increased. However, the sword skills of these four levels are not available as soon as they are learned, but rely on "enlightenment". In the game, it means that only when certain conditions are met can they appear in the player's skill list.

  That sword just now was the first sword technique that Ji Ran suddenly realized, Duan Chao.

  A sword flies in the midst of the current, cutting off the turbulent waves.

  With a swift sword, it slashes out instantly, combining speed and power perfectly, dealing massive damage to the enemy!

  Duan Chao's sword technique in the Four Seasons Sword Method is also quite powerful. However, the conditions for using it are relatively strict, requiring dodging the opponent's attack before it can be used, and consuming a lot of sword energy, needing half a bar of sword energy to use.

  As for the sword energy, it is a feature of Cangjian Mountain Villa. Each attack provides a certain amount of sword energy, and every ten levels increase one sword energy bar. Sword skills all consume unequal amounts of sword energy to exert their proper power.

  Of course, if you force yourself to use Tidal Wave directly against your opponent, it can still be executed, but both its power and speed will be greatly discounted. Compared to ordinary sword techniques, it's not particularly impressive either.

  The current level of Ji Ran is 18, and the first sword energy was obtained at level 10. The next one can only be obtained when reaching level 20. Moreover, the function of sword energy is not just for using sword skills, but under the current situation where there is so little sword energy, other functions have no chance to be used temporarily.

  "It can't be helped, Ji Ran's swordsmanship is really good. Look, the injuries on this Red-tailed Fire Wolf are all on its abdomen, and that fatal blow was a vertical slash. This way, the entire pelt of the Red-tailed Fire Wolf can be peeled off intact, with almost no damage, increasing its value greatly!" Brother Beck exclaimed excitedly as he skinned the wolf.

  Uncle Leis nodded in agreement: "That's right, the most expensive thing on the Red-tailed Fire Wolf's body, apart from that magic crystal, is this fur. It's so intact, it'll definitely sell for a good price!"

  Ji Ran smiled: "When I was on the other side of my house, I often went hunting too. There were also old hunters in the village who taught me various skills. This is one of them. It's just a habit."

  "This habit is unbearable, it's a necessary factor to become a qualified hunter. Like those two guys, they still can't grasp this point until now!" Uncle Leis smiled and nodded towards the two brothers over there.

  Ban's face immediately showed an embarrassed expression, while Beike had a cheerful and carefree look on his face.

  "In the past, we had Uncle Leys, and now we have Brother Jiran. We two don't need to be so entangled anymore, can't we just learn slowly? Look, at least our skinning skills are quite proficient!"

  As he spoke, Beck stripped the last bit of fur from the Akatora's body and was about to toss the corpse aside - the magic crystal had been pocketed at the very beginning.

  "Wait! Don't throw it away, this is tonight's main course!" Ji Ran saw Beck about to discard the Red-tailed Flame Wolf's corpse and immediately stopped him. This was a demon beast's meat, how could they just casually throw it away?

  Bai Ke heard Ji Ran's words and looked over strangely: "The meat of magical beasts is generally not good to eat, and the chaotic magical energy inside is also not suitable for human absorption. Only magical beasts can absorb a bit of it. It's basically useless to us, I was planning to throw it away for Hua Luo to eat, do you want to use this to cook?"

  Ji Ran was somewhat surprised to hear this, so in this world, the meat of magical beasts couldn't be eaten? But in "Xian Xia Xiang", the meat of demonic beasts is a great tonic... it's one of the main ingredients for cooking skills!

  Moreover, before this, he had also killed a demon beast and eaten its meat. The effect was somewhat different from the game, but it still had a considerable boost effect. This shows that the meat of this demon beast is completely edible!

  "Don't worry, my family has a traditional cooking method that can make the monster meat incredibly delicious - and most importantly, it can also allow people to harness the magical energy within the monster meat! I won't deceive you, leave it to me!" Ji Ran lifted his head, revealing a confident smile.