The moment Su Chen stepped into the shop, he saw that the interior was a complete wreck. The decor looked like something out of a World War II ruin.
When the elemental incursion began, the fire in the shop’s large brick oven had suddenly flared up. The temperature soared, causing the oven to explode. Spilling flames injured many people inside, and the entire establishment was filled with choking smoke.
Su Chen had seen it happen from a distance.
Coupled with the fact that the tiger-leopard he’d seen chasing people had instead charged into this barbecue shop, he figured there was a good chance a Fire Element Essence was hidden inside the oven.
The owner and staff were long gone.
Outside, a crowd had gathered, gawking at the three-meter-long tiger-leopard.
With no one to bother him, Su Chen walked over to the large, half-collapsed oven. A large corner of the furnace mouth had crumbled away, leaving an opening of less than half a foot to peer through.
As he drew near, the Flame Burst Rune deep in his consciousness began to call out to him. The urgent sense of longing confirmed his suspicion.
’It’s like having a built-in scanner...’ Su Chen thought. He crouched down to get a better look and soon spotted a red, fiery bead glowing amidst the ash and embers.
Even if the tiger-leopard had sensed it, it would have been useless. The beast couldn’t have pulled it out of the furnace.
’I’ll need a tool.’
Su Chen picked up two long metal barbecue skewers from the ground nearby and began to work with great patience.
About thirty seconds later, he managed to pry the fiery bead out.
He closed his hand around it, and an urgent pulling force emanated from his palm. As a scalding current flowed up his arm and into the depths of his consciousness, the Flame Burst Rune trembled violently. Its once-stable structure expanded, stretching outward.
[Flame Burst] Lv2 → Lv3! Successful advancement!
Enhanced Traits: Damage Amplification, Burst Range, Casting Efficiency.
...
[Flame Burst] (Lv3): Grants all of the Spellcaster’s attacks an additional 135% flame bombardment damage and causes an area-of-effect splash.
Upgrade Requirements: Flame Burst Rune 0/4, Spiritual Dust Sand 0/1.
"My damage output is even higher now," Su Chen said, satisfied.
The trait enhancement also added ’Casting Efficiency.’ As the name implied, it meant the generation speed of the Rune’s effect was greatly increased.
In simpler terms, it reduced the casting time.
As for the upgrade requirements, they were more or less what he’d predicted. It really would take twelve Fire Element Essences.
This exponential increase in cost would undoubtedly make upgrading more difficult, not to mention the addition of the mysterious Spiritual Dust Sand.
Putting the unknown factors aside.
Ideally, it would be best to encounter a powerful Fire Element monster and have it drop a Flame Burst Rune directly.
That would probably mean heading deeper into the forest, which was a classic high-risk, high-reward situation.
Besides, monsters had survival instincts. They wouldn’t just let themselves be slaughtered. Hunting in the forest was not as easy as it seemed.
For now, the main priority was to kill the monsters that had invaded the campground.
Outside, the crowd surrounding the tiger-leopard’s corpse was growing more boisterous. Someone had suggested seeing if they could get an Elemental Essence from the body, while another person claimed there might be a Magic Crystal in its heart.
And so, two men brandished sharp blades—one began frantically stabbing at its head, while the other started slicing open its abdomen.
"You have to stab it right in the middle of the forehead! I swear, after that Archer killed this Thunder Tiger, two Essences popped right out of its head," one man instructed.
An old man who had come over to see the commotion shook his head. He leaned in and shouted, "You young people don’t know a good thing when you see it! Cut off its penis and soak it in wine. Then you’ll find out what it means to go seven times in one night!"
His words were met with a wave of raucous laughter.
Su Chen walked out of the barbecue shop. He ignored the commotion and instead picked up a promotional map from the side of the road.
The crowd’s repeated mention of an Archer, however, did give him pause.
Su Chen recalled the trio he had met at the campfire general store. They had also keenly sensed the danger and had been the first to snatch up supplies. The calluses on the hands of the man in glasses who led them, he now realized, were likely from constantly drawing a bow. And the bag the aloof woman carried wasn’t an instrument case—it was definitely a bow case.
’They were heading to the archery hall...’
He seemed to recall that when he was looking up travel guides for this place, he’d seen a mention of a National Collegiate Archery Championship being held over the past three days.
The entire campground was huge. The multi-purpose activity area on the west side alone had an archery hall, a yoga studio, a gym, a badminton court, a basketball court, a rock-climbing wall, and more.
The central area was the public camping grounds, a vast, open green field filled with large hexagonal canopy tents and other outdoor facilities.
The commercial street where he was now was a secondary central hub.
The public service area to the south had a clubhouse, guesthouses, a family park, a petting zoo, and a conference hall for corporate events. To the north was the even more luxurious courtyard resort area.
Qingye Collection had managed to bundle outdoor recreation, camping, tourism, and corporate retreats all into one package. Riding the recent camping craze and a strong social media push, its publicity had been through the roof this quarter. No wonder his uncle had invited him out here.
Su Chen flipped the promotional map to the section on the archery hall, which featured a prominent write-up on its manager.
The illustrated pamphlet didn’t just pompously list his titles and credentials. Instead, it highlighted his skills through his accomplishments.
One particular story was quite famous across the country.
A certain region was overrun with wild boars and had put out a public call for Bounty Hunters, offering a 2,000-yuan reward for each kill.
The rules were strict: no poison, no guns, and no traps. Netizens joked, "What are you supposed to do, seduce them to death?"
Jokes aside, many hunters still answered the call.
Two stories from that event became particularly famous.
One hunter managed to kill two boars, earning 4,000 yuan, but lost one of his hounds in the process—a loss valued at over 10,000 yuan.
And one Archer came out on top, single-handedly slaying ten boars and claiming a 20,000-yuan prize.
That man was none other than the local archery hall’s manager, Feng Zhiyuan, a legally licensed Bounty Hunter. The write-up also mentioned that his son was a nationally-ranked archer.
"He’s certainly impressive."
Su Chen folded the brochure. Hunting ten wild boars without bait or traps was an incredibly difficult feat.
He had never used a bow and arrow himself. Back when he was learning Sanda at a martial arts gym, he had messed around with a slingshot for about half a month. A street outside the gym was infested with rats, so at night, a few of the students would go hunt them on their way home.
After they had killed all the rats in the area, he never touched one again.
’So it seems there’s a group of skilled archers here at the campground,’ he thought.
The country banned crossbows, but not bows. Someone with real archery skills was bound to have some extremely lethal arrowheads.
For the tourists trapped here, that was definitely good news.
The monsters that had appeared so far were all carbon-based lifeforms. To put it bluntly, they were just wild animals that had grasped Elemental Power. Their offensive capabilities were much stronger, but their Defense Power couldn’t hold up against human weaponry.
It fit the classic glass-cannon stereotype.
’I’ll head to the courtyard resort in the north, then.’
To maximize his monster-killing efficiency, it made sense to go north, since the west was already covered by the archers from the championship.
Besides, his uncle’s reservation was for Building B7 in that same courtyard resort.
Just as Su Chen got back into the RV and started it up, the campground’s public address system finally crackled back to life.
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