James had lost hope, but unexpectedly, there was a pleasant surprise!
Pushing aside the grass where he had set a trap, he found a wild chicken smaller than a domestic one, its ankle caught in a rope, struggling fiercely.
The wild chicken panicked and struggled even harder as it sensed a living creature approaching. A flurry of red and yellow feathers scattered in the air, raising a cloud of dust and leaves.
"Can't believe it, I actually caught a wild chicken!" James couldn't contain his excitement, his face beaming with joy.
The trap, one of the earliest he had set near a berry bush, had unexpectedly caught a bird.
It seemed his trap-setting strategy was quite sound.
James quickly got to work, taking considerable effort to subdue the chicken. He then tied its legs with the rope from the trap, carried it by its wings, and headed back to the shelter.
He made it back just before dark, quite satisfied with his day's haul.
First, he had moved the shelter to a forest with richer resources and solved the water supply issue. Then, he gathered wood, though today's haul was less, only 118 units of good quality wood. From hunting a bee swarm, he got a wooden and a bronze resource box.
The last and most delightful find was the wild chicken caught using the beast trap.
Back at the yard, James busily set to work. He built a fence out of wood to serve as a chicken coop for the wild chicken, enclosing it and tying the rope to a stake. Knowing that wild chickens, like birds, can fly, he knew he had to tame its wildness.
To prevent the chicken from freezing at night, James used thermal insulation cotton obtained from Nancy the day before to make a rudimentary semi-enclosed chicken nest.
Beside the nest, he placed a barrel of clear water from the stream. As for food, after much consideration, James reluctantly fed it some pods and planned to pick rotten berries the next day for its food.
After tending to the wild chicken, he watered and fertilized the plants in the yard.However, with limited fertilizer, he could only use it for the crystal rice plants.
He had obtained a fertilizer-making blueprint and made some using rotting leaves, vines, and daily waste. The better the material quality, the more nutrient-rich the fertilizer. James used some rotting tree leaves and vines, along with daily excrement, to make several bags of fertilizer, perfect for enhancing the growth rate of the crystal rice.
While inspecting the plants, James noticed they were not growing well, especially the wisteria, which was almost withered and unlikely to survive the cold wave.
After some thought, he cut down all the wisteria, dug out their rich rootstocks, obtaining 11 roots and numerous branches. He threw these plant wastes to the guardian thorns as nourishment for the winter.
Of the 11 roots, James kept three for himself and tossed the rest to the guardian thorns. He believed that after absorbing the wisteria's nutrients, the guardian thorns would likely start reproducing, effectively protecting the shelter.
After finishing these tasks, it was dark, and the fading light no longer supported outdoor work. James returned to the shelter. He lit the fire, warming up the place, and then started making dinner—a bowl of pods and a steak. Simple but filling and tasty.
Many survivors were still struggling with food, so James felt fortunate not to worry about it. After dinner, he exercised for half an hour to digest the energy from the steak. Now, he only had regular-grade meat left. He wondered if Luke had recently hunted any good-quality wild beasts.
After exercising, James brought the white pine wood into the workshop, processing 80 units into good-quality charcoal. Then he returned to his bedroom to start the exciting task of opening the resource boxes.
James rubbed his hands together, laughing happily as he opened the wooden resource box.
The box revealed three items:
[Honey Bread x5 (Common)], [Stone Shovel (Common)], and [Fishing Rod x1 (Common)].
The items were ordinary, neither surprising nor disappointing, but just standard.
"Pretty good, I'll save my luck for the bronze resource box! Hopefully, it will yield something great," James thought, comforting himself.
A blue light emerged as he opened the bronze resource box, revealing three items.
The first was a [Beast Trap Crafting Scroll].
James' eyes widened in surprise as he saw the scroll. Luke had just brought him three beast traps, and now he had opened another one. The traps were not very useful for Luke but extremely important for James, who, despite his enhanced strength and daily training, was still not strong enough to hunt wild beasts. So he relied on beast traps for rare meat.
With just three traps, he had caught a wild chicken, a good success rate. If he could make them himself, he could set dozens of traps and significantly increase his harvest without bothering Luke.
Excited, James looked at the second item: [Bicycle x1 (Good)].
He was initially baffled – "What do I need a bicycle for in the forest? It's not like I can ride it here!" – but laughed it off, realizing the resource box could contain anything.
When he saw the third item, he held his breath in surprise: an outstanding-level item!
The chance of getting such an item from a bronze resource box was extremely low. James rubbed his eyes, laughing joyously when he confirmed he wasn't mistaken:
"Haha, I'm indeed favored by Lady Luck! What fortune!"
He picked up the orb, and the item information quickly appeared:
[Name: Beast Taming Scroll (Outstanding)
Function: Tames beasts of outstanding level or lower, enabling them to understand simple commands. 100% success rate for common beasts, 80% for good-quality beasts, and 30% for outstanding beasts.
Description: A treasure crafted using special techniques.]
A beast taming scroll – such a fantastical item was now in his hands, almost too incredible to believe.
But more than that, he was curious and thrilled. James could imagine the security and ease of exploration if he could tame a good or outstanding level beast.
However, he had to plan carefully which beasts to tame. So far, he hadn't encountered any powerful wild animals near the shelter, but he often heard roars from deep in the forest.
As he explored further, encountering large beasts would be inevitable.