Chapter 6: Fortune Favours the Bold
Liu Xiang lay concealed in the undergrowth, eyes fixed on the scene ahead.
Seven or eight unicorn-horned goats grazed on green plants growing at the base of trees. Occasionally, a whimpering "Wuuu~" sound echoed sending chills down his spine— the sound came not not from the goats, but from the plants being chewed. Apparently, these plants emitted childlike cries when attacked.
Silently, Liu Xiang nocked an arrow and took aim at a particularly voracious specimen.
Whoosh!
The arrow struck true, embedding itself in the goat's skull.
It collapsed instantly.
The remaining goats scattered in panic, vanishing into the forest within seconds.
After ensuring no other threats lingered, Liu Xiang approached. He retrieved his arrow from the carcass and attempted—unsuccessfully—to snap off the unicorn horn. With a shrug, he moved on.
Not that he wouldn't have liked to utilize the kill—those hind legs looked delicious—but without tools, skinning and cooking a whole goat was impractical.
A check confirmed his suspicion: no "experience points" for the kill. Disappointing, but expected. The Origin clearly didn't operate on game logic.
As he progressed deeper into Falling Star's Eye, the flora and fauna grew increasingly alien, surpassing even his system-granted knowledge. Caution became paramount.
The terrain steepened, though the dense canopy obscured the mountain's true height, forcing him to ascend blindly.
Then—familiar whimpering.
Tracking the sound, Liu Xiang froze at the sight before him.
A massive, unrecognizable creature—easily 2 meters tall and 3 meters long—knelt while devouring surrounding vegetation. Hairless with a deer-like body and an oversized head, its most striking feature was a suction-cup mouth that could likely swallow a basketball whole.
Wait—
The creature's hind leg was clamped in a metal trap, blood oozing from the wound.
That explains why it's not moving.
A more alarming realization followed: traps implied intelligence. Something—or someone—smarter than beasts lurked nearby.
Liu Xiang concealed himself behind rocks and trunks, maintaining visual contact while awaiting the trap's owner.
He didn't wait long.
Within minutes, snapping branches signaled approach. The trapped beast thrashed wildly, sensing danger.
Then the hunter emerged.
A green-scaled humanoid, roughly Liu Xiang's height, stepped into view. Armored in natural plating save for its underbelly, it moved bipedally, a thick tail swaying behind. Its reptilian head bore crimson eyes, and a forked tongue flicked between jagged teeth.
No system prompt was needed—this was unmistakably a lizardman.
Despite lacking clothing, the creature's intelligence was evident. A large satchel hung across its back, while its belt held a dagger and machete—tools whose craftsmanship rivaled Earth's.
Surveying its prey, the lizardman emitted guttural clicks—likely its language—before drawing the machete.
The exhausted beast offered no further resistance as the blade flashed—
—and its head tumbled cleanly, severed as if by paper cutter.
In that exact moment, an arrow shrieked through the air.
Liu Xiang had chosen his timing perfectly.
Thud!
The shaft buried itself in the lizardman's neck—not a killing blow, but enough to stagger it.
As clawed hands fumbled at the embedded arrow, a second shot pierced its left eye, penetrating the brain.
Two more followed in rapid succession until a fifth arrow found the creature's chest.
The triumphant hunter became the hunted, collapsing lifeless beside its quarry.
[Galactic Order Notification: Cross-Domain Transmuted Lifeform Eliminated]
[+1 Origin Merit Point]
[+100 Galactic Order Merit Points]
[Notification: Cross-Tier Elimination]
[Reward: +1 Free Physique Attribute Point]
[Notification: First Transmuted Lifeform Eliminated]
[Select Reward Type:]
[Random Auxiliary Item (Origin)]
[Random Primary Body Technique]
[Random Auxiliary Proficiency (Beginner)]
[+2 Free Physique Attribute Points]
Liu Xiang: "..."
Fortune had arrived thrice-fold!
Had complaining about the system actually worked?!
Truly, fortune favoured the bold—history's lessons held firm.
He'd never expected the lizardman to be such a jackpot. His ambush had been a gamble—counting on the creature's likely keen senses to detect him post-hunt. One opportunistic shot had spiralled into five.
Rubbing his hands, Liu Xiang faced an unfamiliar dilemma.
Yes, he'd coveted the lizardman's gear.
Yes, witnessing that machete's efficiency had chilled his blood mid-shot.
But the outcome? Glorious.
The "cross-tier elimination" confirmed a power disparity—his victory owed to range and timing. That such feats granted attribute points? Magnificent.
As for "transmuted lifeforms"—apparently, he remained untransmuted, while the lizardman had evolved. The specifics eluded him eye colour? physical changes?, but the "first kill" rewards demanded scrutiny.
Option 4—attribute points—was tempting. But as an archer specializing in ambushes, why settle for +2 when cross-tier kills offered more?
Random body techniques? Too risky—what if he got stuck with a "rake mastery"?
Auxiliary proficiency? Too vague to gamble on.
That left the Origin-class auxiliary item—the only option bearing the Origin's name. If it had said "Earth," he'd have dismissed it instantly. But the Origin, which even the Galactic Order bowed to? That warranted a gamble.
Steeling himself, Liu Xiang selected:
[Random Auxiliary Item (Origin)]
.....
[Random reward auxiliary class item (Origin) calculating...]
[Random reward auxiliary class item (Origin) confirmed]
[Obtained auxiliary class item (Origin): Defective Product]
WTF!?
Liu Xiang couldn't help wanting to slap himself twice. Wouldn't 2 free physique attribute points have been better? Wouldn't an auxiliary class proficiency have been better? Why did he have to choose this thing? Look at what it gave him - a defective product!!!! Is this something a normal person would give?!
A brown bag-like object appeared faintly in front of his chest.
Liu Xiang grabbed it angrily, his fury growing even stronger.
Isn't this just a broken bag?!
Huh!?
The moment the system displayed the item information, his expression changed oddly.
[Name: Defective Product]
[Quality: Rare]
[Creator: Anonymous]
[Message: Failed again! What garbage!]
[Item details: Storage-type auxiliary item, contains an independent sealed space, space size is 125 cubic meters (planetary measurement unit), can store and retrieve items at any time.]
Liu Xiang, "This...."
He tried putting his hand into the shabby bag - gone!? His hand disappeared into the bag opening. Reaching further in, his entire arm vanished into the palm-sized bag.
Next, Liu Xiang started putting leaf-wrapped medicinal plants into it. The space inside was independent, vacuum-sealed without gravity. He could feel the items staying fixed where he placed them.
This was really amazing. 125 cubic meters - that's a 5x5x5 meter cube! He could easily fit those two corpses inside with room to spare.
And this was actually a failed defective product? What would a successful one be like?
Forget it, don't be too greedy.
Having obtained such a rare item, Liu Xiang was already satisfied.
After allocating his newly obtained free physique attribute point to Agility, his Agility attribute reached 8.
Quickly walking to the lizardman's corpse, Liu Xiang took all the items from its body and put them into the Defective Product. Then he tried lifting the huge animal's front leg to stuff it in, but embarrassingly discovered he couldn't lift it at all...
So he could only take off the Defective Product, open the bag mouth, and slide it over the hoof, slowly moving it upward. Fortunately, the bag opening could magically expand to about 2 meters in diameter, otherwise it really wouldn't have fit the huge body.
Following the same method, Liu Xiang also put the lizardman inside.
The ground only had large amounts of splattered green and red blood left, with no other objects.
To be safe, Liu Xiang still covered the blood stains with dirt, at least making it look clean.
After quickly completing all this, he headed in another direction.
After running quickly for over half an hour, Liu Xiang found a relatively safe hollow in a huge tree root and sat down to count his loot.
He hadn't dared stay too long at the previous location - these lizardmen were likely communal. If others came looking, he'd be in trouble.
Reaching into the Defective Product, he took out the lizardman's backpack and belt.
First, he tied the belt around his own waist. He hadn't noticed before - the belt had 4 small pouches. Opening them one by one:
The first pouch contained three dark red pellets, each only the size of a pill.
The second pouch held a meatball about the size of a ping pong ball, with a strong fishy smell. After just one look, Liu Xiang was so repulsed he immediately threw it back into the Defective Product.
The third pouch had a small glass bottle - not exactly glass, but some kind of crystal bottle containing green viscous liquid.
The fourth pouch also had a bottle, but this one didn't contain liquid - instead there was a glowing insect.
Damn, these all seemed useful but were actually useless.
Because he didn't know what they were for.
Putting these aside for now.
Liu Xiang opened the lizardman's backpack.
+1 metal trap - okay, counting the one on the huge animal's leg, he now had two.
+2 roasted animal legs - nice, this solved the meat problem.
+1 extremely elastic rope - unknown material but very tough, probably useful.
+5 conical goat horns - Liu Xiang recognized these from the unicorn goats' heads. These must be valuable since the lizardman kept them separately.
+1 unknown animal hide - some animal's entire skin, peeled and rolled up.
+2 unknown animal tendons - useful for making bowstrings, but he didn't know how, so he'd keep them for now.
Some unknown plant fruits - aside from some bay leaves, he didn't recognize the others.
Empty - nothing else in the backpack.
Liu Xiang put everything back into the Defective Product except the roasted meat and the bottle with the glowing insect. These things probably had value, but not now when he couldn't use them.
He chewed on the roasted meat. The texture wasn't great - a bit tough and hard, with no spices. The taste could only be described as "original flavor."
Playing with the bottle, the previously quiet insect at the bottom started flying around when disturbed, its glow becoming brighter.
What exactly was this thing for?
A night light? Impossible - this faint glow wasn't enough.
Food? This wouldn't even fill a tooth gap.
Maybe a pet? Liu Xiang amused himself by talking to the bottle, but got no reaction.
After taking off, the little insect kept bumping against one side of the bottle wall. At first Liu Xiang thought it was just panicking. But after changing the bottle's position and orientation several times, he noticed the insect kept bumping in the same direction regardless of how he turned it.
Suddenly enlightened.
This bug was a guide!
Right! Liu Xiang smacked his forehead.
The lizardman would get lost too - it needed something to always find its way back. This bug must be its map and compass combined. And since it glowed, it would be easy to spot even in darkness.
Great find! Liu Xiang took another big bite of the jerky.
But where was it leading to?
No need to guess - most likely the lizardman's nest, its home base.
Where else could it be? He couldn't imagine other possibilities yet, only making guesses based on homing pigeons and hunting dogs.
The nest... hehe
The words "Cross-tier Elimination Reward" seemed to descend from the sky, making him take another vicious bite.
Finishing the jerky quickly, Liu Xiang pulled the lizardman's corpse from the Defective Product, along with the dagger and machete.
Facing the lizardman's thick scales, he first tried slashing with the dagger - it only left a deep mark. Then he stabbed forcefully, but the scales dispersed the force, bouncing the blade off. Next he tried the machete - he'd seen its power firsthand, though he didn't know what material it was made of - and swung hard at the scales.
The machete split the outer layer of scales but got stuck in deeper tissue, unable to penetrate further.
This didn't mean the machete wasn't sharp enough - just that Liu Xiang's Strength was too low at only 5. If someone like the Zhang brothers or Li Tianjia wielded it, they could probably cut the lizardman in half, or at least deliver a fatal blow.
Having roughly understood the scales' defensive capability, Liu Xiang walked back 10 meters and shot an arrow at the back scales. The arrowhead pierced the scales to about a finger's depth. Indeed, arrows couldn't deal massive damage through scaled areas.
Liu Xiang flipped the lizardman's corpse over, belly up.
The lizardman's belly had no scales, just soft white skin.
Here, both dagger and arrow could easily pierce the surface.
So the vulnerable areas were head, chest and belly.
He stuffed the corpse back into the Defective Product.
Liu Xiang took out another bottle - the one with green viscous liquid that had caught his attention. He needed to test his hypothesis.
Dipping an arrowhead into the bottle, he coated it with some liquid before taking it out.
Ten minutes later, Liu Xiang crouched in the bushes, drawing his bow and shooting at a monkey-like creature on a tree trunk.
He deliberately aimed for the tailless monkey's hind leg.
The arrow pierced through, nailing the monkey to the tree. The panicked black monkey screeched and flailed wildly.
Liu Xiang silently counted the time.
Before he even reached "4," the monkey's cries cut off abruptly as its body went limp, hanging from the arrow.
Approaching, Liu Xiang pulled out the arrow and carefully examined the dead monkey on the ground. The wound area had turned black, with veins protruding darkly across its body. Even the blood flowing out had changed from red to black.
Confirmed - it was poison. And extremely potent poison at that.
Heh. Liu Xiang's lips curled as he looked at the glowing insect in the crystal bottle, its innocent light pulsing unaware.