Vol 1 Chapter 3 (1/2)
TANG EN CRUSOE (THE FEATURED COLLECTION)
Lunch time. Tang En who has been leaning against a withered tree unmoving for a long time suddenly jumped up and ran back to Little Stone Village.
Luckily, he quickly met the old farmer from before.
Hearing Tang En’s intention, he generously lent him a short ax.
Tang En took the ax back to the forest, at a quiet area he found a tree that has a large body, it’s branches reaching out far and wide.
He spat on his hands and began climbing.
“First, I must observe the surrounding and choose the most optimal base location.”
While mumbling, Tang En eyes shone, he took aim at a thick tree branch.
This tree branch was solid and strong, next to it was many other small sub branches, using it to build a wooden hut was ideal.
“Next I must build a reliable foundation, as well as create walls.”
—
After two hours,
“Ha Ha Ha… I am an incomparable genius.”
Tang En stood beneath beneath the tree and danced wildly, his eyes full of pride as he looked toward the wooden hut.
Of course, if a random person walked through here and saw Tang En’s “Genius Creation”, there would be no way for them to think it was a wooden hut. Because the strange architecture on this tree branch was less like a hut and more like a barrel. The kind of barrel that seriously challenges one’s imagination.
Once a good treasure has been created, of course one must find a professional to evaluate it.
Tang En head inside the a.s.sa.s.sin s.p.a.ce, only to see the butler staring at his “genius workmans.h.i.+p” through a bright screen made of light.
“How is it? Not bad right?” Tang En looked extremely excited.
Housekeeper nodded: “Hmm, it has special.. artistic merits.”
“Ho, really? I only casually made it, it’s entirely by chance, ha ha…”
The butler softly complained, “This is absolutely made by chance, this kind of post modern abstract artwork cannot be created by ordinary humans.”
Even though the wooden hut had a “powerful” outside appearance, the butler can somewhat accept it based on its practicality. As long as they don’t run into really bad weather, this wooden hut can be relied upon.
Next, after failing several times, Tang En succeeded in combining several flexible wood with some strong and tough tree vines into a simple crossbow.
Well, it was the crudest of simple crossbows. The notches on both sides didn’t match, the strings were uneven, the distribution of strength was scattered, and it was entirely powered by hand with no mechanism common in crossbows. From the practical point of view, it was almost a total failure, from the aesthetic point of view, the entire object wrapped in green vines must’ve been a joke. But no matter how ugly it was, it could shoot slingshot bolts.
Looking at the simple crossbow, Tang En thought that it’s weaknesses is overshadowed by its core function.
The Housekeeper thought that this item was perfect for close combat.
If described in a word, the old butler’s opinions are one of an experienced professional. Even though this small crossbow looked appalling, its usage was… well, also extremely appalling, but one cannot deny that after being tutored by him, the killing force behind this simple tool was guaranteed. Combining it with sharpened bolts, within three to five steps it can pierce through even protective armor.
Three to five steps? Didn’t you see the old butler’s judgement? This is definitely a melee weapon. Outside of five steps, this crossbow was probably useless.
Even though crossbows can reasonably be counted as a close distance weapon, its accuracy would usually drop from fifty to a hundred steps instead of five. Tang En did his best in a short amount of time to create this small weapon that transformed a long distanced weapon to a melee weapon, and maybe this can be counted as some sort of pioneering work.
Successfully making the small crossbow, he immediately wanted to go test it. No matter what, his dinner still hasn’t been a.s.sured. The rye bread given to him by Father York could be considered to be lunch, but Tang En had digested it long ago.
Because this was the first time he went hunting, Tang En was very excited. Hundred of metres inside the forest, he finally found a brightly colored pheasant. This pheasant was looking for food, occasionally it was digging the ground and grinding up whatever prey it found.
After Tang En approached it within fifty steps, the pheasant became cautious and started to observe its surrounding. Tang En hid and covered himself, sneakily putting the crossbow in front of himself.
But before Tang En can even take aim, the pheasant flapped its wings and fluttered away, disappearing from his sight in an instant.
“d.a.m.nit!” Tang En punched the ground in frustration. I haven’t even finished preparing and you already fled…
Starting off on the wrong foot! But Tang En was not willing to give up yet. He continued his hunt.
This new world’s environment is really quite lovely, the air is fresh, the wildlife lively. While heading deeper inside the forest, Tang En discovered no small amount of prey, wild pheasant, wild hares, even plenty of wood rats.
But their survival instincts were too powerful, none of them waited for Tang En to approach before scurrying away. An hour later, he still hasn’t made a single shot.
d.a.m.nit! Tang En was growing angrier, making it even harder to conceal his presence. While dozens of metres away, he just randomly took aim and shot.
Woosh, woosh…
The power behind the bolts were not small, each time he shot out the wind releases a piercing cry.
But the accuracy… Wherever he aimed, the crossbow releases a powerful bolt that is always off. As Tang En gradually learnt to adapt, he tried to aim off target hoping to catch the targets, but the bolts just end up even more off-course.
Cuckooo, rustle rustle…
The pheasants flew while the rabbits jumped, this entire section of the jungle became pandemonium due to Tang En’s incompetence. Lots of bolts were shot, but not a single success. There were some bolts he couldn’t even retrieve to reuse.