Kingdom of Corrosion
Chapter 587 - 288: Hunting

Chapter 587: Chapter 288: Hunting

The NPC explained, "Such horses are naturally proud creatures that eat only the finest grass. What I mean is, it only eats good fodder and refuses to drink dirty water; otherwise, it would rather starve or die of thirst."

Lin Wu looked at Phantom with dissatisfaction and asked, "Can we change it to four stars, so it runs slower, has less explosive power, and weaker endurance? By the way, can we fix its finicky eating habits?"

The NPC shook his head, "There’s no way."

"Always making things difficult."

Then the NPC assessed Sandstorm, "A four-star steed with the advantage of good overall attributes, and it’s easy to feed. The downside is its reluctance to exert itself."

Maya asked, "What do you mean?"

The NPC said, "Suppose a horse’s energy value is 100. If its owner demands it, Phantom will keep running until its energy is drained. Once Sandstorm’s energy is depleted by 50%, it will start to slack off. If its energy decreases by 80%, it will stop working altogether, no matter how much you drag it or scold it, it just won’t move."

Lin Wu took out his handgun, "If it doesn’t move, I’ll shoot it."

Maya knocked Lin Wu’s hand away.

"Both of these are rare fine horses. As the saying goes, nature takes away from those who have too much in order to give to those who have not. Ordinary foals are unremarkable, with no great strengths or excessive flaws. A foal without its own personality will not become an excellent horse." The NPC said, "It’s fate that today you horse lovers have met. I’ll give you each a set of Horse Shoes as a token of my goodwill."

Horse Shoes: Horse equipment that increases horse’s stamina recovery by 15%.

Everyone who comes to assess their horses gets a set of ordinary Horse Shoes. If you want better Horse Shoes, you can craft them in the workshop, but the required materials are quite a lot.

Lin Wu asked the NPC, "How do you sever the riding relationship with a foal? Or the master-servant relationship? You know what I mean?" He wasn’t sure how to describe his relationship with Phantom.

The old NPC was somewhat surprised, asking, "This is a good horse, why do you want to sever your relationship with it?"

Lin Wu replied, "I don’t know where I’ll go in the future, I can’t guarantee that I can provide it with food and water it will be satisfied with, and I don’t want it to die of starvation or thirst." Water is relatively simple, you can filter and boil dirty water to make it clean. But the same cannot be said for grass; even ignoring the quality of the grass, some places might not even have grass.

The NPC nodded, "I don’t have a way to end the contract. However, I believe that if your relationship is close enough, it would be willing to give up its pride for you."

Lin Wu looked at Phantom, "Do I really have to put up with its ’horse attitude’?"

The NPC neither agreed nor disagreed, saying, "Anything is possible."

Afterward, the NPC told a story. A rich man had a dog he treated very well. This dog became so picky that it refused to eat anything but food prepared by a chef. Later, when the rich man went bankrupt, the dog still stayed by his side, even when food was scarce and all it could eat was trash, it never left its owner.

Lin Wu glanced sideways at Phantom and happened to see that Phantom was also looking at him sideways. Lin Wu immediately got angry, "What are you looking at? What’s with that look in your eyes?"

Maya couldn’t stand it any longer, "It was born looking like that, don’t be too harsh."

Lin Wu sighed, "Fine, if you starve, that’s your tough luck. Old man, are you giving away a saddle or not?"

NPC: "No."

Lin Wu drew his gun, "Are you giving it or not?"

NPC: "No." Utterly fearless.

Lin Wu, waving the gun, "We’ve made the trip here, surely you can give us something?"

Maya pulled Lin Wu away, "Let’s go." Embarrassing.

Lin Wu, "I hate dealing with ones and zeroes, no sense of fear."

"Wait a minute." Hong Yi led Chasing Wind to the NPC.

After inspecting, the NPC commented, "Not trained well, not ridden enough each day, plus no control over its diet, leading to weight gain and reduced stamina."

Lin Wu was surprised, "It needs training too?" Will it ever end?

The NPC said, "Chasing Wind is still a young horse with room to grow. Miss, if you truly want to train Chasing Wind, you must do it rigorously. I hope that in the last 20 days, it can reach a new height."

Hong Yi nodded, "Thank you, sir. Goodbye."

"Goodbye."

"Goodbye," Lin Wu said as he mounted his horse and nonchalantly tossed a piece of rabbit meat over his shoulder, "Keep it for soup."

Maya looked back and saw the rabbit meat smack right onto the NPC’s face. Seeing Lin Wu ride off without looking back, putting on a tough act, she suppressed a laugh and mounted her horse.

Maya didn’t understand before, why Lin Wu, who clearly liked Phantom, pretended not to. It was a mare, not a woman, was there really a need for that?

Thinking about it now, Lin Wu was probably planning too far ahead, maybe he thought about the farewell a year later, or maybe he considered the troubles of raising a horse. He hoped not to develop so-called friendship with Phantom so that it would be easier for him to make a decision when it came time to say goodbye or to give up.

...

Back at the base camp, Shuihua and Qinglang welcomed them, praising the two horses endlessly. They were especially attentive to Sandstorm, not only grooming it but also making a special trough for it. The reason was simple: Sandstorm wasn’t exclusive to anyone, so having a good relationship was the only way to ride it.

Lin Wu left Phantom where it was and went hunting with Wai at the location Hong Yi mentioned. No matter how lazy or tired he felt, he had to make the two saddles; otherwise, long rides would be torturous. Why not bring Phantom along? What if they encountered a pride of lions? He could handle a fight on his own. But with Phantom there, his only option would be to ride away to save their lives, and he would have to worry about the horse’s safety.

The hunting ground was four kilometers away from the base, located beside a lake shaped like a wine bottle. The grassland on both sides of the lake’s mouth served as the hunting field.

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