Chapter 148: Chapter 148: Ball of Light, Let’s Go
Faye Yardley realized that sometimes her brain just didn’t seem to work right. If her brother hadn’t mentioned it, she wouldn’t have thought of using the Invitation Cards.
Even if they couldn’t be used after landing on the island, they could just invite them onto the raft and then all go ashore together. After all, they had done it before when they docked at Port Serenia.
’Ugh, my brain!’
"You get some rest. We’ll set out early tomorrow morning."
"Oh. Got it."
After hanging up the phone with her brother, Faye Yardley sighed and slurped down the last of her milk tea.
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Early the next morning, before 7 AM, Faye Yardley received her brother’s invitation and, in the blink of an eye, arrived on his raft.
"Aren’t you going to upgrade your raft?"
Faye Yardley asked casually, her gaze already turning to the boundless grassland before them.
Ethan Yardley hadn’t expected the island to be a vast grassland, either. There wasn’t a single tall tree in sight.
The grass, however, was not only dense but also seemed to be taller than a person.
After finding a suitable spot to dock the raft, the group set foot on Island 335.
The moment they set foot on the island, they instantly felt as if they’d become thumb-sized people in a land of giants. The grass, which had looked about person-high or maybe slightly taller, now towered over them like ancient trees. Even a passing ant looked like a monster half their height.
"This is so fucked up. How did we get so small?"
"It’s not like you’re the only one who shrank. Don’t worry, you look about the same size to me as you did before."
"Oh, you’re a real wiseguy. Just wait until a mouse shows up—it’ll be the size of a prehistoric beast. Let’s see how you handle that."
But despite the banter, everyone was actually quite relaxed. They didn’t think this trip would cause them much trouble. At worst, they would just leave the island empty-handed.
To be honest, aside from going into Dungeons, they hadn’t really had their feet on solid ground like this. They could even smell the scent of fresh grass.
So, most of the group was relaxed, treating it as if they were on an island vacation.
The Yardley siblings, Faye and Ethan, were at the front. Gavin Donovan was a step behind Faye and to her left, spear in hand, ready for battle at a moment’s notice.
Soon, a little way ahead of them, what now looked like a super-sized Stingerpillar fell from a blade of grass with a loud THUD, kicking up a cloud of dust that rushed toward them.
Covering their mouths and noses was useless. Coughs intermittently broke out from within the unexpected dust storm.
After a while, the dust settled, and their vision cleared again.
Faye Yardley had never liked soft-bodied creatures. Now, one lay before her, suddenly magnified a hundred, even a thousand times. Its patterns were nauseating to look at, and the spikes covering its body like a pincushion were downright terrifying.
Gavin Donovan asked directly, "Should we kill it? It’s blocking our path. Otherwise, we’ll have to find a different route."
"We’ll run into things if we change our route, too. Besides, it’s not just our choice anymore. Look, the Stingerpillar doesn’t seem to want to let us go. We’re its target now—its food," Faye Yardley said, pointing to the Stingerpillar’s large eyes, which were fixed on them. Excitement was clearly visible in them.
Without another word, Ethan Yardley drew his Dog God Blade. He made a hand signal for the team to prepare for battle and then charged forward himself.
Faye Yardley and Gavin Donovan naturally followed right behind.
The rest of the team moved with perfect coordination. The middle group followed in an orderly fashion, while the last three members fanned out to cover the rear and flanks against any other surprises.
As it turned out, before the middle group could even rush in, the three at the front had already dispatched the enormous, and what looked to be very troublesome, Stingerpillar with incredible speed.
Faye Yardley had sliced its belly open, spilling viridian blood all over the ground, while Ethan Yardley had chopped the Stingerpillar into several pieces.
Gavin Donovan had forcefully plunged his long spear straight into the Stingerpillar’s massive eye.
The viridian blood was also corrosive, but the three of them knew how to deftly avoid it.
After they finished off the Stingerpillar, a green ball of light floated up from its corpse.
Gavin Donovan used his spear to vault onto one of the large spikes on the Stingerpillar’s head, then leaped into the air and snatched the green ball of light.
Then, everyone heard the system prompt: [Light Energy Captured +1].
"What’s this Light Energy for?" Gavin Donovan asked, perplexed, as he jumped down and handed the ball of light to Ethan Yardley.
Faye Yardley said, "Who knows? Let’s just collect it for now."
Graham Quinn came over for a look and then said, "Boss, how about we split into teams to hunt monsters? Otherwise, we’re just wasting time and manpower."
Ethan Yardley nodded. "Good idea. Graham, you and Ken take a team. Donovan, you stick with Faye. The rest of you are with me. Don’t split up too far, in case there’s an emergency and we can’t support each other."
He knew both Gavin Donovan and his sister well enough. The two of them together were more than capable of handling most problems. And for any they couldn’t solve, he was confident in their ability to escape.
No one objected. Faye Yardley and Gavin Donovan went straight past the Stingerpillar’s corpse and continued forward, while Ethan Yardley’s and Graham Quinn’s teams headed diagonally forward, one to the left and one to the right.
It wasn’t long before they all began to encounter all sorts of creatures: grasshoppers, red ants, ladybugs, katydids, and more.
Furthermore, not every insect they killed produced a complete ball of light; many only dropped fragments.
Of course, there was no shortage of flying insects either, like bees and butterflies.
Pushing aside a low thicket of ferns, they seemed to come upon a sea of flowers. From their perspective, all they could do was tilt their heads back to look up at the colorful petals high above.
Faye Yardley said, "Donovan, let’s climb up this flower stalk. The visibility is terrible down here."
"Alright."
With that, the two of them began to climb a stalk that was so thick it would take both of them to wrap their arms around it.
They climbed as if they possessed Qinggong, moving not only quickly but also with incredible lightness.
The petals were massive from their point of view. With a light leap, they grabbed the edge of a petal, then vaulted themselves up onto its surface. A gust of wind blew past, nearly sweeping them off.
They walked toward the center of the flower and climbed onto the thickest stamen, a sweet fragrance wafting into their noses.
"There’s nectar, Boss. Should we collect some?"
Faye Yardley stood and gazed into the distance. All she could see was a sea of flowers and a sea of green grass, with enormous butterflies and bees occasionally landing on the blossoms to rest.
"Good idea."
The dewdrops collected in the center of the flower had formed what looked like a small lake to them.
The experience was truly magical.
What was even more magical was that when they took out an empty Pure Water bottle to collect the dew and nectar, it only took a tiny amount to fill the entire bottle.
Faye Yardley collected a good amount of this nectar-infused dew. She had a sudden feeling that watering her Magic Seed with it might produce a wondrous effect.
’In any case, I don’t know what else there is to do here, so I might as well collect a batch of this nectar and dew first,’ she thought.
"Boss, look! In the middle of the flower sea, isn’t that a flower shimmering with golden light?"
"Where?"
"That’s strange. It was shining bright gold just a moment ago."
Faye Yardley trusted Gavin Donovan, so she said, "Just lead the way in the direction of the golden flower you saw. Let’s go check it out."
