Mercenaries and Adventurers

Zhao Ji came to the entrance of the cave in the mid-air of the ruins. He used his height to roughly measure how far the entrance of the cave was from the bottom he was stepping on now.

Silently calculated, it was about four meters. This height has surpassed the simple ladder he made last night. "Bah." Zhao Ji scratched his head, feeling that everything was really not going well. So he had to lengthen the ladder by one section.

Zhao Ji had a flash of inspiration, and he suddenly thought that he didn't really need to lengthen the ladder. After all, the simple wooden ladder would definitely be unsafe if it was lengthened, and he didn't feel comfortable using it. In fact, he can increase the height of the ground he is standing on now, just add more than one meter, and then add the height of the ladder, so that he can easily climb up to the entrance of the ruins in midair.

In fact, Zhao Ji can also fall from the top of the hole in the ruins with a rope, but Zhao Ji feels a little unsafe in that way. If something happens in the ruins, there is no flat ground at the bottom of the cave to buffer him, and he may not have time to have space React and maneuver.

Returning to the camp again, Zhao Ji thought about what he should use as a support for the ladder.

Look around, trees in the woods? Not very good, those trees are hard to support the ladder and its weight firmly.

Rocks on the hills? It was so heavy that he could push the stones himself, but he couldn't get them up the stump.

A cart borrowed from the village? It's okay in terms of weight, but it's not stable. It can only lean against the wall obliquely. Two legs and a wooden wheel can't support his weight stably.

A wooden box for armor? This box is quite strong, but it is too small, less than half a meter high, so it is useless.

Zhao Ji walked around the campsite, worrying about the countermeasures. If it really doesn’t work, should he just fall down with a rope from the top of the hole in the ruins?

That was the last resort.

Zhao Ji stomped on the ground of the camp in annoyance. Looking at the footprints, he realized that the soil around the camp was relatively soft.

He seemed to be able to use the soil to create a ladder-raised platform mound.

Zhao Ji thought about it for a while, and felt that he could still try it.

He took out the armor parts from the armor box in the camp and put them in the sleeping place. Then I carried the empty wooden box to the place where the soil layer was the thickest and most convenient for digging. I took out an iron metal short-handled shovel bought from a grocery store in Kendall City, and vigorously shoveled the soil from the ground into the wooden box.

Because Zhao Ji had been baptized by the Harvest Festival ceremony of the Saturnalia Church, he was physically strong when digging, so he shoveled a box full of soil in three shovels.

Holding a box of soil, Zhao Ji came to the outside of the tree stump with relics, tied the rope for climbing up and down to the wooden box, and then he climbed up the tree stump along the rope.

After coming up, Zhao Ji grabbed the rope with both hands and pulled up the wooden box containing a box of soil. Because the box was not big, it didn't hold too much soil, so although it was a bit heavy, Zhao Ji still pulled the box up with a grunt.

Untying the rope tied to the box, Zhao Ji hugged the box and carefully walked half a circle along the side road on the top of the tree stump to the top of the entrance of the ruins.

Opening the box, Zhao Ji poured the full box of soil down.

After pouring, Zhao Ji returned to the upper and lower ropes, held the empty wooden box in one hand, and grabbed the rope with the other, and moved himself down bit by bit with both feet, and soon came to the ground.

In this way, Zhao Ji repeated the process of digging, climbing, dumping, and climbing down. A total of more than 20 days of back and forth lay down, and he didn't stop until he felt that it was all right. But more than twenty lay down, and his day's time passed again.

Zhao Ji sat by the campfire, sipping water. He's tired of eating bread and dried pickled radish for the past two days, so he must eat something better tomorrow. At least you have to eat enough to recover the physical strength you have spent in the past two days.

Thinking of this, Zhao Ji went to sleep after practicing the use of weapons after wearing armor for a while.

------------

It was another new day at the tree root camp. After waking up, Zhao Ji looked at the thin fog outside the camp and the dark sky above his head, and couldn't help but swear.

Today he was planning to go out in the morning to find a nearby water source, buy some small animals and big teeth, and find a way to replenish drinking water by the way.

But this morning it was foggy and cloudy again. Maybe it will rain at any time, but the snow will not fall, and the temperature here has not yet reached that level. It was cold, but above freezing.

After scolding, Zhao Ji still packed up, picked up the empty backpack, packed some tools that might be used when going out, and set off.

The nearest water source in the woods is not far from here, only two hills away. Zhao Ji strolled past singing and singing.

The forest is not big, and the water source inside is the one that Zhao Ji judged should be fine. Other water sources are either cloudy or there are no animals going there to drink.

There is no water source for animals to drink, and Zhao Ji dare not go to fetch water. He does not feel that he knows the surrounding situation better than the animals who have lived in the wilderness for generations. If they don't drink water, there must be a reason for not drinking it. Zhao Ji guessed that most of the water quality was a problem, or there were predatory beasts guarding it.

Although Zhao Ji is not afraid of any ferocious beasts, he doesn't have the heart to hunt any animals now. He wants to explore the ancient elf ruins with all his heart.

Although he didn't know what was inside the ruins, at least the reflection of the large piece of silver at the door proved that even if he just pried the silver off, the exploration of the ruins would not be a loss, but a big profit. Worthy of all the monsters he's worked so hard to hunt.

With such a great thing in front of him, he has no other thoughts now.

There are many traces of animals in this water source, and many animals around like to come here to drink water. Therefore, Zhao Ji approached the water source in the forest carefully and covertly.

Sure enough, early in the morning, a group of wild boars, large and small, were drinking water and digging mud in the middle of the forest, or turning over the humus accumulated in various fallen leaves, looking for insect larvae buried dormant below.

Zhao Ji observed it secretly, and thought it would be better to get water first, because so many wild boars should not be afraid of him, a human being.

Sure enough, when Zhao Ji came out from his hiding place, only a few big wild boars kept an eye on Zhao Ji, but they didn't take any other actions, probably because they judged the two parties. Judgment made after the amount.

Zhao Ji did not approach any wild boars, and made a big circle to the opposite side of the water source. There is a water source away from the wild boars here, and now the big wild boars are relieved, they no longer keep an eye on the humans, and just call back the scattered cubs.

Zhao Ji saw that the wild boar was no longer hostile to him, so he got water first. The water source here can be directly drunk by animals, which does not mean that he, a human being, can drink it directly. After all, it is a natural water source in the wild environment. Unless it is flowing river water or mountain spring water, the water source of this type of pond in front of you cannot be directly drunk.

Zhao Ji first dug a half-meter-deep pit beside the water source. The pit was very close to the water source, with only a short distance of ten centimeters between the two.

The dug water source quickly seeped a lot of water from the next door, and the drops of water that seeped out bit by bit gathered together at the bottom. After simple filtration of the soil, the water in this pit is obviously much cleaner than the water in the pond next door. After all, there are fewer leaves and other debris mixed in the water, and the puddle made by Zhao Ji can be much cleaner. .

Zhao Ji just waited for the water in the puddle to rise and settle naturally. He didn't just wait, he rubbed his chin, thinking about how to catch a little wild boar to eat.

He doesn't plan to catch the big wild boar. It's not that he can't, but he doesn't want to. After all, although the weather can be colder, he can't finish eating a big wild boar weighing two hundred catties. Instead of letting the wild boar that can't be eaten naturally Corruption, he might as well hunt and eat one small piglet at a time.

After a while, Zhao Ji saw that the water in the dug puddle no longer rose, and the water inside was no longer muddy, but very clean and transparent. He took out the empty water bottles in his backpack and opened them, carefully filling them up one by one.

Strictly speaking, the water obtained in this way is actually not very safe, but Zhao Ji has no way to do more filtration. His conditions are like this. He can only wait until he returns to Kendall City and save it in the Get the sixth-class security badge from Jamura, and try healing for yourself.

After filling the water, Zhao Ji saw some insect larvae crawling out of the scattered soil in the soil he just dug up. Zhao Ji caught them one by one and wrapped them in his hands.

Carefully hiding his figure, he came to a place very close to the herd of wild boars. Seeing that the human Zhao Ji disappeared by himself, those wild boars relaxed their vigilance casually, and the little pigs were free to move around again.

Zhao Ji restrained himself, and when the herd of wild boars scattered in front of him, Zhao Ji carefully threw a round white beetle larva in front of a small wild boar not far away.

When the little wild boar saw a writhing delicious beetle larva suddenly fall in front of him, he immediately took two quick steps with his little hooves, and rolled the writhing beetle larva into his mouth with his tongue.

After chewing a few times, it found another delicious insect larva appeared in front of it. As before, it took a few steps forward and ate it.

Found another one, walked a few steps forward, and ate it.

Then, after it was temporarily out of the sight of the big wild boar, Zhao Ji threw a handful of bug larvae in front of him, and he hid on a two-meter-high branch of the tree.

That little wild boar didn't know how to look up, it only saw a lot of delicious worms suddenly appearing in front of it, and ignored the rules of the elders not to leave the pigs too far, it ran up and licked the fleeing insects with its head down. insect.

Zhao Ji quietly pulled out the long sword at his waist, aimed the tip of the sword at the middle of the little wild boar's skull, and fell from the tree.

There was no animal screaming before death, Zhao Ji's sword directly killed it, and there was no other movement except the piercing sound of the blade passing through the animal's body tissue.

Zhao Ji kept his movements unchanged, trying not to make a sound, and waited until the wild boar under the sword stopped twitching his four hooves, and then he drew out his long sword.

Use some fallen leaves on the ground to plug the wound that runs through the head of the wild boar. Zhao Ji carefully packed the small wild boar into his backpack.

It was so heavy, even though it was just a little wild boar, it weighed at least 20 kilograms. Zhao Ji was afraid of being spotted and chased by the big wild boar at any time, so he left the scene quietly immediately.

-------------

After leaving the woods, Zhao Ji immediately ran wildly. After running across two hills and returning to the hill where the ancient elf ruins were, Zhao Ji slowed down.

Returning to the camp, Zhao Ji excitedly took out the greedy little wild boar that had been hunted. Because he was afraid of parasites on some wild animals, Zhao Ji only kept the good meat of this little wild boar, and buried other internal organs and inconvenient bones in the soil.

Of course, the thigh bones and ribs were left over. Zhao Ji sprinkled the cut meat strips with simple seasoning bought from the tavern, and sprinkled a little salt, and then started roasting these meat strips on the campfire.

He didn't bled the wild boar, so the taste of these roasts is not really good, it can only be said to be barely good. In this kind of wild environment, raw meat may go bad within two days, but it can be preserved for a longer period of time by relying on roasting to remove excess moisture in the meat.

Zhao Ji put these barbecued meats into the wooden box where the bread was originally stored. As for the thigh bones and ribs, Zhao Ji grilled them and ate them directly.

The thigh bones were saved for the afternoon, and the ribs were eaten at that time.

Zhao Ji's craftsmanship is average, and the way he handles food materials is also problematic, so the ribs he baked can only be said to be barely cooked enough to eat. All the seasonings are used for the meat strips, and only some salt is left to enhance the flavor of this rib.

After a full meal, Zhao Ji rubbed the grease off his hands. Pick up the tools, pick up the wooden ladder, and start working.

As before, first tie the wooden ladder to the rope, then Zhao Ji went up by the rope, and then pulled the wooden ladder up.

Come to the same side, and then just tie the wooden ladder to the rope that enters the tree hole, let it go down, Zhao Ji climbed down, and untied the rope.

In this way, the wooden ladder is transported from the outside of the stump into the inner tree hole of the stump.

The smell of bat feces underneath was still very bad. Zhao Ji just ate the food and almost vomited it out. Fortunately, he held back, otherwise his breakfast would have been for nothing.

There is a lot of soil under the entrance of the ruins, which is the soil that Zhao Ji fell down little by little. He used a shovel to gather the scattered soil together, then slapped it with the shovel, stepped on it with his feet, and made the soil pile much tighter.

As expected by Zhao Ji, the final mound of soil was more than one meter high, and after being trampled and beaten, it was relatively strong. At least Zhao Ji had no problem standing on it and jumping. Then erect the wooden ladder on the mound.

The top of the wooden ladder is just about the same size as the entrance of the ruins.

Zhao Ji was very satisfied, and immediately returned to the camp. He packed all kinds of supplies in his backpack and began to wear armor on his body. All weapons are also worn on the body.

This time, he can finally start exploring the ancient elf ruins.