Chapter 149: The Working Eagle

Yun Qing shifted her gaze to the large eagle beside her. At this moment, the eagle's eyes were fixed intently on the roasted small silverfish and wouldn’t look away. If eyes could eat, the silverfish would have long since been devoured.

As the silverfish were about to burn, Yun Qing removed them from the fire. She was contemplating whether to scrape off a layer of cooked meat and continue roasting when the little black-feathered eagle had already pecked at her roasting stick.

Having eaten a half-raw fish, the little black-feathered eagle found the taste far better than eating the silverfish raw. After having quite a bit of roasted fish, it had gained some understanding of the difference between raw and cooked.

With a serious tone, it said, “This fish doesn’t taste quite right.”

“Ah, well!” She had no intention of feeding the half-raw fish to the large eagle; only the eagle could eat without even blinking at such food.

Scratching the short hair tied at the back of her neck, she said, “My charcoal is ordinary; the fire isn’t strong enough. Roasting small silverfish requires better charcoal to achieve a crispy outside and tender inside.”

Whether that was true or not, she wasn’t sure—she had neither roasted fish before nor seen the process—but one thing was certain: the fire just wasn’t adequate.

The little black-feathered eagle, already familiar with the concept of charcoal—seeing the faintly glowing embers in front of the cook—agreed that the firepower was indeed insufficient. Flying a bit farther away, it said, “Then prepare better charcoal before roasting the silverfish again!”

“All right, I’ll go chop wood first, then come back to fish.”

“Go ahead!”

The place was deep in the forest, rich with spiritual energy. Not far from the pond, there were many trees.

Most required a gathering skill above level 40 to harvest. Yun Qing chose a relatively small tree requiring level 41 gathering skill. She took out the refined iron axe from her backpack, infused it with spiritual power, and swung at the tree. The axe, imbued with spiritual energy, made cutting a level 41 tree much easier than before.

However, in her mind’s eye, every strike reduced the tree’s health by one point, but the tree’s strength rebounded against her spiritual pressure, causing the axe’s durability to drop slightly. After chopping just one or two trees, the axe would likely break.

Yun Qing continued chopping the level 41 tree with her gathering skill, strike after strike. She thought she looked impressive and fast, but in the little black-feathered eagle’s eyes, it was painfully slow. How long would it take to get roasted silverfish?

“I’ll do it!” With a shout, the little black-feathered eagle flew over to Yun Qing.

The idea of the little black-feathered eagle chopping trees? Yun Qing quickly stopped her swing and stepped aside, “Thank you, great eagle.”

With a swipe of its claw, the tree that Yun Qing had struck ten or so times was broken by the eagle’s single claw.

Yun Qing’s eyes brightened. Although she wouldn’t gain gathering experience from the eagle’s work, she could still get the wood!

Pointing at the fallen tree, she explained the system’s wood requirements, “Thank you, great eagle. The wood needs to be processed like this to make charcoal.”

Without a word, the little black-feathered eagle raised its claw, and in a single breath, the freshly chopped tree was divided into three sections of timber and several branches.

“Great eagle, how about you chop trees while I make charcoal? That way, we can get more roasted silverfish faster.”

The eagle nodded. “I’ve learned to chop trees; it’s easy. But I don’t know how to make charcoal.”

“This is my territory; you can’t chop all the trees. At most a hundred. How many do you need to make charcoal? If you want more, I’ll go chop in the vulture’s territory.”

Yun Qing’s mouth opened slightly in surprise. The eagle was smart—chopping too many trees could cause natural disasters or attract enemies. And it even suggested going to another’s territory. That eagle was quite mischievous.

A hundred high-level trees for charcoal—her simple wooden cabinet couldn’t even hold that much.

Besides making charcoal, the wood could be used to expand her villa, build various houses, and craft furniture. Naturally, the more, the better.

But being greedy wasn’t good—if the charcoal made from all that wood couldn’t roast the silverfish properly, it would only prolong her time raising the eagle.

“Let’s chop ten trees today and then go fishing.”

“Alright!”

Amid Yun Qing’s amazement, the little black-feathered eagle chopped down ten trees in just a minute and processed them according to her requirements.

Yun Qing noticed that the eagle was selective about the trees it felled near its territory—only the level 41 or 42 trees were cut, leaving the higher-level ones untouched. Whether the higher-level trees were harder to chop or simply reserved was unclear.

For her, trees requiring level 41 gathering skill were already quite manageable.

Joyfully, she followed the eagle, storing everything into the system’s backpack. The wood could be used to refine spirit wood charcoal, and the branches could be converted into energy. The more she collected, the happier she felt—her mighty eagle had become her hardworking assistant.

“Liuliu, what do you think of my pet eagle?”

Liuliu rolled her eyes, “You just blamed me earlier for not warning it that this was an enemy.”

“Then you pick up the wood for me.”

“It’s not monster drops from your kills—I can’t pick them up.”

“You’re so lazy!”

Liuliu didn’t reply nor stay close anymore, instead lying on the ground and pulling out a piece of meat from her bag to eat.

The large eagle was diligent and adorable, working fast and well just for a bite to eat.

“I’m going to make charcoal now.” After quickly organizing the ten trees and branches, Yun Qing called to the eagle and entered her cave dwelling.

Back in the tree, the little black-feathered eagle wanted to secretly observe how the cook made charcoal but found it impossible to see. As before, the cook’s presence vanished completely.

Inside the cave, Yun Qing first converted the energy from mosquito nutrient liquid and then put all the gathered branches and leaves into the energy converter.

Using the intermediate-level crafting machine, she made two spirit wood charcoals from the spirit wood.

Leaving the cave, Yun Qing approached the pond and chose a higher-level aquatic plant, molding it into a bait ball infused with her spiritual power.

Crafting experience +41;

Obtained Spirit Grass Fish Bait ×1;

Spirit Grass Fish Bait: A grass-based fish bait infused with spiritual power, emitting an enticing scent that attracts most fish.

Her spiritual power was limited, enough to make only four or five baits for now. Currently, leveling up required 80,000 crafting experience, so relying solely on spiritual power to make fish bait was unfeasible.

After making four Spirit Grass Fish Baits, she lacked the power to make another, and four small silverfish weren’t enough for the little black-feathered eagle to eat.

The eagle wasn’t hungry yet, so Yun Qing said, “Great eagle, my spiritual power is low. I’ll cultivate to replenish it and then make more Spirit Grass Fish Baits. That way, we can catch more fish at once.”

The eagle watched the bait-making process. Clearly, its claws weren’t as nimble as human hands, but with mental control alone, it wasn’t impossible for it to do the work.

However, it was brought here to catch silverfish, so why should it help the cook make bait?

“Got it!”

After a whole week, Yun Qing’s spiritual power was fully restored. Having made five Spirit Grass Fish Baits, she cultivated again, repeating the cycle until the sun was about to set. In total, she had 34 Spirit Grass Fish Baits.

It was time to fish; otherwise, she would have no dinner before dark.

Thinking of the strength of the level 40 fishing and the small silverfish, Yun Qing felt her hands ache.

“Great eagle, I’m ready to fish. I might need your help.”

For fishing, she could rely on her hardworking eagle.