Chapter 150: Lending a Fingernail for Use

Finally starting to work, the little black feathered eagle did not reply. Instead, it flew to the edge of the pool, waiting to help Yun Qing pull the line.

Yun Qing took out the tied spider-silk fishing hook, put on the bait, put on thick gloves, tied the spider silk to her hand, and cast the bait into the pool.

She concentrated her spiritual consciousness on a single point. Under good conditions, she could observe about fifty meters away. Probing into the water encountered resistance, but by focusing on a single line, she could perceive objects twenty meters deep.

Her spider silk was not cast that far, and fearing that her spiritual consciousness might disturb the fish in the water, she chose not to use it for perception.

To her surprise, just a breath after casting the bait, she felt something bite the hook.

However, contrary to her expectations, the creature that took the bait did not struggle violently.

Perhaps it was just an unranked fish, or perhaps her spiritual herb bait had intoxicated the biting fish.

No matter what it was, pulling it out would reveal the answer. Yun Qing exerted force with her right hand, effortlessly pulling the fish and the hook out of the water.

[Little Silver Fish, Level 43]
[Gathering Experience +100]
[Obtained: Little Silver Fish x1]

It was a level-43 little silver fish. As expected, it was because the bait was of high grade and the little silver fish hadn't struggled. Yun Qing tossed it aside.

She walked forward, grabbed the little silver fish with her hand, and removed the hook from its mouth.

The little silver fish in her hand showed no resistance at all. If she couldn't see its health bar, Yun Qing would have thought it was already dead.

As she removed the hook, Yun Qing was filled with doubt. How strange; the bait didn't contain any tranquilizer, so why was this fish acting like it had been knocked out? Nor was it a fish whose brain had been muddled by dark poison.

[-20]
[Combat Experience +20]

Just as the hook was removed, perhaps scratched by it, the little silver fish instantly snapped to attention. The little silver fish, which had felt like a dead fish in her hand, began to struggle fiercely. With its sleek and petite body, it slipped right out of Yun Qing's grasp.

Yun Qing was startled and hurriedly reached to catch it. The pool was right beside them, and a fish that was already in hand must not be lost after fishing!

Before she had even squatted down, she saw the little silver fish that had just escaped from her palm being firmly stepped on by a large black claw on the grass by the pool.

In her mind, the arrogant voice of the little black feathered eagle rang out: "In critical moments, you still have to rely on me."

Originally, it had intended to use its beak, but using its beak ran the risk of accidentally swallowing the fish whole. Since it wanted to eat grilled fish, it had no choice but to reluctantly lift a foot and pin it down.

Suppressed by the little black feathered eagle's claws and spiritual consciousness, the little silver fish was completely unable to move.

"The big eagle is amazing!" To contend for combat experience, she couldn't let the little black feathered eagle kill it. Dealing with a cooperative foodie wasn't difficult, so Yun Qing said, "Big eagle, if you want the little silver fish to taste even better, you need to take out its internal organs."

While speaking, Yun Qing took out her dagger and walked toward the little black feathered eagle.

The little silver fish was already tiny, and taking out its internal organs would leave even less to eat. The little black feathered eagle said, "Its internal organs are edible too."

"Its internal organs contain its waste, so they don't taste as good." Yun Qing, having walked up to the pinned little silver fish, looked at her dagger—which couldn't withstand spiritual power many more times—and then looked at the little black feathered eagle's claws. It would be even better if she could use its claws to help gut the fish.

Thinking about how many internal organs of little silver fish she had eaten in the past, the little black feathered eagle retorted, "It grew up eating aquatic plants and spiritual energy as well, so those are clean too."

"The things the big eagle eats are also clean, but the big eagle wouldn't eat its own waste."

"Do as you see fit!" Yun Qing successfully nauseated the little black feathered eagle, and it decided never to eat internal organs again.

Yun Qing put away the rather ineffective dagger, held the little silver fish down with one hand, and gently touched the little black feathered eagle's claw with the other, saying, "I still need the big eagle's help with a small favor."

"How can I help?"

"Lending one of the big eagle's claws." Yun Qing grasped one of the little black feathered eagle's talons and gently swiped its sharp nail across the belly of the little silver fish. The little silver fish was thus gutted by Yun Qing.

[-120]
[Combat Experience +180]

This strike also ended the life of the little silver fish, which had been scared half to death by the little black feathered eagle.

[Obtained: Low-grade Spirit Stone x1]

Having utilized the little black feathered eagle's nail to process the little silver fish's carcass, she failed to gain crafting experience, and the next time she processed a little silver fish, it wouldn't allow for automatic gathering—mainly because the system couldn't automatically wield the big eagle's claws.

The human and the eagle continued their cooperative fishing. Yun Qing was responsible for reeling them in, while the little black feathered eagle was responsible for stepping on them and letting Yun Qing use its talon to slice open the fish bellies.

After processing five fish this way, the little black feathered eagle finally realized something. Its original intention was to capture a feeder/caretaker, not to work for the feeder. All the work should belong to the feeder, while it was only responsible for eating.

Looking at the chores it was currently performing—the little silver fish didn't necessarily need it to pin down. The fish had already been caught by the feeder; if it ran away once and then ran away a second time, it simply meant the feeder was too clumsy, and the feeder could entirely handle this job herself.

As for the other chore—using its nail to slice open the fish belly—although it didn't exert any effort and just stood there, were its talons something the feeder could just casually touch?

Looking back at the feeder's claws, what kind of useless things were those? They couldn't even cut open a fish at all.

The little black feathered eagle said, "Don't touch me. Can't you just use your fishing hook to cut open the fish?"

The fishing hook! Why hadn't she thought of that! Yun Qing said, "Big eagle, I only have one fishing hook. If it breaks, I won't be able to fish anymore. The big eagle's talons are much sharper."

"Do you not have anything else?"

Yun Qing took out a dagger and a kitchen knife and said, "Only these, but they aren't very sharp."

"What a hassle. Wait here!" The little black feathered eagle spread its wings and flew up into the sky.

Yun Qing didn't know where it went. With the big eagle gone, fishing was easy, but killing fish was hard. Since it told her to wait, she would just wait for a while.

Entering the immortal cave, the intermediate crafting machine had finished making charcoal. Fortunately, the charcoal produced was neither ordinary charcoal nor refined charcoal, but spiritual charcoal.

Yun Qing collected it, tidied the farmland briefly, and then left the cave.

Not long after she came out, she saw the big eagle flying back from the distance. When it flew directly above her, it dropped an object and said, "Use this!"

Yun Qing caught the falling object and took a look. It was a palm-sized, bloody brown claw with four toes, each bearing sharp nails two inches long.

She didn't know what kind of bird it came from, nor its rank. Judging from the patterns and colors, it didn't belong to the same species as the little black feathered eagle. Judging from the spiritual energy emanating from it, it was much weaker than the little black feathered eagle, but vastly stronger than her.

Because she needed to kill fish and the big eagle didn't want her using its own talons, it had deliberately gone out to kill a bird and fetch its claw.

Law of the jungle; the strong prey upon the weak.

Yun Qing now had a weapon for killing fish, a gift from the big eagle, so she would just use it to kill fish.

Looking back at the big eagle, it had already flown up into a tree. She guessed it wouldn't come down until it was time for grilled fish.

The little black feathered eagle not helping had its benefits as well: all the experience points would belong to Yun Qing alone.

Yun Qing used a cleansing spell to carefully remove the blood and stains from the bird's claw. This was her sharp weapon for fish-killing.

With everything prepared, she continued fishing.

At this point, she truly didn't need the big eagle's help to catch little silver fish, and she was quite willing to do these things alone. Whether it was fishing, killing, processing, or crafting, all of it would yield experience, and even the internal organs could provide her with energy.