Chen Jing threw the fishing hook into the water.

Time ticked by as he stared solemnly at the surface of the lake, gripping on his fishing rod tightly with both hands.

But to tell the truth, he was not convinced that he could fish anything.

Chen Yining silently observed at a corner. However, while he expected that this would take over ten minutes, the spot where the fishing line touched the surface of the lake abruptly stirred just after three minutes and the fishing line plunged deeper while rings of ripples extended outwards.

Something big was biting.

A huge shadow appeared just beneath the surface, and both brothers stared tightly at it, ready to bark orders to attack at any instant.

"W-What the heck is that?" Chen Jing exclaimed in shocked.

What they had managed to catch was a black-green object that resembled seaweed. However, it seemed to be alive and was aimlessly flailing its dark-green tentacles, and the worm which Chen Jing used as bait was at the center of that curious magical beast.

Their Summoner's Grimoire heated up then, and its pages flipped on their own as it revealed information about the creature.

[Species: Water Demon]

[Rank: Normal ⭐]

[Introduction: A magical beast that dwells beneath the waters, feeding on various critters and microscopic lifeforms. Low intelligence, but fueled by strong hunter's instincts.]

[Race Talent: Rebirth+1]

[Bond (Snake):]

[(1) Increase strength of constriction when bond number is higher than 6.]

[Summary: Let me coil around you… papapapa]

It was a snake?

Chen Yining frowned and looked closer at the creature then, and soon noticed something—the flailing tentacles weren't tentacles, but thin dark-green snakes!

Somehow, these snakes had gathered and formed that revolting and otherworldly creature.

On another note, the water demon struggled violently by instinct while it was still underwater. When it left the water, however, the strength with which it struggled instantly became much weaker.

It was as if it admitted defeat.

Now, the water demon was basically a fluffy object that dangled lifelessly like a just like a clump of seaweed, with water streaming down the countless tentacles and kicking ripples over the lake.

Even so, neither Chen Yining nor Chen Jing believed that the water demon was dead.

After all, their Summoner's Grimoire were not notifying them that it had been killed or had received their essence.

The only possibility, therefore, was that it was playing dead.

Trading a glance, the brothers grinned in tacit mutual understanding.

With that, Chen Jing firmly and abruptly pulled it with a loud roar!

The hooked water demon was hence pulled up to the shore. Green Skin, who had been waiting for quite a while, darted forward and slammed the pot cover it was holding onto the water demon!

Splat.

A sound that only a living creature could make could be heard, whereas the water demon was left flattened like a pancake.

But despite being struck, it still did not turn into essence.

Chen Yining promptly warned Green Skin to stay on its toes, since the water demon was not dead.

But just as he spoke, Green Skin felt as if its left leg had been pricked by a needle.

It bounced, skipping on one foot as it cried out in pain.

At the same time, the prefix (poisoned) instantly appeared on the page which showed Green Skin's status in the Summoner's Grimoire.

Meanwhile, the blazing chicken bounded forward, slashing its razor-sharp talons through the water demon and slicing it in two.

Definitely dead this time, the water demon turned into a streak of light that fused into Chen Yining's Summoner's Grimoire.

However, he was feeling heartache and frustration just then—he warned Green Skin, but the goblin was still acting carefree and got hit right after that.

Such intelligence.

Now, it limped to a tree beside the lake, sat down, and looked up at the sun over the horizon in melancholy. It could feel its entire body heating up.

"Master, I'm sorry I can't go on with you." It rubbed its cheeks, appearing utterly despondent. "I'm poisoned and would soon die."

In fact, Green Skin could feel its own body turning into jelly, and its head felt as if it was splitting. Though it had been leaning against the tree, it began slither downwards… and eventually ended up on the ground altogether.

Puzzled, Chen Yining turned to read the status on the Summoner's Grimoire.

[Species: Goblin Warrior (lightly poisoned)]

It was (poisoned) just now…

Perhaps lightly poisoned was more serious than poisoned?

That was not even funny.

Meanwhile, Green Skin had closed its eyes, holding its fingers crossed before its own chest.

Its eyebrows and eyelids were twitching endless.

At the same time, its delusions continued…

How am I not dead yet… or am I already dead… how long would it take for me to die…

But as time passed, it seemed to hear its master and the blazing chicken, who were continuing to fish water demons.

That left it feeling sore.

Unable to help itself, it turned its body because lying like that was rather uncomfortable.

Soon, its head no longer hurts and its body was no longer hot. Hence, even as it laid on its side, it sneakily opened one eye.

It then found its master petting that chicken's head!!!

Oh…

Green Skin was green with envy right then.

I was here first!

I can still fight!

It promptly got up and ran up to them.

"You're up? I thought you were going to sleep the entire day," Chen Jing said.

Green Skin's eyes widened.

Sleep? What sleep… I was clearly poisoned! How is being poisoned the same as sleeping?!

Chen Yining then said, "You're coming with me to the forest. Having them here is enough."

He was going to leave the blazing chicken near the lake to hunt and kill water demons. Of course, it would be best if they managed to lure the big one at the bottom of the lake.

That being said, the water demons did provide a generous amount of EXP—the first one alone earned Green Skin 12 EXP.

***

From Chen Yining's perspective, the importance of the three quests went in the order of two, three, and one.

The title quest naturally had the best reward. With its Golden Bloodline, the blazing chicken would have a bond bonus added along with gaining strength.

It would naturally be the best if the mysterious title could add a bond for his summoned beast.

For Quest Three, which has the second highest priority, the reward was two mysterious items, although there was no telling what items they were. But considering the mystery surrounding the bounty house, said rewards were worth looking forward to.

It was no different for two games quests that offer two mysterious treasure chest and 300 XP respectively—no one had to think about which quest they would accept.

After all, 300 XP was merely a moderate amount of EXP gained, and it could not even improve Green Skin from Level 2 to 3.

In addition, they had a steady source for EXP at the moment since they were going to kill some magical beasts anyway. As such, Chen Yining did not have high hopes for Quest Two.