The Cornflower Witch Chapter 162

The next day, after lunch.

Everyone was too lazy to get up and eat in the morning, only gathering again at noon.

The captain, Rodriguez, also known as ‘Bad Apple’, sat at the table with his hands clasped together, one leg crossed and his toes wiggling, waiting for the others to be seated.

When Yann Karl finally arrived and sat down, he snapped his fingers, drawing everyone’s attention.

“Excellent, it’s time for the wonderful moment of tallying our gains again,” he said, scanning everyone with a satisfied nod.

“We had a very fruitful harvest this time, probably twice as much as usual.”

“We should thank our new member, Hylial!” he said, applauding, and the others followed suit, looking at the somewhat shy black-haired girl.

“Hehe, I’ll make something delicious for Lia tonight,” Bona nudged her with her arm.

“Mm-hmm,” the girl replied softly.

Then, ‘Bad Apple’, holding something like an account book, began to introduce and tally the items one by one.

‘Strange Antlers’ ‘Color-Changing Deer Hide’ ‘Deer Blood’

“First, the special fruits and plants we picked along the way,” he said, opening a basket on the table, which was neatly filled with colorful fruits, quite pleasing to the eye.

3 ‘Morning Dew Pomelos’, each worth 3 Gold Coins, totaling 9 Gold Coins.

41 ‘Ring-Colored Mushroom’, each 20 Silver Coins, totaling 8.2 Gold Coins.

2 ‘Ash-Wrought Fruit’, each 20 Gold Coins, totaling 40 Gold Coins.

23 ‘Fresh Blood Red Fruit’, excellent quality, each 3 Gold Coins, totaling 69 Gold Coins.

4 ‘Tide Moon Grass’, each 1 Gold Coin, totaling 4 Gold Coins.

“Next are the hunting gains.”

‘Twisted Horn Deer’, can be used for alchemy, worth 3 Gold Coins.

‘Color-Changing Deer Hide’, can be used to make color-changing cloaks, worth 6 Gold Coins.

‘Deer Blood’, can be used to make blood wine, worth 1 Gold Coin.

4 ‘Poisonous Snake Gallbladder’, can be used for medicine, each 1 Gold Coin, totaling 4 Gold Coins.

25 ‘Shadow Owl Feather’, each 30 Silver Coins, totaling 7.5 Gold Coins.

1 ‘Vampire Snake Fang (Tier 2 Bloodline)’, worth 16 Gold Coins.

‘Snake Scale Skin (Excellent)’ 16 meters, worth 30 Gold Coins.

5 ‘Ghost White Bone’, each 2 Gold Coins, totaling 10 Gold Coins.

“Then other gains.”

4 ‘Rock Dew Stone’, each 50 Silver Coins, totaling 2 Gold Coins.

3 ‘Black Death Bird Egg’, each 3 Gold Coins, totaling 9 Gold Coins.

“The total of the last three items is 218.7 Gold Coins!” Bad Apple finished tallying, his voice high and excited.

“Even after deducting various expenses, the final harvest is over 150 Gold Coins.”

Ah, can expenses be reimbursed? Hylial thought belatedly.

Then came the tally of each member’s adventure expenses, such as Yann’s repair of damaged armor and shields, Karl’s replenishment of various powders and raw materials, Bona’s used spices and ingredients, Hylial’s seeds used in the adventure, and the depreciation of the compound bow.

Looking at the 15 Gold Coins reimbursed for her expenses, Hylial lightly fiddled with them, lamenting that having a team was indeed very good, even in her previous life, many expenses were not reimbursed as easily and smoothly.

“Finally, after deducting 57.3 Gold Coins for reimbursements, each person can get about 32 Gold Coins.”

The captain divided the remaining harvest among the five team members, and in the end, Hylial received 47 Gold Coins.

From departure to return, exactly one week, 47 Gold Coins. Some普通Tier 2 students would receive only 30-40 Gold Coins as supplies for completing a year’s worth of tasks. No wonder everyone was so enthusiastic about secret realm exploration. Hylial recalled that the ‘excellent’ quality wheat she sold earlier, totaling 8000 Jin, even at the market price of 3 Silver Coins per Jin, was worth 240 Gold Coins. It took her three months to grow, which averaged only 20 Gold Coins per week.

However, growing wheat was indeed stable, not as dangerous as adventuring, and could be continuous. Combining this with what she had seen in the Woodland over the past six months, she came up with this general formula:

Elite students producing +3 quality > Students with abundant adventure gains > Excellent students producing +2 quality > Students with mediocre adventure gains > Ordinary students completing tasks

(Growing good quality wheat is +1, excellent is +2, ‘excellent’ is +3, rare is +4, and perfect is +5)

As for her, she could probably be considered a rare student producing +5 quality at the moment. She basically had no shortage of money at this stage, and another benefit of adventuring slowly became apparent: obtaining rare resources that were difficult to buy on the market or from the association.

For example, the ‘Ash-Wrought Fruit’ that Karl needed. Such items were produced very rarely, and waiting for someone to put them up for sale on the market could take a long time. Since he desperately needed them, the only option was to rely on a reliable team to search for them in secret realms with clues, hoping for luck.

After the distribution, Hylial thought for a moment, then took out the newly received gold coins, and exchanged 9 gold coins for 3 ‘Morning Dew Pomelos’ from the harvest.

“Does Lia want to take them back to plant and cultivate?” Since she was a Gardener, the others quickly thought of this.

“Yes.”

[Morning Dew Pomelo] (Tier 1 Emerald Honey): A fruit containing sweet juice, it can effectively replenish water, and can also be used to make fruit tea, paired with other teas, to restore spiritual power.

“Although some Gardeners have successfully cultivated them, many plants and fruits from secret realms are born under the combined influence of various environmental factors. If planted outside, they may not yield usable fruits,” other team members reminded her.

“I know, but I’ll try anyway.” It was no longer meaningful for her to continue cultivating wheat, so she might as well use other plants for practice.

Then, the captain wrapped the three light yellow fruits in a paper bag and handed them to her, which Hylial accepted.

After that, everyone discussed their future plans.

“After this adventure, it will probably take two weeks of recuperation to remove the twisted erosion,” ‘Bad Apple’ said, leaning back in his chair with his head resting on his hands.

“I’m going to repair my equipment and then continue to advance my skills for the Greatsword Wielder class,” Yann replied.

“I got the fruit, and it’s time to help Black Cat advance,” Karl said, tapping his finger on the table.

“I plan to use that snake fang to forge a decent weapon, which will probably take some time,” Captain Bad Apple said.

Bona looked at the others, hesitated for a few seconds, and then said what she had discussed with Hylial earlier.

“I won’t be participating next time.”

“Before, everyone had just reached Tier 2, and the secret realms we chose weren’t too difficult. But if we continue, the places will definitely become more dangerous. If I keep following, I’ll just be dragging you down.”

“This…”

The others exchanged glances, not knowing how to comfort her, because what Bona said was indeed true. During this adventure, they had all been nervous, but it hadn’t reached the point of abandoning Bona. However, Bona herself had noticed early and brought up the issue.

“From now on, I’ll prepare supplies for you all from the rear. Just remember to come to my place for dinner whenever you return!” Bona broke the gloomy atmosphere with a smile.

“Originally, I’m a chef, that’s my real job.”

“Then Bona, remember to give us a discount in the future!” Bad Apple spoke first, breaking the silence of the others with a laugh.

Then, amidst a burst of cheers and laughter, Bona’s decision to leave the team was slowly accepted.

Even though everyone was reluctant, considering the journey ahead, this arrangement was indeed the best. Otherwise, if an accident were to happen during an adventure in the future, facing injury or death at that time would only cause a greater emotional blow to everyone.

“Alright, it’s not like we’ll never see each other again.” Bona shook her head, actively comforting the others.

Finally, she turned her gaze to the black-haired girl beside her.

“Lia, you happen to have some free time next, why don’t you learn some cooking skills from me? I see you’re very interested.”

“This, then I’ll trouble Sister Bona for your guidance,” the girl replied with a soft, slightly shy voice.

“No problem, Little Lia, you can just take my place in the team from now on.” Bona hugged her tightly, holding the girl close.

After a long while, she reluctantly let go.

“But you’re not like me after all. You don’t have to prepare food for them every day like I did. Just feed them dry rations during adventures and occasionally make a good meal for them.”