Chapter 143: Promoting the Territory

The beast tendons here were collected when she dismantled the Black-striped Tiger. She only managed to gather ten tendons in total, so these things aren’t exactly cheap.

The best use for fangs is to make daggers, which is why Su You used both of them up.

But beast tendons are different. Their uses go beyond just making bows, and even then, they’re only for longbows, not the light bows that Duoya prefers.

“Black-striped Tiger tendons?” Although Yun Li didn’t know what a Black-striped Tiger looked like, it was enough for her to know these were tiger tendons.

“I’m afraid this isn’t appropriate. This willow longbow is a bit too valuable.” While it definitely wasn’t as expensive as an enchanted dagger, the right buyer would still be willing to pay several gold coins for it. Even at the lowest, it wouldn’t go for less than a gold coin.

But what she was offering in return was just a few small gifts—not even worth a single gold coin, and their total value didn’t even add up to ten silver coins.

“These jerky and dried fruits—I really do like them and need them.” Although she felt awkward accepting the willow longbow, the food itself wasn’t worth much, and they really did need it.

After all, they still had a long way to go before reaching their final destination—their home.

The food she’d bought at the tavern before wasn’t exactly a small amount, but most of it had a short shelf life. As for jerky and dried fruit, which last much longer, Su You hadn’t made much since it wasn’t cost-effective, so Yun Li hadn’t been able to buy much either.

With a dozen or so people, the roasted meat and berries would last only a few days at most. Once they finished those, they’d be stuck eating those dry, tasteless biscuits.

“Captain Yun, you should just accept this bow.” Su You wouldn’t just give away something so valuable for no reason. She obviously had another motive.

“Actually, I do have a favor to ask… I want to post a regional bounty, but as you know, small territories have no reputation, so no one responds to their bounties. I was hoping you could help spread the word about my territory.” By “responding to the bounty,” she meant people would see the bounty and be willing to take on the task.

Right now, there are very few ways to increase reputation. If she relied only on timed quests, who knows how long it would take… But if non-residents could help promote the territory, its reputation would grow much faster.

Of course, “much faster” doesn’t mean gaining hundreds or thousands of points a day—that’s impossible. But if things go well, even a few points of reputation increase per day would be great.

Especially since Yun Li was part of a merchant caravan… Caravans travel everywhere, so their promotional reach is even greater.

“Promote your territory? Lord Su, how exactly do you want me to do that?”

Yun Li knew about regional bounties. After all, she had friends in bounty groups who’d told her about the requirements for accepting bounties. The first and most important rule was: “The territory or individual posting the bounty must have a certain level of reputation, or we absolutely won’t accept it.”

Otherwise, there’s a high chance of wasting a trip—or even running into danger.

But when it comes to promotion, you can’t just go up to everyone you meet and start raving about some territory, urging them to check it out. That’s not real promotion.

Promotion needs a strategy. At the very least, the territory should have something worth promoting—something that attracts people.

Hearing Yun Li say this, Su You knew she’d probably agree. After all, it wasn’t a difficult task.

To be blunt, even if Yun Li agreed but didn’t actually do it, Su You would have no way of knowing—she didn’t have any way to monitor Yun Li’s actions.

“Tomorrow, a wave of dark creatures will attack the territory…”

……

……

Five minutes later, after delivering her gifts and accepting the willow longbow and food from Su You, Yun Li led her caravan away from Sunset Territory.

Once Yun Li had left, Su You sorted the items she’d received.

The box contained a mix of things, but all of them were quite good in Su You’s eyes—a few packets of seeds, some pieces of associated ore, and several small cylindrical objects about the size of a pinky knuckle.

There weren’t many items and they were a bit random, but in terms of value, they were probably worth a few silver coins.

After checking, Su You found there were four packets of seeds, but only three types.

The first was Snakevine Grass seeds, the second was Koudan seeds, and the third was Silver Dew Grass seeds. There were two packets of Silver Dew Grass, and one packet each of the other two.

Snakevine Grass is a poisonous plant that can be used to make poison in an alchemy furnace. As for what the poison can be used for, that’s pretty broad—limited only by your imagination.

The most common uses are coating weapons to poison enemies, or poisoning bait in traps to catch prey.

The second, Koudan, is an herb. Like Snakevine Grass, it’s also toxic, but there’s another herb that can neutralize Koudan’s poison, turning it into a powerful medicine.

Whether it’s made into poison or medicine depends on your needs.

The third, Silver Dew Grass, is special. It’s not an herb or a crop, and it’s non-toxic and tasteless—can be eaten directly. Its main effect is to remove the “Heatstroke” debuff and grant a “Cool” anti-heatstroke buff.

Among the many natural disasters, “extreme heat” is one of them. Silver Dew Grass is an important resource for resisting this disaster.

Although encountering extreme heat is probably something for much later, having these resources in advance is definitely a good thing—saves you from scrambling to collect them later.

……

Aside from these three plants, the pieces of associated ore—which look almost indistinguishable from regular stones—can be used to craft equipment materials later. But since there aren’t any craftsmen who can work with ore right now, Su You just put them away for now.

As for those little cylindrical objects, they were quite interesting—their name was “Ultra-Mini Bombs.”

Though called bombs, they’re basically like poppers—attack power is basically zero. Their main use is to make a loud bang when thrown, attracting or scaring off creatures (especially timid ones).

Looking at these little poppers, Su You couldn’t help but think of the monster spawner she’d have to deal with in a couple of days. If she could use them to gather up the ghostly skeletons…

(End of Chapter)"

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