The Giant Vein Leech was utterly enraged. Its cold eyes turned a furious red. Its fleshy body churned, kicking up a rain of stinking, rotten swamp mud before it blurred into an afterimage and slammed down.
THUD!
Chen Yu was hit squarely. His body flattened in an instant, but the Tough Shell of his Slime form absorbed the actual damage. The force of the impact was converted into bouncing power. Under extreme compression, the Slime Gel rebounded and slammed into the Giant Vein Leech's head.
Slime Ejection!
Another solid impact rang out.
The Giant Vein Leech was sent flying several meters. At the same time, the suckers it used to latch onto prey were pierced by several Poisonous Stings. It writhed and convulsed in pain, flinging muddy water everywhere.
"See? This is what happens when you don't put any points into defense."
Chen Yu hopped forward with a SQUISH and fired another Little Arrow Skill.
This time, its head was completely blown off. However, the Giant Vein Leech's movements were unaffected, and the wound healed quickly.
'This thing probably doesn't have a brain. It likely just has a huge nerve cord running through its body. Unless I blow up its entire body at once, it can probably still think.'
Chen Yu felt a bit troubled at this thought.
It wasn't because the Giant Vein Leech was so powerful.
It was because it seemed he couldn't hunt a dead one; he had to swallow it alive to digest it.
'Imagining that slippery thing writhing and struggling in my stomach... Eww, how disgusting.'
He refused to accept that.
He charged forward again and battled it out with the Giant Vein Leech.
Acid corrosion, Poisonous Sting piercings, Little Arrow Skill explosions... He used every trick he had, successfully blasting the Giant Vein Leech from a burly two-meter-long creature down to the size of an adult's arm.
But the thing just wouldn't die.
Still, it wasn't all for nothing. At the very least, he discovered the Giant Vein Leech's Magic Organ—a meatball-like mass growing in the middle of its body, covered in magic patterns and beating constantly like a small heart.
'Since a monster's talents come from its Magic Organ, can't I just swallow the Magic Organ directly? Why would I need to eat this whole disgusting thing?'
"Oh, right."
Chen Yu's round eyes began to shine. He chased after the fleeing Giant Vein Leech and fired another Little Arrow Skill, precisely blasting the Magic Meatball out of it.
The mangled meatball traced a graceful arc through the air and landed on the ground. It writhed, growing a little bit of flesh, before dimming and going still.
It seemed to have run out of Magic Power and stopped regenerating.
Chen Yu hopped over and directly swallowed the leech's Magic Organ to digest it.
[Devouring and Digesting Level 3 triggered—Giant Vein Leech characteristics recorded. Talent incubation in progress (1/10)]
"Now this is the right way to do it."
"CHEW CHEW CHEW..."
Surprisingly, the meatball was quite chewy. It was impossible to crush and had a unique fishy taste, like stuffing a handful of chopped Houttuynia into his stomach.
The sensation was simply overwhelming.
It made Chen Yu's entire Gel body tremble.
Defeating the Giant Vein Leech had exhausted him. His Spiritual Power was nearly depleted, so he could only slurp down four Fluorescent Mushroom People to replenish himself before hopping back to his nest to rest.
Inside the nest at the base of the tree, Chen Yu lay comfortably with his eyes half-closed, feeling a faint warmth spreading from his stomach. His gaze fell upon the little ones playing and roughhousing in the nest.
Before he knew it, they had grown another size rounder. What hadn't changed was their love for sticking clammily to his side.
Sometimes they would curl up quietly into a small ball, their translucent bodies rising and falling gently as they contentedly basked in the pleasant warmth he gave off while digesting.
Other times, they couldn't contain their lively nature, bouncing and springing around his soft body. Their jiggly forms quivered like restless, happy blobs of jelly.
Chen Yu paid them no mind and quickly fell asleep with his eyes narrowed.
An unknown amount of time passed. When he woke up again, night had fallen outside. It was pitch black, with only the nest still bathed in the soft glow of the gray gravel crystals.
The Slime mother stood guard quietly at the nest's entrance. The little ones were too sleepy to keep their eyes open, their tiny green-bean-like eyes drooping, lacking their usual daytime energy.
Chen Yu wobbled his Gel as his consciousness returned, and he focused his attention on his status panel.
[Devouring and Digesting Level 3 triggered—Fluorescent Mushroom People characteristics fully recorded. Acquired Talent: Hallucinogenic Factor Level 1]
---
Race: Hallucinogenic Slime
Level: Black Iron Level 3 [EXP: 16/30]
Cultivation: Qi Cultivation Level 3 [Spiritual Power: 27/30]
Status: Healthy [HP: 105/105]
Racial Talent: Devouring and Digesting Level 3
Other Talents: Acid Secretion Level 3, Toxin Resistance Level 3, Tough Shell Level 2, Hallucinogenic Factor Level 1
Skill List: Kaiyuan Precious Scroll Level 4, Artifact Manipulation Skill Level 3, Little Arrow Skill Level 2, Sound Transmission Skill Level 2, Talisman Drawing Skill Level 1
Reputation Title: Slime Warrior (A Fledgling Slime)
---
Huh?
He only just noticed that his Cultivation was unknowingly approaching a breakthrough.
As far as he knew, in Void Profound Heaven, the gap between the early, middle, and late realms of the Qi Cultivation Stage was enormous.
Once he broke through to the 4th Floor, not only would the purity of his Spiritual Power leap up several levels, but even his meridians and Dantian would be baptized by Spiritual Power, allowing a Cultivator to become closer to heaven, earth, and nature.
The same Daoist Skill would have completely different power in the hands of an early-stage Cultivator versus a mid-stage one.
At the thought of an imminent breakthrough, his internal Gel began to BUBBLE BUBBLE with delight.
Unlike before, the bubbles that appeared now carried a faint fluorescent glow as they floated down into the nest.
A few of the mischievous little ones who still had energy suddenly felt dizzy, toppled over, and fell fast asleep.
"So this is the hallucinogenic talent from the Fluorescent Mushroom People?"
"It's pretty fun."
'The level is just a bit low. It probably won't work on more powerful monsters.'
Having just woken up, he was still full of energy. So, he returned his consciousness to Void Profound Heaven and got up in the middle of the night to practice drawing talismans.
Watching the proficiency-increase notifications, he became more and more addicted the more he drew. It wasn't until the next day that he, sporting dark circles under his eyes, continued to venture deeper into the swamp to explore.
He passed the spot where he had fought the Giant Vein Leech yesterday. There were no more obstacles ahead. The mysterious ruins were right before his eyes.
As Chen Yu drew closer, the soft, rotten mud beneath him was gradually replaced by solid, broken flagstones. A darkness as thick as ink washed over him, engulfing all his senses with a suffocating feeling.
Silence. An oppressive silence shrouded everything.
'There's something strange about these ruins.'
He stealthily fumbled his way to a fallen stone pillar in the darkness and hid behind it, following his cautious instincts.
His core strategy was one of caution and stealth.
As the SQUISHING sound of the Slime's movement faded, several pairs of cold-blooded eyes suddenly lit up in the thick darkness.
Once Chen Yu's eyes adjusted to the dark, he could finally see several Swamp Crocodiles lying amidst the ruins.
There were plenty of these things on the banks of the Reed River. With their signature death roll, not even brown bears dared to provoke them lightly. They often attacked Sub-humans who entered the water to fish.
But strangely, they were different from ordinary Swamp Crocodiles.
Their scales were actually gray, just like those Corrupted Lizardmen.
Chen Yu felt like he had just stumbled upon a massive secret.
...
「Iron Boot Town.」
Noah leaned on the polished wooden railing of a bridge, gazing at the town at the foot of the mountain. The air was filled with the aroma of freshly baked bread, the warm smoke of firewood, and the fresh scent of rain-soaked earth.
Low wooden houses lined the path. In the distance, the lights of the Old Oak Tavern glowed warmly in the twilight.
Yes, he was back.
He had returned to Iron Boot Town alive.
Although his body still ached, the familiar atmosphere eased his heart. It was the peace of returning home.
He pulled his tattered coat tighter, stepped onto the path, and hurried toward the inn, avoiding the gazes of the crowd.
His heart was a mix of eager anticipation and the shy apprehension of returning home after a long absence.
He had been gone for so many days. He didn't know how Lola and the children were doing, or if they had returned.
'I hope everything is alright.'