There was nothing in sight to absorb and sell, so Lee was particularly displeased. His discomfort was overcome by beautiful and vast green lands around him. Twice, somewhere far away, he saw settlements larger than Eturt village. But he didn't mind them. His journey had two objectives. One, bring back Blue Barnacle fruit and heal An Fenfang. Two, kill and acquire Essence from the Colourless Swamp Serpent and hopefully obtain an affinity. This hope was given by D as he told him that affinities can also be formed to conditions, like camouflage and stealth. And as a beast that even Quest gave warning about, he was curious as to its age.
From far away, Lee saw a dense forest that had a creepy vibe. A clear track made by numerous carriages guided Lee through his way. He moved according to Darwin's map. The trees were tall and thick and gave him a lot of Essence points. As he moved forward, the path was widened and Essence points increased.
It didn't take him too long to reach the border of the swamp. The grassless muddy terrain was far and wide like a big circle. It's borders were clearly outlined by the trees. At the right center of this circle was a short and thin tree with heart shaped leaves. Lee's keen eyesight found the cubic shaped fruit hidden among the leaves. He can guess its name - Six-faced Blue Barnacle fruit.
He climbed onto one of the trees that stood like a fence around the swamp. Upon reaching a height, he can see that the tree in the center is actually standing not on mud, but on a piece of land about 4 meters in diameter. After reaching a conclusion that he does not have a way to reach the tree, he decided to lure the beast out. The twin stars above the head will give him an advantage. He opened his Essence points panel.
=====
Essence: 1285
=====
'D, have suggestions to provoke it?!'
[I have two suggestions. One, buy a lot of bombs from the Shop and throw them into the swamp while running round it. Two, buy a good Bow and a few arrows to fire at random spots of swamp. Either way, the serpent will be annoyed.
But if you just want to take the fruit without killing the serpent, buy a 'One-time use Freeze Talisman'. You need at least Qi or Mana to activate this. So it's a no-go. You can only buy skills for now]
An idea shone bright in his mind as his face brightened.
'Essence is the core of a substance or a being's energy. If that's the case, can I absorb the water in the swamp?! Then the swamp won't be a swamp anymore!'
[The water content can be absorbed. But the Essence will be less than pure water.]
Hearing this, Lee jumped and reached the ground with a slight 'thud'. He slowly walked towards the edge of the swamp and slowly absorbed the essence of mud. A visible change occurred in the terrain as the mud began to harden. This effect was slow but visible. The serpent lying peacefully about 15 meters below the surface was suddenly woken up as it's tail was caught up in the hardening mud. It vigorously shook its tail and tail and freed itself, and swam upward. Before the last patch of mud solidified, it successfully came out of the mud and landed on the hard brown terrain.
A huge serpent longer than 350 meters looked around with angered eyes. Its features weren't clear to the eyes, but it's outline was, under sunlights. Lee froze for a second upon seeing it's outline. It wasn't camouflaging intentionally, but it's scales simply reflect its surrounding color. It's blending ability was off-the-charts.
Lee finished absorbing essence from the swamp. It was now a dryland. Serpent locked onto Lee and observed him for a second. Sensing that this tiny thing is a threat and could not be left alive, it hissed and charged at Lee. Lee jumped backward and disappeared into the woods. It followed him like a homing missile. Lee had already used 'View'
=====
Name: Colourless Swamp Serpent
Age: 430 years
State: Healthy, enraged
-----
Health: 160
Strength: 175
Agility: 142
Defense: 166
Endurance: 159
Sense: 173
Intelligence: 120
=====
'Damn it! Even the least attribute is two times to mine. I cannot fight it head-on. D, suggestion?!'
[Keep running. It won't follow you for long as it needs to guard the fruit from other invaders too.]
Lee was literally flying for his life with a serpent at his tail. He boosted his agility with additional leg strength. But the serpent kept closing in. As it neared him to bite, it suddenly hesitated as its pupils went wide and stopped in its tracks. It hissed at Lee who was standing far away from the serpent, catching his breath. Serpent retreated back to its lair and coiled around the tree at the center.
Lee's gamble was a success, but not completely. His legs were trembling from the running session. Lost strength, he leaned onto a tree to support. He sat beside it and rested. Now that the serpent has coiled around the fruit, his only option was to increase his attributes above that of serpent. He can only rely on his sword mastery to slay it. Upon resolving his mind, he summoned the status panel.
==========
Name: Lee
Age: 20 years
Title: Newbie, Grim-reaper
Fame: 632
Essence: 1285
----------
Health: 65
Strength: 65
Vitality: 65
Agility: 65
Defense: 65
Endurance: 65
Sense: 65
Intelligence: 55
Resolve: 55
Immunity:-
Affinity:-
==========
Before Lee went calculating, D spoke-
[That serpent will have poison attacks. If you can withstand them, obtaining Poison Immunity is easy.]
Lee frowned and asked-
'How do I withstand?!'
[Don't receive the poison spit head on. Let it fall on the ground and then go and touch it. It will sting, but the Poison Immunity will be obtained. The more you make contact with poison, the more the immunity will improvise.]
'Noted. Let's increase all physical attributes by 35 points each. How much left?!'
=====
Essence: 60
=====
[You'll need a total of 2,625 Essence to upgrade all physical attributes to 175. The serpent's highest is 175, for strength.]
"Then I need to clear the forest a little!"
Lee spoke his mind out in reply to D's calculation. He stood and disappeared to the outer area of the forest. From there, he began his operation.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Two hours have passed. The serpent slowly raised his head in confusion. It can tell that something is invading the forest, but could not pinpoint what it was. It became alert and stared at its surroundings. Upon sensing that nothing hostile is in the area, it closed its eyes to take a nap.
What it felt was true. Lee was running wildly through the forest. Everywhere he goes, the tree disappears. Anything he sees, he cuts them down. He lost track of time and Essence points. He only had one objective - kill the serpent.
After about 3 hours, D notified him that the Essence needed for upgradation has attained. Lee didn't mind him and moved further inwards. Anyone in the sky can clearly see that the forest has reduced about a tenth of its size. Lee knew this fact as he regularly glanced at the Map. D gave him warnings as to whether there are beasts hiding in the vicinity. After slowing down from exhaustion, Lee took a breather. Lee stared at the Essence panel with a grin.
=====
Essence: 3271
=====
'D, increase all physical attributes by 90 points and mental attributes by 5 points. Then show me the status.'
==========
Name: Lee
Age: 20 years
Title: Newbie, Grim-reaper
Fame: 633
Essence: 21
----------
Health: 190
Strength: 190
Vitality: 190
Agility: 190
Defense: 190
Endurance: 190
Sense: 190
Intelligence: 60
Resolve: 60
Immunity:-
Affinity:-
==========
Lee sighed and took out his blade from the inventory.
"Let's see how much I have improved!"
Lee said with a smile on his face. He slowly walked towards his prey while leisurely acquiring Essence. When he neared the brown grassless patch of land, he told D to locate a color-bomb from the Shop.
[It costs 100 Essence. Do you want to buy it?!]
'Yes, buy it.'
Then, a small fist-sized ball materialised in Lee's hand. It was smooth and had many coloured strips on it. Lee climbed onto a tree and resolved his mind. Once the bomb hits it, The serpent will chase him till death. But he was confident.
He channeled all his strength into his right hand and threw it at the serpent. Before the serpent could even react, the bomb exploded on it and filled it's scales with vibrant colours. It's scales lost their effect.
Upon seeing the bomb hitting its mark, he jumped and landed in the open with a thud. The serpent saw him doing a 'superhero landing' and was angered. The colors exposed its true shape under bright light. It opened its mouth to spit it's poison.
[The poison attack is coming. Evade partially and let a small amount touch your body.]
It spat poison like a dart. Lee moved according to D. He consciously swung his arm and made contact with the poison. It was unbearably painful to him, so he withdrew his hand. Before he could curse D, a notification appeared.
=====
Lesser Poison Immunity acquired
Progress: 1/100
=====
Lee kept a distance from the serpent to take a look at the notification. He raised his doubt to D.
'How does the progress work?!'
[It's the numerical estimation of exposure in seconds. Each second of contact with poison increases your immunity. I know, it's painful. But bear with it!]
Lee gritted his teeth in pain. He was angry enough to rip D apart. But he tolerated it for the immunity. Even his body was reflecting his pain and anger.
The serpent saw his actions and its after-effects. It laughed inwardly for his stupidity to touch a deadly poison. But, Lee's next action stunned it. It stood there with its jaw dropped, watching Lee walk towards the puddle of poison and repeatedly touching it. It could put a smile on its face and coil back where he was. Serpent patiently waited for Lee to drop dead.
Lee was crouching near and touching the poison puddle repeatedly. He pulled his hands whenever the pain got too much. Later, he began to use both hands. When his hands were sore enough, he stood, removed his shoes and poke it with his legs.
About half an hour passed. The serpent slowly opened his eyes and was thunderstruck. Lee was alive and kicking the poison puddle with vigor and energy. It felt something fishy, so it charged at Lee. The serpent had poison on its fangs to numb its prey. When it nearly touched Lee, Lee disappeared from the spot and appeared on the serpent's back with his raised blade. His blade came down as he said-
"You're fast. But I'm faster!"
The chop split the serpent's head into two. Blood flowed like a fountain. D spoke in his mind-
[Tear out it's fangs and poison sacs. It may help you to achieve Higher Poison Immunity. Then absorb the essence and beast core.]
Lee promptly did as he's told. He tore the fangs and poison sacs with it. He placed them in his Inventory for the time being. Then he started to absorb the essence.
=====
'Poison related beast core' detected. Absorb?
=====
'Absorb!'
A slight numbness was felt on his hand for a moment, then it came back to normal. He acquired a humongous amount of 205 Essence from the serpent's beast core. Selling the body gave him 97 Essence. He nodded his head in amazement and turned to walk towards the fruit.
The cubic shaped blue fruit was hidden among the leaves. Lee slowly slipped his hand through them and plucked 6 ripe fruits. There were 3 still unripe and small. So without wasting time, he absorbed its essence and sold it. He placed the plucked fruits in the Spatial ring along with his blade. After going back to the puddle of poison, he checked his status.
=====
Mid Poison Immunity acquired
Progress: 9987/10000
=====
Lee began to stamp in the near-dry puddle of poison. After 2 or 3 stamps, the progress halted. Then D advised him.
[It seems like you need some good quality poison to increase the immunity. Take out the fangs only. They are filled with poison, so holding it in your hand will be enough to continue the progress.]
Lee took out the fangs promptly. The moment he took them out, his hands started to burn up in pain. After a few seconds, the pain dropped greatly and another notification appeared.
=====
Higher Poison Immunity acquired
Progress: 0/1000000
=====
Lee was stunned for a second and immediately calculated the time. His eyes went wide as he roared at D.
"I have to make contact with poison for nearly 12 days?! Isn't it a little too much?!"
D didn't respond immediately. He spoken a serious voice a dozen seconds later-
[Do you have any idea what Higher Poison Resistance is?! Poison is the most deadly substance capable. It has the record of keeping even the most powerful beings at bay. Those that have even the slightest poison resistance can be enrolled in the army without trials. They can venture to areas where most people are afraid to go. Now tell me, isn't it too easy to achieve Higher Poison Immunity in just 12 days?!]
'...'
Lee was silent. He never expected that his abilities were too overpowered. He stared at the screen for a moment and softly said-
'I'm sorry D. I never knew this information. I hope you're not angry at me.'
[Kid, I've seen many hot-headed people in my life. So you aren't the first. I am trying to help you grow. Understand the situation and act calm and wise. Never let your emotions control you!]
Lee nodded in agreement. The fangs were in his hand. He stored one in the Inventory and held the other wrapped with his left arm. The progress went on constantly until the fang was dry. He then absorbed its essence and sold it. He took out the other and continued the same. While doing all these, his right arm was making a path wide enough for a carriage to travel as he walked.
Night fell as Lee walked on the grassland with a poison sac in his hand. He had already sold the useless fang. Lee was now dripping poison drop by drop on his left hand while holding the sac in the right. He once tried to drink a little, but instantly made him regret his decision. He walked under the moonlight continuing his activity. He yawned loud and made him realise that it's too late to stay awake. He stored the poison sac in the Inventory and sat on the grass cross-legged. He enjoyed the beauty of night and chillness in the air.
*buck*
A faint voice entered his ear and he turned his head to look around. Lee saw a familiar four-eyed rooster head looking at him. It stared at him for a second and disappeared. He sighed inwardly as he laid down on the grass to sleep. Before his eyes could close, a large sound of roosters came towards him.
The same bunch of roosters came running at him. He was clueless as to their action. He stayed still as they approached him and sat next to him. Some inclined their heads onto Lee's flat lying body. An abnormal calmness arose in Lee's mind as he drifted into sleep.