Rotting Corpse Plain.
Outside the small broken house.
Dean McKenzie's figure was constantly bustling around, like a hardworking little bee, darting in and out among the corpses. The system reminders updated alongside Dean McKenzie's activity.
[You have successfully used the talent [Extraction], and extracted 0.1 attack!]
[You have successfully used the talent [Extraction], and extracted 0.2 agility!]
[You have spent 200 Copper Coins, your summoned creature [Doggy Two]'s agility increased by 0.2!]
[You have drunk [Pure Spring Water]!]
...
Once extraction has been successfully performed on a corpse, it can't be performed a second time. However, if the extraction fails, extraction can be performed until it is successful.
In half an hour, Dean McKenzie had forcefully performed [Extraction] 81 times.
He had drunk 2700 ml of [Pure Spring Water].
Filling up a five-pound container almost induced Dean to vomit from overdrinking.
By the end, his face had turned pale and his belly looked like a water-filled balloon.
For the first time, he realised drinking water could be such a painful ordeal.
Of course, Dean's effort wasn't in vain. In just half an hour, Doggy Two's attribute points changed dramatically.
...
Name: Pale Skeleton
Level: Level 4 (88 percent)
Servant: Dean McKenzie
Attributes:
Strength: 2.2, agility: 3.5, physique: 1.4
Attack: 2.4
Defense: 1.3
Skill: None
...
Upon seeing this, Dean had exhausted all the money in his pocket to enhance Doggy Two's capabilities.
It could be said that Doggy Two's strength had undergone an epic level upgrade.
Dean estimated that despite a slight difference, Doggy Two's attributes were almost no less than that of the elite corpse.
However, Dean's gains in this half-hour did not stop there.
Talent: Extraction (Level 1) (4.7/1000)
This showed the proficiency level of Dean's talent.
It had increased by 4.7, this proficiency increase came as a result of Dean consuming the unused attributes extracted.
Yes, the extracted attributes could be expended to improve talent proficiency.
The reason Dean chose to consume these attributes to improve talent proficiency was that the extracted attributes couldn't be stored indefinitely.
These attributes had a time limit. If not used within half an hour, the ordinary extracted attributes would disperse. Therefore, Dean had no choice but to use them to improve his talent proficiency.
Certainly, not all extracted things would disperse if not used in half an hour.
At least not the [Elite Template Fragments]!
...
Name: Elite Template Fragment (1/3)
Description: If you gather three fragments, you can merge them into an Elite Template. This template can be applied to your ordinary template-imbued targets. There's a chance that the target's template could be elevated to the elite level.
...
Dean wasn't sure what an Elite Template was exactly.
But he knew for sure that it was a good thing.
Therefore, Dean pondered.
"I'll rest and regroup here in the broken house. After replenishing my energy, I'll set off again. I aim to merge into an Elite Template before leaving the Rotting Corpse Plain!"
After making this resolution, Dean rested in the broken house.
For one, he had been in the Rotting Corpse Plain for a large part of the day. His body and mind had been under constant strain, and his body had suffered several serious injuries.
Although his physical health had recovered due to the effects of the minuscule [Life Potion] and [Pure Spring Water], his mental fatigue hadn't eased.
Furthermore, in half an hour he had forcibly consumed more than five pounds of pure spring water, which caused Dean to rest for more than ten hours in the small broken house before he finally recovered.
Once he was recovered, he set out again with Doggy Two and Doggy Three, his ambition renewed.
With his level and power greatly increased, he was ready to make a significant move.
At the very least, he intended to merge the Elite Template within the remaining time.
At least, that was what Dean had planned before setting out.
But when he did set out, he discovered that he had oversimplified things.
Indeed, his power had increased significantly from the beginning, but it was far from being so powerful that he could do whatever he wanted.
After leaving the small broken house, Dean encountered two more corpse swarms.
When he first discovered the corpse swarms, he was very excited and prepared to engage.
He had even put his plans into action.
But reality quickly got in the way.
The boss of the second corpse swarm was a corpse that could spray pus, and it could spray it from a great distance, as far as twenty or thirty meters.
Doggy Three, whom Dean had sent to test the waters, was carried off by a mouthful of phlegm, due to his unfortunate luck.
When Dean discovered that the boss of the second swarm had a ranged attack, he immediately gave up on the second corpse swarm.
Then came the third corpse swarm. The boss of the third corpse swarm didn't have a long-range attack. However, it was an agility-based corpse, very fast, even faster than the enhanced Doggy Two.
After losing another skeleton, Dean also gave up on the third corpse swarm.
After continuously giving up on two corpse swarms, Dean realized how extraordinarily lucky he had been.
If the boss of the first swarm he encountered hadn't been defense-oriented, he might not have survived the first swarm.
Of course, on the other hand, if he had encountered these two bosses during the first Swarm, he might not have given up.
After all, in that situation, giving up probably meant death.
He had to, and could only try to contend.
Not like now, in fact, if Dean really wanted to risk his life, he wouldn't have been completely out of chance against the second and third corpse swarms.
But Dean didn't want to.
After all, only those who have nothing left would stake everything.
In a situation where there were choices, normal people would generally act in their own best interests.
Dean was no exception.
He had become a professional with great difficulty. In a situation where he had a choice, he was not willing to risk his life casually.
His talent allowed him to grow steadily; there was no need to risk his life!
So, Dean roamed around for more than a day, killing only two or three solitary corpses. His talent proficiency increased to [5.7/1000].
As for Doggy Two's enhancement? There was none. Mainly because Dean was unlucky and didn't make any money.
The three days passed in the blink of an eye.
Once time was up, the system reminder refreshed as expected in front of Dean's eyes.
[Ding, you have survived more than 3 days in the Rotting Corpse Plain. You have obtained the permission to leave the Rotting Corpse Plain. Do you want to open the Secret Realm performance settlement and leave the Rotting Corpse Plain?]
Looking at the system notice popping up, Dean knew that his first sub-level was about to end.
Looking with slight regret at the foul-smelling plain in front of him, Dean nodded decisively.
"Yes!"
The system notice continued to refresh with Dean's nod.
[You have opened the Secret Realm reward settlement!]
[You survived for 3 days in the [Rotting Corpse Plain], obtaining a basic F-level evaluation!]
[You entered the [Rotting Corpse Plain] at initial level 1, evaluation increased to D-level!]
[You cleared a Swarm of corpses, evaluation increased to B-level!]
[In the end, you obtained a B-level evaluation, and you will obtain the following rewards...]