This was troublesome.
These wild slimes weren't as docile as the crane beside him—he couldn't simply touch and interact with them to fill the progress bar.
Standing here staring at the slimes probably wouldn't help either; he'd tried that method with the crane last night, and the progress bar hadn't moved at all.
Perhaps it was because of his blindness.
Or maybe only a deity's gaze, with its divine corrosive properties, would count as interaction.
Sensing intruders in their territory, the group of slimes suddenly became agitated.
Led by the largest one, these adorable creatures bounced menacingly toward Xia Zhi.
The scene might have been cute if they weren't so hostile, though their speed was rather slow.
Xia Zhi watched them, maintaining his distance as he raised his hand to cast a spell.
Second-tier Light Magic: [Holy Judgment].
Although [Wings of Radiance] allowed him to master all light magic up to the fifth tier, his current mana was too low to cast anything above third tier.
Otherwise, he wouldn't need to buy medicine from the [Store]—he could have healed the crane's broken wing directly with fourth-tier light magic [Divine Healing].
A thunderous white light suddenly appeared in mid-air, striking one of the leading slimes directly.
When the light faded, that slime had vanished, leaving only a small puddle of liquid. Such fragile monsters—not difficult to deal with at all.
Xia Zhi glanced at the scene, feeling confident as he continued backing up while targeting another slime with [Holy Judgment].
Another slime was eliminated.
Yet the death of their companions didn't affect the other slimes' attack rhythm at all.
They didn't seem very intelligent.
After casting [Holy Judgment] several more times, Xia Zhi felt his mana running low, so he maintained his distance while slowly recovering under the sun.
This was [Wings of Radiance]'s special property: Light Healing—as long as he stood in sunlight, he could quickly recover both life force and mana.
Once his mana had recovered sufficiently, Xia Zhi resumed casting [Holy Judgment].
The crane stood silently watching from the side.
Strangely, the slimes seemed to ignore her completely, jumping past her without attacking.
Seeing that Xia Zhi could handle the slimes, she didn't intervene.
It wasn't that she lacked combat ability—even in her current form, she could easily dispatch ordinary monsters with her talons.
She wasn't merely spectating either, but studying Xia Zhi's spellcasting.
This novel cultivation system intrigued her greatly.
If she could fully deconstruct it, she might be able to create her own new technique based on its principles.
After a while, only the largest slime remained.
Xia Zhi raised his hand and cast [Holy Judgment] at it as well.
It seemed to have more health than its companions, surviving the hit though its size decreased slightly.
At the same time, Xia Zhi noticed its progress bar had increased. Progress [5%].
Xia Zhi paused briefly.
So attacks counted as interaction and could fill the progress bar? But this slime was too weak to withstand twenty [Holy Judgment] spells, and light magic had too few attack spells to find anything gentler than [Holy Judgment].
Xia Zhi felt somewhat disappointed.
Perhaps he could use [Healing] to restore its health, then slowly wear it down with [Holy Judgment]? That seemed a bit too cruel.
With the crane watching, such devilish behavior might lower her opinion of him.
Better not.
Xia Zhi raised his hand again and cast a second [Holy Judgment].
As the white light fell, Xia Zhi heard the system's voice in his mind:
"Progress bar has reached 100%, obtaining Silver Chest reward."
Xia Zhi stared at the silver chest lying quietly in his inventory and fell into thought.
Did progress bars automatically complete when their owners were killed? Monsters dropping loot... This made things easier.
The chest came at a perfect time—a silver-quality item should recycle for 10 points.
Added to his remaining 20 points, he'd have enough to buy [White Jade Bone-Mending Paste] without recycling the [Burning Incense Burner].
Could the chest be recycled directly? Xia Zhi wondered, entering the [Recycle] interface instead of opening it.
[Silver Chest]
Quality: Silver
Type: Consumable
Properties: None
Effect: Opens to randomly obtain one silver-quality item
Hidden Effect: None
Recyclable: 20 points
Indeed, recycling an unopened chest yielded more points.
Xia Zhi chose to recycle it, bringing his remaining points to 40.
Enough.
Xia Zhi walked toward the crane, pausing midway to examine a puddle of translucent liquid.
He crouched down curiously and touched it with his finger.
It felt sticky, like glue.
"Alchemical material encountered, recorded in codex, available for collection.
" Xia Zhi rubbed his fingers together—slime liquid was an alchemical material? The [Burning Incense Burner] was an alchemy tool; perhaps this liquid could be used in incense making.
"Collect." The puddle mysteriously vanished as slime liquid appeared in his inventory.
The watching crane's eyes flickered thoughtfully at the disappearing substance.
Xia Zhi collected all the slime drops along his path, gathering fourteen portions in total.
The [Divining Staff] had truly been worth its price.
Thirty points spent yielded both a gold chest and a silver chest, without much difficulty.
If he had spare points in the future, he might try this item again.
Xia Zhi approached the crane with a smile, saying, "Let's go. First a bath for you, then we'll apply the medicine." Though she couldn't understand his words, she sensed his good mood.
Xia Zhi turned toward the small river, the crane quietly following.
At the riverside, Xia Zhi carefully scanned the area.
The river was ten meters wide, its water crystal clear, containing only some fish and shrimp—no dangerous creatures in sight.
This time the crane didn't stop him, confirming it was truly safe.
Xia Zhi removed his clothes and jumped into the river.
The water wasn't deep, reaching only to his waist.
It was refreshingly cool.
Xia Zhi splashed some water on his face, shook off the droplets, then waved to the crane with a smile.
"Come on in!"
She stared at him, transfixed.
In the brilliant sunlight, the young man's form showed graceful lines, his black hair wet and clinging to his cheeks, his gray eyes bright and clear in the reflected light.
His smile was like a painting come to life.