Chapter 59: The Mutated Poison Creeper
Early the next morning, I woke up from a sweet dream. Damn, I slept for over 10 hours, my bones felt loose. Everything that happened yesterday felt like a dream, until I saw the golden Leather Armor on my body, and then I had a sudden Realization that everything was real.
I sat up foolishly, spaced out for a while, then stretched lazily and opened all the Status Panels with a whoosh.
The Skill Bar hadn't changed much. Besides the bonus from the Bugged Amulet, I wasn't skilled enough yet to get Equipment that granted other Druid Skills. All my First Tier Skills were Level 8, and I still had 1 Skill Point left.
The Status Panel had changed quite a bit. The Golden Armor, Ring, and Leather Gloves all had bonus Attributes. My current stats were:
Strength 23 (Leather Gloves +3)
Dexterity [No change listed, likely same as before]
Vitality 45 (Armor +5)
Energy (Cloak + Armor = 8) [The Chinese text seems incomplete here, just showing the sum]
Life 145
Mana 62
Defense 60
I still had 10 remaining Attribute Points. I added 2 points to Strength and 5 points to Dexterity, leaving 3 points. This meant I could finally use that Saber. The increase in Energy, Vitality, and Level also sped up my Life and Mana recovery rate. Overall, my Strength/Power had increased significantly, especially in Mana and Defense. Now, if I activated Frozen Armor, which adds 30% Defense, my Defense would reach 78, which was already higher than a Paladin wearing Hard Leather Armor at over Level 10. In terms of Resistance, except for Lightning, all others were still 0. However, that [Missing Stat Value]% Lightning Resistance would definitely make killing the Mini-Boss Monster Rakanishu in the Stony Field much easier. And that Elite Dark Hunter who chased me a few days ago... if I met him again now, hehe...
I chuckled sinisterly, already Pondering whether it was worth spending some time ambushing him by the Lake to take down the Dark Hunter who had put me in such a sorry state last time. I wasn't some martial arts expert who could just let bygones be bygones with a smile. Getting revenge for grievances was my nature, hehe...
Just as I was fantasizing about dominating the Dark Hunter a hundred times over, a small square box suddenly appeared in my sight. This was the Poison Creeper's Attribute box. I had opened it before, but it didn't seem to have anything special. It was just a small box showing its Level and Life Value, so I hadn't paid much attention to it. Today, I opened it unintentionally and was Dumbfounded – the Attribute panel, which was originally neat, clean, and so stingy that adding an extra word felt like a crime, was now filled with a large amount of text!
Poison Creeper: Level 8 (Mutation Level 1) Life 151; A Mutated Creature evolved from accumulating Experience through long-term Combat. Mutation Level 1, +10% Life, +10% Damage, +10 All Resistance, +10% Poison Resistance, Toxin Duration increased by 1 second, has a certain chance to Bind and restrain Enemies, Bind Duration is related to the Enemy's Strength.
Sweat dripped. What was going on? Was someone confused, or was I still dreaming? I pinched my cheek, rubbed my eyes. Was I seeing things correctly?
"Right..."
I slapped my thigh hard and quickly opened the Skill Bar, scrolling to the Poison Creeper entry.
Poison Creeper: Skill Level 8, Life 137, Summon a Poison Creeper with the ability to spread disease to fight for you.
The description in the Skill Bar hadn't changed, so why did the Poison Creeper's Attribute panel change? And what was this Mutation Level 1 all about? Did it mean it could continue to Mutate? I looked at the Attribute panel with surprise and uncertainty. There was joy, but more than that, there was the uneasy Question about the unknown. If this was really the case, then why had I never heard of such a thing? Why hadn't Akara and Cain told me about such an important Matter? Was this another ability unique to me as the Redeemer? Or had it simply never been discovered before?
My head was full of Questions. I wanted to go back and ask Cain immediately, but after thinking about it, I decided to continue to explore and Trial for a while longer to see if the Poison Creeper would have any new changes.
Carrying feelings of joy and unease, I emerged from the Tent. I glanced at the Poison Creeper, which was still dutifully lurking outside the Tent. I didn't know if it was my imagination, but it did seem a little thicker than when I first Summoned it. Its color had also become a more oily green, and the mucus on its Body was still enough to make people retreat. The most obvious change was that a small flower crown had actually grown on its originally smooth head. If I didn't look carefully, I really wouldn't have noticed it.
Chilling. Was this the legendary "brain blooming"?
I tried to communicate with it, but I still only received some mixed, meaningless information. It seemed that although it had Mutated, its intelligence hadn't improved much.
I was completely baffled. Suddenly, I thought of something and immediately pulled up the Raven's Status Panel. Damn, there was no change at all. How useless, it really disappointed me. Uh, where was the Raven?
I looked around strangely. Damn, that fellow was actually nesting on top of the Tent, sleeping soundly. If I hadn't considered the possibility of it betraying me and running away, I really would have wanted to hit it with a Stone.
I glanced at it and was truly speechless about this Lazy Crow. I might as well just ignore it. I took a deep breath, ahh, I stretched – the morning air was so fresh, green, pure, and pollution-free. Well, if only I could exclude the smell of blood coming from the Lake in the distance...
It was still early, and the fog around me was still very thick. However, a few days ago, the fog was so dense I couldn't see my hand in front of my face, but now I could Barely see things over ten meters away. This was definitely not because the fog was lighter today. The most likely reason was that the Light Radius Attribute added by this Golden Leather Armor was taking effect. No wonder Cain emphasized it; it was indeed a very powerful Attribute.
Temporarily putting aside the Matter of the Poison Creeper's Mutation, my two purposes for coming to the Cold Plains were to find the Waypoint and to challenge Bishibosh. Now that both of these were completed, what should I do next? Challenge Blood Raven? My current Strength/Power wasn't enough. Continue Trial? Thinking of this, I felt a wave of confusion. Was my entire Life really going to be spent in endless Trial and Level Up, fighting with the ultimate Goal of defeating the Demon King in RPG Mode? Was there nothing else I wanted to do?
Find a good wife? Well, that seemed to be my original Goal, but now I already had Little Shara as a candidate, so I wasn't in a hurry. As for Lin Ya, I hadn't seen her for a while, and my longing had faded quite a bit. The saying "Distance creates beauty" really only applied to true lovers. For a relationship like mine and Lin Ya's, which wasn't even close to being romantic, over time, it would just slowly be forgotten. I wondered if that little girl had forgotten me. I thought foolishly for a while, seeming to return to the bar where we first met, her appearance so innocent it was speechless, her personality like a princess who had just walked out of a Castle, ignorant of everything. I wondered if she would be bullied by others? But it seemed her family was secretly protecting her, so I figured there shouldn't be any major problems. I just hoped she would mature quickly. Just knowing how to fight wasn't enough; she also needed to learn how to handle things and deal with people, otherwise, she wouldn't even know when she was being tricked.
So, besides these, what other Goals did I have? It seemed there were none. What a decadent Life.
I sat in the Camp, ate some Jerky casually, my thoughts wandering aimlessly. When I came back to my senses, I saw that the fog outside had dissipated. I packed my things and Departed with the Poison Creeper and that damned Lazy Crow.
Throughout the morning, by continuously observing the Poison Creeper's Combat, I found that both its Combat Skills and Damage had improved by a whole Tier. Previously, when facing 5 or 6 Zombies alone, it would at least take one Attack Damage, but now it could come out completely unharmed. This wasn't a matter of Luck; this was a conclusion I reached after carefully observing many times.
And the Damage aspect was also significant. The weakest Fallen no longer needed the additional Damage over Duration from Toxin; it was directly one bite per Fallen. If its mouth wasn't big enough, I suspected the Poison Creeper might even swallow the entire Fallen directly.
Besides observing the Poison Creeper's Strength/Power, I thought of many other things. The Poison Creeper Mutated, so could the Raven also Mutate? And the Summon Dire Wolf, Summon Dire Wolf, and even Summon Grizzly that I would learn later, if they could all Mutate, then maybe I could really reach Hell just by my own Strength/Power.
To verify my Idea, I Plan to increase the intensity of my Trial. I remembered that there seemed to be a Cave in the Cold Plains. This Cave was a good thing, just like an Experience dungeon in a Game. It wasn't that the Monsters inside had bonus Experience, but because there were more Monsters inside, and with the narrow Terrain, I could deal with more Enemies.