Chapter 59: The Mutated Venomous Flower Vine

The next morning, I woke up from a beautiful dream. After sleeping for over ten hours, my bones felt almost loose. Everything that happened yesterday seemed like a dream until I saw the golden leather armor on my body, which brought me back to reality. I sat up foolishly, stared blankly for a moment, then stretched lazily. I then quickly opened all my status bars.

There were no significant changes in the skill bar, except for the bug amulet's bonus. I hadn't reached the level to obtain other equipment that could enhance Druid skills. All the first-stage skills were at level 8, and I still had one skill point left.

The status bar had changed quite a bit. The golden clothes, ring, and leather gloves all had additional attributes. My current status was as follows:

Strength: 23 (Leather Gloves +3)

Agility: 20

Vitality: 45 (Clothes +5)

Energy: 28 (Cloak + Clothes = 8)

Health: 145

Mana: 62

Defense: 60

I still had 10 attribute points left. I added 2 points to Strength and 5 points to Agility, leaving me with 3 points. This way, I could use the military knife. The increase in Energy and Vitality, along with my level, also sped up my health and mana recovery. Overall, my strength had increased significantly, especially in mana and defense. If I activated the Frost Armor, which adds 30% to my defense, my defense would reach 78, higher than a level 10+ Paladin wearing hard leather armor. In terms of resistance, except for lightning, all others were still at 0, but with 29 points of lightning resistance, I would find it much easier to kill the small boss-level monster, Rakanihu, in the Stone Field. Even the elite-level Dark Hunter who chased me a few days ago, if I encountered him now, hmm...

I chuckled sinisterly, already considering whether it was worth spending some time by the lake to ambush and kill the Dark Hunter who had made me so miserable last time. I wasn't the type to forgive and forget; I had a grudge to settle, hehe...

Just as I was fantasizing about humiliating the Dark Hunter a hundred times over, a small square appeared in my vision. It was the attribute box of the Venomous Flower Vine. I had opened it before, but it seemed to have no special features, just a small box displaying its level and health. I hadn't paid much attention to it. Today, I opened it unintentionally and was stunned—what was once a clean and concise attribute box was now filled with a lot of text!

Venomous Flower Vine: Level 8 (Level 1 Mutation)

Health: 151

Due to long-term combat and accumulated experience, it has evolved into a mutated creature. Mutation Level 1: +10% Health, +10% Damage, +10 to all resistances, +10% Poison Resistance, +1 second to poison duration, and a chance to bind and restrain enemies. The duration of the bind depends on the enemy's strength.

Sweat, what's going on? Could someone be confused, or am I still dreaming? I pinched my cheek and rubbed my eyes, but I didn't see it wrong.

"Right..."

I slapped my thigh and quickly opened the skill bar, flipping to the Venomous Flower Vine section.

Venomous Flower Vine: Skill Level 8, Health 137, summons a Venomous Flower Vine capable of spreading disease to fight for you.

The description in the skill bar hadn't changed, but why had the attribute box of the Venomous Flower Vine changed? And what was this Level 1 Mutation? Could it continue to mutate? I looked at the attribute box with a mix of surprise and unease. If this were true, why had I never heard of such a thing? Why hadn't Akara and Cain told me about this important information? Was it a special ability of the Redeemer, or had it just never been discovered?

I was full of questions and wanted to go back and ask Cain immediately, but after some thought, I decided to continue exploring and training for a while to see if the Venomous Flower Vine would undergo any new changes.

With a mix of joy and unease, I stepped out of the tent and looked at the Venomous Flower Vine still loyally guarding outside. It seemed to have grown a bit thicker and greener, and its mucus was still repulsive. The most noticeable change was a small flower crown that had grown on its previously smooth head, which I might not have noticed if I hadn't looked closely.

Chill, could this be the legendary "flowering head"?

I tried to communicate with it, but I still received only meaningless mixed signals. It seemed that even though it had mutated, its intelligence hadn't improved much.

I was puzzled and suddenly remembered something. I immediately opened the Raven's status bar. Damn, no changes at all, what a disappointment. Where was the Raven?

I looked around curiously. Damn, it was perched on top of the tent, sleeping soundly. If I hadn't considered the possibility of it betraying and running away, I would have thrown a stone to knock it down.

I glanced at the lazy Raven, speechless. I decided to ignore it. I took a deep breath and stretched—morning air was fresh, green, and pure, free from pollution. If only I could exclude the smell of blood coming from the lake...

It was still early, and the fog around me was thick. However, a few days ago, the fog was so dense that I couldn't see anything, but now I could barely see up to ten meters away. This wasn't because the fog was lighter today; it was most likely due to the increased lighting attribute of the golden leather armor. No wonder Cain had emphasized it; it was indeed a powerful attribute.

I temporarily put aside the issue of the Venomous Flower Vine's mutation. I had two goals for coming to the Cold Plains: to find the teleportation station and to challenge Bisshop. Both of these goals had been achieved. What should I do next? Challenge Blood Raven? My current strength wasn't enough. Continue training? The thought made me feel lost. Was my entire life really going to be spent in endless training and leveling up, with the ultimate goal of defeating the Demon Lord in an RPG-style game? Was there nothing else I wanted to do?

Find a good wife, hmm, that seemed to be my original goal, but I already had Xia La as a candidate, so I wasn't in a hurry. As for Linya, I hadn't seen her for a while, and my thoughts of her had faded. The saying "distance creates beauty" only applies to true lovers. For someone like me and Linya, who weren't even in a relationship, the longer we were apart, the more we would forget each other. I wondered if that little girl had forgotten me. I thought about it for a while, and it seemed like I was back in that bar where we first met. Her innocent and speechless demeanor, her character like a princess who had just stepped 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 there shouldn't be any major problems. I hoped she would grow up quickly; just being good at fighting wasn't enough; she needed to learn how to handle people and situations, or she might be deceived at any time.

Apart from these, what other goals did I have? It seemed there were none. What a decadent life.

I sat in the camp, ate some dried meat, and my thoughts wandered. When I came back to my senses, I saw that the fog outside had dissipated. I packed up and set off with the Venomous Flower Vine and the lazy Raven.

Throughout the morning, by continuously observing the Venomous Flower Vine in battle, I found that its combat skills and damage had improved significantly. Previously, when facing 5-6 corpses, it would take at least one hit, but now it could remain unscathed. This wasn't due to luck; it was a conclusion I reached after careful observation.

In terms of damage, it was also significant. The weakest Fallen Ones no longer required the additional continuous damage from poison; it could take them out with one bite. If its mouth were bigger, I suspected it might even swallow a Fallen One whole.

Besides observing the Venomous Flower Vine's strength, I had many other thoughts. If the Venomous Flower Vine could mutate, could the Raven also mutate? What about the Ghost Wolf, the Mad Wolf, and even the Grizzly Bear that I would learn to summon later? If they could all mutate, perhaps I could really kill my way to Hell with just my own strength.

To test my theory, I decided to increase the intensity of my training. I remembered there was a cave in the Cold Plains. This cave was a good thing, like an experience dungeon in a game. It wasn't that the monsters in the cave gave more experience, but because there were more monsters, and the narrow terrain allowed me to deal with more enemies.

Of course, finding a cave in the Cold Plains was very difficult. By the time I found the cave entrance, it was already the fourth day after I killed Bisshop. Along the way, I had leveled up to level 8, much faster than other players.

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End of Chapter 59