Chapter 93: The Monastery

Toxic Flower Vine (Elite Evolution): With an unwavering belief and an insatiable thirst for power, combined with years of relentless combat, the lowest-level Venomous Flower Vine has evolved into a higher-level creature. All abilities increase by 50%, immune to toxins, and the duration of toxic attacks is doubled. All resistances are increased by an additional 20. Bind: There is a certain probability of binding the opponent during attacks, with the chance and duration of binding depending on the enemy's strength. Devour: There is a certain probability of devouring the opponent during attacks, with an instant death effect. Devouring restores a certain amount of health, with the probability of devouring depending on the enemy's size and strength.

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Among the Druid's summoning skills, every 10 levels, the summoned creatures undergo a more significant upgrade and a greater enhancement—when they reach level 10, the attributes of the summoned creatures increase significantly; at level 20, not only do the attributes increase significantly, but they also gain a powerful skill. This can be seen as God's compensation for the Druid's summoning, as the Necromancer, who also belongs to the summoning category, can employ a powerful tactic with a sea of skeletons. Every Druid knows this, so neither Cain nor the book he gave me mentioned it. It wasn't until I met Eihana and heard her mention it in passing during our exchanges that I gradually learned about the hidden abilities in the Druid's summoning.

To be honest, after learning about this ability from Eihana, I was very hesitant. The Venomous Flower Vine is only a first-tier skill, and compared to other high-level summoning skills, even if it can mutate, it still has inherent shortcomings. This became very evident after the Ghost Wolf appeared, which immediately shifted from being the main attacker to a supporting role. It was also powerless against small boss-level monsters, especially after Xiao Xue appeared, its inherent attribute deficiencies became even more apparent.

On the other hand, the Venomous Flower Vine has been with me from the beginning, and I have a deep emotional bond with it. As my first pet, it has its own simple pride. However, with the appearance of the Ghost Wolf, it may have already realized that its pace is gradually falling behind the team. When facing more powerful boss-level monsters, it can only play a harassing role, and especially after Xiao Xue's evolution, it faces even greater pressure. I often sense its intense desire for power, but as a first-tier skill summon, it is limited by its inherent constraints. Even if it mutates, how can it compare to the elite second-tier Ghost Wolf Xiao Xue? So, in the end, it can only form a weak alliance with the Lazy Crow to enhance its role in the team.

Emotionally, I felt I should give the Venomous Flower Vine a boost, raising the skill level to make it stronger. However, the Venomous Flower Vine is a first-tier skill, and even if it mutates, it would still be insufficient to play a significant role in the later stages. Even if the skill is raised to 10 points, completing the first significant enhancement, it would still be inadequate. It would need to reach 20 points to undergo a second significant change to be comparable to the level 8 skill Xiao Xue in the later stages.

However, reason told me that even at full level, with all the dark gold equipment, there are only about 100 skill points, but 30 skills. Allocating so many skill points to a first-tier Venomous Flower Vine would be a very unwise move.

I hesitated for a long time between emotion and reason. It wasn't until today, when the Venomous Flower Vine mutated and upgraded, and the past scenes vividly reappeared in my mind, that I gritted my teeth—damn it, to hell with reason. I know that the Venomous Flower Vine has been my battle companion from the beginning. Although it is ugly and has low intelligence, if I were to choose the most loyal among these summoned creatures, I would undoubtedly choose the Venomous Flower Vine. How could I just let it be and let it be killed by other monsters in the future?

In the end, emotion overcame reason, and I tried to raise the skill level of summoning the Venomous Flower Vine to 10 points, allowing it to undergo the first significant enhancement.

However, the Venomous Flower Vine was more proud and determined than I imagined. The first significant enhancement could only increase some attributes, which was still insufficient for it. It needed to improve its inherent qualities. Thus, it leveraged the increase in mutation level and the first significant enhancement in skill level. Most importantly, its intense desire for power, stimulated by three factors, finally transformed from quantitative to qualitative change, evolving into an elite Toxic Flower Vine, a high-level summon with potential not inferior to Xiao Xue.

Looking at the attribute panel of the Venomous Flower Vine—no, now it should be called the Toxic Flower Vine—I genuinely felt happy for it and was excited to have gained a powerful ally. From now on, the Toxic Flower Vine will once again become the main force in the team, and even when facing monsters with extremely high physical defense, its role will be greater than the combined efforts of Xiao Xue and the others.

I observed the series of changes in the Toxic Flower Vine but did not rush to raise the Ghost Wolf's skill to level 10. I would wait until Xiao Er and the others mutated to see if there were any surprises.

In the following days, I truly witnessed the Toxic Flower Vine's power. Undoubtedly, if the opponent does not have toxin resistance, the Toxic Flower Vine is the one with the highest attack damage in the team. Even Xiao Xue's giant claw tear cannot compare to its terrifying toxin damage. I won't elaborate on the Bind skill, but the Devour skill is worth mentioning. Honestly, at this stage, the visual effect is much greater than the practical effect. Although the Toxic Flower Vine is only as thick as a calf, its body is very flexible, like a snake. As long as its mouth can accommodate it, there is a certain probability that it will be swallowed alive. However, it is still limited by size. No matter how wide its mouth opens, there is a limit. Currently, it can only devour smaller monsters like imps and spiky beasts. Larger ones like skeletons and dark stalkers are too difficult. The devouring process can be imagined as an animal floating on the water surface suddenly being swallowed by a large mouth emerging from underwater, then quickly sinking. The entire process takes only a few seconds. If my courage hadn't been numbed by the past, I would have been terrified by such a cruel scene. Sigh...

After wandering in the Temo Highlands for half a month, I still had no news of Lai and the others. Instead, the outline of the monastery gradually appeared on the horizon.

Why the horizon? It's hard to imagine the scene when I first saw its outline. The feeling was similar to the shock I felt when I first saw the Rogue Camp.

However, the Rogue Camp was built on a plain, with walls made of wooden frames. The monastery, on the other hand, was built on a natural highland, much higher than the Temo Highlands where I stood. It was even surrounded by a light mist, as if it were standing in a fairyland. Compared to it, the black wasteland castle could only be considered a nouveau riche.

After giving up on finding Lai and the others, I walked for several days toward the monastery and finally reached its base. In front of me was a narrow stone staircase about ten meters wide, leading up to the monastery's entrance high above. Standing below, a powerful aura immediately enveloped me, instilling a sense of awe in all who approached.

At this moment, the staircase was occupied by various monsters. I directed Xiao Xue and the others to clear these obstacles, while my eyes, hidden under the hat, looked at the incomparable monastery with a faintly mocking expression, devoid of any admiration or reverence.

The history of the monastery can be traced back to before the hellish invasion. At that time, it was the spiritual symbol of the entire dark continent. The angels, as the embodiment of God, were revered for their powerful abilities, which were considered divine miracles and worshiped by the majority of ignorant beings. One could say that it was a theocratic society, and the Grand Bishop of the monastery was almost equivalent to the ruler of the entire dark continent.

Absolute power corrupts absolutely. In any era, in any world, as long as there are intelligent beings, such a cycle will always exist. Looking at the current state of the monastery, one can imagine how the so-called servants of God, the monks, extorted wealth from their believers. Ironically, when the hellish invasion occurred, the God they worshiped only sent some warriors to maintain the situation, and in the end, we could only rely on our own hands. How ridiculous, how ridiculous.

There were many monsters on the staircase, probably because it had not been cleared for a long time. Even if someone came, few would be as arrogant as I was to directly climb the most densely populated staircase. They would choose other paths.

After several hours, I finally crossed the long staircase. In front of me stood a massive iron gate, about ten meters wide, with two smaller doors on either side. Even though the hellish race had occupied it for over a thousand years, the patterns on the gate were still beautiful. On either side of the small doors were stone walls that stretched to the ends of the mist, adorned with elaborate carvings. Upon closer inspection, they depicted the so-called gods in various poses, some with a tiger's body trembling, revealing a thousand rays of golden light, some with facial spasms, holding a book of divine tricks, teaching their disciples. More laughable were the angels in battle poses, with holy swords pointing to the sky and trampling countless devils underfoot. Now, at the foot of these walls, a few imps were gathered around a large pot, performing a bizarre dance passed down through generations, creating a scene of chaos.

I shook my head, a mocking smile appearing on my lips. Then I noticed a group of monsters called Tia standing inside one of the small doors, with an elite among them. I couldn't help but laugh. When did the great monastery's entrance have to be guarded by monsters!