Chapter 641: The Magic Willow
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Since the day he had returned, Ze Hai realized that he seemed to have attained an extraordinary power. The story began on the first day after his return.
The very day Ze Hai returned to his house, he took out some air-dried Overlord-tier monster meat from his cellar to feed his familiar. However, when his right hand touched the corner of his familiar’s mouth, a mysterious power erupted from his middle finger.
He could only watch as his familiar, the Poison-Horned Lizard, let out a chilling roar. Its body wouldn’t stop growing, muscles expanding distinctively to the extent that it was visible to the naked eye. The skeleton of the lizard grew thicker as blood shot to its eyes and its teeth grew sharp and long. What had once been a tame lizard had now turned like a ferocious tyrannosaurus.
An eerie green poisonous fog was dispersed along with a black and red liquid, and the foul smell of decay wafted in the air. His familiar had completely changed overnight.
When some of the elders of the tribe realized the massive change his familiar had undergone, he made up an excuse to conceal the truth, saying that his familiar had swallowed an unknown fruit and mutated.
For some time after that, Ze Hai attempted to use his newfound abilities in hunting grounds in the wild. He realized that only his middle finger had the incredible power to mutate any monsters that it came into contact with.
After trying again, Ze Hai realized that his power could be stopped temporarily at his own will, meaning that he wouldn’t have to worry about accidentally touching anyone and activating his power, therefore revealing himself.
Then he realized that the enhanced ability of his middle finger had no limits! It seemed like he could constantly strengthen any monster at any time.
He captured an Elite-tier wild boar and utilized his ability by constantly strengthening it. After ten days, this wild boar had become a Lord-tier red-skinned monster. Its thick armor faded away to reveal bloody muscles, exposing its flesh. Seemingly, it possessed the ability to spread infection. That was something that Ze Hai had failed to notice at the beginning.
This was unknown to Ze Hai at the time, because his Poison-Horned Lizard was a Poison-type familiar, too. Hence, its main ability was always to infect its enemies, causing them to be poisoned and decay.
At the start, he had thought that his ability was merely to strengthen and enhance. However, he eventually realized that all of the monsters he had strengthened gained the ability to infect.
Ze Hai didn’t continue to experiment with his powers, because his free time at the tribe was over. He was summoned back to Earth Star to handle the Tree Demon.
There were also Overlord-tier monsters among the Tree Demons. Some people had even discovered Saint-tier monsters, but enemies of the Quasi God tier were yet to be found.
At this point, the Mutated Tribe hadn’t appeared. Hence, the superiors of the tribe were still in training mode.
Gao Peng, who was away at the Black Fog World, had obtained information regarding the current status of Earth Star from a certain channel. He sent Dumby to randomly catch any two Tree Demons so he could study them.
On its way back, Dumby caught one Tree Demon at its convenience.
“Dumby, did you misunderstand the meaning of ‘randomly’?” Gao Peng looked at the weird Tree Demon that was being held down by Dumby with merely one hand. It was attempting to escape with strenuous effort but was foiled at every attempt. It looked exceptionally miserable.
Dumby contemplated before it answered Gao Peng earnestly, “When Master said ‘randomly’… I reckoned that Master wanted the best ones. My ability is limited. This is the best I could get. If Master still isn’t satisfied with this catch, I’ll achieve Quasi God before catching a more powerful one for Master.”
Gao Peng was speechless. Looking at Dumby’s sincere face, Gao Peng was considerably moved.
Some of the other familiars had developed their own voices and thoughts as they grew. While it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing for them to have their own opinions, meaning that they weren’t liveless robots, they would be different from Dumby, who took every order from Gao Peng as seriously as though the orders were imperial edicts. In a way, Dumby’s seriousness was rather adorable.
“Is there a fierce battle happening on Earth Star?” Gao Peng asked as he noticed that Dumby was a level higher after it returned from a short trip.
“There were many bodies and souls,” Dumby answered honestly.
Ever since it achieved Saint-tier, Dumby’s level had been stagnant. Before receiving Gao Peng’s command, it was only at Level 86. After it picked up this mission and went on a trip to Earth Star, its level immediately raised to Level 87.
Gao Peng was puzzled as he continued to do the math in his mind. Now Dumby’s growth has begun to slow down. Even if it’s currently the boss of the biggest slaughterhouse in the city of Hope, it takes a very long time to level up.
Don’t the people from the tribe wish to form an alliance with us? For the time being, Huaxia won’t consider collaborating with the tribe, as they’re focusing on their development, but I can help them personally!
Gao Peng reckoned that his ideas were feasible.
He didn’t have to worry much about his own safety, as there were Fatty Big Sea and Windstorm Water Magic Spider. Compared to the Windstorm Water Magic Spider, Dumby’s combat power was superfluous. With or without Dumby, there wouldn’t be a significant difference.
Right now, Earth Star was a battlefield for the Asura, and it was the best time for Dumby to sneak in… or not. In fact, it was a good opportunity for Dumby to enhance itself, an opportunity that wouldn’t be missed. All of a sudden, Gao Peng thought that the best place for Dumby to improve was the battlefield’s wreckage.
“Well, Dumby, wait for me to inform the White Dragon tribe, then you can go to Earth Star to support our friends from the tribe,” Gao Peng said to Dumby.
“Master is really shrewd,” Dumby said, admiring its master.
Gao Peng nodded in satisfaction before he turned to meticulously observe the Saint-tier flora monster that Dumby had captured.
[Monster Name]: Infection, Magic Willow of Sanguinary Plague
[Monster Grade]: Normal/Perfect
[Monster Level]: Level 81 (Saint-tier)
[Monster Attributes]: Wood/Poison
[Monster Skills]: Venomblood Plague Level 7, Hardened Bark Level 5, Sturdy Branch Level 5, Fortified Self-healing Level 5
[Monster Territory]: Venomblood Territory
[Monster Weaknesses]: 1. Holy Condition 2. Fire Attribute
[Monster Description]: Originally, it was an Overlord-tier King Court Cloud Willow monster. After being affected by an unknown influence and consuming a lot of latent energy, it advanced to the Saint tier. All of its wisdom was completely wiped out, leaving only its instinct to kill.
It turned out to be an early Saint-tier monster at the Normal grade. No wonder it had surrendered to Dumby so easily; the difference between the two tiers was significant. Dumby had absolutely had the upper hand.
Moreover, the difference between their grades gave an even greater impact. Dumby was five grades higher than it was. Excellent, Perfect, Epic, Legendary, then Mythical.
When the surface of the infected Magic Willow was released, Dumby gently shook its right hand, which was holding tight to the branch. The deadly gas hungrily engulfed its entire body. The territory of the Magic Willow was completely eroded by the deadly gas before it left the trunk of the creature.
Even though its Venomblood Territory ability had a corroding effect, Dumby’s grade was too high. Furthermore, the Flame of the Undead within Dumby was purer than the territory.
This was the most pathetic and weakest Saint-tier monster Gao Peng had ever seen. He suspected that even Da Zi at Level 77 could easily defeat it… Of course, even if it was weak, it was still a Saint-tier monster, and therefore had a very high value.
Gao Peng summoned the Dark Child, who stared at the Magic Willow for a very long time before it turned to Gao Peng, saying, “You’ve always wanted to upgrade your flora familiar, right? This is a shortcut for you.”