The Giant Vein Leech was completely enraged. Its cold eyes flashed with furious red as its fleshy body heaved, kicking up waves of rancid, rotting swamp spray, then blurred into afterimages as it slammed down at high speed.

"Thud!"

Chen Yu was struck hard, his body instantly flattened, but the real damage was absorbed by his resilient Slime carapace. The impact turned into rebound force; the slime gel compressed to its limit and bounced back, slamming into the Giant Vein Leech’s head.

A slime ricochet!

Another solid crash rang out.

The Giant Vein Leech was knocked several meters away. The suction cups it used to latch onto prey drove several venomous spines into the ground underneath it, causing it to writhe and roll in pain, stirring mud and water everywhere.

"There—this is what happens when you skimp on defense."

Chen Yu popped forward with a "plop," firing off another Little Arrow Technique.

This time he blew its head clean off, yet the Giant Vein Leech’s movements were unaffected; the wound healed quickly.

This thing probably had no brain—just a single huge nerve cord running through its body. Unless you destroyed it all at once, it still retained decision-making ability.

Chen Yu thought about that and felt a little vexed.

He wasn’t upset because the Giant Vein Leech was especially powerful.

He was annoyed because it seemed the creature couldn’t be hunted if it was dead; it could only be swallowed alive and digested.

Imagine that slimy thing writhing and struggling in a stomach… ugh, so disgusting.

He refused to be superstitious.

He charged again, fighting the Giant Vein Leech for another three hundred rounds.

Acid secretion corrosion, venomous spines piercing, Little Arrow Technique explosions… he threw out every trick he had, successfully shrinking the Giant Vein Leech from a two-meter-thick behemoth down to the size of a grown man’s forearm.

It still wouldn’t die.

But it wasn't without gains. At least he found the Giant Vein Leech's magic organ—a chunk of flesh growing in the middle of its body, laced with Magic Patterns, pulsing like a little heart.

Since a monster’s innate talents came from its magic organ, why not just eat the magic organ directly instead of swallowing that disgusting whole thing?

"Oh, right."

Chen Yu’s round eyes brightened. He chased the fleeing Giant Vein Leech and fired another Little Arrow Technique that precisely blew the magic flesh chunk free.

The shattered meat chunk traced a graceful arc through the air, landed on the ground, squirmed as it sprouted a bit of flesh, then dimmed and went still.

Its regeneration seemed to lack sufficient magic; it stopped regrowing.

Chen Yu hopped over and swallowed the leech’s magic organ whole to digest it.

[Devour Digestion Lv.3 triggered — Giant Vein Leech features fully recorded, talent gestation in progress (1/10)]

"This is the proper way to open it."

"Chomp chomp chomp..."

Not gonna lie, the flesh chunk had some chew to it; it wouldn’t crush under pressure and held a strong fishy odor, like stuffing a huge handful of crushed heteroherb into his stomach.

The taste was weirdly tangy and satisfying.

Eating it made Chen Yu’s whole gel tremble.

Taking down the Giant Vein Leech had worn him out; his Spiritual Energy was drained, so he gulped down four Fluorescent Mycenen to recover and hopped back to the nest to rest.

At the tree-root nest, Chen Yu squinted and lounged comfortably, feeling bits of warmth spreading from his stomach. His gaze landed on the Little Ones playing in the nest.

Unnoticed, they had grown rounder again. What hadn’t changed was their love of sticking to him, all gooey.

Sometimes they curled up into little balls, their translucent bodies rising and falling slightly as they lazily enjoyed the warm glow from his digestion.

Sometimes their lively natures couldn’t be held back; they bounced along his soft sides, their bouncy bodies trembling, like mischievous, happy jelly.

Chen Yu ignored them and, squinting, soon fell asleep.

He didn’t know how long passed. When he woke again, night had already fallen. Darkness lay outside; only the nest remained bathed in the soft light of Gray Gravel Crystals.

Slime Mother quietly guarded the nest entrance. The Little Ones were so sleepy they could barely open their eyes; their tiny green-bean eyes drooped, lacking the daytime vigor.

Chen Yu shook his gel, awareness returning, and focused on the panel.

[Devour Digestion Lv.3 triggered — Fluorescent Mycenen features fully recorded, gained Hallucinogenic Factor Lv.1]

——

Species: Hallucinogenic Slime

Tier: Black Iron Lv.3 [EXP: 16/30]

Cultivation: Qi Training Lv.3 [Spiritual Energy: 27/30]

Life Status: Healthy [HP: 105/105]

Racial Talent: Devour Digestion Lv.3

Other Talents: Acid Secretion Lv.3, Toxin Resistance Lv.3, Resilient Carapace Lv.2, Hallucinogenic Factor Lv.1

Skill List: Open Yuan Treasure Scroll Lv.4, Object Manipulation Lv.3, Little Arrow Technique Lv.2, Sound Transmission Technique Lv.2, Talisman Drawing Technique Lv.1

Reputation Title: Slime Warrior (greenhorn Slime)

——

Huh?

Only then did he notice his Cultivation—he was unknowingly edging close to a breakthrough.

From what he knew, the difference between early, mid, and late stages of Qi Training in Xu Xuan Heaven was considerable.

Once you broke through the fourth layer, not only would Spiritual Energy purity jump several tiers, but the meridians and Dantian would also be baptized by Spiritual Energy, bringing a cultivator closer to the natural order.

The same spell or technique wielded by an early-stage cultivator and a mid-stage cultivator would produce completely different levels of power.

Thinking about the impending breakthrough, the gel in his body bubbled with joyful fizz.

Unlike before, the bubbles emitted a faint bioluminescent glow as they drifted through the nest.

A few still-energetic, mischievous Little Ones suddenly felt dizzy, toppled over, and fell into a deep sleep.

"So this is the Fluorescent Mycenen’s hallucinogenic talent?"

"Pretty fun."

It was just low-level—probably ineffective against stronger monsters.

After a nap, his vitality returned, so he sent his consciousness back to Xu Xuan Heaven and got up in the middle of the night to practice Talisman Drawing.

Watching the proficiency indicator rise, he got more and more hooked, and only the next day—wearing dark circles under his eyes—did he return to exploring deeper into the swamp.

Passing the place where he’d fought the Giant Vein Leech yesterday, there were no obstacles ahead; that mysterious ruin lay close at hand.

As Chen Yu approached, the soft rotten mud underfoot gradually gave way to solid, broken flagstones. A thick darkness, as viscous as ink, rolled over him, suffocating and swallowing his senses.

Silence—an oppressive silence—blanketed everything.

There was something strange about this ruin.

He groped in the dark and found a fallen stone pillar, hiding behind it from instinct.

Main strategy: cautious and sneaky.

The soft "plop" of a slime moving faded, and in the dense blackness a few cold, predatory eyes suddenly flared.

After Chen Yu adapted to the dark, he finally saw several swamp crocodiles lying in the ruined ruin.

These beasts were common along the Reed River bank; with a deadly rolling attack, even brown bears dared not provoke them, and they often ambushed demi-humans wading in for fish.

But strangely, these differed from ordinary swamp crocodiles.

Their scales were gray, just like those of the Corrupted Lizardfolk.

Chen Yu had the feeling he’d stumbled onto a significant secret.

…

Ironboot Town.

Noah leaned on the polished wooden bridge railing and looked down at the town at the foot of the mountain—the air carried the smell of freshly baked bread, the warm smoke of firewood, and the clean freshness of post-rain earth.

Low wooden houses lined the path. In the distance, the old Oak Tavern’s lights glowed at dusk, warm and inviting.

Yes, he had returned.

He had come back to Ironboot Town alive.

Though his body still ached, the familiar scents relaxed him—this was the peace of homecoming.

He tightened his tattered coat and stepped along the path, avoiding the gaze of passersby, hurrying toward the inn.

A mix of eagerness and a bashful, hometown-shy awkwardness churned in his chest.

He had been gone so many days—he didn’t know how Lola and the children were, whether they’d come back.

He hoped everything was all right.