Chapter 89: Herb Field and Monster Mutation

Shang Chuan: "No, leave those to be excavated later. For now, just focus on gathering that thorium ore first."

That was Shang Chuan's reply.

He had his own considerations.

True, giving up so much profit was no small loss for him.

However, whether it was Lan Qingyou or Li Huai, both were notoriously not to be trifled with in District 666.

If someone discovered this mine and wanted to plunder it, Lan Qingyou and Li Huai would naturally serve as the ultimate deterrents.

If you wanted to rob it, you'd first have to ask the Witch and Li Huai if they'd agree to it.

This point alone could allow him to firmly grip this mine within his own hands.

Therefore, he wasn't in a hurry to kill those Mountain-Eating Beasts.

Under these circumstances, keeping them alive was the proper course of action and the way to maximize profits.

Furthermore.

Judging from the general data provided in the exploration report, just that thorium ore alone was enough for Li Wufeng and his team to mine for a very long time. There was no need to provoke more Mountain-Eating Beasts at this stage.

"Mmm—"

Meanwhile.

Having finished her lessons for the day, Lan Qingyou raised her arms and stretched.

After loosening up her body, she grabbed Steel Wool, who was playing alone by the side, and proceeded to fiercely cuddle it.

After a month of growth, the little fellow had now completely filled out.

Unlike its 'steel wool' image from a month ago, the grayish fluff had now grown into gray-and-white patterned feathers.

Although it still couldn't fly, it at least vaguely resembled a bird.

"Tweet, tweet—"

The cuddled Steel Wool didn't feel any discomfort, appearing exceedingly jubilant instead.

Squinting its eyes with its beak slightly agape, it looked incredibly adorkable.

Rather than calling this fellow a bird of prey, it was more like a 'bird of play', exceptionally talented at acting cute.

It made Lan Qingyou, who stayed home alone and rarely went out, not feel lonely at all.

"Oh, right. Even though the snow outside hasn't stopped, the mana turbulence has already ended. I should go check on how that slime mud has fared these past few days."

As she stroked the snowy owl, Lan Qingyou suddenly remembered the slime mud she had set outside a week ago.

Now was the time to check on them. If they met the requirements, she would plant those wilted herbs.

And so, Lan Qingyou put Steel Wool down, picked up her magic broom, and flew up to the second-floor terrace. After injecting mana into it, the magic broom began sweeping away the snow on the terrace.

Once a patch of white snow had been cleared away, Lan Qingyou excitedly stepped forward to inspect the mud.

Unsurprisingly, the mud had all been frozen into solid clumps, entirely unsuitable for planting.

But even so, Lan Qingyou wanted to try. She chipped off a piece of mud, brought it indoors, and began baking it directly over the fire on the alchemical base.

Although it had hardened, after a week of fusing with the snow water, this slime mud no longer had that acrid stench from before.

On the contrary.

Perhaps due to the snow water seeping in, or perhaps due to the mana turbulence, this slime mud was actually emitting a faint fragrance?

Was there an issue with her olfactory system?

Lan Qingyou was completely befuddled at this moment. After all, she remembered the pungent smell of the slime mud from before.

She leaned in close to take a sniff; the fragrance only grew thicker.

What in the world was going on? Was there something wrong with her, or something wrong with the slime monster?

The Monster Compendium never mentioned anything about this.

Wait, this scent...

Lan Qingyou sniffed again and pondered for quite a while before finally realizing what it was.

Wasn't this the scent of the herbs she'd been drying on the terrace? And what the hell, it was a mixed scent...

She felt somewhat speechlessly absurd, yet at the same time, it felt entirely logical.

After all, ever since the terrace was built, it had always been used to dry herbs and those snakes, insects, rats, and ants. It was completely normal for the wood of the terrace to have absorbed their flavors.

Forget it, she wouldn't think about it anymore. As long as it didn't stink, it was fine.

After all, her alchemical workshop was on the first floor. She didn't want to work in a stinking environment; that would be agonizing torture.

Once it softened, she threw it into the 'herb field' she had long since fenced off.

Following that, she repeated the process for all the mud.

Then, one by one, she buried the carefully selected plants into the soil.

But this wasn't all.

After sorting out all of this, Lan Qingyou brought out the bamboo she had prepared beforehand, connected it to the water tank in the alchemical workshop, and piped the Spring of Rest into it.

The method used was naturally the drip irrigation method she had planned out previously.

On the other side, the pool housed water-attribute plants.

After spending half the day throwing in all the essence of the fire element and essence of the water element, Lan Qingyou finally completed the 'little garden' of her dreams.

Although it was still very small right now, as long as she upgraded to a Level 4 shelter, the space would double. At that time, this 'little garden' filled with the scent of herbs would look much more proper.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Shang Chuan: "Don't go out recently. Everyone is spreading word that the E-rank monsters are currently transitioning into D-rank monsters."

Eh? There was something this interesting going on?

Seeing Shang Chuan's message, Lan Qingyou stared blankly for a moment before turning her gaze to the regional channel.

The reason Lan Qingyou chose the regional channel over the world channel was because this was what closely concerned her. The world was too big; she couldn't keep an eye on all of it.

"Holy shit, you guys don't even know! Just this afternoon, a warg completely transformed right before my eyes, looking just like a zombie wolf! It scared me so much I turned tail and ran on the spot!"

"A zombie wolf? You're so lucky! I was originally chasing a horned rabbit, but it ended up putting on a spectacular show of darting wildly through the shadows right in front of me! Forget about chasing it—my eyes were spinning so hard I nearly went cross-eyed!"

"Sigh... E-rank monsters were already hard enough to deal with. Now that they've undergone such huge transformations, I don't even know if I'll still be able to eat monster meat moving forward."

"Just order takeout! Doesn't Gu Xiaobei's Joy Restaurant have quite a few dishes?"

"Those are no longer within the realm of human cuisine."

"I don't think so, I think it smells pretty fragrant. Especially that deep-fried Golden Autumn Seed dish. It's incredibly crunchy, makes for a very decent little snack."

Golden Autumn Seed.

It was a bug that looked like a cross between a cicada and a grasshopper, roughly the size of a palm.

By removing the head and wings, it could be deep-fried.

This was something Gu Xiaobei had invented. It reportedly sold very well, but there was still a portion of people who couldn't accept it.

"Say no more! Even if I starve to death, even if I have to jump off the third floor of my shelter, I will never eat that stuff!"

Watching the topic severely veer off course, Lan Qingyou smiled wryly and shook her head.

Even though she hadn't personally witnessed monster mutation, it wasn't hard to imagine.

After all, with the exception of a very small minority, everyone's levels had already gone up. According to Lan Qingyou's estimation, the average level should be at least six or seven.

Under these circumstances, E-rank monsters no longer possessed any deterrence capabilities.

Originally, she had thought they would be like the Mountain-Eating Beast discovered by Li Wufeng and the others, or like some of the previous E-rank monsters suddenly popping out one by one to give people a fright.

But she hadn't expected the system to simply let the monsters level up on the spot!

Didn't this immediately crank up the tense and thrilling atmosphere?!