Chapter 286

Adeline's mission was not difficult.

Her target was a special plant known as "Grey-Paste Scale Fungus."

There was no need to scheme against others, nor was there any need to fight monsters to the death.

Once she collected a certain quantity of Grey-Paste Scale Fungus and brought it back to the Adventurer Association, her promotion mission would be a success, granting her the opportunity to officially ascend to the second floor of the association as a professional and gain access to more resources and channels.

However, as one of the alternative main ingredients for crafting 【Lesser Stoneskin Potion】, as well as a useful stabilizer material in some mid-to-high-level spells, the growth conditions for Grey-Paste Scale Fungus were quite harsh.

This unique mushroom, which possessed a greyish-white color akin to rock and a surface covered in fine, scale-like grid patterns, shared the same preference for damp and dark environments as the vast majority of fungi.

Yet, it also had one mandatory growth condition.

—The bodily fluids of a Basilisk.

Whether it be saliva, blood, urine, or feces, as long as it contained the bodily fluids of this lazy, eight-legged lizard, the Grey-Paste Scale Fungus would have the possibility to grow and multiply.

Furthermore, Basilisks were commonly found in the Underdark and were very typical cave-dwelling creatures.

The location where Grey-Paste Scale Fungus was most frequently discovered could therefore be easily imagined.

Naturally, it was the underground lair inhabited by the Basilisk.

Adeline had only recently been promoted to a professional, and even with the moniker of "Green Blood" in River Valley Town, she was still far from being able to trade blows with a monster of this level.

Fortunately, she was not alone on this promotion mission.

Perhaps considering that the difficulty of acting alone was too great, the association had equipped her with two temporary teammates as a prerequisite for accepting the mission.

Both were also professionals who had just been promoted during this period, and under the coordination of the Adventurer Association, they had been assigned to a squad to complete the second-floor mission together.

Of course, being a remote town on the edge of the kingdom, no matter how dense the adventurers were, the harsh conditions required to obtain a professional level meant that the number of professionals who could successfully promote each year was not very high.

It was already quite difficult to gather three professionals in such a short time who had just completed their promotion and had not yet obtained the qualifications to ascend to the second floor of the association.

In terms of squad role positioning, it naturally appeared less than reasonable.

Including Adeline, all three were "Warriors."

They only differed in the weapons they used and their combat styles.

It seemed somewhat terrible, but in reality, this was not a problem.

No matter how reasonable the squad role distribution was, even if they had gathered the so-called "Warrior, Mage, Priest" trio, these three would still only be level 1 professionals, by no means a match for a Basilisk.

This required them to avoid direct combat with the Basilisk as much as possible and use clever methods to obtain the Grey-Paste Scale Fungus growing in its lair.

"How is the situation? Is this eight-legged lizard still sleeping soundly as soon as it returns to the cave, just like the past few days?"

Covered in grass clippings and mud, completely unconcerned with so-called decorum, Adeline lay in the depths of a patch of grass in a terrain with a slightly open view, far from the entrance of the lizard's lair, and asked her teammate nearby in a voice that was nearly inaudible.

"Yeah, this beast seems to have found a suitable prey today and had a hearty meal; its belly got stuck in the cave entrance and it barely made it in, and now it has entered a dormant state."

Responding to her was a man with dark skin and a slightly lean build.

He seemed to have mastered some kind of sensory combat technique; at this moment, he was in a twisted posture with both knees on the ground, his upper body pressed forward against the earth, and his lower body slightly arched, pressing one cheek and ear completely against the ground to carefully investigate the movements deep within the cave.

All of them were professionals who had truly fought their way up from the bottom; their personalities might differ, but their professional competence during their adventures was not low.

After communicating and discussing with each other, clarifying the principle of avoiding battle, and finding the Basilisk's lair, the three quickly formulated a detailed and thorough action plan.

First and most importantly, it was naturally to figure out the activity patterns of this Basilisk.

When does it go out to hunt? How long does it stay away each time? Does it have a fixed route?

Secondly, this included but was not limited to determining if the lair had extra entrances, a detailed investigation of the surrounding terrain, the distribution and density of the surrounding vegetation, whether there were any blind spots for emergency hiding, and even escape routes for unexpected situations...

Every item they could think of was raised and resolved one by one during the long wait and observation.

Under normal circumstances, if it were any other creature, or even just a slightly more normal Basilisk, Adeline and the others should have been able to complete the mission smoothly.

But what made it feel tricky was that for that eight-legged lizard in the underground lair in the distance, the three encountered trouble the moment they began observing its activity patterns.

There was absolutely no pattern to speak of!

Its origins in the Underdark had not allowed this fat, bloated reptile to develop the habit of being nocturnal.

All of its behaviors seemed to be solely for the purpose of filling its never-satisfied stomach.

It went out to hunt at unfixed times; basically, it would eat the prey on the spot as soon as it caught it, continue hunting if it wasn't full, and return to the lair to sleep and rest once it was full or too lazy to move anymore.

Its rest time was also unfixed, depending purely on whether the contents of its stomach had been digested; once it felt hungry, it would rush out of the lair directly into the forest to find something to eat.

Adeline had even seen it go out to hunt three times in the span of five hours.

Its activities were irregularly distributed across any point in the twenty-four hours.

They had observed it for three whole days!

They simply could not find a single suitable node that was safe, had sufficient time tolerance, and allowed them to venture deep into the lair to search for and collect the Grey-Paste Scale Fungus.

"Perhaps... our squad could split one person off to secretly follow behind the Basilisk when it goes out to hunt, while the remaining two take the opportunity to enter the lair and collect the mushrooms."

"And when the Basilisk finishes hunting and intends to return, the person tracking it can quickly return a step ahead to warn us?"

The last member of the squad, a bald man with a sturdy build several sizes larger than Adeline and a face full of flesh, suggested to the other two with a meticulous thought process and a tentative tone that contrasted with his appearance.

Frowning slightly, after thinking about it for a moment in her heart.

Adeline shook her head gently:

"The uncertainty is too high, and there is no room for error; it is very easy to create unnecessary danger, and it is also difficult to carry out as planned when actually performing it."

"First point, although we have prepared sufficient scent-masking spray and have all purchased 【Petrification Resistance Potion】 in advance, the person trailing behind the Basilisk is definitely in the highest degree of danger. If they happen to be discovered... you know the instantaneous explosive power of that thing, and escaping might require some luck."

"In this situation, this candidate... who goes?"

Seeing the bald man beside her looking as if he wanted to speak but stopped, seemingly wanting to actively apply for this position, Adeline waved her hand, signaling for him to finish listening to her words.

"Second point, if we follow what you said, given that we already need to leave one person outside to keep watch and stay alert before we even enter the lair to collect, if we split another one out to trail the Basilisk, that means there would only be one person going deep into the lair to collect the mushrooms."

"We haven't even figured out the specific situation inside the cave; going down alone, who knows if we will encounter any other dangers."

"If one were unfortunately trapped and unable to escape, and the Basilisk happened to return, wouldn't that become a dead end?"

There were obviously many more loopholes in the plan proposed by the bald, sturdy man, but the two points Adeline had just raised were enough to completely reject his suggestion.

Regarding this, although the bald, sturdy man looked fierce and menacing, he appeared exceptionally calm and naturally accepted the result of his proposal being rejected.

After all, they were temporary teammates in the true sense; the three had common goals and interests, and their professional competence as "adventurers" was quite good.

Naturally, it was impossible for them to lose their temper at will like many ignorant fools.