Chapter 105: 104 Swelgiris, So Weak

Norris had a dream.

In the dream, he returned to the surface with a demon crystal mine, and inside there was actually an A-grade quality demon crystal.

After selling it, Norris paid off his debts and still had quite a bit of money left over.

He would never have to dig mines with a dirty face every day again.

With this money, Norris studied herbalism, became a potioner, opened a potion shop in Silent Wind Town, and lived the stable life he had always dreamed of.

One day, that girl came to the shop.

That girl whose name he didn't even know.

Norris was very excited, so excited he forgot how to greet customers, but fortunately the girl spoke first.

He thought the girl had come to buy potions too, but the girl opened her mouth and said:

"Strange? Is he not fully awake yet?"

Then came a series of crisp slapping sounds.

Slap slap slap slap—

Opening his eyes, he saw a Slime using its tentacles to slap back and forth on his face; the force was very light, he could hardly feel it, but the sound was very loud...

???

"Finally awake. How is it? Is your head still clear? Not poisoned, right?"

That voice!

The Death God... no, it was the person who had previously asked if he wanted to live.

Norris finally distinguished dream from reality and remembered what had happened before.

"My body?"

He tried to move his body; there was no discomfort, he even felt exceptionally good!?

"It actually worked..."

The moment Norris propped up his upper body, a sound like metal grinding came from his body.

He looked down and saw countless diamond-shaped silver-white scales covering his entire body; under the glow of the surrounding fluorescent mushrooms, iridescence rippled with his breathing.

Raising both hands, ten claws like silver threads seemed capable of easily tearing apart everything before him.

What made him feel even more strange was the hollow in his right chest; countless mycelia had formed a new structure inside...

What has he... turned into?

Norris stood in the mushroom house looking at a loss, even wanting to pinch himself to see if he was dreaming, but his claws were too long to pinch.

"Are you awake now?" Lin Jun asked again.

"You... who exactly are you? Why did you turn me into this?" Norris felt he had become a monster.

"I am the one who saved your life. As for why you turned out like this, didn't I tell you? Just a small price after the treatment.

I even asked you specifically once; did you forget?"

Norris thought for a moment; it did seem that way, but he hadn't expected the price to be like this at the time.

As if guessing Norris's thoughts, Lin Jun said again: "What? If you knew you would turn out like this, would you choose to give up living? If so, you can choose that now too."

Norris looked at his sharp claws and swallowed.

Indeed, even knowing the result, he still didn't want to die...

Lin Jun continued to comfort him:

"Being like this now isn't bad either; isn't the Silver Armor beautiful?

Honestly, I didn't expect scales mixed with steel bones to mutate into this color.

And not only is it beautiful, you've also become stronger!"

"Stronger...?"

"Do you want to try?"

Soon, two Pujies brought Norris to a small clearing in the mushroom forest.

A chubby Slime walked over, leaving one footprint per step.

Gulu—

"Do you want me to fight it?"

Norris wasn't to blame for being cowardly; he truly didn't know how to fight. The only high-level skill he had was 【Pickaxe Strike】 used for mining; seeing the chubby Slime's huge size, he felt weak. "Of course not."

Just as Norris let out a sigh of relief, he saw the chubby one reach into its belly and pull out a large wild boar.

???

Norris looked at the large creature lying on the ground still in a coma and tried hard to recall the dungeon monster encyclopedia.

"It's not a Stone-Skin Boar, is it?" Norris said uncertainly.

"Correct!"

The Stone-Skin Wild Boar doesn't actually have stone skin; the name is just a description.

It is one of the few animal-type monsters that can run wild in the Sixth Layer Botanical Garden, relying on its thick skin, tough flesh, and great strength, unafraid of those plants' entanglement.

"No, no! How can I fight a Sixth Layer monster!"

Although Norris was level 21, if he really fought, even the monsters of the first three layers would be tough.

"Don't worry, don't worry; I'm watching. You won't die."

The Slimes pushed Norris back; at this moment, the Stone-Skin Wild Boar slowly woke up. As soon as it woke, a stone thrown by a Slime smashed onto its head.

The boar shook its head, turned around, and noticed the shiny Norris on the opposite side—the Silver Armor was indeed conspicuous.

Facing the standing wild boar as tall as a person, Norris couldn't summon any courage and turned to run.

He remained still, but the moment he moved, the wild boar stirred and charged straight at him.

【Charge Lv3】

It was a skill of not particularly high level, but with the added weight of the wild boar, the impact was terrifying.

And Norris, fleeing in panic, didn't even observe the enemy's movements; he just ran blindly, not even noticing the wild boar's charge.

The boar caught up from behind and, with a single thrust, sent him flying.

Norris traced a beautiful parabola through the air before crashing headfirst into a mushroom tree, bouncing off and slamming onto the ground.

His status panel showed only a 15% drop in health, but Norris, unaware of this, thought he was about to die from the fall.

After twisting on the ground for a long while, he realized it was just a bit painful, but by then, the wild boar had already rammed into him again.

This time, the Stone-Skin Wild Boar pinned Norris directly beneath the mushroom tree, pushing with such force that Norris was driven deep into the tree.

Desperate, Norris tried to brace the boar's head with both hands, only to find his claws easily piercing the boar's hide and sinking in.

Unfortunately, he missed the vital points; injured, the wild boar instead went berserk.

Thrusting again and again, even though the boar's tusks weren't particularly sharp and Norris's scales remained unbroken, his internal organs could not withstand it.

Spitting a mouthful of fresh blood, Norris grew fierce; his claws dug into the boar's body as he pulled with all his might, while the magic within him, driven by instinct, surged toward the gap in his right chest.

Boom!

The point-blank Mushroom Cannon erupted with a deafening roar; the shockwave blew off more than half the boar's head, and Norris himself was shaken so hard he rolled far across the ground.

Lin Jun, watching the battle, was not at all panicked; though Norris's situation looked perilous, he actually still had about sixty percent of his health remaining, part of which had been depleted by his own Mushroom Cannon.

After hiding the ruby, Seeing Xiao Hei, who had run over at some unknown time to watch the show, offered his evaluation: "Sveergis, so weak."

Sveergis?

After a moment of thought, Lin Jun recalled that this was apparently the collective term dragons used for those unworthy of having a name.

Could Seeing Xiao Hei have mistaken him for a Dragonkin as well?

He clearly had neither tail nor wings, and his scales were flat against his body, completely different from Seeing Xiao Hei's thick, upright scales; how could he be mistaken?

But the evaluation was not wrong—so weak.

The skill Lin Jun had equipped on Seeing Xiao Hei could have defeated this Stone-Skin Wild Boar, let alone Norris, whose stats were far higher, yet the result was like this.

But thinking about it, judging by Norris's previous skill panel, he probably hadn't fought much.

Lin Jun and Seeing Xiao Hei thought Norris's performance was pathetically weak, but Norris himself did not think so at this moment.

Norris looked at the fallen Stone-Skin Wild Boar before him, his chest heaving violently.

A strange, unfamiliar sensation climbed up his spine; fear, excitement, joy, and pain mingled and flooded his brain.

He looked at his own hands, still dripping with blood.

"This is... power!"

【Level Up: Lv21→Lv22】

(End of Chapter)