Chapter 108: Temporarily Irreplaceable

Inside the hollow of the mountain.

The slime sat perched atop the rift, ignoring the army of tigers and wolves making plop-plop sounds all around, filtering magic and curses from the water source as it had for ten thousand years.

Even with Slime right beside it using skills to build rock frames, if it merely puffed its body slightly it could suck Slime inside, yet it had no interest in doing so.

How to put it... a very good personality?

This was the first time Lin Jun had ever seen such a Zen-like slime.

Of course, that was on the premise that you didn't move it away from the water source; move it, and its resistance would be fiercely intense.

Lin Jun had already studied this rift.

He was unsure what lay on the other side, but it certainly wasn't the Dragon Cliff Dungeon from the Demon Tide incident.

Last time, when two huge rifts opened on the fifth floor, neither had a single trace of curse, obviously a different style.

Speaking of curses reminded Lin Jun of the abyssal magic of those black-robed figures.

However, compared to the limited range and duration of those black-robed figures' abyssal magic, the curse level on the other side of the rift was obviously far higher.

Lin Jun tried commanding Slime to extend its fungal tentacles to the other side of the rift, but the moment the tentacles crossed over, the curse's effect skyrocketed; half a tentacle instantly turned to ash, and even Slime itself was affected, collapsing and corroding within moments.

This was a specialized Slime that had increased health and equipped 【Corrosion Resistance Lv5】, yet it was killed by the curse in a single exchange.

The only information gained was that the rift seemed to open in the middle section of a water channel on the other side, while shadowy figures swayed on both banks of the channel; in the magic-laden water, perception was too blurry to see clearly what they were.

In short, the idea of shoving the fungal threads back in was temporarily unfeasible; at the very least, Corrosion Resistance needed to be leveled up first.

Afterwards, Lin Jun tried to see if he could block it.

No matter how one looked at it, this thing was too dangerous; left unmanaged, it would conservatively affect half of the sixth floor, and subsequent changes were unknown.

Although it could bring magic gains, compared to the risks, it was hardly worth it; sealing it off would be best.

Blocking it with fungal threads was obviously impossible; they would corrode upon touching the curse.

Lin Jun first used a plastering method, using rocks generated by Slime to seal the rift tightly, not letting a single drop of water leak through.

The result, however, was that the curse still shrouded the entire mountain hollow, and as time passed, it deepened and spread outward.

Contrary to Lin Jun's initial judgment, the curse was not hidden in the water.

The method of influence was re-guessed as radiation.

He had no choice but to chip open the sealed stone wall again and return the slime to its original position.

Since he couldn't block it, Lin Jun settled for the next best thing, thinking about whether he could get an ordinary slime to block it.

After all, Lin Jun still wanted to taste the rare skills on that two-colored slime.

After the two-colored slime split off a red slime, Lin Jun plugged the opening with this red slime.

The red slime was not very appreciative; it struggled constantly at first, and only became docile and started filtering the water after Slime suppressed it with stone slabs.

However, as magic accumulated in its body, the red slime grew larger and larger, its struggling force increasing; seeing it was about to become uncontrollable, Lin Jun had already planned to order its execution.

But before Lin Jun could act.

Pop!

It exploded on its own!

The expelled bodily fluids knocked the surrounding Slime off balance, and even the two Slime controlling the two-colored slime were covered in juice and couldn't climb out for a while.

Once the two-colored slime broke free from its restraints, it immediately bounced back.

Lin Jun also learned for the first time that slimes could be burst from being overfilled...

The two-colored slime had no risk of bursting because it split periodically, but ordinary slimes were different.

Finally, after all that fuss, everything could only remain as it was.

The two-colored slime suppressed the rift; the surrounding Slime could not harm it, but had to serve it well.

However, Lin Jun could not do nothing.

The Slime were now using their skill to create rock walls to build a cage around the slime, or more accurately—a hanging cage.

A small hole fitting the rift and two drainage outlets were opened in the solid cage floor; the upper end of the cage was an openable exit for the split-off slimes to come out and enjoy the one-stop slaughter and decomposition service.

The top of the cage was hooked by tentacles made of fungal threads enhanced with 【Toughness】; when needed, the two-colored slime could be lifted directly, exposing the rift.

Inside the mountain hollow, Lin Jun directly stationed a full forty Slime on long-term standby.

These Slime were all at least health-boosted and possessed 【Corrosion Resistance】.

They counted as a batch of little elites.

Besides being responsible for slaughtering the split slimes, they also had to deal with any sudden incidents that might occur here.

For instance, if the two-colored slime suddenly died, the Slime would have to use their bodies to block the rift.

Relying on their health and resistance, each Slime could buy about half a minute of time, giving Lin Jun a chance to react.

Besides these, they had another task: training 【Corrosion Resistance】.

Every so often, the hanging cage would be lifted to release a bit of corrosive curse, used immediately, repeated over and over, slowly grinding this skill.

All of this was Lin Jun's precaution against potential future problems.

This rift was too strange; whether it would disappear or expand later was uncertain.

If it expanded, turning the entire sixth floor into a deadly zone of corrosive curses, then Lin Jun would truly be forced to stay within the first five floors, and that was assuming the stairs could block the curse.

But if he could raise his Corrosion Resistance high enough to fear no curses, then perhaps he could even expand his territory by pushing forward!

With everything arranged, the Slime outside also began the earth-filling work.

This was a new batch of Slime engineering teams; the previous batch had almost all perished in the slime flood.

They were refilling the rubble and soil, burying the opening of this mountain hollow; afterwards, only one underground passage reinforced with fungal threads would remain.

To prevent those curious adventurers from accidentally stumbling into the rift side.

【Level Up: Lv52 → Lv53】

【Seven Sins: Greed Triggered】

【Plunder Skill: Scales Lv5→Lv6】

【Plunder Skill: Corrosion Resistance Lv5→Lv6】

【Plunder Skill: Saliva Arrow Lv3→Lv4】

Oh!

Speak of the devil, Corrosion Resistance has leveled up!

The batch of Dragon Beasts Miraji harvested earlier has been mostly decomposed.

Putting aside Saliva Arrow as a purely entertainment skill, Lin Jun originally raised Miraji mainly for their Scales; now it seems Corrosion Resistance is also important—perhaps he should consider expanding the breeding scale?

Though he wants to do so, there is no new breeding location available for the moment.

After all, a new breeding spot also needs an environment like the Venom Lake, where Miraji can hide and protect themselves.

Otherwise, passing monsters and adventurers would just casually pluck a few; that wouldn't be breeding, it would be charity.

Additionally, this time not only did the skills level up, but the level that had been stuck for so long actually increased by one!

To be honest, leveling up is so slow after reaching a high level; since the Demon Tide, the level has hardly moved at all.

It no longer holds the joy of leveling up fiercely like in the Deep Zone.

But thinking about it, it's normal: a guy over level fifty, staying all day in a floor with a level cap of Lv25, relying on natural gathering and corpse decomposition for experience—how could leveling up be fast?

If he really wants to level up quickly, he's afraid he'll have to return down below and clash fiercely with those high-level monsters!

Speaking of going down, there is one very interesting place on the sixth floor—the rift leading directly to the Deep Zone.

That is the place where Inanna originally fell.

After capturing the Dome and revealing the entire map, Lin Jun also confirmed the location.

Now that the Shi Laimu crisis is resolved, naturally he has time to investigate.

There is just one problem: with so many rifts, which one leads to the place he originally came from?

(End of Chapter)