Chapter 96

Norris had a dream.

He dreamed that he returned to the surface with magic crystal ore, and there was actually an A-grade quality magic crystal inside.

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

He never had to dig for mines with a dirty face every day again.

With this money, Norris went to learn herbalism, became a pharmacist, opened a magic potion shop in Dumb Wind Town, and lived the stable life he had 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 that he forgot how to greet customers; fortunately, the girl spoke first.

He thought the girl was also here to buy potions, but the girl said:

"Strange? Is this not fully awake yet?"

Then there was a series of crisp slapping sounds.

Slap-slap-slap-slap—

Opening his eyes, he saw a Puji using its tentacles to slap back and forth on his face; the force was very light, he almost didn't feel it, but the sound was very loud...

???

"Finally awake, how is it, is your head clear? Not poisoned, right?"

This voice!

The Grim Reaper... no, it was the person who asked him if he wanted to live before.

Norris finally distinguished between dream and reality, remembering what had happened before.

"My body?"

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

"It's actually good..."

The moment Norris propped up his upper body, a sound similar to metal friction came from his body.

He looked down and saw countless diamond-shaped silver-white scales covering his whole body, and under the illumination of the surrounding fluorescent mushrooms, the colors fluctuated with his breathing.

Raising his hands, the ten silver-thread-like claws seemed to be able to easily tear everything in front of him to pieces.

What made him feel even weirder was the hole in his right chest, where countless mycelia had formed a new structure...

What had he... turned into?

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

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

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

"I am the person who saved your life. As for why you turned into this, didn't I tell you, it's just a small price for the treatment.

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

Norris thought about it; it seemed that was indeed the case, but he hadn't expected it to be this kind of price at the time.

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

Norris looked at his sharp claws and swallowed.

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

Lin Jun continued to comfort him:

"It's not bad to be like this now; aren't silver scales beautiful?

Seriously, I didn't expect that mixing scales with steel bones would mutate into this color.

And it's not just beautiful, you've also become stronger!"

"Stronger...?"

"Do you want to try?"

Soon, two Puji brought Norris to a small clearing in the Mushroom Forest.

A fat Puji walked over, one footprint at a time.

Gulu—

"Do you want me to fight it?"

He couldn't blame Norris for being cowardly; he really didn't know how to fight, and his only higher skill was [Chisel Strike] for mining. Seeing the fat Puji's large size, he felt weak. "Of course not."

Norris had just breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the fat one reach into its belly and pull out a large wild boar.

???

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

"It wouldn't be a Stone-Skin Pig, would it?" Norris said uncertainly.

"Correct!"

Stone-Skin Wild Boars didn't really have stone skin; this name was just a description.

It was one of the few animal-type monsters that could run wild in the sixth-layer botanical garden, relying on thick skin and great strength, not afraid of the entanglement of those plants.

"No, no! How can I fight a sixth-layer monster!"

Although Norris was level 21, if he really fought, the monsters of the first three layers would be enough for him.

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

The Puji pushed Norris back; the Stone-Skin Wild Boar slowly woke up at this time, and as soon as it woke up, a stone thrown by a Puji hit its head.

The wild boar shook its head and turned to notice the shiny Norris opposite—silver scales were truly conspicuous.

Facing the large wild boar that stood as tall as a person, Norris couldn't muster any courage and turned to run.

It would have been fine if he didn't move, but as soon as he moved, the wild boar also moved, charging straight at him.

[Charge lv3]

The skill level wasn't high, but with the wild boar's weight, the impact was amazing.

And Norris, who was running away blindly, didn't even know how to observe the enemy's movements; he just ran blindly and didn't even notice the wild boar charging.

The wild boar caught up from behind and then arched him into the air.

Norris slid out a beautiful parabola in the sky, hit a mushroom tree head-on, bounced off, and fell to the ground.

His health dropped by only 15% on the panel, but Norris didn't know it himself and thought he was going to be smashed to death.

After twisting on the ground for a long time, he found that it seemed to be just a bit painful, and at this time, the wild boar had already crashed into him again.

This time, the Stone-Skin Wild Boar directly pinned Norris under the mushroom tree, pushing Norris into it with all its might.

Norris was also forced into a corner and wanted to resist the wild boar's head with both hands, but he didn't expect his claws to easily break through the wild boar's skin and pierce in.

It was a pity he didn't hit a vital point; after the wild boar was injured, it went berserk directly.

It pushed up again and again; even if the wild boar's tusks weren't sharp and Norris's scales weren't broken, his internal organs couldn't take it.

A mouthful of fresh blood was spat out, and Norris also became ruthless, inserting his claws into the wild boar's body and pulling with all his might, while the mana in his body gathered toward the gap in his right chest under the instinctual drive.

Boom!

The point-blank mushroom cannon exploded with a huge sound, and the impact blew off more than half of the wild boar's head directly, and Norris himself was shaken and rolled far away on the ground.

Lin Jun, who was watching the battle, wasn't panicked at all; Norris looked dangerous, but in fact, he still had about 60% of his health left, a part of which was even lost to his own mushroom cannon.

After hiding the ruby, Blackie, who didn't know when she had run over to watch the show, gave her evaluation: "Swergis, so weak."

Swergis?

Lin Jun thought for a while before recalling that this seemed to be the collective term used by the Dragon Clan for those who didn't deserve a name.

Blackie wouldn't have mistaken him for a Dragon-Man, would she?

Clearly, he didn't even have a tail or wings, and the scales were close-fitting scales, completely different from Blackie's thick, upright scales; could she recognize him wrong even with this?

But the evaluation was correct—so weak.

The skills Lin Jun equipped him with could have defeated this Stone-Skin Wild Boar if put on a Puji, let alone Norris, whose attribute values were much higher, yet he fought like this.

But thinking about it, it was normal; looking at Norris's previous skill panel, he probably hadn't fought much.

Lin Jun and Blackie felt that Norris's performance was weak, but Norris himself didn't think so at this moment.

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

A strange sense of stimulation climbed up his spine; fear, excitement, happiness, and pain were mixed together and filled his brain.

He looked at his hands that were still dripping blood.

"This is... power!"

[Level Up: lv21→lv22]