Chương 29: Soaring Harvest

[Acquired Primitive Gene x1] [Acquired Primitive Gene x1] [Acquired Primitive Gene x1] [Acquired Primitive Gene x1] The chimes of notifications continued, and Nero took them in with limitless satisfaction. After they stopped coming, he leaned back on the corpse of one rooster he'd just slain and consumed the liver off, their feathers making the corpse an unusually pleasant place to sit on.

While enjoying the cushioned sensation, he opened the status panel, fully ignoring the graveyard of six-to-seven-foot corpses of wild roosters strewn all around him, easily numbering thirty-plus.

Status Name: Nero Race: Human Core Stage: Dormant Base Attributes STR: 34 (+27) DEX: 15 (+8) CON: 19 (+9) SPE: 38 (+29) INT: 9 WIS: 11 CHA: 3 (+5) LUCK: 2 (+1) Assimilated Primitive Gene: (105/1000) Unassimilated Genes: Constitution x6 (Primitive), Charisma x2 (Primitive), Strength x10 (Primitive), Speed x8 (Primitive), Charisma x5 (Prehistoric), Intelligence x5 (Prehistoric), Strength x20 Gene Talent: Aura of Decay (Primitive), The Endless Path (Prehistoric) Beast Soul: N/A Gene Fragments: N/A As he began his meditation over the already disintegrating corpse of the giant chicken, Nero felt that familiar sensation bubble up in his stomach.

The chicken had left him its inheritance in his head, the sensation flaring intensely before slowly fading away, leaving behind a pleasurable feeling in his stomach, like he'd eaten his fill. He reopened the status panel to check the growth. Six constitution attribute genes had been assimilated, bringing the total to twenty-five from the previous nineteen.

With two more points added, his charisma stat reached a staggering total of four. The speed attribute kept its reign at the top with forty-six points, and the runner-up, strength, reached a new height of forty-four. The total assimilated attribute gene counter finally passed the milestone of one hundred. Nero lay back over the corpse of the beast as the green borders of the safe zone overhead gleamed peacefully.

"Phew, based on my estimation, the amplification of Pristine Aura improved by 10% too." It was an interesting discovery. Using it to traverse the knee-deep snow certainly hadn't strained him enough to notice the improvement. The battle, however, had strained him more than enough. His body was riddled with pecks, his left arm bleeding quite badly. His left hand slowly reached for the vial of potion holstered to his armor and unstuck it, then gulped down the liquid in one swig.

He closed his eyes for a moment before opening them to look at the small bag full of larger-than-average beast cores. He'd collected approximately thirty of them, and most contained mana of three types on average: water, metal, and wood. This corresponded with the huge pillars of mana he'd been seeing around himself. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

"Speaking of pillars," he put his left hand behind his head like a pillow, "what should I do about them?" He could sell them, but selling so many mana crystals at once was bound to attract attention. And if the Nether Sect elders and disciples learned of it, they'd cook up all sorts of ridiculous ideas in their heads. The thing was, he hadn't particularly given much thought to what he'd do after conquering the dungeon.

"It's not like I've conquered the dungeon yet," he said, looking ahead to where the largest, squarish mana crystal lay, looking every bit the part of a door. He was a hundred percent sure it would lead to some boss room.

"Another issue with conquering it—intending to sell its mana crystals would mean destroying the dungeon core." The core resided deep beneath the dungeon floor. Destroying it generally required a mage proficient in earth magic, especially quake-type spells within the earth magic category.

"Hiring a mage to destroy the core would cost me an arm and a leg. Plus, it'd give away the location of this dungeon." Nothing new there. The heavy snow made it impossible for anyone to stumble upon this place. But once he brought someone in, they were bound to go back and sell the information for a good sum.

"That leaves me with one path." Nero slowly rose from his spot, his muscles aching at just the thought of that path.

"I'll have to forcefully invade the dungeon and take the materials by hand myself." A clang of metal on metal rang across the empty chamber as the green safe zone overhead flickered out. Nero held his short sword overhead, its blade meeting three obsidian-black claws. The claws retreated as the creature behind him jumped back at his sudden rise from his restful posture. Nero eyed the creature. It was a three-foot-tall bird, its feathers a mix of white, orange, and blue.

Its pupils were like liquid gold, glistening with intelligence.

"Interesting, didn't expect the boss to be this small." he said, eyeing it with curiosity. Why was he assuming this was the boss? Naturally, because the slab of mana crystal blocking the entrance to the boss room had been severed clean in half.

"Those are some serious claws." he remarked, inspecting his own blade—chipped down the middle despite Pristine Aura enhancing the metal's durability by at least a hundred and ten percent. He quickly dropped into a battle stance as the dungeon boss ahead began to move, blurring out of place as it lunged in for another strike. Nero smirked, Pristine Aura exploding out of his body as he melted into a blur too, going straight for its head, the Neonic Aura of Decay roaring off his blade at his call.

The creature's eyes widened as it nearly matched his speed. Plumes of fire burst forth as it swung its orange tail at him. Sensing a terrible mana concentration within the flame, he swiftly dodged the attack and made a beeline for its flank. The creature shifted its posture to flick its tail at him again. The flames caught him squarely in the face, and Nero flinched back—at the same moment, the bird dove in with its claw, fully intending to sever his torso from his lower body.

But the instant its claw came within inches of Nero's stomach, the very nails began to turn rotten. The inertia still pushed the nail deeper through the Aura of Decay protecting Nero's body from both flame and claw. Sensing the trap, the bird tried to pull away, flinging its wings furiously. Squelch. A single, wet sound of flesh being severed reverberated through the chamber.

The plumes of flame instantly shrank in intensity, followed by multicolored feathers drifting to the ground, alongside a single severed head, its golden pupils wide with shock. Nero emerged from within the plumes of orange flame, his whole body wrapped in a thick, Neonic light. Completely unharmed.

"Phew, that went easier than I'd initially imagined." And, per usual, the dungeon didn't give him a second of respite—it immediately began to shake violently, the sound of grinding stone rising from far ahead, where the cave entrance lay. He promptly went over to the corpse of the dead boss, which had already begun breaking down back into mana. Sheathing his short sword, he brought out his dagger, carved along its belly up to the heart, and pulled out its core, then bagged as many of its feathers as he could.

Once that was done, he swiftly gathered more feathers and claws from the other bird corpses before heading over to the ten-foot-tall mana stone. It was a water elemental stone, glowing sky blue. Imbuing his fists with the maximum amount of Pristine Aura he could muster, he swung at the twenty-inch-thick wall. His fist slammed into its surface, shaking the whole thing—but no dice, not even a crack formed.

He swung again, and again, ignoring the stinging pain, landing ten punches until minor cracks formed along its surface and rapidly spread outward. On his eleventh punch, the whole thing crumbled down. He stepped back, and once the path was clear, he gathered the pieces around its center, bagging approximately fifteen pounds' worth of mana crystal before leaving the cave. It slammed shut a minute after his departure. Nero felt a distinct pull on his shoulders from the backpack. It had been filled to the brim.

"A nice haul, alright." He checked the moon overhead to confirm the time. Exactly three hours had passed since his departure from the sect compound. He immediately started his way back to the city, pulling out a single piece of bird liver along the way that he'd plucked from the boss. He threw it inside his mouth, chewed a bit before activating system extraction, the notification strings chiming melodically in his head.

After a moment, he simultaneously heard the two kinds of notifications he'd been itching to hear all this time!

"Finally!" He rejoiced as the notification panel gave way to his status window.