Although there were no trees or landmarks, numerous patches of herbs were scattered throughout the grassland.
Some of them were spiky, like porcupines, and buried deep in the ground. They sort of looked like potatoes but with a furry, spiky brown outer skin. Using my knife and a hand wrapped in a piece of my cloak. I carefully removed the nettles.
[Spiky Earth Fruit]
[Spiky fruit that grows from an upside-down tree buried in the ground. Offers nutritious value and a rich flavor to a meal. Can be made into oil.]
"Sweet."
There were quite a few other random dungeon plants, much like that one in the plains. The weirdest one I had seen so far was a pair of walking plants named Puffsprouts.
Tiny mushroom fungi that hop around like bunnies and release spores that smell like candy. From their description, I could discern that the spores and the puff sprout itself were entirely safe to eat. If not a little annoying to tame.
Curiosity got the best of me, and I took a tiny bite out of one of them. I don't know what I was expecting, but…It was different, alright. It tastes like a perfect mix of pineapples, cotton candy, and grapes. At first, I cringed from the rush of sweet blood. However, after my first few bites, I couldn't get enough. I made it my mission to grab as many of these tasty things as possible and hopefully transplant them into the space one day...I even grabbed a bunch of dirt just in case they only grew in the dungeon's dirt.
A couple of feet away from them was a little patch of regular white and brown speckled mushrooms. I collected them into a pouch in my backpack so I wouldn't take up space in my inventory when I saw something—the hell? Ew!
Inspect.
[Mandrake]
[A humanoid-looking plant that makes an ear-piercing scream when removed. Dangerous to remove, but a common garden plant. Highly nutritious.]
"I think that's the most descriptive you've ever been. Hmm. I'm guessing this scream is a problem."
An entire patch of these highly dangerous plants lay before me, and I wanted to eat them right that second. Food is scarce, and I don't mind what form it takes these days. What should I do?
The slime's screams died down, and I sighed. No notification. More monsters it is, then. I should pull these out soon. However, I don't want to risk being hurt by the scream.
Wait a minute. What if I just tried to pull them out from a distance while holding up a barrier? Aja taught me how to do it, and it was pretty easy.
"Hmm…"
Boo yawned and I shared the sentiment. I backed up and tried doing the cocoon again. It was surprisingly easy, and then I remembered that I had it as a skill. So what's the difference between skills and spells?
Maybe a spell needs something that a skill doesn't?
Skills might make it easier to enact a specific thing that can be expanded on or improved, like a shield. However, you have to practice it over and over in order to achieve better results. Spells might be something else. Something you have an affinity for. Ugh. It's all so complicated.
If I could just see it in action...Like the teleportation circle!
Mental magic is something that only psychic witches can do, to my knowledge. Nevertheless, let's say a certain witch gets her claws on a spellbook for teleportation. Using this spell, she can use that type of magic even though it's not her specialty. Maybe that's it.
Pathways.
Maybe the circle or spell operates like an external pathway. So wouldn't that make it sorcery?
I'll check that grimoire later.
Now let's try it out. A tendril poked through the barrier, and I carefully grabbed onto a Mandrake. Its mouth opened, and I gulped. That's a little creepy.
No more waiting. I ripped off the band-aid and yanked it upwards. The entire plant came out of the dirt and although I couldn't hear it fully. The system wasn't lying when it said ear piercing.
Muffled screams rang out as I pulled them out. Boo yowled and pressed his ears close to his head. Me too Boo.
When the screams finally stopped, I stepped closer and backed away quickly within a second. Something oozed out of the ground and tried to drag my plants away. Frowning, I collected all of my plants and threw them in the Inventory.
Enraged, a large brown slime came pouring out of the holes I had left behind, and it crawled towards me with its huge body.
[Slime King LvL 20]
[HP: 10,000/10,000]
[MP: 1,000/1,000]
I don't think fire is going to do much to this one, but let's try.
I ran towards the bonfire and jumped over some of the burning parts. It followed after me and smothered the fire instantly. Yeah, that's what I thought.
Time to use the big guns then. What are slimes anyway? Game logic from before says their gelatin creatures with weird anatomy. They have organs floating in their blob, and as long as you hit them just right, you can kill them pretty easily.
This thing's kinda opaque though. So I'll have to get closer to try to find it. A barrier formed around me, and I stopped running. The slime encroached upon me and swallowed me whole.
Maneuvering my little bubble around, I walked around its body. Not here. Nor is it here. Not there either. Maybe I should search higher. I fought against the blob with my barrier and felt the air growing thinner. Limitedair.
Wonderful.
I continued higher and found something. It looked like a green rock. Hmm. Good enough. I poked a tendril out, and slime came rushing in from the hole it left. Need to hurry. I grabbed it with my tendrils, wrapped it up, and squeezed my hand together until it popped.
[+500 EXP]
[Floor Three Cleared]
The blob collapsed, and I was pushed to the top. Once I broke the surface, I dispelled my barrier and climbed on top of the mess.
Is this edible too? Inspect.
[Slimes are gelatinous monsters that can be used to make stews, soup thickener, potions, and sauces.]
[Collect?]
Can I just collect it?
Yes. I collected it and it was slowly sucked into the inventory. I flicked my cloak and gagged at the leftover slime on it.