Chapter 23: Dangerous Magical Creature
Editor: Atlas Studios
What emitted such a special scent was not the pitcher-like plant before System, but an unknown tree over 10 meters away from him.
That tree looked very ordinary, just like a normal poplar tree, and was roughly as thick as a human thigh.
System had eaten the leaves of such a tree before, so its data were stored in [Information Entry].
It had a slightly sweet taste, and the EXP gained by one leaf was roughly 1/20 of insect eggs.
System approached the and the peculiar feeling he got intensified. He was in a damp forest, but he could feel a trace of heat.
The heat was not strong, and if it was not for the natural perception of the insects' antennae, it might be tough for System to sense it.
System jumped onto a branch and started eating its leaves.
The leaves' taste was just as [Information Reading] described, slightly sweet, but the EXP provided was five times higher than the initial analysis.
That was the second thing System had eaten after awakening, besides the lizard carcass, where the EXP increase did not match its taste.
System jumped around the branches of this tree and carefully observed what was so different about it. However, besides the slight heat that he could sense, System did not discover anything else.
"A plant of the fantasy world?"
He recalled the flame-covered wild boar and the old Druid that exuded a natural feeling.
System speculated that whether it was this tree or the lizard, they belonged to the magical species and had supernatural powers.
The EXP might be abnormally high because he had also absorbed the plant's special energy after eating it, thus allowing him to level up effortlessly.
However, in reality, his body was unable to digest and absorb such a special energy. As such, his sense of taste could not differentiate the taste of the extraordinary plant.
Probably, as he absorbed more of that energy and when it accumulated to a certain amount, a quantitative change would lead to qualitative change. Hence, there would be a special change in his body.
Nevertheless, these were all System's speculations based on the subtle feeling of his body. The actual situation might be completely different.
Whether it was his [Self-information Generation] or the heritage in his bloodline, there was no information about such magical power.
System estimated that he might find out something about it after his third molting. The grasshopper queen's telepathic ability should be something she had obtained after the third molting.
Since System did not know what effects the plant's leaves had, he only ate a few mouthfuls and chose to leave. He didn't want to risk his body undergoing any unknown change that would hinder [Molting Growth]'s increase.
In the end, System had too little knowledge of this world.
After coming to this world, besides meeting the grasshopper queen, he had no one else to communicate with and had to find everything by himself.
…
System continued jumping around and exploring. After a while, he met another magical life form.
It was not a plant that emitted a special scent, but a light brown colloid ball. It was like a basketball that was emitting a weak, sour scent.
The colloid ball slowly crept on the ground, dissolving rotten branches and scrap of leaves into its body as if it were eating. That creature should be a slime.
In System's previous life, slimes had appeared in many fantasy games, and their battle powers were extremely weak. Their diet consisted of grass or rotten impurities, and they were normally the monsters the main characters would face when the game just began.
The slime's colloid was filled with corrosive mucus and could digest many rotten impurities in the forest—they were the scavengers of the forest.
Besides the sour scent that corresponded to the magical tree's, that slime was also emitting a unique plant aroma, which tempted System.
As System was observing how the slime moved slowly within the dead leaves, he decided to taste such a colloid life form.
Not to mention the nice plant aroma, the digestive juice within the slime's body would definitely be beneficial to his [Corrosive Slime]. It was worth it for him to try.
System jumped toward the slime.
Just as he was one meter away from the slime, System's blood suddenly trembled vigorously.
His [Insect Instinct] had issued a warning!
…
System stopped, and his mind immediately regained its rationality.
System's action was peculiar. Why would he, whose personality was timid and cautious, recklessly charge toward the slime? He even wanted to suck its colloid!?
System turned the antennae on his head and took a whiff of the slime's bizarre plant aroma again. His mind seemed to enter a strange relaxed state.
This time System was already on guard and shook his head to make himself clear-headed. After a short consideration, System grabbed a 5cm dead branch and jumped toward a branch above the slime.
Then he hurled the branch from above.
As the wooden stick hit the slime, the basket-ball-sized colloid instantly shrunk. The whole colloid suddenly trembled and jumped up, and the slime then swallowed the wooden stick in an instant.
The plant aroma released by the slime did not represent how delicious its colloid was, but instead, it was a trap to catch insects!
Humans could effortlessly kill slimes, but slimes were deadly insect killers.
Upon witnessing the dead branch's tragic end, System's body trembled. If not for his [Insect Instinct]'s warning, he would most likely have been devoured by the slime just now.
System had a certain resistance toward corrosive liquids due to his [Corrosive Slime], so he would not be easily digested. However, being swallowed by the slime's colloid would suffocate him to death.
Magical creatures were not as simple as they were described in games. They also had all kinds of habits and most likely fed on insects.
After today's lesson, System decided to be all the more careful when encountering other unknown creatures and not repeat such a mistake again.
…
System jumped and left. Not long after, he discovered some reddish-brown ants. He followed those ants and quickly found their nest.
It was different from the nest of the dark brown ants, as their nest was built within a rotten tree.
The size of a reddish-brown ant was around 0.8cm, and their nest was smaller than the dark brown ants' nest. However, there were still many ants going in and out.
System looked at the few thousand ants wandering near the nest and suddenly thought of an idea…
What if he attracted the slime to the ants' nest?
-- Gift
received