Chương 3: Chapter 3: First Hunt

Ybur lay in hiding, silently reading a book.

— The book Ruby had prepared for it was now enveloped within its slime-like body. Its sensing abilities weren't limited to the outside; they could also function inside, where, in fact, they proved to be even clearer. Hence, it was in this manner that Ybur was reading the content of the book.

According to the information given in the book, the area Ybur currently resided in was designated as "Novice Village" by Ruby, a place very suitable for it to hunt and grow.

In the book, the first thing Ruby told it to do was to find a place to begin Meditative Dreaming, but perhaps because it had consumed too much Digestive Acid before, Ybur was ravenously hungry. So it decided to try its luck, to see if it could find some prey.

If it didn't eat something soon, it would start digesting itself from hunger.

After quietly waiting for a while, Ybur felt a sudden impulse within.

There was movement.

It focused and began to concentrate its spirit. After a moment, something resembling a locust crawled over from a distance. Utilizing the heat-sensing ability of its Eye Points, Ybur could clearly see that the creature's size was comparable to a small dog. Although it mostly resembled a locust, the two front limbs at the forefront of its body were more similar to the Scythe Limbs of a praying mantis—developed and massive, bearing intimidating blades, while its head was bulging and spherical like a cricket ball, resembling a mushroom.

Ybur turned a couple of pages inside its body, locating information on this creature.

It was a Fungus Insect.

While Fungus Insects looked insect-like, they were actually mobile fungi. Their societal structure was similar to that of an ant colony, with a Fungus Lord dominating the nest. The Fungus Lord had almost no ability to move on its own, relying entirely on the foraging Fungus Insects to provide for it.

Despite their frightening appearance, the strength of a Fungus Insect was not very considerable, and its attack power was roughly the same as that of a small hunting dog. However, these creatures had astonishing jumping abilities and could even glide through the air for a brief period, making them quite agile.

Ybur was quite self-aware. It moved too slowly and lacked strength, making it difficult to deal with such agile opponents. But if it could lure one in… relying on its powerful Digestive Acid, it should be able to handle that creature.

It has to be you, then!

With that thought, Ybur extended one of its tentacles and rubbed it on the ground a couple of times.

The Fungus Insect stopped moving abruptly, and after two seconds, turned to look in its direction.

Fungus Insects didn't have sight, but they possessed a keen sense of vibration. Ybur was imitating the movement of a crawling snake with its tentacles, which indeed attracted the Fungus Insect's attention. The creature quickly took the bait and scampered over towards it, the degenerate wings on its back rubbing together, making a rustling noise.

Here it comes, here it comes, here it comes!!

Ybur was excited. It made an effort to secrete Digestive Acid, then adjusted its stomach sac, aiming it at the Fungus Insect… Then, the stomach sac violently contracted and ejected the Digestive Acid inside!

Hiss—

A weak stream of liquid shot out, falling to the ground.

"…"

This isn't good! It had secreted too much Digestive Acid before, and now its stomach was empty!

Ybur's heart tightened. But at this point, the Fungus Insect seemed to realize something as well, and its body immediately recoiled in alert!

Ybur was so nervous it dared not move. Exposed! Now what, would the Fungus Insect run away? With that creature's speed, it didn't stand a chance at catching up... Huh?! The signal received by the surface Eye Points made Ybur instinctively pause, only to see that the Fungus Insect didn't flee at all. Instead, it suddenly opened its degenerate wings on the back, crouched down, and then leaped forcefully toward it!

This is... an attack?!

Ybur hastily attempted to evade. However, as its round body shifted slightly to the side, the Fungus Insect glided down from the air, its Scythe Limbs slicing down! Ybur distinctly felt the Blade Limbs cutting into its jelly-like body, sliding through its tissue fluid, and then… it felt lighter as a small chunk of slime flew out.

This is bad...

If it were human, Ybur felt it would probably be breaking out in a cold sweat by now.

Slimes didn't feel pain, but it was acutely aware of "its body being damaged," with a small part of its body being chopped off and flying away. Fortunately, it didn't bleed like humans. The soft membrane on its body surface immediately contracted and healed over, closing the wound, but the Fungus Insect was already lifting its Scythe Limbs again, slashing towards it!

No, is this really an enemy I can deal with? It feels so terrifying!!

Screaming internally, Ybur's thoughts came to a sudden stop as the Scythe Limb came slashing down. But a spark of spiritual light flared up in its cognitive organ—

Du! Du!

Two muffled thuds.

The Scythe Limb was blocked.

In the nick of time, Ybur had flipped Ruby's "Survival Guide" to the outside of its body, spreading it open like a shield, using the thick cover to block the fungus creature's attack. The book seemed to have undergone some special treatment, extremely tough, so that even the full force of the fungus creature's Scythe Limb left not even a mark on it.

The low-intelligence fungus creature couldn't quite comprehend what had blocked its attack. After a brief pause in its slow reactivity, the creature took a step forward, its Scythe Limbs extending, mechanically launching a series of slashing strikes! Ybur controlled the movement of the book on the surface of its body, holding it up like a shield to block the fungus creature's continuous assaults, while just below the book, one of its slender tentacles popped out. The tip of the tentacle formed a darker Eye Point, closely observing the fungus creature's movements.

Good opportunity!

With the continuous slashing, the force transmitted through the book made Ybur's jelly-like body tremble incessantly, but there was no damage to it. It excitedly thought, this creature has put all its energy into attacking, making now the perfect moment to counterattack!

"Fuck's sake, can't you ever stop!"

A voice suddenly came from the "Survival Guide," sounding somewhat similar to Ruby's tone.

Ybur was stunned: What? What's happening? Where did that voice come from?

The fungus creature too was startled by the unexpected voice, retreating warily, its two tentacles swaying as if surveying the surroundings, anyway, it dared not make any rash moves for the moment.

Ybur held up the book in shock, and saw the pages gently opening and closing under some mysterious force, as a voice floated out from it:

"Damn it, what you looking at, I'm talking to you! Which half-wit uses a book as a shield, I'm a book! You know, a book!!"

...Wait, can books talk?

Ybur thought blankly, but the "Survival Guide" seemed to detect its thoughts and spoke up directly: "Of course I can talk! I am the Magic Book Spirit, I am the book itself and all the knowledge contained within, you may call me Sherry... Ah!!"

While the book spirit was introducing itself, the fungus creature, deciding it was no threat, lunged in for another attack. Ybur hastily used the book to block, causing Sherry to let out a chicken-like scream.

Without hesitation, Ybur's internal stomach had once again accumulated a payload of Digestive Acid. It slowly moved its acid-filled pouch towards the tip of its external tentacle—its tentacles couldn't stretch out too far, only about the length of a finger, but that was enough.

If the fungus creature got injured it would definitely try to flee, so it needed to aim for its legs...

Ybur pressed its tentacle as far down as possible, trying to probe underneath the fungus creature's body, aiming for the junction between its abdomen and those two sturdy hind legs. The pouch at the tip of the tentacle first bulged, then contracted sharply, ejecting a stream of acid! With a sizzling sound, the acid precisely hit the target, even splattering outward, causing the fungus creature to freeze briefly before its hind legs suddenly powered up, sending it leaping into the air!!

Almost at the moment of putting forth the effort, its left leg had already snapped, but even with only one leg, the fungus creature still managed to bound several meters high, while the remnants of wings on its back spread, gliding it away into the distance.

Ybur was greatly shocked.

You can still jump so high with just one leg?!

It moved its body, first rolling up and reclaiming its own lost slime, then rolling over to swallow the fungus creature's severed leg, and only then did it sluggishly roll towards the direction of the fungus creature's escape. Upon landing, the fungus creature immediately put forth effort again, but this time, its right leg—or more accurately, half of its body—broke apart due to the violent force, with the half tail and the right leg falling away.

Ybur's body rolled over and swallowed the fungus creature. A sense of satisfaction emerged.

Eating was the privilege of the living. Hunger slightly abated, the feeling of "being alive" suddenly became much more tangible.

Ybur spaced out for a moment, then shifted its attention back to the book.

The pages of the "Survival Guide" fluttered twice: "Do you have manners?"

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