"Is this it? Is this it? Is this it?" Zhang Yanhang used the Enemy Seeking Radar to scan the vicinity, and after finding no other monsters, he repeated the same taunt toward the Licker’s corpse for the third time without any disguise.
Although the third Licker was rather slow and did not attack him immediately, its slowness had its advantages, as Zhang Yanhang finally had time to check the Licker’s attribute list this time.
[Level: First Tier 2 Star]
[Talent: 1. Slow Corrosion. 2. T Virus Carrier (Deterioration Mutation).]
[Slow Corrosion: In a zombie state, the rotting speed is reduced by 90%, the physical strength consumption rate is reduced by 90%. Physical Strength +10%.]
[T Virus Carrier (Deterioration Mutation): Excessive consumption of other zombies led to the absorption of excess nutrients, causing the brain to pathologically develop and crack the skull, resulting in a substandard evolutionary body.
Due to the loss of eyes during the mutation process, it became extremely sensitive to sound. The mutation caused increased metabolic rate in this substandard evolutionary body, requiring constant consumption of other zombies to maintain normal functioning.
The only unchanging aspect is that the substandard evolutionary body will still instinctively spread the T virus to surrounding organisms through biting and scratching, but the zombies infected and transformed by it cannot further spread the T virus.]
[Life Value: 150/150]
[Skill: 1. Bite. 2. Scratching. 3. Long Tongue Stabbing.]
"It should be said that it’s worthy of being a First Tier Two Star monster, the Licker even developed a new talent, but unfortunately, this is a talent I don’t want at all."
Although this Licker’s talent[T Virus Carrier (Deterioration Mutation)]seemed somewhat superior to those of ordinary zombies and Zombie Dogs[T Virus Carrier (Evolution Failure)], Zhang Yanhang found the effects of the talent somewhat unacceptable.
He feared that possessing this talent would also turn him into a monster with an exposed brain, which honestly looked hideously ugly. And not only was the exposed brain awful, but it also got rid of his eyes and nose, which was simply outrageous.
If he returned to the Main World, it would be utterly impossible for him to show his face. Passersby seeing his appearance would definitely call the police to have him killed on sight or perhaps some brave Awakeners might suddenly appear and cremate him on the spot.
If you say this talent could enhance strength, Zhang Yanhang might have considered trying it (very slightly, almost none), but the problem is this talent doesn’t enhance strength.
Therefore, although the Licker’s Drop Treasure Box could very likely contain this[T Virus Carrier (Deterioration Mutation)]talent, Zhang Yanhang would absolutely not choose it. He still preferred the safer talent like Slow Corrosion.
In fact, the reason Zhang Yanhang didn’t choose the other two talents and always favored[Slow Corrosion]was exactly this, as the other two talents all had negative effects. He feared that after evolution, the negative effects would become stronger and that would be the end for him. Official source is nοvelfire.net
Especially that neurasthenia, a basic mental disorder, Zhang Yanhang feared it might evolve into depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or similar conditions. Although normally neurasthenia is unlikely to turn into such things, this is Ashen World after all, where most common sense from the Main World is as useless as a pile of dog poop.
Thus, Zhang Yanhang felt that this neurasthenia was likely to evolve into some more severe mental illness, which would then further reduce his combat ability. Once the talent was used, it would permanently remain in his body, which he couldn’t remove.
"Starting from the First Tier Two Star, monsters can cause break defense damage to me, Ashen World really is terrifying." Although the Licker kind appeared quite easy to handle in Zhang Yanhang’s hands as they couldn’t last for even a few seconds, the greatest advantage of zombies was their numbers and their strategy of overwhelming by quantity.
Thus, unlike ordinary zombies and Zombie Dogs who couldn’t break his defense, if there were enough Lickers, they could literally pile Zhang Yanhang to death.
Moreover, the number doesn’t even have to be too high, just coming at him with twenty or thirty Lickers all at once, Zhang Yanhang felt he would be somewhat overwhelmed.
By then, Zhang Yanhang might be forced to use Spiritual Power to enhance his defense, but activating such a state would lead to intense consumption of Energy Value, unable to maintain for too long. Fortunately, he currently had nine small Magic Recovery Potions; even if his Energy Value was insufficient, he could continue to maintain this increase in defensive power by consuming medicine.
Therefore, once he activated Spiritual Power enhancement, it was essentially a fight to the death. He had to quickly eliminate all the enemies in the field; otherwise, he would be slowly worn down by the enemies.
Simply put, it was either he killed all the enemies present, or he would be killed by all the enemies present.
In fact, it was for this reason that Zhang Yanhang did not directly run to the slot machine, stand firm against the enemies’ attacks, and draw from the slot machine or forcibly move the slot machine, because he feared that dozens of Lickers might suddenly swarm him from some dark corner or some unknown nook.
By then, if he was tied down by the slot machine, his chances of death would greatly increase. Zhang Yanhang was very aware of his own strength; if he couldn’t fight, he really couldn’t fight, so he preferred to play it safe and develop until he had cleared all the peripheral zombies. By then, his strength should be able to perfectly handle everything.
Just as Zhang Yanhang was about to leave and continue hunting zombies in other areas, he suddenly noticed a green light glowing from the corpse of the first Licker he had killed.
"A green Drop Treasure Box? No way? Does the Drop Treasure Box actually also come in different quality levels?"
Zhang Yanhang seemed to suddenly realize something; no wonder he had only been able to obtain items of green quality from the many Treasure Boxes he had opened before. It turned out that higher quality items could only be found in higher quality boxes.
"But, although I’ve obtained a higher quality box, I think I’ll wait until I return to open it. For now, I should focus on hunting zombies." Zhang Yanhang had only cleared less than three square kilometers so far, far from completing the second stage of his plan.