Chapter 107: Rumors of Giant Insect Species

Chicken admitted that she would intentionally take detours every time she delivered a letter.

But she hadn’t meant to do it—at least not the first time.

The first time, she had simply gotten lost, flying in a massive circle before finally locating her destination. After that, she fell in love with the experience. Since she flew incredibly fast anyway, whenever a letter wasn’t particularly urgent or when Blaze didn’t have time for her, she would secretly detour to admire the scenery.

"This benefits you too! Now that my [Map] Skill Level has increased, I’ve memorized a lot of the terrain. I can definitely be a great guide for the places you’re heading to next."

"We’ll be taking the underground mine shafts later."

"That’s..."

"You. What if you encounter danger along the way? You haven’t grown to the point where you can escape no matter what danger you face, right?" Blaze poked Chicken’s head with his finger. This was where her core was located.

"I’m sorry, I was wrong. I won’t do it next time," Chicken decisively lowered her head and admitted her mistake.

"Forget it, I’m not angry." Blaze shook his head; he was merely worried about her safety.

To prevent her from continuing to dwell on it, he took the initiative to change the subject.

"You’ve been to the Giant Kingdom. Are the Jie Aines people there really tall and big?"

"Oh! They’re absolutely massive! They average two meters tall!"

Chicken’s attention was immediately diverted. Her voice rose in pitch as she began chattering away about the Giant Kingdom.

The Giant Kingdom, more accurately, was a united kingdom formed by the Old Giant Kingdom and several other kingdoms to secure a sliver of survival under the ravages of the Titan Evil God.

The reason it was spearheaded by the Giant Kingdom was that its overall national strength was the most robust.

And this was all thanks to the Jie Aines people who made up the Giant Kingdom.

Legend had it that the blood of Giants flowed through the veins of the Jie Aines people. Not only were they naturally tall, but they also possessed Giant Strength, giving them a significant advantage in both combat and farming.

The Giant Kingdom was also famous as a kingdom of strongmen.

If one wanted to obtain the [Strongman] Profession, the best place to go was the territory of the Giant Kingdom, where the best [Heavy Objects] could be found.

Currently, Blaze’s Strength Value had reached a terrifying 860 points under the special Attribute allocations of [Demon Hunter██].

Although it still wasn’t enough to compare with those Full Level Blessed Ones or Super Hundred Level Monsters, Blaze was currently only at Level 34.

Coupled with his Silver Werewolf transformation, his Strength Value approached a terrifying one thousand points.

Of course, this didn’t mean he could crush other Full Level Foreigners in terms of Attributes. Just as he had a Prayer that drastically boosted his Attributes when triggering a Curse, any Foreigner with a "+" symbol in their Attributes possessed a similar ability.

Currently, Blaze had two directions he could take.

The first was to acquire [Strongman]. With his current Strength Value, he could easily lift a portion of the [Heavy Objects].

The second was to advance [Great Sword Master] to [Giant Sword Master], as his Strength Value already met the requirements.

After pondering for a moment, Blaze still chose to acquire [Strongman].

Right now, his [Night Watcher] and [Demon Hunter██], as well as the [Silver King] obtained post-transformation, all used special Experience Values to level up.

In other words, when he fought and defeated Monsters right now, only his [Fighting Master] would gain Experience Value.

According to the Foreigners, the initial goal was to reach Full Level. It was best to prioritize maxing out base Professions, ideally keeping two or three base Professions to split the Experience Value evenly.

Furthermore, it was best not to think about obtaining Special Professions or advanced Professions. The Experience Value required for those to level up was simply too much—two or three times that of a base Profession.

Right now, Blaze had prepared two Professions for himself: [Strongman] and [Hunter]. Counting his yet-to-be-maxed [Fighting Master], that made three.

On the way back to the Broken Steel Mountain Range from the underground mine, he could unlock [Hunter] while using the Steel Goats to level up. As for [Strongman], he could use the Teleportation Towers from [Hermes’ Travel Hat] to travel to the Giant Kingdom’s territory.

Blaze was quite satisfied with his plan. As long as no accidents occurred, he would be able to reach Level 60 with his base Professions within a month.

Blaze jumped into the crevice in the Sacrificial Stone Forest and arrived at the mine.

The last time he came, he had sprinted the entire way. This time, he was much more relaxed and could leisurely appreciate the mine.

"What’s there to look at? Not only is it dark, but it’s also full of bug corpses." Chicken made no effort to hide her disgust for their surroundings.

"You’re obviously a chicken, yet you hate bugs?"

"Who would like to eat these kinds of bugs that have strong acid flowing through their bodies?"

Blaze bantered with Chicken, effortlessly dodging an acid attack from a Gold-Eating Ant.

The last time he faced a Gold-Eating Ant, he panicked because [Lethal Execution] failed to take effect. Now, he could casually chat while dealing with it.

Blaze had gradually adapted to what Greenland had mentioned: observing the [Standard Action] that came with an opponent’s Skill.

The Gold-Eating Ant’s primary attack was [Acidic Liquid Shot], and Blaze could now clearly see every single motion of this Skill.

A backward leap, lowering the head, opening the mandibles wide, arching the back.

"And then comes the acid spray, right?"

Blaze shifted one step to the side, then walked completely unguarded straight toward the Gold-Eating Ant that was about to launch its powerful dissolving attack.

SWISH!

A streak of foul-smelling acid hit the stone wall far off the mark from Blaze, leaving a pitted crater behind.

CRACK!

Blaze pierced the Gold-Eating Ant’s head with the Twisted Greatsword. As he twisted the blade to destroy the ant’s nervous system, he quipped, "Producing acid and spitting it out is clearly a bodily function of the Gold-Eating Ant itself, so why must it insist on using [Acidic Liquid Shot] to spray it?"

"Because the [Acidic Liquid Shot] Skill can turn the acid into a High-Pressure Water Spear and perform Precise Shooting on the target. In a dark environment, this move is a lethal weapon," Chicken explained.

"But while this move is impressive, its flaws are massive. It requires locking onto a target first and then assuming a firing stance. It’s fine for sneak attacks, but in a head-on battle, it’s practically suicide.

"Do they never learn?" Blaze muttered, wrenching the Twisted Greatsword to firmly pin the still-struggling Gold-Eating Ant to the ground.

This aspect of Insect Species was quite troublesome; they wouldn’t die immediately even when their Life Value reached zero and would continue to move for a period of time. This was likely because their bodies had a different requirement for [Blood].

Unfortunately, Blaze’s [Skeleton Aesthetics] only contained knowledge of endoskeletons. He knew absolutely nothing about creatures with exoskeletons like insects.

"It’s probably because their hive’s level isn’t high enough," Chicken gave an ambiguous answer.

"Hm? Are there noble souls among insects too?" Blaze’s interest was piqued, as he hadn’t encountered any particularly powerful insect Monsters so far.

Chicken emphasized, "It’s the level of the hive; the Personality of a soul is a totally different matter. Insect Species are actually a type of swarm Monster. A single individual is very Low Level, but once their numbers reach the billions, they become truly terrifying.

"However, the current environment of the continent is no longer suitable for Insect Species. The Giant Insect Species that once dominated a part of this world has already gone extinct."

...

Outside the crevice in the Sacrificial Stone Forest, a white Peregrine Falcon fluttered its wings and landed. After lingering by the crevice for a moment, it flapped its wings and turned around.

Failing to find its target, the Peregrine Falcon would carry the letter back the way it came.

Its return destination was the Epidaurus Theater.