Chapter 184: Madly Grinding Research Progress

Chapter 184: Chapter 184: Madly Grinding Research Progress

After dealing with the few remaining Slimes.

Led by the mud-caked boy, Toby and the group of energetic kids brought Lance to the contaminated stream east of the farm.

The terrible sight before him made Toby, a local, frown deeply.

What should have been a pebble-strewn stream bank was now covered by a dense mass of gelatinous, soft-bodied creatures.

These Demons squirmed and pressed against each other, constantly emitting a nauseating SQUELCH.

The clear stream water had been completely ruined by the slightly acidic mucus they secreted, dyeing it a grayish green.

A breeze carried the sharp, sour stench through the air.

But in Lance’s eyes, this scene looked completely different.

’This is clearly a field crawling with EXP packs!’

"Just stay here, and don’t run around."

Lance instructed the children behind him without turning his head.

Then, under the shocked gazes of Toby and the group of children, whose average age was under ten...

Lance became like a beast completely unleashed.

He pushed off forcefully, leaping down from the earthen slope and plunging headfirst into the dense pile of Slimes.

The battle erupted in an instant.

Lance had no intention of testing the waters. He swung a hard fist, whistling through the air as it smashed viciously toward the nearest Blue Slime.

With a loud SPLAT, the powerful physical impact blew the soft body to pieces.

Translucent mucus splattered across the stream bank.

Several larger green Slimes nearby were enraged by the sudden attack.

Their elastic bodies suddenly contracted, and using the recoil from the muddy ground, they launched themselves at Lance like cannonballs.

Faced with this siege, Lance advanced instead of retreating.

He extended his right hand directly into the path of a mid-air Slime, thrusting his arm forward forcefully.

With a muffled SQUISH...

Lance’s arm plunged unimpeded into the creature’s extremely elastic body.

SZZZZ...

The moment the corrosive liquid inside the Slime touched Lance’s skin, it made a faint sizzling sound.

Acid of this intensity would be a major headache for any Ordinary Adventurer.

It would rapidly damage armor. Furthermore, if it touched the skin, the resulting corrosive wound would be difficult to heal and would most likely leave a scar.

But Lance’s expression didn’t change at all, as if he felt no pain whatsoever.

His right hand searched quickly within the mucus.

In less than two seconds, his fingertips accurately touched a walnut-sized core.

His five fingers suddenly clenched.

CRACK.

The core was instantly crushed to bits.

The Slime’s body immediately lost the internal tension that held its shape, dissolving into a puddle of ordinary water that slid down Lance’s arm to the ground.

Lance looked down, quickly glancing at his right arm.

In that brief moment of contact, the surface of his skin had already turned slightly red, and he could even feel a faint stinging sensation.

He knew his current body was enhanced by both the natural Armor from the Stone Shell River Crabs and the Azure Dragon Armament. His Defense Power was already far beyond that of an ordinary person.

Lance quickly analyzed the situation in his mind.

’If I let this acidic liquid cover my skin for too long, it’ll add up. Even with my extra natural Armor, it will eventually melt through my defenses.’

’I have to change tactics and find a more efficient way to deal with them.’

Lance’s footwork changed in an instant.

He dodged nimbly, evading the pounces of two Slimes, while simultaneously thrusting his right hand forward like a sword. He found the perfect moment and accurately pierced a Demon’s core.

Immediately after, he ducked and weaved through the area of splattering mucus.

He followed up with a backhand elbow strike. His hard elbow, like a hammer, directly shattered a Slime ramming him from behind, core and all.

The next second, he twisted at the waist, unleashing a sharp, horizontal claw strike with his other hand.

His fingertips stirred a sharp gust of wind, dicing two adjacent Slimes into pieces at the same time.

From then on, the once-raucous bank became a scene of a one-sided, brutal slaughter.

THUD! THUD! THUD!

The muffled sounds of impacts echoed ceaselessly by the stream as water and mucus flew everywhere.

The sun dipped below the horizon, its last rays of light vanishing as twilight enveloped the sky.

Only then did the one-sided cleanup finally draw to a close.

Lance stopped, letting out a long, warm breath.

By now, not a single squirming Slime could be seen on the stream bank.

"You’re amazing!"

"You’re so strong! You’re a Hero!"

Standing on the slope above, the dumbfounded children finally snapped out of their shock.

They excitedly waved the crude little wooden hammers in their hands, letting out cheers filled with adoration.

Lance looked up, gave them a thumbs-up, and flashed a brilliant smile, showing that he’d received their praise.

’Maybe this is what a sense of accomplishment feels like, earning the admiration of a bunch of kids.’

’For a moment, it felt even better than collecting a reward from the Guild.’

Toby, standing to the side, swallowed hard.

He had seen other Adventurers hunt Demons at the Guild before, but he’d never seen anyone kill with such efficiency and ferocity.

Most Adventurers needed to fall back and rest after expending their stamina, relying on teammates to hold the line while they recovered.

But this guy... he completely skipped all those steps.

He was like a tireless Alchemy Machine, maintaining high-intensity output from start to finish.

Lance ignored the onlookers’ amazement. With a thought, he opened the translucent Biological Research panel that only he could see.

[Demon Slime]

[Research Progress LV2: 32/50]

Looking at the data, Lance couldn’t help but let the corners of his mouth lift slightly.

’The reproductive ability of a low-tier creature like the Slime is just absurd.’

He had only cleared out one small colony, yet he had taken down nearly fifty of them.

’Any Demon that can reproduce this quickly is a good Demon!’

’But it’s too late today.’

Fighting by an unfamiliar body of water at night was too unpredictable, and the poor visibility was a safety risk.

’First thing tomorrow morning, I’ll continue sweeping up and down this stream.’

Judging by the level of pollution in the nearby waters...

’If I can just find and clear out two more similar banks tomorrow, I’ll definitely be able to grind out the Racial Talent I need.’

Lance could clearly feel that his red Talent was growing more and more terrifying as his strength increased.

Under normal circumstances, no Adventurer could sustain such a high-pressure battle for so long.

Even Professionals found that while their stamina increased along with their Constitution Attribute, it came with a catch. As they grew stronger, the Power of their Skills also increased, causing their base stamina consumption to rise in tandem.

Their overall stamina remained in a dynamic balance of expenditure and recovery, and there was always the risk of exhaustion in battle.

But Lance was a monster who had completely shattered that balance.

Normally, only Casters who had mastered large-scale Magic possessed the ability for mass slaughter.

Yet Lance, relying on stamina alone, had managed to achieve the effect of a species-wide extermination through purely physical means.

In a real battle, this was an absolutely terrifying feat.

’The last crucial piece of the puzzle to becoming a Professional is almost in my hands.’

Lance mused to himself in the evening breeze.

In the faint, lingering afterglow of the sunset, he followed Toby along the flat dirt path back toward the farm.

Behind them, the group of little ’mud monkeys’ were still excitedly discussing the intense battle they had just witnessed.

Just as they stepped through the wide gates of the farm...

a tall, tower-like figure stood directly in their path, blocking them.

It was Toby’s old man.

Lance looked up, inwardly surprised at the sight of the strong man who was a full head taller than him.

The man wore a coarse cloth vest soaked with sweat, and his thick muscles rose and fell with his steady breathing, radiating a sense of explosive power.

Even just standing there casually, he exuded a powerful aura that washed over them.

’Toby’s old man is definitely a retired, veteran Professional.’

’And judging by this oppressive feeling alone, his Level is probably quite high.’

Lance understood everything in an instant.

No wonder he was able to safely operate such a large-scale Iron-skinned Wild Boar farm in a place like Baihua Town.

In the world of Adventurers, if you didn’t have the strength to back you up...

...the crooked merchants and local thugs who could smell money would have long since come to forcefully take a piece of the pie.