Leaving Thalendor, the two wasted no time and rushed toward the nearest monsters on the list Intervar had compiled for them.
Considering that the rarity level of ingredients was usually directly proportional to the monsters’ level, but in rare cases some more expensive ingredients could be obtained from lower-level monsters, it was exactly those monsters that Lohan and Lisa would focus on.
Sure, these monsters were called lower-level only because they were being compared to the entire list Intervar had given them, which covered monsters from Level 10 to Level 20.
Usually, lower-level monsters had a higher supply than demand, since they were the most frequent targets of adventurers and hunters; after all, unlike Players who wouldn’t actually die while hunting a monster, people in this world preferred to hunt creatures a few levels below them, providing a greater safety margin for the hunt.
Because of this, it was standard in this world for only Level 14 and 15 players to focus on hunting Level 11 monsters, with those below that level focusing more on Level 10 monsters or lower.
Lohan and Lisa only managed to earn a few good silver coins by hunting the Shadow Serpents and the Swamp Slugs because these two monsters had special characteristics that made hunting them much more difficult.
For example, hunting the Shadow Serpents was only possible for them because they were much smaller than the hunters of Thalendor, which made it easier for them to enter the snakes’ caves. If it were other hunters, they would have to wait at the cave entrances and hope that more than one snake would emerge every few days.
The slug hunt was even more unique, since the challenge there wasn’t even finding the monsters, but keeping the venom intact without getting poisoned or keeping the monster alive until the mission was completed.
Now, for their next hunt, it was precisely these weaker monsters with unique and special characteristics that Lohan and Lisa focused on hunting, choosing to leave the more powerful and common monsters for future guild members.
These members would arrive in the Open World already at Level 11, so grouping up to hunt monsters like this wouldn’t be impossible for them.
Along the way, Lohan didn’t stop digesting biomass for a single moment, and after an hour of digestion, he had already accumulated another 3,000 biomass!
Unfortunately, after consuming all that biomass, his stock of beetle corpses ran out completely...
’I guess maybe I don’t even need to focus on digestion speed anymore... who would’ve thought that one day I’d say I don’t need that?!’ He thought, finding the situation amusing, but loving the freedom it brought him.
The first expenditure was the consumption of 1,229.42 Biomass to level up his [Hemolymphatic Tissue].
[Hemolymphatic Tissue Lv 11 → Lv 15]
This upgrade wasn’t purchased with the intention of further increasing his biomass digestion speed, but rather focused on the speed at which he could corrode enemies as a form of attack!
Because of these new levels, Lohan, who already had a very high base digestion speed, could now reach a speed of 5.1k Bio/h in combat!
A terrifying speed of 85 Biomass per minute, or even 1.4 Biomass per second!
At this point, if he managed to make direct physical contact with an enemy with low biomass density, the damage Lohan would cause would be like a hot knife through butter!
After spending another 661 Biomass, Lohan purchased 3 more evolution levels for one of the most useful combat skills for him, both in Elysium and in the real world!
[Obsidian Exoskeleton Lv 4 → Lv 7]
These three levels not only subtly reduced the activation cost of this Evolution, but also greatly increased the defense provided by his obsidian scales!
Unfortunately, he couldn’t accurately calculate the extent of this increase without direct combat.
Taking advantage of the fact that he was already investing in defense, and considering how useful these skills were for the combat style he was developing with Lisa, Lohan decided to invest a little more in this area, considering that her firepower was already sufficient for what they needed.
So after spending another 404 Biomass, he purchased 5 more levels in another Evolution.
[Membrane Reinforcement Lv 23 → Lv 28]
And for the remaining 705 Biomass he had, Lohan decided to invest it all in firepower.
To do so, he spent 552 Biomass to purchase three evolutions of his current highest damage-dealing skill.
[Magic Core Lv 11 → Lv 14]
With this evolution, a pleasant, refreshing sensation coursed through his body, nourishing every biomass cell in his gelatinous body and bringing a relief he didn’t even know he needed, while slowly expanding his total Mana!
With this evolution, his Mana rose from 38.75 to 51.57 Mana points!
And with the remaining 153 Biomass points, Lohan withdrew 47 Biomass that he had been using as a reserve to purchase an upgrade for his new core, spending a total of 200 Biomass units.
[Natural Energy Core Lv 1 → Lv 2]
Lohan felt an unprecedented burst of vitality surge within him with this evolution. Unlike the electric chill of leveling up the Magic Core three times, this transmutation brought a deep warmth that seemed to embrace his soul like a warm, cozy hug.
While his Mana merely fueled spells, this organic energy pulsed through his body like a living, warm heart, synchronizing his biomass with nature and everything around him.
Surprisingly, even though the level difference was only one, the sense of relief Lohan felt when the evolution occurred was even more noticeable than when he had evolved the Magic Core three times!
’This just makes it clear to me that the quality of Natural Energy is truly superior to Magic Energy!’ He thought excitedly, recalling how this energy was portrayed in Naruto and realizing how surprisingly accurate that otherworldly work’s depiction was to what he was feeling!
Suddenly, Lisa’s voice snapped Lohan out of his focus on the evolutions. "Halon, I think we’re being followed..."