What he originally thought was a ferocious slime hunter turned out to be an underground king crab delivered right to his doorstep.
Even better, this feast perfectly resolved the slime instinct restlessness that had been troubling him for a long time.
The acid in his stomach was still happily churning, and even after slurping up the last trace of sweet meat juice from the carapace, Chen Yu's round eyes still gazed longingly at the empty shell inside him.
[Devour Digestion Lv.2 triggered—Burrowing Beetle characteristics recorded, talent incubating (1/10)]
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Reputation Title: Slime Warrior (Novice Slime)
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He had previously wondered how reputation titles were obtained. Judging from the acquisition conditions for "Slime Warrior," it seemed one needed to complete certain challenges, defeat powerful enemies, or pass trials to obtain them.
Was it possible that other magical creatures could also obtain reputation titles through trials?
After all, the attribute panel strictly displayed data according to his physical attributes, and slimes were native magical creatures of Zeyarila. Perhaps other magical creatures and different races could also meet the conditions for obtaining reputation titles, whether intentionally or unintentionally.
Come to think of it, had he unintentionally uncovered some of Zeyarila's mysterious rules again?
After completely digesting the beetle, Chen Yu spat out the carapace.
The black carapace rolled out from the grass nest, with shimmering light flowing across its glossy black surface. The thing had a fierce silhouette and exuded an imposing aura no matter how you looked at it. The more he looked at it, the more he liked it.
Recalling that unique savory flavor, Chen Yu couldn't help but feel his stomach acid bubble with a "gurgle."
He jumped out of the grass nest and carefully crawled into the carapace, with slime gel filling the gaps inside until his body fit snugly against the carapace.
Thus, the first heavy-armored slime was born.
It might even be the first heavy-armored slime in Zeyarila's history.
From the Little Ones' perspective, it looked like a green slime wearing a thick, fierce helmet. The black color made the cute slime appear somewhat solemn.
The little ones excitedly bounced around, emitting pheromones that seemed to shout "Amazing! Incredible!"
It strongly resembled the atmosphere when an adventuring party cheers for the hero who just obtained a legendary sword.
Chen Yu was quite satisfied with his new equipment too. Although his vision was 360 degrees without blind spots, he still habitually hopped around in circles to examine his gear.
After moving around a bit, he discovered that wearing the beetle helmet slowed his movement speed somewhat compared to normal, but it was acceptable.
At least with the heavy armor protection, not to mention moss monster acid, even poison-stinger wasp stingers would have difficulty harming him.
So what if he moved slower? If worst came to worst, he could just eat all his enemies, then he wouldn't need to worry about being slow.
Chen Yu left the slime nest and headed upstream wearing the beetle helmet. The surrounding floating slimes saw him and were instantly awakened by their fear instinct, freezing stiff with terror.
He had no interest in bullying these slimes. After surfacing, he looked up at the sky and saw that the bright morning sky had become overcast with dark clouds, drizzling with rain.
After the beetle knight invasion, he realized that the swamp forest had indeed become more dangerous than before following the heavy rain.
Based on his month-long experience in the swamp forest, Chen Yu guessed this might be similar to spring season here.
Then going forward, the swamp forest would only become more lively until the cold, silent winter arrived, completing another cycle...
The beetle knight invasion wasn't accidental. As summer approached, there might be more predators invading this land.
If he didn't want to sit around waiting for death, he'd better solve the poison-stinger wasp problem as soon as possible, occupy the territory under the Twisted Oak, and become the slime lord.
Once he had territory, establishing defenses would naturally follow, and many of his ideas could gradually be realized.
Don't forget, he was still a slime that practiced cultivation.
Wasn't territory equivalent to a cultivation cave? With a cave, cultivators could do all sorts of tricks.
He was sure these savage magical creatures had never seen such things.
While practicing the Little Arrow Technique outside the thatched hut, Chen Yu simultaneously went ashore wearing the beetle helmet, preparing to test its defensive capabilities.
Whether due to the beetle helmet's intimidation or the "Slime Warrior" reputation title taking effect, his action caused the moss monsters in the tree farm to become agitated from afar.
When moss monsters saw him, they either trembled on the spot or fled in panic, completely different from their previous fervent attacking desire toward slimes.
This large-scale invasion of the farm quickly attracted the attention of the poison-stinger wasps in the tree. Four black poison-stinger wasps vibrated their wings, emitting annoying buzzing sounds as they flew down.
As the saying goes, when enemies meet, their eyes turn red with rage. Recognizing the slime under the beetle helmet, the poison-stinger wasps unhesitatingly shot their poison stingers at him.
"It really is a good thing."
After retrieving most of the poison stinger swords, he activated them again, attempting to attack the poison-stinger wasps flying overhead.
Unfortunately, these poison-stinger wasps had been dealing with him for so long that they had already witnessed the strange slime's flying sword methods. Being highly cautious of him, they basically flew about three to four meters above the ground, completely out of the flying swords' reach.
Since he hadn't mastered the Little Arrow Technique yet, he could only watch these flying poison-stinger wasps with itching desire but be helpless.
However, the poison-stinger wasps couldn't stop him from sneakily eating the farm's moss monsters either. They could only watch helplessly as he swallowed over a dozen moss monster corpses, collected the poison stingers, and then left triumphantly.
Looking up, he saw a wasp guard suddenly fly down from between the leaves. Its size was twice that of ordinary poison-stinger wasps, with a wax-yellow tail end and a thick poison needle half-concealed, gleaming with intimidating cold light.
Although he wasn't sure whether that poison needle could pierce through his beetle helmet, he had no intention of taking the risk to withstand it head-on.
Once he mastered the Little Arrow Technique, that would be the time for him to reemerge and sweep through the poison-stinger wasps.
With this thought in mind, Chen Yu maintained a low profile for the next three days, focusing solely on practicing the Little Arrow Technique and the Sound Transmission Technique gifted by the Mouse-whisker Cultivator.
The Sound Transmission Technique wasn't very useful in Xu Xuan Heaven, but it might play unexpected roles in Zeyarila. Since he had time, it was convenient to practice them together.
While he remained quiet, the swamp forest became increasingly lively.
Although the burrowing beetles that had previously invaded the slimes weren't colony creatures, they often migrated in groups.
Soon, the abundant moss monster farm under the Twisted Oak attracted the beetle group's attention. Sensing that the surrounding swamp housed many slimes, they took a liking to this place and decided to build nests and live under the Twisted Oak.
This decision clearly hadn't received approval from the oak's dominant poison-stinger wasps. To Chen Yu's surprise, the two bullies actually began fighting over territory.
As the third-party spectator, Chen Yu was naturally delighted to see this.
Fight, fight!
It would be best if both sides suffer heavy losses.
However, surprises are always on their way. Compared to the territorial struggle between poison-stinger wasps and burrowing beetles, the increasingly frequent appearances of demi-human traces in the forest soon captured his attention.
He had a feeling that something unexpected was about to happen.