The campfire dispelled the darkness, its flames passing through the vibrant green gel, making the slime's body shimmer with amber hues like a gemstone.
Chen Yu had melted into a puddle of liquid sitting on a tree stump, comfortably basking in the warm fire.
Sekashi was right—magical creatures truly feared fire.
The moment he first saw the flames, his slime instincts stirred with faint fear, but soon his "Slime Warrior" title took effect, allowing him to easily suppress those instincts.
Sekashi sat nearby, skewering moss monsters together with a wooden stick and roasting them over the fire until they sizzled with oil.
The aroma of oil drifted all around, and in the darkness, magical creatures stirred restlessly but ultimately dared not approach.
Firstly, because the vigorous flames instinctively frightened the magical creatures.
Secondly, because of that seemingly harmless slime sitting by the campfire.
Any predator with a bit of intelligence could smell the dangerous aura emanating from it.
They hesitated to advance, eventually retreating quietly.
Sekashi, who had been watching their surroundings, breathed a sigh of relief and handed Chen Yu the oak branch skewer of roasted moss monsters.
Watching the slime beside her devouring the roasted skewers with enthusiastic munching sounds, for a brief moment she felt a sacrilegious urge to reach out and touch it.
"Sekashi, aren't you eating?"
Chen Yu looked up at the dazed Sekashi, feeling puzzled inside.
"Oh...!"
Sekashi snapped back to reality, ashamed of her momentary thought.
"Sekashi, what are you thinking."
"That is Putu's envoy, you must maintain reverence."
"Reverence."
She took a deep breath to calm herself, returning to the solemn and sacred task of roasting food for the envoy.
The moss monsters were roasted perfectly, maintaining crisp tenderness while sizzling with oil and carrying the fresh scent of wood, which greatly stimulated Chen Yu's appetite.
After devouring several more moss monsters with enthusiastic munching, he asked about outside matters.
"Are you the only Shed-Scales member left in your tribe? Could there be companions looking for you?"
"Ah? What?"
Sekashi snapped back to reality, only then realizing what Chen Yu had asked.
Her mood turned somewhat somber.
"The Corruption faith spread during the Winter Year. At that time, there weren't many lizardfolk in the tribe who believed in Corrupted Morgul, until..."
"Priest Zulok publicly called upon our people to join the embrace of Corruption. He claimed that Corrupted Morgul could grant us sufficient power to hunt larger beastly magical creatures like the gnolls, so we wouldn't go hungry anymore..."
"So you believed it?"
Chen Yu swallowed a moss monster, his gaze filled with curiosity.
"Some tribespeople believed it. The tribe experienced intense conflict amid hunger and cold, and my father... lost his life for resisting Zulok... So my sister and I organized the last remaining Shed-Scales forces, escaped Zulok's encirclement, and hid in the swamp forest."
"We wandered for several months, relying on the faith of nature to evade dangers again and again, finally surviving until spring arrived..."
"But in the end, we were forced to separate due to pursuit by gnolls... I still don't know if my sister is alive."
"You have a sister too."
"Yes, her name is Semiaya. She was the bravest warrior in our tribe. Witnessed by our tribespeople, she single-handedly killed a fearsome bugbear and completed the tribe's trial while bathed in blood."
"Trial?"
Chen Yu caught the key term.
"Correct, this is a ritual passed down through generations in our Scale Claw tribe. When a lizardfolk defeats an impossibly strong enemy under the witness of their people, they receive the blessing of the life spirit, becoming stronger and more powerful."
Isn't this just a reputation title?
Chen Yu could now confirm that native creatures of Zeyarila capable of obtaining reputation titles were more like stepping into a higher level of existence.
Just like him.
Evolving from a lowly minion into an elite monster.
Even though an elite slime could still be crushed underfoot by certain magical creatures, it was at least a decent start.
Chen Yu originally wanted to ask more, but seeing Sekashi lost in reminiscence, he ultimately remained silent, allowing her to quietly reflect alone.
The night gradually deepened, and the glow of fluorescent moss grew increasingly dim.
The campfire still burned, but its flames were no longer sufficient to dispel the gloomy darkness, gradually becoming surrounded and confined to the front of the shelter made from branches and leaves.
"Let's sleep. Remember to add firewood in the middle of the night."
Chen Yu hopped onto a rock farther from the campfire, feeling the faint chill of moisture, which replenished the water content in his body.
Basking by the fire felt extremely comfortable to him, but it tended to dry out his gel, so he couldn't do it continuously.
"If you don't mind, would you like to squeeze in with me?"
Sekashi crawled into the leaf-covered bed, asking cautiously.
Chen Yu didn't respond. He had melted onto the rock, circulating the Three Origins Sect's technique, the Open Yuan Treasure Scroll, and had already entered deep meditation.
The spiritual energy in Zeyarila was quite sparse, but even mosquito legs count as meat.
The periods of night and early morning were when it was most concentrated, perfect for cultivation.
Practicing with both bodies simultaneously yielded even better results.
After entering his cultivation state, the slime body slowly emitted a faint fluorescent glow. Some barely perceptible tiny points of light quietly seeped from the surrounding air, soil, and even leaves, swirling around it.
The light was soft and pure, sacred yet natural, as if condensed from the essence of moonlight, bringing a sense of peace.
Sekashi lay on the leaf bed, watching this scene. Her heart, which should have been anxious in this unfamiliar environment, unexpectedly calmed down without her realizing, like a drifting boat finding a tranquil harbor.
She softly recited prayers to Putu, her eyelids growing heavy until she finally fell asleep, her breathing steady and long.
She slept very soundly.
...
Over the next few days, Chen Yu practiced the Little Arrow Technique while waiting for Sekashi's injuries to recover.
Unconsciously, four days passed in a flash, with no lizardfolk or gnolls showing up during this time.
If one ignored Sekashi as the new resident, the swamp forest was practically unchanged from before.
On this day, Chen Yu felt like he had expanded and grown again, sensing that his original beetle helmet was becoming somewhat tight.
——
Race: Acidic Slime
Level: Black Iron Lv.3 [EXP: 0/30]
Cultivation: Qi Training Lv.3 [Spiritual Energy: 12/30]
Life Status: Healthy [HP: 105/105]
Racial Talent: Devour Digestion Lv.2
Other Talents: Acid Secretion Lv.2
Skill List: Open Yuan Treasure Scroll Lv.4, Object Manipulation Lv.3, Little Arrow Technique Lv.1, Sound Transmission Technique Lv.1
Reputation Title: Slime Warrior (Novice Slime)
——
To be honest, upon reaching Black Iron Lv.3, he only felt like he had more health points and could withstand more punishment, with seemingly no other changes.
Oh wait, that's not right.
His magic organ could also accumulate more acid at once now.
Chen Yu lurked in the swamp, observing the busy oak tree territory—the poison-stinger wasps hovered around the oak tree, raising and harvesting moss monsters, while those beetles still stubbornly remained under the tree.
The two sides seemed to have reached a stalemate.
However, after these days of recovery, Sekashi's injuries had completely healed.
He felt the timing was right.
It was time to drive these magical creatures out of his territory.