"Have you heard? 'Miracle' Yano is back again."
"He brought back rare goods from the deep swamp, and the team that followed him made a fortune!"
"Then what are we waiting for? While the gray-scaled lizardfolk are hiding, let's grab some wealth quickly!"
Similar conversations exploded like hotcakes in every corner of the Adventurers' Guild.
In the noisy, chaotic hall, human adventurers gathered in small groups, enthusiastically discussing the rumors with flying spittle. A few scattered dwarves boomed with voices that drowned out the surrounding clamor. In the corners, half-elf rangers quietly polished their short bows, but their ears twitched slightly, clearly also gathering information.
Right at that moment, the heavy oak door creaked open with a violent push.
All the commotion instantly quieted down. Standing silhouetted against the light at the entrance was a travel-worn figure, his leather armor still stained with swamp mud—none other than the center of everyone's attention, Yano.
Ignoring the dozens of gazes instantly focused on him, he walked steadily through the automatically parting crowd, heading straight to the mission counter.
"Thump!"
"The swamp specialties the Alchemist Association wanted, all collected." His voice wasn't loud, but it clearly carried throughout the hall.
The mission clerk behind the counter froze for a moment, then opened the bag and examined it carefully, his eyes immediately lighting up.
"Well... well done, Yano. It really is Moonlight Moss."
He deftly counted out a small, heavy bag of gold coins and pushed it toward Yano.
Yano weighed the money pouch, a hearty smile curling at the corner of his mouth. He turned around to face the hall full of breathless adventurers, raising the bag of gold coins high as he announced clearly, "Everyone, you've worked hard! Tonight at the Old Oak Tavern, drinks are on me, unlimited!"
As his words fell, the scene fell into dead silence.
Then—
Like a suppressed volcano suddenly erupting, deafening cheers nearly blasted the roof off!
The adventurers who had just been calculating how to get rich in the swamp now looked at Yano with more than just simple envy in their eyes—there was also blazing desire thoroughly ignited!
Damn!
We must show those gray-scale bastards what adventurers are capable of!
Yano stood there, his smile unchanged.
All of this was within the Boss's plan.
He didn't know why the Boss wanted to deal with those gray-scale bastards, but obviously the temptation of overnight wealth wasn't something these adventurers who dreamed of getting rich all day could resist.
Before he brought back wealth from the deep swamp, the swamp forest across the Reed River had always been seen as dangerous and barren in adventurers' eyes. Only merchants and adventurers hired to guard merchant caravans would cross over to do business.
But now the situation had changed—the swamp forest had become a treasure land in adventurers' eyes, and those gray-scale bastards who once terrified him were about to face a group of fanatical human adventurers.
No matter how sharp their claws or thick their scales, they couldn't possibly withstand human greed.
Yano tossed the money pouch in his hand and turned to leave with style.
"Boss, my mission is complete."
...
"Plant this Moonlight Moss under that tree."
"Wrong, not this tree, the other one without the poison frogs."
"Yes, right here."
"Don't plant too much in one place, we need to gradually lure adventurers to explore the swamp."
Chen Yu bounced through the marshy forest, directing the bee swarm to "decorate" the swamp's outer areas.
This swamp was about to welcome the second wave of adventurers from the kingdom, so naturally it needed to be decorated to appear more abundant, leaving a good impression in their eyes.
As for those gray-scaled lizardfolk?
They had long been scared into migrating south by the fanatical adventurers, going to seek help from the gnolls.
A bunch who could even abandon their faith—how could they possibly maintain loyalty to the land?
Seeing that the outer decoration work was proceeding methodically, the idle Chen Yu began patrolling his swamp territory, lest he not even know if wolves and hyenas from the southern forest invaded his domain.
After these days of exploration, he had already figured out how large the range of his swamp territory was.
Centered around the oak territory, continuing westward deeper into the swamp was the domain of corrupted crocodiles—each of these crocodiles was a Bronze-tier magical creature.
These swamp puppies didn't run fast, but they occupied territory, blocking his path.
Heading north, in the hunting grounds of the Rotten Moss Tribe lizardfolk—the coniferous swamp forest—the trees grew sparser and straighter, inhabited by the giant bear clan, massive and brawny, probably capable of smacking one slime with a single paw.
Going south would lead into a death swamp, perpetually emitting ominous aura, where gnolls and hyenas roamed the edge of life and death, surviving by gnawing on carrion and occasionally hunting unfortunate magical creatures that wandered in.
That was the gnolls' territory, now also temporarily hosting the corrupted lizardfolk staying there.
Thus, Chen Yu found himself seemingly trapped in the center of the swamp.
To defend the Swamp Overlord's position and protect the swamp's peace and stability, he decided to borrow power from beyond this world.
While there was still time, he returned to the oak territory and began his daily talisman drawing practice.
Pressing the prepared leaves under stones, then taking poison thorns as talisman brushes, combined with the improved magic ink, barely constituted the brush, ink, paper, and inkstone needed for talisman drawing.
The conditions were rather crude, but one couldn't ask for more in the swamp.
When Yano left, he promised to find magic paper for him—he wondered if it could replace leaves as talisman paper.
But the magic ink he brought really could be used.
He just needed to replenish the gray gravel crystals with spiritual energy, grind them into powder, then mix them into the magic ink to get the spiritual energy ink he wanted.
In his view, this magic ink was more like a carrier of mysterious power—thick, smooth, locking in mana like a net.
And after adding gray gravel crystals, it could displace the mana inside.
To use a more vivid metaphor, it was like replacing the prisoner in the prison from a mage to a cultivator.
It could still serve its proper function.
Chen Yu used gel to hold the poison thorn, dipped it in some ink, and shakily drew the patterns of the Rocksteady Talisman on the leaf.
Without a doubt, his attempt failed.
His half-baked talisman drawing skills clearly weren't sufficient to master such difficult drawing conditions.
So after failing more than ten times in succession, not daring to waste the precious leaf talisman paper and spiritual energy ink, he immersed his consciousness back into Xu Xuan Heaven to continue practicing talismans.
It wasn't until noon that the panel notification that popped out pulled Chen Yu, who was immersed in practice, back to reality.
[Talisman Drawing Technique Lv.1 → Talisman Drawing Technique Lv.2]
——
Species: Hallucinogenic Slime
Level: Black Iron Lv.3 [EXP: 16/30]
Cultivation: Qi Training Lv.4 [Spiritual Energy: 0/40]
Life Status: Healthy [HP: 115/115]
Racial Talent: Devour Digestion Lv.3
Other Talents: Acid Secretion Lv.3, Toxin Resistance Lv.3, Resilient Carapace Lv.3, Hallucinogenic Factor Lv.2
Skill List: Open Yuan Treasure Scroll Lv.5, Object Manipulation Lv.3, Little Arrow Technique Lv.3, Sound Transmission Technique Lv.3, Talisman Drawing Technique Lv.2
Reputation Title: Slime Warrior (Novice Slime)
——
"Calculating the time, the sect's library should be open now."
Chen Yu tidied his desk, stepped out of the thatched hut, and walked toward the direction of the sect's Chongshan Hall.
His Qi Training cultivation had already broken through to the fourth layer.
Most of his talents and skills had leveled up across the board, including the "Open Yuan Treasure Scroll" upgraded to Lv.5, having reached its limit. It was time to go receive the sect's advanced cultivation method.
A Civil Engineering Bible that he had long had his eye on.