Oak Overlord

Sunlight filtered through the shadows of the trees, forming mottled patches that fell across the Swamp Forest. Whether intentionally or not, the Moss Monsters wriggled along after the patches of light, basking in the hard-won sunshine.

Chen Yu was half-submerged in the swamp, his tiny mung-bean eyes peeking out as he observed the Moss Monsters' movements, looking utterly shifty.

No kidding, this swamp truly deserved to be a place capable of nurturing Slimes. It was practically a perfect match for them.

From this position, he could advance to attack or retreat to defend. If he could not win, he could dive into the muck. His green body was difficult for Demonic Beasts to spot while hidden in the swamp.

The two Moss Monsters from before had not seen any trace of Chen Yu for a long while, so they lowered their guard and resumed gnawing on the sludge melted by Acid.

Little did they know that Chen Yu, this sinister and cunning Slime, had not left at all. He was watching them.

He carefully circled around the patches of light cast onto the swamp. When he was less than half a meter from his target, he struck again.

Swoosh!

One Moss Monster was pierced through the body and died on the spot. The other was so frightened that it left behind a puddle of Acid and fled in panic, saving him the trouble of dealing with it.

Chen Yu jumped onto a tree root and was hopping toward the corpse when—

Suddenly, he noticed that the Moss Monsters and Mud Swamp Worms that had been crawling everywhere moments ago had all stopped moving. It was as though the entire world had abruptly fallen silent.

"Damn it, there's a predator."

Chen Yu's heart skipped a beat, and a bad feeling surged within him. Then he heard a piercing buzz.

Stinger Bees!

While swallowing the Moss Monster and the flying sword, he hurriedly looked up and saw three pitch-black Stinger Bees descend through layers of leaves.

He had encountered this kind of Demonic Beast before. Unlike harmless honeybees, Stinger Bees ate meat! Even their hives were made from rotting flesh.

Several venomous stingers capable of being fired were hidden within their tails, which were ringed with flesh-colored wax. He had once seen a Mud Swamp Worm get struck by a stinger from several meters away, its body turning black and yellow in the blink of an eye.

There should be a Stinger Bee Hive in this tree, but it was hidden behind the leaves, so he could not see it.

No matter what, Stinger Bees were the overlords of this place, and they were group-dwelling Demonic Beasts. He simply could not afford to provoke them right now.

Run!

A Slime's Fear Instinct urged Chen Yu's body to flee, but he knew that a running Slime made a huge commotion and would easily draw the Stinger Bees over. He forcibly suppressed his instinct and copied the other Demonic Beasts, staying perfectly still where he was and pretending to be an inanimate object.

He silently chanted in his heart, Moss is green, and Slimes are green too. They can't see me, they can't see me...

But unfortunately, the Stinger Bees had noticed him long ago and flew straight toward him.

"Damn!"

With so many plump, protein-rich Moss Monsters around, why were they chasing after one Slime like him?

Chen Yu cursed his rotten luck and hurriedly hopped toward the swamp.

Clearly, the Stinger Bees had no intention of letting him go. From several meters away, they raised their tails and fired venomous stingers at him.

Chen Yu leaped aside in terror, and all three stingers nailed themselves into the tree root.

But he was not so lucky in the next round. The Stinger Bees' stingers could be fired continuously. He had only just dodged the last volley when another three stingers came shooting at him.

At this distance, he could not dodge!

In his desperation, Chen Yu sent out the Toothpick Flying Sword to intercept the stingers in midair.

Two stingers collided with the Toothpick Flying Sword, snapping the wooden flying sword in half on the spot.

Before he had time to mourn his flying sword, one stinger shot straight through his butt and nailed itself into the tree root.

[Physical Damage] HP -10!

[Poison Effect] HP -2/sec (lasts 5 seconds)

Pain!

It hurt so much!

That was Chen Yu's final thought before he jumped into the swamp.

As he gradually sank into the muck, another volley of stingers from the Stinger Bees missed. They circled for a few moments with beating wings before returning to the hive in the tree.

Chen Yu, buried in the muck, had no mind to care whether the Stinger Bees had left. All he felt was agonizing pain throughout his body.

When he looked at the wound, the area pierced by the stinger had already turned black.

Fortunately, a Slime's body was soft, and the stinger had not remained inside him. Otherwise, the consequences would have been unthinkable.

Chen Yu endured the intense pain and expelled the blackened gel from his body. Only then did the pain gradually fade.

That was the good thing about Slimes. There was no such thing as injury or illness. They merely discarded gel every time they were struck, their bodies shrinking until they became nothing more than a puddle of water.

Thinking back on that perilous moment, he could not help feeling lingering fear.

If the flying sword had not blocked two of those stingers, and all of them had pierced his body, then all the nutrition he had consumed over the past half month would have been expelled along with the gel.

"My flying sword..." Chen Yu's heart ached.

Zeyarila could not compare to Xuxuantian. He had spent several days selecting that wooden toothpick, then used his stomach acid to grind it for a long time before obtaining it.

Now that his divine weapon was gone, his strength would probably be greatly reduced.

"Damn Stinger Bees, you've caused me devastating losses."

"I'll be back."

Once he learned a few more new Dao techniques, he would definitely make them regret it.

Chen Yu had originally planned to return directly to the Slime Nest to digest the Moss Monster in his stomach, but then he suddenly remembered that the Stinger Bees seemed to have left quite a few stingers behind.

"These stingers can even shoot through wood. They should be much harder than my flying sword."

Remembering this, his heart stirred.

But he currently had no way to deal with the bee venom on the stingers. He could not touch them, which meant he could not use the Object Manipulation Technique. He could only put the matter aside for now.

In any case, no Demonic Beast would dare approach those stingers. He could leave them there for now and retrieve them to make a new flying sword once he found a way to handle them.

Chen Yu dragged his exhausted Slime body back to the nest. Slime Mother had not returned yet, so he squeezed Little One aside in the grass nest. Feeling threads of warmth rising from his stomach, he fell asleep drowsily.

When he awoke again, he discovered that the Moss Monster in his stomach had been completely digested. His Slime body seemed to have undergone a wondrous change.

He felt himself expanding—not mentally swelling with pride, but physically growing larger. Mysterious patterns had also appeared within his gel.

With a mere thought, darker-colored gastric fluid could seep out from the patterns in his gel.

[Devour and Digest Lv.1 activated—Moss Monster traits fully recorded. Talent acquired: **Acid Secretion Lv.1**]

--

Race: Acid Slime

Level: Black Iron Lv.2 [EXP: 0/20]

Cultivation: Qi Cultivation Lv.2 [Spiritual Power: 16/20]

Life Status: Healthy [HP: 75/75]

Racial Talent: Devour and Digest Lv.1

Other Talent: Acid Secretion Lv.1

Skill List: Kaiyuan Scroll Lv.4, Object Manipulation Technique Lv.2

Prestige Title: None (an obscure Slime)

--

So his stomach acid was actually the same kind of Acid as the Moss Monsters'?

Oh...

No wonder it had grown darker.

He hopped out of the grass nest and imitated the Moss Monsters, spraying Acid.

Sizzle!

Dark Green Acid shot onto the ground nearby, immediately producing a harsh sizzling sound and clouds of choking green smoke.

Uh...

Its power was terrifying, but why did its range seem even shorter than the flying sword's?

Chen Yu silently hopped back into the grass nest.

"Forget it. I should learn more Dao techniques. This talent might be useful in Xuxuantian."

Nestled among a pile of Slimes, he stared at the level-up interface and noticed that his level had risen to Black Iron Lv.2.

Chen Yu guessed that ordinary Slimes were all Black Iron Lv.1. Moss Monsters, which could secrete deadly Acid, could be considered Black Iron Lv.2. As for Demonic Beasts like Stinger Bees, they were at least Black Iron Lv.2, perhaps even Black Iron Lv.3.

No matter what, progress was a good thing.

It was just that, up to now, he had yet to see any Demonic Beast use magic in the true sense of the word.

Could Monster Talents also be a form of magic?