All confidence came from the strength of one's own attributes!
As a cheater... no, a Child of Destiny, Xu Kun felt that his fear of reptiles was a bad habit!
And now, the swarm of Mandala Snakes surrounding him was the perfect opportunity for him to overcome that psychological fear!
On one hand, he silently chanted, I'm not afraid of snakes, I'm not afraid of snakes!
On the other, his sword rose and fell, chopping one Mandala Snake after another into two pieces and physically sending them on their way.
Afraid that they might survive after being cut in half like earthworms, Xu Kun viciously used his Flame Spirit Boots to stomp each still-ferocious snake head into pulp!
Mandala Snakes: If you don't love us, let us go. Killing is one thing, but don't torture us!
Why would Xu Kun talk about honor among warriors with these disgusting snakes? Unless they were made into dragon-and-phoenix soup, he would never gladly accept them!
Snakes were a major branch among the myriad races. At the lowest level were F-tier races like Mandala Snakes, whose venom was not lethal and could only slow their targets!
Higher up were the Python Race, famed for their physical strength; the Anaconda Race, rulers of rivers; the Viper Race, renowned for poison; the unreachable Flood Dragon Race; and the Dragon Race, one of the Three Saint Races and a pinnacle race among the myriad races!
Whether climbing the Haotian Pagoda or fighting on the Myriad Races Battlefield, such reptilian creatures were unavoidable!
If fear made one timid from the start, one's strength would be greatly diminished. That was what one of Xu Kun's biology teachers had told them!
At that moment, Xu Kun was working hard to adapt to these reptiles whose very appearance made people uncomfortable!
Once he loosened up, Xu Kun's snake-killing speed rose noticeably. In exchange, the -1s above his head became increasingly dense...
The ranged attacks of over a hundred snakes formed a dense string of code. Even Xu Kun's more than 700 HP was rapidly dropping!
Yet Xu Kun was not panicked at all. So many snakes had been spitting at him for so long, yet they had only taken over half his health bar. Finding a moment, he pulled out a piece of roasted Snow Rabbit meat from his backpack. Without tasting much of anything, he smacked his lips and swallowed it!
Combined with Spirit of Grass's 5% recovery boost, Xu Kun's HP slowly recovered at 21 per second. As more Mandala Snakes died by his hand, his HP began rising rather than falling. By the time he cast Wildfire Scorches the Plains and dealt with the last few Mandala Snakes trying to flee, his HP was already full again!
"Phew, that scared the baby out of me!"
Xu Kun plopped down on the ground. It was covered in severed limbs and remains of Mandala Snakes, but after this great snake-slaying endeavor, he no longer felt the slightest psychological burden.
Ding, you killed 157 Mandala Snakes. Experience +94.32%. Congratulations, you have reached Level 4! Ding, God of Strength's...
Ding, you killed 43 Mandala Snakes. Experience +3%. Current experience pool: Level 4, 3%!
Xu Kun: ...
Leveling was getting harder and harder. He had wiped out the entire Mandala Snake population, yet he had only barely reached Level 4. He wondered whether the next wave of Level 5 monsters would provide enough experience to get him to Level 5!
Ding, your novice trial completion rate has increased by 6%. Current: 24%! Ding, congratulations on killing 100 Mandala Snakes, an F-tier race monster. Myriad Races Bestiary activated. Congratulations, you have obtained the F-tier skill Paralysis Venom! Paralysis Venom Grade: F-tier control skill Effect: Each attack applies one stack of paralysis toxin to the target. Movement speed -5%. Duration: 10 seconds! Maximum stacks on the same target: 10!
Having cleared four monster zones of different levels, Xu Kun had now obtained four F-tier skills!
They were: Swift Attack, Spirit of Grass, Bleeding, and Paralysis Venom!
Though they were all only F-tier, every skill's effect was highly practical. Once the Myriad Races Bestiary ranked up in the future, these skills would rank up along with it.
Xu Kun was greatly looking forward to it—looking forward to just how overpowered these skills would become once the Myriad Races Bestiary reached a certain grade!
"From the looks of it, with the Zenith Flame Spirit Set, whether it's damage, HP, defense, or speed, none of these low-level mobs can compare to me. Even if there are race monsters later on with higher movement speed than mine, ten stacks of Paralysis Venom will be enough to leave them unable to move!"
Xu Kun grinned. That said, he did not believe that low-level monsters below Level 10 with mere F-tier talents could possibly reach a speed of over 8 meters per second!
"Alright, time to collect my spoils!"
Xu Kun dusted off his butt and stood up. His body was covered in foul-smelling Mandala Snake saliva and blood, but he showed no discomfort whatsoever!
Compared to those predecessors who risked their lives and lived in constant peril on the Myriad Races Battlefield, what did this little bit of filth amount to? He had heard that every warrior who entered the Myriad Races Battlefield practically crawled through blood every day!
Stained with the blood of myriad races, defending the territory of humanity—this was the loftiest ideal of every human man!
As he reached toward a snake corpse beside him, the slimy sensation still made Xu Kun's face twitch!
Ding, you picked up F-tier material—Mandala Snake Gland. Heavenly Blessing: Child of Fortune activated. Upgraded to E-tier material—Viper Snake Gland! Viper Snake Gland Grade: E-tier Description: The source of venom in an E-tier Viper Race creature. Can be used to make poison or snake antivenom! Function: One drop can poison race creatures below E-tier, causing 50 poison damage per second. Duration: 1 hour! Current reserves: 98/100
Xu Kun's hand trembled, and he nearly crushed the poison gland in his hand!
This thing was a little terrifying!
It dealt 50 poison damage per second and lasted for a horrifying full hour. Assuming zero poison resistance, it could deal an astonishing 180,000 damage to a single target in that hour!
With his little body, he would not even last twenty seconds!
It was hard to imagine what kind of race creature below E-tier could have that much HP!
"Still, while the total damage is terrifying, the restrictions are also significant. It's ineffective against races with D-tier talents, and even for races below E-tier, if their poison resistance exceeds 50, drinking this viper venom would just be like taking a protein supplement!"
Xu Kun put away the poison gland and calmly analyzed it.
Even with his current frail body, he could only last a dozen or so seconds. But if, within the next hour, he could use medicine to recover more than 50 HP per second, then this viper venom would not kill him either!
"Can I coat my sword with it?"
Xu Kun picked up another one and carefully placed it on a stone slab. Then he ran the Flame Spirit Sword across it, and the result was...
The snake venom that spilled across the slab was instantly dried by the Flame Spirit Sword's high temperature, turning into wisps of green smoke. Xu Kun took just one sniff, and a -50 debuff appeared on him. Terrified, he hurriedly moved away!
Fortunately, the dispersed poison did not last long. Xu Kun frantically swallowed Snow Rabbit meat, and after enduring it for ten seconds, the debuff vanished!
"Damn, that scared me to death!"
Xu Kun wore a bitter smile. His research had failed. The Flame Spirit Sword's innate flames prevented the viper venom from adhering to it, and he had learned a painful lesson instead!
"I can't mess around next time. Don't let the monsters fail to kill me, only for me to play myself to death!" Xu Kun said with lingering fear.
Before long, he had searched through every snake corpse on the ground and obtained 199 Viper Snake Glands. Xu Kun no longer dared to get any ideas about these things. He carefully stored the poison glands in his backpack, planning to sell them for a good price after leaving the tower!
Presumably, materials that could be used to research snake antivenom would be quite valuable!
As he headed toward the next level zone, Xu Kun was no longer as cautious as before. What a joke—his attributes were this high, so what the hell did he have to fear? He truly did not believe that mere Level 5 monsters could turn the tables on him!
But that arrogant thought vanished instantly the moment Xu Kun entered the Level 5 monster zone!
"Holy shit, this is...?"
After leaving the dark forest inhabited by the Mandala Snakes, he found a winding river flowing before him. A group of Level 5 monsters was quietly drinking on both sides of the stream!
The Myriad Races Bestiary appeared, scanned their information, and sketched their image in one seamless motion!
Barbarian Bull Talent: F-tier Minotaur Strength (+5% physical attack, +5% HP) Level: 5 Physical Attack: 40–45 HP: 320–360 Physical Defense: 35–38 Evasion: Unable to evade Kun's attacks Movement Speed: 0.9 m/s Skill: Trample—After stomping with both hooves, the target enters a 1-second stiffened state and takes 105% physical damage! Description: A low-level bovine race creature with a violent temper. Their powerful build makes other races afraid to casually enter their territory. They drive away any creature that trespasses into their domain with brute force!
An F-tier talent with dual attribute bonuses was, in Xu Kun's understanding, a very rare talent trait that existed only among a small number of races!
Of course, as always, humans were the exception!
Their bodies were at least three times larger than the ordinary yellow cattle Xu Kun had seen before. Their thick, heavy hooves left no doubt that they could stomp an adult's chest flat in one kick!
However, these contentedly drinking Barbarian Bulls were not what drew Xu Kun's attention most!
Within the herd stood a giant Barbarian Bull at least three times the size of an ordinary one, towering in the very center like the moon surrounded by stars!
The female Barbarian Bulls around it were eagerly currying favor with it, seemingly begging for its affection!
Xu Kun swallowed, his expression growing excited!
A race boss—this was a term that inspired both love and fear!
People loved them because the drops after killing a boss were extremely valuable. Once climbers reached higher floors in the future, many pioneering teams would travel in groups to search for bosses. Killing just one could provide them with years of food and clothing!
They feared them because bosses were naturally powerful, and a single misstep could cost someone their life!
The birth of every boss represented the fact that it had undergone all manner of trials within its own race, growing stronger until the Haotian Pagoda recognized its strength and allowed it to evolve!
According to the knowledge they had learned before, fewer than one percent of each batch of trial-takers who entered the tower encountered a race boss. Of those, the number who could truly kill one and gain substantial rewards was far smaller still!
After all, the novice trial was equivalent to a single-player game. Without the aid of a team, it was difficult for novices to take down a boss alone without powerful equipment and formidable skills!
Because of this, many trial-takers who encountered bosses during the novice trial complained bitterly. Most gave up on the completion rate for monsters of that level and would rather head to the final trial to gamble on their luck than fight a boss and all the underlings surrounding it!
But none of that mattered to Xu Kun. He had only one thought right then:
Kill that giant Barbarian Bull that was likely a boss!
Experience and drops were what ordinary trial-takers desired!
Compared to others, Xu Kun had one additional objective: the second trait in his Heavenly Blessing: Child of Fortune talent—kill one race boss to obtain that race's talent!
And the third trait: Kill a race's leader/ultimate boss to obtain control over that race!
There was also the Bestiary advancement trait: Kill ten bosses of the same grade as the Myriad Races Bestiary to upgrade his talent!
"Whether it's an ultimate boss is hard to say. And Barbarian Bulls are a very common F-tier race monster. Even if it is an ultimate boss, it won't be the only boss. It's unrealistic to gain control over the Barbarian Bull Race through this!"
After his excitement passed, Xu Kun quickly calmed down. Even if it was not the only ultimate boss, its size alone made it unquestionably a boss. If he could kill it, not only would he gain a talent, but he would also accumulate one boss kill!
"I just wonder whether that giant Barbarian Bull is F-tier..."
If it was E-tier, then the ten F-tier boss kills required for the Bestiary upgrade would not count. But in exchange, he would gain an E-tier talent!
Thinking this, Xu Kun looked at the book in his hand.
The Myriad Races Bestiary glowed softly, and an illustration distinct from ordinary Barbarian Bulls was drawn stroke by stroke.
Very soon, the information of that giant Barbarian Bull appeared on the page.
Minotaur Chieftain Grade: ...
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