Poisoner

The sunlight felt warm on his face. Liu Zhi reached up and lightly scratched it, struggling to open his eyes.

He found himself lying in a spot at the top of the pyramid where he could bask in the sunlight, while the Corpse Soul Naga stood guard beside him with her weapon at the ready.

"What happened?"

Pressing a hand against his faintly aching head, Liu Zhi could not help asking.

The Corpse Soul Naga said nothing. She extended her free main hand, and a dried mushroom appeared in it.

"What's this?" Liu Zhi's gaze sharpened. He had already recognized what it was.

It was clearly the netted bolete, a poisonous mushroom commonly found in the jungle. However, this poisonous mushroom usually only caused poisoning when eaten, and he did not remember eating any.

Liu Zhi took the netted bolete from the Corpse Soul Naga. It had already withered badly, but some spores still drifted off it.

Rolling the spore powder between his fingers, Liu Zhi fell into thought.

Then he seemed to remember something. "Corpse Soul Naga, go collect some more of those leaves I've been eating these past few days."

The Corpse Soul Naga glanced at Liu Zhi. Without saying anything, she went down to do so.

Liu Zhi, meanwhile, retrieved his backpack and took out some of the poisons he had obtained from Mr. York. He carefully compared the netted bolete spores collected from Mr. York with the spores in his own hand.

Before long, the Corpse Soul Naga returned. After tossing the leaves in her hand in front of Liu Zhi, she stood to the side, holding her longsword and resuming her guard duty.

Liu Zhi found two stones. Without bothering about whether they were clean, he placed the leaves the Corpse Soul Naga had brought between them and squeezed them forcefully, extracting the juice into a small bottle.

Looking at the green liquid, Liu Zhi wondered how he had managed to survive by eating this for the past few days.

While silently grumbling, Liu Zhi poured the netted bolete spores into it.

Before he could even stir it, Liu Zhi saw a cloud of pale yellow mist rising from the bottle. Under the sunlight, the mist instantly faded until it was nearly invisible.

[Ding! You have researched a poison formula, Unnamed (Crude, can be refined and upgraded): Main formula ingredient: Netted bolete spores *10g, bay leaf juice *50g, auxiliary ingredients: Undetermined...]

[Poison effect: After inhalation, it will cause hallucinations, drawing out the things one most desires or fears, and causing the victim to dance wildly to death within the hallucination.]

[Detected advancement requirements for the Secondary Profession Alchemist advancement tree: Alchemist (Poisoner, Herbalist, Potion Maker) - Grand Potion Master (Poison Expert, Herbal Scholar, Grand Potion Master).]

[Detected employment requirements for the Secondary Profession - Alchemist branch Poisoner: Master 10 poison formulas (1/10), research 3 poison formulas (1/3), master 1 extraordinary poison formula (0/1)]

Seeing this, Liu Zhi hurriedly capped the bottle. He now knew why he had been drawn to that flash of light and even gone over there.

At the same time, he understood what he needed to do next.

If he could not find anything suitable to learn while excavating in the Golden City, could he not research it himself?

The situation before him had pointed out a new path for Liu Zhi.

Poison might be another path to advancement for him.

With that thought, Liu Zhi excitedly took out all the poisons Mr. York had collected and compared them one by one, calculating how he could create new poisons.

However, Liu Zhi soon discovered helplessly that he could not continue experimenting. In just that brief test, he had used up all the different toxins Mr. York had collected.

Looking at the situation before him, Liu Zhi gave an awkward laugh. He was not yet a professional mage, and his research skills were still far from adequate.

It seemed that starting with poison production had been unreasonable. Everything should have begun with collecting toxins.

With that in mind, Liu Zhi wandered around the woods. He no longer planned to eat the bay leaves that could fill his stomach but would neutralize the netted bolete spores. That meant he had to find edible plants near the trees of the Golden City, or he would starve to death here in a few more days.

Carrying the Death Long Staff, Liu Zhi headed toward the northern district of the Golden City. It had been the slums of the original Golden City, and the people who lived there certainly could not have had an easy time. They should have been the sort who ate anything.

The plants growing there were very likely edible.

He had found the bay leaves there before as well. Come to think of it, if they had not caused poisoning, those sweet-tasting leaves would have made pretty good snacks.

Before that, he had eaten several kinds of leaves there.

At the time, he had chosen leaves that looked broad and thick and felt substantial when eaten.

This time, things were different. Liu Zhi planned to try the taste of every kind of leaf.

As he thought, Liu Zhi picked a leaf and put it in his mouth. With his extensive Jungle Survival Knowledge and Toxicity Knowledge, he had already determined after picking it that the thing was not poisonous.

He chewed the leaf seriously, savoring its rough texture while complaining, "I'm a dignified mage. Why do I have to eat leaves here? This flavor won't do. It's a little sour. If there were fish, it could serve as a seasoning, but eating it straight is rather difficult."

After trying several plants that grew in relatively large quantities, Liu Zhi's eyes lit up. He discovered that one plant in the bushes had already borne fruit.

Compared with the leaves, the fruit attracted Liu Zhi's attention much more.

He spat forcefully, spraying out the leaf he was still chewing, and quickly ran toward the large tree.

As he ran, Liu Zhi recognized the tree. It was a fruit tree unique to the surrounding area. Its fruit was a subspecies of coffee, but it was not coffee. The fruit contained no moisture, while its flesh was rich in fat. Eating it was like chewing slabs of woody chocolate—hard and unpleasant.

However, as long as one ate it, it provided a large amount of energy, enough calories for an ordinary person to remain active for an entire day.

Although it tasted terrible, it was more than enough for Liu Zhi. With the fruit from this one tree, he could last another ten or so days here.

Liu Zhi quickly climbed the tree and began harvesting. He threw the fruit he picked onto the ground while looking around, hoping to find another tree like this.

His efforts were not in vain. Before long, Liu Zhi discovered another identical tree not far away.