Over the next few hours, they visited several stalls in Lizard Alley. Thanks to Ron's precise identification ability, his Herb Identification experience steadily increased.
At a stall specializing in rare plants, he found the third material on the list—the Tongue Moss of the Thirst-Dead.
The thing looked like a small piece of shriveled gray tissue. Its surface was covered in fine crystalline structures, and it gave off an unsettling aura.
The method of obtaining it was extremely cruel—as Andre had said before, a living person had to be bound in the desert and left to die of thirst, after which a specific tissue was extracted from the corpse.
This inhumane practice made it nearly impossible to obtain through legitimate channels. It could only be found in gray areas like the black market.
The stall owner was a hunched old woman. Her skin had an unhealthy yellow tint, and her eyes were sunken so deeply into their sockets that her pupils were almost impossible to see.
"This is genuine Tongue Moss of the Thirst-Dead, young man." The old woman's voice was hoarse and dry, like it came from a throat that had been deprived of water for years:
"Not many people know what this is, and even fewer can recognize it. What do you do, to be interested in something like this?"
Ron did not answer directly. Instead, he reached out and took the glass container.
The moment his fingers touched the container, an intense thirst suddenly overwhelmed him. His throat hurt as though it were being burned by fire.
This was the most obvious characteristic of the Tongue Moss of the Thirst-Dead—it induced an intense thirst in anyone who touched it, simulating the victim's agony before death.
``` Precise Identification! Herb Identification experience +2
Breakthrough! Herb Identification (Beginner 50/50) →