[92→82]
[Evolution complete]
[Gained Trait: Basic Rapid Recovery ]
After the panel blurred for a moment, Wen Jing continued eating meat. He immediately felt the energy and nutrients entering his mouth being supplied to his injured mouthparts and two legs with the highest priority.
After taking two more bites, she felt an itch in those three areas.
Before long, the missing mouthparts and two legs regrowed at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Meanwhile, during this process of repairing bodily damage, the rate at which attributes on the panel increase is somewhat slower than before.
Of course, after the repairs were completed, the growth rate returned to normal.
This is essentially a conversion of matter and energy.
"Perhaps, the idea that eating dirt can heal injuries will actually become a reality in the future..."
Thinking this, Wen Jing buried herself in eating voraciously. After repairing her body, her eating speed increased even further, and her life and strength attributes also grew rapidly.
But, just as she had devoured half of the saber-toothed tiger's massive body...
"Click..."
The wind stopped, and the little insect that was diligently eating meat was swallowed up by the air.
The scene before her changed, and she was back on the knot.
"No!!! Is this correct?!"
After Wen Jing came to her senses, she angrily jumped up and down on the knot.
This time, the saber-toothed tiger was a 'real' Wilderness Beast; it didn't drop any shells. She thought she could finish her prey normally, but unexpectedly, the restrictions imposed by the wind still appeared.
Animal tooth knots are rare; this is only the second one Wen Jing has encountered so far.
If I had known this would happen, the first knot... never mind, if I had actually gone in with my teammates and encountered a group of enemies with supernatural abilities like the saber-toothed tiger, some people might have really died.
However, seeing the increasing numbers on the panel, she managed to recover.
Life expectancy: 93
Strength: 90
Speed: 48
Spirit: 71
"Jingle bells..."
With Gravity Silk thread, the little insect carried five shells on its back and continued on its journey.
Her earlier scouting had already pinpointed her destination; the animal teeth and rope knot were secondary objectives. Her true goal was...
After quickly clearing two ordinary knots and obtaining two white seashells, Wen Jing arrived at a knot where seashells were wrapped around and hanging.
The knot was only adorned with a broken seashell, hidden deep among the many knots, and was quite inconspicuous. If she hadn't jumped high and looked far to 'test the way,' she might not have noticed it at all.
Wen Jing stepped onto the rope with anticipation.
The scene changes in the next moment.
This time, she found herself not in the familiar wasteland, but in a vast cave.
There was nothing else in the cave except for a high platform made of piled stones in front of them. On that platform, three items were releasing strange energy fluctuations that were unique to treasures.
Rare treasure!
Wen Jing felt a strong attraction at first sight.
Each stone platform piled with rare treasures is painted with a different number of seashells, the meaning of which is self-evident.
Upon seeing this scene, Wen Jing's regret about not finishing the Wilderness Beast meat earlier vanished.
Knowledge is power!
In the last exploration team, the other members exchanged the white shells they were assigned for credits, treating them as ordinary Ancient Wilderness resources.
She had deliberately kept the seashells, and this time she finally succeeded in finding the 'shop' in the maze!
Chapter 77
Realizing he had arrived at a shop in the maze, Wen Jing immediately began to excitedly examine the 'shelves' made of stacked stone platforms.
The stone platform is in the shape of "pin" and is divided into high and low levels.
On the two lower stone platforms in front, placed side by side, was a white fruit the size of an apricot and a bowl of golden grains in a rough stone bowl.
Wen Jing was naturally very familiar with the golden grains, and the white fruits also revealed the unique allure of Ancient Wilderness treasures.
At the very back, on the highest stone platform, lay a piece of green grass.
Beneath each stone platform are carved round seashell marks, some large and some small.
The shells at the bottom of a bowl of grains are one large shell and one small shell; the white fruit is one large shell and two small shells; and the green grass leaves at the top are three large shells.
Wen Jing looked at his 'wallet': four large pink seashells and three small white seashells.
I thought I was rich enough to empty a store, but it turned out it still wasn't enough!
However... the little bug glanced furtively around, confirming that there were no other living beings reacting except for itself.
This seems to be an unmanned store. Is it possible to buy something for free?
After thinking for a moment, Wen Jing sent out a Gravity Silk, which stuck to the white fruit, and pulled it forcefully towards his location.
"Whoosh!"
The next moment, the fruit on the stone platform flew towards her.
Is it really possible to buy something for free?
Wen Jing was surprised and uncertain. Although it was a good thing, didn't it make her act of collecting seashells along the way seem rather foolish?
However, immediately afterward, the stone platform suddenly came to life, as if it were some kind of creature, opening a huge, dark, Chaos mouth from the middle and Extreme Speed biting at the white fruit.
That wasn't all. At the same time, Wen Jing felt something was wrong with his feet and quickly used his Gravity Silk to float up.
A huge mouth suddenly appeared where she had just been standing, and it lunged straight at her.
"Call out!"
Wen Jing were not going well, Wen Jing immediately twisted his body and tried to throw a white seashell on his back into the big mouth at his feet.
It took a big bite and made a clear swallowing and tasting motion.
Meanwhile, the gaping mouth on the stone platform seemed to resonate with this one, pausing in the same way before beginning to chew on the shell in mid-air.
However, the shell only made it linger for a moment. Before Wen Jing could even pull the white fruit over, the mouth chased after it again.
Seeing this, she realized she couldn't find any loopholes to exploit.
After dropping a white and a pink seashell into the mouth of the stone platform according to the previously seen 'price', the mysterious mouth seemed to be soothed, and even let out a burp as if it had eaten its fill, allowing Wen Jing to take the fruit away.
The white fruit has a faint fragrance; I picked it up and started eating it as soon as Wen Jing.
The mouthparts pierce the skin, and the flesh underneath is actually quite soft and chewy.
"It tastes like this... lychee."
The next moment, the attribute panel appeared in his mind due to his obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Life expectancy: 93.5, 94...
Strength: 90.5, 91...
Speed: 49, 50...
Spirit: 71.5, 72...
While both attributes increased across the board, Wen Jing noticed that the speed attribute increased significantly faster this time.
This is about... supplementing what's lacking.
As she ate, she glanced at the golden grains on the stone platform beside her.
Because white fruits have this ability to compensate for their shortcomings, they are 'more expensive' than golden grains by one shell.
While it could also be a property of the fruit itself, Wen Jing is more inclined to this guess.
They devoured the white fruit in a few bites and gained another boost to their attributes.
Wen Jing's gaze fell on the stone platform at the top.
She had just tried the zero-yuan purchase, and her first target was the white fruit. This was because she knew that if she failed, she could only buy two items from the store, so she naturally chose the unknown and expensive one.
I don't know what those green leaves are, but if they dare to ask for three pink seashells, they must be something special.
"Hmm?" No quality?
Wen Jing tried to stick the Gravity Silk to the green leaf, but found that he missed.
Then she'd definitely like to taste it to see if it's salty enough!
The little insect carried the shell and flew directly to the stone platform.
As soon as I stepped onto the stone platform, the stone below opened its mouth again.
It seems that under normal circumstances, this store requires payment for proximity.
Wen Jing tossed three pink seashells into the mouth with a 'plop plop plop' sound, then steadily stepped onto the stone platform, finally getting a clear view of the entire green leaf.
A slender green stem connects to three blades of grass above, somewhat resembling the size of a clover, except that the leaves are not round but rather long and thin.
The second time she encountered an object that was clearly visible but had no mass, she simply walked to the side and tried to touch it with her leg.
Unexpectedly, the moment it was touched, the green leaf suddenly transformed from a solid into a phantom and floated up.
Wen Jing looked up and followed the green shadow, only to find that it had shrunk a bit, like a balloon, floating right above his head.
What is this? A halo?
The little insect bounced once, and saw the green leaf phantom jump with her, seemingly fixed an inch above her head.
"No, after this comes back, it won't be permanently stuck on my head, will it?"
Imagining that strange scene, Wen Jing wanted to facepalm.
And what is its purpose? It's completely unclear!
Wen Jing looked up at the green leaves overhead, circling the stone platform. "Worth three seashells, and we can't even eat them? Isn't there any explanation?"
Suddenly, a thought struck her.
He recalled the state he was in when he devoured the oracle bone script last time.
As this thought arose, a portion of her consciousness re-entered that strange mental realm.
In the void, only a single, newly sprouted green blade of grass floated silently.
Wen Jing's consciousness stirred, and the little insect crawled onto one of the leaf petals.
The blades of grass were much smaller than the oracle bones from last time; a single leaf was almost the size of her body.
It was a bit small, but Wen Jing didn't mind. After all, this type of treasure was one of the reasons she was searching for Ancient Wilderness civilization ruins.
"Click, click, click..."
The little insect ate the leaf beneath it in two bites, then looked at the control panel.
Skill Points: 82 → 87
Eating a leaf only added five points, and there were only three leaves in total.