Chapter 6 : Chapter 6
Chapter 6: The Second Trait: You Are What You Eat! Taiji - Cloud Hands!
“Ye Ze still has not come out?”
“What do you mean, he has not come out...?”
Zhao Xuan’s mind froze for a moment.
He simply could not believe it. He had only managed to hold out for thirty minutes by relying on an Outstanding-grade summoned beast.
Yet Ye Ze had actually lasted until now?
Only then did he finally hear the discussions around him clearly:
“Holy shit! Zhao Xuan actually came out first! Does that mean he lost?”
“Ye Ze won again! It feels like nobody in the advanced class has ever beaten him!”
“He must have hidden somewhere!”
“Maybe he will come out any second now...”
Even though Zhao Xuan’s loss was already a fact, he was still a rich second-generation kid from the advanced class, so no one dared provoke him at a time like this.
Instead, Zhao Xuan himself was the one whose mentality had completely collapsed.
It was not just that he had lost to Ye Ze again.
He had also lost the more than two million his family had given him!
That had been the money he planned to use to clear dungeons three times today in a row!
Now he had even lost his chance to enter a dungeon for free even once!
A catastrophic loss!!!
Grinding his teeth, Zhao Xuan glared hatefully at the dungeon entrance.
“Damn it! How is he still hiding in there?!”
“Why have those magical beasts still not gone after him?!”
...
“Why have these magical beasts still not come looking for me...?”
Inside the dungeon, Ye Ze and Panda were carrying out a carpet search.
As far as their eyes could see, they did not let a single magical beast off the hook.
Probably no one had ever imagined that a Hell-difficulty dungeon could be fought like this...
At this point, his backpack already held nine Crystal Stones, one Rockfall Spell, one All-Out Strike, and one giant axe.
[Level: 1 (81/100)]
During this stretch of time, they had killed another five Stonearmored Beasts at the foot of the mountain, reaping quite a harvest.
But Ye Ze was still pressing on.
To be safe, he planned to advance to Level 2 before heading into the high-level magical beast area on the mountainside.
After all, this was Hell difficulty. It still deserved some respect.
“I wonder how far Zhao Xuan has gotten.”
Ye Ze had no way of knowing what was happening outside, but he guessed Zhao Xuan probably would not be faster than him.
At that moment, three more magical beasts finally appeared in front of him.
[Gray-Mane Hyena (Lv. 3)]
Type: Ordinary-grade magical beast
Skills: Bite, Grievous Wound.
————
Ye Ze had already figured it out. Judging by the positions of these magical beasts...
They had been planning to join forces with the high-level magical beasts and launch a pincer attack from front and back the moment he entered the mountainside area!
What a sinister scheme!
Unfortunately for them, Ye Ze had chosen to search the entire mountain directly!
Their plan fell through, leaving them no choice but to come out and face Panda head-on.
And Panda was practically a gold-medal enforcer.
“Whether it was a Stonearmored Beast or a Gray-Mane Hyena, they all died instantly under his Taiji techniques!”
The latter were even worse than the Stonearmored Beasts. They had no real impact force at all, so there was no need to use Grasp the Sparrow’s Tail.
With attack power equivalent to more than twice that of a Warrior, Panda was knocking them out one punch at a time!
[Killed Gray-Mane Hyena. EXP +9!]
[Killed Gray-Mane Hyena...]
Three low-level magical beasts and twenty-seven experience points were finally enough for him to level up!
[Ding! Your level has risen to Level 2!]
[Your attributes have increased: Strength +5, Constitution +5, Agility +5, Spirit +5!]
[Free Attribute Points +5!]
[Talent — You have gained one draw chance for ‘Infinite Golden Traits’!]
This was exactly what he had been waiting for!
“After putting away the spoils from the Gray-Mane Hyena—three Crystal Stones and a gray hat—”
he added all of his free attribute points to Spirit.
Spirit was the most important attribute for a Summoner. It affected the summoned beast’s contract, growth attributes, and skill damage.
After that, Ye Ze immediately drew without the slightest delay!
Once again, the familiar golden waterfall of light swirled around him, while countless golden Trait frames revolved in circles...
This time, Ye Ze reached out and grabbed one on his own initiative!
A golden Trait frame remained in his hand.
[You have drawn the golden Legendary-grade Trait: You Are What You Eat!]
[You Are What You Eat!: Can digest any item. Each time you consume a certain kind of item, you gain the corresponding attribute bonus from it!]
“A growth-type Trait?”
Ye Ze’s eyes lit up. Compared with combat-type Traits, obtaining a growth-type Trait early on gave better value.
But still, what exactly could this Trait be used to eat?
Ye Ze assigned the Trait to Panda anyway.
[‘You Are What You Eat!’ Trait successfully assigned!]
[Summoned Beast: Kung Fu Panda has advanced from (Orange Epic ☆) → (Orange Epic ☆☆)]
This was not a combat-type Trait like Taiji Grandmaster.
So the immediate boost it gave was somewhat smaller.
But growth-type Traits needed growth, which meant... eating!
The only problem was that Ye Ze had no food in his backpack. After thinking for quite a while, he took out a Crystal Stone and said to Panda,
“Um... can you eat this?”
After taking the Crystal Stone, Panda thought for half a second, then tossed it straight into his mouth.
“Crunch...”
[You Are What You Eat! — Consumed ‘Crystal Stone.’ Gained: Spirit +1, Max Mana +20!]
Panda: ｂ(￣▽￣)ｄ
“That works too?”
Seeing Panda looking thoroughly delighted, Ye Ze was overjoyed inside!
“Crystal Stones are energy crystals, so they increase Spirit and mana...”
“What else is there...? Can weapons be eaten too?”
Ye Ze’s imagination ran wild.
He immediately took out a large axe. It was equipment dropped by a Stonearmored Beast.
“Can you eat this?”
This time, Panda did not even hesitate. In two bites, he chewed off the iron axe head at the top.
“Crunch...”
[You Are What You Eat! — Consumed ‘Giant Axe.’ Gained: Strength +1!]
Panda: ლ(´ڡ`ლ)
That was insane... If he could eat weapons to gain Strength, then this Trait was absolutely no weaker than Taiji Grandmaster!
Ye Ze continued rummaging through his backpack and took out a skill book—All-Out Strike.
“This...”
Although skill books were items with usage restrictions,
at their core, they were still books!
Panda took the skill book, rolled it up like a wrap, and swallowed it in one bite.
[You Are What You Eat! — Consumed ‘Skill Book - All-Out Strike.’ Gained: Strength +1!]
“Damn, knowledge really is power!”
It was just that this time, the skill book was too small, so Panda did not get any texture or taste from swallowing it...
Panda: o(╯□╰)o
Ye Ze simply took out the last skill book as well. He decided not to sell it and fed it all to Panda.
“Awuu.”
[You Are What You Eat! — Consumed ‘Skill Book - Rockfall Spell.’ Gained: Earth Element Control +3%!]
“It can even increase elemental control?!” Ye Ze was shocked once again.
Elemental control could both increase the effectiveness of elemental skills
and reduce the elemental damage one suffered.
It was one of the hardest attributes for mages to improve, yet also one of the greatest counters to them!
But now that he had You Are What You Eat!, perhaps he could max out all of Panda’s elemental control...
A mage’s nightmare!!!
The more Ye Ze thought about it, the more excited he became. Once he got out, he absolutely had to buy more skill books for Panda to eat!
Seeing that there was truly nothing left in the backpack, the man and the bear left the foot of the mountain and headed for the mountainside.
This was the territory of high-level magical beasts!
The place where the pioneering teams had suffered the most crushing defeats.
Every single magical beast here could even serve as the boss of a low-difficulty dungeon!
The rock walls around the mountainside were steep and narrow, and the cold wind carried a faint chill.
The monster density here was not high, but every single one was exceptionally dangerous.
Before Ye Ze had even taken two steps, a sharp cry came from the sky above.
“Screee—!”
A hawk woven from silver and blue swooped overhead, faint lightning flashing across its wings!
[Thundercry Falcon (Lv. 5)]
Type: Elite-grade magical beast
Skills: Thunder Wings, Lightning Dash, Claw Strike.
——
“Damn, I did not think I would run into a flying magical beast this quickly!”
Flying magical beasts were clearly far harder to deal with than ground-based ones.
If a pioneering team without any anti-air means ran into one, then another total wipe would be unavoidable.
And on top of that, this was an Elite-grade one, equivalent to the green Fine quality of summoned beasts, with combat power nearly twice that of an ordinary magical beast!
Panda scratched his head and looked at Ye Ze.
“I cannot hit it...”
Ye Ze remained unhurried. “Not a problem. Watch me bring it down!”
He found a suitable angle, then lay flat on the ground...
Thundercry Falcon!
An international gesture, appreciated by both the refined and the vulgar!
Hell-difficulty dungeon monsters were like magical beasts in reality. They naturally possessed the savagery and temper of beastkin.
The stronger they were, the more true that became.
Faced with an enemy acting utterly indifferent while openly provoking it, how could it possibly endure that?!
“The Thundercry Falcon’s speed exploded. Like a streak of lightning, it dived down at terrifying speed!”
Ye Ze remained completely calm.
“Panda, if you cannot stop it, I am going to look very bad here...”
That was what he said.
But he had long since understood all of Panda’s Taiji techniques, and he was already sure of the outcome.
Panda did not really understand what “face” meant, but when he moved, he still did not hold back in the slightest.
His hands alternated, turning lightly, as though tracing a circle through the air.
[Twenty-Four Forms of Taiji — Cloud Hands]
[Envelops nearby enemies in an unending current of force, slowing their movements and weakening their Agility and Strength.]
“The Thundercry Falcon’s incredible speed dropped in an instant, as though it had plunged into a swamp.”
It realized something was wrong, but by then, it was too late.
Its small bird head was slapped by Panda’s great paw.
“Smack—”
[Killed an elite-grade magical beast — Thundercry Falcon. EXP +15!]
[Level: 2 (23/300)]
“Perfect.”
Ye Ze sat up from the ground.
Then he saw the Thundercry Falcon’s corpse turn into a skill book.
“The drop rate on Hell difficulty really is high!”
[Lightning Strike (Fine): Lightning-element skill book. Assassins can learn it.]
A Fine-grade skill, one level higher in quality than Rockfall Spell and All-Out Strike.
Ye Ze still handed it over to Panda.
Panda rolled up the skill book and swallowed it in one bite...