Corrupted Creatures

With a thought from Wu Yao, the particles rushed over. Already well-accustomed to her summon, they gathered in her palm with practiced ease.

But this time, she didn't plan on conjuring just a single fireball.

She tried to split them into two streams. The particles strongly resisted this separation, snapping back repeatedly like stretched dough, but she stubbornly maintained the split.

After a few seconds of stalemate, the particles finally gave up their resistance. They trembled and split into two clusters. Though each was only half its original size, they both continued to burn steadily.

It was a success!

A flash of joy lit up Wu Yao's eyes. The two clusters of fire shot out simultaneously, striking two adjacent trees. Although the bark faded a bit slower, the purification was still completed successfully.

Six pieces of Moon-Silver Wood fell to the ground.

Wu Yao was in no hurry to pick them up. She wanted to experiment and find the most efficient method before reloading her save.

Three even smaller clusters of fire wobbled up from her palm, each choosing a target to purify. One after another, the three trees regained their vitality, and nine pieces of Moon-Silver Wood clattered to the ground.

Splitting it into four failed. The fourth cluster of fire dispersed into sparks, and the first three were affected as well, failing to complete their purification.

“Three splits is my limit.” Wu Yao wasn't discouraged. Instead, she was highly satisfied. In any case, she had successfully exploited a game bug, tripling her resource gathering efficiency. On top of that, she could gain more skill proficiency. This was pure profit!

Her last save was made right as she stepped out of her territory. After reloading, she only had to walk a few paces to return here. There was no helping it; her territory had nothing but trees all around.

Wu Yao began setting the trees on fire. The twisted trees trembled and faded in the flames as wood continuously piled up, and notifications of the Moon-Silver Wood's gratitude popped up again and again.

Immersed in the joy of burning trees, she saved her game from time to time, completely oblivious to what was behind her. It wasn't until the sound of wind tearing through the air reached her that she suddenly whipped her head around—

A pair of blood-red eyes approached under the moonlight, accompanied by a sudden waft of rotting stench.

The creature must have been a wolf in life, but now, half of its body was decayed and blackened. The flesh over its ribs had rotted through, exposing stark white bones.

The other half was still covered in filthy, greyish-black fur, and its eyes were cloudy and frenzied.

【Corrupted Forest Wolf (Common)】

【HP: 200/200】

Its health points were five times that of a player!

Wu Yao had no time to think. She hurled one Fireball after another. The three clusters of fire struck the Corrupted Forest Wolf's chest, blasting its flesh into charred ruins.

【-29】

【-28】

【-28】

The burn effects didn't stack and only refreshed. In their very first clash, her three Fireballs had burned away half of the monster's health bar.

The Corrupted Forest Wolf let out a piercing howl, foul saliva dripping from its fangs. Its body flashed as its hind legs kicked off the ground. With its front paws raised, the entire wolf turned into a greyish-black afterimage, pouncing right before her eyes.

Wu Yao rolled backward in a panic. With an Agility of 2, she was truly stretched thin. Her movements were slow and clumsy, and she had barely managed to dodge.

To make matters worse, the system popped up a notification, rubbing salt in the wound.

【Self-Learned Combat Skill: Backward Roll】

Wu Yao: ...You better actually have this combat skill!

Her mana was already hitting rock bottom. Her final Fireball struck the monster's head, dealing a high damage value of 【-35】!

The head was its weak point!

The red glow in its eyes intensified. Its fangs gleamed coldly under the moonlight as it lunged straight at her. Before her throat could be torn open, she chose to reload her save.

Back to two minutes before the monster's attack. She still had 86 mana points at this time, which was more than enough to deal with the beast.

After a moment's thought, she performed a backward roll first.

The system prompt popped up.

【Self-Learned Combat Skill: Backward Roll】

Fine, as long as it wasn't just mocking the player.

The rustling grew closer and closer. Blood-red eyes flickered amidst the shadows of the trees. The Fireball in Wu Yao's palm was already primed and ready, and this time, she kept her aim locked steadily on its head.

The instant the monster emerged from the cover of the tree trunks, an extremely compressed cluster of fire accurately struck its head. The compressed Fireball possessed much greater piercing power, directly breaking through its frontal bone and exploding from within.

The monster let out a discordant screech. Its forward momentum was abruptly cut short, and it lost its balance in midair, crashing into a Moon-Silver Wood tree that had not yet been purified.

【-45】

Wu Yao gave it no room to breathe. Her second and third Fireballs were launched in quick succession. The rotting skull shattered completely in the flames, and the monster's body twitched before collapsing, turning into a pile of charred remains.

【Successfully purified a Corrupted Forest Wolf】

【EXP +60, Current EXP (381.8/400)】

【Obtained: Rotting Flesh ×3, Corrupted Core ×1】

Wu Yao stared at the "Rotting Flesh ×3" and fell into silence. Wasn't this loot... a bit too pathetic?

This was a monster with five times the player's health points, for goodness' sake! And all it dropped was three pieces of rotten meat?!

Still, for the sake of the high experience points, Wu Yao decided not to complain too much. The three pieces of rotting flesh emitted a pungent, foul odor when held, so she quickly shoved them into her Inventory.

The Corrupted Core, on the other hand, had no smell. It was a fist-sized crystal with greyish-black mist churning inside, as if trying to find a crack to escape through.

When she held the Corrupted Core up toward the moon, the mist became even more restless.

【Corrupted Core: Mentality -3 upon use】

What was the meaning of this?

Was it trying to harm the player?

Wu Yao cast an Appraisal on it.

【Corrupted Core: A unique drop from corrupted creatures. It contains twisted life force and residual pollution, which has condensed a small amount of mana. Direct absorption will lead to mana contamination, and prolonged contact may cause mental erosion. Perhaps someone would be willing to try purifying it?】

The player was more than willing.

Wu Yao held the Corrupted Core in her hand. A Fireball condensed in her palm, and she controlled the edge of the flames to just wrap around the crystal. The grey mist writhed and screamed within the fire.

Yes, screaming. Wu Yao swore she heard wails—a sharp noise like fingernails scraping across a blackboard.

The grey mist gradually grew thin and transparent, eventually dissipating completely.

The greyish-black color on the crystal's surface faded along with the mist. It shrank and solidified at a visible rate, finally turning into a thumbnail-sized bead. It was entirely translucent white, gleaming with a soft luster.

【Obtained: Mana Core ×1】

【Mana Core: Restores 30 mana points upon use】

Wu Yao's remaining mana wasn't enough to cast Appraisal, but looking at the description, there was no need for it anyway. The player's mana potion had arrived!

She put the bead back into her Inventory and looked at her panel. Her Fireball proficiency had already risen to Lv.4, increasing the skill's power by 4%. Her Spell Skill had also leveled up to Lv.5, granting a 5% bonus to all magic damage.

The change in damage wasn't very noticeable yet, but splitting Fireballs had become much easier than before. She decided to head back to her territory first with her harvest of 117 pieces of Moon-Silver Wood to recover her mana.

Her mana recovery rate was faster within her territory, especially under the moonlight.

It made perfect sense. Who told her to have the title of The Eternal Moon? Of course she had to greedily absorb the essence of the moon!

Returning to the cabin, a pleasant woody fragrance greeted her.

While recovering her mana, she reopened the facility construction interface of the Workbench and carefully browsed the list of constructible structures.

Probably because she only had Moon-Silver Wood and stone on hand, there were very few things she could build, and all of them were primarily made of Moon-Silver Wood.