In his previous life, Zoe's Great Hera Forest was located in the eastern part of the Hera Plains.
The Death Swamp, however, was already outside the boundaries of the Hera Plains.
This area belonged to the territory of the Duchy of the Black Dragon.
The Duchy of the Black Dragon was by no means a peaceful place; it was a country ruled by a black dragon.
The black dragon's level had reached the Quasi-Demon King rank, and it called itself the Black Dragon King.
The Black Dragon King was ruthless, cruel, and extremely lustful.
It was said that in the Black Dragon King's castle, there was a stairless tower, and those kept inside were princesses from various races and nations whom he had captured.
Of small countries, of course.
And the Death Swamp was the Black Dragon King's prison, where a vast number of monsters and captured enemies of various races were exiled.
The Black Dragon King had established a rule: as long as someone could survive in the Death Swamp for ten years, they could become his subordinate, leave the forest of death, and fight in his service.
Zoe wandered through the swamp of the forest.
The mist-shrouded Death Swamp was dead silent.
It was not a peaceful silence, but an unsettling, oppressive quiet.
“Swoosh!”
The swamp next to Zoe suddenly exploded as a pitch-black tentacle shot out from beneath the marsh, whipping toward him.
Zoe agilely dodged, creating some distance.
With his powerful vision buff, the tentacle's swift movements seemed to slow down.
Between the vision boost from his [Lesser Appraisal Eye] talent and the 10-point bonus to his eyes, Zoe's eyesight had long ceased to be a weakness.
The tentacle, having missed its target, seemed not to have expected Zoe to evade its swift sneak attack.
Following that, the main body attached to the bottom of the tentacle gradually swam out from beneath the swamp.
Rotten mud slithered down its body.
Its slimy body constantly shifted, giving off a putrid stench.
Zoe quickly activated his [Lesser Appraisal Eye] talent to complete the appraisal.
[Mud Monster Lv. 11]
[Mana] 931/941
The appraised information quickly appeared in Zoe's mind; it only detailed the level and total mana.
“I guess it's a close relative from my previous life, though a rather dirty, distant cousin at that,” Zoe mused.
Even as Zoe was sighing, the mud monster was already flailing its tentacles, rushing toward him.
Even though the level difference exceeded ten, Zoe had no intention of backing down.
Go complain to my stats!
Zoe agilely dodged the swinging tentacle once more, but the mud monster seemed prepared and spat a glob of acid at him.
How do you like that? Taste my flawless acid spray!
Facing the incoming Acid Bullet, Zoe did not hold back.
An acid attack of this caliber was practically an insult to the [Acid] skill.
Acid: Severing Wave!
Zoe condensed his acid, pressurized it within his body, and spat out a sharp blade of acid water.
The incoming Acid Bullet was instantly sliced in two by the Acid Severing Wave.
The Acid Severing Wave did not stop after cutting through the Acid Bullet, continuing its path to slice into the mud monster.
Caught completely off guard by this lesson, the mud monster had two of its tentacles severed.
The intense pain caused all the mud monster's tentacles to twist into a writhing clump.
It immediately lost all desire to fight, turning around to burrow back into the swamp.
Those who survived in the Death Swamp were all experts at keeping themselves alive.
Seeing that it was no match for Zoe, the mud monster chose to flee without a moment's hesitation.
How could Zoe let it escape? He chased after it with swift speed, his shadow coating the mud monster's body like slime.
Devour, Corrode, Digest!
The three max-level skills began to digest the mud monster's body at a terrifying speed.
Realizing it could not escape, the mud monster immediately began fighting for its life.
Its body contorted as it tried to corrode and digest Zoe's body in turn.
However, since these skills highly overlapped with Zoe's own, the mud monster was completely suppressed by his abilities, unable to exert even ten percent of its true strength.
Zoe had no desire to get bogged down in a battle of attrition over mutual digestion with the mud monster, so he quickly accumulated corrosive gas within his body.
Although the skill [Corrosive Gas Slash] had disappeared, he had created it himself, so the principles behind it were extremely clear to him, and the prerequisite skills [Acid] and [Spray] were still preserved.
He executed it again now with seasoned familiarity.
Corrosive Gas Slash!
[Proficiency requirements met. You have learned the skill Corrosive Gas Slash Lv. 1 (D-grade).]
[Corrosive Gas Slash Lv. 1 (D-grade) proficiency +1000, upgraded to Corrosive Gas Slash Lv. 3 (D-grade).]
[Corrosive Gas Slash Lv. 3 (D-grade) has affected your body. Constitution +1, Maximum Mana +10.]
The sharp Corrosive Gas Slash, compressed from corrosive gas, slashed out right against the resisting body of the mud monster.
A gash was quickly sliced into its mud-composed body, and viscous fluid poured out continuously.
“Squeeeak!”
The mud monster let out a bizarre cry, but Zoe was merciless and continued his brutal assault.
[Shadow Transformation (C-grade)] + [Shadow Blade (F-grade)].
Shadow Spikes!
The shadows wrapping around the mud monster instantly seemed to take physical form, driving sharp spikes inward to impale the mud monster.
[Skill Shadow Transformation Lv. 1 (C-grade) proficiency +1, Skill Shadow Blade Lv. 1 (F-grade) proficiency +2.]
Perhaps due to the close-combat talent boosts from his [Melee Genius] and [Wall Smasher] talents, Zoe could feel that in close-quarters physical combat, gaining skill proficiency became much easier.
He was also gaining a faster understanding of close combat.
He really felt like a melee genius.
The mud monster still tried to struggle with its stubborn vitality, so Zoe condensed a pitch-black mace and smashed it down heavily.
Under the [Wall Smasher] talent, Zoe was like a god of hammers possessed, swinging down a perfect, critical smash with heavy force.
With a wet splat, the mud monster was smashed into a flattened puddle, twitching a few times before falling completely still.
[Killed Mud Monster Lv. 11. Experience +200. Talent [Plunder (B-grade)] triggered, additional Experience +200.]
[Your level has increased from Lv. 1 to Lv. 5.]
[Strength +2, Agility +2, Constitution +1, Maximum Mana +25, Free Stat Points +5.]
Zoe felt every aspect of his body rapidly improving.
The shadows that made up his body became even more viscous, as though the shadows within him had been compressed.
Without delaying any further, Zoe activated [Shadow Pool] and swallowed the mud monster's corpse inside.
This was all high-quality food.
At Lv. 1, the volume provided by [Shadow Pool] was roughly equivalent to a small room of ten square meters with a height of about two meters.
Its volume was far greater than that of the [Reincarnation Space], but it could not be carried over with him upon reincarnation.
Furthermore, as long as the [Shadow Pool] contained items, it would continuously consume mana.
Roughly one mana per minute.
At sixty mana per hour, with Zoe's total mana pool of just over five hundred, he would only be able to sustain it for less than ten hours.
But this was no obstacle for Zoe.
Under [Parallel Mind], Zoe could divide his thoughts to process multiple things simultaneously.
He dedicated one of his minds to slowly digest the food inside the Shadow Pool at all times, thereby replenishing his mana and raising his maximum mana.
At the same time, he kept the [Shadow Pool] constantly active for storage.
In other words, even when Zoe was seemingly doing nothing, just in his normal state...
He was simultaneously training both [Parallel Mind] and [Shadow Pool].
And he was even raising his maximum mana.
As long as there was food in the Shadow Pool, he was like a perpetual motion machine, training every single second.
And all his main body had to do was fight, and fight some more!
Gather food, and stuff the [Shadow Pool] full.
Rate on N.U.
