allendalepharm Chapter 340: Setting Off Again, Special Sun Flame!
Chapter 340: Setting Off Again, Special Sun Flame!
Cheng Ye purposely left a distance of a hundred meters between the plants sprinkled with Sunstone Pellets to clearly observe their area of effect and results. He had specifically gone to check on them the previous evening, examining each plant one by one. At that time, there were no visible changes, leading him to suspect that the pellets, much like the stone powder, would need half a month or even longer to gradually take effect.But after a single night, as he stood before these plants once again, Cheng Ye's heart skipped a beat. He could hardly believe his own eyes.
The first thing to catch his eye was that vine.
Yesterday, it was half-dead with exposed roots. Now, those roots had completely changed color. They were no longer a dull brown, but a deep, vibrant green practically overflowing with Vitality.
This deep green did not stop at the roots. It spread outward along the vine's stem, extending a full four or five meters and covering what was originally a withered, yellowed husk.
The leaves had been completely reborn as well. Their previously wilted and curled appearance was entirely gone, replaced by unfurled, plump new leaves. The edges gleamed with a healthy luster, and their veins were distinct and clear, forming a stark contrast with the withered Wild Grass and Vines that still surrounded them.
"Damn, is this reverse-cycle growth?"
Cheng Ye plucked a leaf and pinched it open along the vein with his fingers. As he slowly rubbed it, his fingertips became covered in clear sap.
He brought the sap to his nose and took a light sniff. It was colorless and odorless, fitting the characteristics of the Petrification Curse.
It seemed that even though the Sunstone Pellets had promoted the plants' growth, it still could not help them escape the Vitality extraction of the curse.
Standing up to look at a few weeds a hundred meters away, Cheng Ye strode over.
Yesterday, these weeds were a sickly yellow that would snap at the slightest touch, their stems too frail to even support their own weight. Now, they were entirely different. The withered outer skin had peeled away to reveal tender, pale green stems underneath, and they had shot up quite a bit in height.
The once sparse foliage had grown dense, with several new shoots sprouting from the roots and growing straight up. The fine fuzz on the leaves was clearly visible under the sunlight, showing no signs of their previous near-withered state.
But the most shocking sight was undoubtedly the small tree that had been sprinkled with the largest amount of Sunstone Pellets.
The trunk's originally dry and cracked bark had unexpectedly become smooth and moist. Its branches stretched wider in all directions, and dense new shoots sprouted from the previously sparse limbs, drawing a clear boundary against the still desolate vegetation surrounding it.
Even the soil beneath the tree had become loose and fertile, completely different from the hardened, compacted earth nearby.
"This is... too amazing!"
Cheng Ye watched, completely dumbfounded.
The Sunlight Slate could gather and supply energy, but it was astounding that it could also turn into Fertilizer after being broken down. Moreover, its growth-promoting efficiency far surpassed all known fertilizers, almost rivaling the special effect fertilizers from virtual farming games.
'If I use these pellets to accelerate the growth of the Purple Spirit Bamboo Shoot, what kind of effect would that have?'
A bold thought surfaced in Cheng Ye's mind as he stood up, his gaze toward the canyon burning with newfound intensity.
The Wilderness truly did not deceive him; it was indeed filled with hidden Treasures.
Behind those disaster-bringing Infection Sources lay unimaginable opportunities.
Just like the unknown Infection Source recorded in the Alchemy Notebook earlier, which could manifest things humans feared. If he extracted its Trait, what kind of harvest would he reap?
'I could even go look up the records of those Forbidden Lands and determine their Trait classifications based on their manifestations!'
The so-called collection.
Only at this moment did Cheng Ye truly understand the meaning of that word.
Those Forbidden Lands that Humans had thoroughly analyzed were, to him, nothing more than hoards of treasure waiting to be unearthed.
Perhaps he could discover major hauls on par with the Fiery Sunflower.
Of course, the prerequisite for all this was possessing enough Strength. Otherwise, before he could even brush the edges of an Infection Source, he might end up dead. Having thought this through, he simply picked up his shovel and dug up these mutated plants by the roots.
While observing the root systems, he verified the research conclusions of the Golden Tree Wind Shelter City.
The roots were several times thicker. Especially for the plants treated with Sunstone Pellets, the complexity of their root networks had directly doubled, far exceeding the thirty percent increase mentioned in the research.
If this stuff could be mass-produced and used in the construction of East Peace Town next year, it would be... absolutely invincible!
However, when he recalled the difficulty of producing Sunstone Pellets, Cheng Ye quickly realized that using them to accelerate the growth of normal plants was far too wasteful.
After all, obtaining the Sunlight Slate was not easy to begin with, and the value of the disassembled pellets was far lower than that of an intact slate.
"Ordinary Crops are completely unworthy of it. Accelerating the growth of precious natural treasures, cultivating scarce crop seeds, or applying it to certain special plants is its true purpose."
Cheng Ye gave a slight nod, abandoning the idea of continuing to test breaking down level-one slates into pellets.
Since there were no precious crop seeds at hand, using it to accelerate the growth of these worthless Wild Grass and Vines was purely a reckless waste of God's gifts.
Once he returned to Dabo Town, he would have plenty of time to set up control groups and conduct more systematic research.
Time quietly slipped past noon.
Having been out in the Wilderness for so long, the Collector Device rarely prompted that its Recharge Value was full.
Looking at the familiar pop-up window, Cheng Ye sighed with emotion. He immediately switched to the Illustrated Handbook and used all his Recharge Value to extract the Sunlight Absorption Trait.
Items extracted with additional Recharge Value naturally boasted Quality far above the regular standard. Just like the Living Water Essence from before, the effects were nearly doubled.
But a dozen seconds later, as the new slate slowly materialized on the ground, Cheng Ye glanced at it and his expression shifted slightly. He knew his current research would likely have to be temporarily suspended.
Even with an additional 75% Recharge Value pumped into it, the Sunlight Slate on the ground remained stuck at level one.
The only change was that one slate had become two. Compared to the existing level-one slate, he could see that the new slate's Spiral Light Path was slightly thicker, and the density of the patterns had increased somewhat, but the number of individual central axes remained unchanged.
When tested with an Energy-Gathering Redstone installed, the peak power output only rose to 18kw, still a far cry from the 40kw of a level-two slate.
'It seems I'll have to wait until my Rank Advancement goes through again so the Recharge Value cap gets higher. Only then will it be possible to manifest a higher-level slate in a single go...'
Cheng Ye reasoned inwardly, though he wasn't overly disappointed.
Jumping to his personal System Panel, the intelligence he had gathered from analyzing Traits after his encounters with the Seamless Shadow Puppet, the Stone Sunflower People, and the Fiery Sunflower had caused the Information Degree required for his Rank Advancement to increase once more. It had already reached 73.4.
At this rate of progression, reaching the promotion threshold of 100 was not far off at all.
As long as he came into contact with a few new Infection Sources and extracted their Traits, he would fulfill the conditions for promotion.
Besides, now that he had the Sunlight Slate, he didn't even need to return to Dabo Town to recharge. He might even be able to complete his Rank Advancement directly out in the Wilderness.
'Hmm, I've already been stationed here for nearly a week. The slate synthesis has hit a bottleneck, and I can't enter the mine to research the Fiery Sunflower. It's time to keep moving forward.'
Storing the slate into his Shadow Box, Cheng Ye fixed his gaze steadily upon the canyon, a clear plan already forming in his mind.
Next, he needed to whittle down the number of Stone Sunflower People as much as possible to slow down the Fiery Sunflower's development speed.
He didn't expect to knock it back to square one, but he simply wanted to ensure that when he returned next time, he wouldn't have to face mountains and plains swarming with Stone Sunflower People.
Acting immediately on his thoughts, he hopped onto his Flying Wings and bolted straight for the canyon.
This time, he didn't target the Large Stone Sunflower Humanoids. Instead, he zeroed in on the Small Stone Sunflower Humanoids at Mine No. 2.
After disposing of them, the Fiery Sunflower launched an attack, but it didn't unleash the overwhelming red light. It merely scattered continuous beams of light as it had before, stopping after barely half a minute.
Clearly, the value of the Small Stone Sunflower Humanoids was not enough to send it into an absolute frenzy.
'Well, that makes things easier...'
Cheng Ye's brow twitched as he piloted the Flying Wings, swiftly locking onto the next batch of targets.
He would start by cleaning out the weak ones first, completely severing the foundation of the Stone Sunflower People.
Once he grew accustomed to the routine, he didn't even bother using Flash. He just boldly leaped directly into the mine and got to work.
With the fall of the eighth Small Stone Sunflower Humanoid, the progress for the Biological Deconstruction Ray Trait finally broke past 80%.
The underground Fiery Sunflower was finally provoked by these consecutive killings and began to unleash its red light, but the scale was far smaller than before, only covering half of the cliff face.
'It seems that unleashing this kind of attack takes quite a toll on the Fiery Sunflower's Energy Consumption...'
Cheng Ye understood inwardly, sighing to himself that he had found yet another way to whittle it down.
Soon, three days went by.
October 25th, Year 35 of the New Era. In the blink of an eye, it was already his eleventh day on Field Duty away from Happiness City.
The sun rose as usual, and warm sunlight blanketed the earth.
But after eight o'clock, the Stone Sunflower People, who usually clocked in on time every day, were nowhere to be seen.
Cheng Ye stood quietly in front of Mine No. 1, constantly craning his neck to look inside, but the cavern remained completely still.
"Are they... cowering inside?"
He paused for a moment before shaking his head with a chuckle.
He never imagined that the Fiery Sunflower, an entity that had reached the transcendent level, would actually hole up and refuse to fight when faced with continuous harassment, just like the Demonic Eye Sponge.
Thinking about it carefully, these two troublesome Infection Sources unexpectedly shared the same Trait.
They were entirely immobile and could only stay in place, passively taking a beating.
But it made sense. Those Transcendent Mother Sources capable of movement would generally take the initiative to attack the shelter cities.
The ones encountered out in the Wilderness were fundamentally primarily the immobile types.
Moreover, with fifty-seven Stone Sunflower People taken out over the course of three days, the Fiery Sunflower had suffered incredibly heavy losses.
Among them, though fifty-three were Small Stone Sunflower Humanoids carrying immature, nascent slates.
But the remaining four Large Stone Sunflower Humanoids had yielded genuine level-two slates.
For every one of those that died, it would probably take the Fiery Sunflower several days—or even dozens of days—to cultivate a replacement.
'Out of a hundred and seven, counting the ones I killed before, there are only forty-six left now.'
'It's a shame I couldn't finish off those other two Large Stone Sunflower Humanoids. Looking at the situation, I'm afraid I won't get the chance.'
Cheng Ye shook his head, though deep down, he felt incredibly satisfied.
By making the Stone Sunflower People cower underground for a few days, the Fiery Sunflower was essentially stunting its own development speed.
He didn't rush to leave, instead waiting quietly for the slate's power to reach its absolute limit.
The level-five Sunlight Slate, nearly half the size of the entrance to Mine No. 1, was angled toward the rising sun. Thirty large Energy-Gathering Redstones were scattered across its surface, flickering in tandem with the Spiral Light Path. It was quite a magical sight.
At 9:00 AM, the power output peaked.
Its massive 125kw charging efficiency even surpassed the fast-charging stations of the Public Works Department.
A data window popped up on his System Panel. Supported by such terrifying power, the time required to fully charge the Collector Device from zero had been reduced to a mere 6.4 hours.
By ten o'clock, once he confirmed that the Stone Sunflower People definitely weren't coming out, Cheng Ye finally disassembled the slate and stored it in his Shadow Box. Hopping onto his Flying Wings, he left the canyon with a satisfied smile. Upon reaching the exit, he took one last, deep look back, searing the entire layout into his memory.
The Red River Gathering Place was an absolute treasure trove. He might lack the capability to mine it now, but when he returned next time, whether it was the surface Resources or the underground secrets...
"I'm taking it all!"
Cheng Ye muttered softly, clenching his fist in the air. Only then did he turn away without a shred of reluctance, flying in the direction of their shelter.
Back at the shelter.
Liu Bi was lying on a recliner, basking in the sun in the open space alongside Niu Fu as the two casually chatted.
On the other side, Yin Ruofeng was holding a shovel, meticulously leveling the newly expanded ground.
Zhang Daping, unable to walk with his broken leg but unwilling to be a burden, had volunteered to charge a few Defense Terminals with a hand-crank generator.
The entire Camp exuded a leisurely atmosphere, lacking even a hint of the usual tension required for survival in the Wilderness.
The Flying Wings circled once before landing smoothly in front of the two recliners.
Liu Bi lifted his eyes to sweep a glance over him. He didn't even look toward the canyon as he laughed and said, "You're a lot faster this time around."
"No, Brother B, we can set off now," Cheng Ye replied, shaking his head with a smile.
"Hm?" Liu Bi froze for a moment, then stood up to look toward the canyon. "What happened?"
"It's not coming out anymore. It's probably sick of me harassing it."
Cheng Ye briefly explained the situation inside the canyon, leaving both Liu Bi and Niu Fu utterly stunned.
Having roamed the Wilderness for so long, they had never seen a scenario where an Infection Source was so harassed by a human that it completely retracted all its external derivative Infected Bodies.
"That works. It's still early in the day. If we head out now, we can reach our next resting point by tonight,"
Liu Bi mused thoughtfully, then looked over at Niu Fu. "However, if we leave today, I'm afraid you'll have to drive."
"It's fine, I can drive. Brother Niu can just rest up in the back," Cheng Ye agreed with a nod.
As the saying goes, a hundred days for injured tendons and broken bones.
Although Niu Fu's injuries had been treated with medicine made from Aberrant Crystals, his recovery still had to be measured in weeks.
One week was far too short; it would take at least three weeks to see any initial improvement. A complete recovery would require six to eight weeks—a full two months.
He called Yin Ruofeng over, and as they gathered around Zhang Daping to announce the news of their departure, neither man could hide the excitement in their eyes, despite their best efforts to suppress it.
After all, they were ultimately just ordinary Humans. Staying in the Wilderness meant living in a constant state of fear and anxiety.
Coupled with the little stories Liu Bi would occasionally tell over the past few days, their dread only slightly faded during the daylight. When night fell, the two were often too tense to even sleep, constantly feeling like an Infection Source might ambush them out of nowhere.
"Pack your things. It's ten o'clock right now; we'll leave at eleven," Cheng Ye instructed, then turned and walked into his workroom.
Stacks of Sunlight Slates sat on the wooden table, and a large plastic bag bulged in the corner. These were his greatest harvests over the past three days.
After attempts to fuse the fifty-three small slates yielded no results, they had all been shattered into Sunstone Pellets for easy transport.
The level-one standard slates manifested through Traits totaled sixteen in all.
He had obtained four level-two standard slates dropped from the Large Stone Sunflower Humanoids, perfectly combining with his previous level-four slate to form a single level-five slate.
Cheng Ye climbed onto the roof of the Armored Vehicle and securely fastened the level-five slate, ensuring it could continue to gather energy while they traveled.
Subsequently, he stuffed all the standard slates and Sunstone Pellets into his Shadow Box. The remaining Space was still quite ample; there was plenty of room for more stackable items like these.
"Having a Shadow Box really is a huge help!"
Cheng Ye marveled with a sigh as he closed the shadow Space and brought out the Map to study today's route.
Their next stop was already determined. The Armored Vehicle had to detour back to the lower route, bypassing the highly dangerous mid-route zone.
The distance they needed to drive today was a full 370 kilometers. If everything went smoothly, they would only arrive at their encampment around 9:00 PM.
Moreover, all things considered, this would be his very first time driving such a long distance. It was no small trial.
At 11:00 AM, the Armored Vehicle slowly rolled out of the shelter.
Liu Bi stepped out to push the shelter's heavy doors shut, locking the iron handles with a heavy chain.
Truth be told, having stayed here for over a week, a slight sense of melancholy at their impending long journey had unexpectedly welled up.
Cheng Ye shook his head subtly. Once Liu Bi climbed aboard, he gently pressed the gas pedal and drove away.
Sunlight washed over them, causing the level-five slate on the roof to gleam brilliantly. The Armored Vehicle looked like a moving sun across the ground, incredibly conspicuous. It was just a pity that in this mid-route area, which had been abandoned for two years, the only entities around to appreciate the sight were the sparsely wandering Infected Bodies.
At 5:00 PM, the vehicle finally completed its detour and returned to the lower route.
Inevitably, everyone couldn't help but breathe a collective sigh of relief. Even Liu Bi, whose nerves had been tightly strung the whole time, relaxed slightly.
They parked to rest and regroup.
Seeing that his Recharge Value was completely full, Cheng Ye opened the Illustrated Handbook and tapped on the entry for the Stone Sunflower People once again.
To avoid wasting the Sunlight Absorption Trait accumulated from killing the Stone Sunflower People, he poured all of his Recharge Value entirely into it.
This meant that both the Biological Deconstruction Ray and the Sun Flame Traits had accumulated to a maximum of 200%, yet remained unextracted.
But that was perfect. Such rare and difficult-to-accumulate Traits could not be haphazardly extracted using a mere 25% Recharge Value.
Sweeping his gaze over the options, Cheng Ye did not hesitate. He chose to spend 100% of his Recharge Value to extract Sun Flame and convert it into an Item.
If his guess was correct, the Stone Sunflower People's ability to unleash golden light and ignite primeval Redstone to transmit Energy stemmed entirely from this Special Flame.
Even though it didn't look like a conventional flame, and didn't seem like something the Blazing Eagle could absorb, Cheng Ye was still willing to give it a try.
After all, during his battle with the Stone Sunflower People, Little Flame's abilities had accomplished a great deal.
If not for that, relying solely on the Giant Louse Symbiotic State, he probably would have struggled to break through the Stone Sunflower People's defenses no matter how fierce his assault.
The instant the Recharge Value was deducted, his Pendant pressed tightly against the slate, and the System Panel lit up with another charging notification.
Nearly a minute later, a pop-up announcing the completion of the manifestation appeared, yet there was no prompt indicating the placement of the Item.
'Could it be...'
Cheng Ye's heart skipped a beat, and he hurriedly retrieved the Pendant from the air to examine it closely.
Facing the sinking sunset, the afterglow dyed the horizon in the hue of molten gold, casting its light perfectly onto the Pendant.
In the second slot, which had been left vacant since he took out the Flying Wings, a bizarrely shaped Item had abruptly appeared.
It resembled both the disk of a sunflower and the head of a Stone Sunflower Person.
The outer layer consisted of overlapping, hard structures akin to petals. The inward-gathering patterns replicated the spiral texture of a sunflower's seed disk, yet it was filled with dense Redstone that refracted fractured spots of light beneath the fading sun.
At its very Core, an independent cluster of crimson-gold flame burned silently.
It had no fuel to sustain it, nor did it radiate any outward heat. It merely swayed gently from side to side along with his shifting gaze. Deep within the heart of the flame, cryptic dark lines flickered, faintly mirroring the patterns at the center of the Sunlight Slate.
At the same time, a somewhat simplistic Item description slowly floated up beside it:
[Sun Flame (Special Treasure)]
[Description]: A Special Flame that the Fiery Sunflower can condense. Each wisp of this flame possesses the mighty power to ignite life. Upon use, it grants a massive, short-term buff to biological entities. [Power Alignment]: Life. [Use Effect]: Instantly gain a 2000% Life Force Reserve, lasting for 30 minutes.
Duration Effect: While active, whenever the user's life force drops below 60%, it will automatically be replenished to full.
This effect persists until the reserve is fully depleted or the duration ends. [Note]: Once this Treasure is extracted, it cannot be returned. A special item is required for its storage. Detected that the Collector already possesses a special item: Blazing Eagle's Perching Cauldron (Suitable for storage).
[Note]: By using this Treasure, the user has a probability of acquiring the Fiery Sunflower's Sun Blessing. [Note]: Sun Blessing from the Fiery Sunflower: Bathing in sunlight grants a continuous Life Force Recovery Effect (recovers up to 50% per day).