Chapter 554: Life, Death, War (1/2)

“My body is telling me that this should be good stuff, but its pollen also seemed pretty deadly,” Zac said as he placed the flower on the merchant’s inspection table.

”The energies condensed in the pistil are both strong and peculiar, but I don't recognize this species,” the Sky Gnome said as he looked at the natural treasure with interest. ”It should be something good though. How did you find it?”

”It grew on a tree,” Zac said as he described his encounter in the swamp.

“This reminds me of something,” Calrin muttered as he took out one of his massive tomes.

A short moment later a page depicting a similar tree to the one on the island appeared.

“It’s a [Rageroot Oak], a plant that can match your Tree of Ascension in rarity. It’s lucky you didn’t actually cut it down. Its trunk contains a sap that might even be able to drive you mad,” Calrin read. “The sap and pollen are both valuable and can be continuously extracted. The flowers can take decades to form though.”

Zac felt some cold sweat running down the back when he saw the description. He remembered how something had dripped from those special roots, it turned out to be sap meant to turn him into a madman.

“What’s it good for though? Berserk pills?” Zac asked, not too enthused.

Power never came for free, no matter if you were talking about War Arrays or Berserking Pills. War Arrays would always force you to travel with weaker subordinates, each one of them a weak link. As for Berserking Pills, they generally had pretty gruesome side-effects. The stronger the effect the worse the drawback would be.

”The pollen can be made into a potent beast lure which can be useful in all sorts of situations. You can both use it for yourself in case you need to refine yourself through battle, or you can use it to unleash a beast tide on your enemies. The sap is indeed a popular ingredient in Berserking Pills that allows warriors to unleash their potential during a battle,” Calrin explained.

”And the flower itself? It should be the greatest treasure,” Zac said.

”There is a core in the center of the flower,” Calrin said. ”It's a natural treasure that works as a Berserking Pill as well.”

”That's it?” Zac asked with disappointment.

”Don't underestimate those cores. It will allow an E-Grade warrior to increase their power by one step, and it will not have any major side-effects, just extreme exhaustion afterward. These two combined make it extremely rare and valuable. A pill that gives such a massive boost would carry severe long-term side-effects, or might even lead to death,” Calrin explained.

Zac finally realized that he really had picked up something good this time. He had researched this matter for a bit after getting his hands on the Cyborg Corpse, which could be considered the epitome of a Berserking transformation. One step didn't refer to level, but stages of cultivation, meaning an Early E-Grade warrior would be able to exhibit the power of a Middle E-Grade warrior with the help of these flowers.

That was almost a doubling in power, and to be able to get such a boost without lasting detriments was amazing. The cyborg might have gone all the way from early E-Grade to Half-step D-Grade, but that also cut the Technocrat's lifespan down to less than a minute. These flower cores might save his life in the future, turning the tides in a tough battle.

“I also have some wild herbs here as well, see if there’s anything valuable,” Zac added as he threw over a Cosmos Sack.

There, unfortunately, wasn’t anything too impressive, but his six-day haul was still worth over 300 million nexus coins. That was only the immediate value of the herbs he found thanks to [Forester’s Constitution], and not including the mountains of E-Grade carcasses that he had amassed in his Cosmos Sack.

It wasn’t a huge sum for him any longer, but it proved how profitable even normal exploration could be. You needed both the skills to find the plants and the strength to survive the environment though, which disqualified pretty much everyone on Earth apart from a select few. Besides, he had the advantage of being the first explorer, and future generations probably wouldn’t be able to collect such a haul.

But it made him excited for the future. This was the gain from a random forest on his planet. How much wealth could one stand to profit by exploring a newly emerged Mystic Realm in the future, a world that was not only untouched but possibly held extremely rare or even previously unseen herbs?

Zac walked out of the consortia with a sense of excitement, but he didn’t get far before he sensed a powerful presence close-by.

“Hey,” a voice said, and Zac looked over at the shadows with surprise.

“It’s you?” Zac asked. “How do you keep finding me like this?”

“I just need to ask around. It’s not like you’re very circumspect,” Ogras snorted.

“Well, is it done?” Zac asked.

“It’s done,” Ogras nodded as he stepped out into the light, and Zac could feel that the aura of the Demon was a lot more condensed compared to before.

“What level are you now?” Zac asked with curiosity, as it was obvious the demon had gained a substantial amount of Attributes.

“Eighty-three,” Ogras shrugged, his mouth curving slightly upward. “A decent early push.”

“Eighty-three? What the f-,” Zac swore. “How have you already caught up to me? I had to fight multiple life-and-death battles to get here.”

“Node-opening pills work as intended on me since I’m not a primordial beast,” Ogras snorted. “You racked up a premature resistance by eating them by the handful.”

“Well, it’s good that you’re out,” Zac said. “I killed one of the Dominators while you broke through. I can use some back-up soon.”

“Oh? Which one?” Ogras said with surprise. “I thought they had already decided to follow the same strategy as the zealots.”

Zac quickly recapped what had taken place while Ogras was in secluded cultivation.

“Well, it’s good that one of them is dealt with, though it does make me worry a bit that there has been no response. Makes me think they are up to something,” Ogras grunted. “Got anything useful from its body?”

“No, I accidentally broke his Cosmos Sack,” Zac explained with a grimace. “I’ve saved the remains to cleanse of karmic ties later, but I want all three of them first. Oh, but I did get this.”

Zac took out the pitch-black spear the next moment and threw it over to Ogras. The demon caught it effortlessly even though it weighed hundreds of kilos, and the weapon turned to a blur as Ogras started stabbing it into the air.

“It contains some material and insight related to Space,” Ogras muttered with excitement. “It can even enter the shadows! I just need to find a decent Blacksmith to infuse some more shadow-related materials and it will be perfect for me! Are you giving this to me?”

“Sure, but you’ll have to find some way to pay me back later,” Zac smiled. “We both know how valuable this spear is. Some offhanded advice won’t cut it.”

“Fine, I’ll figure something out,” Ogras shrugged as he dripped his blood on the weapon. “Such a good thing.”

”Get ready for the war in three days,” Zac said as he started walking toward the closest teleporter. ”We might have to deal with the other two Dominators there.”

”I'll head out for a day or two to get used to my improved strength,” Ogras said. ”But I will arrange things.”