Chapter 8: Spirit Lake
Chapter 8: Spirit Lake
He followed the path along the stream and made his way downward.
The stream water eventually flowed into a small lake, and the lakeside was Lin Ming's ideal spot to settle down.
Lin Ming did not idle along the way. His Razor Leaves flitted across the bushes by the stream from time to time, harvesting small flying insects and the like.
He still lacked Evolution Points.
Those hunters had stolen his kill by finishing off the two gigantic porcupines that might have numerous Evolution Points before him. Later on, Lin Ming touched the two porcupine carcasses with his branches, but he did not receive any reaction from the system at all.
His previous Evolution Points had only strengthened eleven branches, which were not even a third of his whole culm.
"That's not enough" Lin Ming used his Razor Leaves tirelessly, but he only gained less than a hundred points after walking for a long time.
Strengthening a bamboo branch required 20 Evolution Points. With less than a hundred points, the most he could do was four branches.
There were really few biological resources around here.
Moreover, killing humans did not seem to get him Evolution Points.
The wolf pups had already been put down from his branches, and the Adorable Little Snake trailed after Lin Ming together with them.
As Lin Ming looked at the Adorable Little Snake, he remembered what one of the hunters had said when he saw it.
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That person said that the Adorable Little Snake was an Albino Bamboo Viper, which was quite rare.
The strangest thing was, he also said that the Adorable Little Snake had a scent.
Lin Ming could not smell anything and did not have this kind of function either. It was his first time knowing that the Adorable Little Snake had a scent.
It made him remember about that time in the bamboo forest. Those mice seemed to have determined the Adorable Little Snake's location in advance and climbed up straight toward it. It was probably related to this scent.
Looking back once more, Lin Ming noticed that the wolf pups were also sniffing the area around the Adorable Little Snake slithering at the very end, and in fact, seemed somewhat delighted. So there really was a scent.
Right now, Lin Ming could not judge whether this was a good or bad thing.
"Owoo, owoo!"
The wolf pups' cries sounded more like those of puppies than wolves. They seemed to have spotted a tiny crab in the stream and jumped in excitedly, but they then saw the crab squeeze under a large rock.
They tried to move the rock with their small front paws while whining, desperate to find the tiny crab hiding inside.
What bundles of laughter they were! Lin Ming could not help smiling.
He stopped and extended his branches, lowering them into the stream and lifting several large rocks with ease. Then, with another branch, he caught a few crabs hiding inside.
He knew that this pack of wolf pups would not eat this kind of stuff, so he threw one of the crabs to them as a toy, and with a slash of his Razor Leaves, cut another crab in half.
[You killed a river crab, Evolution Points +2]
Oho, this little thing had two Evolution Points? Not bad.
Lin Ming quickly caught a dozen more from the stream, and after he sliced them all up, his Evolution Points immediately increased a little.
He was in a good mood.
If there were more small crabs or fishes near that small lake, it would be a good source of Evolution Points.
Thinking of this, Lin Ming wrapped his branches around the wolf pups and the Adorable Little Snake and sped up.
Finally, Lin Ming arrived at the lake at nightfall.
The bright moonlight shone on the dark lake, and when a breeze blew, it turned millions of silver fragments.
After observing for a while, Lin Ming found a soil slope about ten meters away from the lakeshore and climbed it.
After removing the weeds on the slope with his branches and cutting down a few annoying bay laurel trees with his Razor Leaf, Lin Ming finally settled down.
He drove his taproots completely into the soft soil and allowed them to extend fully and even penetrate deep into the ground.
As Lin Ming spread his capillary roots and absorbed the water in the moist soil, he felt a sense of refreshment that he had never felt before.
Moreover, he could also feel that the strange substance in the air seemed to be denser near this small lake. He extended a taproot in the direction of the lake bed, and after touching the lake water, he felt a cold sensation instantly envelop his taproot.
He could feel that the strange substance was somewhat denser in the lake water.
There seemed to be a considerable amount in this soft soil too. The place where he had previously stayed was simply incomparable.
He felt that when he absorbed this strange substance, the energy in his body would be replenished, and this energy was also the source of his mutation.
"Spirit Lake, huh" Lin Ming was somehow able to make out the shimmering spiritual aura above the small lake.
It appeared that the decision he had made before was correct.
The roars of wild beasts in the valley also seemed to have become much closer, and a cacophony of endless insect sounds surrounded the lake.
Lin Ming casually sent out a few strikes of his Razor Leaves, and Evolution Points soon came flooding in.
"What a great place."
Lin Ming felt that he would not need to move again for some time. He pulled up a patch of weeds nearby with his branches and made a large, thick mat. The wolf pups had been howling at the moon from the treetops, and he gently put them down on the mat.
The wolf pups seemed to like this grass mat very much. They bounced on it and played with each other with unlimited energy. Lin Ming also moved more grass over from time to time, making the grass mat bigger.
The Adorable Little Snake was always quiet at night. After the day's events, it seemed to be tired and had curled up among the bamboo branches, not moving at all.
Lin Ming looked at them, feeling deeply that he was a caretaker. He wondered when these little guys would grow up.
[You have 200 Evolution Points for secretion of Spiritual Fluid. Do you want to evolve?]
At this moment, the System suddenly sounded, and Lin Ming glanced at his personalized dashboard.
Spiritual Fluid? What was that?
The System did not answer. Lin Ming was already used to this fellow's behavior. Although there was no explanation, it was always good to evolve.
Under the control of his conscious mind, the 200 Evolution Points disappeared as if they had evaporated into thin air. Lin Ming also felt a peculiar stream of water surge upward from the depths of his taproots. It flowed through his underground stems and bamboo nodes, then reached a branch closest to the ground.
Lin Ming watched as the branch underwent a remarkable transformation within a short time.
The center of the branch became hollow, and a small hole appeared at its very top. Immediately afterward, a drop of slightly viscous and transparent Spiritual Fluid materialized there, ready to drip down.
The playing wolf pups suddenly stopped in their tracks. They sniffed the faint fragrance wafting through the air, and their gazes eventually locked on their master!
"Owoooooo!" The wolf pups raced toward the bamboo branch, anxious to be the first. They stood upright on their hind legs and opened their mouths eagerly, their golden eyes staring at Lin Ming's bamboo branch secreting Spiritual Fluid.
At this moment, the Adorable Little Snake, who had been silent all this time, woke up. It slithered down Lin Ming's culm swiftly, and before Lin Ming could lower the branch's height, it swallowed the Spiritual Fluid on it in one big gulp!