Chapter 211: A Person Worthy of Praise

Chapter 211

A Person Worthy of Praise

The scene before her was a massive pit, resembling a lake. Ellie could hardly believe such a pit existed. She couldn’t imagine how the previous mission handlers had managed their work, as it was not just wide but incredibly deep. Falling into it would undoubtedly result in being buried alive under the corpses of beasts!

Before standing in front of this pit of beast corpses, Ellie had heard that some people had tried using fire magic to deal with them. However, burning the corpses produced a stench that made those who inhaled it sick and even led to deaths. Consequently, burning was no longer an option.

Using water magic was equally ineffective. Earth magic was also useless. At most, it could only bury the corpses, but what would they do with the remains afterward? Wind element was utterly useless in this situation. Therefore, it had always been a difficult task to manage. Often, villagers and those responsible for disassembling the corpses had to handle the task themselves, leading to frequent illnesses due to the accumulated toxins. Yet, they had little choice.

Initially, when they learned that a young man had accepted this task, they were relieved to have someone take on such a crazy mission. But their trust waned when they saw Luke arriving alone to handle it. Even though he mentioned having a beast that could consume the corpses, how much could 1 beast eat? Wouldn’t it burst from eating so much?

Although they didn’t know Luke personally, they gave him some advice. Some of these beasts were venomous, and many times, useless toxic substances had been discarded there. Just because a beast could eat the corpses didn’t mean it was immune to all toxins.

However, Ellie wasn’t worried at all. Her little beast was more than it seemed. Little Apple could shrink to the size of a fly or expand to the size of a large elephant. Most importantly, it wasn’t a true beast. In fact, little Apple, which looked like a frog or toad, was actually a type of plant. Thus, no matter how much it ate, it wouldn’t burst. As for toxins...little Apple itself used poison when combat, so it could certainly consume the toxins of other beasts or plants without any issue, right?

Ah...or if it really couldn’t eat them all, just let the Purple Mushroom handle the decomposition. It’s not too difficult!

"Alright, let’s get to work." Ellie summoned little Apple. This wasn’t really work; it was more like feeding her little companion.

As soon as little Apple appeared, it tilted its head, listening patiently to Ellie’s instructions, though it was eager to dive into the pit of food.

"Take care of these beast corpses. If you can handle them, do so. For those you can’t manage, leave them for the Purple Mushroom to deal with later," she instructed her little Blue Apple.

Once given the order, little Apple wasted no time. Its stoic face shifted as its body began to expand. From the size of a fist, it grew larger than a lion, bigger than an elephant, and finally...as enormous as the mountain-sized Fernandina tortoise.

"W-Whoa! Is that...is that the beast you raised?" A worker who had been secretly watching rushed out. He should have returned to work after escorting Luke, but his curiosity about what beast would be summoned to handle the task kept him there. Certainly, he hadn’t expected the tiny creature on Luke’s hand to grow so enormous.

Ellie turned to look at the man behind her. She knew he had been watching, but it didn’t bother her. It was fine for others to know the capabilities of her beast. After all...she intended to make a name for herself as Luke.

"Yes, it is. Is there anything else you need?"

"N-No, nothing. Uh, please handle the beast corpses. If it’s that big, it should be able to eat them all. Heh-heh, haha." With that, the worker quickly ran off, looking startled. Ellie suspected that soon many more workers would come to watch the handling of the corpses. After all...it was quite a spectacle.

The little Apple paid no mind to the onlookers. It extended its root-like tongue forward, sweeping up beast corpses—some skeletal, some with scraps of fur, and others with bits of flesh and blood—into its mouth.

A look of contentment slowly spread across its usually stoic face. While the little Purple Mushroom preferred live plants or animals, the little Apple favored eating dead plants and animals. Then, something miraculous happened.

- Manchinel Blue Poison or Blue Apple of Disaster, Level 1 (Special): An apple-shaped like a frog, with alternating blue and black colors. The stem has a glossy sheen similar to a blue poison frog. Its body is highly flexible, and its tough skin makes low-level physical attacks ineffective. It has poison bombs on its back that harm attackers. If attacked and the poison bombs explode, nearby enemies will be poisoned.

Action Panel

Option One: Expand the body to act as a protective shield.

Option Two: Shrink to hide.

Option Three: Detonate the poison bombs on its back; currently can be used 4 times a day (+1 extra poison bomb spit per day).

Option Four (Special Addition): When used in conjunction with purple mushroom spores, it can send poison bombs into enemy’s body. -

Ellie felt a ripple in her spirit. It turned out that her little Apple had absorbed so much poison from the plant and animal remains that it had leveled up.

Plants in bonded progression didn’t level up like beasts. They didn’t need to hibernate to adjust their bodies; they can immediately use their newfound powers. With the bomb on its back, originally only having 3, leveling up once gave it an additional 1. Altogether, the little Apple could now use its poison bombs 5 times, including one spit from the rune.

“You’ve received some excellent fertilizer, haven’t you?” Ellie teased. The little Apple absorbed energy from decomposing the lifeless, taking in the poison and evolving. This rapid development was like opening a door for Ellie, revealing a new way to enhance the little Apple...

“There it is! That’s the beast handling a large number of beast corpses all at once!”

“Isn’t that amazing? Having someone like this in the Hunter’s Association means we don’t have to handle these gruesome tasks ourselves anymore, right?”

“God! He’s really helping us out. The association needs to take good care of someone like this.”

“Finally, what we’ve been waiting for has come to fruition.”

Ellie had anticipated that a group of people would soon gather to watch the little Apple at work, so she wasn’t surprised to see nearly fifty people rushing to see her bonded plant.

They must have had a hard time dealing with these beast corpses. Just seeing the scene for the first time made Ellie feel the horror. If it weren’t for the little Apple and the little Purple Mushroom, she wouldn’t have taken on this mission, even if it meant punishment from the association...

“Young man, what’s your name?”

“Yes, what’s your name? In the future, if you need to disassemble beasts...come to us first. We’ll offer a good price, of course. You know that delivering the important parts to the association after disassembling them is more profitable, right?”

“This is a great deal. We’ll definitely help you out. In exchange, you should take on this mission more often. Normally, we issue this task to the association once a year, but no one takes it, so it overflows and almost floods the village.”

“You might not know this, young man, but this is a real problem. The smell of these rotting corpses often attracts many poisonous creatures, causing even more chaos.” The workers were talking to Ellie, who was in the guise of Luke, with genuine gratitude in their eyes for handling the mess.

“This is just a mission; there’s no need to thank me.”

“What are you talking about? You’re young and talking like an old man. Doing good should be praised. It’s not a bad thing to feel proud.”

“.................” Ellie looked at the person in front of her with a deadpan expression. Their words were akin to calling her “old,” and yes...compared to them, she might actually be older.

“Come on, the mission is completed. I’ll certify it myself. Now you’ll get points and money, right, young man? Then you should walk around the village a bit. It’s your first time here, isn’t it?” A middle-aged woman said kindly. Ellie handed over her mission card, and the woman quickly certified it.

Finally, Ellie’s first mission was completed, though it was slightly different from what she had expected. Initially, she thought they would want her to handle even the smallest bits of blood and pus. But instead...it was finished after the little Apple had taken only 2 bites. The blood and pus would likely seep into the ground soon. The surrounding area was full of tall trees, which were actually excellent food sources. However, there was so much that it was like a constant flood that couldn’t be drained fast enough.

The little Apple, the villagers’ darling, shrank back down to the size of a palm. Ellie couldn’t store it in her spirit dimension, or people would definitely become suspicious. For a pet beast, it was better to let it live outside or store it in a pet ring. There was no way to hide it in the spirit dimension.

Now, it hopped onto Ellie’s shoulder. With its adorable appearance and colors, it attracted many glances from the villagers. Some of them even thought about asking the association to find such a beast for the village. Unfortunately, the beast they sought didn’t actually exist...

Ellie followed the villagers to a restaurant, the only one in this small village. It was a regular spot for the workers, so they were quite familiar with it.

"I saw everyone running around behind. So, the pit of corpses has really been taken care of? The rotten smell has noticeably diminished," the owner came out to greet them. Many villagers responded enthusiastically.

"Yes, it’s all gone. Unlike every other time, this time it’s completely cleared out."

"Soon the smell will disappear too. Now the corpses are gone, all that’s left is the liquid."

"You should have seen it with your own eyes, old man. Taking care of that mountain of corpses in just a few minutes was amazing," one villager said, pride evident in their voice, as if they had handled the corpses themselves.

"No matter how it was done, the person who took care of it deserves our deep gratitude," the owner laughed, acknowledging that this was a bigger concern for everyone than when beasts destroyed their belongings.

Of course, he wasn’t foolish enough to not recognize who had helped solve this problem. The workers in the disassembly hall surrounded the person, treating them like a savior. There was no need to look for anyone else; it was clear who had resolved the issue.

"So, is this the young man who took care of everything? In that case, let this old man treat you to a meal today."

"Oh, how could that be? We planned to treat this young man ourselves."

"Yes, we must be the ones to treat Sir Luke. Thanks to him, we can handle the disassembly work with peace of mind."

"Next time it’ll be the old man’s turn. This time, let us do it. Haha!" Everyone chatted happily. However, Ellie couldn’t afford to have a meal at this inviting restaurant. If she ended up eating with them, her hidden identity would surely be revealed, and she couldn’t let that happen.

"Thank you for your kindness, but I’m not hungry. I appreciate the offer, though," Ellie declined directly, not waiting for them to fuss over her meal.

"How can that be, young man? Come on, don’t be shy."

"Exactly. This is our way of showing gratitude. Besides, the old man’s restaurant has some delicious food. Don’t be shy. Eating here will save you quite a few copper coins." The villagers understood that Ellie wanted to refuse, so they tried to persuade her. They believed they had to repay their benefactor no matter what.

Ellie sighed deeply. If there was one situation she disliked the most, it was this one. If she had known it would turn out like this, she should have had the little Apple finish quickly and then slipped away. There was no need for mission confirmation. Even if she didn’t get mission points, it didn’t matter. The little Apple leveling up was reward enough.It was truly unfortunate she didn’t think of this sooner...