Chapter 184: Frantically Grinding Research Progress

After dealing with the remaining Slimes.

Under the muddy-faced boy’s guidance, Toby and the energetic group of children brought Lance to the polluted stream east of the ranch.

The terrible sight before them made Toby, a local, frown deeply.

The stream bank that should have been covered in pebbles was now densely packed with jelly-like soft-bodied creatures.

These magical beasts squeezed and wriggled against each other, continuously producing nauseating squelching noises.

The clear stream water had been completely ruined by the mildly acidic mucus they secreted, turning into a grayish-green color.

When the breeze blew past, one could even smell a sharp sour stench drifting through the air.

But in Lance’s eyes, this scene looked completely different.

This was clearly a field full of walking experience packs!

“You all stay here. Don’t run around.”

Without even turning his head, Lance instructed the children behind him.

Then, before the shocked gazes of the children—whose average age was not even ten years old—and Toby.

Lance became like a completely unleashed beast.

His feet exploded with force as he directly leapt down from the dirt slope and plunged headfirst into the densely packed Slime swarm.

The battle erupted instantly.

Without any intention of testing the waters, Lance directly swung his hardened fist, carrying a whistling gust of wind as it smashed viciously into the nearest blue Slime.

Accompanied by a loud explosion, the powerful physical impact directly shattered the soft body into pieces.

Semi-transparent mucus splattered across the stream bank.

Several larger green Slimes nearby were enraged by the sudden attack.

Their highly elastic bodies suddenly compressed backward before launching themselves like cannonballs toward Lance with the rebound force from the muddy ground.

Faced with the encirclement, Lance advanced instead of retreating.

He directly extended his right hand toward one of the airborne Slimes and viciously thrust his arm forward.

Pfft!

With a muffled sound.

Lance’s arm forcefully pierced into the creature’s highly elastic body without any resistance.

“Sizzle… sizzle…”

The corrosive liquid inside the Slime made contact with Lance’s skin and immediately produced faint corrosive sounds.

This level of acid would absolutely be a nightmare for ordinary adventurers.

Not only would it rapidly damage defensive equipment, but once it touched skin, the corrosive wounds would also heal poorly and most likely leave scars.

But there was not the slightest change in Lance’s expression, as though he could not feel pain at all.

His right hand rapidly searched through the mucus.

In less than two seconds, his fingertips accurately touched a core the size of a walnut.

His five fingers suddenly clenched with force.

Crack.

The core was instantly crushed into pieces.

The Slime’s body immediately lost the internal tension maintaining its shape and turned into an ordinary puddle of liquid, sliding down Lance’s arm onto the ground.

Lance lowered his head and quickly glanced at his right arm.

In that extremely brief moment of contact, the skin on the surface of his arm had already become slightly red, and he could even feel faint stinging pain.

One had to know that his current body had already undergone the dual reinforcement of the Stone-Shell River Crab’s Natural Armor and Azure Dragon Armament, giving him defensive power far beyond ordinary people.

Lance rapidly analyzed the situation in his mind.

If this acidic liquid remained wrapped around his skin for a prolonged period, the accumulating corrosion would eventually melt through even his enhanced Natural Armor defenses.

He needed to change tactics and deal with them more efficiently.

The movements beneath Lance’s feet instantly shifted.

He nimbly dodged the lunges of two Slimes while simultaneously extending the fingers of his right hand like a sword. Seizing the perfect moment, he thrust forward with pinpoint precision and instantly pierced through a magical beast’s core.

Immediately afterward, he lowered his head and darted through the area splattered with mucus.

Then, following through with a reverse elbow strike, his hardened elbow smashed like a hammer, directly crushing both a Slime charging from behind and its core together.

The next second, power surged from his waist as he swung a sharp claw strike horizontally backward.

His fingertips carried a razor-sharp gust of force, simultaneously slicing apart two connected Slimes into fragments.

From that point onward, the originally noisy stream bank completely transformed into a one-sided brutal slaughter.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Heavy impact sounds continuously echoed beside the stream while water and mucus flew everywhere.

Only after the setting sun completely withdrew its final traces of light and the entire sky gradually became enveloped by dusk.

Did this utterly one-sided extermination finally come to an end.

Lance stopped moving and slowly exhaled a stream of slightly heated air.

At this point, not a single wriggling Slime could still be seen anywhere on the stream bank.

“Big Brother is amazing!”

“So strong! Big Brother’s a hero!”

Standing atop the dirt slope, the dumbstruck children finally snapped out of their shock.

They excitedly waved the crude little wooden hammers in their hands, bursting into cheers filled with admiration.

Lance raised his head toward them, gave a thumbs-up, and revealed a brilliant smile, indicating that he had accepted their praise.

Perhaps this was what a sense of accomplishment felt like—earning the admiration of a group of children.

For a brief moment, it felt even better than receiving rewards from the guild.

Toby, standing nearby, swallowed hard with difficulty.

He had seen other adventurers hunting magical beasts at the guild before, but he had never seen anyone kill with such efficiency and brutality.

Ordinary adventurers needed to retreat and rest after expending stamina, relying on teammates to rotate in and maintain the frontline while they recovered.

But this big brother before him had completely skipped all those steps.

He resembled a tireless alchemy machine, maintaining high-intensity output from beginning to end.

Ignoring the astonishment of the others, Lance focused his thoughts and opened the translucent Biological Research panel visible only to himself.

【Magical Beast Slime】

【Research Progress LV2: 32/50】

Looking at the data, the corners of Lance’s mouth unconsciously rose slightly.

The reproductive ability of low-level creatures like Slimes was simply absurd.

Merely clearing a single small gathering point had yielded nearly fifty kills.

Magical beasts capable of reproducing quickly were truly good magical beasts!

However, it was already too late today.

Fighting beside unfamiliar waters at night involved too many unpredictable variables, and obstructed visibility was unfavorable for safety.

Tomorrow morning, as soon as he woke up, he would continue sweeping along both the upstream and downstream sections of this creek.

Judging from the pollution level of the nearby waters.

As long as he found and cleared two more similar stream banks tomorrow, he would absolutely be able to grind out the racial talent he needed.

Lance could clearly feel that his red talent was becoming increasingly terrifying alongside the growth of his strength.

Under normal circumstances, no adventurer could maintain such prolonged high-pressure combat.

Even professional adventurers, although their endurance improved as their physique attributes rose.

Would still see their stamina consumption rise alongside the increasing power of their skills as they became stronger.

Their overall stamina always remained within a dynamic balance between expenditure and recovery, and they still faced the risk of exhaustion in battle.

But Lance was a monster that had completely shattered that balance.

Normally, only spellcasters who mastered large-scale magic possessed the ability to conduct mass slaughter.

Yet Lance had forcibly achieved the effect of racial extermination through purely physical means using only stamina.

In actual combat, this was absolutely a terrifying thing.

The final crucial piece needed before becoming a Professional was about to fall completely into place.

Lance sighed emotionally in the evening breeze.

Using the faint residual glow of the sunset, he followed Toby back toward the ranch along the flat dirt road.

Behind them, the little muddy monkeys were still excitedly discussing the intense battle scene from earlier.

The moment they stepped through the ranch’s wide gates.

A towering figure resembling an iron tower directly blocked their path.

It was Toby’s father.

Lance raised his head and looked at the powerful man standing before him, secretly shocked inwardly.

The man wore a coarse sleeveless shirt drenched in sweat, and thick muscles rose and fell with each steady breath, overflowing with explosive power.

Even though the man merely stood there casually without doing anything, a powerful pressure surged directly toward them.

Toby’s father was absolutely a retired senior Professional.

And judging solely from this oppressive presence, his level was likely quite high.

Lance instantly understood everything.

No wonder the man could peacefully operate such a massive Ironhide Boar ranch in a place like Birchwood Town.

In the world of adventurers, without sufficient strength as backing.

Those profiteering merchants and local thugs who could smell money from afar would have long since forced their way over to seize a share of the profits.