A Plant’s Life - Chapter 20 Hunting a polar bear

When he arrived at the cave, no one was there, the chief was gone! He was so surprised that he did not notice the miserable bear corpse on the ground, it seemed as, it had been there for years rather than a freshly killed prey!

Jiji quickly ran around, trying to locate Kala, and kill him secretly, but to no avail. It seemed Kala had run, vacating his position, this was the best chance.

Jiji walked to the feast loudly shouting: “The coward Kala is nowhere to be found he has deserted our community, and by rules, he is no longer chief. I AM”

A white bear was lying in a corner with eyes closed, the beast looked so at ease that one would simply overlook his presence. Thinking of him as amicable would be a deadly mistake, one that some poor monsters had made, what had been left of them was a small trace of blood on the ground. The polar bear seemed sleeping, and in fact, the primary soul of the body had been in deep sleep. Being tortured within the dream world had turned the young bear catatonic. From time to time a black hole would appear to suck in some energy, making the world smaller. The world seemed very modest now, only a meager part had been left behind, Reed was able to walk from one end to another in a matter of minutes. He did not appear as a healthy cub, rather a scrawny young bear was left, with a dull look filling his eyes, unaware of the surrounding. A green plant could be seen near the sitting bear, the havoc in the environment had not affected it in any negative manner.

John had been experimenting with his powers while forcing the bear to hibernate, he had extracted much energy from its body. With the gained energy, he cultivated his core, while also increasing his control. Noticing the crude use of energy manipulation, he practiced more, enabling to perform his acquired skills with more ease. Now John could simply look through walls, identifying nearby life forms or energy flows. The range for power vision had increased substantially, added to higher processing power gained from core reinforcement he could identify the danger level from a relatively safe distance. With more experiments he was now able to gather energies in the air, by baiting some of his own force, attaching outside flow to his own and retracting them all; the range for this new ability was 6-meters radius. This skill was able to gather energies from weaker life forms as well, he simply needed to suppress their mana imprint to gain access. It made for a more convenient tool in sucking environment dry. His communication and manipulation by using mana had also increased to a more comprehensive level. John had formed the foundation for the time he would have his seed truly sprout, becoming a plant.

John scanned his vessel for information, as he had completely dissected the mana symbol, damaging it beyond repair. The information gained was as follows:

[Name: Reed (Red Eyes, White king)

Race: mutated white bear

Class: Hunter, ruler (in progress)

Level: 6 (MAX)

HP (Health Point): 20/104 (CON*8+24)

MP (Mana Point): 0/20 (INT*12+8)

SP (Stamina Point): 10/113.5 (CON*10+DEX/2)

Attributes:

Strength – 10

Dexterity – 5

Constitution – 11

Intelligence – 1

Wisdom –1

Charisma – 5

Luck – 1

Skills:

Roar (Basic): Intimidation skill; conditions: higher level, higher STR stat; consumes 5 mana per use. Not able to use, due to broken mana imprint

Frenzy (Basic): (DEX + INT + WIS + CHAR)/2 will be added strength for 30 min. Once per day; side effects: mental pressure, loss of longevity. Not able to use, due to broken mana imprint

Condition: Damaged organs, broken souls, weakened body

XP (Experience Point): Not able to use, due to broken mana imprint]

“It is very interesting, I can calculate the stats more precisely than the mark, luck can also be measured by me, but the system only provides limited information depending on the species. Now that I have stabilized my core, it is time to continue my journey. More precautions should be exercised from this moment, breaking this mana symbol should have alarmed the pre-programmed role assigned by the mainframe. As the AI has superb data collection and analysis functions, this incident should have been recorded, repeating this action can lead to countermeasures from the dungeon core. However, the knowledge gained from dissection was invaluable, giving me a stronger insight into the workings of this world. Now for the next steps, it is time to climb the hierarchy of monsters!” John analyzed.

Within the workings of dungeon core, an alarm was sent out, from the section responsible for weak monsters. Informing mainframe of a malfunctioning mark, the news had a red tag, exhibiting the importance of such report. However, due to the nature of said monster and signs of broken soul found inside, the matter was filled beside the ripped protective cover incident. It would be used later if similar cases were found, but currently, the system lacked sufficient data to specialize a course of action. Rather a pre-set protocol was followed, more observations until a decision can be made.

John performed a normal snarl, informing any life form of his intentions to attack. Doing so would frighten the weaker monsters and leave the strong behind, saving him time to find his next target. Walking heavily, his powerful vision was hard at work, trying to identify the concentration of mana. Noticing many balls of light in some distance he let out another deafening roar. Then he sprinted towards the goblin community, while they were shaking in fright, John read all their data, investigating for any hidden risks, he truly disliked surprises!

[Name: Jiji the foolish

Race: Goblin

Class: N/A

Level: 1

HP (Health Point): 15/20 (CON*8+4)

MP (Mana Point): 32/40 (INT*12+4)

SP (Stamina Point): 10/21 (CON*10+DEX/2)

Attributes:

Strength – 0.5

Dexterity – 2

Constitution – 2

Intelligence – 3

Wisdom –3

Charisma – 5

Luck – 0

Skills: Assembly (Basic): higher chance of success in case of any attempt on assembly

Condition: Corrupt soul, damaged mind, unstable emotions

XP (Experience Point): 10/20]

[Name: Chief Kala

Race: Goblin

Class: Chief

Level: 2

HP (Health Point): 26/28 (CON*8+4)

MP (Mana Point): 16/16 (INT*12+4)

SP (Stamina Point): 22/31.5 (CON*10+DEX/2)

Attributes:

Strength – 3

Dexterity – 3

Constitution – 3

Intelligence – 1

Wisdom –3

Charisma – 5

Luck – 2

Skills: Lead (Basic): higher chance of success in rallying troops

Condition: Very angry, anxious

XP (Experience Point): 6/30]

[Name: Hul the silencer

Race: Goblin

Class: Warrior

Level: 2

HP (Health Point): 15/20 (CON*8+4)

MP (Mana Point): 10/10 (INT*12+4)

SP (Stamina Point): 10/21 (CON*10+DEX/2)

Attributes:

Strength – 4

Dexterity – 2

Constitution – 2

Intelligence – 0.5

Wisdom –0.5

Charisma – 0.5

Luck – 0

Skills: N/A

Condition: Tiered, sleepy

XP (Experience Point): 1/30]

…

John thought: “The date derived from this crowd gives me some idea, it seems my experiments have caused some issues to the goblin named Jiji. It seems as if the pressure has caused him to lose a portion of his mind, thus corrupting his soul; there is also a high likelihood that the fight is the result of his instability. If he had other research values, I would most definitely capture him, yet this experiment can be done later, now the priorities are else. My honed skills now can measure chemicals within the brain and adjust the heartbeat to determine emotions, the brain waves can also confirm found results. With this, it would be very hard to lie in front of me unless one has believed their own story their body will have a reaction”

All of this happened in a fraction of a second, John’s processing speed had absolutely surpassed mortal binds.

The white bear attacked the goblin army, with a mighty swing, 4 enemies were thrown. John used this opportunity to extract all their energies, sucking them dry before they had landed.

He attacked many green monsters, killing them instantly, which he then collected their released energies. If they were more fortunate, they would receive injury and feel exhausted, since John had inhaled most of their powers.

His vessel had also sustained many cuts and bruises, yet with the numbers present, he doubted in his victory even in prime condition. The enemy had a strong numerical advantage.

Suddenly a rock flew towards his face, John used this opportunity to fall on the ground, slowing down the heart, he seemed dead.

He overheard a gibberish language, but with some help in mana manipulation translation became possible. Goblins were chanting a name: “Jiji, Jiji, Jiji, Jiji”. He had avoided focusing on their talks in the midst of battle, as John needed most of his focus in gathering power. Now he had time to translate their discussions, strangely they were chanting the name of his lab rat!