Zac's eyes snapped open.
For a moment he didn't move and just absorbed his surroundings.
The ground beneath his boots is scarred, and glass-like silica stones are all around the place.
Like a wall between sky and ground, violent dark clouds filled the realm with roaring thunder, and serpent-like lightning are coiling in them.
When Zac looked ahead, a huge forest stretched before him.
Trees stood tall, most of them with no leaves and their trunks scorched from constant lightning.
His hair fluttered lightly from the wind that brushed him like a tangible substance.
Zac inhaled deeply, filling his lungs with fresh air. Which made him feel energized because of the mana present in it.
"fizz" followed by the thunderous roar.
"What the hell?!"
A bolt of lightning tore down from the sky and struck a few meters away from him.
Zac's body felt petrified from the sudden lightning; he could still feel the aftershock through his feet.
"My heart almost came out."
He starred at the scorched earth.
[That's what you get for standing like a tourist.]
[This is an unknown realm! If you don't want to die, you better start moving your ass.]
"Yes." He straightens his body and starts walking.
[So, what is your plan?]
"Don't get killed, find the cave, take the treasure, and get back home."
[Do you think it's going to be that easy?]
"No! I don't; that's why I found this." He pointed at a shallow muddy pond. The mud is wet, thick, and black, like a sludge.
[What are you…]
Before the system could ask, Zac jumped into it.
[…never mind.]
Zac took a handful of wet mud and applied it all over his body.
After making himself look like a mud monster, he stood up with a disgusting expression.
"This smells like shit."
[You are clever. The mud not only masks your scent but also your body heat.]
"Let's go." He started walking through the forest searching for the cave.
"Skrrk…skrrk…" Hearing the sudden rustling sound. He hid behind a tree and peeped over. Only to see his first monster in this realm.
A cluster of black spiders, size varying from a small rabbit to a giant sheep, are using their fangs to tear open a huge wolf.
The dead wolf had green patches in its body, a clear indication of poisoning.
The terrible sight of 50 to 60 spiders ravaging the wolf made him almost throw up.
"Good thing I don't have arachnophobia."
[That's not the only good thing.]
"What?"
[See for yourself.]
Name: Static Crawler
Class: D
Race: Spider type
Ability: Venom, Webs
Strength: Attack in groups
Weakness: No eyes (uses vibrations and electric signals to see and hunt), fire.
Name: Lesser Thunder Hound
Class: C
Race: Wolf type
Ability: Thunder roar, fast movement
Strength: enhanced speed and strength
Weakness: less intelligence.
"You can do this?!"
[How useless do you think I am?]
"You won't charge me for this, right?"
[These are considered superficial information, so no.]
"So the spiders don't have eyes and the dead wolf is dumb. Both have fire weakness."
[You can hunt them using the gasoline bomb.]
"No, my first priority is to find the cave. Let's find it first."
"And if anything went wrong, I don't have sufficient strength to protect myself."
He took a detour and continued his search.
He saw a lot of monsters on his way, but all of them were either spiders or wolves. "If I'm not wrong, the entire place is crawling with these two types."
Whenever he came in contact with one, he would either run or hide; the mud also helped him to a great extent to hide his presence.
He finally came to a mountain located at the center of the realm. The dark clouds are particularly dense above the mountain, with lightning constantly striking the top.
A few meters above the land, a huge cave became visible to him.
"This must be it."
He used the rope and climbed to the cave; it is wide and dark from the outside.
[You need a torch.]
"Great idea. I'll just walk in screaming, 'Dinner's here!' while I'm at it."
["…"]
After walking for fifteen minutes, he saw a blue light coming from the depth and started running towards it.
Suddenly he stopped, with eyes wide, his face drained of color, and hair standing on end.
He slowly took a few steps back and hid himself behind the stones, afraid to even breath louder.
"What kind of monstrosity is that…?"
A massive serpent with black, scorched skin with blue light pulsing through the crack between its scales.
[Hurry, host. Look behind it.]
His eyes became round, and his lips made a soft "oh."
"How beautiful!"
A radiant blue lotus rested at the center of the small pond behind the serpent.
The pond water looked unusually dense and dazzling. The same liquid is dripping from the ceiling above.
[You have a devil's luck.]
"Why?"
[The flower before you is an ultimate treasure, even in the upper realms. Quick, check the info.]
Name: Thunder Edge-Bloom
Type: Spirit Plant
Grade: S (Partially bloomed)
Origin: Formed from the core of a high-class swordsman's corpse.
Usage: Enhances potential for low-level swordsmen (greater effect when fully bloomed) and grants lightning affinity.
"It gives elemental affinity too?"
[The nature of this realm likely mutated it.]
"I must definitely have it."
[What about the serpent?]
A faint smirk tugged at his lips.
"I have an idea. Show me its info."
Name: Pulse Devourer
Class: A
Race: Serpent-type
Ability: Lightning discharge.
Strength: Enhanced strength and speed.
Weakness: Extremely curious, injured, and lost its sight; currently weakened.
"Why is it injured?"
[Must be because it tried eating the flower.]
"Then wouldn't I become the same if I touched it?"
[No, only the petals have lighting. What we need is the seed inside it.]
Zac went out of the cave and started searching for the remains of dead monsters.
After collecting blood, fur, and some decaying flesh, he once again applied another coating of wet mud and came to the cave entrance.
He placed the bombs carefully hidden at the entrance and looked to the sky, cupping his hands together.
"All the gods watching this, please help me."
He threw one of the bombs to the left side of the cave and made a huge explosion.
The sound of the explosion tore through the realm even with all the thunder.
He threw another two bombs one after another, making the explosion even bigger.
Inside the cave the serpent heard the sound and felt the heat. It slowly lifted its head and looked toward the direction of the explosion.
For a brief moment, it glanced back at the lotus, then it slithered out, drawn by the explosions.
Zac used this moment and slipped past the serpent into the cave and neared the lotus.
[Collect the liquid first.]
He didn't question and did what he was asked to do.
He then looked inside the flower and saw a single white-colored seed at the center.
"Tell me, system, if I remove the seed, what becomes of the flower?"
[The seed is the core. When removed, the flower would slowly wither.]
"How long will it take?"
[Enough for you to hide.]
Carefully not touching the flower, he removed the seed and placed it on the system inventory.
He then placed the remains of the monsters all around the cave and lighted the bombs before coming out.
[Hurry, hide before it's too late.]
Zac ran towards the portal and found a huge tree near it to hide.
"Now I just have to wait till the portal breaks."
"Boom…Boom…Boom…"
"It seems the fun has started."
Moments before,
After inspecting the sound and heat, the serpent came back to the cave; the moment it entered, the bomb started exploding one after another.
Each explosion slammed into the stone like a war drum. Fire blossomed in the tight space of the cave and burned the outer skin of the serpent.
The beasts outside the cave heard the explosion and looked towards the cave in fear.
After the explosion ended, a low guttural hiss seeped out.
Thick green blood is oozing off from its obsidian body, which is now scorched from extreme heat.
It dragged its body forward towards the pond and saw the dying flower. The serpent lowered its head with its tongue flickering out, tasting the air.
It sensed the scent of other creatures in the cave.
"SSSSSHHHHHHHHH!!!"
The hiss tore through the cave like a blade.
The beasts outside heard it and started running for their lives.
The serpent came out and started a rampage.