Chapter 60: The Pith of the Viscous Silk Tree

'Summon helpers?'
Liu Hen felt a stir in his heart: 'Are we talking about summoning skeletons like the ones from before?'
'No, those were the minions of that fiend, not my helpers.'
The little black stone explained: 'My helper should be a stone man.'
'Let's find somewhere to try it out.'
Liu Hen was extremely intrigued by the little black stone's abilities.
He struggled to his feet. Although certain parts of his body were acting up—numb and stiff—with the enhancement of the thermal suit, walking normally was not much of a problem.
This thermal suit was truly miraculous, functioning almost like an exoskeleton that allowed him, currently in a semi-paralyzed state, to move about freely without anyone noticing anything unusual.
However, when jumping down from the roof, his lack of bodily coordination still caused him to stumble slightly.
Fortunately, everyone else was busy clearing the battlefield and picking up the dropped magic crystals, so no one noticed this mishap.
"I'm going to gather some stones to build defensive fortifications."
Liu Hen said to Chang Xin and the others, once again repairing the homestead structure that had been on the verge of complete collapse, and then headed back in the direction he had come from.
The area around the homestead was pitted and scarred, with many spots vitrified by intense heat or blasted into craters.
What was originally a relatively flat space had been reduced to a wretched state after two intense battles.
This simply wouldn't do; since they intended to settle down here, they at least needed to ensure unimpeded movement.
Therefore, Liu Hen really intended to fetch some large stones along the way to pave the ground.
Soon, he stepped outside the protective range of the campfire.
Deprived of its heat supply, the thermal suit instantly felt like an electrical appliance cut off from its power source, retaining only a tiny fraction of its 'backup power'.
Liu Hen made a silent mental calculation: 'The maximum-yield thermobaric bomb can only be used once, but if I use it out here, I'm afraid it would freeze me to death entirely in a single go. So, it's best not to use the maximum-yield thermobaric one unless absolutely necessary.'
As for the ordinary-yield ones—meaning those capable of producing a firebal one meter in diameter—he could release them a dozen times or so.
'That's already quite good.'
He was rather satisfied with this.
Ten thermobaric bombs of that caliber could at least eliminate a hundred four-armed monsters, provided, of course, that those four-armed monsters were clustered together.
'My control over the yield of the thermobaric bombs is still not precise enough. If I practice more, I might be able to refine the output even further.'
More refined control would allow him to treat it as a conventional force.
'The more I use it, the more extraordinary this thermal suit feels. Although it's an external force, you can master and refine it through your own will as if it were your own power. It's simply incredible.'
With these thoughts in his mind, Liu Hen took out the All-Things Pickaxe and strode deeper into the darkness.
It was already the dead of night; ordinary wastelanders in this environment could only see ten meters ahead.
Yet now, clad in the Bronze-grade thermal suit, he could see a hundred meters out. With the little black stone keeping watch, he didn't have to worry about running into sudden danger.
Before long, he arrived at a spot five hundred meters away, where some rocky outcrops had broken through the surface of the earth.
"Black Stone, try out your ability." He spoke up.
"Yes, Master."
The little black stone's voice echoed from his arm.
Without sensing any obvious fluctuations, the mountain rock jutting from the ground ahead suddenly began to vibrate, then slowly rose upward.
Liu Hen instinctively stepped back repeatedly, because as the rock shook, the surrounding ground quaked as if an earthquake were underway, fracturing continuously.
Amidst the rumbling tremors, a huge head, one meter in diameter, emerged from the earth first.
Immediately following, a giant hand reached out and gripped the ground.
Then, a... female giant at least eight meters tall, with voluptuous curves, climbed out from beneath the earth, stood with her arms hanging down, and remained standing there motionlessly.
This scene was like the resurgence of a fiend. Even though the female giant stood there completely still, she emanated a tremendous sense of pressure.
After taking a clear look at this giant's appearance, Liu Hen wore a look of utter astonishment.
For the female giant had the form of an unclothed woman, and her physical structure from head to toe was remarkably realistic.
He even suspected whether she might have internal organs like a stomach and intestines inside her body.
Not only were the other parts realistic, but the head was also lifelike, as the stone giant actually possessed hair.
Of course, she also had facial features, which somewhat resembled those of the little black stone.
"Master, this is my helper, though I can only summon one."
The little black stone's voice sounded once more: "She can help me fight. Her body is very sturdy, though her movement speed might be a bit slow."
"Is this stone man alive or dead?" Liu Hen asked.
"She... is considered dead, I suppose."
The little black stone explained: "She requires my maintenance in order to exist."
Liu Hen dawned in realization: "Then cancel it for now. We don't need to fight right now, no need to waste energy."
"Alright." The little black stone promptly terminated the ability.
Instantly, the body of the female giant before him collapsed directly, transforming into a large mass of crushed stone that tumbled down.
Liu Hen quickly retreated once more.
Suddenly, he noticed a rock that had fallen right in front of him possessed a tubular structure; at first glance, it looked somewhat like an intestine.
The little black stone timely explained: "This summon of mine is replicated based on my own physical prototype. Only by doing so can my power be transferred over to control her in combat."
"I see."
Liu Hen said: "Next time, you don't need to make it so detailed, or maybe give her some clothes or something to cover up."
"Mm-hmm."
The little black stone firmly took note of this. Men disliked their women's bodies being exposed to outsiders, so it decided to optimize this summoning process.
Liu Hen did not waste any more time. He directly swung the All-Things Pickaxe to harvest the boulders that the female giant's collapsed body had turned into.
[Large Crag Stone +1]
[Large Crag Stone +1]
...The giant rocks before him were continuously harvested, and the debris scattered around constantly vanished.
Soon, the stones resulting from the female giant's collapse were completely gathered.
Liu Hen left this spot and went further away to harvest more.
[Large Crag Stone +1]
[Large Crag Stone +1]
...
Wherever he passed, all the rocks protruding from the ground vanished one by one, leaving massive craters in many places.
Large crag stones, each a meter in length, width, and height, were mined out.
Originally, this area was still considered the edge of the rocky mountains, but as he walked through, the stones vanished one after another, leaving behind nothing but pits.
Whenever he occasionally encountered trees, he harvested them along the way.
Because the slots in his spatial backpack had now increased to thirty, with each slot capable of holding two hundred units of materials, he didn't need to worry about filling it up in the short term.
Thus, Liu Hen harvested whatever he came across.
Aside from the ubiquitous soil, he turned almost nothing down, displaying an almost obsessive fixation on hoarding supplies.
Perhaps because this place already lay at the boundary between the rocky mountains and the clay mountains, the number of trees increased considerably.
When he harvested another tree, an unexpected harvest suddenly appeared.
[Tree Core +1]
As the low, twisted tree before him was completely harvested, a tree core was extracted.
'Another tree core?'
Liu Hen felt a jolt in his heart and quickly checked the appraisal information of this tree core inside his spatial backpack.
He hadn't paid close attention to the previous one, primarily because he didn't know at the time that the spatial backpack could appraise items.
But he definitely had to pay attention to this one, because he suspected that if tree cores of the same type appeared, the sets crafted from them might share the same set bonuses.
[Tree Core: Core of a Viscous-Silk Tree.]
It was a very brief description, but it revealed the origin of this tree core.
'Viscous-Silk Tree?'
Liu Hen was secretly surprised.
According to the memories of the original host, the Viscous-Silk Tree was a very common tree in the Night Fog World, and he had harvested many of them previously.
Yet out of all those times, this was the only one that yielded a tree core.
'So, this tree core has a drop rate rather than being guaranteed upon harvesting?'
He guessed inwardly: 'Or perhaps it requires a Viscous-Silk Tree of sufficient age to yield a tree core?'
If he got the chance, he definitely had to keep statistics on this.
'The fibers of this kind of tree are extremely tough, and some wastelanders use them to make ropes. I wonder what kind of set effects a thermal suit crafted from this tree's core would produce?'
It was a pity he hadn't paid attention to what kind of tree the previous core had been harvested from.
'It shouldn't repeat, right? An air cannon... or even a thermobaric bomb, no matter how you look at it, doesn't seem like characteristics related to a Viscous-Silk Tree.'
Liu Hen was itching to head back right now and craft a brand-new thermal suit.
However, considering that he still lacked many stone materials, he held back and continued swinging the All-Things Pickaxe to mine stones.
Finally, factoring in the time spent traveling and searching for supplies, it took him a total of a little over three hours to fill his spatial backpack before he began making his way back.
...
"The master is back..."
"Sir, you're finally back!"
When the Wu siblings saw Liu Hen return, joy instantly appeared on both of their faces.
"Did something happen?" Liu Hen asked.
"Not really..."
Wu Yuanming looked slightly embarrassed: "You were gone for too long, and we... were a bit worried."
Naturally, they weren't worried about Liu Hen, but rather about themselves, afraid that this super-thick thigh would run off on his own.
Liu Hen saw right through their thoughts and couldn't be bothered to expose them.
At that moment, Chang Xin walked over and handed him a pouch woven from tree bark: "All the magic crystals dropped by the monsters we killed earlier are in here."
Liu Hen took it, glanced inside, and directly deposited all the magic crystals into his All-Things Pickaxe account, discovering there were actually over twelve thousand of them.
He smiled, returned the woven bag to Chang Xin, and said, "Work hard tonight, patrol the surroundings, and immediately notify me if there are any abnormalities. After a while, I'll start building our... camp."
"Camp..."
Chang Xin fell silent for a moment, then asked, "Does your camp have a name yet?"
Liu Hen thought for a moment and replied, "Right now, this camp is only temporary and doesn't represent the name of a faction, so let's just call it [Campfire Camp] for now."
Hearing Liu Hen say this camp wasn't the name of a faction, for some reason, Chang Xin let out an inward sigh of relief.
"Alright, don't worry." She nodded slightly.
She might not be able to contend against fiends and similar monsters, but as long as it wasn't an eight-armed monster, she was confident she could hold them off and prevent them from disturbing Liu Hen.
"Liu Hen... Sir..."
At this moment, Zong Ni walked over and said somewhat constraintly, "The scattered fragments of the object the fiend inhabited have also been gathered."
"Just call me Liu Hen like before. Calling me 'Sir' feels too distant."
Liu Hen said, "That thing is called a coffin, and I'll deal with those fragments a bit later. Right now, I have other things to attend to."
With that, he walked straight into the homestead structure, preparing to craft the new thermal suit to see what kind of set bonuses a suit made from the Viscous-Silk Tree core would possess.
——
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(End of this chapter)