Chapter 12 - No Beasts?
Lin Wu kept on digging and felt the vibrations traveling through the ground. They were getting stronger by the second and were now actually starting to hurt him. The ground would shake and the small stones and pebbles would rub against his skin, injuring him.
While this did feel painful to him, he paid it no attention and fully focused on digging. Five minutes later the vibrations had stopped and Lin Wu had dug pretty far deep into the ground. He stopped once he could not feel any vibrations.
"Am I far enough now?" Lin Wu questioned himself while breathing heavily.
Evidently digging vigorously like this had taken a little out of him, and he was now feeling fatigued. Still, the fatigue was only temporary as a strange warmth replaced it soon and he felt comfortable. Lin Wu could not tell what it was and only knew that it was good for him.
"System, what is this warm feeling that I'm having?" Lin Wu questioned.
~Ding~
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ANSWER: The host's body is producing vital energy, and it is being assimilated by the host. This is how a normal beast cultivates. They consume sustenance and then do intense physical activity, this activates their body's natural ability and produces vital energy.
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"Oh, so this is how I'm supposed to cultivate normally. But since I have the system, I don't need to worry and just kill some beasts." Lin Wu said to himself.
Since Lin Wu had reached a far enough distance from the explosion, he just waited and expanded the area around him. Making a small hole like structure. He was now just waiting for the quest completion notification to come in. Once it appeared, it would tell him that it was safe to go back up.
In a surprise to him, it took over two hours before the notification appeared.
~Ding~
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QUEST COMPLETED: Escape the radius of the explosion
REWARD OBTAINED: Survival
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'Why did it take so long for the quest notification to come in? What happened up there?' Lin Wu wondered.
"System, what happened up there?" Lin Wu questioned.
~Ding~
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ANSWER: The host needs to update the map. After the update, the newly changed terrain would be displayed.
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"Newly changed terrain? What!" Lin Wu exclaimed.
"System, update the map, and display it for me." Lin Wu ordered.
~Ding~
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Notification: 5 system energy units will be used, does the host grant the permission?
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"Yes, permission granted." Lin Wu replied.
Lin Wu was no longer as worried about the energy points as he now knew how to obtain them. He also had plenty of them for now, so it didn't matter to him as much.
~Ding~
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NOTIFICATION: The map has been updated, displaying now.
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The first thing Lin Wu saw that the map had improved a lot than before. It only used to show two markers before the position of Lin Wu himself and whatever else he marked. But now it was actually showing the terrain itself. There were trees, ground, rocks, and other things shown.
Though the most shocking thing to him was that the trees were not where they should be and the ground was charred black. If he focused a bit, he could even see the contours on the ground making him realize that the ground had moved around due to some kind of force.
"What kind of explosion was that? The trees are all uprooted, and the ground is as black as coal." Lin Wu wondered out loud.
'I guess, I'll just need to go up to see it myself.' Lin Wu thought.
He was just about to turn back and return when he noticed something on his body. He saw the small wounds that had been formed on his body due to the vibrations and tremors. He didn't know if the wounds would get aggravated or not if he dug up again.
Just as he was thinking this, another notification popped up.
~Ding~
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NOTIFICATION: Asking for permission to activate host's regenerative ability. fr𝚎e𝙬𝚎𝚋𝚗૦ν𝚎𝒍.c૦m
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"Regenerative ability? System, do I have a regenerative ability? Is it because of you?" Lin Wu questioned.
~Ding~
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ANSWER: The host's species has a natural regenerative ability. This ability can even help the host regenerate his body up to a total of 40% of the host's body mass. The system can also utilize energy to accelerate this process.
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"Oh yes! I'm a worm now. Many worms have the ability to regenerate their body." Lin Wu remembered the information from his textbooks of previous life.
"Yes, regenerate my wounds, system." Lin Wu replied.
~Ding~
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NOTIFICATION: Healing host's injuries. Please wait for a moment. 𝘧𝓇𝗲𝑒we𝙗noѵ𝑒l.𝐜o𝘮
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Lin Wu could instantly feel the effects of the system. His wounds and injuries started itching as they then started to heal at a visible rate. A couple of seconds later, all the wounds that he had received due to the tremors had healed and his body was as good as new.
"This is rather amazing. I can even heal from wounds if I'm injured in a fight." Lin Wu spoke in amazement.
Done with this, Lin Wu started his journey back. Unlike before, it actually took him longer to reach the surface of the ground, as the tunnel he had dug was closed due to the vibrations in the ground. In fact, the soil had actually become a little more compact, which made it a little tougher to dig.
Still, Lin Wu just used his innate worm instincts of digging and eventually reached the surface of the ground. Once he appeared on the ground, he took a quick look around. All he could see was devastation.
There had been an upheaval, and everything seemed to be destroyed. Uprooted trees were lying around, having had most of their leaves burned out if not their trunks as well. In fact, some of the trees were still aflame and were on the verge of collapse.
The large rocks around the area were charred black along with the ground, and cracks had even appeared in them. Making one wonder how strong the explosion was.
"Chickie nuggies! That… was some strong explosion. If I had not dug in the ground, I would have been reduced to ashes by now." Lin Wu thought out loud.
While thinking of this, Lin Wu suddenly realized something, his main quest.
"Wait, if the explosion was this strong then…" He spoke.
"System, Scan the area for beasts." Lin Wu ordered.
~Ding~
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NOTIFICATION: Scanning the radius of 10 kilometers for beast activity.
SCAN COMPLETE: No beasts found. Life signs negative.
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"F*ck"