novelraw Chapter 86: Beastman Pill
Chapter 86: Beastman Pill
[Do you want to Possess this Shell?]
The current Shell Slots were 5/8, leaving three open slots.
[You have Possessed the Shell of the Corrupted Blood Beastman.]
[You have taken control of this Shell. The only memory within… is to guard the hut.]
Lin Xun opened the Shell Panel for a look.
[Shell: Corrupted Blood Beastman]
[True Name: Unknown]
[Compatibility: 88% (+45%)]
[Shell Quality: Common]
[Shell Level: 6][Shell Equipment: Dirty Beastskin Skirt (Ruined), a short skirt made from the hide of some wild beast, seemingly never washed, filthy and foul-smelling.]
[Shell Skills: None]
Aside from its Common-level Shell Quality, everything else about this Beastman was completely garbage.
However, a Common-level Shell could still serve as a main force for ordinary noob Apostles to cultivate.
After Possessing the Beastman Shell, Lin Xun chose to search the hut.
[You search the Corrupted Blood Beastmen’s huts one by one.]
[Searching…]
[You obtained Rotten Meat Chunk (Junk)]
[Searching…]
[There is nothing of value in this hut. You move on to the next hut.]
[Searching…]
—
The game text kept prompting him, but it was either junk or nothing at all.
[You search the final hut. This hut is significantly larger than the others and has a crude door curtain made of beast hide.]
[Do you want to lift the curtain and enter?]
Lin Xun’s eyes lit up. A hut that stood out from the rest likely contained treasure.
After a moment’s thought, he Possessed the Dancer Shell, activated the invisibility skill, and chose to enter.
[You remain invisible, lift a corner of the beast hide curtain, and slip inside.]
[Inside the hut, an old, decrepit Corrupted Blood Beastman sits cross-legged on the ground, its hunched figure still, eyes tightly shut. Resting horizontally across its knees is a bone staff.]
[Behind it is a battered wooden chest. Through the gaps in the box’s weathered boards, you can faintly see a glimmer of light flashing within.]
[Do you want to kill the Corrupted Elder Beastman to open the treasure chest?]
A treasure chest.
Lin Xun grinned and was about to raise the Hidden Blade at the old beastman.
Suddenly, an idea popped into his mind. What if he entered the hut using the Beastman Shell and faced the old beastman directly. What would happen?
Lin Xun decided not to kill the beastman and quietly exited the hut.
He then switched to the Beastman Shell he had just acquired and re-entered the hut.
He wanted to test his theory and see if exploring with the Beastman Shell would unlock a different story option.
[You swagger in, boldly lifting the beast hide curtain and stepping inside.]
[Inside the hut, the old beastman suddenly opened its scarlet eyes, raised its bone staff, and shouted at you to get out.]
[Do you want to silently leave the hut, or step forward to negotiate?]
“Just as I thought.”
By entering with the Beastman Shell, an entirely different set of options appeared compared to before.
Only an Apostle as sharp as Lin Xun could trigger such options, which might lead to unexpected hidden events.
After a brief consideration, he chose to negotiate.
[Ignoring the old beastman’s shouts, you step forward to initiate conversation…]
[It suddenly stands up, raises the bone staff, and smashes it hard onto your forehead. With a loud crack, red and white fluids splatter everywhere…]
[You are dead!]
???
Lin Xun slowly typed out three question marks.
Where was the promised negotiation?
They were both beastmen. Why kill each other?
He had thought this might trigger some extra storyline, but instead, the cursed game had tricked him into another cheap death.
However, this time the death cost him nothing. The dead beastman Shell could simply be discarded, and by farming small mobs again, he could Possess another one without any real loss.
[The feeble wandering soul is reborn in the cave of the Nameless Valley…]
The negotiation option was now confirmed to be a death trap. That left only one option: exiting the hut after the old beastman’s scolding.
Lin Xun frowned slightly but decided to give it a try.
After the Shell had died once, all the small mobs in the Corrupted Blood Beastmen tribe had respawned.
He sent the Three-Headed Lion to clear out the mobs while he stood behind it, unleashing fierce attacks using the Corrupted Yellow-Robed Bishop. Soon, the entire mob tribe was wiped out again.
Lin Xun discarded the beastman Shell with the busted skull from earlier and stored away three intact beastman Shells.
Once again, he Possessed the Corrupted Blood Beastman and entered the same hut.
[You swagger in, boldly lifting the beast hide curtain and stepping inside.]
[Inside the hut, the old beastman suddenly opened its scarlet eyes, raised its bone staff, and shouted at you to get out.]
[Do you want to silently leave the hut, or step forward to negotiate?]
This time Lin Xun chose to leave the hut.
[You bow and lower your posture, nodding repeatedly with humility, and quietly exit the hut.]
[You stand guard in front of the hut, looking just like a vigilant guard…]
[Do you want to continue guarding the hut, or leave this place?]
Lin Xun narrowed his eyes and clicked “continue guarding.”
The game text froze at that point.
After waiting quite a while, a new prompt finally appeared.
[Do you want to leave this place?]
He ignored the cursed game and clicked “No.”
Even after a long wait, no new text appeared, only the repeated prompt of ‘Do you want to leave this place?’
“Heh, there’s definitely a hidden storyline here.”
Lin Xun knew the game’s tricks all too well. When it kept pushing him to leave, that usually meant there was an extra event waiting to be triggered.
He continued choosing “No,” stubbornly holding out against the cursed game.
After waiting for about an hour, a new text finally popped up.
[The old beastman inside the hut calls out to you, motioning for you to enter the hut.]
It was happening.
After a long and patient wait, Lin Xun’s perseverance paid off.
[You lift the beast hide curtain and step inside.]
[Inside the hut, the old beastman stands up, rubbing its shriveled belly, and gestures for you to bring back some food.]
The old beastman had issued a quest to fetch food.
Lin Xun had already searched all the other huts outside, so the food the old beastman needed probably came from the junk he had collected from those other huts.
He opened his Inventory, where the largest quantities were Rotten Meat Chunks and Foul Dungstones.
Surely the beastman didn’t have the same taste as the Hungry Old Man quest from before.
Lin Xun clicked on Rotten Meat Chunk and tried to select give.
[You gave the Rotten Meat Chunk to the Corrupted Elder Beastman.]
[It grabbed the Rotten Meat Chunk and began devouring them ravenously…]
[Before long, it had finished gnawing every last bit of meat. The old beastman signaled that it was not yet satisfied and wanted more.]
Lin Xun kept giving more, several times in a row, until the beastman was finally full.
[The Corrupted Elder Beastman patted its bulging belly with satisfaction and nodded. It then untied its beastskin skirt…]
[It took out the few remaining black, round pills from its skirt and placed them in your hands.]
[You have obtained Beastman Pill ×3 (Item)]
[After gifting you the pills, the Corrupted Elder Beastman sat back down cross-legged and ignored you once again…]
Having received the reward, Lin Xun quickly opened his Inventory to check.
[Beastman Pill (Item): A round black pill made by blending unknown herbs with the blood of Beastmen Giants. It emits a strong, fishy stench. When used, it causes a human Shell to undergo beastification, temporarily granting immense combat power. If used on a beastman Shell, it temporarily enlarges the body to giant size, transforming it into something akin to a Beastmen Giant.]
He stared thoughtfully at the item.
For an ordinary person, the Beastman Pill was just a temporary power-boosting item, but for him, it might play an unexpectedly crucial role later in the game.
After examining his reward, he clicked again on the option to talk to the beastman.
[The old beastman opened its scarlet eyes, raised its bone staff, and shouted at you to get out of the hut.]
[It then shut its eyes once more, sitting cross-legged in silence.]
“Tch, so now it’s burning the bridge after crossing it.”
Lin Xun figured that the special event with the old beastman was now over.
Judging by the previous game text, the old beastman had already handed over the last of the pills hidden in its beastskin skirt, meaning there was nothing more to gain from it.
With that settled, Lin Xun did not hesitate. He Possessed the Shell of the Corrupted Yellow-Robed Bishop, opened the panel, and clicked on Corrupt Sunlight.
He had been eyeing that treasure chest behind the old beastman for quite some time.