Chapter 35: Devouring Nightmares

Time slowly ticked away.

Qin Yuan observed the situation and realized that the Bear Spirit was gradually being forced onto the defensive.

The Pumpkin Lord held its shield firmly, constantly blocking the Bear Spirit’s onslaught while keenly seeking gaps in the defense to counterattack with its longsword. After being struck a few times, faint cracks began to appear on the Bear Spirit’s energy-formed body.

Qin Yuan watched closely, but feeling the dwindling mana within him, he did not rush to intervene. Instead, he waited for the right moment.

At a certain point, a sharp glint flashed in his eyes.

"Perfect opportunity!"

A green spell rapidly coalesced at the tip of his staff. Thick vines suddenly erupted from the ground, temporarily binding the Pumpkin Lord. Following a mental command, the Bear Spirit changed its offensive, delivering a heavy blow that sent the Pumpkin Lord’s shield flying from its grasp.

The Pumpkin Lord did not retreat, however; it swung its longsword with immense force, landing a heavy slash on the Bear Spirit’s back. Under the impact of this heavy blow, the Bear Spirit’s energy form vibrated violently, nearly dissipating, yet it managed to steady itself without collapsing.

With the shield gone, the tide of battle began to turn. After all, in terms of pure strength, the Bear Spirit still held the advantage.

After observing the situation further, Qin Yuan realized the Pumpkin Lord’s body possessed astonishing durability. He promptly directed the Bear Spirit to focus its attacks on the monster's massive pumpkin head. In truth, the pumpkin head was not particularly fragile either, boasting significant defense, but the monster’s torso and other areas were even more heavily armored. At the very least, all the effort Qin Yuan and Feather had expended earlier had yielded little result.

With the assistance of another Entangling Vines spell from Qin Yuan, the Bear Spirit successfully found an opening, lunged forward, and pinned the Pumpkin Lord beneath it. It then unleashed a series of heavy strikes upon the creature's head. Finally, after several brutal blows, a crack split the monster's pumpkin head, and yellow sap began to seep out. With one last strike, a loud "bang" echoed, and the pumpkin head shattered into pieces, spraying sap in every direction.

A mass of pumpkin candlelight, far larger than any he had seen before, detached from the monster's body and was absorbed by Qin Yuan.

The system notification finally rang in his ears.

[Notification: You have obtained 50 points of Pumpkin Candlelight. Current total: 80 points.]
[Notification: You have obtained 3 points of Pumpkin Essence. Current total: 3 points.]

Fifty points of candlelight—Qin Yuan felt a surge of joy. This single monster provided enough to equal ten or so hours of grinding. He also noted that the monster had granted him three points of Pumpkin Essence. This was a valuable material!

The rewards did not stop there. As the Pumpkin Lord’s body dissipated, a small, shimmering object fell to the ground.

[Notification: You have obtained a Pumpkin Coin.]
[Pumpkin Coin: A strange coin dropped by elite monsters in the Twisted Forest. Can be used to purchase items from the Carriage Merchant.]
[Note: Will you choose to become a "Hunter" or a "Guard"?]

Although he did not understand the meaning of the note, Qin Yuan decisively stowed the coin into his inventory. He then quickly pulled out a Potion of Mana Spring and downed it, gulping it until empty to restore his depleted mana.

After such a fierce battle, his condition was poor. His mana was nearly exhausted, and Feather was in a similarly bad state. He did not rush to find more monsters, choosing instead to rest on the spot. He even recalled Feather into the whistle to let it recover properly. Otherwise, in their current state, if they encountered another Pumpkin Lord, fleeing in disgrace would be their only option.

He also checked the Bear Spirit’s status and found it to be in equally poor shape, with perhaps five minutes of existence remaining. Although summons could theoretically last for an hour, damage sustained during combat significantly reduced their remaining duration.

After resting for an hour, he set off once more.

...

[Notification: You have obtained 1 point of Pumpkin Candlelight. Current total: 102 points.]

He did not know how much time had passed, but the moon had sunk low, and faint morning light began to emerge on the distant horizon. When eight o'clock in the morning arrived, the number of monsters began to dwindle.

"Whew..."

Qin Yuan, who had remained in place, finally breathed a sigh of relief. He couldn't wait to tally his gains from the night. During the rest of the grinding, he had not encountered another enemy like the Pumpkin Lord; they were mostly low-level mobs that presented little difficulty. Additionally, he had picked up one more Pumpkin Coin from a small monster, though he had not encountered the so-called Carriage Merchant.

[Current time has expired.]
[Returning...]

As the cold system prompt sounded, he opened his eyes to find himself still sitting in his chair. Checking the time, he was surprised to see that only an hour had passed. It was currently one o'clock in the morning. The potions he had used had disappeared as expected. Curiously, despite eight hours passing in the dream, Qin Yuan did not feel overly exhausted.

Seeing that it was still the dead of night, Qin Yuan had intended to go to bed, but suddenly remembering the Nightmare Slime, he quickly got back up.

"Why not try feeding it tonight?"

...

Three o'clock in the morning, Ironstone Village.

The yellow moon hung high in the sky. Most people were already deep in sleep. In his room, Qin Yuan, feeling utterly drained, collapsed onto his bed for a moment before sitting up to retrieve the Nightmare Slime from his player inventory.

The slime, which possessed a massive single horn, was in an odd state. It seemed to be in a coma, unresponsive to any prodding. There was no helping it; Qin Yuan had thought this would be simple, given that the slime was only level one. He had been confident in his ability to handle it with brute force alone, but it had proven completely uncooperative and incredibly troublesome.

Having no other choice, he had the Grimoire of Whispers concoct a sleeping potion using available materials, which he then force-fed to the creature. He had to admit that the constitution of a legendary creature was truly different; normal dosages had no effect, and it was only after increasing the amount that it finally took hold.

"What do I do now?" Qin Yuan asked softly, looking at the Grimoire of Whispers floating in the air.

"Just wake it up," the Grimoire of Whispers yawned. "The effect will last for quite a while. Once it wakes up, it will feel weak and won't be able to cause any trouble."

After signaling that he understood, Qin Yuan shook the Nightmare Slime for quite a while before it groggily opened its eyes. Seeing the unfamiliar surroundings, the newly awakened little slime was somewhat bewildered. At the same time, it felt an inexplicable, total weakness throughout its body.

Beyond that, it discovered something quite astonishing. As part of its innate talent, the slime instantly sensed that a large amount of "sweet" food was drifting around it. Although, in reality, for its already starving stomach, this was barely enough to fill the gaps between its teeth, having something to eat was better than nothing.

Instinctively, it opened its mouth and began to draw the food in. Wisps of black substance emerged from all directions, coalescing into thin black lines that the slime swallowed into its gut. It devoured everything with ravenous hunger.

Qin Yuan watched without blinking. He was mainly worried that the Nightmare Slime might cause a scene, so he had to be careful.

The entire process lasted about half an hour before stopping. Then, the Nightmare Slime fell back into a deep sleep.

"What does this mean? Is it full?" That was his guess.

The Grimoire of Whispers, however, had a different take: "I think it's more likely that the nightmares in the vicinity have been consumed. Without a new source, it has no choice but to enter the 'digestion' phase. Based on what just happened, it effectively devoured the entire nightmare at once, rather than continuously absorbing it."

"Is that so?" Qin Yuan glanced at the sleeping Nightmare Slime. "Then I'll take it to the real world another day and let it have a full meal."

Seeing that the process was complete, Qin Yuan tossed the Nightmare Slime back into his inventory, intending to deal with it tomorrow morning. He rubbed his eyes; after a day of being tossed about, he was exhausted. He hit the pillow and fell asleep instantly.