—
Name: Devil-faced Flower
Rank: Rare
Description: A bizarre flower that grows from cliff rocks where sunlight never reaches. It absorbs negative energy and turns it into its face. Its effect is improving beasts' sleep and keeping them in a good mood for a week. Additionally, if a beast overuses more than 1000kg, it will fall into an endless dream.
Collection time: The last month of winter, on the 31st day of odd-numbered years.
—
"Beyond the last month of winter, the devil-faced Flower emerges on the 31st day of odd-numbered years. Plus, if a beast overuses more than 1000 kg, it will fall into an endless dream," Rocky said in a steady voice.
Travis snorted. "It's bullshit. He's making things up."
(What the fuck is this trash doing? He's humiliating himself.)
The presenter nodded.
"Yes, you're right. You have earned 20 points."
Then he glanced at Travis, who was still frozen like a rock.
"Candidate Travis will lose 10 points."
Silence.
Silence.
The entire audience in the stands fell silent after the presenter's declaration.
"It's interesting!"
…
"I didn't expect you could steal points from the son of a great Clan."
"Yeah, maybe Travis isn't as smart as we thought."
…
When Travis heard the noise from the stands above, his expression twisted into darkness and deep humiliation. Veins bulged on his forehead.
He clenched his jaw, gripping the armrest in rage. His eyes reddened as he stared at Rocky, who was still sitting with one leg over the other.
He could see the smirk behind that hood and understood Rocky's lip movements.
(Stupid?)
A humiliation he had never suffered before.
The presenter spoke while pointing at another plant.
"The next plant."
At this moment, Scarlet had already answered the questions, yet still lacked some traits. Rocky could have stolen points from Scarlet, but he didn't.
Because his intention was to make Travis the only one with zero points in this exam.
Just like that, 20 minutes later—
—
Travis Booth / Points: 0
Scarlet Kirk / Points: 80
The super talent, the anonymous plant scholar / Points: 200
Harding Dean / Points: 50
—
The presenter shouted,
"After two rounds, I declare that the super talent, the anonymous plant scholar, is the winner of this event."
At this moment, no one in the stands had any doubt about Rocky—at least when it came to his knowledge of plants.
Meanwhile, Travis just smirked.
"It's just a contest about plant knowledge. He's a plant scholar. Of course, I have no chance against him. But if my beast fought his, he'd have no chance against me."
Even after saying that, the discomfort still lingered on his tongue. He quickly left the area; just seeing Rocky's presence was enough to make him furious.
Scarlet giggled when she saw Travis's bad mood. She headed over to Rocky, her voice carrying a teasing tone.
"The super talent, the anonymous plant scholar… May I have your signature?"
Rocky blinked. He could see the teasing on her face.
(It seems she's already figured out my real identity.)
"If you want, lady."
Scarlet played with her hair in embarrassment, remembering the moment she had given him the plant during the plant course exam. She had acted as if she knew it very well, but in the end, she wasn't even close to him when it came to plant knowledge.
"You make me look like an idiot girl."
Rocky smiled and glanced at her beast—the demon tree.
"So you have a second beast."
—
Race: Demon tree
Level: 99
Species Rank: Calamity
Strength: ??
Constitution: ??
Mana: ??
Speed: ??
Unique Skill: ??
—
A chill ran up his nose when he saw her beast's stats.
Calamity? …holy fuck. He had never even heard a tale like that… but, when he thought about her first beast—If she could tame a Dragon King—a species no one was capable of taming—then the others were nothing to her.
"Yes, she is Amber."
Amber jumped into Scarlet's hands, reaching out a branch to greet Rocky. Then she sneakily turned her shy gaze to Bobby, who was still standing on Rocky's shoulder.
"Well, I think she wants to make friends with Bobby… She was very impressed by his performance in first round.''
Rocky rubbed his chin while glancing at Bobby, his eyes narrowing in suspicion. Bobby showed no interest at all. He crossed his arms coldly, turning his attention elsewhere.
So, he summoned the system screen.
—
Name: Bobby
Race: Ancient ape
Compatibility: 100%
Species Rank: Calamity
Level: 12
Unique Skill: Basic Swordsmanship, Void Forging, Aura of Apex Predator, Verdant Insight
Current Preferred Mana Core: None
Current Mood: wants to avoid that tree.
—
His face twitched as he read the runes in front of him.
"Ah… it's hard to say… my beast seems to want to sleep."
***
Walter said,
"That is the latest product of the Plant Association. However, if you want to see the formula, your master himself must come here. It's a rule."
Rocky nodded while observing the red pill in his hand.
(So, it has the capability to empower my beast.)
Walter added,
"It's called a rare pill. A kind of pill that can boost a beast's power for one minute."
Bobby poked Rocky's head, gesturing that he wanted it.
Rocky nodded and gave it to him.
After he ate it, a sound rang out.
Ting!
[Your beast has created a skill]
[Name]: Plant Alchemy
[Description]: You can influence the very nature of plants, creating special pills without going through refinement
Rocky widened his eyes as he looked at the runes in front of him.
Plant Alchemy?
He rubbed his chin in thought. After Walter left, he began to experiment with his new skill.
He tightly grabbed a bundle of six Red Skull Flowers and transferred his mana into his hand.
Ting!
[You have created a new pill]
—
Name: Fire Pill
Rank: Noble
Description: Allows the user to wield and grants immunity to the fire element for 30 minutes.
—
"It's a broken skill."
Normally, he could only use the fire element if his beast had a related skill, but now he could use it even without one.
Moreover, beasts with the fire element were hard to tame… in short, he had obtained something he never even dreamed of.
Moreover, to brew that plant into a pill would normally require going through many stages—it wasn't something that could be done so simply by just transferring mana like he did.
They had even spent many years developing the formula, yet he created it in just a few seconds.
"Damn it… I'll become rich with this skill."