The giant monstrous flower outside the town made the town's residents uneasy. Young Kent declared he would go chop down the plant to avenge the dead.
"Kent, don't get agitated. The Lord will protect us."
Kent's mother, Martha, comforted him, "I know you want to avenge your father, but more than revenge, I'm worried about your safety."
"But... alright, just let me be alone for a bit."
Kent was unwilling, but facing his mother, he had no choice but to bow his head.
Fang Xinhan saw Kent walk away alone and said something to Yuan Qingchen, telling him to follow.
"Hey! Brother, what's wrong?"
Yuan Qingchen followed Kent to the stream and saw Kent sitting by the bank, watching the water. Kent just glanced back slightly, saw it was Yuan Qingchen, and remained silent.
"Is there anything you'd like to talk about with me? I'm an Exorcist, perhaps I can help you."
Kent immediately grabbed Yuan Qingchen's shoulders and shook him vigorously.
"Really?"
Yuan Qingchen was also flustered by the sudden shaking.
"No, don't be so excited, you scared me."
Yuan Qingchen immediately pushed Kent's hands away and then said seriously, "We need gunpowder to blow up that flower."
Meanwhile, Fang Xinhan wasn't idle. He disassembled a compass and obtained iron ingots and redstone.
"Since the fog has disappeared, this thing is no longer needed."
Then, Fang Xinhan took out cobblestone and arranged it in the pattern of a furnace, placing redstone in the middle. Just as Fang Xinhan expected, an aguru spirit stone belt appeared on the right side of the workbench.
"Although the No. 1 and No. 2 belts can also be made, they don't have growth potential. The aguru spirit stone, however, can continue to advance. Even though there are no materials for advancement, it's enough for current use."
After getting the aguru spirit stone, Fang Xinhan took off all his equipment and put on the aguru spirit stone belt.
"These can be given to Qingshui. I haven't tested my current damage resistance yet. I need to dismantle his set."
On a side note, the dungeon game has a special mechanism: non-players, when seeing a player wearing equipment, will default to replacing it with other clothing, so no matter how strange you dress, no one except other players will notice.
"Oh, right! There's also the Energy Burst Gun, which is also an early-game divine artifact."
Fang Xinhan went directly to the outdoor supplies store and bought all the compasses and various clocks in the store with one gold ingot.
After returning, Fang Xinhan disassembled all the compasses and clocks he bought, obtaining one and a half stacks of redstone. Then, he crafted the Energy Burst Gun.
"Now I have a little self-preservation ability."
Fang Xinhan was confident that as long as no ridiculously strong monsters appeared in this dungeon, he could take them down.
Gradually, night fell. Since the fog had dispersed, the Old Town Chief had arranged for everyone to take turns on guard duty early on. The police in the town's police station had been cooped up for two years; if any monsters dared to come tonight, he would definitely show them what American iaido was like.
Yuan Qingchen obtained a lot of gunpowder from Kent, but as an exchange condition, Kent had to go along.
Yuan Qingchen agreed and explained the whole story to Fang Xinhan, so Fang Xinhan didn't dismantle his equipment.
After hearing this, Fang Xinhan threw his own equipment to Yuan Qingchen.
"Give the set you're wearing to Kent."
"What about you?"
"I have something better."
"I'm quite curious where you got your equipment?"
"Fishing."
Yuan Qingchen saw that Fang Xinhan wasn't going to say, so he didn't want to press the issue.
However, he became increasingly curious about Fang Xinhan's true identity.
Fang Xinhan would not reveal his secrets; after all, they were his trump cards. Who would tell their trump cards to others?
At night, Yuan Qingchen and Fang Xinhan could both sporadically hear gunshots. Fortunately, Chuckel had only recently merged with the flower, so there weren't many monsters appearing yet. Otherwise, everyone would have been companions on the road to the underworld tonight.
On the morning of the fifth day, Fang Xinhan, Yuan Qingchen, and Kent set off early on the path to eliminate the monstrous flower. Along the way, when they encountered 'plant people', Fang Xinhan directly took them down with one shot from his Energy Burst Gun.
"No, isn't this thing the Energy Burst Gun, standard equipment for a Nexus Ultraman Dunamist? Where did you get it? Did you become a Dunamist?"
Yuan Qingchen knew Fang Xinhan had many secrets, but his curiosity made him itch.
This guy won't be able to transform into Ultraman if he can't beat them, will he?
"Isn't it just a gun? Besides being a bit powerful, there's nothing strange about it, right?"
In Kent's eyes, Fang Xinhan was just holding an ordinary pistol.
"I fished it up, but it is indeed an Energy Burst Gun, but I am not a Dunamist."
Fang Xinhan lied without batting an eye.
The group quickly arrived beneath the giant flower. The flower was still closed, and a boss health bar appeared in their line of sight.
"Mutated Chuckel: 2000 / 2000"
"Good heavens, so this thing is the boss."
No sooner had Yuan Qingchen finished speaking than the flower began to bloom, and Chuckel's upper body appeared from its stamen. Half of his face still bore burn marks, but compared to yesterday, the area seemed smaller than before.
"My Lord protect me."
Kent looked at the giant monster, his heart only able to pray for the Lord's protection.
"It's you damned Exorcists!"
Chuckel was furious at this moment. Many vines emerged from the mutated flower's stem, attacking the three of them.
"Holy crap! Tentacles!"
Yuan Qingchen cursed and immediately used his white sheath to block. The giant vine struck the blade, and Yuan Qingchen was directly flung away, but the blade did not shatter.
"Cough, cough... this sword is really good. It didn't break with such force."
Yuan Qingchen had blood at the corner of his mouth, but he was quite excited.
"A mortal sword can block my attack? Impossible! It must be an alchemical item!"
Chuckel, refusing to believe it, began to assault the group fiercely.
A vine suddenly rushed towards Fang Xinhan. Fang Xinhan calmly raised his Energy Burst Gun and fired at the vine.
With a 'boom,' the vine was blown away. Then, as if sensing something, Fang Xinhan immediately turned and fired again. A vine that was about to launch a sneak attack exploded directly. Fang Xinhan dared not be careless and quickly reloaded and fired.
(Note: In the TV series, the Energy Burst Gun only has two bullets in non-summoning mode. After firing, it needs to be reloaded.)
The most miserable was Kent. He was neither a player nor did he have special equipment, and he lacked combat experience. Fortunately, he was quite sturdy and after being hit a few times, he hid under a tree.
Although he had the appearance and surname of a Superman, he was just an ordinary person.
"This won't do. What should I do? What... I've got it!"
Kent improvised, breaking off a tree branch. He tore off a piece of fabric from his clothes, then wrapped leaves around it and tied them to the branch. Then, he took out a flint and steel to light it.
"Hurry up."
Due to nervousness, Kent struck sparks several times but couldn't get a good hold. Then he remembered he had a little gunpowder left, so he put some gunpowder powder on the piece of cloth, and soon, flames ignited.
"It worked."
Kent didn't have time to rejoice before he ran out. Chuckel saw him and struck him fiercely. Kent dodged, crouching down, and the vine hit the tree.
Kent seized the opportunity, raised his homemade torch, and began to light the vines. Soon enough, they started to burn.
"Ah, ah, ah~, you ant, how dare you do this to me!"
Chuckel felt the flames burning on him and immediately used several other vines to put them out.
(P.S.: Only two chapters today.)