NOVEL SIMPLE Rotten time(2)
The hornetaurs on the other hand became Alex's favorite snack beyond max potions as they tasted like buffalo chicken chips from earth. 'Oh I just HAVE to get the scholars to help me domesticate these things.' Alex thought seriously after getting his fifth repeat of the [enhanced scales] trait from the hornetaurs that were overabundant down in the vale. An interesting thing that Alex had found out was that depending on the rank of the trait getting repeats gave diminishing returns the higher level the trait was. For common traits like this one it started at level six which meant that alex had only leveled that trait up three times rather than five.
The vale was a disgusting place that was basically a huge pile of rotting corpses of all types from elder to small monsters. This created a horrible environment that was filled with hidden areas and pockets due to the soil that was created from so much organic matter breaking down around the skeletons. For monsters that didn't mind the rot in the flesh this place was practically a paradise that was covered in food. for Alex though he was of the assumption that this may in fact be the single worst place on the planet.
Every step he took sank into the slimy soil and organic matter which was not a very pleasant sensation at all. The worst part was the rodabaan which was a very large monster that was covered in tar and bones that curled up and rolled around to attack most of the time. Alex attacked it thinking it would be easy to kill thanks to his knowledge from the game but as wasn't shown very well in the game tar is a VERY sticky substance. Needless to say Alex really didn't like the encounter as he spent the next three hours getting the black stuff off him.
He didn't even kill the monster since that would have undoubtedly made him get even more tar on him. The only positive note that Alex had about his trip in the vale was that there was a lot of powerful materials up for grabs if you really looked. The elder corpses were the biggest prize in his opinion even if he wasn't familiar with most of the skeletons he found with an elders aura. Unfortunately the bones were useless for him since even after eating them he didn't get any traits.
For hunters however the bones could be used to make all sorts of powerful equipment depending on the elder it came from and the age of the bones. Alex didn't hope that he could use the bones for the [elder dragon] trait that had been gathering dust in his system since the requirement was for him to eat meat from elders he personally had hunted. This reminded Alex of the little experiment he had conducted on some of the spikes he had been hiding in his nest from nergigante.
See there was this tiny piece of theory that had been floating around the internet back on earth that said that if nergigante really reproduced by shedding it's spikes with high amounts of energy then it might be possible to grow one by exposing a shed spike to large amounts of energy. Alex had nothing to lose so he chose the most intact spike he had and covered it in energy rich items before covering it up to keep anyone from noticing his experiment. Every time he checked the spike after that he hadn't noticed any abnormalities save for the energy being slightly less than the last time he checked.
Alex didn't know if this was because the spike was actually absorbing the energy or if it was because the energy was just naturally dissipating so he added more materials and covered it back up. Currently Alex was wondering if the first nergigante was born from the vale since this area was basically the foundation of the entire new world as the most popular elder graveyard in the known world. It would explain a LOT of the elders behaviors if this was true but unless he happened to come across a young version of the thing down here he would never know for certain.
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