Is that a Wisp?

Days passed in such a fashion as Krune did everything in his capacity to heal himself faster. He gorged himself with meat until his belly felt like bursting while making sure to keep his Ocean Heart activated all the time.

Four weeks later, Krune was back in good shape, having regenerated his right leg. Sadly, he had lost three of his five energy rings in the process. Then again, as long as he accumulated energy in his body, he would recover it later.

At the very moment he recovered fully, Krune directly infiltrated the first village and dragged out a couple of Monster Geckos. It was easy considering all he had to do was emit his Neon Radiance, and all the Monster Geckos would faint.

Using this as an opportunity, Krune roamed around the village, trying to see if he could find anything that he could use. There were indeed a lot of items in the place. Though, most of them were derived from the ocean. As for Krune, they weren't exactly useful. If it had been him from six months ago, then he would have taken them all.

But now, he had crafted everything he needed, no longer interested in the tools used by the Monster Geckos. After roaming through the entire village, Krune checked the tents of the two Mutants, noticing that the items inside were of superior quality.

But just as before, he wasn't interested in them, heading towards the King's tent before finally noticing a suffocating presence emit from the bones of the tent. At the moment he felt this presence, Krune could feel a mild itch in his throat, realizing the owner of the bones immediately. "This is from a Sonic Radar?"

"Damn, this Monster Gecko King actually managed to hunt a Sonic Radar?" Krune shuddered, thanking his intellect once again for not trying to fight against it head-on. After all, even after he had trapped them significantly and gave them a sense of urgency using the bone trees that grew out of their bodies, he was still significantly injured.

And out of all the attacks, Krune didn't even take any direct hits. Even the ones that sent him flying were only reflex actions by the Monster Gecko Kings. If he had taken a direct hit, the bones in his arms would have broken into pieces then and there.

Now that he looked at the bones of the Sonic Radar, Krune could determine the strength of the Monster Gecko King. He looked around, noticing the simplistic arrangement of the place. There was a throne in the center. In front of it was a tiny pool.

Judging by the traces of blood in it, the Monster Gecko King had been using it to heal its legs. Krune then noticed a certain box behind the throne. The box was made using the same material as their fishing rods.

He opened it to see a large yarn of the thread—used in the fishing rod. It was around a meter in diameter. In other words, the amount of thread in it was a lot. Upon seeing it, Krune smiled as he muttered, "I'll be taking this."

He was just about to return when he used his Sonic Radar subconsciously, immediately frowning as he could spot a faint line underneath the throne. Surprisingly, there seemed to be a stairway that led downwards.

Krune pushed the throne sideways, toppling it with great difficulty as he noticed a slab. Once he pulled it up, he looked at a stairway proceeding deeper into the ground. Judging by the size, it seemed to have been frequented by the King.

Using his Sonic Radar, Krune scouted the interior first, descending through the flight of stairs as he muttered, "It doesn't seem to be too big."

Sometime later, he reached the bottom, staring at a small cave that only spanned a height of five meters, barely enough for the King to remain standing within. The floor was covered with slick mud that seemed to glow in the dark.

Krune then touched the cave walls, noticing that the ocean water was seeping through it, collecting in the cave. It was surprisingly similar to his cave. Though the most eye-catching thing in the cave was a tree growing in the center. But considering its height that barely reached a meter, it was only a shrub.

The moment he looked at it, Krune figured out the source of the thread used in the fishing rods. As for the shaft of the fishing rod, it was the shrub's stem. Krune noticed some holes in the area around the shrub.

Judging by the width of the holes, it seemed similar shrubs had been planted in the place. The shrub only consisted of a straight stem that spanned a meter in height. And hanging from its top was what seemed to be strands of threads, numbering in the hundreds.

And finally, fixed at the top was a fruit. Upon seeing it, Krune could glean that by planting the fruit, he would be able to grow another of the shrub.

"If I have this, I'll get a constant supply of thread. That's the most important thing out here," Krune muttered, plucking the fruit first to see if he could grow it normally. He then returned to the cave with the box, removing its contents before filling it with the soil from the ground.

He then left the place, blinding all the Monster Geckos along the way as he arrived at his cave, placing it in his boat, Paddle. He then stored the yarn of thread in another compartment.

Planting the fruit in the box, he watered it, hoping to see how it grew. Along the way, he had placed the throne back in its original spot to ensure the other Monster Geckos wouldn't stumble into the place and damage the shrub.

Done with the basic preparation, Krune muttered, "I'll call you the Rope Bush."

After that, he hunted the Monster Geckos daily, only targeting the two weakened villages. Though, Krune noticed a King accompanied by two Mutants on the battlefield, looking at the thicket of bone trees that grew in the place.

They had been lured by the two massive fruits and one colossal fruit that were beginning to grow in the place. Krune decisively avoided the place, intending to work on his task first. He had yet to digest his gains. Plus, he had just begun to target the other three villages.

So, it wasn't the time to target them yet.

With each passing day, Krune's reserve of Blood Essence Crystals continued to increase. He then arrived at the cave with the Monster Gecko King, glancing at its mouth that had been propped open by the tools he had fixed in place.

Dragging an alive Monster Gecko with him, Krune slashed its neck and caused its blood to flow into the Monster Gecko King's mouth. When it was done, he dropped in a couple of fruits harvested from the forest.

By killing the other Monster Gecko King, Krune obtained the passive, 'Monster Gecko Blood.'

It wasn't anything impressive other than making his blood cold. If Krune extracted his blood, he could store them in capsules and use them as attacks to freeze his opponent. They were fairly potent.

In any case, Krune wasn't satisfied with it. Rather, he wished to obtain another passive ability around the level of Ocean Heart. Even though he knew the likelihood of obtaining something like that was almost impossible, he still wished to try it.

And now, he was planning to increase the concentration of the Monster Gecko's blood essence in the body of the Monster Gecko King. This way, any passive ability it granted would be stronger than Monster Gecko Blood.

That was Krune's plan.

He was able to judge what type of ability he would obtain as a passive ability. The Monster Geckos were able to remain still like rocks, can walk over cliffs like it was normal ground, can perceive heat, and had freezing blood.

Among them, as the Monster Gecko King lacked limbs, Krune could determine that he wouldn't be getting the ability to remain still like rocks or walk over cliffs from it. The only ones he would obtain would be between heat perception and freezing blood.

Among them, Krune had no liking towards heat perception. He already had the Neon Radiance to see with his sight and the Sonic Radar to perceive everything in his surroundings. On top of that, the range of Sonic Radar only continued to increase as his strength improved.

So, obtaining another perception-related ability was only a waste. Instead, Krune was hoping to obtain a stronger version of the Monster Gecko Blood. At least, he would be able to set up nice traps using its freezing property.

Moreover, if he ever drifted into cold currents in the ocean, he would survive. Thinking as such, Krune continued to feed the Monster Gecko King massive fruits from time to time, made it drink the blood of its brethren, and even fed it Blood Essence Crystals occasionally. Thanks to its robust body, it was able to handle everything he stuffed into it.

To ensure he wouldn't obtain thermal perception, Krune blinded the Monster Gecko King, increasing the chances for him to obtain the Monster Gecko Blood ability.

As days passed in such a fashion, Krune noticed the Rope Bush had begun to grow in his boat. He also sneaked into the second village and robbed the box with the yarn from there. He also brought the soil and Rope Bush fruit that was in the cave under the throne.

This way, he could grow two Rope Bushes in his boat, enough for all his needs.

As for the situation between the three other villages, Krune had no luck. Since they were positioned closer to one another, his risks were too great. On top of that, he couldn't affect them too much in the time he had left. Sighing, Krune just focused on obtaining more Blood Essence Crystals. Moreover, he also had to recover his expended crimson rings before he returned to the ocean.

Eventually, when he felt that there were only around ten days of his stay left on the Primary Landmass, Krune made an incision on the Monster Gecko King's body and connected it to a wilting bone tree. This time, the moment the wilting bone tree came in contact with its blood, its wilting almost stopped.

It hadn't stopped completely. Rather, the wilting process had paused until it finished absorbing everything in the Monster Gecko King's body. It had to be attributed to the sheer density of energy circulating in its body. After all, if it had retained its limbs, it would have become a Monster Gecko Emperor by now. Krune had fed it too much that its body had begun to emit a suffocating presence.

After absorbing its body, the bone tree wilted after a day, turning into bone powder. Krune then dug through it, failing to notice anything on the ground. Realizing something, he smirked, brushing the bone powder at the top as he saw a tiny gem hover before him, emitting a cold white radiance.