Undying Warlord

Dilan's whole attention was on the small plant in the center of the small cavern hall.

The plant didn't look anything special. It was gray in color, had rough leaves, and didn't even exceed 30 centimeters in height.

Just by looking at the plant, one wouldn't think that it could be something special.

But by looking at the small egg-shaped fruits that lay right next to the plant, and were connected to it by grayish vines, Dilan was able to tell that the plant was everything but ordinary.

The egg-shaped fruits looked just like stones. They felt quite hard as well. Dilan did not just look at them but also touched them.

The fruits looked, felt and even smelt like stones.

If Dilan wouldn't be able to perceive the strong and penetrative sensation of compressed mana from the stones, he would think that they were ordinary stones.

However, the more he looked at them and the more he focused on only one of the three fruits, the more Dilan grew interested.

Dilan used some force and quickly noticed that he could squish the fruits once he used nearly half of his entire strength.

'So you need a Strength stat of more than 15 to barely tear open the fruit?'

He was slightly astonished but didn't say anything out loud. Meanwhile, Kathrine and the others were simply staring at him. All of them were quite exhausted and didn't really feel like raking their mind to figure out what Dilan was doing.

In their opinion, Dilan knew what he was doing and he wouldn't do anything reckless without thinking about the consequences of his action.

But it was exactly this thought that caused everyone to look at Dilan in shock when he bit into one of the fruits. There was no hesitation in his move and one of the three fruits disappeared in his mouth after a mere second.

Everyone was baffled by what Dilan had just done. Nobody could understand why Dilan was suddenly acting so recklessly.

The juices of the unknown fruit that may as well be poisonous, trickled down the corners of his mouth.

Meanwhile, Dilan was just smiling as the compressed energy of the fruit he had just consumed was released within his body.

His entire being was invigorated at once. The intensity of his invigoration was potent enough to be sensed by everyone else.

Some Ascenders were extremely worried about this and feared that Dilan might explode.

At first, Kathrine had also been worried about Dilan because he had simply eaten the fruit of the unknown plant without a second thought.

This was highly risky and certainly not something one should do.

After all, from childhood, every single person is taught to not eat something you found lying around somewhere as the most basic rule. That rule was even more important after the Primordial Ascension because one couldn't tell whether a fruit had mutated, and turned poisonous or not.

But Dilan hadn't been bothered about what might happen to him. He was immune to most types of poison, as well as zombification, but that was not all.

There was still his Origin ability and his terrifyingly high Health stat!

"Mira should take a look at this. Maybe her [Green Finger] will help us grow plants similar to this one?" Dilan mumbled all of a sudden while touching his skin as if it was some sort of a mythical object.

Kathrine had no idea what Dilan was doing, or what was going on with him. The other Ascenders were even more confused about Dilan's behavior.

Their opinion of Dilan kept changing, which further intensified when he grasped the Gray Slayer to cut himself.

Some Ascenders closed their eyes instinctively when they witnessed how sharp the gray saber was.

It had been sharp enough to cut through the bones of a Bronze Tier-1 monster, not just their skin and flesh…but also their bones!!

That was why the said Ascenders thought that Dilan might have gone insane and that he was about to cut off his arm.

However, when they didn't hear a pained groan, or the sound of blood trickling on the ground, the Ascenders opened their eyes once again.

Their attention flicked to the part of Dilan's arm, which he had cut. Yet, instead of finding a deep cut that revealed his flesh and bones, they saw that there was merely a tiny scratch. It was not even bleeding!

Without even realizing it, some Ascenders approached Dilan to take a closer look at what was going on.

They could swear to have seen Dilan cutting himself. What was appalling was that he had also used quite some force to cut himself.

But even then, the worst that happened to him was a mere scratch, astonishing not only the other Ascenders and Kathrine but even more so Dilan.

He smiled weirdly while looking at his skin. Dilan always had fair but slightly toned skin. However, now it almost looked like a faint and almost untraceable grayish layer covered his skin.

Even by looking at him intently, one was not able to detect a difference in Dilan's skin color. Only if one were to know about what was truly going on was it possible to perceive the change in Dilan's appearance.

Clenching his fists, he smiled faintly. He felt that his strength hadn't lessened by even a fraction. It was, in fact, just that his skin underwent a change and nothing else.

That was also why he felt like figuring out what had happened, which was why his attention turned to the notifications he had received.

[By devouring the Stonemonkey Devial fruit host gained Special Trait <Stone Skin>]

[[Stone Skin]<Special Trait>

In order to kill you, your opponents have to pierce through your defenses. Host will be armed with an unparalleled defense, and killing him or her will become a near-impossible task to attain.

Skin will be toughened until even the hardest stones in the universe paled in comparison!

The stronger the host's Health stat the higher the potency of Stone Skin!]

There were two more Stonemonkey Devial fruits lying on the ground and Dilan couldn't help but peer at them with wide eyes.

'A fruit that grants a special trait…what the hell!'

To say that Dilan was merely astonished was an understatement. He was utterly shocked because the existence of the Stonemonkey Devial fruit was something beyond his comprehension.

Dilan had predicted that some mutations would strengthen all types of plants but he would have never imagined that special trait granting plants would exist.

"Mira wanted to choose a gardening occupation, right?"

Flicking his head in Kathrine's direction all of a sudden, Dilan asked a question that reached her a mere moment later.

For a moment Kathrine was baffled. She had clearly heard the excitement in his voice and was able to see the bright gleam in his eyes. It was obvious that Dilan was exhilarated right now!

After she regained her composure, Kathrine just nodded her head after recalling what the youngest nurse in their group had said.

She only remembered that because her memory was quite decent, and Kathrine had never paid much attention to the young nurse.

However, when she saw that Dilan sighed in relief, while the tension in his body had been released, she couldn't help but be confused.

'Is Mira that important?'

Kathrine had yet to understand the true value behind the Stonemonkey Devial fruit and how useful Mira could become as long as she was able to grow the Stonemonkey Devial plant, which was the name Dilan gave to the small and inconspicuous plant!

Stone Skin might not provide any additional status points or an effect such as Bearer of Pain but it was more than just a little bit exceptional.

This was even more so the case for Dilan because his Health stat was bound to stay his highest stat.

With [Kirak's Vassal] as his occupation and the Origin ability [Regeneration] his Health stat would only increase, which was why Stone Skin seemed to be perfect for him.

It was almost as if it had been customized for Dilan and other Ascenders, who focused on high Health stats!

Some Ascenders with a low Health stat might not even notice the changes occurring in their body when consuming the Stonemonkey Devial fruit. It would have no use for them as long as their Health stat remained low and within the natural threshold of their Tier!

As long as Dilan found candidates, who could make use of the Stonemonkey Devial fruit efficiently, he might as well give it to them without demanding anything in return.

However, that was only something he would dare to do if Mira was capable of taking care of the Stonemonkey Devial plant.

Otherwise, he would have to use the Stonemonkey Devial fruit in a different way. After all, the fruits' value exceeded every single treasure they possessed by far and large!

"Let's rest for half an hour. Afterward, we can return with some forging ingredients!"

That being said, Dilan turned to the only graphite vein they had come across until now before he started to mine it.

Meanwhile, the Ascenders rested for a bit longer than they had initially planned before getting up from the ground when they saw that Dilan was frantically mining the graphite vein.

"...Dilan? Do you even know what you are doing?"

Even if Kathrine didn't want to sound rude, she was confused by his sudden change in behavior. Her eyes fell on Dilan's dirt-smudged face as he smiled oddly and answered confidently.

"Actually, I have no idea!"