Not to mention, even if Bai Pu obtains a second vial of Source Blood, he must find a way to fuse it—there isn't a second Dean Zhao here.
The difficulty arises because Bai Pu was "carrying" an extremely rare Spirit Realm Wonder... Evolutionary Source Blood, to participate in the trial!
The Spirit Realm Will generates trial tasks, often based on the potential of the Trial Taker, designed specifically to maximize the exploration of the Trial Taker's talents.
If a Trial Taker deliberately brings Spirit Realm Wonders in, there's a high probability of triggering high-difficulty tasks related to that Spirit Realm Wonder!
This is also the pursuit of many geniuses, who are not satisfied with ordinary difficulty and want to challenge higher difficulties!
High-difficulty trial tasks have their benefits. For example, completing an S-level difficulty trial task at least allows you to advance to an Elite Profession, starting at a higher level than other Awakened! If done beautifully, advancing to even more powerful Professions is not impossible.
Bai Pu also noticed that the Poison Thorn Squad descended onto this plane 48 hours later than him.
Bai Pu speculated that after his escape from the Spirit Realm, the Superpower Group would definitely dispatch a pursuit team at the first opportunity without delay! The reason why the Poison Thorn Squad entered this plane 48 hours later is due to the Spirit Realm Will's balancing act.
If both parties entered the plane simultaneously according to actual time, the task difficulty might soar to SSS-level!
Now, these precious two days are given to Bai Pu for preemptive planning.
Bai Pu found a wooden stick, a thin stone sheet, and several withered vines to make a simple stone axe. Weighing it, it seemed somewhat heavier than ordinary wooden sticks and stone sheets.
He walked silently forward, stepping on the cold, hard lands of Northern Europe, contemplating countermeasures.
"Relying on myself to fight against a team of Awakened is definitely impossible. Only by fully exploring the plot and utilizing the Native's strength can I battle them!"
Retreating a step, to fuse another vial of Evolutionary Source Blood, interaction with the Natives is inevitable.
Because the plane of Flesh and Blood Plague: Origin is highly related to the Evolutionary Source Blood, the Evolutionary Source Blood might even originate from this plane's Curios. It's highly possible that the Natives possess the knowledge and skills to fuse the Source Blood.
On the horizon ahead, a staggering human-shaped shadow came into Bai Pu's view.
"Doesn't look like a normal person... Could it be the 'Dead Plague' mentioned in the plane's introduction?"
Approaching closer, Bai Pu clearly saw the appearance of the Dead Plague.
Pale skin, withered cheeks, wearing tattered hemp clothes, mechanically moving its legs.
Especially the eyes, completely blood-red, with no visible outline of the eyeballs.
"Seems slow, should be easy to deal with. But my weapon is simple, lacking any combat skills and Skills, nearly a blank slate! Can't rush forward carelessly."
Bai Pu quietly retreated behind a mound, crouched down, and began digging with the thin stone sheet of the stone axe. After a short while, he made a crude pitfall, with sharpened branches inside.
Prepared, Bai Pu caught up with the Dead Plague, who had already walked far away.
The sound of footsteps caught the Dead Plague's attention. It turned around with a roar, extending its arms forward, poised for a pounce.
Bai Pu gripped the crudely made stone axe tightly, mustered his courage, and rushed towards the Dead Plague, swinging the axe.
This axe was utterly unstructured, with a slightly skewed angle.
However, the Dead Plague showed no intention to avoid it, meeting it head-on, taking a heavy hit on the shoulder from Bai Pu! At the same time, it aimed a claw at Bai Pu's chest.
Rip, blood splattered, and Bai Pu's hemp clothes provided no defense. Instantly, three bloody marks appeared on his chest.
The searing pain of torn flesh came, and worse yet, Bai Pu's handmade stone axe was damaged in that attack—the withered vine snapped, and the bound thin stone sheet flew off! Leaving only a bare wooden stick.
[Your attack dealt 6 points of Blunt Damage to the Dead Plague.]
[The Dead Plague's Claw Strike dealt 10 points of Sharp Damage to you, causing a bleeding effect, losing 1 point of Life Value every 5 seconds, continuing until the wound heals.]
Can't win!
Every point of Endurance Attribute would develop into 10 base Life Value. Bai Pu's 5 points of Endurance means his base Life Value is merely 50 points, losing over 1/5 in just one round against the Dead Plague!
Bai Pu, clutching the wound on his chest, turned and fled.
However, after enduring the Claw Strike damage, Bai Pu's skin began a slight oscillation, secreting a semi-solid, semi-liquid slimy grease gradually forming a transparent stratum corneum! The Spirit Realm Will's prompt followed immediately:
[Due to unknown reasons, your body has undergone a stress response, improving your defense against Sharp Damage. Duration: 120 minutes, or until the next stress response occurs.]
Bai Pu paused slightly, looking at his remaining thirty-some Life Value, gritted his teeth, and turned back to face the Dead Plague!
It was clear that this "unknown reason" must be due to the fusion with Source Blood, causing a mutation in the body! Bai Pu wanted to seize this chance to combat the solitary Dead Plague to test his mutation ability to see how effective it really is.
Swish! The Dead Plague swung its claw, the second strike, hitting once more!
However, this time, Bai Pu clearly felt that as soon as the Dead Plague's sharp claw contacted the skin, the stratum corneum of the skin acted as a skew, reducing a lot of the force!
This attack merely broke the skin and left marks, reducing the damage from the original 10 points to 5 points.
"The temporary change in skin actually reduced half the damage?!"
Bai Pu was both surprised and delighted.
Nevertheless, he still did not have the intention to tangle with the Dead Plague head-on. After verifying his mutation ability, he immediately turned around and continued to escape.
The Dead Plague roared and chased after him, and despite its staggering and limping appearance, it moved at an astonishing pace, faster than a healthy ordinary human running!
Fortunately, Bai Pu's Agility is 5 points, with a numerical value two to three times that of ordinary humans, allowing him to avoid being caught by the Dead Plague. He fled all the way, crossing over the mound.
Thunk!
With a dull thud, the Dead Plague fell into the pitfall.
The few sharpened branches buried in the pitfall snapped with a "crack," failing to penetrate, causing barely any damage to the Dead Plague, at most tickling it.
However, Bai Pu's strategic intent had already been achieved. With the Dead Plague's stiff limbs, it was difficult to climb out of the trap for a while.
Bai Pu crouched before the trap, swinging the wooden stick roundly, smashing down without any aim.
Thunk! Thunk Thunk Thunk!
After about ten hits, the wooden stick broke, yet the Dead Plague was still alive, roaring as it climbed, with sharp black nails carving out large pieces of frozen soil.
The originally steep inner wall of the trap was clawingly turned into a small slope by the Dead Plague. Given a bit more time, it might actually escape.
Bai Pu didn't dare to delay, threw away the broken wooden stick, stepped onto the Dead Plague's shoulder with a foot, and the burst of 5 points of Power pinned it against the trap's inner wall, then clenched his fist tightly.
One punch, two punches, three punches...
The Dead Plague's entire head was smashed, with putrid blood mixed with dark yellow brain matter flowing out slowly, finally remaining motionless.