Good grief—double the attack power?
Zhang Yang, with one of his blades broken, hurriedly scurried back into the temporary tree hollow he was using as shelter.
This Heaven-Defying Strike was seriously good stuff. It could empower any attack, though the power increase was a bit on the small side, and it was limited to once per day.
Actually, Zhang Yang was being a little greedy. With his current strength…
Doubling it meant he could unleash an attack that normally required 10 points of strength.
Just imagine—a mantis capable of contending with an adult human in terms of raw power. How terrifying was that?
After marveling at how strong Heaven-Defying Strike was, Zhang Yang started lamenting his own fragility again.
"My body is still too weak. One swing at a little bird and I break my own blade. If I run into something really powerful, wouldn't I be even more screwed?"
He had only had this new body for a few days, and already Zhang Yang was starting to dislike it.
It wasn't entirely his fault for being fickle. Sure, the mantis form looked cool, but the body itself was genuinely fragile.
"I can't evolve into something else either—evolution points aren't enough."
While waiting for his blade to regenerate, Zhang Yang felt troubled.
Over the past few days, he had only managed to accumulate a few hundred evolution points in total. Even adding them all up, he barely broke 600—nowhere near a thousand.
Evolving into a mantis had already cost him 2,000 points. To evolve into something even higher-tier, it definitely wouldn't be any cheaper than that.
If he had to slowly grind enough points again, his remaining lifespan would probably run out first.
Right now, Zhang Yang still only had a little over ten days of life left.
"No way—I've got to leave. Comfort makes people degenerate. I need to go out and actively seek thrills."
Zhang Yang made up his mind.
After waiting five or six minutes, his forelegs finally regenerated back to normal. The downside of limb regeneration became clear: with his current physique, fast recovery simply wasn't possible.
This also meant he urgently needed to improve his physique.
Fully restored, Zhang Yang left the safety zone he had set for himself.
As a large green mantis, he blended perfectly into the jungle. As long as he didn't fly too high, he wouldn't attract much aggression.
On the contrary, some unlucky little critters ended up falling victim to his blades instead.
Along the way, he left behind quite a few insect corpses.
There were gains, of course—but the evolution points were pitifully small, and not a single talent fragment appeared.
"If only there were something that came in swarms…"
As long as they came in large enough groups, even if each kill gave only a tiny amount of evolution points, it wouldn't matter.
Right now, though, Zhang Yang couldn't find any large groups to farm.
"Ding, task triggered: Destroy a beehive. Task requirement: Destroy one beehive. Task reward: Unknown."
A task arrived.
"This came at just the right time."
Zhang Yang felt a little smug.
He hadn't even been away from his safe zone for a full day, and the system had already triggered a new task.
It seemed this beehive must be somewhere nearby.
Zhang Yang was starting to figure out the system's pattern.
Every task it triggered was directly related to his own actions. He ran into a mantis → kill mantis task. Now this beehive task → it had to be close by.
Finding a beehive didn't even require much effort—just a short stroll and there it was.
"The hive is pretty big. There should be a ton of bees, right?"
Looking at the half-meter-wide beehive hanging from the tree branch, Zhang Yang's heart filled with joy.
He silently prayed: if killing bees would actually give him evolution points, that would be perfect.
A little too excited to think straight, Zhang Yang charged in without hesitation, blades raised. He didn't encounter any resistance at first—he plunged both of his large forelegs straight into the hive.
The next moment, the previously relaxed bees went berserk.
If a big mantis just passed by, they wouldn't care. But if you dared to attack? You were dead.
Zhang Yang had originally been very confident in his skills. He even struck a dramatic pose, ready for battle.
But when he saw the sheer number of bees, all his confidence evaporated.
"That black cloud… how many bees are there?! Run!"
No hesitation—just run.
Even humans could be stung to death by bees, let alone a single mantis?
He had truly poked the hornet's nest.
Fortunately, bees flew much slower than Zhang Yang. They had the momentum of a dark swarm bearing down on him, but they simply couldn't catch up. What could they do?
After chasing him for several "blocks," the bees finally gave up and returned home.
Zhang Yang's arrogance was thoroughly deflated.
He decided to switch to Plan B: the Crazy Bee-Slaying Second Strategy—Guerilla Warfare (a.k.a. "playing it safe").
Hiding around the outskirts of the hive like a green phantom, Zhang Yang relied on his superior speed. Whenever he spotted a bee in the outer areas, he killed it. He was having a blast.
How could he not be excited?
Because his wish had come true—each killed bee granted him 3 evolution points.
The number was honestly tiny—far less than what a grasshopper gave—but the sheer quantity of bees made up for it.
Zhang Yang estimated that even farming to the max wouldn't be a problem.
The days of grinding evolution points were incredibly joyful.
So joyful that Zhang Yang temporarily forgot all about the actual task.
In truth, what he was doing was the smart move. If he tried to destroy the hive before thinning out the bees significantly, he'd just be committing suicide.
He grinded like this nonstop for three full days and nights.
When his evolution points finally reached 10,000, the system chimed in.
"Ding, evolution points have reached 10,000. Level 1 System Shop activated. Current shop level: 1. Please check the shop at your convenience, Host."
"There's a shop too?"
Zhang Yang immediately stopped grinding and rushed to a safe spot to open the shop interface.
He had imagined it would be filled with a dazzling array of items.
Instead, the shop was pitifully empty—almost nothing there.
But when he saw what was actually for sale, Zhang Yang let out a long sigh of relief.
Safe.
The shop sold lifespan.
The price was something Zhang Yang could accept.
1,000 evolution points for 1 day of lifespan.
There were also two types of basic potions: one for healing, one for poison.
Basic Healing Potion: Can be applied externally or taken internally. Heals minor injuries.
Basic Poison: Can be used externally or internally. Toxin strength is relatively weak.
"This poison… can I make other creatures drink it, or apply it to my blades?"
"Damn, so expensive?"
Thinking of the uses for the Basic Poison, Zhang Yang bought one bottle—but it cost over a thousand evolution points, which made his heart ache.
That was enough to buy a full day of life!
For something this expensive, Zhang Yang decided to let the poison sit quietly in his inventory. Unless absolutely necessary, he wouldn't use such a costly item.
"System, isn't this shop selling way too little?"
"Ding, Level 1 Shop is the lowest-tier shop. Please continue working hard, Host. When evolution points reach 100,000, Level 2 Shop will be unlocked."
Fine. Back to grinding.
The bees hadn't been wiped out yet. When his evolution points hit the 10,000 mark again, another system notification arrived.
"Ding, evolution points have reached the current limit. No further evolution points can be obtained."
"10,000 points is the limit for this mantis body, huh? Exchange one day of lifespan for me."
At this point, Zhang Yang could have chosen to evolve into a higher-tier creature.
But he didn't.
He had finally found such a perfect farming spot. The bees weren't all dead yet anyway. Why not stay a few more days and farm as much extra lifespan as possible? Wouldn't that be wonderful?