After enthusiastically giving advice to his snake teammate, Shu Bao prepared to return to the tribe. The tavern was still quite far from the tribe. Even at the fastest speed, he would only arrive the next day.
Before leaving, Shu Bao suddenly turned around and said, “Oh, by the way, your hat looks really nice.”
Lan Qing immediately became a bit self-conscious, shrinking his head a little. “Thank you.”
“Then I’m leaving.”
“Goodbye.”
Shu Bao turned and walked away. Only when Lan Qing’s figure was out of sight did he adjust his hat carefully with his tail tip, ensuring everything was in place before finally relaxing.
After being a good distance away, Shu Bao felt something was off. Last time, Lan Qing had flaunted a dark, peculiar hat for a long time, but this time, with a fluffy top hat, he was unusually low-key.
However, since his snake teammate wasn’t being bullied and had become a small boss, Shu Bao felt relieved. As for the hat, he could ask about it next time. For now, he had collected quite a few seeds and needed to return to plant them.
He sped up as fast as he could, encountering no one along the way and moving smoothly. Just as he was about to reach the tribe, he suddenly saw a small patch of faintly glowing grass ahead.
What caught the eye was that the grass wasn’t growing on the ground but seemed to be floating in midair, undulating like jellyfish. Beneath them, there were many undead, some even as desiccated as skeletons, yet they still moved stiffly in step with the drifting grass.
The chaotic world had few light sources. Combined with the eerie green glow of the grass, the scene looked extremely bizarre. However, Shu Bao didn’t feel overly scared but instead began to observe carefully.
Upon closer inspection, Shu Bao noticed that the people below no longer had any signs of breathing or vitality; they were more accurately described as corpses. A long, milky-white root-like appendage connected the tops of these corpses to the floating grass, clearly indicating that the grass was drawing nutrients from these bodies. Indeed, these floating grasses used the corpses as their source of nourishment.
Shu Bao stopped from a distance. The grass formed a dense patch, and the corpses below resembled a horde of wandering ghosts, blocking the path. Though it was the first time Shu Bao encountered such grass, he vaguely guessed its name: Rootless Grass!
Everything about it matched the description Lan Qing had given of Rootless Grass.
Shu Bao rubbed his paws, counted the gently glowing green grass, and found there were over thirty in total.
Even though so many Lord’s Hearts were before him, Shu Bao didn’t act impulsively. Instead, the Rootless Grass seemed to sense the presence of a living being and began to drift toward his location.
Fortunately, the grass moved slowly enough that a normal person could easily outrun it. As Shu Bao cautiously backed away, he continued to observe the grass.
He noticed that apart from the milky-white root connecting the corpses to the grass, there were no other roots or stems. Some grass had no corpses beneath them, while others had two or three.
While he was observing, one particularly emaciated, desiccated corpse seemed to be drained of its last bit of nutrients. The Rootless Grass disconnected from it, and the corpse collapsed with a thud. The disconnected Rootless Grass sped up slightly, but its undulating, forward-moving motion remained slow.
Shu Bao didn’t need to run too fast. After a while, he finally selected a target: a piece of grass with no corpses beneath it.
After all, the grass with two or three corpses clearly seemed more formidable. It was better to start with the simpler ones for practice.
Having determined his target, Shu Bao swiftly darted into the sea of corpses and arrived at the chosen weak grass.
The sudden intrusion of a living being excited the entire Rootless Grass patch. They all began to converge, eager to get a share of the action.
However, the Rootless Grass kept drifting in circles, unable to locate where the living being was, which left them utterly confused. All the Rootless Grass continued spinning in place.
Upon entering the sea of corpses, Shu Bao realized that the milky-white connection to the corpses was not a root but a white light, or rather a conduit for drawing energy. When a corpse could no longer provide nutrients, this nourishing light would also dissipate.
Shu Bao waited for a long time, observing the Rootless Grass spinning overhead, but he did not face any attacks. He looked around in confusion and soon discovered the reason: these Rootless Grass only preyed on humans. Only humans understood what a game was, only humans harbored greed and a sense of luck.
Other chaotic creatures were not constrained by such game contracts because they lacked the desire for profit through games.
Understanding this, Shu Bao scanned the area to ensure no other people were nearby, then transformed into his human form. In an instant, the surrounding Rootless Grass extended white tendrils toward him. Each tendril was a temptation, waiting for the prey to latch on. Once touched, it signified acceptance of the Rootless Grass’s game invitation.
Shu Bao selected the tendril he wanted from among the many white ones and reached out to touch it. Instantly, Shu Bao was frozen in place, his eyes vacant. If not for his continued breathing, he would have looked no different from the surrounding motionless corpses.
In reality, Shu Bao’s consciousness was transported to a vast, open space. It was an endless grassland with soft, lush grass underfoot. The world was very bright, with a beautiful blue sky and white clouds, though the sky lacked a sun.
A breeze blew through, and Shu Bao could feel its coolness. Along with that, he received the Rootless Grass’s communicated intention: “Let’s play hide and seek. Find me. If you catch me, you win.”
Looking down and around, Shu Bao finally understood why so many had become a nourishment. Finding a piece of grass on this vast prairie was indeed quite unfair.
Shu Bao crouched down to examine the grass beneath him. At a glance, it looked the same as the Rootless Grass. The only way to distinguish them was probably to pull it up. If it had no roots, then he had found the right grass.
The game didn’t specify a time limit, but this was inherently a trap because once the game contract was established, the connection between the Rootless Grass and Shu Bao was already formed, and the Rootless Grass was draining Shu Bao’s nutrients. If too much time passed and Shu Bao died, the game would naturally be considered a failure.
Looking around, the sky had no sun, which meant there was no night in this space. This made it difficult to use the Rootless Grass’s glowing characteristic to find a way out. The Rootless Grass wouldn’t be foolish enough to float away, so it seemed the only feasible method was to pull up the grass one by one.
Shu Bao crouched down and pulled up a piece of grass. It had ordinary roots, so Shu Bao reached out to pull another. However, his movements soon halted.
After standing still for a moment, Shu Bao reached out and systematically removed the roots from the first piece of grass he had pulled up, quickly stripping it bare. A piece of grass with no roots was now in Shu Bao’s hands.
Shu Bao calmly spoke, “Got you!”
The grass in his hands immediately lost its vitality, wilting and drooping.
Shu Bao smirked, realizing he was right. All the grass here had roots, and the first piece of grass he pulled up was indeed the Rootless Grass. If he hadn’t discovered and discarded it, it would have been impossible to find the true Rootless Grass among the many identical pieces of grass.
At the same time, Shu Bao left the mental space and returned to reality. With the failure of that piece of grass, the nourishing relationship between him and the Rootless Grass began to reverse. The surrounding Rootless Grass eagerly offered their white strands once again.
The energy from the Rootless Grass was transferred to Shu Bao. He could feel its effects: an increase in affinity with creatures above the lord level, with a permanent duration. It seemed this was indeed the legendary buff, or the Lord’s Heart, though it sounded a lot like a beast tamer’s ability.
Checking the quest system, Shu Bao saw that the progress for the Lord’s Heart quest had changed to 1/10, confirming that this method worked.
Without waiting for the energy transfer from the current Rootless Grass to complete, Shu Bao grasped another energy strand. The familiar scene reappeared, and Shu Bao entered the mental space once more.
This time, he found himself in a farm setting, standing in front of a plot of land. The soil was very loose as if seeds had just been planted.
“Let’s play house,” the voice said. “As a diligent gardener, water the plants to help them grow.”
Shu Bao looked at his arms, which had transformed into a watering can. He could faintly hear the sound of liquid sloshing inside.
If the watering can wasn’t directly attached to his body, Shu Bao would have been eager to try watering the plants. However, given the situation, he had reason to believe that the liquid in the can was likely his own blood, not water.
He tilted the can and let a drop of liquid fall. From the surface, it did indeed appear to be water. As soon as the drop touched the soil, the seeds beneath began to sprout rapidly.
The growth rate was astonishing; it seemed only a few drops were needed for the plants to grow robustly. But as a cautious mouse, Shu Bao chose not to water any further. Instead, he rolled up his sleeves, ready to try a bit of “forcing growth.”
Since he had already watered the plants, all that remained was to accelerate their growth. The plot was small, and there weren’t many plants.
Shu Bao worked quickly, pulling up the plants. He found that the plants here were very resilient, appearing tender but stretching out like chewing gum without breaking.
After pulling up the last green sprout, it immediately transformed into the appearance of Rootless Grass and then quickly withered.
Clearly, the gardener’s game of helping plants grow robustly had been completed.
In this instance, the Rootless Grass had played a word game, separating the tasks of watering plants and helping them grow.
Although the plants would grow quickly due to watering, they would never reach the robust stage specified by the game. Ultimately, players would die from excessive blood loss without realizing it.
After leaving the mental space, the energy of another Rootless Grass began to reverse. Shu Bao felt the second buff: Necromancer’s Talent, with a permanent duration.
Shu Bao scratched his chin. Who said Rootless Grass buffs were mostly negative? These two were actually quite good. These grasses seemed like lucky clovers.
Meanwhile, in another direction, Fu Qing, who had also encountered the Rootless Grass, was sneezing as he walked back to the camp. He had played two rounds of the game and received two buffs: one was a ten-day flight ban, and the other was a month-long butterfly allergy.
Moonlit: You’re just super lucky, Shu Bao hahahahaha
