Chapter 67: Weed Monster
Lu Yunxi settled into her new routine. Her role was simple: provide health restoration during dungeon runs. In return, she received a generous cut of the loot—half of everything they gathered. The work was straightforward, the atmosphere was professional, and the pay was fantastic. Lu Yunxi was beyond satisfied.
Under her steady support, Fu Yi finally reached Level 60. Emboldened by their success, the two began experimenting with party sizes. They scaled from two players to four, then ten, and eventually all the way to a full hundred-person raid. To everyone’s astonishment, they succeeded every time.
“Your healing skills are absolutely terrifying, aren’t they?” Fu Yi remarked, staring at her in disbelief. He had initially assumed she could manage a dozen people at most, but the reality was far beyond his imagination.
Lu Yunxi gave a bashful smile and scratched her cheek. “I happened to save an NPC a while back. She rewarded me with a Purple-grade recovery technique, and I’ve already ground it to the Advanced level. It’s really just…”
“What?!” Someone nearby overheard and lunged forward, grabbing her shoulders and shaking her with tearful intensity. “Where is this NPC? I don’t care if he’s in the middle of a Zerg hive—I’ll save him!”
“Calm down,” Fu Yi said, pulling the man away. He offered her a quick, apologetic look. “Sorry about that. They’re just having a moment.”
Lu Yunxi didn’t mind. “It seemed like a one-time special mission,” she lied smoothly. “I haven’t seen that NPC since.” She continued to play her part, cooperating with Fu Yi to maintain a good standing with the “officials.” After all, if the day ever came where they suspected she wasn’t just a collection of data, she would need all the allies she could get.
Knowing she possessed Advanced recovery skills, the team treated her like royalty. They offered her first pick of every dish they prepared, which touched her deeply, though she politely declined most of it. Her days fell into a rhythmic cycle: clearing dungeons by day, frantically knitting before bed, and practicing her music, chess, and calligraphy in between.
One afternoon, Fu Yi was absent from the raid. Without his stern leadership, the group grew a bit rowdy. Emboldened by Lu Yunxi’s safety net, the players began to fool around.
“Quick, take a picture of me!” a young man shouted, hoisting two massive tree roots onto his shoulders and striking a pose. Others followed suit, posing with their loot and laughing.
[Ding—More than half of the party has engaged in vanity actions. Entering hidden sub-map: The Infested Tree Hole.]
A flash of light blinded them. When they regained their senses, all one hundred players were standing in a formation within a pitch-black abyss.
Lu Yunxi immediately produced a torch from her inventory. Seeing the light, the others followed suit, pulling out glow-stones and lanterns.
“Ms. Lu, stay in the center!” someone called out. “It’s safest there!”
She stepped into the protective circle as they began to explore.
“Look? There’s a lot of grass here!” someone noted, surprised. It was bizarre to see greenery flourishing in such a dark, frigid space.
Curiosity got the better of one player, and he reached down to pull a clump. However, what came up wasn’t ordinary grass—it was a writhing, sentient Weed Monster.
“Oh no! This thing is attacking! I’m losing health!”
“Its attack power is huge, and it’s fast! Everyone, stop pulling the weeds! We need to focus on this one!”
“Ah! My nose! Stupid grass!”
The scene devolved into pure chaos. Lu Yunxi sighed. These players were mostly students from a military academy, and without Fu Yi there to lead them, they were falling apart at the seams.
She cast a detection spell and her heart sank. The unassuming weed was Level 70—three levels higher than her. It possessed high attack power and extreme agility, making it a nightmare to hit with arrows, especially for the interstellar players who struggled with traditional cold weapons.
“Wait, stop!” someone screamed. “Friendly fire is on! The party protection is broken in here!”
“No wonder I’m dying! That last move you made hit me instead of the grass!”
Lu Yunxi’s hands began to cramp as she spammed her recovery skills. Seeing her mana bar bottoming out, she called out, “Steady on! I’m nearly out of mana. If I run dry, we’ll have to retreat to a mana pool!”
Terrified, the players crowded closer to her, shouting, “Ms. Lu, hurry!” They stopped using their flashy abilities, fearing they would accidentally hurt her and lose their only lifeline.
However, their caution didn’t stop the Weed Monster. The creature lunged back, gathered its strength, and sprayed a dense cloud of razor-sharp seeds at the frontline.
“Argh! I just lost a thousand health! Wait—it’s a bleed effect! It’s still dropping!”
Lu Yunxi pounded her chest, forcing down a bun to replenish her energy, and quickly cast a wide-range heal to stabilize them. Seeing the first wave fail, the Weed Monster unleashed its ultimate move. A massive, bloated seed pod materialized above the group and exploded into a million shards.
The health bars of all one hundred players plummeted simultaneously. Lu Yunxi’s own health dropped by half in an instant.
She immediately ate another bun, cast three consecutive heals to top everyone off, and began frantically distributing her personal stash.
“Take these!” she commanded, ignoring the fact that she was revealing her hoard of Orange-grade consumables. “Meat buns for health, vegetable buns for mana! This thing is too strong—I won’t be able to catch everyone once the real fight starts!”
It was time to get serious. Lu Yunxi rushed forward, brandishing the wooden fire-stick she hadn’t used in ages. She swung with precision, predicting the weed’s movements. She feinted left; the weed dodged right, directly into the path of her downward strike.
CRACK.
The weed was slammed into the dirt, its health bar taking a massive hit. The players were stunned. “Is its defense really that low?”
Taking advantage of their daze, the weed escaped and began jumping higher and faster, its movements a blur. Cries of pain echoed through the dark. Curiously, the monster seemed to fear Lu Yunxi, staying far away from her reach.
“Ms. Lu! The people on the edge of the circle are dying!” someone screamed in horror.
Lu Yunxi’s heart skipped a beat. Her current range only covered about a third of the group, and she only had enough mana for one last major cast. She took a deep breath, desperately drawing upon every ounce of her internal magic power to extend the reach of her skill.
[Ding—Congratulations! Your Health Recovery skill has reached the Master level.]
A wave of celestial light erupted from her, far exceeding its previous limits. It washed over every single player in the room, instantly restoring them to full health.
The group was revitalized. “Ms. Lu leveled up! We’re invincible!”
With renewed ferocity, the hundred players surged forward. After a grueling battle of attrition, the Weed Monster finally withered. As the beast fell, the party was successfully teleported out of the dungeon, battered but alive.
