While everybody was busily doing various things, a lone wolf, or rather a dog was running around without stopping.
[Sprint]
[Blending into Darkness]
[Sprint]
[Blending into Darkness]
[Sprint]
[Blending into Darkness]
…
…
…
After the nth time, Qin Hua did not even flinch as she removed another loincloth from a goblin's corpse.
She moved from corpse to corpse and looted everything on the body including the weapon and any sort of clothing that was present.
She also collected all their heads in a pile like a heap of tender coconuts saving the mana cores inside. She, of course, absorbed some of the mana cores but split the others for her friends.
It took a while but thanks to her enhanced stamina and agility, she was mostly done in less than half an hour.
She was able to retrieve a few more storage pouches from some of the goblins so storage wasn't also a problem.
Growl! Qin Hua licked her lips and returned to the rest of the group and sat down for guard beside them.
She remained silent but inwardly she was struggling, trying to make a decision.
There were about 20 survivors and each was in a worse condition than the other. None of them looked like they were going to make it even to the end of the day.
The issue was that… if she wanted she could help them.
Each loin cloth she had collected had an exchange value of 5 coins and some of the weapons like the sickles and the daggers had a higher exchange rate.
If she exchanged them all after saving a few, she could probably buy about four of the health potions from all the loincloths and about 10 health potions from the miscellaneous weapons.
This meant that she could help at least 14 out of the 20 survivors.
But Qin Hua was no longer sure if that was the right thing to do. Even if she helped these people now, what would happen to them if they faced another attack by the end of the day?
They would still be weak and helpless and would inevitably only die.
On the other hand, if she helped them and they hunted the mutated beasts and other creatures together as a group, they could potentially be that much stronger.
However, these people had already betrayed them once. So why won't they betray them again? Managing such a big group was also not an easy task.
If it was anything else, she wouldn't hesitate as much, but the importance of the health potions and mana potions couldn't be understated.
They could determine the difference between her own life and death.
There were also pesky poisonous mosquitoes that were loitering around in huge swarms.
If they attacked again, then their group would also become weak and vulnerable even if they ended up killing all the mosquitoes. Poisonous and venomous beasts were truly troublesome.
Qin Hua sighed. Even with both her lifetimes combined, she was just barely fifteen years. How was she supposed to make such an impossible decision?
She knew that she needed to be ruthless and strong in times like these but having personally witnessed the torture that these people underwent, she couldn't bring herself to be so cruel.
If she didn't help them today, she would only be leaving these people to die.
Qin Hua gazed at Su Yan's unconscious body as she remembered that she was in their exact same condition not too long ago.
When she was alive for a second time, random strangers had shown kindness to her and given her a new lease on life.
If they had left her to die, she wouldn't even be alive in the first place. And now it was her turn to do the same thing to others.
Qin Hua growled in anger and shook her head. She did not like these confusing thoughts. [If only I had a damn healing spell!]
She flicked over the shop feature once again and looked through it to see if any new skills had popped out.
[Come on. Come on. Come on. Give me a healing spell.]
There indeed seemed to be a couple of new skills available but none of them seemed to be healing spells.
Qin Hua was about to take a look at the new skills when she was distracted by a conversation Lu Chen was having on the other side.
"Elder. You still have a lot of injuries. Don't walk around like this." Lu Chen helped an old man sit down, but the old man instead squatted.
He had something greenish in his palm and applied it on the wounds of the young woman next to him.
[Huh? What paste is he applying?]
Qin Hua's eyes flickered for a second and then they widened in surprise and shock.
[Wait a second. If the animals had mutated, humans had mutated, even gemstones had mutated… could plants also have mutated???]
She quickly inspected the green paste in the old man's hand.
<Ding. Anethum graveolens; Common-grade herb; Helps wound heal faster>
[Ahhh!!!] Qin Hua abruptly stood up now that her theory had been confirmed. [So plants also had special properties now! Fuck!]
<Ding. Your actions have unlocked a new skill>
<Ding. You have now learned Herbalism>
<Herbalism - The ability to identify and procure medicinal herbs; Can be upgraded for better results and efficiency>
Qin Hua panted in excitement. [Yes! Yes! Why didn't I figure this out earlier! Maybe I can make some health potions like how I made that pendant or that guy stitched the cloth?]
The possibilities were huge and this was something they badly needed. So Qin Hua quickly perked up and thought about things.
She looked at the old man who was still meticulously applying the paste and wondered if he knew more things about plants and herbs or if perhaps he had awakened a healing ability.
[Inspect]
<Ding. Mutated Human Being; Level 2>
Name: Gou Sheng
Health: 100
Strength: 7
Stamina: 6
Agility: 7
Wisdom: 50
Relationship: neutral
Skill: N/A
Title: Apprentice Alchemist