CH 209

Episode 209 – Dungeon Plant Gathering

After leaving behind the other two, I made my way alone to the back of the hidden floor. Once I had reached the trees at the end of the hidden floor, I began to gather plants. I was planning to gather any previously appraised plants if they were level 10 and above and appraise any unknown plants on the spot.

The memorable first plant found in the Dungeon— has been found!

I held up my hand over the Magical Grass that was growing near the root of a tree and appraised it in a practiced manner.

[Name: Magical Grass]

[Level: -24]

[Effect: Magic Decrease (Miniscule)]

[Fertility: ???]

[Origin: Dungeon (Landaust)]

Hmm. Seems to be quite the rocky start. Magic Decrease, even though it’s called Magical Grass.

It was an outrageous failure of a plant, but now that I was able to appraise it while it was still growing, I was able to find out that the negative notation of the appraisal was somewhat hard to tell apart. Just now, I had thought for a second that it was a level 24 plant, and almost picked it out of sheer assembly-line habit, which made the chance for error seem a bit high.

Well, there was no harm in making a few mistakes, so I don’t have to be too concerned about it. Either way, let’s just prioritize speed while gathering here.

After that, I spent several hours on the 10th layer wholeheartedly gathering plants. I was able to gather all the useful plants in this whole area by myself.

As expected of the first Dungeon plant-gathering experience, I was able to find a number of interesting plants, which I was extremely satisfied with. One that especially caught my eye was one called the Pound Herb.

[Name: Pound Herb]

[Level: 76]

[Effect: Defensive Power Increase (Small)]

[Fertility: ???]

As it was, the plant had effects that were similar to that of Dumbbell Weed, which increased one’s fundamental abilities. If Dumbbell Weed was a plant that increased power, then Pound Herb was a plant that increased defense and toughness.

Although I did think that there would be a plant that was similar to Dumbbell Weed in the Dungeon, I really didn’t expect to find it on my very first day of gathering plants. Along the same trend, I thought that it would probably require a lot of magic power to synthesize just like Dumbbell Weed, so I probably didn’t have much of a chance to use it right now when I was still trying to prioritize muscle strength. Either way, it was a great discovery that would allow me to grow even stronger in the future.

Other than the Pound Herb, I also found two other types of plants that I felt like I could put to use immediately.

[Name: Quickgrass]

[Level: 18]

[Effect: Temporary Agility Increase (Medium)]

[Fertility: ???]

[Origin: Dungeon (Landaust)]

[Name: Forecast Herb]

[Level: 29]

[Effect: Temporary Concentration Boost (Medium)]

[Fertility: ???]

[Origin: Dungeon (Landaust)]

For a second, I thought that these two plants were the same kind of plants as Dumbbell Weed and the Pound Herb that I just found, but, in the end, their effects were just temporary.

I was just making a guess, but I was thinking that it might have a similar effect to the Dumbbell Weed Potion that I had brewed at Elf’s Tears. Hypothetically, since it was a plant that could give a temporary increase without fail, it would be possible for me to combine them with Adhesive Herb to make Quick Pills or Forecast Pills just like I had done with the Medical Herb Pills. If I did that, I could provide support buffs even from an empty-handed state.

Of course I could expect a lot from these two types of plants as ingredients for potions, and there was even a chance I could end up using them even more frequently than Pound Herb.

In regards to their effects, the first one, the Quickgrass, was very easy to understand, but the problem was the second one, Forecast Herb. It was supposed to temporarily increase concentration, but that didn’t quite make sense to me.

If it could make me achieve the sensation that I had had when I had battled against the Venom Troll, then it would be quite the powerful plant. In the end, I would have to try it to see how much it could increase my concentration.

Even if it didn’t demonstrate that great of an effect on me, for Aruna who used a bow as her primary weapon, it was very possible that an increase in concentration would be a better buff than an increase in muscle strength.

Also… there was perhaps a chance that Rosalie’s social anxiety problem could be solved.

If she could concentrate, she might not be as affected by her surroundings. Even if the plant wasn’t as effective as expected, it had the potential to be the wonder drug that could put an end to her problems with social anxiety if it was made into a potion. I would have to look into the details of both of these effects, but both of these types of plants were promising nonetheless.

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Aside from the unappraised types of plants, I had also managed to gather some high-level plants. The plant with the highest level that I had managed to find this time was a level 102 Medical Herb, an unexpected triple-digit level.

Its effects exceeded even that of High-Grade Medical Herb in such a way that it seemed almost dubious that it could even be appraised as a Medical Herb. It truly had effects befitting its triple-digit level.

However, these kinds of high level plants were offset by the negative level plants. Unlike Mount Cornello, the levels of the plants here were all over the place. Even though the amount of plants that I appraised was about the same, I was only able to gather less than half of the amount I would normally gather from Mount Cornello. But since I was able to discover some new species of plants, I felt that in terms of personal satisfaction, it far surpassed Mount Cornello.

With a massive armful of plants and a big smile on my face, I walked back to the other two who were still collecting plants in the area.