Chapter 10 Double Mutation, Crushing the Giant_1
Jiang Chen had thought he would encounter something like a plant core resembling a heart at the base of the high-rise, guarded by a group of special Mutants…
Or perhaps just a bunch of roots with nothing special.
Yet he had never expected to see such a Roots Titan.
"It seems that it is the core of this vine?"
"Was it transformed from a human, or did the vine create this life form based on the human appearance?"
Jiang Chen cast aside these distracting thoughts, leaped down, dodged the whip of the vines, and jumped into the hollow interior.
No matter the origin of the Roots Titan, it would not affect Jiang Chen's fight with it.
And he would kill it thoroughly.
The moment Jiang Chen landed, the model Zero Mecha had already switched to its high-speed form, becoming a shadow interwoven with black and purple, darting towards the Roots Titan with agility as high as eight points.
His target was very clear.
The Roots Titan's vine-like hair connected to the ground around it, constantly drawing in the purple liquid and circular shadows.
It was obviously some kind of key element.
Without question, he would sever it first before anything else.
But to Jiang Chen's surprise,
The Roots Titan actually kept up with his speed. Hundreds of vine whips intertwined and covered its fist, smashing towards him!
The model Zero Mecha shifted to the side, avoiding the frontal assault, but was still sent flying by the punch!
Just by absorbing one hit, the Armor Value of the model Zero Mecha decreased by a whole seven points, leaving only three points remaining.
Cracks had appeared all over the surface of the Mecha, seemingly on the verge of bursting apart.
"About 11 points in strength and roughly 7 points in agility, huh..."
Jiang Chen got back up and looked towards the Roots Titan.
He could have dodged that hit, but he deliberately slowed down by a half beat, taking the hit to gauge the opponent's attribute values.
After all, even if the Mecha shattered, his fighting strength would not be reduced in the slightest.
Instead, knowing the opponent's attribute values allowed him to come up with better tactical responses, whether to fight or to flee was within his control.
Now, Jiang Chen had a complete understanding of this monster.
11 points in strength, 7 points in agility—it was an overpowering attribute that surpassed all special Mutants!
For a rookie mecha pilot who could only equip three modules, this was an enemy nearly impossible to defeat.
Even for Jiang Chen at present, he only boasted 7 points of strength and 8 points of agility.
Just looking at attribute values, he was completely outmatched in terms of strength.
But...
7 points in strength was just Jiang Chen's normal state.
"Boom!"
The Roots Titan threw another punch, hammering down viciously.
This time, Jiang Chen dodged it perfectly, placing his hand on the fist that shot by.
Despite the Roots Titan having an entire 11 points of strength, it couldn't lift its fist at all, even with full force.
Compared to its body size, the model Zero Mecha's hand, which was trivial in comparison, now seemed as heavy as a mountain.
[Uncontrollable Mutation]
Double release!
Inside the model Zero Mecha, Jiang Chen activated the [Uncontrollable Mutation] ability. His muscles expanded like an inflating balloon, giving him a bonus of 4 points in strength,
On the exterior of the model Zero Mecha, layers of purple fibers covered the exoskeleton's surface, forming strong muscle patterns, which provided a 5 point boost in strength.
7+4+5…
After a moment,
The inverted-triangle shaped muscular man in his Mecha held the Roots Titan's fist with both hands.
With 16 points in strength, he performed an over-the-shoulder throw, flinging the six to seven meters high Roots Titan into the air and smashing it hard onto the ground!
Then, sprinting forward, he leaped and decapitated the Roots Titan's vine hair with a clean slice!
Jiang Chen held no specific tactic against special Mutants.
Even for this Roots Titan boss,
In the face of overwhelming attributes, it was also insignificant!
...
The Roots Titan's life force was still incredibly tenacious.
Even with its head vines severed and body shattered, it continued to heal and regenerate.
Seemingly possessing an endless supply of life force.
However, Jiang Chen didn't just overpower it in strength, his agility also outmatched it by a wide margin.
Time and again, he smashed it, finally locating a fist-sized purple crystal on the left leg.
After crushing it, the Roots Titan finally stopped regenerating and completely withered into a lump.
An extremely dense abyss atmosphere was absorbed by the Abyss Rune.
Prompt after prompt appeared before Jiang Chen's eyes.
[Defeat the Newborner, Destroy the Roots Branch, Obtain Material: Spirit Vein Fiber.]
[Defeat the Newborner, Destroy the Roots Branch, Obtain Module: Roots Core.]
[Defeat the Newborner, Destroy the Roots Branch, Obtain Trait: Soul of Life.]
After Jiang Chen crushed the purple crystal, only the Roots Titan itself withered and died; the vines that composed this chamber didn't undergo any change.
He was initially puzzled but had a sudden realization when he saw the word "branch."
Destroying the Roots of an entire civilization was an immense existence; what he had vanquished was merely one of the fruits extended by the Endless Roots.
When the fruit died, it was natural that the branches didn't wither.
Jiang Chen reined in his thoughts and focused on his gains.
The Roots Titan, named "Newborner," had produced a total of three drops.
Among them, Spirit Vein Fiber was an excellent quality material for enhancement.
When used to enhance a Mecha, it could improve agility, energy limit, and recovery speed.
Jiang Chen didn't have the ability to enhance his Mecha right now and could only put it away for later.
The module, on the other hand, was a core module for the Mecha.
[Root Core]
[Rank: Zero]
[Quality: Excellent]
[Type: Core Module]
[Effect One: Grants the Mecha a slight self-repair ability, regenerating 0.01 Armor Value per second in a non-damaged state. The regeneration speed doubles under sunlight.]
[Effect Two: During Mecha evolution, based on the module combination, there is a low probability of obtaining (wood-attribute evolution module).]
[Description: I am the Roots!]
Just like mecha pilots, Mechas are also divided into ranks.
Ranks not only limit the number of modules a Mecha can load.
At the same time, when advancing in rank, the Mecha will undergo [Evolution].
During Evolution, the Mecha will fully absorb its loaded modules and according to the materials used for enhancement and its own tendencies, it will gain significant attribute enhancements and reveal a new form.
This new form is vastly different from its previous appearance and can almost be considered a new Mecha.
For instance, Jiang Chen's model Zero Mecha.
If it were loaded with the [Root Core] module and underwent corresponding enhancements,
it would most likely shed its metallic structure and become a bio-organic mecha entirely made of Roots fibers.
"A Roots mecha with self-repair abilities?"
After giving it some thought, Jiang Chen felt it might be quite promising.
Although after leaving the basic trial, a damaged Mecha could easily be repaired by a repair engineer,
it seemed at first glance that money could solve the issue directly, so there was no need to occupy a valuable slot for Mecha evolution tendency.
But...
Repair engineers could fix Mechas, but could they repair humans?
Jiang Chen had the talent to absorb Mecha properties and modules, and when necessary, he might choose to fight with expanded armor.
At that time, the ability to recover would prove especially useful.
As for the issue of Mecha tendency...
With each increase in rank, a mecha pilot is awarded an additional Mecha slot.
Using a Mecha slot in exchange for strong regenerative abilities was definitely worth it.
"Moreover, this is a core module, very rare and precious."
"Even if I don't use it, I can trade it with others to obtain the modules I want."
Jiang Chen reeled back his thoughts and looked toward the last drop from the Roots Titan.
Materials and modules, he had searched for relevant information on his phone beforehand.
But what about a trait?
[Soul of Life]
[Type: Trait]
[Effect: Grants the mecha pilot the Soul of Life trait, allowing for unimpeded communication with plants and animals and providing the ability to perceive the emotions of dead creatures.]
[Description: Mirror, mirror, tell me...]