Anyway!
After more than a month, he finally achieved his first small goal since arriving in this other world.
"Woof…"
A faint bark sounded from the bushes about ten meters away from the large tree where Nolan was.
"Did it follow?"
Nolan glanced at the source of the sound, frowned slightly, then withdrew his gaze, no longer paying attention.
It was that little Evil Spirit Hound!
He had no interest in taming an Evil Spirit Hound with no combat power whatsoever.
Even an adult Evil Spirit Hound had little use in his eyes.
As time went on, Nolan would only grow stronger, and the strength of an adult Evil Spirit Hound was only slightly better than a Man-Eater.
Ten meters away, in the dense undergrowth.
The little Evil Spirit Hound lay on the ground, somewhat weak and panting, its brown beast eyes carrying a hint of intelligence as it looked at Nolan, who was sitting cross-legged under the large tree in the distance.
Its four limbs went soft!
The little Evil Spirit Hound stumbled and collapsed into the grass, its ears drooping, its nose huffing heavily.
Having only been born recently, such a long journey, even with the Evil Spirit Hound's naturally excellent stamina, was proving too much.
Seemingly confirming that Nolan would not move further, the little Evil Spirit Hound finally closed its eyes and fell into an exhausted sleep.
Under the sturdy tree.
Nolan took out several water skins and some miscellaneous items from his item box and began to study them carefully, a flash of magic light occasionally passing through his hands.
In the past few days.
Besides slaying goblins and monsters to gain experience, Nolan spent the rest of his time studying the use of alchemy.
This period of exploration had finally yielded some results.
After this period of research.
The only somewhat successful outcome was an alchemical solution made from the poison sacs collected from the Hanging Spiders he had slain earlier.
Item: Low-grade Alchemical Solution
Effect: Made from Hanging Spider "Poison Sacs", a solution with a paralyzing effect, lasting for 3 minutes. (Cannot be stored for long, the effect will completely disappear within an hour.)
…
This was an alchemical solution with an "effect" that Nolan had created by consuming two poison sacs.
Fortunately, the "Item Box" had a storage function, and items placed inside would retain their state when retrieved, so there was no need to worry about degradation over time.
It was the creation of this alchemical solution that made Nolan realize that the "materials" used to perform alchemy were much broader than he had imagined.
However!
This alchemical solution, like the one previously made from Hot Grass, had the "Low-grade" marker in front.
Although these two alchemical solutions seemed to have an "effect," in Nolan's eyes, they were essentially just semi-finished products.
They couldn't even be considered semi-finished products!
To describe it, it was like turning a tomato into tomato soup.
The process was not complicated; one only needed to chop the tomato, add water to a pot, heat it, and wait for a while to make soup.
The existence of alchemy, on the other hand, was equivalent to directly transforming the tomato into tomato soup, skipping the intermediate steps of adding water to the pot, heating, and chopping the tomato.
Of course, it was actually a bit more complex.
Simply making tomato soup would result in the loss of some nutrients from the tomato, while alchemy could preserve all the nutrients in the tomato and even enhance them to some extent.
But that alone was not enough!
"A semi-finished product is a semi-finished product. Even if it has an effect and can be used, its practical significance is not great."
"It might have some use at lower levels, but once the level increases, the effect of this low-grade alchemical solution can be completely ignored."
Nolan shook his head while pondering.
Just like the alchemical solution made from Hot Grass earlier, the effect of increasing 1 HP after drinking it was simply useless.
It would be better to give the herbs to Enfilia and let her create healing potions.
Perhaps using higher-grade materials or herbs could produce alchemical solutions with better effects, but ultimately, they were still just low-grade semi-finished products, a waste of materials.
What's more.
He didn't have much money to collect high-quality materials.
"Currently, it's the same situation as with the alchemist." Nolan raised his hand to rub his temples, feeling a bit depressed.
It was like wanting to quietly get rich, but only the "quietly" part remained.
Nolan knew what the missing key was.
That was the series of related alchemy profession skills in "YGGDRASIL."
Nolan shook his head.
He wasn't one to dwell on things. Since it wasn't of much help to him at the moment, he would temporarily put aside his thoughts on it.
Night passed in a flash.
Fourth of July, Upper Moon.
Nolan, who was just over 100 experience points away from leveling up, suddenly became much more diligent.
The dark environment in the jungle was just beginning to recede.
Nolan had already picked up his sword and started moving. With the "Forest Passage" effect of the magic item, environmental obstacles were no longer an issue.
More agile movement.
Allowed Nolan to quickly locate scattered goblins and monsters in the jungle.
When Nolan began to move, the little Evil Spirit Hound, which had been lying in the distant grass, also quickly got up and followed, but due to the obstruction of various plants and its speed being far behind Nolan's.
In just a few breaths, the little Evil Spirit Hound had lost sight of Nolan.
However.
"Woof."
The little Evil Spirit Hound shook off the dew on its body, raised its nose to sniff the air, and, using its keen sense of smell, dove into the forest to continue following.
Bang!
A half-meter-long armored beetle was kicked flying by Nolan, hitting a thick tree with a heavy thud.
Rustle~
The tree vibrated, and the dense branches and leaves made a rustling sound.
"Hiss hiss—"
However, the armored beetle got up from the ground unharmed, let out a piercing hiss, spread its thin wings that rose from its back, and pounced.
Whoosh!
"So tough!"
"As expected, goblins are easier to kill."
Nolan felt the strong wind rushing towards him, grumbled, and quickly moved sideways to the left, avoiding the armored beetle's charge.
At the same time, taking advantage of the armored beetle's inability to adjust its body shape once it charged, it crashed directly into the large tree behind the position Nolan had deliberately stood at.
Bang!
Another huge thud.
The powerful impact caused cracks in the sturdy tree, but it was also this force that caused the armored beetle to be knocked to the ground by its own rebound force.
Its unprotected abdomen was suddenly exposed.
Nolan's eyes flashed, and before the armored beetle could get back up from the ground, he quickly stepped forward, and his iron sword swiftly struck out.
Pfft!
"Hiss hiss—"
The armored beetle let out a violent hiss, then its body stopped moving.
'Gained 53 experience.'
'Experience bar: 9425 / 9500'
"Its shell is really hard. An ordinary iron sword can't cut through it at all. The weapon is still too poor."
"And the experience it gives is low. It's faster to kill two goblins in the same amount of time." Nolan shook his head and continued to search for prey in the surroundings.
In the lush jungle.
The cold gleam of the iron sword occasionally flickered, and ordinary beasts cried out in agony, turning into experience points.
With only about 70 experience points left, Nolan felt the time inexplicably long.
Bang—
A plump-looking wild rabbit was stepped on by Nolan in a flash.
The wild rabbit with gray, spotted fur kept kicking its legs, wanting to struggle free, but it clearly couldn't escape Nolan's strength.
An ordinary wild rabbit gave very little experience, but for Nolan at this moment, it was enough.
"Eleven o'clock two minutes. Just in time for lunch."
Nolan raised his palm, checked the time on his pocket watch, and a look of relief finally appeared on his face. He applied a little more force with his foot.
"Finally, I can leave this damned forest."
Although a month was not long, if he stayed in the jungle any longer, he felt he would turn into a wild man.
Puff!
The rabbit's head was crushed.
'Gained 1 experience point.'
'Experience bar: 0 / 10000 — Genius 10LV'