Cornflower Witch

Chapter 207 Corrosion of the Twin Serpent Cups
Standing before the extremely weakened 'White Velvet Spider', Hilti's eyes sparkled. In a vision undetectable to others, she saw the stagnant core ability within the spider's destiny plate and sensed something.

If the 'Destiny Card' represents one's true self, then the 'Core Card' represents the unique experiences or achievements of that individual—the shining points that transcend mediocrity.

The petrified lizard from before, and the spider before us, are monsters who, through a certain behavior over a long period of time, have achieved a balance of the 'three-phase law'. That is, by relying on their own strength and skills, they have completed a certain practical trial, condensed their past experiences and achievements, opened up a brand new core, and stepped into the third stage.

This method of advancing to the third tier is rather rudimentary, and the core abilities gained are largely dependent on luck, with both good and bad outcomes. It is available to most wild beasts and monsters.

Humans and other intelligent beings, through centuries of exploration and accumulation, have now mastered extremely complex and mature methods of advancement, acquired more diverse core abilities, and can combine them to achieve a synergistic effect of 1+1>3.

Just like her role as a gardener, cultivating plants is actually the result of the superposition of multiple abilities such as 'Dew Prayer Method', 'Pruning Method', 'Nature Perception', and 'Emerald Eye Potion', which allows her to cultivate multiple other first-tier plants even at the first tier.

Such a scenario seems reasonable, but in fact, it is almost impossible to achieve in the original natural environment. In this world, all life forms of the same rank, whether animals or plants, are equal in the face of the laws of the world. There is no crushing difference in rank or a chasm-like gap in strength.

If a first-order individual can cultivate several first-order plants in a short period of time, from the perspective of the origin of the world, this is equivalent to creating multiple 'selves' in a short period of time, just like a 100-pound person lifting a weight of more than 300 pounds, which is an act that breaks common sense.

But in reality, some people can do it. In the current superhuman system, it is commonplace for a second-tier genius to defeat multiple enemies of the same tier.

So how exactly did such a huge gap in strength arise when their rank was not overwhelming and their abilities were limited to three?
The answer is to accumulate expertise and continuously strengthen oneself by utilizing knowledge, skills, and external resources.

It appears to be a battle between a second-tier Sylvia and a third-tier White Velvet Spider, but upon closer analysis, it turns out to be:
'Sylvia,' empowered by a combination of 'Moonlight Breathing Technique,' 'Discerning Eyes,' 'Alien Perception,' 'Space Travel,' 'Golden Blade,' 'White Flower Armor,' 'Nameless Blade Technique,' 'Demon Blood Vine,' and 'Vine Overgrowth,' faces off against 'White Velvet Giant Spider,' who combines 'Silent Steps,' 'Blood Eyes,' and 'Nest-Building Insects.'

Even though the 'White Velvet Giant Spider' had the advantage of its rank, this advantage was offset by Hilti's multifaceted abilities, knowledge, skills, weapons, and vine seeds, ultimately leading to its defeat.

After understanding what core abilities were all about, Hilti quickly came up with the various abilities she now possessed.

Overall, she possesses a complete set of abilities, knowledge, and skills in the horticulturist field. If she could acquire the core ability to enhance her cultivation skills, she would be able to further leverage her strengths and cultivate second- or even third-tier plants.

However, if she chooses combat-related core abilities, the advantage will not be so obvious, since she has not yet learned a systematic set of combat skills. If she chooses a warrior-related class, the general ability combination is 'breathing technique' + 'special combat skill' + 'footwork'. For example, Iona's ability combination at that time was 'Sunlight Breathing Technique' + 'Golden Needle Thrust' + 'Bee Dance Step'.

Other combat professions are similar, all being developed and expanded upon based on similar foundations.

From this perspective, my first core ability should continue to leverage my strengths. It would be best to choose the 'Courtyard' which enhances nurturing abilities, and then use it to expand my foundation, acquire various resources, and then turn around to accelerate the growth of my combat class abilities.

The phrase "farming and fighting are one" came to mind for no apparent reason. Farming is for better fighting, and fighting is for better farming; neither can be dispensed with.

A thriving economy provides the resources to enhance combat capabilities, and sufficient combat capabilities are essential to protecting one's gains.

In that instant, the things she needed to do became clear, and Hiltiya felt a sense of relief, snapping out of her thoughts.

The enormous spider before her, on the verge of annihilation… She thought for a moment, then used her innate ability once more to unseal the stripped core power and return it to the spider. Soon, the sealed core power regained its brilliance, and the spider, having recovered some of its strength, immediately began to struggle.

Seeing that the other party's eyes and actions were still full of ferocity and bloodlust, Hilti had to give up her idea of ​​sparing him.

After all, it had helped her test her idea. She originally didn't want to kill the other party, but unfortunately, the spider's intelligence was too low to understand complex emotions, and it could only follow its instincts to eat or kill.

After trying to communicate again to no avail, Hilti shook her head, then drew her long sword and slashed down, instantly ending the other's pain.

After dealing with the giant spider, Hilti looked around. By now, all the other low-level spiders had fled, probably frightened by the pheromones emitted by the dead giant spider.

In their not-so-bright minds, this girl was a monster capable of killing the powerful 'White Velvet Giant Spider,' so she must be someone they couldn't possibly defeat, and they had to escape quickly.

This is good; the forest looks much quieter now.

Hilti dismembered the dead spider, taking out the useful 'White Spider Fangs' (Tier 3, Excellent) and eight 'Spider Blood Eyes' (Tier 3, Good). After cleaning these materials, she put them in a leather bag.

Thinking that this giant spider had been entrenched in the forest for a long time and might have accumulated some treasures or hidden some resources, Hilti once again took her lantern and began to patrol.

Spider webs along the way were burned one by one. After the dead branches and spider webs that had been obscuring the forest sky were cleared away, the depths of the forest gradually became bright.

A breeze swept in from the sky, dispersing the smells of spider webs and skeletal remains, and making the air a bit cleaner.

Walking among the withered leaves and bones on the ground, Hilti carefully examined them.

There were no weapons or equipment left behind. Even if there were, they were likely completely digested by the spiders, leaving no trace.

After walking for about half an hour, Hilti had found nothing, which made the girl slightly disappointed.

She thought there would be the usual treasure hunt segment, she thought to herself, thinking that maybe she had played too many games in her past life and developed some unnecessary expectations.

However, just as she was about to give up, she found a heavily rusted ancient artifact in the decaying soil.

This object is roughly shaped like a metal cup, with strange snakes wrapped around its sides. Now, one of the snake heads is broken off, and the side of the cup has been corroded, leaving a hole.

'Corroded Twin Serpent Cup' (Fragmented): You perceive that this artifact simultaneously retains the auras of both 'death' and 'nightmare'. However, unlike anything you've seen before, these two auras harmonize perfectly on the cup, creating a cold and profound atmosphere that draws you in.

(End of this chapter)