The apocalypse struck, and I became a druid.

Page 6

They are dark green in color, with a rough, bumpy surface, and each one is as thick as a strong man's index finger.

Two vines flashed and wrapped around one of the crocodile lizard's forelimbs, which was clinging to the edge of the balcony.

The other two coils wrapped around its neck as it had just poked its head in.

The remaining four snakes wrapped around its torso and hind limbs.

"Shout!"

The eight vines continued to tighten.

The young crocodile lizard was caught off guard and tied up tightly.

The scaly skin rubbed against the tough vines, making a teeth-grinding "crunching" sound.

[Vine Technique Proficiency +3, currently 98/100!]

Han Ning groaned, his face turning pale.

He had a certain sensitivity to manipulating vines, and the terrifying force from the crocodile lizard's struggle was fed back to him without reservation.

It felt as if ten wild bulls were tearing at his arm at the same time, causing his body to tremble slightly.

"This thing has terrifying power!"

Han Ning was horrified; this was still just an juvenile.

The crocodile lizards he had encountered before were all just attempts to toss them into the air; he had never had a one-on-one struggle like this.

He dared not slacken in the slightest, and did his best to maintain the restraint of the vines.

"Tighten! Tighten it!"

Under his mental control, the vines began to rapidly tighten and coil.

A deep green light flowed across the surface of the vines, enhancing their resilience to an unprecedented level.

Chapter 5 Upgrade

"Roar!" The crocodile lizard struggled even more frantically, its sharp mouth opening wide, spraying foul-smelling saliva everywhere.

Its thick, long tail lashed wildly across the relatively narrow balcony, striking the remnants of the metal security bars with loud "bangs."

But the vines still held it firmly, restricting its range of movement.

The two sides became locked in a pure power struggle.

Han Ning felt his spiritual energy being rapidly depleted.

[Spiritual Power: 8/10]

[Spiritual Power: 7/10]

[Vine Technique Proficiency +1, currently 99/100]

Faced with a life-or-death crisis, the crocodile lizard unleashed unprecedented power.

It slammed one of its hind legs against the wall, trying to free its neck from the entanglement.

One of the vines wrapped around the neck was being pushed and cracked, its dark green surface flashing violently, showing signs of breaking.

"We can't let it break free!"

A fierce glint flashed in Han Ning's eyes as he suddenly thought of the meat cleaver in the kitchen.

He focused a sliver of his attention on manipulating the vines to tighten their grip, while simultaneously shooting towards the kitchen like an arrow released from a bow.

I opened the drawer and grabbed the meat cleaver.

"Shoot..."

A piercing tearing sound rang out.

The vine that had been wrapped around the crocodile lizard's neck was finally snapped off by its brute strength and the sharp edges of its scales.

The crocodile lizard's head was briefly freed, and its yellow vertical pupils locked onto Han Ning, who was charging at it, and it bit Han Ning's arm holding the knife.

"Get out of the way!" Han Ning advanced instead of retreating, casually picking up a small wooden stool that was usually used to hang clothes and step on, and wedged it into the crocodile lizard's constantly opening and closing mouth.

Then he raised the meat cleaver and forcefully stabbed it deep into the crocodile lizard's mouth.

The mouth of the crocodile lizard is relatively soft and fragile.

In an instant, a stream of liquid with a strong fishy smell spurted out, which Han Ning narrowly dodged.

"Ow!"

The intense pain drove the young crocodile lizard completely insane.

Instead of trying to break free from the vines, it lunged forward.

The immense force slammed into Han Ning, causing both him and the beast to crash heavily into the glass sliding door of the balcony.

"boom!"

Han Ning felt as if his internal organs had been displaced by the shock.

"You bastard, this is so hard to bear."

He gritted his teeth, gripped the knife handle with both hands, and used all his strength to stir inside the crocodile lizard's frantically twisting and struggling throat.

"Die, die!"

The crocodile lizard struggled more and more violently, its slippery tail slapping the ground repeatedly.

With its limbs restrained, it could only wriggle its body like a crocodile, performing a "death roll"-like motion.

click!

A faint, crisp sound came from the base of the blade.

Followed by.

Ping Pong...

The relatively fragile blade could no longer hold up, and the part near the handle broke off instantly.

Only a small fragment of the sharp blade remained deep in the crocodile lizard's throat.

In Han Ning's hand, all that remained was a bare metal hilt.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, he controlled the vines, tightly binding the part of the crocodile lizard that had swallowed the blade, and tightening them continuously.

"Roar……"

The young crocodile lizard paused, and a hissing sound came from deep in its throat.

Large gushes of dark red blood gushed from its injured throat.

His body convulsed violently a few times, and the violent and ferocious light in his yellow vertical pupils dimmed and dissipated rapidly, like a candle flickering in the wind...

Finally, its slippery body went completely limp and stopped trembling.

[Vine Technique Proficiency +2, current 100/100, skill level increased!]

[Beginner Vine Technique → Intermediate Vine Technique]

"Phew... It's finally dead. It was so hard to kill even a cub."

Seeing that the crocodile lizard was no longer moving, Han Ning kicked its head aside. Unable to hold on any longer, it leaned against the glass door, panting heavily.

Sweat soaked through his pajamas, and the cold night wind and rain blew in through the broken security bars, hitting him and making him shiver.

At this moment, a sudden change occurred.

A wisp of pure blue light drifted out from the carcass of the crocodile lizard without warning.

It seemed to possess a life of its own, disappearing into Han Ning's chest.

"Uh?"

Before Han Ning could react, he froze.

Immediately afterwards, an indescribable warm current exploded from my heart and then surged to my limbs and bones.

Wherever this warm current passed, the muscle soreness from the battle and the fatigue from being highly stressed all quickly subsided.

Every cell in my body felt as if it had been parched for a long time and was now receiving a much-needed rain, eagerly absorbing the warm current.

He felt the "spiritual power" that had always been present within him begin to slowly increase.

A semi-transparent panel automatically appears:

Druid growth progress +14

[Druid level increased, Lv1 → Lv2, current progress 1/200]

[Spiritual Power Limit Increased! 10 → 15]

Current Spiritual Power: 7/15

[Awakening New Skill: Animal Companion]

"Killing these monsters... can actually yield such benefits?" Han Ning was astonished as he experienced the changes in his body.

"Furthermore, after the upgrade, the Druid's growth progress will not overflow, but will be reset to 0 and start accumulating again..."

Previously, I practiced my skills diligently to improve my proficiency. Although I also gained Druid experience, the progress was relatively slow.

The experience gained from killing a juvenile crocodile lizard actually allowed him to break through the Lv1 bottleneck.

This means that, in addition to burying oneself in hard training, hunting these monsters from another world is a shortcut to quickly becoming stronger.

"Killing a cub almost cost me my life, I mustn't be reckless!"

Thinking of those ferocious crocodile lizards, Han Ning's face fell, realizing that this energy wasn't so easy to obtain.

Next, Han Ning turned his attention to the vine technique.

The Vine Technique has been upgraded from beginner to intermediate; I wonder how effective it will be.

He couldn't wait to try it.

Han Ning slowly stood up, carefully avoiding the crocodile lizard corpse on the ground and the murky blood around him, and walked to the center of the living room.

With just a thought, the even more powerful spiritual energy within his body surged rapidly into his arms, gathering in his palms, like soldiers receiving orders.