Reincarnated as a bamboo rat, it begins its extreme survival struggle.

It's worth noting that when Bell initially chose his skills, his choices led him to focus on mental growth, and now that he has activated [Gluttony], he can reach the level of a Warcraft player.

If the initial choice had been a competitive eater, Bear Grylls' physical strength could have been even greater.

"Unfortunately, this is not a permanent state. When I made the initial choice, I chose [Fire-loving Wisdom]. After making that choice, [Gluttony] and [Mysterious Long Beard] could not become permanent states on me."

After further research into the "competitive eating" phenomenon, Bell discovered that to maintain his competitive eating status, he needed to have plenty of energy in his body. This energy could be in any form, but the key was that it had to go through the process of chewing, swallowing, and digestion—a necessary ritual.

Only through the energy transformed by this ritual can the absurd skill of "big eater" take effect.

The effectiveness of the ritual also depends on the deliciousness of the food consumed. Eating a hundred servings of disgusting food rich in magic may not be as good as a single serving of exquisite ordinary fried rice.

It is foreseeable that the triggering method for the [Mysterious Long Beard] should be similar to that of the [Big Eater], requiring some kind of ritual to accumulate energy in order to activate this skill.

Only the chosen skill, [Fire-Loving Wisdom], can remain permanently on Bell without consuming any other energy.

"Three, two, one, squeeze tight! Hold on! Relax!"

After figuring out the situation of the "Big Eater," Bell deliberately withdrew the energy that activated the "Big Eater" within his body, allowing his body to slowly shrink back into its previous small, fluffy shape.

Once he shrinks back to his smaller size, the energy required to maintain his "Big Eater" status no longer needs to be consumed. Bell can store this energy and use it at crucial moments.

Once in "big eater" mode, the energy required depends on the intensity of Bear Grylls' exercise. If he maintains this high-intensity exercise, his energy will be quickly depleted.

However, when you enter a state of eating and sleeping like last night, the rate of energy consumption is almost negligible.

"Unfortunately, the [Big Eater] state and magic do not interact. The physical body becomes stronger and the magic power in the body does not increase, but remains unchanged. If we could think of a way to simultaneously fill the body with magic power after entering the Big Eater state, that would be great."

Bell flicked his tail and considered using the [Azure Tear] ring, which contained a massive amount of magic power, as an additional source of magic power.

But after careful consideration, Bell abandoned the idea.

The magical structure of this ring is extremely complex. Bell's magical power is not high enough to alter the ring's structure, so he can only make it work passively.

"I don't know what methods mages have to quickly replenish their mana, but as a bard, I should be able to quickly gather mana and fill myself up with it through chanting."

Having already planned what to do today, Bell jumped out of Edu's room and prepared to have lunch.

For a long time to come, eating on time will be a must for Bear Grylls.

Improving the "Big Eater" skill is unlike "Fire-Loving Wisdom," which requires burning things and being in fire. The description of "Big Eater" is very clear: you only need to eat and sleep to gradually become stronger.

From this perspective, this skill can be seen as a lazy person's dream skill, unlike [Fire Wisdom] which is complicated to operate and slow to grow.

"Speaking of which, didn't that buffalo chef say he'd cook for free as long as you had decent magical beast ingredients? I need to find a chance to get some good magical beasts."

In fact, the inspiration for the three skills, [Big Eater], [Fire-Loving Wisdom], and [Mysterious Long Beard], all came from Famine.

Chapter 110 First Major Defeat

"Let's go, Mr. Bell, it's time to go to school."

With Bell in his pocket, Edu walked toward the music academy.

There are classes at the music academy in the afternoon, but the classes are short, only two hours long. The rest of the time is spent getting familiar with instruments and reading in the library.

Familiarity with musical instruments and reading books were also very important to Bell.

Unlike Edu, who was preparing to choose a specific instrument, Bell wanted to record the sounds that all the instruments in the music academy could produce.

This is a big deal; Bell wants to recreate the music of Earth using the different notes from these different instruments.

In this world where music and lyrics possess immense power, the imagery and musical theories contained within these musical works, developed over many years, will radiate an astonishing brilliance.

With these thoughts in mind, Bell, perched on Edu's shoulder, watched the people coming and going in the surrounding market.

There were many more people at the market today, especially many adventurers who were covered in wounds and half-crippled.

'These are... the adventurers I encountered while exploring the Bone Spire?!'

Suddenly, Bell saw several familiar figures; they were the adventurers he had encountered while exploring the Bone Spire.

Although it was just a fleeting glimpse in the bamboo forest, Bell's photographic memory still remembered their features. Even though the group was covered in wounds and some of them were wrapped up like dumplings, Bell still recognized them.

'What's going on? Didn't I speedrun that Bone Spire? Why are these people still so badly injured? They weren't weak either.'

Bell couldn't understand it. Judging by the timeline, these adventurers were able to appear in Azure Star City, but they didn't have the ability to venture into other Bone Spires.

This unusual situation piqued Bell's curiosity, and he tugged at Edu's collar, signaling him to go forward and question the group of adventurers.

"Everyone, did you go to explore the Bone Spire? Why are you all so badly injured?"

"Don't even mention it. Someone set a trap inside the Tower of Bones and tricked us."

Under Edu's questioning, the few adventurers among the group who were not seriously injured recounted what had happened to them.

They painstakingly cleared away the living remains surrounding the Bone Spire. The skeletons of those beasts were only a bit of a nuisance to them, but as long as they were handled properly, they posed no threat.

The process of clearing out the reanimated remains took a considerable amount of time. For these adventurers, only the wisp of soul fire on these reanimated remains was valuable, but the magical tubes that could collect the soul fire were far more valuable, and the amount of soul fire they could collect was extremely limited.

Humans don't have the ability to swallow soul fire to absorb spiritual energy and strengthen themselves, unlike fire-chewing hyenas and Bear Grylls.

For these adventurers, dealing with these living remains on the outskirts is like manual labor; although there's some profit to be made, it can't compare to the overnight riches of entering the Bone Spire and taking away a secret treasure.

"But when we arrived at the Bone Spire, we found that it had been explored. The bone walls, which would have taken a long time to carve out, were riddled with holes by some unknown force."

Enter the Bone Spire

Afterwards, the group of adventurers were dumbfounded. There were signs that the Bone Spire had been explored, and these signs were very recent, basically from the same time that they discovered the Bone Spire.

In other words, someone completed the exploration of the Bone Spire right under their noses, and the adventurers were completely unaware of it.

This situation dampened their spirits; they weren't afraid of danger, but they feared that their trip would be fruitless.

Amidst their trepidation, the group of adventurers, continuing their ascent along Bell's old path, actually found some valuable items in the ruins Bell had abandoned.

When Bell was exploring the Bone Spire, there was only one criterion for judging whether an item was a treasure: whether it could trigger [Information Insight].

Some items that were no longer recognized by [Information Insight] due to the passage of time still had considerable value, and some gems and precious metals that were buried with the deceased were not taken by Bell.

The adventurers had looted these things, so their expedition wasn't a complete loss, since the bosses inside the Bone Spire had all fallen to Bell, and there was no longer any danger here.

But adventurer groups, regardless of individual strength, are always capable of courting death.

Previously, Bell had not touched the coffins of the tomb owner's wife and daughters, but this group, wanting to obtain more treasures, ignored the tomb owner's warnings and opened them.

Inside these two coffins were indeed treasures that Bell hadn't taken away, but they also released two extremely dangerous monsters.

Two dark and profound energies rose from the coffin and merged into one.

This boss has no physical form; it is neither a mutated undead creature nor a magical being. It is simply a mass of dark energy.

According to the adventure group's description, the BOSS they encountered had no fixed appearance or characteristics. It completely ignored physical attacks and could freely transform and change its form to evade incoming magical attacks.

The boss, resembling a wisp of mist, possesses a teleportation-like ability, allowing it to instantly appear beside adventurers across space and deliver a low, terrifying shriek to specifically target their sanity and soul.

Of course, this guy can also mobilize the death energy that fills the bone spike and entangle the unlucky ones it has locked onto.

Death energy is an extremely troublesome thing. Bell, who breathes internally through magic, is almost able to isolate himself from external energy interference. Even he has a great headache when facing this death energy, let alone these human adventurers.

After most of the main members were injured and eight people died, the group of adventurers finally withdrew from the Bone Spire.

The monster formed from the condensation of dark energy continued to pursue them until they reached the edge of the Bone Spire's influence.

"Phew, thank goodness I didn't touch those two coffins."

︿(￣︶￣)︿

With his hands shrugged, Bell indicated that he had listened to advice and was eating well.

But now there is another problem. Given the casualties at the time, the adventurers who successfully escaped should not have ended up in such a miserable state, needing to sell their supplies on the market to raise money for medical expenses.

Bell gestured for Edu to continue asking questions, guessing that something else must have happened after they escaped the Bone Spire.

As the conversation continued, Edu's brows furrowed, and Bell's expression suddenly became strange.

According to the adventurers' descriptions, outside the Bone Spire, they encountered a massive, enraged, and animated skeleton, as well as a horde of monsters with a strong purpose, hunting humans.

It wasn't just the adventure group Bell encountered; all the adventure groups developing the White Bone Spire in various parts of the Bamboo Forest experienced the same situation.

This was an unprecedented large-scale riot, which directly caused a major rout for the adventurers who ventured deep into the bamboo forest, and this is why many adventurers returned wounded.

It is said that only two large adventure groups can still set up camps in the inner part of the bamboo forest, but neither can enter the depths of the bamboo forest.

Chapter 111 The Realm of Collaborative Performance

"The first group of adventurers suffered a crushing defeat. Although it was expected, we did not expect it to happen so quickly."

Leaving the market filled with the wounded, Bell was not surprised that the adventurers would suffer a crushing defeat.

He discovered this while exploring the Bone Spire; the undead within the large Bone Spire were terrifyingly powerful, and Bell couldn't possibly defeat opponents like the mutated zombies without resorting to tricks.

Even with the mutated zombie weakened, Bell couldn't fight it. Over 700 points of physical strength meant that a single slap could kill Bell, that Bell's attacks were practically incapable of breaking through its defenses, and that he was invincible in close combat within confined spaces.

Let alone Bell, even if you brought a group of high-level adventurers, they would only be able to flee in panic inside the Bone Spire, and some team members might even die if they were not careful.

"And those auras of death, those are the truly troublesome ones."

Recalling the feeling of being surrounded by the aura of death, even with the warm early winter sun shining on him, Bell felt a chill run down his spine.

According to members of those adventure groups, selling items or potions that can resist the aura of death in the bamboo forest is now a legitimate way to get rich overnight.

There are also many pharmacists in Cangxing City who are working through the night to make potions to resist death energy. The price of this stuff changes every day, and it only goes up and never down.

This situation has spurred a large number of related adventure quests, with a massive number of low-level adventurers heading to other dangerous places to find potion ingredients. In the Alchemist Guild, there are also a large number of apprentice alchemists carrying out basic processing of raw medicinal materials.