Wizard: The exploration panel keeps me pure.

One day later.

Ron traversed a dark, damp swamp, surrounded by miasma. A giant black banyan tree blocked his path, its ghastly green canopy obscuring the entire sky, with only faint light filtering through the gaps illuminating this small patch of land.

Even as a novice wizard apprentice, his visibility was only about ten meters around him.

He trudged through the pale red mud, his mind tense, intently observing his surroundings.

"Click!"

Suddenly, I heard the sound of a branch snapping beside me.

Ron quickly dodged in the opposite direction, while looking toward the source of the disturbance, where a dry tree branch fell to the ground.

"Phew~"

He exhaled deeply and continued to explore his surroundings.

After receiving his assignment from the office yesterday, he returned to his dormitory to prepare for today's operation.

Before the sun rose in the early morning, I set off from the academy under the moonlight. I rented a carriage in the city of Red Moon outside the academy for gold coins and arrived here in just two hours.

Once he entered the area, he began searching in a small area according to the information about black hogs and wild boars recorded in the book.

However, no findings have been made so far.

Just as Ron was about to rest for a while, an unexpected incident occurred: a creaking sound came from not far away.

A thought suddenly occurred to me: black boars train themselves by rubbing their bodies against tree trunks during the midday sun when it is at its strongest.

"Finally found it."

With a slight thought, he took out a test tube from the backpack behind him. This was his preparation for this hunting trip: a scent assimilation drug.

Its function is also very simple: to assimilate its own scent with the surrounding environment, thereby achieving the effect of concealing itself.

The session lasted about two hours, and he had prepared three in total; now was the time to use them.

Following the direction from which the sound came, and through the obstruction of bushes and tree trunks, a robust black pig appeared before them.

"This is it."

The boar not far away was nearly 1.5 times larger than a normal wild boar, with a shoulder height of about 1.8 meters. Its body was covered with asphalt-colored bristles, the tips of which were covered with sulfur crystals, and it would scatter pungent dust when it rubbed against trees. Two spiral tusks protruded from its snout, constantly dripping a bluish-green liquid, which, upon landing on the withered grass on the ground, directly corroded it completely.

Ron looked at the behemoth, and the information about it appeared in his eyes:

Black porpoise and wild boar

[Attributes: Constitution 2.43, Spirit 0.67]

[Rank: Zero-ring Monster]

[Pollution Level: Physical 89%, Mental 1.79/0.67]

[Review: This is truly a perfect resource, but be careful not to provoke it, or it will mutate.]

[The following approach is recommended for bloodline evolution and reducing contamination levels]

Option 1: Incorporate the bloodline of the "Pure White Pig"; Option 2...

"The perfect resource? Mutation?"

I was a little confused about the meaning of that sentence. I didn't understand how a pig could change. But looking at its constitution, which was over two points, and its pollution level, a bad feeling flashed through my mind.

He shook his head, put those thoughts aside, and focused on the matter at hand.

The black boar opposite kept nudging the tree for about ten minutes before finally stopping and resting under the tree.

Seeing this, Ron thought to himself that it was a good opportunity. He immediately gathered magic power in his hand and conjured a fireball, just in time to see that the big guy was looking in his direction.

He flung the fireball that had already formed in his hand at the man's face, and without looking back, quickly retreated from the spot.

"Ugh!"

But before he could get far, a piercing scream came from behind him.

Upon hearing this sound, he immediately felt dizzy and his steps began to falter. He quickly used his mental energy to form a transparent shield around his ears to block out external sounds, and only then did he return to normal.

"Hiss~ This big guy is not easy to deal with either."

Seeing that they were far enough away from each other, they stopped and looked back.

A large black pig engulfed in green flames was seen rampaging around, snapping saplings in half as it crashed into them.

He sniffed, and the aroma of roasting meat wafted through the air.

"Wait a little longer."

Ron stood still, waiting for the guy to exhaust his last bit of strength so he could go up and deliver the final blow.

After about 15 minutes, the black boar's movements gradually stopped, and the fire on its body gradually went out.

Staring at the big guy over there, until it lay motionless on the ground, he drew the knight's sword that he always carried at his waist and carefully controlled his steps to approach the charred and steaming creature.

Aiming at the target, he plunged his sword into the wild boar's heart.

"Pfft!"

To his surprise, a few seconds after the blade entered the other person's body, the person opened their eyes again.

But the pupils were no longer the black and white of before; instead, they were blood-red, filled with malice, staring straight at Ron in front of him.

Ron immediately retreated again, while frantically gathering magic power in his right hand, condensing another fireball.

Just then, the boar-man on the ground stood up, its charred skin peeling off to reveal half-red, half-white flesh that was still writhing.

Upon seeing this, his eyes narrowed, and he used the panel to examine the other party's information:

[Black Boar - Flesh Mutation - Contaminated Body]

【Attributes: Constitution 3.41 (2.43) Spirit 0.14 (0.67)】

[Rank: Zero-ring Monster]

[Pollution Level: Physical 92%, Mental 2.45/0.67]

[Comment: Are you ready to face the wrath of the "gods"?]

[Since no solutions exist to reduce pollution, it is recommended to use the "water immersion and fire roasting" method to "purify" it.]

"???"

"Mutated flesh? Corrupted entities? 'Gods'?"

This time, a series of unfamiliar words appeared on the panel, leaving Ron puzzled. However, this did not prevent him from assessing the current situation.

"Damn it, this thing wasn't mentioned at all in the academy's mission information."

The thought of running away had already formed in my mind. Although I hadn't gained anything this time, the losses weren't significant either, and I could accept them completely.

Unfortunately, even if he wanted to run away, he had to see if the other party would agree.

The giant creature opposite clearly couldn't bear to let the boy leave, and several fleshy tentacles suddenly shot out from behind it, extending towards him at an extremely fast speed.

Looking at that disgusting creature, Ron thought it was cuter when it was the way it used to be.

He threw the fireball he had been preparing at the opponent.

"Bang!" Sparks flew everywhere.

"You've won."

"Whoosh." The scarlet tentacles flew towards Ron at an even faster speed, clearly indicating that the previous attack had not been effective.

Looking at those strange tentacles, he felt a strong sense of nausea and disgust, and quickly quickened his pace, afraid of being touched by those things.

The two chased and fled, and the commotion they made startled all the other creatures in the swamp.

But the pig behind Ron lived up to its name as a corrupted entity, with tentacles on its back seemingly endlessly extending, chasing the fleeing boy while also hunting down other creatures in the forest.

It's like poking a hole in every time.

Noticing what was happening behind him, his expression darkened further. He hadn't expected that what he thought would be a simple task would turn out to be so difficult.

I opened the panel and glanced at my own screen. The energy section has now changed to:

[Energy: Magic 3.23/5]

"We don't have much magic left, we need to think of something quickly."

Just as he was thinking this, a muddy river suddenly appeared not far ahead.

"water?"

Remembering the advice on how to deal with the monster behind him from the previous panel, he had an idea and, without thinking twice, ran straight towards the river.

The guy behind him hesitated for a moment, then followed.

He stopped when he reached the riverbank, and as soon as he stopped, the tentacles behind him followed closely.

He ignored those things and began to manipulate the water in the river using his spiritual power.

Just as the tentacles were about to touch him.

"puff!!!"

A stream of water shot into the sky, heading straight towards the direction of the monster.

The tentacles behind them fell to the ground as soon as they touched the water, wriggling wildly like newly unearthed earthworms, and the monster did the same.

"Bang bang bang!"

The fleshy tentacles lashed out like steel whips, striking the surrounding giant trees with dull thuds and leaving marks on the trunks.

Seeing this, fearing that the guy might go crazy and hurt him, he immediately started making fireballs in his hands.

Then he casually tossed it aside.

"boom!"

As if it had come into contact with gasoline, flames shot into the sky, turning the originally dark swamp into a bright red.

"..."

Ron watched the scene unfold calmly, unsure of what to say.

As the flames gradually died down, sunlight shone into the swamp. On the scorched earth, a sparkling gem gleaming with a blinding red light caught his eye.

"That is?"