Chapter 204 - Pulling The Beast Core Out
A few minutes later, the crocodiles could only return to their territory empty handed. They were behind for a few seconds, and from the start, they no longer had the chance to catch up to him.
At this moment, the culprit- Ban, was already a hundred meters away from the edge of the crocodile's territory. He knew that it was already safe here, as he knew that the crocodiles were very territorial and they would not leave their territory as long as they were not threatened to leave by a strong Beast.
At this time, Ban was above a huge tree yet again. He was sitting on the root of a huge tree while reclining on its trunk comfortably. Beneath him were muddy water and a bunch of aquatic plants floating around its surface.
Eva was still on his shoulder, but she had now reverted back to her normal appearance. Even though her figure no longer fit on his shoulder, she was still clinging into it stubbornly.
Ban did mind her. He even hugged, praised, and kissed her cheek earlier due to her huge help earlier.
Anyways, after he settled down on the root, he immediately concentrated his mind again as he summoned the corpse of the Enraged Crocodile.
The massive corpse of the Enraged Crocodile materialized in front of him a moment later, causing the water to splash around.
According to the Book of Techniques, the Beast Core of the Enraged Crocodile and the Mild Tempered Crocodile was located on their heart. Ban flipped the corpse over allowing it to float in the water with its belly exposed.
Using the Poisonous Butterfly Dagger, Ban easily sliced through the skin of the Enraged Crocodile, revealing a massive wound in the process. However, strangely enough, no blood came out of the wound.
Ban thought that it was probably because it has already died and it has already lost a lot of blood on the Throne Challenge earlier so he did not mind it.
After making a wide enough wound, he inserted his hand right into it, to pull out the Beast Core underneath it.
However, a frown appeared on his face a moment later, as no matter what angle he tried to 'reach' he seemed to not be able to get a hold of the Beast Core inside.
He reviewed the information and knowledge provided by the System and the Book of Techniques, before he tried once again. Unfortunately, the result was still the same.
"System, what's going on? Aren't all Lord Grade Beast supposed to have Beast Core?" Ban asked doubtfully.
The System did not let him ponder about it for long as it answered his doubts instantly.
[Host, you have used the ability of Greed- Plunder, on this corpse. According to the System's calculation, the Beast Core was destroyed during the process, in exchange for gaining a higher chance of obtaining a good Skill.
It was an equivalent exchange Host.
If this ability was used on a normal Beast, your chances of getting good Skill would also become nigh impossible.
The System also reminds the Host that the essence of this corpse was no longer present. It was also absorbed by the ability- Plunder to conjure the knowledge of the necessary skill.
]
Seeing the System's explanation, Ban could only sigh in defeat.
'You really need to exchange something good, to get something good in return, huh!'
Although he was already aware that the Plunder ability will take the essence of the target to conjure the Skill, he did not expect that it would fancy the Beast Core of the Beast.
A moment later, Ban calmed his emotion as he accepted the reality. If the Beast Core was not present, he guessed that the Skill he would get might even be only the Claw Swipe of the crocodile. The Enraged Crocodile Roar was certainly better than that Claw Swipe Skill by a large margin.
The Claw Swipe Skill was an attack-type Skill, while the Enraged Crocodile Roar was an intimidation and crowd control-type Skill. Although the Claw Swipe would be more practical, Ban actually liked the Enraged Crocodile Skill more.
Being restrained for at least 10 seconds was already a lot. He could do plenty of things during this period of time, and before they could awaken to the 'fear', he might have already ended their life by then.
The only problem was it's long cooldown, in which he would not be able to use multiple times during a single battle, just like any other of his skills.
Ban looked at the huge corpse of the Enraged Crocodile with mixed feelings.
At this moment, the corpse no longer has any use. One can even compare it into an empty bucket, in which the bucket would no longer be usable after a single use.
If it was not a product of the Plunder Ability, Ban thought that it's whole corpse should be able to be sold for as high as 1000 Gold Coins. After all, it was a Lord Grade Beast.
Unfortunately, the corpse no longer has any use since it's essence was already absorbed by Plunder.
Even if one cooked it, it would not taste great, and eating sand might be better than it. Even a scavenger-type Beast might not even take a glance at it.
Ban shook his head a while later as he concentrated his mind once more. The corpse of the evolving Mild Tempered Crocodile naturally appeared in front of him a moment later.
It was smaller than the first corpse, but only by a small margin.
It was only an F-Apprentice Rank at the moment and an Elite Grade Beast.
Ban's mood finally lifted up after seeing the corpse of this crocodile. Unlike the Enraged Crocodile, it was Eva herself who killed this Beast. And naturally, a System notification was presented on the '!' icon right after she killed it.
Ban had already inspected it on his way here so he was confident that there was really a Beast Core inside of it. Although it was only low quality, it was better than nothing.
Ban flipped the corpse of the Mild Tempered Crocodile over, exposing it's yellowish belly in front of him.
He twirled the dagger on his hand as he prepared to slash the area between its front legs, to pull out the Beast Core that he was a hundred percent certain was present inside.
Ban slashed that spot easily, this time, fresh blood gushes out of the wound like a fountain. Blood dyed his hand but Ban just ignored it as he reached inside it to pull out the Beast Core.
A moment later, Ban felt something solid touching his hand. He became excited as he directly clutched it tightly, before he pulled it out of the wound with great force.
He raised his hand up in the air and right now, there was now Beast Core, with a size slightly smaller than a child's head present at the top of his hand.
Although red blood was still dripping from the Beast Core and his hands, Ban clearly saw its combination of pale brown and green color.
Ban smiled after successfully extracting the Beast Core, but a moment later, his smile immediately froze as he felt something gushing out of his throat as he forced himself to cough.
Cough! Cough!
And along with that cough, was the metallic taste of blood that has now gushed out on the corner of his mouth.
'What's happening?'