71: Fungal Alloy Combat Suit

By the time the battle between Qiao Yu and the Shadow Cat ended, dawn was breaking. After an hour of rest, Qiao Yu began the process of migrating the fungal nest.

After consuming a small amount of flesh and blood mycelium, the hunger in his stomach disappeared. Qiao Yu looked at the massive structure before him, feeling a bit troubled.

Before the fungal nest expanded, its size was manageable and could be stored within his body. But now, with thousands of cubic meters, how could he fit it all inside?

With a thought, Qiao Yu tried to absorb the fungal nest into his body. The structure, originally made of reinforced concrete, began to shed squirming clumps of flesh.

The clumps of flesh continuously wriggled towards Qiao Yu and attached themselves to him.

As more and more clumps of flesh attached to Qiao Yu, his entire body began to expand proportionally.

When the remaining hundreds of cubic meters of fungal swarm had completely merged into Qiao Yu's body, he transformed into a giant made of flesh and blood.

'If the fungal nest develops further in the future and I absorb it all, won't I be able to fight the Golden-Horned Beast evenly?'

Qiao Yu was quite satisfied with the proportional increase in his size, because not only did he become larger, but he also felt his physical fitness rise accordingly, reaching at least the strength of a beginner War God Level.

However, his speed might still be limited by his size, making it impossible for his body to be as agile as before.

The living room on the first floor of the residential building could barely accommodate Qiao Yu standing, so he could only curl up on the ground as much as possible.

"It's just that this combat suit, worth eighty million, is probably gone."

Qiao Yu said speechlessly, clutching his forehead.

"Squeak! Squeak!"

Just as Qiao Yu was lamenting, the Dai Mao Rat King emerged from the sewer again.

Seeing Qiao Yu transformed into such a colossal body, the Rat King trembled, prostrated itself on the ground, and bowed.

Qiao Yu was still troubled about how to move the fungal nest out of the county town, but at the sight of Damao, he suddenly had a good idea.

A single target is too conspicuous, so why not distribute the fungal nest evenly among the Rat Monsters?

Divided among tens of thousands of Rat Monsters, each would only carry less than one cubic meter.

After communicating with the Dai Mao Rat King through his mind, it immediately understood, returning to the sewers to gather the rat army.

"Squeak!"

"Squeak!"

...Seeing the Rat Monsters swarming out, dense like ants.

Qiao Yu no longer delayed, directly detaching the fungal nest from his body and distributing it evenly among the tens of thousands of Rat Monsters.

The Rat Monsters, originally only twenty to thirty centimeters in size, instantly began to swell, and also started to be assimilated by the fungal nest.

Qiao Yu had a feeling that in the future, if he wanted to, he could completely decompose the fungal nest directly into individual Rat Monsters, and he would no longer need to rely on their strength.

Now back to his original size, Qiao Yu was completely naked, with fragments of the combat suit scattered on the ground.

Qiao Yu remembered that the fungal nest had previously hinted that it could devour weapon alloys, but at the time, he didn't have his own weapon, so he forgot to continue researching it.

Qiao Yu picked up a fragment of the combat suit and asked the system internally.

'System, these combat suits should also be able to be devoured, right?'

[Ding! Detecting special Earth alloy material. Analyzing...]

[Analysis complete! host can replicate and optimize it using the fungal swarm. Required fungal swarm: 10,000 milliliters.]

'Only 10,000 milliliters, that's nothing. Replicate!'

Ever since the fungal swarm began to be measured in cubic meters, millennial-level consumption was no longer a concern for Qiao Yu.

Before long, a combat suit identical to the original adhered to Qiao Yu's skin like flesh.

Qiao Yu gently patted the back of his blood shadow battle blade against this combat suit, which was optimized and composed of the fungal swarm.

Not only was its texture no less than that of the original alloy combat suit, but because it was synthesized by the fungal swarm, its internal structure was even denser, and its impact resistance was greatly improved.

Qiao Yu could reasonably suspect that the performance of this fungus alloy combat suit had completely surpassed that of the original D6 series combat suits.

'If I were to sell this fungus alloy combat suit, wouldn't I make a fortune again?'

'No, no, this is called benefiting family members! Hmm, my perspective has instantly broadened.'

The more Qiao Yu thought about it, the more feasible it seemed. Ten thousand milliliters of fungal swarm cost almost nothing? It could completely be called turning zero cost into money.

At that time, not only would the price be cheaper, but the quality would also be better, bringing down the prices of those capitalists!

A full set of D6 series combat suits costs 80 million, and a D7 series costs several hundred million.

If martial artists could buy better combat suits at more affordable prices, wouldn't they be able to better preserve their lives in the Wilderness Area?

Moreover, all of this could be done under the name of Thunder God, and the benefits of being close to Thunder God were now apparent.

Qiao Yu currently only placed ten bottles of Warlord Level water of rebirth in the martial artist mall for sale. The system in the background would automatically deduct the fungal swarm quantity to help users regenerate severed limbs.

Even with the deduction of fungal swarm, the Warlord Level water of rebirth would at most consume tens of cubic meters, so the remaining quantity was affordable, but he had to transfer and develop the fungal nest as soon as possible.

After ordering the Dai Mao Rat King to migrate, Qiao Yu mounted his off-road motorcycle and departed.

Normally, given the speed of martial artists and the dangers of the Wilderness Area, martial artists generally do not use vehicles when hunting, choosing to travel on foot instead.

However, the road to County-level City No. 0201 had just been cleared by the army, so the density of monsters on the road was not high.

On the other hand, people are inherently lazy; even a long-distance running champion wouldn't usually run at race speed on the road at other times.

Qiao Yu could reach the city at an extremely fast speed, but that would also be exhausting, unless there was an emergency.

As soon as Qiao Yu got on the off-road motorcycle, he felt something was off with his butt; the seat seemed a bit too soft.

As Qiao Yu stood up, the motorcycle beneath him transformed, turning into a Shadow Cat with jet-black fur.

'Isn't this the Warlord Level Shadow Cat from earlier?'

Qiao Yu exclaimed in surprise.

He had no idea that this Shadow Cat had merged with the off-road motorcycle.

"Meow—"

The Shadow Cat rubbed its licked paw pad against its cheek, letting out a gentle meow.

Qiao Yu patted the Shadow Cat's large head, grabbed its ear, and twisted it. The Shadow Cat, as if receiving a supreme command, immediately dashed out of the residential building's gate.

Now he had a reliable means of transportation in the Wilderness Area; the Shadow Cat could help him observe external dangers and also run away for him.

However, since they were still in the city, to avoid drawing attention, Qiao Yu had the Shadow Cat transform back into a motorcycle.

The fungal nest, now transferred to the rat swarm, also entered the sewers with them.

They were originally rat swarms living in this city, and their familiarity with the underground pipes was probably something even the original engineers would be ashamed of.