In there, Arthur saw several broken rocks and multiple white flowers growing.
And upon using Dragon's Insight, Arthur confirmed that these were all Black Root Hemlocks.
"Bingo!" Arthur smiled widely before getting to harvest them.
With how many there were, it took Arthur twenty minutes to harvest them since he needed to do it carefully.
>Player Arzhur has obtained Black Root Hemlock x 11<
"This would be a good number," Arthur said before moving to the next herb.
But just as he touched it, he felt a faint burning sensation. And a moment later, a series of notifications popped up in front of him.
>Reinforced Bull Leather gloves are being corroded!<
>Reinforced Bull Leather gloves' durability has fallen to 50%<
Seeing the numbers that going down in seconds, Arthur hurriedly removed the gloves. While doing that, he got a look at it and saw that the palms and fingers of the gloves were corroding away.
>Reinforced Bull Leather gloves' durability has fallen to 10%<
A faint green vapor was exuding from them, decaying them at a rapid pace.
>Reinforced Bull Leather gloves' durability has fallen to 1%<
And just when the gloves were about to completely wear away, Arthur managed to remove them. The entire process hadn't even taken five seconds, and yet Arthur had almost ended up receiving damage.
~splat~
The gloves fell to the ground and were quickly corroded away into nothing.
"What the hell was that?" Arthur was shocked.
He couldn't tell what had happened.
'How did the gloves corrode away so quickly? It can't be the poison from the Black Root Hemlock. It can poison a player if they touch it with bare skin, but gloves will protect with no issues.' Arthur thought about it before looking at the plant he had touched earlier.
The plant looked the same as the other Black Root Hemlocks but Arthur knew it was different since it had managed to corrode away the gloves so easily.
"Dragon's Insight!" Arthur quickly used the skill, wanting to know what was being hidden.
>Dragon's Insight has been activated!<
~DING~
——
Target: Mutant Black Root Hemlock
Info: A Highly corrosive form of the Black Root Hemlock. The herb has mutated under certain conditions and has transformed to have a corrosive toxin. It is highly effective on corroding organic matter but is ineffective on metal. It can corrode people and animals with a mere touch.
It is the main ingredient for the corpse erasing powder.
Effects: 1. Consuming any part of this herb would inflict the player with mid grade corrosion, making them lose 25% HP every second as well as reduce their defense by 90%.
2. Touching this herb would inflict the player with Low grade corrosion, making them lose 5% Hp every second as well as lower the durability of leather armor.
Uses: Used in poisons.
——
"What the hell…" Arthur physically recoiled after having read the information.
The herb in front of him was very deadly and could not only kill him but also corrode most of the equipment he had with him.
"There were certainly no records of this growing here at all." Arthur said in disbelief. "Forget about growing, I don't think I've ever read about this before." He realized.
If there was an herb like that here, Arthur was sure that the forums would have information about it.
'It only means that this Mutant Black Root Hemlock was gone by the time players discovered this place, or that whoever discovered it never reported it.' Arthur guessed.
He was inclined towards the latter since the corrosive herb still had its uses even if it were deadly.
"Its effects alone make it worth a lot… 90% reduction in defense is no joke…" Arthur muttered to himself.
If a player were to turn this herb into a proper poison, it would be even better and its effects would be amplified. Arthur could only imagine what a poison that could melt away 90% of a boss's defense while also reducing their HP would cost.
'Considering that there was no one else that had mentioned anything about this herb, it is quite likely that its rarity is simply too high.' Arthur thought. 'Its effects do make it worth that rarity though.'
Regardless of its danger, Arthur knew that he couldn't leave this herb here.
"I need to take it with me for sure." Arthur said with determination.
Arthur also realized that he was in a dilemma now.
"How do I actually take it with me though? I don't have metal gloves to handle it." Arthur wondered. "And even if I manage to dig it out, how do I store it?" he questioned.
Arthur looked around for something that might work and tried to use a stick to touch the herb.
~hiss~
Same as before, the stick started to corrode as well.
"No wood that's for sure… Stone then?" Arthur picked up a stone and touched the mutant Black Root Hemlock with it.
This time, there was no reaction and the stone was intact.
"Okay, so stone works." But it didn't actually solve the issue for Arthur.
He stroked his chin while thinking about it and coincidentally glanced at the glass vials that were strapped to his chest.
"Wait… glass should work too right?" Arthur thought of an idea.
He touched an empty vial to the herb and saw that there was indeed no reaction.
"Alright, this will work!" Arthur exclaimed. "Though I'll have to process it right here to store it."
With that in mind, Arthur took out the Black Tear Short Sword. He used the sword's blade to carefully dig out the herb, making sure to not damage any part.
Once the herb was dug out, he placed it on one of the many rocks that were laying around and cut the herb into small pieces. They were small enough that Arthur could stuff them into the glass vials.
Due to the danger, Arthur had to do it all slowly and it ended up taking him an hour to do it all.
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