Wasteland: I Awakened A Plant System-Chapter 17: Crimson Shard

Vikram cautiously scanned the surroundings, making sure there were no other threats nearby.

Only after confirming the area was safe did he slowly approach the Horned Deer’s corpse.

As he did, a treasure chest emitting a faint blue glow gradually formed beside the corpse.

"It dropped, just as expected. It seems treasure chests are guaranteed drops after killing these creatures."

He dragged the Horned Deer’s body aside slightly and opened the chest carefully.

Inside were five items:

• vitality fruit (Blue)

• steel ×4 (Blue)

• stainless steel ×5 (Blue)

• cloth ×3 (Green)

• crimson shard ×1 (Blue)

"Is the loot from this chest always this good?"

"Four out of five items are blue."

Not only was steel, the material Vikram currently needed most, included—but there was also one more item than the last chest he opened.

[Vitality Fruit: Blue — Consuming it slightly increases the user’s speed and stamina]

"This vitality fruit is basically the counterpart to the Physique Fruit I ate earlier," Vikram muttered.

"The difference is that this one increases speed and stamina instead of strength and reaction."

As for steel and cloth, they were both common crafting materials he had already encountered before.

The newly obtained stainless steel was also a material—and perfectly suited for constructing the water tower he had been planning.

However, Vikram’s attention soon shifted to the final item in the chest.

The crimson shard.

This was something he had never seen before. It emitted a faint yet violent aura, very similar to the bloody scent that had surrounded the Scarlet Horned Deer earlier.

He immediately scanned it with the system.

[Crimson Shard: Blue — Using it temporarily increases all four of the user’s base stats by +5 for 2 minutes. Collecting ten shards can synthesize a Crimson Orb.]

Vikram raised an eyebrow.

"Isn’t this basically a life-saving artifact? The legendary ’pop a pill if you can’t win’ move?"

Then he quickly asked another question.

"System, does this crimson shard have side effects? Like becoming weak after the two minutes end?"

The system replied instantly.

[Ding: During the stat enhancement period, the user temporarily loses sanity. Using Crimson Shards more than five times will permanently affect the user’s sanity.]

Vikram clicked his tongue.

"So it’s not just a ’two-minute hero’ after all. This side effect sounds even worse."

"Use it too many times and you basically turn into a mad dog."

He thought for a moment before asking again.

"Is there any way to remove the side effects?"

The system responded.

[Ding: Synthesizing a Crimson Orb from ten Crimson Shards eliminates all side effects.]

[Using a Crimson Orb permanently increases all four base attributes by +5.]

Another line of text followed.

[Note: Ordinary Blue Treasure Chests cannot drop Crimson Shards. Only treasure chests dropped from Crimson Creatures affected by acid rain have a chance to drop them.]

Vikram rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"System, are these Crimson Creatures stronger than normal blue-grade creatures?"

The answer came immediately.

[All Crimson Creatures mutated by acid rain gain traits such as reduced pain sensation, madness, and bloodlust.]

Hearing this explanation, Vikram finally felt relieved.

Ordinary blue-grade monsters were not nearly as terrifying as the one he had just fought.

The reason the Scarlet Horned Deer had been so difficult to deal with was because it had almost no sense of pain and an extremely aggressive temperament, making it fight like a mindless berserker.

"In other words, even though they’re the same blue rank, these Crimson Creatures are actually stronger than normal blue creatures."

He glanced back at the loot in the chest.

"No wonder the rewards this time were so good."

After roughly understanding the situation with the Crimson Creatures, Vikram immediately picked up the vitality fruit he had just obtained and put it into his mouth.

He finished the fruit in a few bites, and the same refreshing sensation spread through his mouth.

[Plant Essence +20]

Speaking of which, aside from its green color, which differed from the dark red Physique Fruit, the vitality fruit was almost identical in every other aspect—its shape, texture, and even its faint herbal fragrance.

The system panel soon updated.

Host: Vikram

Strength: 8

Speed: 6 + 2

Stamina: 8 + 2

Reaction: 9

After eating the fruit and placing all the supplies from the chest into his backpack, Vikram shifted his gaze toward the Horned Deer’s corpse.

The body lay twisted on the ground in a grotesque posture.

Both of its hind legs had been completely severed, leaving jagged stumps behind.

Its front legs were stretched stiffly forward, as if it had still been trying to crawl toward Vikram in its final moments.

The deer’s head tilted to one side, its mouth half-open, revealing a blood-stained tongue.

Although the madness in its eyes had disappeared, they remained wide open, seemingly filled with unwillingness and rage before death.

The arrow that had pierced its abdomen still remained embedded in its body, the fletching soaked in dark red blood.

The surrounding fur had been completely drenched, forming a large patch of crimson.

The bleeding had already stopped, but beneath the corpse, a pool of coagulated blood had formed.

The scene was far more brutal than Vikram’s first hunt.

During that first hunt, he had almost been able to kill with his eyes closed.

But this time, facing the Crimson Horned Deer, the battle had been much more intense.

If not for the cooperation between the Guardian Sprout and the Warrior Sprout, the fight would not have ended so smoothly.

At this moment, the Guardian Sprout walked over to the fallen deer and poked the corpse cautiously with its vine lash, as if confirming that the enemy was truly dead.

Only after a few seconds did it lower its shield-arm and return to Vikram’s side.

The Warrior Sprout, on the other hand, seemed quite excited after the battle.

It jumped onto the deer’s body, pulled its vine-blade out of the wound, and swung it proudly in the air like a victorious soldier showing off its weapon.

Then it hopped down and ran around Vikram once, its small vine-legs moving quickly as if celebrating the victory.

Watching their lively reactions, Vikram let out a small breath and finally relaxed.

For the first time, he truly felt the advantage of having combat plants fighting alongside him.

And he also realized that in the future battles to come, these two little companions would become some of his most reliable fighters.

With the buff of losing its sense of pain, only a headshot or a shot to the heart could instantly kill the creature. Arrows shot elsewhere were almost completely ineffective.

Although the arrow Vikram had shot into the Horned Deer’s abdomen looked like it caused severe damage, in reality its speed and lethality hadn’t decreased at all.

Fortunately, he had a moment of insight during the fight and discovered the Horned Deer’s weakness—its slow and inflexible turning speed. Otherwise, he might have truly died here today.

Behind him, the Guardian Sprout was still standing beside the corpse, vigilantly scanning the surroundings as if guarding against another ambush.

The Warrior Sprout, meanwhile, had climbed onto the fallen deer again and tugged at the embedded arrow curiously before hopping down and circling Vikram, seemingly eager to continue hunting.

"By the way... can this deer meat, affected by acid rain, still be eaten?"

Vikram summoned the system and scanned the corpse.

[Crimson Horned Deer Meat: Blue — Edible. No side effects. Long-term consumption slightly increases physique.]

"Not only is it edible, it can even make me stronger?"

"The system says there are no side effects, so it should be safe," Vikram nodded.

It wasn’t that Vikram was overly cautious.

This world was simply too hostile to outsiders like him.

After all, when humans drank acid rain, they died.

But these creatures had mutated after consuming it.

He packed the Horned Deer’s corpse into his backpack.

He also retrieved the severed hind leg that had flown behind the tree earlier and stored that as well.

Just as Vikram was preparing to leave, he looked around and noticed the battlefield.

The ground was covered with bloodstains, torn soil, and scattered fur.

The scene made him hesitate.

"The traces of this battle are far too obvious."

"It’s not a big problem if other Survivors find it..."

"But if this smell of blood attracts more Crimson Creatures, that would be troublesome."

After all, this location was very close to his Treehouse.

Vikram hadn’t forgotten that Crimson Creatures possessed a bloodthirsty trait.

A scent this strong would easily lure them here.

He immediately took out a bucket of water from his backpack and poured it over the battlefield, carefully washing away the blood and traces left on the ground.

While he was cleaning the area, the Guardian Sprout stood nearby like a silent guard, while the Warrior Sprout wandered around the bushes, occasionally slashing at the grass as if checking for hidden threats.

Once the area was mostly cleaned, Vikram finally nodded in satisfaction and began heading back toward the Treehouse.

Now that he had a stable water source, he no longer needed to be overly stingy with water.

After all, his safety was the most important thing.

If he were ever trapped inside the Treehouse by a group of Crimson Creatures because of something as trivial as a blood trail, he would truly feel wronged.

Upon returning to the Treehouse, Vikram’s first task was to check the water source that had been connected earlier at noon.

Soon, he noticed water slowly gathering near the Aquaheart Root. One of its thick roots had extended upward and connected directly into the Treehouse structure.

Watching the steady trickle of purified water collecting there, Vikram immediately realized something important.

He needed to build the Water Tower as soon as possible.

Since he had already obtained enough stainless steel, he didn’t hesitate.

Vikram planned to dig out a dedicated space beside the Aquaheart Root to place the water tower. This way, all the water produced and gathered by the Aquaheart Root could flow directly into the storage tank.

"System, how many Plant Essence are needed if I provide the materials myself to build the Water Tower?"

[Ding. Required: Plant Essence ×40, Steel ×40, Concrete ×80, and construction upgrade fees.]

Vikram frowned slightly.

"Now I have a source for steel... but where am I supposed to find concrete?"

"Hey..."

Suddenly, an idea flashed through his mind.

"System, I don’t have concrete. Can I substitute it with materials used to make concrete—like cement, water, sand, and stone?"

The system seemed unprepared for such a question.

After a brief pause, it finally responded.

[Theoretically possible. However, this method requires additional Plant Essence extraction compared to directly supplying finished concrete.]

Vikram blinked in surprise.

"I just mentioned it casually and it actually works?"

Directly using Plant Essence to replace concrete entirely was obviously wasteful. At the moment, he also had no reliable way to obtain ready-made concrete.

That was why he had thought of the compromise of using raw materials like cement, water, sand, and stone as substitutes.

Even Vikram himself had felt that the idea was somewhat outrageous. He had only asked the system out of curiosity.

Yet the system had actually accepted the proposal.

"It seems the applications of Plant Essence are far broader than I imagined."

This discovery strengthened Vikram’s resolve.

From now on, he would save Plant Essence whenever possible.

Unless it was absolutely necessary, he would try to collect construction materials himself.

Even if certain materials couldn’t be found directly, he would rather combine basic resources with Plant Essence instead of using Plant Essence alone to replace everything.

After thinking it through, Vikram made a rough estimate.

Using this method, building the Water Tower would likely cost around 80 to 100 Plant Essence in total.

Steel was no longer a problem since he could obtain it from hunting.

Concrete only lacked cement, which could later be substituted with Plant Essence.

As for water, sand, and stone, Vikram had plenty of those resources already.