Overlord: Welcoming the Birth of the King
Chapter 60: The Little Hellhound's Pursuit, "Genius Level 10"

No matter what!

After over a month, I was finally about to complete my first small goal since arriving in this otherworld.

"Awoo..."

A faint cry came from the bushes about ten meters away from the large tree where Tang Zheng was sitting.

"So it followed me after all."

Tang Zheng glanced briefly at the source of the sound, slightly furrowed his brow, then looked away without further concern.

It was that little hellhound!

He had no interest in taming a hellhound with zero combat capability.

Even an adult hellhound wouldn't be much use in his eyes.

As time passed, Tang Zheng would only grow stronger, while adult hellhounds were barely stronger than ogres.

About ten meters away, in the dense thicket.

The little hellhound lay weakly on the ground, panting, its brown beast eyes shining with intelligence as it gazed at Tang Zheng meditating under the distant tree.

Its legs gave out!

The little hellhound stumbled and collapsed into the grass, ears drooping, nostrils flaring with heavy breaths.

Being recently born, such a long journey had exhausted it despite the hellhound species' natural endurance.

Apparently satisfied that Tang Zheng wouldn't move again soon, the little hellhound finally closed its eyes and fell into an exhausted sleep.

Under the massive tree.

Tang Zheng took out several water bags and miscellaneous items from his item box, carefully studying them as magical light flickered intermittently between his hands.

During these past few days.

Besides slaughtering goblins and monsters for experience, Tang Zheng had spent all his spare time researching alchemy.

After much trial and error, he'd finally achieved some results.

The only somewhat successful product was an alchemical solution made from poison sacs collected from gallows spiders he'd previously killed.

Item: Inferior Alchemical Solution

Effect: Created using gallows spider poison sacs. A solution with paralyzing effects lasting 3 minutes. (Cannot be stored long-term; effects completely disappear within one hour.)

...

This was the only "effective" alchemical solution Tang Zheng had managed to produce after consuming two poison sacs.

Fortunately, the item box's storage function preserved items in their stored state, preventing degradation over time.

Creating this solution made Tang Zheng realize the materials usable for alchemy were far more diverse than he'd imagined.

However!

Like the previous alchemical solution made from heatgrass, this one also bore the "inferior" label.

Though both solutions had "effects," in Tang Zheng's eyes, they were essentially unfinished products.

Not even halfway complete!

To use an analogy - it was like turning tomatoes into tomato soup.

The process wasn't complicated: chop tomatoes, add water to a pot, heat to make soup.

Alchemy essentially transformed tomatoes directly into soup, skipping the intermediate steps of chopping, adding water and heating.

Of course, reality was slightly more complex.

Ordinary tomato soup would lose some nutrients, while alchemy could preserve and even enhance all the tomatoes' nutritional content.

But this alone wasn't enough!

"An unfinished product remains unfinished. Even if usable, it's ultimately meaningless."

"Maybe somewhat useful at low levels, but once levels increase, these inferior solutions become completely negligible."

Tang Zheng shook his head while pondering.

Like the heatgrass solution that restored 1 HP - utterly useless.

Better to give medicinal herbs to Enfilia to make proper potions.

Perhaps higher-grade materials could produce better solutions, but they'd still be inferior half-products wasting materials.

Moreover.

He didn't have money to collect high-quality materials anyway.

"Currently, it's the same situation as with pharmacists." Tang Zheng massaged his temples, somewhat frustrated.

Like hoping to silently strike it rich, but only achieving the "silent" part.

Tang Zheng knew what was missing.

The complete series of alchemy-related class skills from YGGDRASIL.

Tang Zheng shook his head.

He wasn't one to dwell on things - since this currently offered little help, he'd set it aside for now.

Night passed in a blink.

Flame Moon, July 4th.

Only about 100 EXP away from leveling up, Tang Zheng became exceptionally diligent.

As darkness in the forest began receding.

Tang Zheng was already moving with sword in hand. With the "Forest Walker" magic item, environmental obstacles were no longer problematic.

Enhanced agility.

Allowed Tang Zheng to quickly locate scattered goblins and monsters in the jungle.

When Tang Zheng started moving, the little hellhound lying in distant bushes hurriedly rose to follow, but hampered by vegetation and far slower.

Within moments, Tang Zheng had vanished from the hellhound's sight.

Yet.

"Awoo."

The little hellhound shook off dew, sniffed the air, and relied on keen scent to continue tracking through the woods.

Thud!

A half-meter-long armored beetle was kicked flying by Tang Zheng, smashing heavily against a thick tree with a dull crash.

Rustle~

The tree shook violently, dense leaves rattling loudly.

"Hiss—"

Yet the beetle climbed up unharmed, emitting a piercing shriek as it spread thin wing covers and lunged.

Whoosh!

"So tough!"

"Goblins are definitely easier to kill."

Feeling the rush of wind, Tang Zheng sidestepped left to avoid the charge while muttering.

Using the beetle's inability to adjust mid-charge, he positioned himself so it crashed into the tree behind him.

Crash!

Another heavy impact.

The powerful collision cracked the sturdy tree, but the recoil also flipped the beetle onto its vulnerable underside.

Seizing the moment before it could right itself, Tang Zheng dashed forward and slashed with his iron sword.

Squelch!

"Hiss—!"

The beetle shrieked violently before going still.

[Gained 53 EXP]

[EXP: 9425/9500]

"Shell's too hard. Regular iron sword can't pierce it. Need better weapons."

"EXP reward's too low. Might as well kill two goblins in this time." Tang Zheng shook his head and continued hunting.

Amid lush jungle.

Cold steel flashed intermittently as ordinary beasts shrieked into EXP.

Those last 70-something EXP points made time feel inexplicably drawn-out.

Thump—

A plump-looking hare was pinned underfoot as Tang Zheng sidestepped.

The gray spotted rabbit desperately kicked its hind legs, but couldn't break free.

Ordinary hares gave minimal EXP, but for Tang Zheng now, it sufficed.

"11:02am. Perfect lunch timing."

Checking his pocket watch, Tang Zheng finally looked relieved as he slightly increased foot pressure.

"Finally time to leave this damned forest."

Though just over a month, staying longer would turn him feral.

Squish.

The hare's head flattened.

[Gained 1 EXP]

[EXP: 0/10000—Genius Level 10]