“Energetic Poison and Venom Resistance is a weight off my shoulders. While poison resistance was nice a lot of the bigger threats are venom based. Snakes, spiders, and bees use it and they are popular monster types. Poison would have been more likely if I was into political intrigue. Then again, I am apparently a farmer and plants are all about that poison. Meh, having both in one skill is best. Though if I could get the overall Resistance skill, it might get split into two sub-skills. Later I need to level it in case that happens. Right now I can level one or the other to increase my resistance to both. Once split, each will need to be leveled.”

Lost in thought Jason continues on his journey. Noon passes in peace, a wasteland is not known for animal density. Then just before night he spots something. Another mixed monster that has a mouses body with a tigers size and head. Jason however ignores it. A glance skyward tells him now is not the time to start fights.

“With the sun setting any combat would stray into the night. Now it isn’t true that monsters at night are always stronger. However, this wasteland’s night is when the real predators come out. Any creatures out during the day cannot handle the night. Not that the monsters at night are higher leveled. Those at night have been better mixed. A mouse with a tiger's head is dysfunctional. Can the mouse body even handle the carnivorous diet of a tiger? The only thing keeping it alive is the wasteland’s magic. At night however you won’t find a predator head grafted to a rodent body. Instead, you might not be able to tell what something is made from. Each bit of the combined creatures blended sensibly. The only thing keeping the night time creatures from causing problems is they depend more on the area to support their bodies.”

The tiger head glances at him as he leaves but otherwise ignores him. It too needs to find a place to spend the night.

Next day comes around and Jason head out again. At first he takes his time. However, he isn’t able to spot any sign of the tiger-headed mouse. All he can do is shrug and move on looking for more prey. To his disappointment though the day passes peacefully. Then the next as well. Finally, on the day after that he finds another monster to fight. A trio of oddities laze around not seeming to notice as he approaches. With a body of some cat and the head of a squid they almost look like a strange copyright infringement. Luckily for Jason they aren’t as he has no mental protection at the moment.

As he gets closer, the reason for the monsters not noticing him become clear. From a distance the squid heads looked normal but now Jason can see the truth. The skin is dry and cracking while the eyes are hollow sockets. Even the tentacles are worse for wear, appearing more like jerky than a living body part. The monsters don’t even react once he is standing right next to them. While this isn’t a fight Jason can’t stand to leave them suffering. A swift Blast Punch to each of their heads finishes them.

Once more traveling Jason has become frustrated. He should be finding something to fight. The snaky lizard was nice so why can’t there be more like it? Of course he has an idea why things are like this. Now being within a couple weeks of the next town means that the weaker monsters will have been taken care of already. Sure he takes a while to get here but stronger people have better methods of transportation. Though being honest with himself if he had focused on his movement technique more even he could do so. Jumping from one rock spire to the next like he was taking a brisk walk. Then again, he could not deal with some of the monsters if he had.

At this point Jason gives up and settles into the flow of things. A week passes him by as similar events happen every day or so. The only monsters he finds being those too weak for stronger people to bother with. He feels like he is following behind some rich guys picking up pennies none of them deigned to bother with. Even reaching level 8 doesn’t lessen the sting.

Though with the morning greeting him once again A pleasant event greets him. His Energy herbs have all fully matured. Some of them had been mature days ago, especially the plants with fewer berries. Now however the final one had finished growing. While it disappointed Jason that his plant which started with 37 buds had lost a few and was now down to only 32 berries it was glowing. Technically halfway through the week they had fully matured. The berries plump and ready for harvest. Jason however knows they only reach the true final stage they have gathered enough Energy to glow. In the wild this isn’t always possible thus the disconnect most people have between ‘blue weed’ and ‘glowy weed’. In nature fully mature Energy herb is more likely to be found around stronger creatures. This in turns makes it seem like a rare variant. However, in reality it is those creatures that let the plant mature. While monsters don’t cultivate like humans and such they take in the natural energy, leaving the waste energy for the herb. More cunning monsters even settle near the herb to help their progress.

Jason smacks himself lightly. Now isn’t the time to get lost in thought. He needs to figure out how he wants to harvest the berries. From what he learned about ‘glowy weed’ most people just take the whole plant. But that seems a waste.