"So ugly!"
It wasn't just the two women, Nebula and Annette. Even the roughnecks Logan and Star-Lord looked disgusted.
A purplish-black stalk, topped with purplish-red petals. The petals were spread open, and the central stamen area looked like a gaping maw, faintly showing purplish-black liquid.
The flying vines and the spurting purplish-black liquid all came from this "great mouth". At the same time, there were things on the stalk, whether tentacles or branches and leaves, that were twitching.
In short, this thing was incredibly hideous. It was unbelievable that such a thing existed on this planet.
"Is this considered a plant or an animal?" Everyone turned to look at Logan, perhaps the druid could provide an accurate answer.
But Logan wasn't entirely sure either. This thing had the appearance of a plant, but its behavior was more like an animal. "Perhaps it's a similar species to Groot?"
"I think Groot is still very cute..."
Comparing this thing to Groot felt like an insult to the adorable tree person.
Almost everyone felt this way. Even Annette didn't want to look at this ghastly thing anymore. She directly took out a few incendiary grenades and threw them out.
Logan also took out the automatic rifle from his storage space. It was an M-series automatic rifle with a grenade launcher attached. After loading it with incendiary rounds, he launched a fiery attack on these ugly purple flowers.
Ethan didn't hold back either. He also disliked this thing, not only was it ugly, but it also popped out to scare people. Not killing it would be letting himself down.
He didn't need to make any movements. He just needed to channel his magic power, and fireballs would condense beside him, one after another. These fireballs attacked the purple flowers in continuous groups of five.
Explosions constantly rang out. The shockwaves and airflow generated by the explosions blew away the mist that had gathered again. At the same time, the firelight from the explosions seemed to affect the purple thick mist. A few sparks that splattered far away actually eliminated some of the purple mist.
"This purple mist can be dispersed by fire."
This was good news. Previously, they didn't know what chemical reaction fire would have with this mist, so they didn't dare to use it easily. Ethan's fireball spell was only cast after the mist had been dispersed. Before that, he only used spatial magic.
This was because they were worried that this mist was flammable and explosive gas, and this entire forest was filled with such thick mist. Who knew if lighting a cigarette would blow everyone to ashes?
This battle, however, led everyone to an unexpected discovery. Fire could actually disperse the mist. This was a good discovery, albeit a minor one.
This seemed to mean that even without protective suits, one could move freely in the mist-filled jungle as long as they carried a torch.
"Why does it feel like playing an online game..."
After burning all the large purple flowers to ashes, Annette walked over to collect some samples of the purple flowers. After finishing the collection, she threw another incendiary grenade.
Don't think that because Annette is a scientist and researcher, she's a weakling with no combat ability. This woman is a formidable individual who almost shot and killed the protagonist Leon.
Moreover, having lived in Ethan's team for so many years, she has also mastered the necessary combat skills. Not focusing on combat skill practice doesn't mean she lacks basic combat capabilities.
This was also an implicit requirement Ethan had for all his crew members. At the very least, you must have basic self-preservation abilities to do what you want to do.
Although he didn't explicitly state this, everyone on his ship was smart and understood this point. Therefore, even Evelyn would insist on exercising to ensure she wouldn't become a burden.
"The existence of this thing seems to prove another matter."
"What?"
While Annette was collecting samples, Logan brought up another point.
"Since these flowers hunt in groups, it means there are prey on this planet that they can capture!"
Star-Lord had put his weapon away, but upon hearing this, he drew it out again.
"So, the possibility of life existing on this planet is very high."
After all, if there were no prey, what would these things capture? Their numbers didn't seem to suggest they couldn't reproduce due to lack of food. If they only sought plants for food, there would seem to be no need to evolve into such highly aggressive forms.
Therefore, there must be creatures on this planet that can be hunted by these plants. Of course, it could also be other mobile plants.
The rest of the journey was calm. They didn't encounter any more dangers or those large purple flowers.
After circling a large area and Annette collecting samples of various plants they saw, the small team turned around and headed back along the original path.
With the help of auxiliary radar and maps, there was no embarrassing situation of getting lost and not being able to find the camp.
For the next few days, Ethan would explore deeper into the forest with Star-Lord. After Annette went with them initially, she later focused on various analyses and experiments at the camp. They had collected enough samples, and after the first few surveys, it was difficult to find new, uncollected samples.
Annette's work was heavy because many of the collected samples contained unknown components. She needed to perform various comparisons and tests to determine exactly what these substances were, and most importantly, whether they were harmful to the human body.
As of now, Annette still had a lot of work to do. She had only analyzed that one type of plant was edible and absolutely harmless to the human body, even containing rich nutrients. However, it didn't taste very good. Everyone who tried it after it was cooked ended up throwing up.
As the explored area grew larger, Ethan and the others learned more about this planet, and he and Star-Lord encountered more creatures.
Not just the large purple flowers, but also various other strange plants, most of which were aggressive. Some even disguised themselves as ordinary plants, but would suddenly ambush you the moment you got close. Before that, you could barely detect that this thing was alive.
It could be said that this jungle was full of dangers. At the same time, half a month after arriving on this planet, they finally encountered the first suspected animal.
It was a massive creature, a full three meters tall. Ethan's first reaction upon seeing it was: Is this thing a dinosaur?
Upon closer observation, they found there were significant differences, but this herbivore did somewhat resemble a Triceratops. Its sturdy body had very strong defenses. The corrosive liquid sprayed by the purple flowers, when it hit this creature's body, only left an inconspicuous mark and caused no damage at all.
After discovering this giant animal, Logan attempted to communicate with it and found that this creature was very docile and friendly. It was even willing to help Ethan and the others carry various items and escorted them all the way back to the camp before turning to leave.
Unfortunately, this creature was unwilling to stay at the camp. Logan's explanation was that "it wants to go home".
"So, most creatures in this forest have fixed activity areas."
It's still unclear what else is in this forest, but it's obvious that this primeval jungle is very dangerous. Without sufficient strength, one might not even be able to preserve their corpse after entering.
"So, is such a world really suitable for settlement?" Star-Lord spread his hands, wanting to ask Ethan if he intended to continue the survey. After a month of surveying and personally living on this planet, they had a general conclusion.
Overall, the environment of this planet is suitable for human survival, but the problems are also obvious. The entire planet consists of oceans and jungles, plus very scarce coastal plains.
If the people from that training ground were to relocate here, the first thing they would have to solve is how to gain living space in this dangerous jungle. The coastal plains are safe, but the area is limited, and this area lacks any resources.
"Think about Earth in ancient times, it wasn't much safer than this."
Moreover, Ethan didn't think the people from the training ground needed to directly enter this dangerous forest to compete with the local creatures for survival resources.
"Actually, there's a more suitable place to arrange that training ground."
Star-Lord followed Ethan's gaze and looked into the distance, where the purple ocean appeared before their eyes.
Thinking of the overall size of the training ground and the size of this planet, and then calculating the size of this ocean a bit, Star-Lord understood Ethan's idea.
"You want to place the entire training ground on this purple sea?"
"Yes, don't you think it's very suitable?"
There are no purple mists or unknown seed threats on the ocean, and the training ground itself is a large body of water, so placing it in this purple ocean wouldn't feel out of place.
More importantly, according to the current survey data from the underwater detector, there are only microorganisms in this ocean, and no threats like giant monsters.
Ethan thought of doing this because he remembered that legend: crossing the stormy sea to find the endless land...
Now, the endless land is here. Ethan would place the entire training ground on the purple ocean, and then leave a passage so that adventurers could pass through the energy layer to reach the purple ocean. Then, as long as the adventurers worked hard and progressed, they could reach this purple continent.
Moreover, the strength of adventurers who could successfully break out of the training ground would be guaranteed, and they could open up enough living space for those who came later.
When more and more people arrive here, the situation of this world will gradually become known to more people, attracting more people to leave the training ground and come outside. By the day the training ground stops operating, they should have adapted to the environment of this planet.
As for where these people will go in the future, that's up to them.
(To be continued.)
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◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)