It backfired almost immediately.

Well. Josh had to admit that was unfair. The first three attempts went surprisingly smoothly. They started with a level 33 boar from the Jungle. That meant if they boosted it to over level 40, they'd only have to deal with one advancement. Anna found them a relatively empty stretch near the reinforced town wall, and laid out a handful of bloodstones. Then, they released the boar and waited.

Once it gobbled up the bloodstones, it swelled in size immediately, skin tearing free so that literal stone muscles could take its place. The plan had been to let Josh go first, but his measly [Empty Chop] couldn't pierce that armor. Mary ended up crushing it with her gravity bullet spell.

Next, they found a snake. At level 29, it was less than ideal, but they could make it work. It would evolve twice, at level 32 and then again at level 40. That meant they had to be very careful.

Its first evolution turned it giant, similar to the boar, but it didn't appear to gain any enhanced durability. Before any of them could get a good look at it, the snake had already gobbled up the rest of the bloodstones and evolved a second time.

Then it started breathing fire.

Josh actually was reasonably competent against fire. He had run various fire magic classes multiple times, and one of his oldest friends almost always picked fire classes. Considering the nature of the Jungle, it was a common weapon to use, and Josh had plenty of experience fighting it in all its forms.

Josh dodged the flames, ignored the heat across his back, and used an [Empty Chop] on the snake's neck. That caused it to flinch back, and he unleashed a few more in quick succession until he severed the head. The red mist rose from its corpse, turned white, and then flowed into him.

CONGRATULATIONS! You are now a level 37 Stonecrafter! You have 1 free attribute point and 1 class attribute point to allocate. Your class attributes are Perception and Sensitivity.

If Josh had his math right, that meant he was finally in reach of a particular blueprint that he had been hoping to use for a while. He dismissed that thought for the moment; he wanted to reach level 40, and didn't have time to get distracted.

The next monster they used was a walking corn plant that had awakened in one of the farms. It was level 15. Newborn monsters were always lower level, but they grew by absorbing the mana in the air. Or, as always, by killing humans and consuming bloodstones. If they boosted this one all the way to level 40, it would be going through four evolutions. Even for a plant monster, which were notoriously easier to deal with than animal monsters, that was a bit much.

But then it went perfectly. It got bigger, it seemed to grow more defined limbs, and it gained the ability to shoot exploding corn kernels at them. Josh killed it with less trouble than the giant snake.

In hindsight, this was a false confidence, and they really should have given up. Or at least stuck with plant monsters. But everything was going so well, and they couldn't find any more plant monsters at the moment, so they decided to continue with animals.

The fourth monster was a bee. It exploded.

Specifically, it turned into a Bomber-type monster, then exploded before Josh could even swing his ax. The red mist rose from its corpse, but instead of turning white and flowing into him, it flowed down into the ground. He got nothing from the fight. At least no one was hurt.

Next was an ant monster, which also turned into a bomb and exploded. They decided to stop using insects after that, and found an armadillo. Well, a level 26 Cingulatan Stonebreaker. Darius pointed out that if it increased its defense even further, Mary should still be able to kill it. They left out the bloodstones and waited.

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On its first evolution, its claws started vibrating, and it swam down through the dirt as fast as a man could run. They waited a few long minutes. They even threw out more bloodstones as bait. It didn't resurface.

Next, they found a bat. It started as easily the size of Josh's head, and he expected it to get even bigger. Instead, it shrank down to the size of an ordinary mouse, then shot off into the air like a rocket.

Those were all annoying, and Josh felt anemic just thinking about the blood that had been wasted making those stones, but ultimately the most valuable thing they had lost was time. He had earned a level faster than usual, so it was still a worthwhile trade.

The last one turned out to be a little bit too much for them.

Mary found a walking fish. Those weren't uncommon, as such things went. Any monster in the water that was corrupted by the Jungle pretty much immediately gained legs and the ability to breathe air. It was like they knew they needed to be able to reach the land to find prey.

Josh scanned it, as was his habit, before they left the bloodstones out.

Pterois Crimson Landwalker. Level 33 Monster. Ah, the humble Pterois. Well, it's not humble at all, it's a showy little shit. Think of this as like the peacock of the sea, and you've got the right general idea. And like the peacock, magic has been good to this bastard. You're up to date on your shots, right?

It didn't look like anything special, just a red fish with white stripes, big spines, and lizard-like legs. So about normal for a walking fish. Its description wasn't anything to worry about, either. The System often left vague warnings that turned out to be nothing.

They probably should have paid more attention.

The fish grew a bit bigger when it ate the bloodstones, but not too much. It rose up on its legs a bit more so that it wasn't dragging its belly on the ground, and its spines seemed to thicken a bit. Altogether, it was nothing surprising or worrying.

When Josh got within ten feet, he was met with a face full of spines.

They didn't hurt too much, but there were a lot of them, and they distracted him before he could throw an [Empty Chop] at the monster. He heard Mary yell something, then felt the all-too familiar burn of poison in his veins. The System message was just icing on the cake.

ALERT: You have been poisoned! A venomous walking fish shot a bunch of spines at you, and you utterly failed to dodge. You'll live, though. Probably. Maybe you should have put a couple points in Constitution, huh? It will be painful, either way. Also, you're paralyzed.

Josh landed on his back like a felled tree. He was dimly aware of people moving around him, of Mary's guns going off, but he was a wee bit distracted by the scorching fire running through his veins. The only reason he didn't scream his throat ragged was because his muscles had seized up, and his jaw was clenched so hard that he was afraid that his teeth would crack.

Eventually Ruth ran over. She sat on his chest to immobilize him, then wrenched his mouth open with her hands. She really had been putting points into Strength. She managed to get his jaw open far enough that Mary could pour one of their disgusting healing concoctions down his throat.

It probably saved his life, but he almost wished that they had just let the poison run its course. He could have survived on his own, without drinking anything that tasted like fruit left to rot in sewer water for a week.

Once the healing had finished, he couched up the rest of it and just lay there on his side, panting. His friends let him do it, hovering but not making a bother.

“Okay,” he said at long last. He looked up. Ruth was frowning in concern, Mary was scowling in anger at the world, Anna was grinning with amusement, and Beor was watching him closely.

“Okay,” he said again. “We're calling that done.”