Chapter 109: Chapter 89: Divine Fruit
Lin Yu’s experiment had hit a snag. He began to think long and hard, repeatedly simulating possible scenarios in his mind.
’This won’t work. As a mid-level Druid, precisely controlling the feeding amount is just too difficult for me.’
’Maybe I should ask Chenxi for help?’
’No, that probably won’t work either. Chenxi can’t even merge her consciousness with the World Tree, so she can’t even perform the first few steps.’
’I’ll have to figure this out on my own!’
...
Lin Yu buried himself in thought, inspecting the items in his possession and within his territory one by one, looking for anything that might help.
Suddenly, his gaze swept over a building under construction—an ordinary, multi-story wooden residence.
Although it was a wooden house, the involvement of the World Tree Roots made it incredibly sturdy. Construction was swift, with every step of the process executed perfectly, wasting not a single moment.
’The World Tree?’
’That’s it! I’ll have the World Tree do the feeding. As the big shot of the Natural Realm, helping nurse a little baby shouldn’t be a problem, right?’
At this thought, Lin Yu immediately sprang into action.
First, he selected a set of Attribute Fruits, each with a different attribute. Then, he had the World Tree Roots separate a single, tiny tendril.
This tendril wrapped around the four different Attribute Fruits, forming a shell-like casing.
Then, he condensed Spiritual Liquid inside this shell and drew in Life Spring Water.
Under the guidance of the root tendril, the two liquids remained distinctly separate. Though both were inside the root-formed shell, a thin membrane kept them from touching.
At the same time, Lin Yu placed some extra Life Spring Water and Spiritual Liquid outside the shell, just in case the supply inside ran out.
Next, Lin Yu informed the World Tree of his plan. Although he "informed" it, this didn’t mean the World Tree had developed consciousness.
The act of informing was more akin to a human brain commanding a part of the body; the brain tells the body to do something, then lets it act on its own according to subconscious instinct or habit. (Lin Yu’s consciousness wasn’t strong enough to control the entire World Tree.)
The root tendril then began to bring the Life Spring Water into contact with the Attribute Fruit, allowing it to absorb the water on its own. Once it had absorbed a little, the tendril would retract the water and bring the Spiritual Liquid into contact with the fruit, letting it absorb the liquid.
At first, the Attribute Fruit was reluctant. Its newly reawakened life force craved more of the spring water to restore itself further, but the root tendril was implacable. Left with no choice, the fruit could only absorb the Spiritual Liquid.
Due to its weak life force, it could only absorb a tiny amount of Spiritual Liquid before it had to stop.
The root tendril would then retract the Spiritual Liquid and introduce the Life Spring Water again. After the fruit absorbed a little water, the tendril would retract it and reintroduce the Spiritual Liquid.
This cycle repeated over and over. The Attribute Fruit’s life force grew stronger and stronger, and it absorbed more and more Spiritual Liquid.
Compared to its previous rapid development, the Attribute Fruit’s life force now felt much healthier and more solid, showing no signs of being hollow.
Lin Yu watched the root tendril’s work in silence. Whenever the Spiritual Liquid or Life Spring Water inside the shell ran low, he would promptly place more of the appropriate fluid near the tendril, allowing it to be drawn into the shell.
Gradually, the Attribute Fruit stopped absorbing the spring water and Spiritual Liquid.
The special Spiritual Energy within it grew, slowly filling the entire Attribute Fruit.
As dawn was about to break, the Attribute Fruit sprouted.
Lin Yu was ecstatic. He followed the same procedure and cultivated the last four Attribute Fruits into small saplings.
This was the first time he had ever grown a special fruit tree himself without getting it from a chest. The success of this endeavor was enough to cause a major shift in his development strategy.
From now on, the territory’s development would no longer rely solely on opening chests for blueprints and seeds; independent research and development would also need to be on the agenda. Of course, this didn’t mean he would give up opening chests. He had to pursue both avenues, and excel at both.
[Name]: Divine Fruit Tree
[Rank]: Legendary (Gold)
[Description]: A special fruit tree formed from the mutual combination and mutation of World Tree Roots and an Attribute Fruit. It can produce All-Attribute Spirit Fruits and has an extremely small chance of bearing a Divine Fruit. (Specialty Product)
The effects of the All-Attribute Spirit Fruit and the Divine Fruit are released gradually after consumption. Another can only be consumed after the previous one is fully digested.
[All-Attribute Spirit Fruit]: Increases all physical attributes upon consumption. The tree bears one hundred Basic Spirit Fruits annually (final value of all physical attributes +1), fifty Mid-Level Spirit Fruits every ten years (final value of all physical attributes +5), and ten High-Level Spirit Fruits every century (final value of all physical attributes +10).
[Divine Fruit]: All attributes +10, including hidden attributes such as Luck, Comprehension, and Cognition.
The All-Attribute Spirit Fruits and Divine Fruits produced by this Divine Fruit Tree were significantly better than the original Attribute Fruits.
Not only did they increase all attributes, but most importantly, there was no limit on the number one could consume. The only trade-off was that the effects took longer to fully manifest. This was unlike the original Attribute Fruits, which had a personal consumption limit for each type, beyond which they had no effect.
"Excellent!" Lin Yu was very satisfied. This fruit would become a major feature of his territory, and he would have more items to reward heroes for their accomplishments.
Lin Yu glanced at the faintly brightening sky. After a busy night, he was mentally exhausted. He immersed his consciousness in the World Tree and fell into a deep sleep.
This was a method he had discovered by accident for restoring his mental energy. Sleeping with his consciousness immersed in the World Tree not only allowed him to recover his stamina at an extremely fast rate but also strengthened the connection between them and enhanced his soul’s strength.
...
「As the sky gradually brightened」
At the Teleportation Gate of the Peak Arena, the territory’s heroes scheduled to enter the Cosmic Arena today were already waiting.
Lin Yu, having finished breakfast, strolled over. He was quite surprised to see the large crowd. "Why are you all gathered here? Not going into the arena?"
When he saw the way they were all looking at him, he had a sudden realization. "I have an announcement. Starting today, you no longer need to wait for me to enter and exit the Cosmic Arena together. From now on, just follow the schedule and go on your own. You don’t have to wait for me."
After he spoke, he looked at the crowd, who still hadn’t moved, and barked, "What are you still waiting for? Go on, get in! If you don’t move now, I’m revoking your entry privileges for the day!"
Startled, the crowd hastily rushed into the Teleportation Gate.
In an instant, the area in front of the Teleportation Gate became quiet, with only Lin Chenxi and Yuan Xiaobo left waiting for him.
The original plan for the day was to take Phantom and Lin Chenxi into the Cosmic Arena. However, since Lin Chenxi and Yuan Xiaobo had gained access to the second floor of the Cosmic Arena, Lin Yu decided to take the two of them to check it out first.
Being a lord had its perks. Even without the required access permissions, as long as one of his heroes had entered a higher floor of the arena, he could teleport there with them. He just couldn’t participate in the relevant competitions.
The three of them stepped into the Teleportation Gate and, in the next instant, arrived in a great hall.
This second floor of the Cosmic Arena was also immense, and the variety of races within was even greater, truly opening Lin Yu’s eyes.
Moreover, it seemed this place housed not only heroes participating in the Lord’s Contest but also many free-roaming Extraordinary Beings. The entire second floor was no longer like the first, which had a section cordoned off and allocated to the heroes of lords participating in the Lord’s Contest.
Perhaps it could be said that entering the second floor was tantamount to graduating from the Lord’s Contest and successfully entering the greater system of the Cosmic Arena.
Lin Yu was overjoyed when he realized this, feeling as though he had finally left the starter zone.
He first took the two of them to check the arena point exchange. The items available for redemption here were far more numerous than on the first floor. Lin Yu was so dazzled he didn’t know what he should buy.
The main issue was that he couldn’t figure out the function of many items just from their names and descriptions, as they involved many areas of knowledge that were complete blind spots for him. He couldn’t understand them at all.
In the end, he did manage to find a few things he could use.
The first was a Cosmic Arena Teleportation Array Blueprint (Universal). It could be used to construct a Teleportation Array leading to the Cosmic Arena, allowing free access to and from floors one and two. Each teleportation would consume a certain amount of energy.
The second was a number of Cultivation Manuals.
Although being in the Cosmic Arena prevented him from knowing whether obtaining these manuals would unlock corresponding research projects, and despite the fact that most were basic or elementary Cultivation Techniques with low prices, he knew his territory needed them.
The main reason was that Lin Yu, Lin Chenxi, and the others had never been able to locate the corresponding Cultivation Manuals within the Wisdom Library. They were always hidden in sections for different book categories, and the few they occasionally found weren’t guaranteed to unlock a research project.
For example, Cultivation Manuals related to Spiritual Energy had been found in the Energy District, in the body-strengthening Sports District, and some had even appeared in the Childcare Knowledge District.
’Perhaps, to the Wisdom Library, Cultivation Manuals are essentially just knowledge for strengthening the body and manipulating energy?’
Lin Yu spent all his arena points, exchanging them for one Cosmic Arena Teleportation Array Blueprint, a pile of Cultivation Manuals, and a bag full of Attribute Fruits.
Onlookers saw the three of them at the automated exchange machine, constantly grabbing items and stuffing them into their personal storage spaces, but no one found it strange. People arriving on the second floor of the Cosmic Arena for the first time always went on a wild shopping spree.
"Let’s go see what competitions this floor has to offer and if we can earn some more points."
Lin Yu glanced regretfully at the prizes in the automated exchange machine. He wanted to get more Attribute Fruits to take back and cultivate more Divine Fruit Trees.
The three of them went to the second floor’s information desk to check the available competitive events.
From the second floor onward, the Cosmic Arena had several permanent events.
One: Grand Melee
Divided into same-tier and non-same-tier melees. Aside from different registration requirements, the other rules are similar to those on the first floor.
To gain access to the next floor, one victory in a same-tier melee or ten victories in non-same-tier melees are required.
Two: Platform Duels
Similarly divided into same-tier and non-same-tier duels. Aside from different registration requirements, the other rules are the same as on the first floor.
To gain access to the next floor, one victory in a same-tier duel or ten victories in non-same-tier duels are required.
Three: Gladiatorial Arena
After registering, participants are automatically matched with a Gladiator who has a corresponding number of victories.
A one-hundred-win streak will grant eligibility to enter the next floor.
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The tier divisions here were different from those in the Lord’s Contest. Here, the standard for judgment was the sum of a participant’s attribute values.
1–9,999 was Tier 1; 10,000–99,999 was Tier 2; 100,000–999,999 was Tier 3... and so on. Each subsequent tier added another digit to the required sum of attributes.
The sum of Yuan Xiaobo’s and Lin Chenxi’s attributes were both over one hundred thousand but less than one million. According to this system, they were Tier 3 Extraordinary Beings.
