Parallel World, Hua Country, Yang City.
July 30, 2050.
It was a scorching summer, especially in the southern cities, where even after the sun had set, the heat remained unbearable.
20 kilometers southeast of Yang City, in a valley.
Ye Feng had been in a daze for an hour, with only one thought in his mind.
"Why have I turned into a tree?"
His "gaze" shifted downward, looking at his own corpse beneath the tree, and in his heart, he already had a guess.
"No matter what, even being a tree is better than being dead. And in an era where all the flora and fauna of the world are mutating, being a tree might not be so bad," Ye Feng murmured to himself.
His words were not simply to comfort himself.
Half a year ago, mutated beings had appeared on Blue Star.
Of course, at that time there were only sporadic individuals, and the mutated beings were not large in size.
But with the emergence of large-scale mutated locusts in Africa three months ago, the situation took a sudden turn for the worse, and the number of mutated beings surged.
The smaller the organism, the greater the probability of mutation.
Mosquitoes, flies, cockroaches—these creatures commonly seen in human cities—most of them had already mutated.
And they began to actively attack humans.
Every day, there were hundreds of incidents involving mutated beings injuring people all over the world.
Within the cities, mutated mice became the most dangerous creatures.
They were bigger than the average house cat, agile in movement, strong in tearing and biting, and they possessed a fierce aggression.
On the internet, there were videos of mutated mice fighting to the death with hunting dogs.
Two months ago, even plants began to mutate.
But since mutated plants can't move, they immediately became the best subjects for research.
However, the mutated plants were all found in the wild.
For instance, on Small Phoenix Mountain 30 kilometers east of Yang City, there emerged a tree that grew to a height of 300 meters.
Without any surprise, it was targeted by research institutions.
The Agricultural University where Ye Feng studied happened to cooperate with these institutions, and the school was responsible for the "sampling" task.
Normally, with the wilderness being so dangerous, only fools would go there.
But the offer was too generous to resist.
100,000 in cash, plus 1 million in accidental insurance, and the accompaniment of a security company.
For Ye Feng, who came from a family that was not wealthy and needed to work part-time to support himself, the temptation was truly too great.
In the end, he gritted his teeth and signed up.
Then, on the way there, they encountered mutated beings.
It was a mutated wild boar as big as a small car, and with just two collisions, it flipped their bus over.
In the end, everyone scattered and fled.
Fortunately, the mutated wild boar did not pursue him.
Unfortunately, he encountered a poisonous snake and was bitten.
When he "woke up," he discovered he had become an Iron Birch Tree.
"Ding! Integration successful, congratulations to the host for obtaining the special ability: Devour!"
The system prompt immediately brought Ye Feng's mind back from its wanderings.
He couldn't wait to open the system panel.
Host: Ye Feng (World Tree)
Tree Body Height: 10 meters
Tree Trunk Width: 0.5 meters
Main Root Length: 20 meters
Realm: Early Stage First Order
Evolution Points: 0/10
Special Ability: Devour
Spirit Points: 7/100
Bioenergy: 9/100
When he had just awakened, he found himself with a system and also received a newbie gift pack.
Then he received a "Heart of World Tree," which after integration, would allow him to become a World Tree.
In such a situation, Ye Feng naturally chose to integrate without hesitation.
Only now had the integration finally succeeded.
"Is this what it feels like to become a World Tree?"
Ye Feng was feeling this entirely new body. Although his appearance was still that of an Iron Birch Tree, in reality, he had completely transformed.
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He could control every branch, every leaf of the entire tree, causing them to sway.
As his mind willed it, the whole tree began to sway from side to side without wind, its leaves rustling loudly, startling a flock of birds in the valley.
"The tree body can tilt up to 60 degrees, and each leaf can rotate 360 degrees," he concluded.
"What's most important is..."
Roots burst forth from the soil, lashing the ground like whips with cracking sounds.
"Unfortunately, they can only perform simple lashing or entwining actions, still not flexible enough to use tools," Ye Feng concluded.
For a tree, this was already incredibly agile.
But Ye Feng was still somewhat dissatisfied.
He had previously fantasized that he could stand up like the War Ancient Tree in Warcraft and "walk" home.
"However, I still have the system!"
Ye Feng shifted his attention back to the system panel.
During the time he waited for the fusion with the Heart of the World Tree, apart from contemplating life, he had been studying the system.
The system's function was simple: it allowed him to grow and evolve rapidly.
Of course, this required Spirit Points and Bioenergy.
According to the information he had gathered from the system, Spiritual Energy was the mysterious energy that caused mutations in life forms and plants.
So, to evolve quickly, Spiritual Energy was indispensable.
As for Bioenergy, it was just as the name implied, an energy stored within living organisms, needed for both growth and evolution.
Using the system's function, by spending 1 Spirit Point and 1 Bioenergy, he could rapidly grow a particular part of his body.
Right now, he had 7 Spirit Points and 9 Bioenergy, which could allow for the rapid growth of his body 7 times.
"What I need to consider is which part of my body to grow," Ye Feng stared at the system panel, pondering.
He had contemplated this question for quite some time.
Tree body height, trunk width, and root length each represented different directions of growth.
Tree Body Height: Increases height, allowing for more leaves and faster absorption of Spiritual Energy from the air. Furthermore, photosynthesis from the leaves also generates some Bioenergy.
Tree Trunk Width: Increases the storage capacity for Spirit Points and Bioenergy.
Root Length: Accelerates the absorption of Bioenergy.
According to his initial planning, among these three options, tree body height was of course the top priority.
Enhancing tree body height would speed up the absorption of Spiritual Energy and also produce Bioenergy, unquestionably the choice with the highest cost-effectiveness.
But as he evolved into the World Tree and acquired the "Devour" Special Ability, the situation changed.
According to the information provided by the system, he could use this ability to Devour the Spiritual Energy and Bioenergy within other living beings.
However, to activate this ability, he needed to make physical contact with the target.
Making contact with other beings using his leaves or trunk would be difficult.
Thus, the roots were the best medium for using the "Devour" ability.
"As long as I use my roots to bind other beings, I can slowly absorb them using the Devouring Ability, which should make the acquisition of Spiritual Energy and Bioenergy even faster," Ye Feng decided to first increase the length of his roots.
Beyond this factor, there was another even more important reason.
That was, concealing himself.
If he grew too tall, he was bound to be targeted under the scrutiny of satellites above.
He did not want to become a subject of research.
With his roots hidden underground, he could develop quietly.
Thinking it, he did it, fixating on the system panel, he clicked the plus sign next to the root length.
"Ding! Would you like to spend 1 Spirit Point and 1 Bioenergy to increase the root length?"
Seeing the system prompt that popped up, Ye Feng didn't hesitate to choose yes.
As he clicked the button, he felt an instant sensation as if something had been drained from within him; then, his roots began to itch, growing at a visible rate.
After becoming the World Tree, Ye Feng's 1 main root and 100 side roots could all be precisely controlled.
The ones currently growing frenetically were these 101 roots.
Within a mere minute, the length of his main root had increased by a full 20 centimeters.
"It's grown so much," Ye Feng was pleasantly surprised.
He promptly used all the remaining Spirit Points and Bioenergy to enhance the root length.
Moments later, after checking the system panel, the root length had increased by a full 1.4 meters, from the original 20 meters to 21.4 meters.
"Now, by absorbing Spiritual Energy from the air on my own, I get 1 Spirit Point an hour, and the Bioenergy will be even more."
"That means, without doing anything, I would gain 24 Spirit Points in a day, which can increase my root length by 4.8 meters."
When he calculated this number, Ye Feng was profoundly moved.
Compared to ordinary plants, his growth rate was terrifying.
What's more, the promising Devouring Ability he was banking on hadn't even been used yet!
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