Star Odyssey

Chapter 4396: Withered Branch Of The Divine Tree

Lu Yin also fell silent. After thinking for a long time, he ultimately chose to exchange for information, specifically information regarding the Aevum Inch that surrounded the Trio.

"I want to use a five-star mission reward to exchange for information about fishing civilizations in the region centered on the Human Trio and extending to the furthest distance that you can provide." Now that Lu Yin was the one standing guard over the Trio in Green Lotus’s place, he finally understood the enormous pressure that came with that responsibility.

Without knowing his surroundings, he could not safely go anywhere. He might leave for one moment, only to have a powerful civilization appear the next. It was extremely difficult to see the truth of the surrounding region on his own, but Obscura could do it.

At present, only fishing civilizations could pose a threat to his civilization. So long as a civilization was not at that level, Obscura could easily deal with it, but if a civilization had indeed reached the level of a fishing civilization, then even with Obscura’s promised protection of 2,000 years, humanity could still suffer catastrophic losses, just like when the Plume Immortals had attacked.

Therefore, Lu Yin needed to know if there were any fishing civilizations nearby.

While spending a five-star mission reward for this information might seem inefficient, it would bring him peace of mind. On top of that, he wanted to see what kind of fishing civilizations there might be, since they might become a powerful enemy in the future.

The rewards that Lu Yin requested had repeatedly put Ba Se in a difficult position. The exchanges requested by other members of Obscura had never been so complicated.

"Yes. According to your understanding of distance across the Aevum Inch, there is one fishing civilization within 1,000 years of travel. A five-star mission reward allows for two options: first, I can tell you the specific details of that fishing civilization, or two, I can expand the range to 5,000 years of travel, but I will only tell you the number of fishing civilizations. Choose."

1,000 years? That should be enough.

1,000 years of travel was an extremely vast distance. This 1,000 year range was centered on the Trio, and unless its coordinates were somehow obtained, that fishing civilization would never find the human civilization. However, since Obscura was able to clearly see that civilization, it might still be possible for them to guide that civilization over to destroy the Human Trio.

It was a better option to have greater knowledge of that particular fishing civilization. There was no need to expand the range to 5,000 years of travel.

"I choose the first option. Tell me about that fishing civilization."

"Agreed." Following that, Ba Se shared detailed information about the fishing civilization with Lu Yin. After receiving it, Lu Yin quietly left Vestigium.

Not long afterward, he returned, this time looking for Furball. "Ba Se, I want to speak with Furball alone."

"You must confirm that they are within Vestigium on your own. Only then can I allow a private conversation."

Lu Yin looked into the depths of Vestigium. "Furball, are you there? I have something to discuss with you."

There was no response.

"Furball, I have good news...

"Hong Xia told me something. If you don’t answer, I’ll assume that it’s true."

Furball then spoke up, "Hmph! Brat, don’t think that I don’t know what you are plotting! You want to use me against Hong Xia?"

Lu Yin sounded irritated. "Don’t say something that will harm Obscura’s unity! I’ve said this many times already."

He then called upon Ba Se to allow for a private conversation with Furball. "Do you still have Mother Trees?"

"What exactly do you want Mother Trees for?" Furball was puzzled. They needed the Mother Trees for their own cultivation, but why would this human need so many?

Lu Yin said, "That’s none of your concern. So do you still have any?"

"Yes, but why should I give them to you?"

"Let’s trade."

"Your human civilization has nothing worth trading for."

"What if I offer a five-star mission reward from Obscura?"

Furball was taken aback. "A five-star mission reward?"

"I have a five-star mission reward. Do you want it?"

"If that is the case, why do you not exchange with Obscura?"

"Obscura doesn’t have any Mother Trees available. They need time to gather them, and I don’t have the time to wait."

Furball was astonished. Exactly why did Lu Yin want so many Mother Trees? Logic told Furball that the more Lu Yin needed Mother Trees, the less they should give them away, but they also genuinely needed rewards from Obscura. A five-star mission was extremely difficult even for Furball to complete.

Of all the members of Obscura, how many were capable of completing a five-star mission? Lu Yin had succeeded largely because he had contributed on the battlefield, and he had especially relied on his ability to teleport.

Lu Yin urged, "So, what do you say? Are we trading or not? If not, I’ll find someone else. I don’t necessarily need Mother Trees; there are other things that I want as well, and Old Man Hehe will probably be willing to trade."

"Two Mother Tree groves, and we have a deal," Furball said.

Lu Yin barked a mocking laugh. "Furball, do you think that I’m an idiot? Two Mother Tree groves? That’s nothing! If I wanted to, I could teleport around and gather that in just a few years. Even Ba Se said they need to gather the Mother Trees that match a five-star mission reward. Do you really think that’s only worth two groves?"

Furball sneered. "Then gather them yourself. The key to collecting Mother Trees isn’t the speed, but rather the targets. Are you even able to find that many megaverses? Even within a 100-year radius of your human civilization, how many megaverses are there? And do they all have Mother Trees? I assure you, there are far fewer than you imagine.

"Too many accidents occur during biological evolution and development, and I have already dug out many megaverse’s Mother Trees. Even with teleportation, you won’t be able to find a single grove’s worth of Mother Trees in 100 years."

"Then 200 years. Time means little to us," Lu Yin replied.

Furball laughed. "Then go find them yourself."

Lu Yin frowned. Furball truly did not care, and he was thoroughly convinced that Lu Yin could not gather the necessary Mother Trees.

In truth, that matched Lu Yin’s own thoughts. With teleportation combined with his Mirrorlight Art, finding megaverses should not be particularly difficult. Even if he found just one per year, 200 years should be enough. The bigger problem was that he could not make himself destroy healthy Mother Trees. If a Mother Tree was thriving, he would not touch it. He could not overcome that mental barrier.

It was a feeling born from his personal experience with the Mother Tree in the Tianyuan’s Perennial World. He had always felt that the Mother Trees were protecting the inhabitants of a megaverse.

Given his own reservations, Lu Yin could not gather enough Mother Trees even with 200 years of effort. In fact, not even 1,000 years would be enough for him to gather enough Mother Trees to match one of Furball’s groves.

Lu Yin was repeatedly taking Mother Trees from Furball, which offered Furball the possibility of continuing to trade with Lu Yin, which provided him with the motivation to constantly gather more and more Mother Trees. Lu Yin was in fact the root of the problem. Unfortunately, he truly needed the Mother Trees. Every lifeform was selfish, and Lu Yin was no exception.

There was no need to make excuses. Since he could not overcome the mental barrier himself, he would not try it. He would let Furball do the work for him.

Besides, time was also important to Lu Yin. He had many other things he still needed to do and did not have the time to personally gather Mother Trees.

"Five Mother Tree groves. Deal?" Lu Yin said.

Furball shouted, "Are you crazy, brat? Five groves? Do you think that I planted those Mother Trees and can grow as many as I want?"

"This is a five-star mission reward. Listen carefully: a five-star mission reward."

"Listen carefully yourself: five-star mission rewards cannot be traded directly. Even if I obtain the reward, I can only receive it from you, which means that you will know what I receive from Obscura. That cuts the value of the reward in half."

"That is going too far. Half the value? Not unless you plan to use the reward against me."

"You aren’t qualified for that."

"Then five groves."

"Three at most. No more."

"Four. That’s my bottom line."

"Three. That’s my bottom line as well."

"Four."

"Three."

"Three and a half. Each of us takes a small step back. How about it?"

Furball hesitated briefly, but finally agreed. "Fine. Three and a half groves. Deal."

Lu Yin exhaled. It would take him a very, very long time to gather that many Mother Trees on his own. He considered this as trading a reward for time. Moreover, he would learn what Furball intended to obtain from Obscura through him, which would help him to better understand Furball.

"By the way, I’m actually losing out in this deal. Why don’t you tell me something about Second Furball as a bonus?"

"Hmph! You can refuse the deal."

"That is not how business works. Mutual benefit is the way to keep deals going," Lu Yin advised.

Furball laughed loudly. "Brat, how many Mother Trees do you think I have? After this trade with you, I will only have half a grove left. Even if you want to trade again, I will have none."

"Then give me the remaining half as well. It isn’t that much anyway."

"Dream on!"

"Is there any point in keeping just half a grove? Just stubborn pride?"

"Enough talk. Use your five-star mission reward to exchange for a withered branch of Obscura’s Divine Tree and deliver it to these coordinates."

Lu Yin was caught completely off guard. A withered branch from the Divine Tree? That was a dried up branch that had fallen from the tree. Any tree would eventually wither. It was only natural. Mother Trees did, and so too did the Divine Tree.

But why did Furball want a withered branch of the Divine Tree?

Lu Yin called out to Ba Se. "I have decided. I will exchange a five-star mission reward for a withered branch of the Divine Tree."

Ba Se's voice remained calm. "Agreed. The withered branch lies beneath the Divine Tree. Go and take it."

Lu Yin exited Vestigium and sent Master Qing Cao in to retrieve the branch, as Lu Yin refused to enter Vestigium with his real body.

Some time later, he teleported across the cosmos until he saw a grove of Mother Trees up ahead, as well as a giant.

While still separated by a great distance, Lu Yin and Furball stared at each other. Compared to their previous encounters, this one felt calm.

Lu Yin slowly approached Furball, while they stared at Lu Yin with burning eyes that betrayed clear desire.

"Furball, we meet again," Lu Yin said with a smile. He felt pressure from the giant, but it was no longer as overwhelming as before. This was not because Furball had grown weaker or was restraining their aura, but rather because Lu Yin himself had become stronger.

He now had the confidence to face Furball.

The giant’s voice thundered far louder than it did in Vestigium, "Enough talk! Where is the item?"

Lu Yin carefully observed Furball. Truthfully, he did not really want to hand the branch over. The withered branch from the Divine Tree, despite being dried up, was still filled with divine energy. The amount of divine energy was no weaker than what Lu Yin gained from his tri-colored divine energy transformation. Perhaps because the branch was withered, but the energy that it contained was not so domineering.

Lu Yin himself wanted to absorb that divine energy, but he was still unable to fully control his tri-colored divine energy transformation. If he absorbed this energy rashly, then the next time he tried to use his tri-colored divine energy transformation, he might experience the same sort of loss of control as in the past.

Not every enemy would be as helpless against him as Ni Ren. Lu Yin had only recently barely managed to achieve some level of self-control after undergoing his tri-colored divine energy transformation. The divine energy within the branch was more than what he could currently handle.

Even so, he could still keep it and use it later.

Once he absorbed more green motes of light and his body was able to endure more divine energy, the energy within the branch would raise his strength to an entirely new level.

But the prerequisite was that he could obtain more motes of green light. Therefore, he had to first get those green lights and only then could he acquire more divine energy.