The night in the nameless mountain range was far from peaceful.
Dull rumbles like thunder echoed from all around the mountains, accompanied by faint tremors. These were disturbances caused by battles between extraordinary lifeforms.
Clearly.
The mountain range where the Second Template Willow Tree was located was far more dangerous than the primeval forest where the First Template Gamia Great Serpent resided.
If the two templates could switch locations now, Gamia, who had just gained the limit-breaking talent, would be able to rapidly accumulate energy.
And the Willow Template could also pass through its weakest period in a relatively safe environment.
Unfortunately, they could not be swapped.
Fortunately, although the first night of possessing the template was far from peaceful, the danger did not spread to this modest valley.
When the morning sunlight pierced through the thin mist and fell between the mountain ridges, the frenzied mutated beasts finally settled down for the moment after a night of intense fighting.
The Second Template was not in particularly good condition. Cracks marked its gray trunk, while many branches had snapped cleanly in the middle and fallen to the ground.
This was also why the Willow Template had been displayed as weakened when he possessed it.
Possessing a large tree, the pain from injuries was not particularly noticeable.
But the weakened state reflected into Su Heng's consciousness was still unpleasant.
Just like Gamia.
The Willow Template also had its own consciousness. It was a tiny green speck of light, as fine as a wheat awn, faint and seemingly not very intelligent.
It showed no reaction at all to Su Heng's sudden arrival inside its body.
"After all, it's a willow tree. Even after awakening, it wouldn't possess much intelligence."
Su Heng tried to communicate with the Second Template, but received no response. He was not surprised by the result.
Human intelligence far surpassed that of ordinary animals and beasts, and even common beasts possessed souls far stronger and tougher than plants.
Within the boundless darkness of the Consciousness Space.
If Su Heng's consciousness was a massive sphere of light like the sun, and the Great Serpent Gamia's consciousness was a moderately sized satellite.
Then the willow tree's pale green consciousness was like a speck of dust.
If he had not deliberately spent time searching for it earlier, Su Heng might have overlooked the willow tree's consciousness entirely.
But now...
After discovering the willow tree's tiny consciousness, Su Heng shielded it with his own consciousness before taking full control of the willow tree's body.
After the initial novelty of becoming a tree wore off, what remained was mostly boredom.
He could not move, yet his senses were abnormally sharp.
Even during the night that had just passed, Su Heng could see his surroundings without blind spots. The sensation was somewhat similar to the Transparent World from a certain manga.
A breeze brushed past the treetops, and sunlight fell upon the emerald leaves.
Every sensation was fully conveyed to Su Heng's consciousness.
Compared to Gamia, who could rapidly absorb massive amounts of nutrients and accelerate its growth through Devour Talent, the willow tree's life force grew at a rate that made even a turtle seem fast.
From sunrise until late morning.
Over the course of an entire half day, the willow tree's life force had only increased by 0.01 points.
That was already thanks to the bonuses brought by the system. If Su Heng had not descended into the willow tree's body, its growth would have been even slower.
"If it really keeps growing at this rate, even ten years might not be enough to accumulate the life force needed to break through to the Second Life Level..."
Su Heng was not an impatient person.
But seeing the willow tree's sluggish growth speed still left him somewhat speechless.
"It seems that saving up the True Points I drew was an exceptionally correct choice."
Other than when the still-undeveloped Gamia had encountered that mutated Caiman Crocodile and Su Heng had used his True Points to draw a reward once.
Over the following month or so, every point he obtained had been saved intact.
A full three hundred True Points.
They could be used for six ordinary talent draws or two rare talent draws.
He spent one hundred and fifty of them on three ordinary draws, while the remaining one hundred and fifty points were kept in reserve to deal with any possible accidents.
With every draw, he could choose one of the three talents provided by the system.
Su Heng was fairly lucky. Among the three draws, nearly every talent that appeared was something the willow tree could currently use.
Especially during the third draw, one of the three talents that appeared was even a rare talent.
Willow Template Unfolded Willow Tree Status: Weakened Life Level: 1 Life Force: 1.33 (average: 3) Tree Height: 3.27 meters (average: 15) Tree Age: 2.1 years (average: 30) Bond Level: 1 (the higher the Bond Level, the greater the bonuses gained while in the Template Fusion State. The current level provides a 30% bonus.) Template Trait: Life Enlightenment (Rare: By waving branches brimming with life force, it can guide lower lifeforms to awaken. Awakened lifeforms naturally feel goodwill toward the main body. However, the template itself will also become more vulnerable to attacks and consumption by other mutated beasts.) Body Doubling: (Ordinary: Maximum life force is doubled, body size increases, and the toughness of the roots, trunk, and branches increases along with life force.) Super Absorption: (Ordinary: The rate at which the roots, stems, and leaves obtain nutrients is greatly increased. It can grow rapidly by increasing the nutrients in the soil.) Root and Stem Activation: (Rare: The strength and resilience of the roots, branches, and leaves increase. It can now make small-scale movements within permissible limits.)
Body Doubling, Super Absorption, and Root and Stem Activation—these were the three talents Su Heng had obtained through the system draws.
Among them, Body Doubling had an effect similar to Gamia's Vigor Talent.
However, the willow tree's life force was naturally inferior to Gamia's, so a talent that directly doubled life force did not have such a noticeable effect on the willow tree.
This further proved that Su Heng's previous ideas and direction had been correct.
Every template had its own strengths and weaknesses. The most reasonable way to cultivate templates was to play to their strengths, compensate for their weaknesses, and maximize the characteristics of each template.
Thank you to boss Divine Key for the 1,500-point donation!
Thank you to classmate Thunder Tiger Tooth Pill for the monthly ticket.
Before you continue