Huang Cao

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Huang Cao (黄草)
Alias(es)	Master Huang; Lord of Utopia; Scourge of Abundance; Ashes
Species/Race	Grass-eating Demon; originally a blade of grass
Gender	Male
Affiliation	Utopia — founder and lord
Occupation/Role	Ruler, industrialist, political strategist, and commander of the Abundance Army
Status	Active
First Appearance	1

Power Progression

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Blade of grass	1	Transmigrates from his previous life into a grass blade on Terra after receiving the Antlered Goddess's blessing. Begins sensing and communicating with Originium. 1
Giant grass / Originium Arts user	1	Survives Presis's attack by transforming into giant grass. Gains broad access to Originium information across Terra and develops into a master of Originium Arts. 1
Independent main body	10	Ends years of dual-thread processing between his main self and the Banshee River Valley body; the remote body dissolves after he secures territory. 10
Humanoid plant body	11	Uses purified Originium and the Golden Tree to construct a humanoid body with exceptional strength and durability. 11
Lifespan sight	97	Receives a further blessing from the Pharmacist, allowing him to see the remaining lifespan of living beings and objects and use those readings for strategic planning. 97
Blessing of the Hunt / destiny power	353	Receives Lan's blessing while confronting Kelsong, gaining a destiny-based power expressed through an unstrung bow whose trajectory precedes the shot. 353
Stargate access	354	Gains access to most of Terra's stargates after meeting Presis again. 354

Background

Huang Cao was an overworked corporate employee with no close attachments in his previous life. After his death, his soul arrived in an endless starry space and encountered the Antlered Goddess, who granted him a new existence on Terra as a blade of grass. His early days were spent learning that Originium could communicate with him and discovering that the world was Terra. 1

Presis, the Cyber Ghost, soon attacked him through Originium. Huang Cao endured the conflict for roughly a year, transformed himself into giant grass to survive, and turned Originium's retained memories into a searchable information network spanning Terra. 1

He later operated in Kazdel through alternate bodies and the guise of an Undead Spirit, working with the Banshees and building connections with Lamian and Warfarin. After purchasing barren territory from Theresia, he ended his divided existence and used a Golden Tree to purify the area's Originium, restore its soil, and construct his first stable humanoid body. 8 10 11

Appearance

Huang Cao normally appears as a handsome black-haired, black-eyed youth with a body superficially resembling an ordinary carbon-based lifeform. Beneath that appearance, he is a plant-based being capable of radically altering his size and form. 11 216

• His humanoid body was grown through the Golden Tree after a year of purification and reconstruction. 11
• His combat true form manifests as a giant tree covered in plant tentacles. 323
• He can vary the size of his body and adapt his appearance for travel, disguises, or combat. 216 252
• He has used a masked, heavily armored identity named Ashes during the Kazimierz Knight Tournament. 133

Personality

Huang Cao initially wants a comfortable life as a wealthy regional lord rather than the burdens of kingship. Even after gaining great power, he repeatedly frames his ideal life around security, food, development, and leisure rather than glory. The Goddess's blessing and his memory of hardship nevertheless push him to improve the lives of people under his protection. 11 23

He is highly pragmatic, patient, and historically minded. He prefers economic pressure, political manipulation, and institutional reform to wasteful direct conflict, and he is willing to pause an advance once he judges that further gains would cost too much. 23 95

His benevolence is conditional on conduct. Huang Cao grants citizens rights, education, food, and protection, but treats oppressors, disloyal subordinates, and persistent exploiters with coercion or lethal force. He considers kindness valuable precisely because it should be reserved for those who will not abuse it. 96 97 98

Abilities & Skills

Originium Manipulation and Database Access

Huang Cao can absorb, communicate with, purify, and manipulate Originium. Its memory-retention property gives him access to information from across Terra.

• Searches Terra-wide Originium data for people, events, and technical knowledge. 1 3
• Uses the database to remotely control roots and other portions of his body over extreme distances. 3
• Converts Originium-derived information into useful materials and technological systems. 9 83
• Can read memories absorbed into Originium, including those of deceased people. 23 116
• Remote control creates mental strain; shifting distant coordinate axes can cause phantom pain. 3
• His Originium Arts are stronger when powered directly by Originium; combining them with Imaginary energy reduces their offensive output. 11

Plant Manipulation and Biological Creation

As a plant-based entity, Huang Cao can grow, reshape, and weaponize vegetation on a massive scale.

• Creates vines capable of immobilizing or overturning High-speed Battleships within his territory. 26
• Produces clothing, tools, food, and plant fibers directly from vegetation. 9 252
• Accelerates crop growth, including making wheat sprout and ripen in a minute. 21
• Develops high-yield, drought-resistant wheat and rice for international food supply networks. 69
• Constructs biological “cells” that allow High-speed Battleships to self-repair and absorb enemy vessels. 35
• Can use seeds to establish a mental link with recipients and, if necessary, transform them into plants under his control. 21 68

Abundance Empowerment

Huang Cao can grant portions of Abundance's power to selected people, creating soldiers with extreme recovery and loyalty.

• Forms the Abundance Army around recovery, survival, and the ability to absorb enemies' life force. 35
• Uses green granules to bestow a portion of Abundance's power on qualified recruits. 36
• Empowered soldiers cannot easily harbor rebellion; Huang Cao can reclaim their power and erase military secrets if they retire. 35
• Candidates must be screened for their ability to endure pain and face death. 36
• The army's physical protection is exceptional, but its magical resistance is comparatively weak. 95

Lifespan Sight

The Pharmacist's later blessing allows Huang Cao to perceive the endpoint of life and the remaining duration of objects.

• Sees the projected death time of living beings, from grass to people. 97
• Detects the remaining “lifespan” of objects such as glassware. 97
• Uses projected casualty changes among his soldiers as an early warning of strategic failure. 97

Hunt Blessing and Destiny

Lan's blessing supplements Huang Cao's Abundance powers with a destiny-based offensive capability.

• Wields a stringless bow completed by golden Abundance energy. 353
• Uses the principle that “the trajectory exists before the bullet,” allowing the target to be established after the shot's path. 353
• Used this power to defeat and seal Kelsong within subspace. 353

Physical Combat

Huang Cao possesses overwhelming durability, speed, and close-range power even without relying on large-scale Arts.

• Can move at supersonic speed on land. 95
• Eliminated an armed slave escort with a network of vines in less than a second. 252
• Defeated multiple Lungmen hoodlums in unarmed combat without allowing them to touch him. 406
• Personally destroys elite enemy formations during the Sargon campaign. 94

Equipment, Weapons, and Assets

• Golden Tree — Huang Cao's original form and a purification structure that transformed barren, Originium-saturated land into fertile territory. 11
• Abundance seeds and leaves — Used for healing, empowerment, communication, surveillance, coercive control, and political leverage. 21 54 68
• Stringless bow of destiny — A weapon completed by the combined blessings of Abundance and the Hunt. 353
• High-speed Battleships — Biological-technological warships built with self-repairing cells and later developed into a five-kilometer golden sky fortress capable of 600 km/h. 35 289
• Abundance Army — His elite military force, equipped with regenerative power, heavy armor, mobile artillery, and High-speed Battleship support. 35 94 95

Governance and Utopia

• Transformed a desolate Kazdel territory into an agricultural and industrial base through purified Originium, farming instruction, smelting education, trade, and printing. 11 13 14
• Established a legal code for conquered Sargon territory, granting free citizen status and rights to newcomers while levying one-tenth of the harvest as tax. 96
• Expelled subjects who refused to cultivate their assigned land or preyed on productive citizens, treating them as threats to territorial order. 97 98
• Invested in universal education; by the time his territory became Utopia, its non-infant population had a 100% literacy rate and over 95% had vocational training. 107 125
• Moved his territory onto a Mobile City and formally named it Utopia, which gained recognition from Victoria, Yan, Gaul, Leithanian, and Siracusa within half a month. 125

Relationships

• Warfarin — Early collaborator, trusted administrator, wife, and later the family matriarch who confronts wasteful spending and defends Utopia's laboring citizens. 9 26 200
• Lamian — Banshee Queen, longtime confidante, political ally, and wife. She helped conceal Huang Cao's activities and eventually acknowledged her love for him. 28 35 373
• Theresia — Demon King of Kazdel who sold Huang Cao his first territory. Their relationship later became both political and intimate, though it was strained by his admission that he had originally intended to exploit Kazdel's civil war. 10 171 275
• Kal'tsit — Maid, confidante, political partner, and romantic partner. She assists with administration and strategic projects while maintaining a complicated position within his household. 18 82 152
• Shu — Yan ally and wife. Huang Cao aided Yan during its food shortage; their relationship began after Shu confessed to him and later became a marriage. 106 211 230
• Xi — Shu's sister and later wife. Huang Cao helped address her hesitation over loving him, and their marriage became a political rebuke to Yan's court. 238 240
• Presis — The Cyber Ghost who began as his attacker and rival. Their relationship later shifted into wary cooperation around Terra's stargates and cosmic threats. 1 354 439
• The Pharmacist — The Antlered Goddess whose blessing gave Huang Cao his second life and later granted him lifespan sight. 1 97
• Młynar — Referred to as Huang Cao's sister; they reunite in Columbia, where she describes him as an Immortal roughly two hundred years old. 269

Story Role / Major Arcs

Arc	Role and major actions
Origin and Kazdel foundation	Transmigrates as grass, survives Presis, builds mastery over Originium, establishes relationships with the Banshees, purchases barren Kazdel land, and creates his humanoid body through the Golden Tree. 1 8 10 11
Victoria commercial struggle	Joins Victoria's Commercial Association, founds the Bounty company, gains Shi Huaiya as an agent, leads new nobles against old banks and spice monopolies, and secretly funnels resources back to his territory. 20 21 23 24
Eden militarization and Sargon campaign	Creates the Abundance Army and High-speed Battleships, integrates the Talarians, and conquers half of Sargon in two months without losing a single soldier in the initial campaign. He retreats when coalition artillery and sorcery make further advance inefficient. 35 68 94 95
Rise of Utopia	Establishes laws, education, industry, and citizen protections, then relocates his territory into a Mobile City and declares Utopia to the world. 96 107 125
Continental expansion	Expands his influence through Kazimierz industry, Gaul's annexation, Ursus currency diplomacy, Siergrag coercion, and manipulation of Sargon's succession. 139 151 289 309 326
Defense of Terra	Enters a stargate to confront Kelsong, receives Lan's blessing, seals the cosmic threat, eradicates Sami's Fiend pollution, and obtains access to most of Terra's stargates. 353 354
Later rule	Continues integrating former enemies into Utopia, prepares extraterrestrial-colonization plans, and works with Presis and Miss Doctor on creating planet-scale weapons and strengthening Terra's cosmic environment. 357 412 438 439

Notable Quotes

“As I live a better life, you must also live a better life!” — Huang Cao 311

“I will not give anyone any chances.” — Huang Cao 98

Trivia

• Huang Cao publicly introduced himself at the Kazdel Royal Court as a Grass-eating Demon managing land for an “Undead Spirit relative.” 28
• He has used the title Speaker while operating in Victoria, where his identity remained deliberately obscured from the old nobility. 24 77
• Although he can resurrect or restore certain people in exceptional circumstances, he refuses to make resurrection routine because he believes death gives life meaning. 252 333