The Tree of Life and the Moon Well

Standing outside the manor, gazing at the endless wilderness, this was the land he would cultivate in the future.

While the manor's development and construction were still underway, and no outsiders would be observing the area besides farmers, servants, and construction workers, Donald prepared to use his magical abilities to transform the place.

Opening the Book of Truth, after browsing through most of the building units of the four major races and neutral factions, Donald's gaze fell upon the elven structures.

If there were any buildings that possessed both powerful functions and promoted the development of the natural ecosystem, it could only be the elven treant buildings that harmoniously blended with nature. As an environmentalist in his past life and a noble manor owner in this one, after considering the advantages and disadvantages of the buildings from the four races, the undead were definitely out of the question. Once units with a hint of necromancy appeared, Donald estimated he would quickly be eradicated by the combined forces of the Temple of Agriculture and the major powers of the kingdom.

"Human buildings, a farm has already been established, and others are currently useless. The Orcish Burrow is good, with a hidden entrance and strong defenses, it can serve as a trench stronghold and a temporary barracks. However, he doesn't even have an army yet, so building it would be pointless. The other Orcish buildings are too primitive and barbaric in style, and not very suitable for appearing in human territory."

In the end, Donald felt that the Night Elf buildings were the most suitable.

"Apart from the Moon Well, Altar, and Hunter Hall, all other Night Elf building units are living beings. They can normally disguise themselves as trees and hide near the manor. If enemies attack, they can instantly transform into defensive forces. Treants themselves are plant life, so transforming into trees is perfectly normal."

"However, this means that most of the Night Elf building units cannot be summoned solely by Elemental Crystals and other materials like those of the other three races."

According to the settings in the Book of Truth, as semi-living, semi-building units, Night Elf buildings not only require energy but also need the support of a certain amount of soul power.

Of course, this soul power doesn't need to be as much as that required for permanently summoning intelligent beings. The soul power needed for ordinary treants doesn't need to be too strong, generally requiring a soul level equivalent to a Tier 2 unit.

Unlike plant and animal life forms, plants don't require much intelligence to survive. This means that plant souls are pure and minuscule. Even the treants of the Night Elf race have less thinking ability than a human infantry unit, or even a peasant unit.

Therefore, the Book of Truth provided unique summoning conditions for the elven treant buildings.

Although this incurred a slightly higher cost in soul power compared to summoning buildings from the other three races, it provided advantages that inanimate objects lacked.

For example, the Ancient Elf Tree building is not only conscious and can obey the owner's commands, but it also has the advantage of being able to move freely and can actively attack intruders. These several major advantages are enough to make Donald willing to pay a little more soul power.

The initial Tree of Life was rated as a Tier 5 unit by the Book of Truth, on par with the initial heroes. However, the soul power required to create it was only 200 units, which was disproportionate.

During this period, Donald had also taken the time to visit the graveyards in several towns in North Shire and collected some soul power. Combined with what he had left, it was just enough to create a new Tier 2 unit.

"For the Ancient Elf Tree building, I can only temporarily abandon my original plan for now."

Donald said with some regret. Since creating Clinton and his two subordinates, Donald had increasingly realized how useful it was to have such absolutely loyal subordinates.

The energy required to create the Night Elf's main base building, besides soul power, is equivalent to the Elemental Crystals needed to summon a Human Town Hall or an Orcish Great Hall, which is 150 units of primary Elemental Crystals or 15 units of intermediate Elemental Crystals.

If Donald could not gather enough materials in town at once to establish at least one small town, and if a Town Hall suddenly appeared, it would be too astonishing. He also didn't have his own territory, otherwise Donald would have summoned those large building units long ago. This would have saved a great deal of time for the manor's development, and he wouldn't have to build villas bit by bit.

"Similar to the swords and other items for infantry and buildings like farms summoned previously, creating the Tree of Life also allows for the substitution of building materials to replace a portion of the energy consumption. This way, over 80% of the crystal energy can be saved. Soul power, however, is a necessary consumable. It seems the path to becoming a strong person is long and arduous!"

"However, unlike the living buildings of other races, the materials chosen to replace them are not wood, stone, and other materials, but living trees. Preferably long-lived species like oak, pine, and fir, and the taller and older, the better. This way, more energy can be replaced, and consumption will be reduced."

In this Green Cloak Forest, Donald didn't know if anything else was lacking, but he certainly wouldn't lack ancient trees.

It is said that deep within the forest, there are even vast expanses of ancient trees over ten thousand years old. Even on the outskirts of the forest, finding an ancient tree thousands or tens of thousands of years old is not difficult.

No sooner said than done, Donald, uncharacteristically, spent a Tier 2 crystal core to summon a mount most suitable for flying in the forest: the elven Tier 2 unit, the Hippogryph.

Donald, whose body weight was similar to that of an elven warrior, transformed into a Hippogryph Knight and rode the Hippogryph towards the outskirts of the forest north of the manor.

The Green Cloak Forest had existed for far longer than the Kingdom of Selt and the continent's oldest nations, dating back to the ancient world.

It was vast and elongated, like a cloak spread out at the foot of the Cloud-Rising Mountains, bordering the three sides of North Shire and the southern territories of the kingdom. If the area of this forest and surrounding mountains were included, North Shire would undoubtedly be the largest county in the Kingdom of Selt.

Since he wasn't here to hunt magical beasts and his funds were still ample, Donald only patrolled the area where the forest outskirts met the deeper parts to save time.

Even here, ancient trees towered, and the canopy was dense. A hundred-year-old ancient tree was merely a sapling in this forest. Although not specifically measured, Donald estimated that several ancient trees he had chosen were over ten thousand years old.

"This is it!"

After a tour, Donald finally chose the thickest and tallest one nearby. Judging by its species, it was an oak tree from this world.

To the people of this world, oak trees are a sacred species. It is said that they grew from the fallen branches of the World Tree, the creator of the High Elves. The Nature Druids, an ancient race now extinct on the continent, even worshipped oak trees as embodiments of nature, like fathers.

Standing before this large oak tree, Donald placed his hand on its rough bark. His keen mage's spiritual power sensed its vigorous vitality. He took out a crystal core from a Tier 5 magical beast and chose to summon the Night Elf base, the Tree of Life.

"Book of Truth, begin!"

A golden light flowed with a vibrant pale green radiance, enveloping the entire oak tree. After a few breaths, the tree that reappeared had completely changed its appearance.

Its trunk, several times thicker and taller, stretched out lazily as if after a nap. Its dense, emerald green foliage swayed gently with the branches.

Perhaps because the tree Donald chose was excellent in both its growth state and age, and possessed its own spirituality, the summoning of this Tree of Life unexpectedly only consumed thirty units of soul power, in addition to the thirty-odd units of primary Elemental Crystals used to transform his body.

At this moment, the Tree of Life was enveloped in a layer of visible, faint natural energy. Its branches swayed slowly as if alive, as if greeting Donald, its creator.

And this Tree of Life was indeed communicating with him, its master, through the spiritual connection linked to Donald.

In its normal state, the Tree of Life was just a large tree with life and intelligence. It couldn't speak, but with an intelligence equivalent to that of a seven-year-old child, it could communicate with intelligent beings through spiritual power.

Donald issued commands to the Tree of Life in his mind. The entire tree's branches immediately spread out, and its sturdy roots emerged from the ground. The giant tree, once rooted in the forest, now completely transformed into a humanoid, upright tree.

The ancient oak tree had successfully evolved into the oldest and most peaceful treant of the legendary nature race. Its physiological characteristics had changed. From its appearance, even the most knowledgeable botanist might not be able to discern that its original form was an oak tree.

"Master..., I obey your command..."

The treant's head was an ancient, wooden face beneath its crown. The language it spoke was slow and dry, but surprisingly, it sounded somewhat childish.

"My child, follow my steps and take root there!"

Feeling the nascent Tree of Life's deep affection for him, like a child's, Donald indicated the coordinates in his mind. A narrow strip of overgrown bushes at the junction of the large and small manors was the place he had chosen for the Tree of Life to take root.

The treant nodded slowly and began to walk in that direction.

Due to its size, the treant, transformed from the Tree of Life, took large strides, covering nearly ten meters in a single step. However, its movements were slow, covering only about fifteen kilometers per hour.

Fortunately, it was almost evening. No adventurers or hunters would likely be staying in the forest overnight. Moreover, the forest near his two manors was different from Red Maple Town; it was closer to the dangerous depths of the forest and the Cloud-Rising Mountains, which were teeming with magical beasts. Therefore, it was usually sparsely populated, and the commotion caused by the treant was not significant. It would take the entire night for the Tree of Life to travel from the forest and take root at the manor.

Having done this, Donald recalled the Hippogryph into energy and returned to the farm residence to rest with peace of mind.

The next morning, after breakfast, he went outside the fence on the northwest side of the manor and indeed saw a sturdy tree, at least five people in circumference and over ten meters tall, standing on the wasteland.