Chapter 38: Era Oak, Life Path

"Planet Wonder: Corrupted Era Oak (Fully Corrupted)"

"On this planet, there are many theories regarding the source of life, but a significant portion of Elves believe the Era Oak is the origin of life itself. This colossal tree is the size of a city, and its life force is so vast that it even possesses an ecosystem belonging to the tree itself.

However, the vast majority of people do not know that the Era Oak is not found only within the Athel Loren Forest; there were once several such oaks in the world, but they gradually perished amidst the succession of civilizations.

And now, you have found the one that was most impossible to find. The Era Oak, which symbolizes corrupted life.

Under the blowing of the Chaos Wind, this Era Oak has long since twisted and mutated.

However, there is still a glimmer of hope."

"Trait: Non-Chaos populations or those of Dark God Worship will receive the negative effect 'Wail of Life', with a certain probability each turn that the unit will fall into a state of loss of appetite.

After this state accumulates three times, the population unit will turn into a Corrupted Beast and begin to launch an assault on your territory.

Provides jobs for up to three thousand people; you may choose to log it or maintain the ecosystem to harvest fruit.

Choosing to log will bring five points of productivity and one point of Magic per turn. Maintaining the ecosystem will bring four points of food and one point of Magic per turn. Please note that choosing to log will lead to unpredictable results."

"Current Status: Corrupted"

"Optional Items: Purification (Use 100,000 Magic units to perform a pure purification, revitalizing the Era Oak's life force) Corrosion (Use Dangerous Technology to thoroughly erode the Era Oak; this action will greatly advance your national composition, pushing it toward the ranks of the Dark Gods)

Rot (Immediately use the Corruption Temple to rot and erode the giant tree, maintaining a state of life-and-death cycle. This operation will purify the Era Oak to a certain extent and grant you the Life Path. But please note, no one will like this ugly appearance.)"

"..."

It doesn't need to be obtained from those anomalous psionic entities; can combinations of Planet Wonders or artificial Wonders also forge various Paths? This is yet another brand-new direction for development.

Floating in the Observatory, Li Ang looked at the structure of the massive Era Oak, a look of contemplation appearing on his face.

Just as the information provided by the player stated, this giant oak was even more massive than imagined, and even the camps of those demons were merely the rotting parts of the giant tree's roots.

In more places, there hung some sour, unbearable fruits, leaves that looked as black as ink, and at a glance, strange structures that seemed to symbolize failure, along with some unsettling black tree trunks.

This massive tree occupied an area even larger than Li Ang's Landing Site, looking like a small mountain range standing upon the Chaos Wasteland. Its vast life force itself formed a magical structure similar to a sanctuary, making the otherwise violent Chaos Storm much calmer around it.

If it were truly possible to turn the Norsca Outpost into a gathering place, he believed this massive giant tree could provide a considerable amount of help. At the very least, there would certainly be no shortage of food and productivity.

After all, according to ancient legends, that massive canopy, nearly a thousand meters high, could even accommodate several native civilizations warring against one another.

But what Li Ang valued was not these things, but the results he obtained from the prompts.

"Depending on the technology and the Wonders possessed, the prompts received are also completely different. Is this because of the additional choices extended by the system after my own knowledge base and cognition have improved?"

Without hesitation, he clicked on the third option first. Watching the swamp begin to flow with nauseating green mist that gradually enveloped the Era Oak, Li Ang fell into deep thought. Massive, unimaginable life force was being fed back from the swamp into Li Ang's body.

Even outside of Stonehenge, this unimaginably massive giant tree still possessed a considerable degree of Order characteristics. After the life force was stimulated, combined with the aura of rotting life and wisdom from the Corruption Temple, it even spread a pale green mist of active defense around the area.

Some wriggling white flesh began to roll and float in the swamp; these were the tentacles of the Corruption Temple's power. They began an ugly copulation with the Era Oak, and layers of withered yellow aura covered the giant tree.

If they hadn't had some information in their minds from the start, and if they couldn't feel any Chaos aura, the Knights would likely have been screaming and fleeing in all directions by now.

But for now, they were merely looking at everything around them in surprise, whispering to one another, yet they didn't have many thoughts about this terrifying rot. After all, to be honest, this black giant tree wasn't exactly a good thing in the eyes of the Knights either.

It was just like throwing some ugly things into a trash can; this behavior allowed the Knights, whose faith was very firm, to find a reason to convince themselves.

And very quickly, under Li Ang's will, the wriggling white corrupt matter began to absorb the black Chaos fragments on the trunk. In the cycle of life, death, and rot, the so-called immortal and indestructible Chaos pollution quickly withered and turned to ash, revealing the giant tree's already decayed core.

This giant tree began to radiate an uncomfortable life force, its grey-black shell beginning to disintegrate and collapse, allowing layers of pale green and sickly green secretions to spread all around.

And as green fluorescence began to spread across the upper layers of the canopy, and alien sounds of mucus rubbing against each other began to echo all around, under the horrified gaze of all the Knights and Norscans, the branches of the Corruption Temple poured into the roots of the giant tree, leaking a dark green swamp aura.

"Corruption successful!"

"You have obtained the Corrupted Era Oak!"

"The Era Oak's negative traits have been adjusted! As the Oak Lord, you will gain the two talents 'Oak Wisdom' and 'Rotten Self-Healing'! All residents of your faction will receive the blessing of 'Rotten Self-Healing'!"

"Oak Wisdom: Those who possess the Era Oak are often sages who transcend eras. All research point requirements are reduced by 15%."

"Rotten Self-Healing: The Era Oak is originally a symbol of life force, and the overlapping form of the eeriness brought by the Corruption Temple and Order has given the Era Oak's life force an abnormal manifestation.

You will have no fatal weaknesses, unless your head is severed or your Soul is extracted. Your recovery ability is accelerated by 300%, and you will carry an unpleasant stench while recovering."

Very strong, extremely strong.

As expected of a Planet Wonder, it really is a different feeling.

Although it is a bit ugly and a bit disgusting, there is no need to be too anxious. Li Ang felt that he should be able to unlock subsequent life-manipulation technologies soon; changing its appearance would not be a problem.

Getting the technology and the Wonder in hand and making do with them for now is the main thing.

After all, what Li Ang cared about more were the several Dangerous Technology progress bars in front of him that had surged significantly.

"So it turns out what you needed was the status quo..."

(End of chapter)