Chapter 467

With only one seed, there was no way to set up a control group or attempt other methods; there was only one chance.

This was quite a headache. What if it didn't sprout?

For other seeds, even the World Tree, Ang had over a thousand seeds to experiment with. Even if all of them failed, it didn't matter; the Life Tree was still alive, so it wouldn't go extinct.

That was why Ang had been able to test the extreme germination temperatures for the World Tree. What if the Heaven-Reaching Divine Tree required an ultra-high temperature to sprout?

To increase the odds, Ang brought out the Little Tree Seedling and pointed at the seed: "Watch it."

The Little Tree Seedling emitted a blank signal.

Ang buried the seed in the soil and then inserted both hands into the dirt, raising the temperature.

The soil temperature rose slowly, at a rate of 0.1 degrees per minute.

When it reached about 38 degrees, the Little Tree Seedling suddenly pointed at the seed in the soil: "Ya—ya—ya—"

Was there a change? Ang let his consciousness fall upon the seed and sensed it carefully for a while, discovering that its vitality was increasing.

It seemed 38 degrees was its active temperature. A series of crops that germinated around 38 degrees flashed through Ang's mind.

Then, Ang condensed water droplets and poured them onto the ground, very slowly, gradually increasing the soil's moisture.

This rate of increase was very slow; ten minutes had passed, and it had only risen by one percent. This tested one's patience. Negris yawned and coiled up to the side to take a nap.

By the time it opened its eyes, Ang was still squatting in the field, extending his hands to emit red and blue light.

"How is it? Has it sprouted? What stage is it at?" Negris asked.

"Light, intensity, 120," Ang replied.

"What about humidity?" Negris nodded to show it understood. Its planting knowledge was quite rich now; it knew germination required temperature, humidity, light, and so on. It hadn't noticed the humidity stage earlier.

"60," Ang replied. The "60" referred to relative humidity.

Just then, the Little Tree Seedling waved its leaves again: "Ya—ya—ya—"

Ang swept his consciousness over it and found the seed was even more active. It seemed the light intensity was also sufficient.

Ang signaled for Negris to carry the Little Tree Seedling away, then took out the Speed-Death Halo Stone and activated it.

Three hours passed, six hours passed, twelve hours passed...

Three hours represented one growing season. After a full three days and three nights—seventy-two hours—the seed finally revealed a tiny bit of white.

Negris finally let out a sigh of relief and grumbled, "No wonder others couldn't get it to sprout. Forget about it not being pollinated; even if it were, they wouldn't dare to force it like this. It took twenty-four growing seasons to sprout. Ordinary seeds would have rotted in the soil long ago."

The God of Life shook its head. "You can't calculate it that way. Through the four seasons, humidity isn't consistent. In a real environment, maybe it would take forty-eight years, or even a hundred years, who knows."

"A hundred years? No wonder this kind of tree went extinct. By the way, why didn't you know how to germinate it?" Negris asked, puzzled.

The God of Life should have been the most knowledgeable about biological growth, yet it didn't know how to raise its own seedlings and had to let Ang do it.

The God of Life said righteously, "I don't even know how to raise my own seedlings, so how would I know how to raise someone else's tree?"

"Uh, what you say makes perfect sense..." Negris was speechless. This old tree didn't even know how to sprout its own seeds; it was indeed difficult to expect it to sprout someone else's.

Maintaining the same temperature, humidity, and light intensity for a full twenty-four growing seasons—if the Little Tree Seedling hadn't confirmed these were the active conditions for the seed, Ang wouldn't have dared to accelerate it like this. If it failed, the seed would definitely be ruined.

However, apart from the germination time being too long, the germination conditions for the Heaven-Reaching Divine Tree weren't much different from ordinary tropical plants; it was completely different from the World Tree's ultra-high temperature environment.

Did this mean that if it were moved to a tropical environment, it could be left alone?

Another two days passed, and a tiny green sprout emerged from the soil. The seed had finally broken the surface.

Ang removed the Speed-Death Halo Stone. The God of Life controlled the World Tree to grow over and encircle the area where the Heaven-Reaching Divine Tree had taken root, creating a suitable temperature and humidity. In this way, under the care of the World Tree, the Heaven-Reaching Divine Tree could grow sturdily.

It was just unclear how many years it would take to reach the "Heaven-Reaching" level.

But even if it grew, it might not be of much use. At first, everyone had the idea of using the Heaven-Reaching Divine Tree to reach the Star-Burst Array directly, but facts proved that was a suicidal move. The Warlock Alliance would absolutely not watch a tree grow up to their Star-Burst Array.

So, in the end, it was just a tree. Unless it could become like the God of Life, it couldn't change anything.

But Ang didn't care about that. Growing a crop that had never existed before was his greatest joy. And after it grew, he felt a strange connection with this Heaven-Reaching Divine Tree.

He seemed to be able to sense some changes in the sapling, such as whether it was cold, hot, dry, or wet.

He told Negris and the God of Life about this situation. The God of Life didn't know the reason, but Negris guessed a bit: "Could it be because of your Planting Domain? You planted it, so you have a sense for it."

Ang tilted his head. "Others, none."

"There's no way for others to have it either," Negris spread its hands. "Those rice and wheat crops don't have the ability to express anything."

It was just a guess, but besides the Planting Domain, it couldn't think of any other reason why Ang could sense the state of a sapling.

"Forget it, let's not talk about this. What's the situation with Anthony? Why hasn't he returned yet?" Unable to verify it for the moment, Negris had to change the subject.

Five days ago, Anthony had come over to bring back the pollen, which allowed the Heaven-Reaching Divine Tree seed to be stimulated. Anthony's purpose in coming was to ask Ang for Holy Water.

"Cabrera asked me if I could provide a large amount of Holy Water, the purer the better. They need several thousand tons," Anthony had said.

"Several thousand tons? What do they need so much Holy Water for? Taking a bath?" Negris asked, puzzled.

Although Holy Water had the effect of dispelling dysentery, essentially it was just clean water with Holy Light power. Drinking it wouldn't make one a god, so what did they need several thousand tons for? Surely the Star-Burst Array wasn't suffering from a dysentery outbreak?

"He didn't say, but he's willing to pay a price of one hundred magic crystals per ton, for long-term procurement," Anthony said.

"Is this price appropriate?" Negris asked, confused. It didn't know how much Holy Water was worth.

"It's appropriate. No matter how holy, it's just clean water. Purification is a first-tier divine spell; everyone knows it. It just costs a bit of manpower. But a quantity of several thousand tons is something only our Church of Light can provide in their eyes. However, I feel their goal isn't the Holy Water."

"I came to find you, my lord, hoping you could provide several types of Holy Water: one with more impurities, one with fewer, and one that is pure water without any impurities, as samples for them to choose from," Anthony said.

Negris understood as soon as it heard this: "You suspect what they want might not be Holy Water, but clean water?"

Anthony nodded. "What they want might not be Holy Water; they might even be trying to test us. If they want to test us, we can test them back. What if we provide water that has been purified by your Spot-Removal Technique, absolutely pure, without a single impurity? I wonder if that will pique their interest."

Anthony left with the samples of water, and then five days passed. The Divine Tree seed had sprouted, but he still hadn't returned.

Another two days passed before Anthony finally rushed back, dusty and tired. He opened his mouth and said, "They really wanted pure water, without a single trace of impurity."

As he spoke, he took the bottle containing the pure water out of his spatial storage.

Ang suddenly turned his head, rushed over quickly, and slapped the bottle to pieces with one palm, causing the pure water inside to splash everywhere.

PS: I'm so stuck I'm in agony. Forget it, I'm taking a day off.