Chapter 886: Do You Want to Buy Combo Tickets?

Life surged, all things revived, and then I sprouted? Isn't this the World Tree? Did I become the World Tree?

Ange pulled off his sprouting finger and threw it into the forest. The moment the finger hit the ground, it began to grow at an incredible speed, its roots plunging into the earth and expanding at a rate visible to the naked eye.

The growth speed was too fast and too conspicuous. No good. With a thought, Ange halted the trunk's growth, but the roots spread rapidly, extending in all directions like a spiderweb.

Back at the Pool of Life, the God of Life had used a similar disguise, growing himself into vines, aerial roots, and false branches until he merged with the entire mountain, making it impossible for outsiders to detect that it was a World Tree.

Even a normally growing banyan tree employs a similar growth strategy: what appears to be a banyan forest is actually a single banyan tree.

Ange felt as though he had gained an extra body. A continuous flow of life force poured into him, urging him to grow rapidly.

Although it was strange that his finger had turned into a World Tree, as a symbiont of two Gods of Life, Ange's command over life force was no worse than that of an ancient tree.

Thus, in the forest scorched by mountain fires, a Tree of Life silently took shape.

Ange planted cuttings from the Tree of Chaos he had brought with him into the forest. Two days later, the cuttings grew fine hair-like roots and came to life.

Nai Ge Li Si returned quickly, carrying the settled wages, and reported: "Three days' wages, two logging constructs, one support construct, totaling thirty-two magic crystals."

"We worked ourselves to death for three days and only got thirty-two magic crystals? That's way too little. Are they scamming us out of money?" The Monarch, hearing such a small amount, spoke with great dissatisfaction.

This was his first time earning money through labor. The labor of all Undead Kings across the entire Void was worth only thirty-two magic crystals? No, two logging constructs plus Ange, who was registered as a support construct, meant he was worth at most fifteen.

Nai Ge Li Si nearly toppled out of the cockpit: "Pfft, too little? Where is it too little? It's a lot, okay! A low-spec logging construct costs six hundred magic crystals; one day's wage is five magic crystals."

"That means it takes one hundred twenty days to earn back the cost of the construct. After that, it's pure profit. Calculating based on lifespan and depreciation, a logging construct lasts at least ten years. You break even in half a year, and the remaining nine and a half years are all profit. If there were jobs like this every day, I would have formed a construct squad long ago to take on jobs daily."

The Monarch didn't quite understand: "Is this considered good?"

"Of course. Only a fire mission pays such high wages. If you join a logging team, you get basically two or three magic crystals a day, sometimes even deducted. Cutting wood for a month might get you paid for only twenty days. Even without deductions, payment isn't prompt; delaying settlement for half a year or a few months isn't rare." Nai Ge chattered on with complaints, sounding as though he had been underpaid himself.

"Too despicable! If they dare deduct my wages, throw them into the Soul Prison and burn them to death," the Monarch said.

Ange said nothing, instead inspecting his gains. The greatest gain was undoubtedly that Tree of Life.

Unlike the symbiotic state with the God of Life and the sapling, Ange was the World Tree, and the World Tree was him; it was equivalent to growing an extra body.

This granted him surging life force and a body that was almost indestructible. Unless the entire World Tree was uprooted, even if his current construct body were crushed into fragments, he would be unharmed.

Next was spiritual power. The World Tree inherently possessed formidable spiritual power capable of covering an entire forest. Ange's spiritual power thus multiplied by an unknown factor, restoring that feeling of having endless magic to use, because the rate of magic recovery was so fast.

Third was the cutting of the Tree of Chaos. Cuttings that had failed many times in the farm were now all successful. Ange obtained dozens of seedlings, which also meant he now possessed a continuous supply of seedlings.

Fourth, the Divine Light Guild has a Tree of Life.

Why make such a guess? Because Ange discovered that the cuttings succeeded only because the seedlings required the blessing of a Tree of Life to divide and survive, just like his Number Two Magic Rice.

Confirming that the Divine Light Guild has a Tree of Life, it became easy to understand why his finger sprouted: the fingers of his current construct body were made from World Tree material.

"World Tree as material? Impossible, right? Is the World Tree so worthless that it's used for construct materials?" The Monarch found Ange's speculation hard to believe.

Ange scratched his head. Was the World Tree valuable? As long as life force was sufficient, a World Tree could grow into a Myriad-World Divine Tree as vast as the Eternal Divine Light. Lord Nai Ge Li Si once cut down excess World Trees to make coffins, so it probably wasn't valuable.

However, only the five fingers of the construct were made of World Tree wood; the rest was ordinary wood. Ange guessed the fingers used World Tree wood for flexibility and force feedback.

Constructs have no sense of touch; they cannot perceive the pressure of objects. Using the force needed to move stones to move glass would easily shatter the glass.

World Tree wood has sensing ability; made into fingers, it allows control over the magnitude of force.

"I see. Then if we encounter another mountain fire and throw your other fingers into the fire, will several more World Trees grow?" the Monarch asked.

Ange shook his head: "A Tree of Life grows only one per plane."

"A Tree of Life? Isn't that the same as a World Tree? Didn't you say many World Trees grew in the Rest Plane, and Little Fat Dragon cut down the extras?" the Monarch asked, puzzled.

Ange shook his head: "Different. Conscious, that's a Tree of Life. Unconscious, that's a World Tree."

Ange is the consciousness of this World Tree, so with Ange present, this World Tree is the plane's sole Tree of Life.

"Oh, I get it. Just like the Death Witches: the wise ones are Liches, the fools are Zombies." The Monarch suddenly understood, then asked again: "Anything else? Any other gains?"

A single mountain fire brought the Monarch a vast amount of death energy and gave Ange a Tree of Life, immense spiritual power, and Tree of Chaos seedlings—a truly bountiful harvest.

As the Monarch asked and Ange scratched his head in reply, the three constructs passed through the teleportation gate and arrived at Wang Cheng.

The scale of the teleportation gate in Wang Cheng was incomparable to that of a small town like Burnwind. Within the range of sight, there were at least eighteen teleportation arrays. The gates opened frequently, with people streaming in and out without cease.

As soon as they passed through the gate, they were driven out of the array's range: "Arriving passengers, leave the teleportation gate area immediately. Do not obstruct the opening of the gates. Do not loiter at the entrance. Do not touch the gates to avoid injury."

Amidst the chaos, the three were jostled to the exit. Facing the sea of people, even Nai Ge Li Si couldn't help but feel a headache. He spoke over the communication channel: "It's a mess. How do we get to the Astrology Institute?"

No sooner had the words left his mouth than, after several crackling sounds, a strange voice suddenly cut into the communicator: "Oh, hello there. You're going to the Astrology Institute? You wouldn't be wanting to see that light-point fortress in the Infinite Great Void, would you? Then your luck is too good! You've run into me. I have sightseeing mirror combo tickets here, one hundred ninety-nine each. Guaranteed to let you see the light-point fortress. Do you want to buy?"