"Ull's appetite is getting bigger!" Hida exclaimed as she watched Muria leave the treehouse. She then turned to her mate, "You're feeling more and more pressure, aren't you? Thank you for your hard work, Batu!"
"It's not hard. I can manage for now," Batu replied, his pride as a male keeping him steady. However, he added cautiously, "At Ull's current rate of growth, after a thousand cycles of the sun and moon, I probably won't be able to provide enough meat for him. And by then, he still won't have reached adulthood!"
"Well, by that time, we'll have to ask the other clansmen for help. We can't let Ull grow up hungry!"
"...I guess that's the only way!" Batu hesitated but eventually nodded resolutely. As a father, how could he let his son starve?
"Soon, you won't have to work so hard anymore!" Standing on the vine bridge outside his family's treehouse, Muria's gaze seemed to pierce through the walls, observing his worried parents discussing how to provide for him.
He smiled wryly, then walked along the bridge toward his sleeping quarters—a small treehouse of about 20 square meters. He slept alone at night.
At his current age, it was no longer appropriate to live in the same small treehouse with his parents. A couple like his, in the absence of other evening activities, would naturally engage in things better left to privacy. So, to avoid awkward situations, Muria had moved out as soon as he reached a certain age. This gave him some independence, and his parents were also more comfortable.
After glancing around his small treehouse, Muria pushed open the barely-there wooden door and entered. He sat cross-legged on a soft bed, preparing to begin his nightly practice after a full meal.
Under the faint glow from the surrounding plants, Muria could see a soft, glowing pattern on his wrist. He stretched out his hand and inhaled deeply. Subtle points of light separated from the nearby plants and slowly merged into his body.
As these lights entered him, Muria felt a warm sensation throughout, like basking in the sun on a winter's day—extremely comfortable.
Soon, however, he began to feel a sense of fullness in his body, but as time passed and he continued his breathing technique, circulating his blood and absorbing the light from the trees, the fullness turned into a tearing sensation.
When that feeling emerged, Muria immediately stopped the breathing technique. His body had reached its limit, and pushing further would be harmful. After all, the essence of the Ikon people's lives was nowhere near the level of a Titan, or even a white dragon, the weakest of the dragon race.
"I need the proper cultivation methods of this world!" Muria clenched his fist, feeling his body slightly stronger than before.
The breathing technique he had created could strengthen the body—a fundamental aspect of any living organism made of flesh and blood. No matter the world's rules, Muria could develop a method unless he turned into a being of pure energy.
But that was just the basics. Muria wasn't aiming to be a mere warrior or a tank. He wanted to master the extraordinary powers specific to this world.
Even though he hadn't seen it in the tribe, Muria was sure that this world contained extraordinary powers, ones that could be cultivated, though they likely had harsh conditions for mastery.
"The very ground I stand on proves it!" Muria stood up in his small treehouse and touched the ancient tree glowing with green light that supported his home.
When he had practiced his breathing technique earlier, he had drawn some of the glowing points of light from this ancient tree into his body. He had sensed the change, but it wasn't due to his breathing technique; it was a natural effect of being an Ikon.
"This is the extraordinary element of this world!" Muria touched the tree trunk again, feeling the abundant energy within it. This energy allowed the trees to glow so brightly at night.
With his body saturated and unable to continue practicing, Muria decided to leave his treehouse. He crossed one vine bridge after another, ignoring the sounds of Ikon people enjoying their nighttime activities. Eventually, he reached the edge of the tribe, where light met darkness.
The wilderness outside was not like the glowing trees of his tribe. It was pitch black, with only faint, scattered points of light flickering in the darkness.
The trees beyond the tribe didn't glow, unlike the trees in the village, which were illuminated and connected in a continuous expanse.
Muria gazed at this stark contrast without surprise. He already knew why this difference existed.
His body leaned forward slightly, and then, under the pull of gravity, he dropped freely from the heights. The wind whistled past his ears as he fell.
Thud!
Muria landed lightly, flipping onto his feet on a soft patch of fern. The plants beneath him also emitted a crystalline glow, looking magnificent and mysterious.
After reaching the ground, Muria searched briefly and picked up a glowing stone, shining with a blue-white hue. Even amid the glowing trees, the stone was dazzling.
An energy crystal! Muria toyed with the stone, not sure what to say. These crystals were similar to what was called elemental crystals in Erathia, a highly concentrated form of energy.
However, in this world, these stones, which could be used as the most valuable currency in Erathia, were everywhere. More accurately, his tribe lived on top of a massive energy crystal mine.
The reason the trees in the tribe glowed was because they were rooted in this vast energy mine.
"A child holding gold in a crowded market!" This was Muria's view of the world and the Ikon people.
Take his Tunan tribe as an example. The total number of Ikon people here was just over a thousand, yet this small tribe could occupy such a vast energy mine. This implied that such energy mines were plentiful, possibly even abundant, in this world.
With such rich energy resources, yet the civilization here remained primitive. In the eyes of certain beings or civilizations, this world would be a prime target for colonization and exploitation.
At least, from the perspective of someone like Muria, a former emperor, this world could be rated as top-tier—easy to colonize and loot, with vast rewards.
"My tribe is too small! With such abundant energy resources, there should be many powerful beings in this world!" Muria tossed the stone aside.
These energy stones could be absorbed, but the threshold for doing so was extremely high. So high that Muria had yet to see an Ikon capable of absorbing the energy from these stones.
Compared to the energy contained in these stones, the bodies of adult Ikon people seemed weak. Muria estimated that his own body was now stronger than an adult Ikon's, yet when he tried to absorb even the weakest energy crystal, it caused him pain.
"I still need more time to strengthen my body!" Muria glanced at the discarded stone with some frustration. The crystals at the tribe's edge had the lowest energy concentration, while those toward the center of the tribe were far more potent.
"When I can absorb the energy from these stones, I won't have to worry about food anymore!" Muria bent his knees slightly, his legs tensing.
With a graceful leap, he sprang up, bounding from tree trunk to tree trunk, quickly returning to the spot from which he had originally descended.
"Amazing trees!" Muria stood on a branch, touching the glowing tree. He understood the significance of these trees to the Ikon people.
These trees absorbed the energy from the crystal mines. After filtering and softening it, the trees released a more gentle, though lower-level, form of energy that the Ikon could absorb.
In other words, by building treehouses and living in these trees, the Ikon people gradually absorbed the energy released by the trees, slowly increasing their compatibility with the energy in the crystals. Once they reached a certain level, they could directly absorb the energy from the stones.
If this method was the invention of a brilliant Ikon from ages past, Muria would have been impressed.
But if this process was merely a product of natural evolution, Muria's only thought for the world's will was: Foolish!
The Ikon civilization, in his eyes, was like a flower sheltered in a greenhouse, never having faced any real hardship, because the world had been too kind to them. Everything had been provided for them, but at the cost of stifling their potential for development.
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