Once done with his tests of strength, Chen Xuan got a rough estimate of his current strength. With each branch having about 10 lb of force, as well as having a good 50 branches available, Chen Xuan had approximately 500 lb of force at his disposal when taking into account the smaller branches.
Upon testing his full strength, Chen Xuan was amazed; based on his memory, such strength was about the same as that of a healthy human.
Already being at the same level of strength as a human, despite his species being a tree, this newfound strength gave Chen Xuan a sense of security, even if only slight and brief.
Wanting to do some more tests, Chen Xuan called over an ant before repeating the previous processes, connecting and hypnotizing all of the 5000-odd ants in a colony.
The expected headache, however, did not occur. Chen Xuan only felt a pressure on his mind; it was still intense yet did not make his head throb with pain.
Chen Xuan couldn't help but smile at the improvement. He had always hated controlling the ants, but it was a necessary burden. Now, however, it should be a lot easier on him.
While Chen Xuan was busy testing and seeing where his limits lay, he suddenly noticed a lynx prowling around him, unaware that he was watching it.
The lynx seemed to be on the hunt, attempting to track down some prey for dinner.
The lynx, about 1 meter long, looked quite muscular. It appeared to be a young member of its species. Despite this, the lynx did have blood covering its mouth. The blood looked dry, so one could only assume it was from its meal earlier in the day.
Upon spotting the lynx, Chen Xuan was initially shocked, with a small amount of fear due to the size of the lynx. However, his strength from his recent evolution gave him confidence.
Previously, if it were before the recent breakthrough, Chen Xuan would have likely been cautious and let the lynx go. Now, however, Chen Xuan had some confidence, even if only minimal.
Using his branch, Chen Xuan patted the ground, causing a rustling sound, which made the lynx turn its head towards the source.
Its gaze was piercing as it stared at the noise's source, its body still as it looked for any movement.
Seeing that the lynx had looked towards him, Chen Xuan activated his flowers, blooming the blue and purple flowers on half of the tree in the direction of the lynx.
As the flowers bloomed, Chen Xuan actively released the floral scent from them in an attempt to assist the flowers in their hypnosis.
Being hit by such a large wave of hypnosis, the lynx was stunned for less than a moment before its fur stood on end, its instincts warning it.
Its instincts screamed at it as Chen Xuan did his best to entice it. The lynx, however, stood frozen, its mind and instincts trying to fight off the invasion of the hypnosis.
One of its paws raised, stepping forward before taking a step back; like two people pulling a rope to see who wins, the lynx was in the middle.
Pushing his hypnosis to the maximum, Chen Xuan struggled as his mind was under the burden. However, he did his best to ignore it, wanting to get the lynx to come closer.
Despite his best efforts, the lynx soon managed to slowly back away with much struggle, its instincts winning over Chen Xuan's control.
After a few minutes of struggle, the lynx managed to get away, sprinting off into the trees, occasionally stumbling due to the mental strain.
"DAMMIT!" Chen Xuan shouted to himself in frustration, annoyed that he couldn't catch a lynx yet.
Taking a minute to calm down, Chen Xuan sighed, still annoyed but not as frustrated as before.
With his sigh, Chen Xuan slowly curled up his flowers, not wanting to use them for no reason. While curling up the flowers, he got the first notification since breaking through.
+0.07 Life Points
Originally, Chen Xuan ignored it for a few moments, assuming it would be like any of the other notifications. When he did glance at it, however, Chen Xuan froze, immediately looking back at it with surprise.
"What the...?"
What surprised Chen Xuan was not the number of points but the fact that he hadn't put any nutrients below his roots. Before his upgrade, he was only gaining 0.03 at the end, so suddenly gaining 0.07 shocked him, as he expected it to go down and not up.
Curious, Chen Xuan searched his roots, looking through each of them. When he got to the bottom of his main taproot, Chen Xuan was able to see that at the very bottom was a small pocket of air.
Chen Xuan's main taproot went about 5 meters deep underground, at the very bottom, barely piercing into the small pocket.
The pocket seemed to be about 5 meters in diameter, with the walls surrounded by rock. At the bottom of the pocket was a small body of water, likely only 50 cm deep.
When focusing on his main taproot, Chen Xuan felt an intense life energy coming from the water, the energy feeling refreshing and cool.
"This...." Chen Xuan muttered, a silly smile working its way onto his face. Without hesitation, Chen Xuan sent all the other roots that could reach down to the pocket of energized water.
Such a find made Chen Xuan forget all about the lynx that had gotten away, making him excited about this new source of energy.
After a few hours, some of the roots barely pierced the rock surrounding the water, none of them able to reach the water yet.
Despite this, there were still 7 roots that were able to pierce the rock; these were the longest and thickest roots, barely managing to penetrate the rock.
After waiting for a few hours to test, Chen Xuan got another intake of energy, the number causing a wide smile to appear on his face.
+0.15 Life Energy