As the aftermath of Chen Xuan's first battle lay around him, he was not looking at his kill but at the system panel.
Previously, Chen Xuan had 9.6 life points, needing a little over a day and a little more to gain enough Life Energy to break through once more.
However, Chen Xuan seemed to gain it in only an instant after killing a wolf.
Despite his shock at gaining such points, Chen Xuan wasted no time in breaking through, warm energy surging through him once more.
As his body was going through its breakthrough, Chen Xuan studied the dead wolf intently. Carefully sensing the wolf with a few of his branches, he noticed the dense life energy emitting from the insides of the wolf.
He had missed the slight life energy emanating from the wolf due to the tense battle.
Coming up with a few theories, Chen Xuan's best guess was that the wolf had a certain threshold of life energy so that the system could steal it. But as this was only a guess, he couldn't be sure without other occurrences.
Once his breakthrough was done, Chen Xuan plainly looked towards his panel, ready to assign his points.
Name: Chen Xuan
Crown Radius: 6.8m
Trunk Height: 5.5m
Root Radius: 10.5m
Trunk Diameter: 0.86cm
Cultivation: Tier 2 - Peak
Life Energy: 0.7 / 28 (%)
Life Energy Capacity: 29
Skill Points: 3
Abilities:
- Blossom Crest - Level 1
Upon seeing his new energy requirements, Chen Xuan let out a deep sigh, already expecting it from the last time.
Despite his sigh, Chen Xuan was still happy about his Skill Points, once more gaining 3 Skill Points to be distributed.
Immediately, Chen Xuan put 1 point into both branches and roots, but as he was about to put the other point into flowers, he glanced over the trunk, making him hesitate slightly.
Turning his focus away from his panel for an instant, Chen Xuan carefully felt his branches to sense their current condition after the battle.
After the battle with the wolf, Chen Xuan's branches were littered with scratches and marks. A few of his branches were fully severed, though they were mostly the smaller ones, along with a lot of tiny twigs and branches.
Upon sensing his injured branches, Chen Xuan entered the last point into the trunk so that he might heal faster.
Once Chen Xuan started specifically upgrading his trunk, he felt a dense warm energy permeate his body. The warm energy spread throughout his body, invading every part of him and leaving energy throughout.
While the energy spread throughout his xylem and phloem, slowly expanding the channels with a pulsating feeling.
It felt like a deep tissue massage, rippling through his insides to enhance his capabilities. As the process occurred, Chen Xuans injuries from the battle slowly healed at a speed the human eye could see.
Once the process was complete, Chen Xuan felt refreshed and light. He felt a similar sensation to the relief one feels after getting through an illness.
His branches had mostly healed, and he felt better than ever, experiencing the usual increase in strength that always prompts a slight euphoria.
When Chen Xuan focused once more on his surroundings, he noticed that Fenrir was sitting in front of the dead wolf, looking at Chen Xuan, gently pawing at his trunk. While painful, it was sitting with its ears back and its tail tucked beneath it, giving Chen Xuan the classic puppy dog eyes while drool dripped from its jaws.
Such cute actions coming from a normally aggressive wolf made Chen Xuan laugh to himself, "So even wolves can be cute."
With mirth, Chen Xuan sent a message through the connection, telling Fenrir to go ahead.
Upon receiving the message, Fenrir's tail wagged furiously as it dove in, devouring the wolf eagerly.
Typically, wolves wouldn't eat other wolves unless in times of extreme hunger or other extenuating circumstances. However, Fenrir was now devouring it eagerly. Based on the feelings from his connection to Fenrir, Chen Xuan was able to guess that it was due to the life energy.
Chen Xuan remained still, letting Fenrir eat the corpse of the wolf as he didn't need any more life energy due to the current spirit spring below.
Fenrir on the other hand was slowly increasing in strength. The life energy surrounding him was slowly increasing as he ate the wolf due to the large disparity in their strengths.
Once Fenrir ate his fill, he went and calmly laid at the base of Chen Xuans tree once more before closing its eyes and falling into a deep sleep.
Chen Xuan remained still, enjoying the peace as he watched Fenrir curiously. Curious to see if he would go through another change after consuming the high level wolf.
As expected, soon after falling asleep, after about the time it takes for a cup of tea, Fenrirs muscles started rippling and pulsing, just like the first time.
As he saw that Fenrir was breaking through to the mid-stage of the first tier, Chen Xuan smiled lightly to himself as he used a few of his thicker tree branches to wrap around the wolf to protect it from any surprises.
Of course, with the scent of the dead high-level wolf, no predators dared to come close, let alone any scavengers or anything. The surrounding area was barren and devoid of any life; even the insects stayed away.
Like this, after an hour, Fenrir slowly woke up, having gained about 5 cm in total length from before the breakthrough.
From this, Chen Xuan was able to assume that based on the previous wolf's size, the wolf seemed to be around Chen Xuan's own tier of cultivation, adding another possible factor to his assumptions.
After a few moments of thought, Chen Xuan put these thoughts to the back of his mind and turned his gaze to Fenrir.
As Fenrir woke up, he slowly stood up before performing a big stretch, causing the sounds of cracking to emit from every inch of his body.
Once Fenrir finished stretching, Chen Xuan lowered one of his branches in front of the wolf, laying it horizontally before sending a message to Fenrir.
'Hit me.'
As Fenrir got the message, he froze immediately as he looked at Chen Xuan. The efficiency with which Chen Xuan was able to kill a wolf much stronger than him was still vivid in its memory, inciting some fear in the wolf.
Despite this, Fenrir did as he was told after some hesitation, raising its front claw before slamming down on Chen Xuan's branch, a crack resounding from the force.
While pulling away from Chen Xuan's branch, Fenrir noticed that the branch seemed to be cut only about a quarter of the way through, surprising him.
Such a sight prompted a slight joy in Chen Xuan, turning his gaze to his branches, watching as they slowly healed, barely visible only to Chen Xuan.