Chapter 509 - 489: Only Six Abilities

The full moon hung high in the night sky, and a cool breeze softly drifted by.

At the lakeside of White Lotus Lake,

Dragon Cypress was multitasking—using the freezing ability to control water and keep it frozen as an ice pot, while simultaneously using the boiling water ability to keep the water inside bubbling hot.

Ink Orchid sliced up deer meat, first stripping off the bones and tossing them into the pot to simmer.

"Dragon Cypress, how many abilities did you comprehend?"

"...Kind of few."

"How many?"

"Only six?"

"???"

Ink Orchid fished the leg bone that had just been put in the pot back out, waved a claw, and—crack!—chopped it in two, brandishing the sickle-shaped legs: Keep acting up, and I’ll chop you next!

Dragon Cypress: "..."

Dragon Cypress: "These six abilities include the ’Mottled Remnant Realm’ from the Spotted Thicket Fruit, and the ’Night Fragrance’ from the Night Fragrance Fruit."

"Oh! Right!"

Ink Orchid came to a realization, "Six minus two is four. That’s still not bad! So you figured out four abilities yourself? That’s a lot!"

Dragon Cypress lifted its membrane wings and lightly patted its abdomen, saying, "Water System Talent is special. With every major realm evolution, I always awaken an ability originating from the Creator Civilization."

Ink Orchid: "Oh. Right. Six minus three is three—you comprehended three abilities, which is still pretty good."

Still not especially a lot~

Within the normal insect range~

Ink Orchid brightened up and pressed, "So, what abilities do you have? What’s your Water System ability? Water Making?"

"Water Making."

Dragon Cypress straightened its antennae, the tips curving, Origin Force gathering. A crystal-clear water drop slowly formed, growing larger until it became a water sphere ten centimeters in diameter and plopped into the pot.

"Primordial Energy Creation consumes a lot of physical strength; it’s a bit taxing."

"Oh——"

The Ice-Fire Water-Making Pot has this ability too.

Not rare at all.

Ink Orchid pressed on, "What else? That’s three more abilities."

Dragon Cypress: "One from the Strength System, the relatively standard ’Hundredfold Strength’—for a limited time, my strength skyrockets... I can probably burst out about triple strength. It works well with my Rend and Furious Rage abilities."

Ink Orchid: "Pretty common, but really strong!"

Ink Orchid: "And the other two?"

Dragon Cypress: "The remaining two are Wood Element."

Dragon Cypress fixated on the lakeside weeds, flicked its antennae, and the grass blades shot up, whizzing as they fired off toward the center of the lake.

Ink Orchid: "Uh..."

Ink Orchid: "Dragon Cypress! You’re copying me!"

This was the most common "Flying Leaf" ability—any insect with an awakened Wood Element Talent could comprehend it.

Dragon Cypress ignored it, not even glancing its way.

Ink Orchid’s eyes sparkled with excitement: "Dragon Cypress, if you pass the ’Flying Leaf’ ability on to the Green Soldiers, then they’ll get attack and damage abilities too!"

Dragon Cypress: "By the pattern, it should be possible."

Ink Orchid: "So, though Flying Leaf is common, it’s super useful."

Ink Orchid: "And the last Wood Element ability?"

Dragon Cypress buried itself in thought and slowly said, "This one’s a bit odd... Wood Element? But it also sorta feels like a Waterwood System."

Ink Orchid: "Show me! Let me take a look."

Dragon Cypress: "This ability is kind of complicated... I haven’t really figured it out yet..."

Dragon Cypress kept pondering, and after a while, finally looked up at White Lotus Lake.

The night grew colder, fog drifting thickly over the lake.

Dragon Cypress surged out with spiritual power, locking onto the swathes of fog on the lake’s surface, then activated the Water Control ability, moving the fog toward the orchard by the shore. The Wood Primordial Energy radiated out, merging with the mist and infusing it with abundant vitality.

It was Dragon Cypress’s first time using the ability. Sensing it for a while, it gradually figured out the effect. With a tinge of excitement, it calmly explained:

"This ability is used at night..."

"During the day, plants mainly absorb light for energy and nutrients. At night, they rest and recover, but they also grow quickly. This ability helps plants grow at night."

Ink Orchid: "Oh!"

Ink Orchid: "Can it be used for managing an orchard?"

Dragon Cypress: "Works for both Origin Force Plants and normal ones. It’s a large-area ability—absolutely perfect for managing an orchard."

Ink Orchid: "Oh! This ability should be called Tranquility!"

Dragon Cypress: "..."

Ink Orchid was just as excited, but suddenly looked disappointed, asking, "Waterwood System? So that means it can’t be passed on to Wood Green Ants?"

Dragon Cypress: "...No."

Dragon Cypress explained, "It’s a Wood Element ability, but it has to use water mist as a medium. So, as a rule, Wood Green Ants should be able to inherit it, but it’s affected by environment, season, and weather. Or you could arrange Blue Soldiers to help out, but that’s pretty troublesome and inefficient."

"So..."

Ink Orchid said objectively, "That means the ability’s not perfect. But since it helps plants grow, this kind of skill is still rare and expensive."

Dragon Cypress tapped its antennae in agreement.

Of all the abilities comprehended at Evolution Lord Level, Tranquility was by far the most valuable.

Ink Orchid asked, "Any other abilities?"

Dragon Cypress: "...No."

Ink Orchid: "So, six abilities really isn’t that many after all."

Ink Orchid called out, "Come on, let’s eat. Afterward, we’ll head home to Xianglan Mountain."

Dragon Cypress, having slept through evolution for over ten days, was starving.

After showing off all these abilities, even hungrier now.

Dug right in and ate voraciously.

After eating and drinking his fill, Dragon Cypress waved his antennae and just tossed the ice pot straight into the lake.

"Dragon Cypress, let’s hurry overnight and get back to Xianglan Mountain."

"Ink Orchid, no rush, check out my ’Mottled Remnant Realm’ first."

Dragon Cypress strode across the water’s surface out into the lake, antennae raised high and swaying.

Ink Orchid’s view suddenly changed, and when it focused, the lake had vanished, replaced by a bare-branched mulberry orchard.

"Huh?!"

Ink Orchid looked back.

Mulberry orchards behind, too.

Ink Orchid spun around, looking left and right, unable to tell what was real or illusion.

It spun again, cautiously heading toward where it remembered the lake had been.

Strangely, its feet landed solidly—there was no water beneath them.

Ink Orchid turned and ran the other way.

Still solid ground.

"Weird."

Ink Orchid stopped, then had a flash of inspiration—kicked off and jumped, flapping its wings to take off upward.

Plop~splash~

The Mottled Remnant Realm vanished. Ink Orchid realized it had dived headfirst into the lake, flapped its wings frantically, and scrambled up onto shore, bedraggled.

Ha~ha~

Dragon Cypress snickered and asked, "Ink Orchid, are you okay?"

Ink Orchid: "I’m fine. I’m not mad. You just get over here."

Dragon Cypress: "No rush. Since I’ve awakened both Water and Wood System Talents, my Mottled Remnant Realm ability now has some extra variations."

As it spoke—

Ink Orchid’s vision shifted again. Suddenly, it found itself on a water surface. Looking up, it saw that the orchard, forest, and mountains had vanished—everything around had become a vast, endless body of water.

Activating its Soul-Setting ability, it locked onto Dragon Cypress’s location.

"Mottled Remnant Realm can do this, too?!"

"This is an Illusion Realm created with Water System abilities."

"Oh! So that’s like two types of hallucination abilities? Dragon Cypress! That Spotted Thicket Fruit cost two million—we got a steal!"

"Yup. For a single Water or Wood System Talent awakening, this ability’s only worth one and a half million. But with a dual Waterwood System Talent, the value doubling is only natural."

As Dragon Cypress spoke, his mind shifted,

and suddenly, a cold wind swept by Ink Orchid, snow began falling from the sky, and the lake below froze, transforming instantly into a world of ice and snow.

"Ink Orchid, try walking a couple steps."

"Don’t feel like moving."

"I’m not messing with you, just walk ahead a bit."

"Would you dare mess with me?"

"Wouldn’t dare!"

"I’ll poke you to death."

Ink Orchid threatened fiercely.

It waved its antennae to sense things out—the falling snowflakes really seemed real, but if they landed on its carapace, they vanished instantly, proving they were just illusions.

Ink Orchid thought for a second, turned around, and tentatively walked a couple steps backward.

Felt just like snow underfoot, kind of cold on the feet, too. It hopped and stomped, pressing down hard.

Plop~splash~

The thin ice underfoot broke, and once again Ink Orchid fell into the lake.

"Ink Orchid?"

Dragon Cypress hurried to fish it out. "I used my Freezing Ability to make a thin layer of ice over the lake, so you wouldn’t sink walking on it. Ink Orchid, you’re so smart—you instantly found the weakness of the Water System illusion..."

"Ah~ah~ah~"

Ink Orchid climbed back on shore, dripping and furious. "Dragon Cypress! I’m going to KILL you!"