Chapter Twelve: Resonance of Species

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A thousand oaks bloom in unison.

The mass blossoming of oaks in the America National Park naturally drew countless curious onlookers. Some people even began livestreaming with their phones. Yet as events unfolded, the news spreading online took everyone by surprise.

For at this very moment, not only were the oaks in America National Park blooming, but oaks all around the world were undergoing remarkable changes. Some oaks, less than a decade old, did not blossom or grow dramatically, but their branches and leaves became astonishingly lush.

Tens of thousands of oaks sprouting new leaves and blooming at once inevitably attracted the attention of governments everywhere. Fortunately, after a preliminary examination, the conclusion was that the oaks’ genetic structures were perfectly normal. The only abnormality seemed to be an intense photosynthetic activity occurring in all oaks around noon. This surge in metabolism had triggered such profound changes in the trees themselves.

Yet, no official explanation was provided as to why oaks across the globe were exhibiting these symptoms. Online, however, speculation ran rampant, with all manner of supernatural and bizarre theories circulating.

...

Amazon Rainforest, Bana Federation.

At this moment, Ji Yu was experiencing something truly extraordinary. This time, his meditation on photosynthesis felt profoundly different from his previous attempts at meditating on absorbing nutrients from the soil.

In the past ten days or so, Ji Yu’s practice of visualizing nutrient absorption from the earth was little more than a flight of fancy, gradually lulling him into a state resembling deep sleep. But this time, as he meditated on photosynthesis, he entered the state swiftly, yet his mind remained startlingly lucid.

To put it plainly, Ji Yu realized that his consciousness had split in two: one part maintained the meditative trance, while the other retained a certain degree of awareness. His mental state now resembled the relationship between a fish’s left and right brain—an odd but fascinating sensation.

Although this heightened awareness did not allow him to perceive the outside world, within the space of his mind he sensed—perhaps even saw—countless points of light, some near, some far away. The sea of thought was shrouded in darkness, and these points of light were like tiny fireflies of various hues: minuscule, yet innumerable.

Ji Yu had no idea what these lights represented, but his curiosity drove him to try and reach out to them. The moment he attempted to touch the lights, his vision underwent a sudden transformation.

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He saw himself.

Within the darkness, he became a colossal sphere of green light. As he yearned to touch those myriad points of light, countless filaments extended from the surface of the sphere. They resembled silken threads, fine and transparent, floating nimbly in every direction.

Then, selectively, these tens of thousands of threads sought out the brightest fireflies among the multitude. In an instant, Ji Yu entered a state of heightened perception.

It was as if a gigantic screen with tens of thousands of split images stretched before him, every scene laid bare to his gaze. Overwhelmed by the flood of information, Ji Yu’s mind briefly entered a state of perfect detachment.

I am not myself.

With no sense of self, Ji Yu became a pure processor of information, like a computer. Yet this state did not last. His mind could not bear the strain for long, nor could he swiftly recover his self-awareness. Soon, a familiar prompt snapped him out of it.

[Acquired Trait: Resonance Guidance (Low)] (Allows for the transformation of subordinate kin; duration proportionate to personal state.)

A brief message.

Ji Yu sat in a daze, his mind still adrift from that state of perfect clarity. After a long while, he finally muttered to himself.

“So these points of light represent individual oaks?”

Astonishment washed over Ji Yu, mixed with a sense of novelty. In the darkness, the sphere of light that embodied him had already retracted all its threads and now looked somewhat dim. But, reassuringly, the light quickly regained its original brilliance.

Of course, the cost was visible: the experience bar within the so-called experience orb on his game panel had dropped from 76.23% to 61.46%.

Still, the orb was filling up much faster than Ji Yu had anticipated, so he thought little of it. After all, the experience orb required by the second-stage Guidance Task had reached its current state in just about three hours—far surpassing his initial expectations.

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It would not be long before Ji Yu could fill the experience bar and break through the current first-level life state of his oak self.

By now, the outside world had reached noon. Unaware, his mind still adrift in that ambiguous state, Ji Yu found himself endlessly savoring the memory of that heightened perception.

In that state, he felt like a god: omnipotent, omniscient. By linking to each subordinate oak, he saw everything around them, heard everything. The feeling was nothing short of exhilarating.

Yet one regret and shortcoming lingered: in that state, Ji Yu’s sense of self had been infinitely fragmented. This realization gave rise to a trace of fear. After all, if I am not myself, if all emotion is reduced to nothingness, how is that different from death?

What makes a person human is precisely self-awareness and desire. That state of detachment—where “I am not myself”—was not something Ji Yu could accept.

Fortunately, he believed this could be resolved by strengthening himself—through enhanced mental cues, or by simply growing more powerful.

In short, everything has a beginning. With the boon of the “Becoming All Things” game, Ji Yu was confident that he would eventually master that state of detachment perfectly.

Cheered by this optimistic conclusion, he began to idly observe the countless points of light scattered across the sea of his mind.

Compared to himself, these lights were tiny, but they varied in size. Because of perspective, Ji Yu spent a long time extending mental threads to examine them.

Eventually, he noticed three points of light significantly larger than the others. If the rest were like sesame seeds, these three were the size of cherries. With such a difference, Ji Yu had clearly found his prime targets for long-term resonance guidance.

Yet just as he was congratulating himself on this discovery, the game’s prompt jolted him back to attention.

[Guidance Task (Stage Two): Experience orb for breaking through the growth limit has reached 100%. Would you like to use the experience orb to break through now?]

[Yes/No]

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