Chapter Forty-One: The Power of Life's Grafting

Between the thickets.

At this moment, as Ji Yu continuously wielded the power of life grafting, countless white threads began to swirl around the body of the spotted deer. These white threads were the embodiment of life itself, the essence released from each blade of grass beneath its hooves as they withered away. Like luminous filaments, these threads wove around the deer's limbs, steadily permeating its wounded body.

There was an abundance of grass, and Ji Yu, controlling the deer's movements, only needed to shift a step to envelop and touch another swath of greenery. The grass faded ceaselessly, scattering white threads, which, not absorbed immediately, accumulated and created a radiant halo that danced with the deer's every motion.

Gradually, the myriad bullet wounds on the deer's body began to heal, and the bleeding was effectively stemmed. Ji Yu himself felt as if he were drifting into an ethereal state. The sensation was difficult to describe—a coolness that swept through his soul, a soaring delight so intoxicating it threatened to consume him.

Recovering strength, the deer, under Ji Yu's control, moved forward in a daze, as if drunk, stepping lightly across the soft earth. With each step, a patch of grass withered instantly, turning to gray ash, falling to the ground or drifting into the air with the breeze.

Wherever the deer passed, the land seemed barren, desolate.

Lost in the experience, Ji Yu pressed ahead, leaving in his wake a misty trail of ash. A towering tree blocked his path; the deer merely extended a forehoof to touch its trunk, and the vibrant tree began to wither before his eyes.

Prompts appeared in Ji Yu’s vision:

[Congratulations, player. Life grafting successful. Spotted deer vitality +0.05]

Ji Yu, as the deer, pressed his forehoof against the trunk near the roots, drawing forth an even more intense and torrential flow of life essence. The radiant threads wrapped around the deer, giving it an aura of sanctity, though in truth, it resembled a demon of the abyss, devouring the life around it.

Watching the tall tree, withering away, Ji Yu was suddenly reminded of his own incarnation as an oak.

Suddenly, Ji Yu snapped out of his dazed state.

Shaking his antlers, he looked at the tree, its leaves now yellow and nearly dead, and felt a surge of fear. The sensation brought by life grafting was far too addictive, rivaling the allure of forbidden drugs. If Ji Yu remained immersed in this state, disaster would surely follow. At worst, he might drive entire species to extinction; at worst, he could even destroy human cities in pursuit of power.

Frightened by these possibilities, Ji Yu became resolute.

“I must set a rule for myself, or the consequences will be unimaginable,” he murmured, gazing at the yellowed tree. He immediately returned two units of vitality to it. In an instant, the tree’s leaves regained their green hue, though they now appeared limp and shriveled, as if deprived of water.

Ji Yu regarded the tree with wonder. The life grafting trait granted by the game’s transformation system was astonishingly powerful. One step could bring life; another could bring death. This trait surpassed reality, venturing into the realm of myth.

Ji Yu realized that if he continued to use life grafting, the spotted deer would soon break through to the limits of a secondary life attribute. The price, however, would be the vast fields of flowers, grasses, and trees.

As a sentient human, Ji Yu would never act without regard for sustainability, nor commit acts of wanton destruction. After a brief consideration, he made a rough plan: abandon the plundering of flowers and grass, and instead draw lightly from the trees.

By Ji Yu’s estimation, the lush, towering tree before him, if quantified, held less than five points of vitality. The optimal approach would be to extract only a tenth—about 0.5 points. This would minimize harm to the tree.

This way, the tree could recover more quickly, instead of suffering lasting damage that would take ages to mend. Of course, this was only Ji Yu’s own plan, subject to further experimentation. If a tenth proved too much, and the trees failed to recover swiftly, he would take only a twentieth, or even a thirtieth. After all, the southwestern border forests of the Lane Federation were vast.

Before arriving and becoming the spotted deer, Ji Yu’s perspective had also hovered above in orbit, giving him a clear sense of his location. He was near the border between the Lane Federation and the Kingdom of Dongdian, within the famed Ridgewater Mountain range. The Ridgewater Mountains stretched across both countries, covering an area of 160,000 square kilometers. Though not as large as the Bana rainforest, it was a rare and tranquil haven.

There was no shortage of towering trees, providing Ji Yu’s second incarnation as the spotted deer ample room for growth.

He glanced around, and, seeing the distant highway, pondered briefly before turning toward the depths of the mountains.

“I must not squander the divine skill of life grafting. My second incarnation must grow stronger as quickly as possible.”

With the advanced trait of life grafting, the spotted deer’s potential far exceeded that of the oak in the rainforest. Though the deer possessed only three traits, the number of traits was not the sole determinant of a lifeform’s strength. The key lay in the feedback effect inherent to each trait; this was what distinguished the strength of one trait from another.

In Ji Yu’s view, even a highly developed trait of vigorous vitality could not surpass the feedback effect brought by life grafting.

With the blessing of this trait, Ji Yu was determined not to waste a single moment. As he journeyed deeper into the mountains, he continued to draw vitality from the surrounding trees.