Chapter 317: Chapter 271: Fourth Evolution

In the days that followed, Su Ze and Mr. Ya trained hard every day in the spaceship’s training room.

They made sure to balance work and rest. Whenever they grew tired or bored from training, they would soak in the medicinal baths, admire the flowers in the cultivation room, or watch movies in the entertainment area.

Speaking of movies, Su Ze had only just discovered that the ship’s viewing room stored a large collection of alien blockbusters. But since he couldn’t understand the language, he watched them purely for the novelty.

Furthermore, Su Ze noticed the stars of these alien blockbusters were all members of the Tree Spirit Race, identifiable by their dark cyan skin. This told him the films were all made by the Tree Spirit Race.

It seemed unlikely that Su Ze could learn about the wider universe from these movies. He could, however, learn about the Tree Spirit Race.

From the films, he could see that the Tree Spirit Race was close to nature and coexisted harmoniously with plants, a concept somewhat similar to elves.

The Mother Tree had already cleaned the entire spaceship. The spoiled food in the dining hall and pantries had been cleared out long ago, leaving only edible supplies.

Su Ze and Mr. Ya had the opportunity to sample some alien cuisine—or, more specifically, Tree Spirit Race cuisine.

Every bite tasted healthy... and was absolutely disgusting!

But surprisingly, long-term consumption of these healthy, green foods could strengthen their bodies.

It was similar to the cigarettes Chen Suifeng had given Su Ze. Only by smoking them consistently over a long period could one increase their Spiritual Power.

More than ten days passed in a flash...

Su Ze did a quick calculation. Dongli University’s semester should have already started.

As the "outstanding student representative" who routinely skipped class, he had now missed even the first day of registration.

After more than ten days of intense training, Su Ze and Mr. Ya had completely used up their supply of digestive aids.

The entire batch of digestive aids like Ten Thousand Miles Ginseng, which Su Ze had spent a fortune stockpiling, was now gone, thanks to his completely unrestrained consumption.

If things went on like this, they would have to fall back on digestive aids on the level of Sun and Moon Epiphyllum Honey. But Su Ze now considered natural aids of that grade to be beneath him.

As for the Mother Tree, the only digestive aid it could supply in large quantities was the Acceleration Fruit. Su Ze felt that was still a bit lacking; he needed something at least on par with Ten Thousand Miles Ginseng.

So, he set his sights on the Heart-shaped Fruit Tree in the cultivation room.

A fully red Heart-shaped Fruit was more than twice as effective as a Ten Thousand Miles Ginseng, and a pure green one was twice as effective as a red one.

In other words, a pure green Heart-shaped Fruit was roughly equivalent to a five-fold Ten Thousand Miles Ginseng.

However, that was for a Tier Five Heart-shaped Fruit. The Heart-shaped Fruit Tree in the cultivation room had already crossed the threshold to become a Tier Six Spiritual Plant!

The Heart-shaped Fruits it produced would be even more potent. A pure green one was likely equivalent to ten Ten Thousand Miles Ginsengs!

Su Ze and Mr. Ya began plotting how to fleece the Heart-shaped Fruit Tree.

Su Ze first tested the waters with his Liquid Clone. He had it don the Hundred-Change Mask and change its appearance to that of a stranger.

But when the clone bowed to the Heart-shaped Fruit Tree, the tree did not return the gesture.

That alone was enough to prove it had seen through the disguise.

After mulling it over, he realized they would have to rely on Mr. Ya.

The Heart-shaped Fruit Tree’s greatest weakness was its immobility. It was confined to a large planter, and perhaps due to restrictions set by the ship’s original owner, its attack range was limited to its immediate vicinity.

But it was a genuine Tier Six Spiritual Plant with astonishing destructive power. A single blow could force Su Ze to use his revival ability, and a second would kill him for good.

Mr. Ya, however, had an "invincibility" skill that lasted for one second, creating the perfect window of opportunity for him to harvest the fruit.

But he had to be fast, snatching the fruit and retreating from the Heart-shaped Fruit Tree’s attack range all within that one-second window.

For his first attempt, Mr. Ya left a Shadow Clone at the entrance to the cultivation room. Then, his real body used the "Void" skill to silently approach the Heart-shaped Fruit Tree.

When the Void skill’s effect wore off, he suddenly appeared beside the Heart-shaped Fruit Tree and instantly activated his invincibility. The tree unleashed a torrential assault on Mr. Ya, but the invincibility skill blocked every attack. He grabbed a handful of Heart-shaped Fruits and swapped places with his Shadow Clone just before the invincibility wore off.

And just like that, without a single hitch, the pair harvested several Heart-shaped Fruits.

The Heart-shaped Fruit Tree could only rage impotently in place.

The method was incredibly reliable, with virtually no chance of failure.

The only problem was that it was too quick. One second wasn’t enough time for the Heart-shaped Fruit Tree to become fully enraged, so the harvested fruits were less than a quarter green.

’Next time, we need to provoke it first before picking the fruit,’ Su Ze and Mr. Ya concluded, learning from the experience.

Unfortunately, Mr. Ya’s "Void" and "Invincibility" skills both had long cooldowns, so they couldn’t try again until the timers reset.

...

With a steady supply of Heart-shaped Fruits, Su Ze and Mr. Ya were able to digest the extracts much faster and more consistently.

Learning from their first attempt, whenever Su Ze and Mr. Ya went to pick the fruit again, they would first provoke the Heart-shaped Fruit Tree from a distance. They would enrage it completely, waiting for all the fruit on its branches to turn pure green before sending Mr. Ya in to do the harvesting.

Eventually, it got to the point where Su Ze and Mr. Ya only had to stand in front of the Heart-shaped Fruit Tree for it to fly into an immediate rage. It had come to thoroughly despise the two of them, seeing them as nothing but despicable thieves and robbers!

This actually saved the pair a lot of trouble, as every fruit they harvested from then on was pure green. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

With the help of these pure green, Tier Six Heart-shaped Fruits, Mr. Ya had completely digested the extract in his body by mid-September.

Only twenty-some days had passed since the two of them had entered the spaceship to train in seclusion.

After all, he was only digesting a Tier Four extract, which was considerably less difficult than the Tier Five extract Su Ze was working on.