CHAPTER 111: CHAPTER 111: DIVINITY

"It’s likely that its previous power was consumed too much, leaving it with hardly anything left now!" he thought to himself, regret already creeping in.

Nevertheless, greed has no bounds; Chen Shouyi decided not to trouble himself further.

He looked at the large tree in front of him and saw that it hadn’t died. The gentle breeze from before had completely vanished, and the oppressive aura had also disappeared without a trace, dispersing into nothing.

Even its emerald leaves, once imbued with a strange brilliance, had lost their mysterious color, becoming indistinguishable from common forest plants, regressing from extraordinary to ordinary.

Perhaps, as the Barbarians return to settle here and time passes, it might regain its strength.

However, this would not happen in a short time.

It could take decades, or even centuries.

...

Next, Chen Shouyi carefully walked in the open space, his body occasionally swaying, sometimes tottering, as he readjusted to his newly gained strength.

Although the increase wasn’t significant this time, it was mainly in comparison to his overly high expectations.

In fact, this single improvement alone boosted his strength by nearly fifty percent, and his agility increased by thirty to forty percent, breaking through the fourteen-point threshold altogether.

This was a tremendous leap.

By numerical calculation, his arm strength now reached about 580 kilograms, akin to Director Fang from the Martial Arts Notarization and Discipline Inspection Office,

completely at the level of a great Martial Artist.

As for agility, a value of 14.1 was five times that of an ordinary person.

The reaction time for an average person to withdraw their hand when touched by something hot is about 0.1 seconds; he needed only 0.02 seconds. An average driver seeing danger needs 0.25 seconds to react, while he needed only 0.05 seconds.

This was a decisive difference, as if time had been extended fivefold. During the time it took for an ordinary person to receive and react to information, Chen Shouyi could kill them five times over.

Moreover, strong reflexes also mean higher speed. Even without any martial arts techniques, the power of his punches could reach two to three tons. Using a lunge thrust method to mobilize all of his muscle strength, his punch could easily break the sound barrier, with power even reaching ten tons.

Coupled with a physique six times stronger than normal, granting a robust body and acute senses, along with an intellect supporting hyper-speed cognitive responses, once he fully readjusts to his strength, his combat ability could multiply fivefold, if not more.

...

At this moment, Chen Shouyi suddenly sensed some commotion from the Book of Knowledge.

He felt a little surprised, but knowing the importance of the Book of Knowledge, he did not dare to let his guard down.

After cautiously scanning the surroundings and sensing that the Barbarians likely won’t return anytime soon, he immediately closed his eyes and entered the Gray Mist Space.

He noticed the space had expanded completely, from its original diameter of thirty meters to a diameter of thirty-five meters. The gray mist beneath his feet seemed denser.

These unusual sights flashed before him, and then he looked at the small tree.

At just one glance, a sliver of astonishment crossed his heart.

Between the branches of this small tree, there was a faint silvery shimmer intertwined, filled with countless flickering shadows, layered and overlapped, showing blur images of numerous natives in a trance.

Some were in jungles, others under large trees, some in low wooden huts; they prayed in various places, expressing their humility and reverence to the large tree in various ways.

As his eyes fell on the silvery light with shadows, a theory emerged in his mind.

This must be the Power of Faith accumulated by that Divine Tree.

This is the source of the power of deities.

But Chen Shouyi only took a glance at these shadows before he was completely attracted by something else.

A minute yet bright and pure light spot, about the size of a mung bean, sat at the core of this layer of faith light.

It emitted a dazzlingly pure brilliance like a diamond.

At this moment, it was like a trapped little fish, frantically darting around, struggling fiercely, yet within the branches of the World Tree, an unseen force seemed to bind it, rendering escape impossible.

At the sight of this light point, Chen Shouyi’s heart started pounding, an intense desire surging within him.

Could this be divinity?

A thought suddenly appeared in his mind: what makes divine creatures known as divine is their congealed divinity, granting them long lives, a step closer to godhood.

Compared to the Power of Faith, this is the foundation of godhood.

Numerous scientists on Earth have attempted to research divinity and even divine status, exploring the mystery of godhood and enhancing human strength.

However, up until now, Chen Shouyi hadn’t heard of anyone succeeding.

Such a thing is neither matter nor mere energy but a peculiar energy-information aggregate.

Staring straight at this light point, his steps seemed driven by some force, as he walked step by step toward the small tree, his heart pounding wildly.

The silvery Power of Faith was gradually dissipating, dissolving into countless beautiful dots of starlight, merging into this space as it visibly expanded. Meanwhile, the range within which the divinity struggled grew smaller; under an unseen pull, it approached the trunk.

Don’t take it all, I still need it!

Seeing this, Chen Shouyi got anxious and hastened his steps.

In a few strides, he reached the small tree, reaching out to grab the light point, and upon contact, his mind was suddenly jolted, rapidly repelled, and only after a long while did he come to his senses.

His soul was too weak to withstand the power of divinity.

He tried several more times, but without exception, was swiftly repelled each time, until he finally gave up in resignation.

The light of the Power of Faith dimmed more and more, eventually becoming indiscernible, and the divinity slowly merged into the trunk of the World Tree.

In a daze, it seemed as if an unseen force spread out, and the leaves of the World Tree emitted a clear, melodious, and mysterious divine melody.

Immersed within this, Chen Shouyi couldn’t help but feel invigorated, as if his spirit were cleansed, swiftly restoring the mental energy greatly consumed by the impact of the divinity to full strength.

Accompanied by this mysterious divine melody, the small tree rapidly began to grow and flourish.

From originally just over a meter tall, it gradually surpassed two meters...

At this point, Chen Shouyi suddenly noticed that among the leaves, a small golden, illusory fruit was growing.

It’s described as "small" as it was tiny, the size of a sesame dot, yet it radiated dazzling golden light, being quite conspicuous.

Chen Shouyi felt a spark in his heart, stepped forward at once, and immediately focused his gaze.

The next moment, he experienced a slight daze, finding himself in a peculiar place, empty and hollow, neither connected to the sky above nor the ground below, seeming to be in mid-air.

Fortunately, he was long accustomed to this kind of mental immersion in the Memory Space, so he wasn’t panicky.

He calmly surveyed the surroundings and found this place to be entirely a world of wind.

Breezes, gales, zephyrs, whirlwinds, typhoons, tornadoes, all kinds of winds blew and raged here continuously.

After only a brief observation, he felt overwhelmed with information in his mind, causing a headache, and was soon forced to exit this world after only half a minute.

Chen Shouyi awoke, inundated with information in his mind, feeling that he almost grasped something profound, yet upon more detailed reflection, it seemed as though he hadn’t sensed anything at all.

He looked at the golden fruit.

"Could it be that this is the power extracted by the World Tree after absorbing the divinity of that great tree?"

The otherworld is a mysterious realm, and he knew many True Gods had divine positions, like the God of Knowledge, or the God of Hunting.

These divine positions aren’t just random titles or self-proclaimed.

They are crystallizations of their insights into the world, heaven and earth, laws, humanity, or civilization, recognized by the otherworld, possessing mysterious power. Each divine position represents the domain of their power, as well as the direction of their relentless pursuit.

"And this golden fruit clearly embodies the Divine Tree’s understanding of wind. Perhaps, compared to enhancing body attributes, this golden fruit is my true gain." Chen Shouyi could not help but realize in his heart.