Chapter 854: Exchange

After Gravis left the root behind, he went towards the surface. This root symbolized the barricade between humans and beasts, and Gravis now also knew why the root had appeared later than Gravis had expected.

Everything outside the root network was probably still part of the beast territory, but it was contested territory. Beasts and humans could meet there and fight each other, but the root network protected the truly important territories.

SHING!

Gravis came out of the ground and looked around.

Forest.

Gigantic forest!

The trees were all several kilometers tall at least and radiated auras from different Realms. Some relatively smaller trees were only in the Energy Gathering Realm, but some of the bigger ones were already in the Nascent Nourishing Realm.

The forest was very thick, and there were trees everywhere Gravis looked.

Immortals always flew high up in the sky, but there were trees that were even a thousand kilometers tall. Even at the average height where a Cultivator flew, Gravis was still surrounded by trees.

Gravis landed on one of them, and it didn't react.

Even though that tree had intelligence and could speak with Gravis, it didn't say anything. It was like it wasn't intelligent at all, but Gravis knew that it was.

This meant that the tree was probably used to beasts climbing on it. It was so used to it that it didn't even react to any beast that came close to it. The trees probably also didn't have to fear any beasts.

However, these trees had to be very old to reach their current Realm. After all, Meadow only reached the Law Comprehension Realm after 10,000 years. This meant that all of these Nascent Nourishing Realm trees had to be at least a thousand years old.

So, how was it possible that so many trees still stood there? If any Immortal beasts fought each other close to them, these trees would have been completely destroyed.

'This means that beasts probably avoid fighting near the trees,' Gravis thought. 'There are probably either dedicated fighting areas or the beasts just fight high up in the sky.'

Gravis furrowed his brows. 'This probably means that there are some customs I am unfamiliar with.'

Gravis looked around some more and saw a massive tree with red, shining fruits growing on it. The tree wasn't full of these fruits, but it still had a lot. This was the most powerful plant in Gravis' vicinity, and it was the only one in the Law Comprehension Realm.

Gravis looked at the ground but saw no fruit lying on the ground. 'This means that some beasts have eaten these fruits.'

Gravis needed to learn more about his new surroundings and flew closer to the tree. "How much for a fruit?" Gravis transmitted to the tree. Asking was better than directly taking them. Beasts were more straightforward, but just taking something might not be according to their code.

The beasts in Gravis' last world had no outside opponents. Sure, they had the sea beasts as their opponents, but that was it. Here, the beasts were under a constant threat of eradication, which might have changed their philosophy.

"You want my fruit?" the tree asked in surprise. "I can't feel your Realm, which means you are very powerful. Why would you want my fruit?"

"I want to taste it," Gravis said.

"Sure!" the tree answered with surprised happiness. "Anything you can give to me is worth more than all my fruit."

Gravis nodded. "How much for 1,000 fruits?" Gravis asked. The tree was gigantic, and the fruits were about a meter wide each. The tree probably had tens of thousands.

"You can have 5,000 for just a single scale," the tree said nervously.

This black beast was an Immortal, at least! It had the chance of getting a scale from an Immortal for simply some of its fruits?

Was this even real?

Was it dreaming?

Gravis scratched his chin. 'Just as I've thought. The beasts are probably exchanging parts of their own body for fruit. Beasts could regrow their lost body parts, and trees could regrow their fruits, but both things are useful for the other one.'

"Fine," Gravis said as a small scale separated from his body. Gravis used his hands to do this since he didn't want to show his Spirit.

As soon as Gravis let go of the scale, it lost its connection to his body and regained its full weight. On top of that, the scale was incredibly compressed since Gravis wasn't in his true size.

This was an incredibly hard scale, which would be hundreds of kilometers wide in its full size.

One could imagine its insane weight.

BANG!

The scale punched through the ground until it was buried deep in the ground. Over the next years, this scale would release its Energy into the surrounding earth, making the earth far richer than before. On top of that, some tiny Law fluctuations from the Laws that the beast knew would appear, which would help the plants to comprehend more Laws.

The tree saw how heavy the scale was and felt its mind shake.

Were Immortals truly so powerful that even a single scale was so heavy?

Gravis went over to one fruit and plucked it. It was a meter wide and looked absolutely delicious.

'Wonder how it tastes,' Gravis thought. Then, his head enlarged, and he ate the whole fruit in one bite.

The fruit got crushed into nothingness as it entered Gravis' body. It tasted very sweet and filled Gravis' being with delight. Mortals would pay a fortune for something that tasted this good.

However, Gravis' mind quickly ignored the taste as he noticed something much more important.

The fruit broke down as soon as it reached Gravis' stomach, and when that happened, its Laws briefly appeared.

'Level one Petal Composition Law,' Gravis concluded. 'So, eating these fruits can help with comprehending specific Laws.'

Gravis ate a second one and noticed that the same Law was being shown, but different parts of it. One fruit didn't show the entire Law. In fact, it didn't even show 0.1%.

Additionally, Gravis didn't absorb these Laws. They only appeared in his stomach and disappeared. This meant that he could only look at it.

However, this was still incredible. Understanding Laws with this method was far easier than just looking at some plants.

'Is this how the beasts deal with their limited space?' Gravis thought as he scratched his chin. 'Law Comprehension Areas require a lot of space, which can only be dedicated to them.'

'So, is it possible that some trees are specifically planted in these areas to create fruits that help in the comprehension of these Laws?' Gravis thought. 'If, for example, a tree is placed in a Law Comprehension Area for Punishment Lightning, would it be possible for that tree to eventually produce fruits that demonstrate the Law of Punishment Lightning?'

'The beasts would then only need to go to these areas to exchange for a ton of these fruits. By eating them, it might even be more efficient for Law Comprehension than staying in the Law Comprehension Area.'

'This is basically a portable and edible Law Comprehension Area,' Gravis thought as his eyes gleamed.

'That's actually insane!'

Gravis stopped hesitating and grabbed all the other fruits he was owed. His head enlarged as he swallowed each fruit whole.

However, this was only a show.

As soon as Gravis' maw encased the fruit, it was cut off from the outside, which allowed Gravis to retrieve it into his Life Ring.

On the outside, it appeared like Gravis ravenously consumed thousands of fruit, but in reality, Gravis was gathering all of them into his Life Ring. His Life Ring was a valuable artifact from the highest world, and it had a ton of functions. One of them was to isolate fruit and keep them fresh.

Were fruits alive?

Kind of.

They didn't have a will on them, but everything else could still be considered alive. Storing these fruits in his Spirit Space would kill off their life, which would weaken their effect. In comparison, the Life Ring was much better at keeping them fresh.

'These fruits might not be worth much since nobody cares about the Plant Composition Laws, but others would be incredibly expensive,' Gravis thought.

Gravis looked at the tree but quickly averted his gaze with narrowed eyes.

He had just wanted to thank the tree!

He really had to be careful with his words.

Instead, Gravis nodded at the tree solemnly and flew away.

Meanwhile, the tree felt relieved that there were no other Law Comprehension plants in its surroundings. Other plants would fight it to the death for the scale.

Fortunately, it was the most powerful plant around.