Four Elements Tree

A few days later, Jacob woke up in the morning and, as he has been doing the last couple days, he has been searching for unique spirit herbs. Spirit herbs are usually divided into three categories.

The first category is called 'Main Ingredients' and these are usually spirit herbs that are required for certain pills, and cannot be mass produced. The second category is called 'Supplementary Ingredients' and these are herbs for pills that can be mass produced and have many uses for pills and can be easily changed in recipes for similar herbs.

Most of the seeds that Jacob bought, around 95%, were supplementary ingredients, they can't be used directly, but he has been collecting them in large batches. Only a few are considered main ingredients, like the black fire flower.

The last and most rare category is called 'Divine Elixirs'. The name is a little grandiose, but the effects of these herbs vary greatly. The Four Elements Tree, that Jacob lost in the auction, has the ability to give people magical powers directly upon consumption of its fruits.

Another thing about divine elixirs is that once they reach maturity, they usually never stop growing until harvested, meaning more power can accumulate inside of them. Divine elixirs are measured in years, this does not mean it has grown for that amount of time, it is just an arbitrary measurement of their potency.

The last thing about divine elixirs is their inability to be made into pills or medicine. Jacob does not have a single divine elixir. He has been searching an area that someone said to have spotted a four element tree in.

Ever since Jacob lost the auction, he has been anxious looking for divine elixir, because he has the ability to make them extremely potent. In his time searching on Daliomon he has yet to find a single one. He is now quicking searching by drones for the tree.

A few hours later, he finally found it. He squinted at the tree, the base of the tree shows that it was obviously recently transplanted here. He speculated that this was perhaps the tree that he was bidding on, although he was not 100% sure.

He packed up his things and left his room. Many people saw him, and spoke quietly to each other. In the time at the base, he has been silently ridiculed as a fool, because he always showed turning in most or all of his beast cores after each time he went hunting.

Although he always brought back more, many people thought he was going to lose the challenge. He then, like many viewers of the livestreams, sent silent prayers for these poor people.

He then ran out of the base, jumping off the cliff, aiming for the pond below. With a giant splash, he quickly resurfaced from the water. He left the pond and dried himself using universe energy. He then leisurely made his way towards the area with the four elements tree.

He stopped around 100 meters from the four elements tree, then climbed up a nearby tree. He looked towards the four element tree. Upon the branches of the four elements tree, rested 12 fruits, each a different color of either red, blue, green, or yellow.

The auras of the fruit suggest that they will reach maturity in a few hours. Wrapped around the tree, were three silver pythons, each as thick as a bucket. They were each star level 3 exo beasts. They were the protector beast of this spirit herb.

Jacob carefully sensed around 12 other auras, all at the peak of stage 9. No one dared to break through core formation, at the threat of being disqualified. Jacob speculated that there were probably a few people who he could not sense, so he just laid back and waited.

~~~~~~~~~

A few hours later, the pythons started getting restless, the initial 12 people gathered up to around 40 people hiding in the woods, with a few more being undetectable to Jacob. The fruits were beginning to emit a weak light.

Around another hour of everyone being tense, the lights on the fruits flashed. Time seemed to stop, then a variety of techniques were thrown at the pythons, who hissed and defended. A few shadows darted out and passed the pythons, trying to grab the fruits directly, but were blocked by the pythons and other techniques.

Everyone fought, until a shadow quickly sped out and snatched three fruits, before quickly running off. Everyone halted, then forgetting everything else people sped to the fruits. When all the fruits were taken, people tracked down those who got the fruits, and their fights traveled farther and farther away from the tree.

After everyone was gone, a tall shadow dropped down from a nearby tree, he leisurely made his way towards the four elements tree. A shovel appeared in his hand as he started carefully uprooting it. As the person was digging, another shadow appeared.

The new shadow merely said a sentence, "The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind." The first shadow waves his hand annoyedly, "You used the analogy wrong, I am not the mantis, nor the oriole. The pythons should be the cicadas, while the mantises should be the people grabbing the fruits. The orioles are definitely those large teams forming a large net to intercept those who grabbed the fruit."

The second shadow then asked, "Then what are you?" The first shadow smiles towards the second, while putting the now dug up tree into his dimension, "I am the farmer who makes his own food, while everyone else scrambles to buy theirs. See you back at the base Emmanuel." He then disappears with a burst of speed.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Aboard the Stars fury, a large group of teachers from various colleges were chatting and watching the livestreams, quite a few were interested in the scramble for the Four Elements Fruit, one teacher from a first rate school pointed out, "The kid who snatched the fruit first has a very fast movement technique and hiding ability, he managed to breakout of the encirclement of the large groups."

Another teacher said, "Look at that group of three, they managed to each get a fruit and forcibly broke through the blockade." "There is also that guy who slew one of the pythons and snatched its core, the other two pythons went into a rage." "I'm more interested in the what the other people who have fruits are going to do"

While the teachers were talking about their favorite choices, two old men were chatting side by side, one that had a muscular build commented, "Look, there is that swindler, he actually took the tree, he even said 'I am the farmer' bah, I feel he would be more suited for your Heaven Star, though his combat ability surprised me. He merely walked through the blockade while deflecting all the attacks."

The other old man, thinner with a bald spot in the middle of his head, with a wispy goatee said, "His planning abilities are indeed terrifying, and how he managed to sneak everything past the guards, it must be his Talent, though I am curious as to why he wanted the tree instead of the fruits, although they were newly mature, and would only give a small chance at an elementary magical element, there is still a slim chance."

The muscular man then shook his head and said, "The military just bought it from an auction and used some means to force it to mature during the challenge, in human territory it will take around 100 years to mature again at the minimum." he then continued, "I'm really looking forward to this brat showing his combat ability, I feel like what he has shown has only been the tip of the iceberg, do you think he broke you stage 9 to stage 10 on his own?"

The thin man was shocked by this thought, "No, although possible it usually requires the help of someone at least at star level 6 to help break through the barriers, that is why we have the students wait until college so they can seek help from teachers. If he really broke through on his own, maybe even past stage 10, then his talent must be astronomical… maybe we will have a new sage"

The two old men looked at each other with greed in their eyes, they had to have this student.