Strongest Hammer God

Chapter 1230: Vine

It was a vine.

It was a long and thick vine, and its Energy was exceptionally dense. Its Energy Density rivaled the density of Energy of an Adept Immortal.

They only saw a part of the vine, but with Kyle's reports and readings, they now knew what he sensed. If the vine already had so much Energy...

"What is it?" the others asked in the Excursion Lobby. They weren't at the bottom of the hole, which was why they couldn't sense it.

"I..." the Leader answered, unsure about what to say.

Then, she looked at Red, who was just grinning with excitement.

"What is it?" Kyle asked as well. He also had no idea what they were digging towards.

"We need to confirm something first," Abyssal Depths answered before turning to the Leader. "Let's keep digging, but we need to be careful."

The Leader nodded, and the two resumed digging. They were much more careful this time.

About a minute of digging later, they saw it.

The actual source of Kyle's readings.

"YES!" Abyssal Depths shouted within the hole, eliciting an expression of surprise from Kyle before he resumed grinning. The Leader didn't react. She just looked towards the direction of the vine with a focused and serious gaze.

Depending on the number...

They might have made a loss by accepting Kyle's deal.

"Do not show any reactions in the Excursion Lobby," Abyssal Depths transmitted to the others. "We can't let anyone know about what we've found."

The others became serious and waited for Abyssal Depths to elaborate.

"It's a vine," she answered. "Its Energy Density is as high as an Adept Immortal's..."

"We've confirmed the existence of at least one Law Comprehension Fruit. As you know, when they bear fruit, plants store the vast majority of their Energy inside their fruits. The Energy Density of the fruit rivals the Energy Density of a Medium Immortal."

None of the others seemingly reacted, but if Abyssal Depths hadn't warned them beforehand, they might have let something slip.

"How?!" Sebastian asked. "Why is there a plant down here?"

"Planet Genesis, Dimensional Ascension, World Memory," Spring of Joy replied, her expression serious. "Most likely, this is a Planet inside a bigger Planet. This probably used to be a Life Planet, but another Planet appeared around it. Almost all normal life would have died during that event, but a couple of powerful plants might have adapted to their new environment."

"Trees turn into vines to resist the pressure, and the surviving trees thrive. The more they rely on abundant sources of Energy down here, like Metal, Fire, and Earth Energy, the more they thrive and multiply. We've also seen instances of dense Water Energy down here."

"Finally, the world senses that there is life here. Sometimes, plants and beasts ascend to the Immortal Dimension, but they only appear in areas that can support their lifestyle. Almost nobody has been down here in a long time, aside from the occasional team with a very high level."

"We have to be careful. There is at least one powerful team on this Planet, and they must have discovered its secret as well," Spring of Joy warned.

"I fucking knew it!" Kyle transmitted to everyone. "I knew these readings would lead to something amazing! Let's go!"

The others nodded, and the two Adept Immortals resumed digging. Plants like this one were not intelligent, and they barely had any defensive powers.

After minutes of careful digging, they finally saw the vine with their eyes. By now, they could sense over 30 Law Comprehension Fruits.

One had to remember that Law Comprehension Fruits had different grades. Some only supported comprehension to the fourth level and remained effective for fifty years. Others supported comprehension up to the ninth level and remained effective for 50,000 years. Naturally, there was a huge difference in price between these two.

"Based on what you've told me," Spring of Joy transmitted, "the vine probably has about 70 Law Comprehension Fruits. The density of Energy suggests that these fruits support comprehension up to the eighth level. At the lowest, they support comprehension for 1,000 years, but it might be more."

"The lowest price for one fruit is 50 Grade Nine Energy Stones."

At least 3,500 Grade Nine Energy Stones...

"Can we transport the vine itself?" Kyle asked. "This is a renewable resource. It's gotta be worth more if it's still whole."

"It would be worth a lot more, but we can't transport it without exposing ourselves," Spring of Joy explained. "Accepting any living thing into your Soul Space comes with a realistic chance of death. This vine is over a hundred kilometers long and almost a kilometer thick. If we just carry it, everyone will see it. Additionally, taking the entire thing will destabilize the surroundings, causing a cave-in."

"Unless you know about Formation Arrays that can deal with all of these issues."

Kyle sighed. 'The world is really drilling the importance of Formation Arrays into me.'

"Well, grabbing the fruits is the next best thing," Kyle answered.

"Do you want to sow or reap Karma?" Spring of Joy asked.

The others looked at Kyle. He was the leader. This was his call to make.

Red looked at the exposed end of the vine, scratching the back of his head.

When someone found a renewable resource, there were two ways with which one could harvest it. However, renewable resources were only renewable if one didn't take too much. Taking all of the fruits would kill the vine, and depending on its value, this could come with a substantial drop in Karmic Luck.

Meanwhile, not taking any of the fruits would definitely come with a substantial increase in Karmic Luck. The more valuable the resources were, the greater the effect. Taking just enough to let the plant survive would not have any consequences on Karmic Luck. The consequences on Karmic Luck were on a gradient.

"How many fruits does it need to stay alive?" Kyle asked.

"Ten should be enough," Spring of Joy answered.

"You believe it has about 70?" Kyle asked.

"That's the lower end of my estimate. It can be between 67 and over 100. I believe it's between 70 and 80."

Kyle furrowed his brows.

"We're taking 50," Kyle replied.

Team Wooly Sheep was a bit surprised. Usually, when a team found such a valuable treasure, they ignored their Karmic Luck. Regaining Karmic Luck was easier than finding such a valuable treasure.

Yet, when they considered the Karmic Luck of the other team, they realized that it wasn't a bad choice. Their Karmic Luck was horrible when compared to the average Excursion Team.

Once more, Team Wooly Sheep benefited from Kyle's decision. The loot would be split according to the rules of the alliance, but Karmic Luck didn't care as much about the loot distribution. It would use the agreement as a guideline, but it would make its own judgment. Most likely, they would get around 25% of the positive Karmic Luck.

Kyle kept looking at the vine. One of the reasons why he had decided to leave so many fruits was that he... empathized with it.

It was born into this world of pressure, heat, resistance, and immense gravity.

And yet, despite all odds, it thrived down here and survived.

When he looked at it, he was reminded of Ayuvar, more specifically, his old home, Humanity.

Even when everything had seemed horrible and hopeless, Humanity had endured.

They had kept fighting.

Just like this vine.

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