Half a day later.
In a forest atop a high mountain.
Under the strange purple-red sky, Colin, accompanied by the little elf Nasi, weaved through the dark green woods speckled with dark red patches.
"This ancient tree seems suitable."
Suddenly, Colin stopped and looked up at the tall ancient tree in front of him, with its brown bark and lush branches, the trunk as thick as five men hugging it together.
He nodded in satisfaction, stepped forward, and placed his palm on it.
Moments later, a slightly dark red tinged emerald Ancient Tree Heart Crystal gradually emerged in the palm of his hand.
"Nasi, here."
As soon as the crystal formed, Colin quickly handed it to Nasi, who was in the hood.
Originally planned to leave the cave immediately, he didn't expect the outside pollution wind to remain unabated, which continued for most of the day until just now when it finally dissipated.
Therefore, it was only now that Colin had finally come to the forest, and this Ancient Tree Heart Crystal was just freshly extracted.
Although it had only been a short half-day, the remaining seven Ancient Tree Heart Crystals had all been completely used up, only the one obtained from the Sacrificial Ancient Tree lasted a bit longer.
"Fortunately, there are plenty of ancient trees around to last these days." Colin turned his head and looked around, feeling relieved.
The purple-red sky was cloudless, and the ground was an unchanging dark red.
After the pollution wind ceased, the entire Elf Kingdom was as silent as an abandoned land.
It seemed that the Ancient Tree of Life and the Divine had long since abandoned this place, leaving only half a broken branch and a repetitive mechanism constantly resisting...
"No matter what, this is at least a good thing for me." Colin continued to walk forward.
...
Time passed, and in the blink of an eye, three days went by.
After Colin had almost extracted the Ancient Tree Heart Crystals from half of the suitable ancient trees on the high mountain, the golden seal on little elf Nasi completely faded.
And unsurprisingly, the Ancient Tree Heart Witchcraft on the Golden Paper had reached its limit.
As for himself, he had recovered to normal a day earlier, the Golden Seal completely disappeared, and his injuries were mostly healed.
At this moment, inside the cave.
Colin once again summoned the Golden Paper, and the Magic Stone was also ready at his side, just waiting for Limit Breaking!
The process was already well-practiced, and soon, Colin slowly opened his eyes, the Limit Breaking was complete.
He focused, deeply perceiving the changes in the Ancient Tree Heart after the breakthrough.
Compared to the original Ancient Tree Heart, the biggest difference after Limit Breaking was its increased flexibility.
This witchcraft was fundamentally about plundering the unique Life Spirit from ancient trees, then weaving it into a special structure to absorb within oneself, thereby enhancing one's lifespan and improving talent.
After the Limit Breaking, the Ancient Tree Heart was no longer limited to "ancient trees;" the targets of the spell need not only be ancient trees, any tree containing Life Spirit could be used.
Of course, ordinarily, common trees were not worth extracting the Ancient Tree Heart from.
On the other hand, there was no longer any limit on the amount of Life Spirit extracted from the Ancient Tree Heart; if he wanted, he could even entirely plunder all the Life Spirit from the treated trees!
However... these changes were not of much use to him at the moment.
Whether the recent Limit Breaking Point was worth it still remained to be seen.
Colin stood up and walked to the golden broken branch, reaching out his palm.
A beautiful and complex Magic Model was established in his Spirit Sea, accompanied by the surge of Magic Power, and the glow of witchcraft also lit up from his palm.
The surging Energy contained in the broken branch was felt clearly again... Colin took a breath and continued the next step of the witchcraft.
He attempted to engage the very Advanced Life Spirit within the branch.
If interacting with other ancient trees felt like directing flowing water, then on this broken branch, it was like touching a heavy iron block, almost immovable.
But at least it was slightly less daunting than a mountainous feel before... Colin reassured himself, not giving up and continued to channel his Magic Power.
But after a while, the "iron block" perceived was still unshakably stable, astonishingly solid!
"Am I destined not to connect with it?" Colin felt somewhat disheartened, his palm loosened slightly, and the Ancient Tree Heart Witchcraft also stuttered.
Nevertheless, it was just a pause; he took a breath and once again pressed his palm firmly against the broken branch.
"I've only tried for a few minutes, there's still time, I cannot give up so easily!"
Nasi watched him with a serious expression, quietly staying aside without disturbing him, and quietly waiting.
As time ticked by, at a certain moment, a flash of confusion crossed Nasi's eyes. She suddenly sniffed the air; a familiar scent had appeared out of nowhere.
Nasi glanced at Colin, paused, and followed the scent to its source.
A moment later, she arrived not far to the left, at the thinner end of the golden broken branch.
"Wow! So…" As Nasi recognized the source of the scent, her eyes widened, and she instinctively wanted to call out to Colin to share the discovery.
At the thinner end of the branch, a half-open bud had surprisingly sprouted!
But remembering that Colin seemed to be doing some important work, Nasi quickly covered her own mouth.
Hesitating for a moment, she carefully approached the gold-dust-colored flower by the tip of the branch and took a sniff.
"It smells so good…" she muttered, memories of eating flowers flashing through her mind.
So, Nasi swallowed, frowned in thought for a while, and eventually couldn't resist the temptation. She reached out her small hand and plucked the gold-dust-colored flower.
If an ordinary person, even a Knight Level like Colin, were to pick it, even with the use of witchcraft, it would likely be difficult to pluck the gold-dust flower.
However, for a Flower Elf, picking flowers was an innate Talent… With just a stretch of her hand, the gold-dust-colored flowers were neatly and even willingly plucked.
"Hmm?"
Meanwhile, Colin, who had been standing at the middle of the broken branch with his eyes tightly closed, suddenly sensed something different—
Inside the broken branch, the Life Spirit, which had been as robust as a block of iron, now seemed to have been chiseled open at a small spot. Initially a trickling stream, it soon gushed out like a dam burst, and the Life Spirit surged out.
Then, under the effect of the Ancient Tree Heart, it gathered in his palm.
This time, Colin did not choose to condense it into the air but instead absorbed it directly into his body.
Simultaneously, facing the lifeless broken branch, he did not hold back and driven by the Ancient Tree Heart Witchcraft, absorbed as much as possible!
Guided by the Ancient Tree Heart Witchcraft, the Life Spirit gradually moved into his body.
A faint golden glow began from his right palm, gradually lighting up, and after a moment, extended to the middle of his chest, where it then gathered into a mass.
Colin vaguely sensed some unique structure gradually forming in the middle of his chest.
Munch, munch.
Nasi, eating the gold-dust flower beside him, looked at Colin with a slight surprise.
"Colin is glowing…"
She was absorbed in watching Colin and hadn't noticed her own body gradually changing as she ate the gold-dust flower.
Her originally dark red wings, hair, and eyes seemed to lighten as if bleached.
The most noticeable change was her originally dark red eyes, which had clearly lightened by more than a degree and had turned into a bright pink.
Compared to this, the changes in her wings and red hair were less significant — they simply looked a bit lighter, a bit brighter, and more lustrous than dark red.
Munch, munch.
Unaware, Nasi continued to eat the gold-dust flowers.
After a moment, when she had consumed the flower, Colin put down his arm on the other side and opened his eyes.
Meanwhile, the broken branch had also lost its glow, leaving only a decaying residue like tofu dregs.
"There is no pain, no discomfort or strangeness… The crystal formed by the Ancient Tree Heart is gently changing the Caster every moment." He silently felt it, unable to contain his joy!
He had not expected that he could actually use the broken branch of the Ancient Tree of Life to construct the Ancient Tree Heart!
And it had gone so smoothly!
Invisibly, Colin realized that perhaps it was because he was in this contaminated space, and because the branch had just used its last autonomous consciousness to clear the contamination attacking it, that his casting went so smoothly this time!
After a moment, Colin shook his head and collected his thoughts.
"Let's go, Nasi," he said.
Now that everything that needed to be done in the Elf Kingdom was complete, it was time to leave.
After all, the remaining food wouldn't last much longer.
Additionally, the specific location in the outside world connected by the Golden Pattern Stone Hammer, the actual situation, whether food could be found immediately… all these were still unknown.
To save some food for emergencies, they now had to leave.
"Nasi, how did you turn out like this?"
But as he raised his head and looked at Nasi flying towards him, he suddenly paused, and instinctively asked.