"Can a Wizard Embryo Fragment determine a Priest's talent?" Having deliberately mentioned that he had only recently become a Priest, Li Ban naturally began to seek guidance from the other Priests present.
None of the Priests who had survived this long in the Recycling Station had less experience than him.
Sure enough, knowledge that was incredibly hard to come by in the outside world was offered almost for free here in the Recycling Station.
It required no merits, nor did it matter which faction you belonged to.
"Of course it's related. It's just that to prevent conflicts and resentment among Priests, we generally don't bring it up in front of newcomers. But here, it doesn't really matter."
Perhaps feeling that since Li Ban was here to help, answering a few simple questions was the least he could do, Dr. Wang Min obliged.
It wouldn't take much time, after all.
"There are three ways a Priest obtains a Wizard Embryo Fragment. The first is when a spirit cultivator reaches Level 8 or Level 9, at which point there is a certain probability of a fragment forming. However, the chances of a Level 8 Spirit Cultivator generating a wizard embryo are abysmal. It's slightly better at Level 9, but still not particularly high."
Another Priest, Lu Yi, chuckled as he examined a withered branch in his hand. "Otherwise, this world would be crawling with Priests."
Hearing this, Li Ban interjected, "Why? Is it because you know a castle best when you build it yourself?"
"That's part of it." Dr. Wang Min smiled. "After all, something earned through hard work is always cherished more than an unexpected windfall."
Have I not cherished my wizard embryo? Li Ban wondered, lowering his head.
His experience differed from the other Priests. During moments of life-or-death crisis, the Star River within his consciousness had saved him time and time again.
At first, Li Ban thought that was his wizard embryo.
But as he gradually learned more about Priests, he discovered that his Star River and the Wizard Embryo Fragment seemed to be two different things.
Or rather, his Wizard Embryo Fragment was just a tiny shard within that vast Star River.
Therefore, his journey of heart cultivation was destined to be different from everyone else's.
Giving Li Ban a few seconds to think, Dr. Wang Min continued, "The second situation is actually even rarer. It happens when a pocket world shatters, and someone inside is lucky enough to obtain a piece of its fragments. The odds of this are perhaps one in several hundred million.
"For them, heart cultivation is a bit more difficult than the first type."
"The final way is to steal another person's Wizard Embryo Fragment. This used to be rare, but as the black-robed priests grew more and more rampant, it became much more common."
Priest Lu Yi's expression suddenly turned ugly. "My good friend's Wizard Embryo Fragment was snatched by that black-robed Xiao Suo and given away to a bandit."
Xiao Suo again.
"Is Xiao Suo in the Recycling Station?" Li Ban asked with a frown.
"Never heard of him being here," Dr. Wang Min shook his head.
"Hmph. A guy like him who relies on spiritual rhinoceros to run amok wouldn't survive after losing it. Even if he did enter the Recycling Station, he definitely would have killed himself right away," Lu Yi scoffed from the side.
Li Ban thought about it and agreed. In a place where no one had special abilities, Xiao Suo's capacity to stir up trouble would plummet.
However, he highly doubted the man would just commit suicide right off the bat.
"People in the third category—those who steal fragments—don't become Black Robes right away, but their heart cultivation becomes incredibly difficult. As a result, many of those who steal fragments ultimately fail at parting clouds to see the stars, eventually degenerating into black-robed priests. Heh, well, Black Robes don't need heart cultivation anyway."
"Black Robes don't need heart cultivation? Why not? What exactly does heart cultivation mean for a Priest?"
This was the first time Li Ban had heard this.
"Heart cultivation is required to stabilize the wizard embryo, and later on, it becomes a prerequisite to advance to a Great Wizard."
Dr. Wang Min didn't elaborate too deeply on heart cultivation. "Anyway, the Wizard Embryo Fragments obtained through the latter two methods are usually more complete. For those Priests, it's easier to assemble a complete wizard embryo and gather the minimum elements required to create a pocket world. If such a Priest can also progress smoothly on their journey of heart cultivation, their chances of becoming a Great Wizard are extremely high."
"This is what we refer to as talent."
Having answered Li Ban's questions, Dr. Wang Min turned to look at Zhu Yao. "If I remember correctly, Priest Zhu Yao should have already passed the Star Glow phase, right?"
Zhu Yao nodded and calmly replied, "I used to be a Dark Moon Priest."
Dr. Wang Min smiled. "You still are."
He led Li Ban and Zhu Yao closer to the red fruit trees and briefed them on the research they had conducted over the past half day.
"—That's the gist of it. When it comes down to it, there's just too little usable energy in the Recycling Station."
Listening to Dr. Wang Min's explanation, Li Ban learned that their only available methods right now were root grafting, spiritual rhinoceros nourishment, and waste element permeation.
He specifically asked Li Ban and Zhu Yao if they knew about waste element permeation. After receiving a "we know a little" in response, he informed them that they had already tried utilizing it.
This was because the method was the simplest and cost the least.
Treated waste elements had already been buried among the roots of one red fruit tree, but perhaps because too little time had passed, there were no visible changes yet.
Li Ban approached that specific red fruit tree first and squatted down outside its fence.
Since the red fruit trees had already withered, and the power used on this particular one was the worthless waste elements, no one was guarding it.
Squatting there, Li Ban used his Spirit Vision Technique to inspect the interior of the red fruit tree's root system.
It was similar to what he had seen in the rye fields: the waste elements had been broken down into an even more fragmented state and sprinkled evenly throughout the soil encasing the roots.
Aside from the fragmented waste elements, the soil here had also been specially treated. The water used for irrigation was of a very high purity.
While fragmented waste elements could slightly nourish plants, they weren't showing any immediate effects on the already-dead red fruit tree.
Zhu Yao crouched beside Li Ban. "Even if the waste elements are effective, it might take months or even years for the results to show. By then, the red fruit tree will have been dead long past the point of saving."
"The waste elements are useless," Li Ban shook his head. "But I'm equally unoptimistic about the spiritual rhinoceros infusion."
"They won't give up without trying it. They wouldn't be able to explain themselves to their respective camps otherwise," Zhu Yao said softly.
Even if the three major camps had united for the sake of the red fruit forest, they had definitely paid a heavy price. They wouldn't accept walking away with nothing but a pile of dead branches.
"I'll provide all the spiritual rhinoceros needed this time. You don't have to worry about it," Li Ban instructed. "Also, we can ask them to give us some more waste elements—for research purposes."
The corners of Zhu Yao's mouth ticked upward slightly, though she quickly reined in her smile and returned to her serious demeanor. "Got it. We'll have to put in more effort over the next three days. After all, as long as we save a single tree, we get four times the supplies. Ah, but in that case, my Cubic Space probably won't be able to fit it all."
"It will fit."
As long as Li Ban absorbed all the excess waste elements, there would be plenty of room.
After inspecting the only red fruit tree actively undergoing the experiment, Li Ban and Zhu Yao returned to Dr. Wang Min's side.
"Do you have any suggestions?"
"I'm truly not skilled at planting. If you're asking for my advice, all I can say is that when I was in the Wizard World, I once grew a special type of algae that was very difficult to keep alive. Planting it inside a Cubic Space yielded good results. Perhaps we could give that a try."
When Li Ban saw them growing rye, he had already thought about trying to plant something in his own Cubic Space.
In the past, to better preserve the Cyan Silk Algae, he had placed the petri dish containing its seeds into his Cubic Space. To his surprise, he discovered that the seeds sprouted three times faster than they did in the outside world.
It was just that the Wizard World was rich in resources, so no one used their Cubic Space for farming.
Because of that, Li Ban still didn't know if other people's Cubic Spaces possessed this same property.
Facing Dr. Wang Min, Li Ban didn't mention the fact that his Cubic Space could accelerate plant growth.
"Sigh. Growing crops in a Cubic Space—we've actually tried that too. We used a severed tree root we managed to steal back, but it didn't work."
Lu Yi, standing behind Dr. Wang Min, added, "The red fruit trees can only grow here. If they are transplanted anywhere else, they'll die."
"They're that particular? Is there something unusual about this patch of land?" Li Ban was somewhat surprised.
"With our current abilities, we can't tell for now. It might involve the power of laws that only Divine Offspring Priests can touch," Dr. Wang Min pondered for a moment before adding, "But since there are over a dozen dead red fruit trees here anyway, Priest Li Ban, you're welcome to give it a try. Just be mindful of your spiritual rhinoceros usage. Once night falls, we'll start pooling our spiritual rhinoceros to attempt the infusion."
This was his way of telling Li Ban that come nightfall, he and Zhu Yao would have to pitch in their spiritual rhinoceros.
"No problem," Li Ban nodded. "We'll be right here. We won't leave for another three days."
Having received Li Ban's reassurance, Dr. Wang Min and the others hurried back to their small group to continue their research.
Zhu Yao retracted her gaze. "It seems Dr. Wang Min is only being enthusiastic toward us because he's afraid we'll back out at the last minute and refuse to hand over our spiritual rhinoceros."
"That's normal. Dr. Wang Min isn't from the Black Beast Camp. It's completely natural for different camps to have different priorities."
The two Priests from the Red Fruit Camp were practically just here to stall for time.
They had already exhausted every possible method to cure the red fruit trees before this, so they didn't believe Dr. Wang Min and his group could succeed.
Meanwhile, the two Priests from the Black Beast Camp were far better at modifying animals and lacked experience with plants.
Although their attitude toward Li Ban and Zhu Yao hadn't changed, they clearly didn't think the newcomers would have better solutions than Dr. Wang Min of the Bell Tower Camp.
In their eyes, Li Ban had just arrived in this world and was unfamiliar with how things worked here, while Zhu Yao was more suited for combat.
Unlike Deputy Camp Leader Werther, who didn't understand the intricacies of these matters, they didn't hold out much hope for the duo either.
However, the supplies Li Ban requested weren't a significant burden for a large camp, so they hadn't stopped their camp from making the deal with him.
One of the Priests from the Black Beast Camp was an elderly female Priest named Huinv.
This was actually quite rare among Priests.
Because a Priest's body was constantly nourished by a massive amount of spiritual rhinoceros, many could maintain the appearance of someone in their twenties or thirties.
But Priest Huinv before him looked to be in her fifties. Her hair was greying, and her face bore the natural marks left by time, yet she still looked approachable and beautiful.
"Do you need my help extracting the red fruit tree completely intact?"
Although the red fruit tree had withered, there was still a sliver of life force deep inside. Therefore, if Li Ban wanted to plant it in his Cubic Space, he needed to uproot it entirely to maximize the chances of success.
"Then I'd be very grateful."
Li Ban directly absorbed a portion of the waste elements inside his Cubic Space to clear up some space.
He specifically chose a slightly smaller red fruit tree. Priest Huinv unearthed it from the soil and handed it over to him.
"Is there anything else you need help with?" Priest Huinv asked with a smile.
Li Ban shook his head. "No need. You must have your own matters to attend to."
Priest Huinv folded her hands over her lower abdomen. "Then I'll go over there and see if I can lend a hand. Although, it probably won't be of much use anyway."
After Priest Huinv walked away, Zhu Yao lowered her voice. "It seems Priest Huinv didn't come to help us because she actually believes in your chances."
Li Ban recalled a certain meme. "Rather, she equally looks down on everyone."
Zhu Yao coughed lightly, a bit embarrassed. "That's not what I meant."
"I'm joking, just joking."
After the joke, Li Ban placed the red fruit tree into his Cubic Space.
Fortunately, this red fruit tree was quite short, and because its bark had withered, most of its branches had already fallen off. Otherwise, there was no way Li Ban's Cubic Space could have fit the entire thing inside.
If that had been the case, he would have had to resort to chopping off a portion of its root system and branches.
Li Ban didn't just place the red fruit tree inside; he also applied some cultivation materials.
These were the same substances Lady Kui had used when she taught him how to cultivate Cyan Silk Algae.
He had prepared extras back then. The remaining portion didn't take up much volume, so Li Ban had never taken them out, thinking that perhaps one day he could plant more Cyan Silk Algae or other elements he could repeatedly harvest for resources.
He hadn't expected to use them here today.
Since there wasn't much left, and the red fruit tree's volume was vastly larger than a Cyan Silk Algae Seed, Li Ban simply poured all the remaining materials in.
"Done." Even though he had done all the maneuvering with his mind, Li Ban still clapped his hands together. "Now, we just leave it up to fate."
Zhu Yao had already begun observing a different red fruit tree. Although the various Priests all seemed to be minding their own business right now, if their research still showed zero progress after tonight—especially if the spiritual rhinoceros infusion yielded poor results—they would undoubtedly gather together to re-strategize.
Time trickled by. Li Ban handed all the research work over to Zhu Yao while he focused entirely on observing the red fruit tree within his Cubic Space.
He watched as the sky gradually shifted from bright daylight to a dusky yellow. The starless, moonless night was fast approaching.
Dr. Wang Min stepped out of a nearby tent, preparing to personally call Li Ban and Zhu Yao over to inject their prepared spiritual rhinoceros into the White Seeds.
Before actually securing their spiritual rhinoceros, he wouldn't expose a shred of dissatisfaction toward the representatives of the other three camps.
Let alone toward these two youngsters who had suddenly joined them.
Getting even one extra fraction of spiritual rhinoceros was enough for Wang Min.
If the red fruit trees could be saved, then he would save them.
If they couldn't—spiritual rhinoceros would still forever remain the purest and most potent form of energy.
However, just as Dr. Wang Min walked into Li Ban and Zhu Yao's area with a smile plastered on his face, his footsteps suddenly came to a dead halt.
Because Li Ban and Zhu Yao were each holding a fresh, succulent red fruit!