Qi Yuan rubbed his eyebrows. If the Blazing Angel had told him earlier that it could communicate with the Tree of Oblivion, this problem would have been solved.
But now, it would be impossible for them to communicate again.
Feng Qian would definitely not allow him to wander around his laboratory again.
"Do you know what they want to eat?" Qi Yuan asked.
"Asterite!" The Blazing Angel replied.
Asterite!
A light flashed in Qi Yuan's mind as he vaguely caught on to something.
In the flesh culture medium of the Tree of Oblivion, there was not a trace of Asterite energy. This was obviously not a normal phenomenon. Insect beasts of rank four and above would more or less have Asterite energy in their bodies. But in the culture medium that had swallowed more than ten strong insect beasts, there was not a trace of Asterite energy!
And there was no Asterite energy in the Tree of Oblivion!
Where did the Asterite energy go?
Even if it had dissipated, it could not have dissipated so thoroughly.
So, it had been absorbed by the Tree of Oblivion!
The growth of the Tree of Oblivion required strong insect beasts of rank four and above because of the Asterite energy in their bodies. It did not only need flesh!
When Feng Qian had started researching this project, he had only been an ordinary Rank 2 researcher, so he could not afford to waste precious star energy stones on the Trees of Annihilation. Furthermore, the Trees of Annihilation's ability to devour flesh and blood had caused him to overlook this fact, which was why the few Trees of Annihilation had not grown up.
After figuring out the reason, Qi Yuan once again went to the twelfth level of the prison and took a sample of the roots of the Tree of Oblivion that had sunk into the flesh. At the same time, he packed up a few rank four insect beast corpses and then started to make the flesh culture medium.
Qi Yuan spent an entire day to complete the creation of the flesh culture medium and then started to cultivate the new Tree of Oblivion.
The cultivation of the Tree of Oblivion went smoothly. Under the nourishment of the flesh culture medium, the Book of Oblivion's seedling only took half a day to grow its first tender leaf.
It was impossible for normal plants to grow so fast, but for the Tree of Annihilation, there was only one condition that limited its growth, and that was whether the flesh and Asterite energy were sufficient.
Qi Yuan monitored the Asterite energy in the flesh culture medium. As the Tree of Annihilation sprouted, the already small amount of Asterite energy quietly decreased.
Because of the characteristics of Asterite energy, it was very difficult for ordinary instruments to detect its changes. However, in front of the Energy Controller and the Blazing Angel, any change in Asterite energy was no secret at all.
When the sapling of the Tree of Annihilation grew to the thickness of a finger and sprouted its third leaf, the flesh in the flesh culture medium was reduced by less than 10%, but the energy of the Asterite had been completely depleted.
The growth of the sapling of the Tree of Annihilation also stopped.
Qi Yuan pondered for a moment and did not immediately inject Asterite energy into it. Instead, he took out an Asterite from the warehouse and slowly planted it into the flesh culture medium along with the roots of the Tree of Annihilation's sapling.
This scene caused Blazing Angel to salivate.
I want to eat it!
Following the implantation of the Asterite, the roots that had sunk into the flesh culture medium slowly wrapped around the entire Asterite and the Tree of Annihilation that had stopped growing also continued to grow.
However, even with the energy provided by the Asterite, the growth of the Tree of Annihilation was very slow. It took a full three hours for it to grow its fourth leaf.
The enveloped Asterite had only shrunk by about five percent.
Compared to absorbing the energy of the Asterite in the flesh, the absorption of the solid Asterite by the Tree of Annihilation was obviously much slower.
Was it too small and had indigestion?
Qi Yuan tried to inject a wisp of Asterite energy directly into the body of the Tree of Annihilation, but to his surprise, it failed. The trunk and leaves of the Tree of Annihilation could not absorb Asterite energy.
After that, Qi Yuan tried to inject a wisp of Asterite energy into the culture medium and flesh.
As a result, the roots of the Tree of Annihilation that were originally wrapped around the Asterite started to grow wildly. They started to gulp down the energy of the Asterite that had fused with the flesh. At the same time, the growth of the Tree of Annihilation gradually increased. In less than a minute, the sapling of the Tree of Annihilation had doubled in size and eight dark red leaves had grown continuously.
"It's still amenable to coaxing but not coercion!"
Qi Yuan laughed as if he could see the door to the fourth level open to him.
After understanding the temper of the Tree of Annihilation, Qi Yuan started to increase the feeding of Asterite energy. After it had absorbed nearly ten kilograms of Asterite energy, the sapling of the Tree of Annihilation was no longer as thin and small as the one in Feng Qian's laboratory.
Although the growth of the Tree of Annihilation was very fast, the consumption of Asterite was equally alarming. Qi Yuan made a rough estimate and estimated that to accelerate the ripening of the Tree of Annihilation, he would probably need close to a ton of Asterite.
If he had not made a fortune from the Headless Giant statue, with his current wealth, even if he invested all of it, he would only be able to accelerate the ripening of a few Trees of Annihilation.
Other than Asterite, the consumption of flesh and blood in the culture medium was also very large. While absorbing the energy of Asterite, more than half of the flesh and blood in the culture medium was also consumed. If this continued, he would soon reach the bottom.
The carcass of a fourth-level insect was not a cabbage. Even if the butcher in the prison was willing to help, he could not recklessly consume the prisoners in the prison.
After pondering for a moment, Qi Yuan quickly came up with a replacement, which was to use the flesh and blood of insect beasts below fourth-level.
Feng Qian's thesis suggested that the culture medium could only be made with the flesh and blood of insect beasts above fourth-level because there was no Asterite energy in the bodies of insect beasts below fourth-level. Now that he could provide additional Asterite energy, there would not be much difference between a fourth-level insect beast and a fourth-level insect beast.
If he could successfully replace it, the cost of cultivating the Tree of Annihilation would undoubtedly decrease by a lot.
In the Black Steel Shelter, the carcasses of insect beasts above fourth-level were relatively precious, but the carcasses of insect beasts below fourth-level were as cheap as cabbage. Qi Yuan effortlessly obtained a large number of third-level insect beast carcasses.
The fact that Qi Yuan purchased a large number of third-level insect beast carcasses naturally could not be hidden from the others. Other than Tanqiu who vaguely guessed some of the inside story, the rest of the people felt that it was very strange. Why did Qi Yuan need so much Asterite?
Feng Qian had a vague feeling that Qi Yuan's sudden request for so much Asterite was most likely related to his laboratory. However, because Qi Yuan had only purchased third-level insect beast carcasses, he did not associate it with the Tree of Annihilation at all.
The cultivation of the sapling of the Tree of Annihilation required at least fourth-level insect beasts to be able to be used as the culture medium. This was the conclusion that he had come to after many experiments, so he firmly believed in it.
However, Feng Qian still had a faint sense of uneasiness in his heart.
Previously, Qi Yuan's every move would bring a "surprise" to the enemy. After having faced Qi Yuan's "surprises" a few times, Feng Qian really did not want to be suddenly smashed in the face by Qi Yuan without knowing anything.
To ease the uneasiness in his heart, Feng Qian even checked the experimental projects under Qi Yuan's name. He only felt slightly relieved when he found that Qi Yuan had not applied for any new projects recently.
Although Qi Yuan already had a small fortune, those projects that could bring him surprises required a large amount of resources. It was not something that Qi Yuan's fortune could support at all.
Amidst all kinds of suspicions and guesses, Qi Yuan spent a whole half a month's time and consumed nearly a ton of Asterite before he finally nurtured the Tree of Annihilation to maturity.
The Tree of Annihilation that had just entered maturity was far from being as powerful as the one in the prison, but it had already formed a complete Tree Heart of Annihilation. The Tree Heart of Annihilation was a sign that the Tree of Annihilation had matured. With the Tree Heart of Annihilation, even if it was no longer fed Asterite energy, the Tree of Annihilation could still absorb other energy and transform it into the power of annihilation, slowly growing on its own.
Perhaps it was because of artificial maturation that the growth time was too short, but the Tree of Annihilation that Qi Yuan nurtured did not display any characteristics of intelligence. Everything it did was based on its instincts.
This saved a lot of trouble for Qi Yuan. At least he did not have to worry about it being as aggressive as the Tree of Annihilation in the prison. Furthermore, although the Tree of Annihilation had already condensed a Tree Heart of Annihilation, it had only just entered maturity. The Seraph could completely control it.
Qi Yuan had originally tried to use Mechanical Domination on the Tree of Annihilation, but it was useless and he could only give up.
With the help of the Seraph, Qi Yuan used Energy Control to absorb two masses of power of annihilation from the Tree of Annihilation and turned them into energy cores. Then he began to create annihilation energy weapons.
In order to fully display the power of annihilation energy, Qi Yuan created two weapons at once. One was an energy sword for close combat, and the other was an energy gun for long-range sniping.
The two annihilation energy weapons could only be considered average in terms of damage to flesh and blood life forms. Compared to mechanical equipment of the same level, they did not have any obvious advantage. However, their damage to machinery shocked Qi Yuan.
After completing the thesis, Qi Yuan sent a message to Tan Qiu and called her to his laboratory.
When Tan Qiu arrived at the laboratory, the first thing she saw was the Tree of Annihilation that was over three meters tall growing in the flesh and blood culture medium.
"This is the result of your research?"
Tan Qiu looked at the Tree of Annihilation and felt the power of annihilation in its body. Although she was a little surprised, she was not too surprised.
Feng Qian already had a record of successfully cultivating a Tree of Annihilation, although it was only a seedling and did not condense a strong power of annihilation.
Although Qi Yuan's Tree of Annihilation had matured and was full of power of annihilation, it was at most a Rank-4 project. It was far from the standard to compete for the Leader Medal.
"It's only one of the results!" Qi Yuan said calmly.
Tan Qiu raised her eyebrows. After Feng Qian successfully cultivated the seedling of the Tree of Annihilation, he wasted a lot of time on the project of maturing it and failed in the end.
For Qi Yuan to be able to complete Feng Qian's failed project in such a short time was a slap to Feng Qian's face.
Qi Yuan's words seemed to mean that this was not the main result. Could it be that he had really successfully cracked the secret of annihilation and created a weapon of annihilation?
Under Tan Qiu's surprised gaze, Qi Yuan took out the weapon made of annihilation.
It was a sword hilt about twenty centimeters long.
Qi Yuan handed the sword hilt to Tan Qiu and said with a smile.
"This is the real result!"
Tan Qiu took the sword hilt and found that it was light and felt very special. It did not feel like the usual metal at all. It felt like wood, but Tan Qiu was sure that it was not wood because any known wood could not withstand the strength of an energy weapon. Even the Tree of Annihilation would quickly decay after being separated from the trunk.
Only various high-strength special alloys could etch the energy matrix and bear the terrifying strength of an energy weapon.
"What metal is this?" Tan Qiu asked.
"A brand new alloy. Its only advantage is that it can withstand the corrosion of annihilation," Qi Yuan said.
Tan Qiu activated the energy sword and a blood-red energy blade extended out.
Feeling the powerful annihilation power in the blade, Tan Qiu could not help but change her expression even though she was mentally prepared.
Qi Yuan really cracked the secret of annihilation power!
Not only did he create a metal that could withstand the annihilation power, but he also created a matching energy matrix.
To a certain extent, the annihilation energy sword in her hand was not the result of a single experiment, but the result of many experiments and combinations. Whether it was the rapid ripening of the Tree of Annihilation, the special alloy that could withstand the annihilation power, or the matching energy matrix, all of them could be set up as individual research projects.
If these projects were separated, they would only be level three and level four projects, but once they were all combined, it would be a great invention that could compete for the Leader Medal.
Qi Yuan took a piece of level four alloy and placed it on the experiment table.
"You can try the power of this sword."
Tan Qiu held the sword hilt and gently swung the sword. The blade formed by the annihilation power was like a knife cutting through tofu, easily cutting the level four alloy into two.
Tan Qiu picked up a piece of the alloy that had been cut. The cut was as smooth as a mirror, showing the sharpness of the blade.
"This seems to be the level four alloy used by the Mech Dynasty." Tan Qiu said.
"That's right." Qi Yuan also picked up a piece of alloy and tossed it in his hand.
"The reason why the Mech Dynasty's machines are so powerful is because the alloy used to construct them is stronger. Annihilation energy weapons are the nightmare of machines."
"Even if a level three ability user wields this sword against a level four alloy machine, as long as they can hit the main body, they can kill it in one strike."
Tan Qiu put down the alloy in his hand. At the frontlines, the Mech Dynasty's mechanical creations were mainly level 4 machines. Once this kind of annihilation energy weapon was mass-produced, the threat of level 4 machines would be greatly reduced.
"Try the level five alloy again."
Qi Yuan took out a fist-sized level five alloy and placed it on the experiment table.
Tan Qiu swung the blade again. Although she successfully cut through the level five alloy, it was not as easy as cutting through a level four alloy.
"Against a level five alloy, its power is about the same as some of the mutated energy weapons, maybe even a bit weaker." Tan Qiu gave a fair evaluation.
"Mutated energy weapons are indeed more useful, but they cannot be mass-produced. This Annihilation Sword can be mass-produced at any time!
Moreover, its production cost is much lower than mutated energy weapons! "Qi Yuan said.
Tan Qiu nodded.
Mutated energy weapons were powerful, but the difficulty and cost of production meant that they were rare.
Although this Annihilation Sword was slightly weaker, once mass-produced, it could completely turn the situation of the frontlines around!
"Other than this Annihilation Sword, I also prepared a surprise for the Mech Dynasty!"
As Qi Yuan spoke, he took out the modified Annihilation Spear.