“Spin!”
“Spin up!”
The Gene Arcana Core was like a high-speed spinning ball, rotating terrifyingly fast under Ling Jiu’s conscious control.
It was picking up speed.
Its rotation was getting faster.
Ling Jiu was relaxed the entire time, unlike what other Level 6 Arcanists described as very strenuous and losing steam toward the end.
He knew that this was because of the strength of his soul. The Dark Psionic Crystals that 9527 gave him constantly strengthened his soul, making his soul extremely powerful.
Ling Jiu did not know exactly how far the strength of his soul had increased. But one thing was certain, it was no weaker than that of an ordinary Level 7 or even Level 8 Arcanist…
And that was more than enough.
Buzz…
Some time had passed, and the Gene Arcana Core’s rotation speed finally reached a threshold.
At this moment, Ling Jiu could sense a terrifying squeezing force acting on the Gene Arcana Core, which was shrinking at a slow speed.
As slow as it might be, at least it was shrinking continuously.
Ling Jiu was delighted. Every time the Gene Arcana Core shrank a bit, it could hold a further amount of Dark Bio-energy.
So as long as it kept shrinking, it was a good scenario.
Ling Jiu did not sit idle. He kept absorbing more Dark Bio-energy and filling it into his elixir field. As soon as the Dark Bio-energy entered, it would spin under the influence of the Gene Arcana.
A swirling nebula appeared in his elixir field.
He called it a nebula since it was reminiscent of the nebula in the universe, with a high-speed rotating star at the center and an enormous amount of dust-like Dark Bio-energy around it.
The name nebula was very apt.
“The core is spinning. A nebula appears. These are the two signs of becoming a Level 7 Arcanist. So does this mean that I’ve finally become a Level 7 Arcanist?”
After exhaling a turbid breath, he resumed his absorption of Dark Bio-energy.
It was not known how long it had been when the high-speed rotating Gene Arcana Core finally stabilized. The same happened to the spiral nebula. This meant that Ling Jiu was stably situated in the realm of a Level 7 Arcanist.
“It’s time to go out.”
Ling Jiu stretched, twisting his neck and waist before leaving the dormitory with a smiling face. As soon as he stepped out of the dorm, he bumped into a pair of angry eyes. It was none other than Bai Ya.
“Why are you here, Bai Ya? Didn’t you say yesterday that you’d meet me at the seed bank?” Ling Jiu was startled.
“So, you remember what I said, eh?” Bai Ya suppressed her anger with a frosty face. “Look, what time is it now?”
“What time?”
Ling Jiu took out his cell phone. It was two in the afternoon. He had lost track of the time again.
Hemming a couple of times in embarrassment, Ling Jiu tried to shrug it off. “What’s the matter? I’m just six hours late. Good things take time, you know?”
What the heck?
As nonchalant as Bai Ya was, her anger nearly caused her to suffer a heart attack at that moment.
This was her fourth day in the matriculation camp. She was familiarizing herself with everything about the matriculation camp in the first three days and then finding herself a partner. Today, she thought she could finally hit the ground and running.
She was full of enthusiasm and anticipation. She was raring to go. So she got up early and then arrived at the seed bank. But she waited and waited, and Ling Jiu never showed up.
Anger had been brewing inside her. Now that she heard Ling Jiu’s response, she almost exploded. “Do you want to work with me or not, Ling Jiu?”
“Yes! Why not?” Ling Jiu sounded nonchalant. “We are in the same batch, anyway. So we should watch each other back. I don’t think it is safe to let you work with those hustlers. Let’s go to the cafeteria and grab something to eat. I am starving.”
Bai Ya almost blew her top. “I have eaten. You go on your own. I will wait for you in the seed bank. Remember, you have only thirty minutes.”
“That’s more than enough.”
Half an hour later, Ling Jiu arrived at the seed bank. At this time, Bai Ya had already prepared the Arcana tree saplings, so off they went.
They were on foot, of course.
Mars had a magnetic field, but it was weak. Maglev vehicles were reduced to mobile homes on Mars and could not be a means of transportation.
After leaving the camp, a vast piece of yellow land came into view. Yellow sand, dunes, and gravel were everywhere.
“It’s really Mars!”
Ling Jiu looked at the scenery in front of him and could not help muttering.
However, what differed from Mars, in his opinion, was that besides the omnipresent yellow sand, there were patches of trees.
There was a patch here and there; some were dense, some were large, and some were small.
There were clear boundaries between the patches of forest, and it was obvious that they belonged to different owners.
“I wonder what species of Arcana trees they are to be able to survive in the extreme environment of Mars,” Ling Jiu said.
“It’s said that the Arcana trees can survive on sunlight alone,” Bai Ya said. “That’s why it is called a weapon of terraforming planets.”
“Interesting.” Ling Jiu nodded. “Have you been to the wild, Bai Ya? Have you found any place suitable for planting the Arcana tree?”
“I’ve checked,” Bai Ya said. “With the matriculation camp as the center, the places where trees can be planted within a radius of 1,000 kilometers are basically occupied. If we want to plant trees, we can only go further out.”
“Do you have any place in mind?” Ling Jiu looked at Bai Ya.
“The Ares Plain, 1,500 kilometers away, is a nice place with a low altitude. It has a flat and vast terrain,” Bai Ya said. “Besides, that place is close to the equator with longer daylight hours and higher solar altitude, which is conducive for the growth of Arcana trees.”
Ling Jiu nodded. “That sounds like a good place.”
“It is a good place indeed. Just that it is far away,” Bai Ya said. “It’s about 1,500 kilometers away from the camp base. Without a maglev car, it would take us at least several hours to get there. We will have difficulty reaching there in time if anything happens.”
“Then that is really far.” Ling Jiu nodded.
“There is another problem,” Bai Ya said again. “There seems to be a wormhole over one hundred kilometers away from the Ares Plain. Monsters are likely to come from that wormhole.”
“A wormhole?” Ling Jiu’s knitted brows eased up in an instant. “Then Ares Plain it is. That place is good for us.”
Bai Ya was dumbfounded. “Didn’t you hear me clearly? The Ares Plain is not only far away, but too close to the wormhole. There’s a risk of being invaded. Are you sure about choosing that place?”
“I would not have chosen that place if there is no risk of being invaded,” Ling Jiu said. “Let’s go. There it is.”
“All right.”
“You lead the way.”
With Bai Ya showing the way, they headed in a direction with the help of Ling Jiu’s Dimensional Arcana. About half an hour later, a fairly flat wasteland appeared in their field of vision.
At first glance, the place looked like a flat desert with low terrain in the middle and high terrain around it. Overall, the terrain was pretty flat, making it very suitable for planting Arcana trees.
“Not a terrible place at all.” Ling Jiu nodded. “I have decided. This is where our forest will be.”
“Let’s get to work.”
Bai Ya took out a shovel, then released thousands of one-meter-tall Arcana saplings with the wave of her hand. Anticipation filled her eyes.
“Are we planting together or separately?” Ling Jiu asked.
“Separately, of course.” Bai Ya took the shovel and drew a line on the ground. “This side is mine, and that side is yours. You plant it over there, and I’ll plant it over here. Let’s do this separately and not interfere with each other.”
In fact, many trainees of the matriculation camp did this. Although everyone was working with each other and acting together to protect and care for the trees when partners returned to the camp, they planted their trees separately.
Everyone had their own plantation. After all, this had something to do with the mysterious energy.
“Are you sure?” Ling Jiu let out a faint smile.
“As sure as death.” Bai Ya’s voice was frosty. She picked up the shovel and immediately got to work.
Ling Jiu shook his head and walked to the other side. With the will of his mind, a pit half a meter deep instantly formed in the ground.
He willed it again to lift a sapling before planting it into the pit and putting back the soil.
It was so easy…
“So easy?”
Bai Ya was awestruck when she saw what happened.
“We’re doing it separately.”
Ling Jiu teased, then continued to get busy. While he had planted ten trees in the blink of an eye, Bai Ya had barely planted one.
His efficiency was pretty high, but Ling Jiu still thought that he could be faster. So he tried to plant multiple trees at once, and the result was, he completed it fairly easily.
Just like that, ten pits formed and ten saplings were planted simultaneously.
Ling Jiu planted trees with amazing efficiency and finished planting hundreds of Arcana trees in just a few minutes. He looked back and saw Bai Ya just finishing working on the second tree.
“You are too slow.” Ling Jiu jabbed. “If you go on like this, are you going to plant forever?”
“It’s not that I’m too slow, but you are too fast.” Bai Ya did not bother to look up. “Arcanists with Earth and Wood Manipulation always have the advantage here. You possess both Arcanas, hence having high efficiency here is a matter of course.”
“Do you want to work with me?” Ling Jiu asked. “As long as you call me Brother Ling, I can help you plant trees!”
“Go to hell!”
“Don’t bite the hand that feeds you.”
Ling Jiu snorted. Ignoring her, he continued to plant his trees. He did not need the mysterious energy of these trees, but he could leave it to Ling’er.
He had taken Ling’er to Pandora before because he wanted her to sense the Dark Bio-energy. It was a pity that she had failed.
Ling Jiu knew that, just like everyone else, Ling’er could not master the Sage Mode.
He could not help it.
She could only settle for less and absorb the mysterious energy.
Ling Jiu planned to plant a large forest for Ling’er before she came to the camp so that she would have enough mysterious energy to absorb once there.
Ling Jiu was humming a song while planting leisurely. On the other side, Bai Ya was almost sweating as she used the shovel to plant trees.
Just then, a mocking voice came around. “Well, well, well, isn’t this the new camp beauty? How come you’ve chosen to come to such a remote place?”
Ling Jiu looked up and saw a tall figure wearing a Venom Suit appearing not far away.
The Venom Suit was a tight fit. Although it covered the face, the person’s figure was perfectly visible. Judging from that alone, the person had to be a woman.
She had an hourglass figure and was tall. Although not as “perfect” as Bai Ya, her body was right in proportion.
“Who are you?” Ling Jiu cocked an eyebrow.
“Euphemia Athena.”
