As the Tree of Might grew with frantic abandon, the planet's entire ecosystem began to collapse.
The Tree's root system spread towards the planet's core at an astonishing rate.
Within minutes, it pierced through the crust and reached the core itself, beginning to drain the entire world's life force.
The lakes and rivers on the planet's surface began to boil, sending up clouds of white mist which the Tree greedily absorbed.
The once clear bodies of water rapidly evaporated, revealing cracked lakebeds and riverbeds. The ground trembled violently, and great fissures spiderwebbed across the surface. It was not magma that erupted from these chasms, but streams of green energy containing the planet's life essence.
Like threads being pulled by an unseen force, this energy flowed continuously into the Tree of Might's massive root system.
The Tree grew at an incredible pace, its branches piercing the heavens and its foliage obscuring half the planet's sky.
The colossal tree was even visible to the naked eye from orbit. Its bark shimmered with a dark red light, and each of its pulsations coincided with a planetary tremor. With the atmosphere being stripped away, the planet's temperature began to plummet.
The moment the trunk of the Tree of Might broke through the remaining atmosphere, Axis felt a powerful wave of energy. The Tree was nearing maturity.
Axis watched it all with great excitement.
This colossal tree, which now covered the planet, possessed an immense life force. It continued to grow, and in what felt like the blink of an eye, the Tree had already reached a height of over twenty thousand meters as it continued to expand across the globe.
Three days later, the great Tree of Might ceased its growth.
It towered at a height of more than forty thousand meters. By now, the planet had been utterly drained of life.
The once-verdant land had become a barren wasteland. The surface, scorched black, reeked of acrid sulfur.
Not a single trace of life remained. The Tree of Might had demonstrated its awesome power of life-plunder, only flowering and bearing fruit after consuming the entire life force of a world.
Axis sensed, however, that the Tree could have absorbed more, but this planet had nothing left to give.
This meant the fruit produced this time could only be of subpar quality, not the best it could be.
But that did not matter. It would suffice.
The fruit of the Tree did not grow on its branches, but within a vast hollow space inside its trunk.
If the fruit had grown on its branches, which now spanned the entire planet, the quantity would have been terrifying. Even at Axis's speed, gathering them all would have taken dozens of days.
Axis flew into the immense space in the middle of the giant tree.
It was filled with dark red, spiky fruits, each one exuding a tantalizing aroma. A powerful life-aura flowed across the surface of the fruits, hinting at the boundless energy contained within. Hundreds of these red fruits hung throughout the vast chamber.
Axis casually plucked one of the red fruits and took a bite. The sweet pulp melted in his mouth. As he swallowed, he felt a potent surge of life force course through his entire body, filling him with a pleasant warmth.
He unleashed a sudden burst of Ki. The vast amount of energy he had expended planting the Tree was instantly restored after eating the fruit.
In fact, his Ki had even increased slightly.
"Truly a fruit fit for the gods," Axis marveled.
The effects of this fruit were unexpectedly good, and it did far more than simply increase one's power level.
It made him wonder just how barren the planets Turles and his crew had chosen before they arrived on Terra must have been.
Axis estimated that eating one of these fruits would increase a person's power level by at least one hundred thousand.
And this was only a medium-quality fruit. A top-tier one, grown on a vibrant world like Terra, might boost a power level by four or five hundred thousand.
No, that was not right.
Even one grown on Terra would not be the highest grade.
This thing was called the Fruit of the Gods.
Theoretically, it should be grown on a world inhabited by deities, like the planet of a Supreme Kai or a God of Destruction.
That was its natural habitat. The seeds that had been scattered across the mortal universe could only take root by plundering the life of an entire planet, something that was unnecessary on the worlds of gods.
He remembered that scoundrel Turles from the archives of Dragon Ball Heroes.
He had appeared again, using this fruit to match a Super Saiyan God and even attain a unique version of a regular Super Saiyan 3.
This just showed how much potential the Tree of Might had. It seemed to have no upper limit, as it was still effective for him, a Super Saiyan 3-level warrior.
Axis recalled another fruit in that world that could increase power levels. In a non-canonical from the original anime, Goku had fallen into Hell while on Snake Way. There, he found a golden fruit tree, whose fruit was said to be exclusively for King Yemma.
But comparing King Yemma's golden fruit to the Fruit of the Tree of Might was like comparing a candle to a star. That thing only increased one's power level by a few hundred at most, and it took an extraordinarily long time to grow.
Its only advantage was that it did not destroy the local environment.
Still, this was a perfect weapon against the Tyranids.
In the 41st Millennium, the Imperium often resorted to Exterminatus to deny biomass to the encroaching Tyranid hive fleets, turning entire planets into dead worlds. Was his method not so much better than their Exterminatus? And it yielded a harvest.
He could collect all the planet's nutrients, denying them to the Tyranids and strengthening himself in the process. What could be more beautiful? In a sense, the Tree of Might was a super-safe and harmless version of Exterminatus.
After all, had he not exterminated a planet?
The thought of planting it in a god's realm sparked an idea.
What if he planted one in Nurgle's Garden? Or within Slaanesh's Palace of Pleasure? Or Tzeentch's Impossible Fortress, or even beneath Khorne's Brass Citadel?
No, that would not work.
Their domains were in the Warp, which had no physical soil to speak of.
The Four Chaos Gods were not like the deities of the Dragon Ball world. They did not possess physical bodies, and Nurgle's Garden was more of a conceptual space.
It lacked the physical foundation of realspace, so the Tree would likely be unable to grow there. Besides, planting one in their gardens would just be arming the enemy.
Axis shook his head and began harvesting the fruit.
He became a blur of motion, madly picking the Fruits of Might within the tree's hollow. About fifteen minutes later, he had scoured every corner of the chamber and picked the very last one. A rough count revealed a bountiful harvest of over five hundred fruits.
Axis loaded them all onto his transport shuttle and departed from the planet.
After its fruit was picked, the colossal Tree of Might also lost all its vitality and began to wither and die, sharing the same fate as the world it had consumed.
The life force of both the planet and the tree was now concentrated entirely within the fruits.
"It was truly a magnificent sight, Great Father," the voice of the Solus Prime reached Axis's ears. She had watched the grand spectacle from the ship as a vibrant world was devoured and turned into a barren, dead planet in just a few days, its atmosphere vanished, its oceans boiled away, and all its land turned to desert.
This mysterious giant tree had, in a near-savage display, plundered an entire world's life force to bear its red fruit.
"It is indeed a rare treasure," Axis said, "But there is a problem. While it was fine for me to eat, a normal person might not experience the same effect."
The people of this universe lacked Ki.
If they consumed this fruit, there were two possibilities. The first was that their body could withstand the immense life force and undergo a transcendent evolution.
For instance, if an ordinary human ate a fruit and survived, they could theoretically attain a life force comparable to that of a Primarch.
Living for ten thousand years would be no issue, a lifespan even greater than that of the Adeptus Custodes. It would be a near-perfect drug of longevity that would also strengthen the physical body considerably, making it even stronger than a Custodian's, though without the benefit of superhuman organs and genetic modification.
The second possibility was that an ordinary person simply could not handle such terrifying life-energy and would explode the instant they ate it.
Axis figured that even a Space Marine would be unable to withstand it. The fruit contained the fused life force of an entire planet, refined by the Tree's unique properties to produce just over five hundred fruits.
Each one contained an amount of life energy beyond a mortal's comprehension.
By Axis's calculation, the only ones in the entire Imperium who could safely consume the fruit and absorb its vast energy were the Primarchs, the Emperor, and himself.
Perhaps Kasha and his Saibamen could as well, since Saibamen inherently possessed Ki and should be able to process it into power.
"Father, I detected that your Ki, which had been depleted, was restored in an instant. Perhaps this fruit also possesses healing properties. Its potent life energy should be very effective for physical recovery," the Solus Prime observed.
"Yes, you are right. If I were severely injured, eating this fruit would indeed restore my strength and heal my wounds," Axis did not deny it.
In a way, the Fruit of the Tree of Might could serve as an emergency version of a Senzu Bean. The Senzu Bean was cultivated by Korin, a subordinate of earth's Guardian, and was an incredibly overpowered item in the Dragon Ball universe.
Theoretically, the Tree of Might was on a much higher level. Its terrifying life-energy would naturally aid in recovery.
Axis picked up the remains of the fruit he had eaten and dug out two black seeds.
They were different from the original red one, slightly smaller.
They appeared to be a lesser version of the Tree of Might's seed. It made sense, as they did not come from a perfect fruit.
He wondered where King Vegeta had obtained such a seed. Had a God of Destruction given it to him? King Vegeta's fate was truly tragic.
He likely had no idea what the seed was capable of. If he had known, he probably would have started planting trees all across the universe immediately. Beyond the abundant fruit, he had also gained a harvest of two new seeds from each one.
Axis now felt an impulse to experiment.
What would be the effect of the fruit grown from this seed?
If he weakened it generation after generation, perhaps he could create a version that ordinary people could consume.
Weaken it! An idea struck him.
Axis looked at the red Fruit of Might. Its shape was a bit like a dragon fruit.
"Solus Prime, set a course for Nuceria immediately. I want to return as fast as possible," Axis commanded.
"Understood, Father. Initiating Warp jump now." The Solus Prime's warp engines activated, tearing open the barrier of realspace and plunging the vessel into the Immaterium.
Axis took a red fruit to a room resembling a galley.
He was not about to start formulating some complex super-soldier serum. He would use a more ancient method.
He pulled out a juicer, cut the fruit open, removed the two seeds, and tossed all the pulp inside. Then, he added some water.
The life force of one fruit was too strong for a normal person to eat whole.
But if he turned it into juice and diluted it, a small sip should be fine. The effect might be weaker, but it was not unusable.
His Saiyan mind had arrived at a most primitive solution.
...
...
...
So, I've been in a slump for the last few days, and I couldn't bring myself to do shit. I brought myself up today and started working on editing the chapters when I got the news.
The grandfather of another friend of mine just died.
I kid you not, I'm scared.
He was just the sweetest soul who used to sing in our church choir, even though he was so old. Matter of fact, I met him just the Sunday before the last. He was there, in church, with the same slow singing.
There won't be any bonus chapters this week, people.
but, powerstones?!