Chapter 14: Three Years Later
The Star Dou Great Forest lies directly south of the Heaven Dou Empire, straddling the two empires.
Due to the abundance of spirit beasts here, the border between the two empires is the most blurred. Maps show that the majority of the Star Dou Great Forest lies within the territory of the Star Luo Empire. Of course, the Heaven Dou Empire has never acknowledged this.
As one of the three major habitats for wild spirit beasts, it is naturally the place where spirit masters most desire to visit. Each visit signals their impending advancement.
No one can accurately determine how long the Star Dou Great Forest has existed on the Douluo Continent, but upon entering the forest, the dense, lush vegetation that blocks out the sun is enough to reveal its age.
At the junction of the outer and inner reaches of the Star Dou Great Forest, beside the forest lake.
Time flies. Three years have passed since that life-or-death crisis, and no similar attacks have occurred since then.
This may be due to his seldom exploring deeper, but more importantly, it is due to his extreme caution. Before choosing a destination, he always carefully considers traps along the way.
That's basically it. Every few steps, there's a trap. He'd place no more than two, conserving at least half his soul power to ensure his safety.
After setting over fifty traps, he began his formal exploration. At the slightest sign of trouble, he'd run towards the traps, leaving absolutely no loopholes.
Admittedly, this method was time-consuming and energy-consuming, but surprisingly safe, and it also allowed him to enjoy three years of peace.
Perhaps because of the sheer number of traps, the number of fools running into them increased. With ample food, he began his usual pursuits: studying and training.
During the day, with nothing to do, he'd browse through his books. He had plenty of books, and they were thick enough, whether it was a soul beast encyclopedia or other tomes, enough for him to slowly absorb. At night, he'd cultivate his soul power. His life was both fulfilling and boring.
It was fulfilling because he had plenty to do. It was boring because so many things were the same as yesterday.
He'd considered not being so exhausted. Spirit power training was mentally taxing, and there was no need to read during the day. Wouldn't it be better to just sleep?
But he recalled the moment he'd collapsed beside the boulder, watching the bear in despair as it approached him.
Without strength, one can only be slaughtered; nature is a world of survival of the fittest; if one doesn't make progress, they'll be eliminated;
if one lags behind, they'll be beaten. These aphorisms lingered in his mind. Ever since that day, when he'd had the thought of slacking off, he'd understood that his greatest enemy was his restless laziness.
For some unknown reason, his cultivation had accelerated rapidly. In just three years, he'd advanced from level 12 to level 20. According to the original novel he'd read, reaching level 20 between the ages of ten and twelve was considered genius.
Since he hadn't even turned nine yet, this astonishing rate of improvement truly alarmed him.
Hoping to accumulate more soul power, he continued cultivating for a while longer. After all, the soul power cultivated wouldn't disappear, but rather accumulated.
Once he obtained his own soul ring, his soul power would increase explosively, perhaps even reaching level 22, or even 23.
The reason for all this preparation was that he was leaving this place soon, leaving this lifeless lake behind. He was heading deep into the Star Dou Great Forest to see if there was any other place he could survive.
Yes, it was dead and lifeless.
Including his campsite. The vine house that had cost him so much effort had been corroded and rotted away. He no longer slept in it, mainly because the smell was too disgusting.
The lake water, tainted with high concentrations of radiation, had begun to stink, rendering it undrinkable.
A year earlier, he had blocked all the branches that led to the lake's flow. He even went underground, attempting to block the hidden source to prevent radiation from backflowing through the water and contaminating the groundwater source.
If the radiation continued to spread through the lake and its branches, it could kill all the soul beasts within a hundred miles, turning this considerable area into a veritable death inferno.
He hadn't noticed this when he first arrived in the forest, but after two years, he realized he wasn't a world destroyer; he was just a poor passerby, driven into the forest by the unavoidable radiation.
He had no reason to expose his former neighbors to such harm. He had no right, and no one had, to dominate this land.
The most important reason was that because he lived at the main source, the radioactive water flowed everywhere. Unknowingly, countless soul beasts had died from drinking this water, with those with lower spirit power levels being the first to die.
These soul beasts, with low soul power levels, happened to be his primary food source. This meant that, due to his own actions, his food supply was gradually dwindling, and one day, he might truly run out of food. This was happening rapidly; within six months, all the soul beasts would have fled this hell on their own.
Even if there were any soul beasts still surviving within this hell, they would have been mutated by radiation.
For them, Uchiha Uranium, itself a source of radiation, could be considered their ultimate tonic. And if they survived the radiation exposure and continued to mutate, one could only imagine their terrifying potential.
"Killing yourself? Ha, you're quite the Uchiha Uranium!"
With a self-deprecating laugh, Uchiha Uranium lay down, looking up at the shimmering starry night sky, then at the darkened lake. The lake, once a mirror-like reflection of the stars, was now utterly silent.
"Environmental destroyer, damn it! Why is it like this? Wherever you go, there you die. It seems I can't go to the source anymore. I'll just go to the very end of the tributary. Sigh."
The nights always gave him endless reverie, whether it was important thoughts about his future or irrational fantasies, they always gave him the illusion that he was living a good life.
No soul beasts survived. A terrifying shadow roamed this corpse-strewn world. It was a ghost, a ghost that only sought prey and rivals.
This place was once a forest filled with birdsong and flowers. Countless soul beasts gathered around the lake, drinking from the same spring. Whenever the carnivorous soul beasts were full, carnivores and herbivores would drink together, relaxing and lazily basking in the sun.
But one day, a terrifying, unknown soul beast arrived.
Using its imposing power, it quickly drove all the soul beasts away, monopolizing the water source. The soul beasts, starving, could only drink from the tributaries and other springs. The scene was no longer the same as before.
Driven out by the terrifying soul beasts that inhabited the forest lake, the soul beasts were forced to enter other soul beasts' territories, fighting for survival, water, and safety.
Blood flowed everywhere, and among them, a mutant creature, ingesting a large amount of radiation, was born.
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(End of this chapter)