"This is going to be my ace in the hole."Yu Zi Yu felt a flicker of pleasant surprise. As a tree unable to move from his spot, he had no choice but to defend whatever ground he occupied. If a powerful enemy provoked him from beyond the reach of his branches, he could use their limited length to lull them into complacency—then, at the critical moment, unleash the air blast and kill them instantly.
In truth, this attack was nothing short of the legendary air cannon.
He did have other long-range options.For example, he could grab a stone with his branches and hurl it. But compared to the air cannon, such crude attacks were insignificant. As he grew stronger and learned to compress even more air, the destructive power would only increase. At that point, even modern weapons wouldn't intimidate him.
"…Wait. Where would modern weapons even come from?"The thought made Yu Zi Yu pause.Yet he clearly remembered seeing planes fly overhead several times during the past half month.
At first, he believed this was simply a modern world. The Willow Tree he had taken the form of looked very similar to the one from his previous life, so he assumed this world wasn't too different.
But when he considered how he had grown more than twenty meters tall in only half a month—and saw the surrounding trees also shooting up several meters in the same time—his confidence wavered.
Hmm…
In his previous world, trees didn't grow like this.Nor did they absorb that strange energy drifting in the air.
If normal trees could absorb such energy, their growth rate would be even more terrifying—enough to blot out the sky.
And it wasn't just the trees. The animals here were different too.
They didn't absorb the strange energy as quickly, so their changes weren't as dramatic. But they ran faster, sensed danger sooner, and had clearly begun to evolve.
That was probably why, for days, no animal dared trespass into his territory.
As a result, his Evolution Points had slowed to a trickle.
He had spent most of what he painstakingly gathered on upgrading his branches, and now only 3 Evolution Points remained.
Still, Yu Zi Yu wasn't completely heartless.He had compassion too.
Chirp, chirp, chirp…!
Sharp, frantic birdsong rang out from somewhere above.Yu Zi Yu looked toward the upper branches, where a simple nest had appeared—built in the natural triangle formed by intersecting limbs.
Inside the nest were eight fist-sized fledglings, chirping with their beaks wide open like greedy beggars.
"Are these little guys hungry?" he muttered.
Despite the noise, Yu Zi Yu felt a wave of quiet delight.These weren't ordinary birds—they were Peregrine Falcon fledglings.
Medium-sized raptors.As adults, they reached up to fifty centimeters in length with wingspans over a meter. When hunting, they soared high into the sky and then dove at terrifying speeds of 270–360 km/h.
Three hundred kilometers per hour.It was incredible.
For comparison, even the fastest land animal—the cheetah—could only hit 120 km/h.A Peregrine Falcon was nearly three times faster, and at that speed, the wind pressure alone could be fatal to prey.
And these little ones would one day be that fast.
Their lower bodies were snowy white, their upper chests dotted with fine black speckles, and their lower chests covered in dense horizontal stripes. Even as fledglings, their pale claws were sharp, and their tiny eyes bright and alert.
The reason they were nesting in his branches… was actually his fault.
A while ago, annoyed at how tall the nearby trees were and how they blocked the sky, he severed their branches. The falcons' original nest had fallen as a result.
At first, Yu Zi Yu had considered devouring them to gain Evolution Points.But once he realized they were Peregrine Falcons—a species with immense potential—he formed a new plan.
If he trained them, they could become invaluable.
After all, everything in this world was evolving.
If…Only if…Their beaks grew sharper, and their bodies sturdier…
These falcons might one day pierce enemies like bullets.
The mere thought made his heart stir with excitement.
If he was lucky, these little fledglings could become his future right-hand force.
And so, Yu Zi Yu took it upon himself to care for them. He didn't need to gather food—whenever he hunted for Evolution Points, he always ended up with plenty of animal carcasses.