Wizard: Starting from the Skill Tree-Chapter 616: Everything Dug Up

The Golden Fruit and the Spring of Life are good, but one must have the life to take them.

However, just as the small snake finished drinking the spring water and slightly raised its head, its golden vertical pupils seemed to sweep aimlessly around.

Its actions paused almost imperceptibly.

Those cold golden vertical pupils, precisely and astutely, penetrated the shadows of the ferns, locking onto Duke.

"I’ve been discovered!" Duke’s heart contracted sharply, an overwhelming sense of impending doom and inescapable despair tightened his spirit.

Under the gaze of those golden vertical pupils, he felt as if all his concealment was rendered useless, as if he were standing naked in an icy wilderness.

His body was stiff, even his fingers unable to move, his Spiritual Power seemed frozen, any thought of using magic or fleeing couldn’t take shape, this was the suppression brought by an absolute disparity in status.

The small snake tilted its head slightly, seemingly pondering this weak presence intruding into its territory, producing a hint of curiosity or perhaps disturbance.

Duke couldn’t discern, he only felt that the cold gaze seemed to become a tangible pressure, ready to crush him, soul and all.

At the critical moment when Duke believed he was doomed, deep in his Spiritual Sea, the Six-element Compound Spiritual Crystal, which fused six elemental attributes, seemed faintly touched by the exceptionally perilous aura reaching a high level from the outside.

At the core of the crystal, the Divine Status of the God of Light rippled faintly, spontaneously emanating an almost imperceptible, ancient, majestic, and extraordinarily pure aura belonging to a god.

This was the Divine Status of the God of Light naturally exuding after sensing the aura of the small snake, a scent perceptible only to Duke and the small snake.

This trace of extremely faint Divine Status aura caused a hint of extreme human-like bewilderment to flash through the golden vertical pupils of the small green snake, ready to act, which then turned to understanding, and finally transformed into a complex calmness.

The terrifying aura locking onto Duke receded quietly like a tide.

The small green snake took another deep look in the direction where Duke was hiding, its gaze no longer filled with oppression and danger but with an indescribable depth, as if it saw the Divine Status deep within Duke’s Spiritual Sea through his body.

Afterward, it didn’t make any attack or expulsion actions.

Its slender body elegantly turned, just as when it appeared, faint ripples formed in the surrounding air, and its figure silently melted into the void, disappearing entirely as if it had never been there.

Only the faint remnant of pressure in the air, almost dissipated, and the icy touch of cold sweat soaking Duke’s back, proved those few thrilling seconds were not an illusion.

Duke stood frozen in place, after a few breaths, he slowly exhaled the breath he’d been holding, his body slightly weakened, leaning against the old tree trunk behind him.

He felt such immense pressure for the first time, even when he encountered the Three-headed Dog before, he didn’t have such a sensation.

Most likely, it was because the difference in Life Level between himself and the small snake was too great, and they were too close, plus the small snake directly locked onto Duke’s aura, which brought such enormous pressure.

Duke’s thoughts twirled, immediately understanding the key.

That small green snake definitely sensed the aura of the Divine Status of the God of Light.

Clearly, the rank or origin that aura represented made the small snake change its attitude, even allowing him to remain here.

Regardless, the deadly threat was temporarily lifted, and the mysterious small snake seemed to have left the Spring of Life and the Golden Fruit to him.

Duke dared not delay, who knew if the snake would change its mind or other dangers would follow.

He quickly adjusted his state, and after confirming there were no other hidden dangers around, he swiftly walked to the Spring of Life.

He didn’t first touch the five tempting Golden Fruits, instead, he took out several specialized, large containers made of inert crystal, carefully collecting all the emerald green water from the Spring of Life.

The water felt warm to the touch, containing a majestic Life Force.

After securing the spring water, he then turned his gaze to the small jade tree.

Observing up close, he could even more feel the extraordinary nature of those five Golden Fruits, each one like a natural art piece containing astonishing life essence.

A bolder thought flashed through Duke’s mind, looking at that jade-like small tree, he thought, "This tree can bear such magical fruit, its intrinsic value is perhaps even more immeasurable. Maybe it itself is an extremely rare, or even extinct ancient variant."

Duke approached the small jade tree, not touching the fruits first but crouching down to closely examine the soil in which the tree rooted.

The soil was dark and fertile, emanating a rich life aura, clearly not ordinary soil.

He carefully used his hands to remove the top layer of humus, exploring the distribution of the tree roots.

The roots weren’t very deep or extensive, but they were exceptionally transparent, like green crystal veins deeply rooted in the black soil, closely connected with the surrounding Life Energy.

Duke briefly pondered and took out a specially prepared magic silver spade from the Space Ring used for gathering rare plants, combining Spiritual Power and Earth Element perception to delineate the overall outline of the tree roots like the most precise scanner.

Then, he started digging extremely cautiously along the perimeter of this outline.

His movements were gentle, with Magic Power seeping in, trying to extract the entire tree along with its rooted, approximately a water jar-sized massive black soil mass without damaging the main root system.

This process required tremendous patience and meticulous control, Duke was wholly focused, keeping his hands particularly steady.

It took nearly half an hour before he successfully extracted the small jade tree along with its original soil at the root intact.

After the tree left the earth, the foliage seemed to slightly curl, the light dimmed slightly, but the overall life aura remained stable, and the five Golden Fruits remained unscathed.

Duke dared not slack off, immediately took a large stable space box used originally for storing large Alchemy Materials from the Space Ring, carefully placing the small jade tree along with its large soil ball inside.

Once confirming it was temporarily safe, he swiftly closed the box and stored it back into the ring.

After completing all this, he sighed with relief. Looking around, the originally vibrant small clearing now only had a pit and traces of a dried-up spring, looking somewhat desolate.

What struck Duke as peculiar was that the Spring of Life and tree he collected were clearly tangible and didn’t require settling and exchange after the competition ended.

Normally, for example, the Level 2 Magic Potion Materials not far away, after picking, are actually intangible, cannot be placed in a Space Ring.

Only the competition system records them, considering them as gains to be settled after the competition finishes.