I woke up just before sunrise the next day and was filled with anticipation. It was somewhat muted and I wasn't sure why I felt it. Furthermore, I wasn't nervous about it. The only thing I had to go on was a direction. Northwest. Which was also the direction to the big ass tree. I flexed my fingers and rolled my shoulders. It didn't take a genius to figure out that I was being drawn there. The question was whether or not it was a trap. Of course, even that didn't matter. I was going to go regardless.

I checked my hidey hole again to make sure nothing had changed while I was asleep. Once that was done I broke out into a sprint. The forest turned into a blur as I ran. My locs trailed behind me as the wind tore through them. I had only been running for a few minutes when I began to laugh. I remembered how people talked about riding motorcycles and what it was like to feel the wind on your face. I was probably running out of a speed comparable to the fastest motorcycles now. I felt like there was a kind of irony in that.

I leaped over a splintered tree and was greeted by a large dog-like creature. It looked a bit like a cross between a husky and one of those lion statues you would see in Asia. Only this one was very real and very alive. The beast let out a howl and my danger sense went off. I threw myself to the side as a burst of air slammed into that spot. It looked like a grenade had gone off.

I summoned three blades of mental energy and shot them at the beast. The massive dog leaped clear over the attack and unleashed another blast of air. I threw myself into a roll before jumping back to my feet. By the time I reoriented myself the dog was already firing another blast. I pushed spiritual energy into my arms and brought them up to defend me less than a second before the blast slammed into me. I was forced back nearly ten feet and into the trunk of a tree. "Fuck me" I groaned as I slid to the floor.

I had just enough time to confirm that I hadn't broken any bones or suffered any serious injuries when I activated Psychic Aegis. The shield formed just as the dog unleashed another blast of wind. This time the wind dissipated harmlessly against the bubble. "I've got to start leading with this." I groaned to myself. I activated Psionic Rain just as the overgrown puppy leaped for me.

Dozens of mental blades rained down just as it slammed its head into my shield. Its strength was nowhere near enough to break through aegis and a surge of kill energy told me that the battle was over. I walked around Clifford's little cousin for a minute before I decided to place the corpse in my ring. I wasn't sure if I wanted to eat big dog meat but beggars couldn't be choosers. There was also the chance that this thing could help my future spirit beast. Worst case scenario I would just sell it to someone.

The energy from the battle was much higher than I expected as well. "I wonder if you were supposed to be here?" I didn't know much about animal habitats but big lion dog didn't feel like a massive forest animal. Was it possible that it was also being drawn toward the tree? I scanned the forest for any signs of that being true but there was nothing. No other animals, no plant creatures I was completely alone.

I shrugged and pushed the thought from my mind. I would find out one way or the other soon enough so there was little reason to stress about it. I took a steadying breath and unleashed both my Tao field and my killing intent. It felt like a Tsunami of power flooded through the world. It felt like I had been forced to whisper and now I was free to scream as loud as I wanted. My aura claimed a radius of thirty yards as my own. As my domain, it felt wonderful. I let myself relish in the sensation for a few seconds before I took off deeper into the forest.

I ran for around thirty minutes before I encountered more monsters. Only this time they had no interest in fighting with me. The beasts were a group of large emerald-green monkeys that made me think of poison. There were seven of them and I wasn't sure if they were currently running because of me or if I was just another threat to them. Nor did I care. It was a major ego booster to be the thing that people or in this case monsters were afraid of. To not be stuck trying to protect someone or defend something else, but just free in my power. I decided not to torture the poor things and continue on my journey.

This process repeated itself another three times before I was able to confirm. We were all going in the same direction. This meant that the tree would likely be the battleground for some kind of treasure. I considered sending a message to Romulus and the others but could they get here? There was little chance of me going back for them. Were they even strong enough to join the battle? I went back and forth as I joined the run toward the tree. I knew deep down that I was lying to myself. The real reason I wasn't going to tell them was because I wanted whatever it was.

I wasn't sure if that made me selfish or not. After all, everyone was scrambling for ways to adjust to the System. Everyone wanted to be the top dog despite how much we talked about uniting and all that. I also knew that I liked the title of "Strongest". I went back and forth with myself for a few minutes before I was forced back to the present. A beast that reminded me of a rhino, only twice as big charged at me. Its horn nearly the size of a short sword was aimed straight at my heart.

The beast ran into my Tao field a second later and began pushing through it. The beast was moving very slowly as if it was pushing sand but it was rather impressive. That didn't stop me from unleashing a trio of empowered psychic blades directly into its forehead nor did it save the thing from having its soul destroyed. I was going to start running again when I had an idea. I looked at the rhino's horn for any hint that it was something special. My instincts didn't say anything but that didn't mean I was right.

The horn might have been something useless to me but great for someone else. Now that I had the idea I just couldn't let it go. I summoned a sword from my ring and knelt. I had no idea how to remove the horn from the head without just destroying the whole thing. So I decided to decapitate the thing and put both it and the corpse in the ring. I was somewhat curious as to what Rhino meat would taste like.

I let out a dry chuckle at suddenly becoming a foodie now that the world had ended. I rolled my neck and took off in the direction of the tree. That feeling had been slowly growing and I had a feeling that the tree would be doing its thing soon. The scenery slowly started to change. The forest became a bit less dense and the trees grew taller. This felt like the Amazon and more like a forest, you would find in the United States.

Along with the change in scenery came a change in vantage. A change that filled me with awe, excitement, and terror. We were still a mile or so away from the tree but the forest had turned into a slaughter ground. Beasts were tearing each other apart as far as the eye could see. Entire packs roamed in search of enemies that they could kill. At first, I thought that it was a monster like the plant but that idea was thrown out when a prompt appeared in front of me.

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Unique Opportunity Presented: To the Victor go the Spoils Battle for the Divine Fruit. Seize your opportunity

It wasn't hard to figure out that it was the System causing this mad scramble. I scanned the branches of the tree but didn't see anything that looked like a fruit. That combined with the fact no creature was trying to climb it made me think the Treasure wasn't ready yet. Either that or the System was hiding it until enough blood had been spilled.

Two large reptilian creatures that were likely an evolution of Komodo dragons tried to attack me but they weren't much. A pair of mental blades killed them before they could start attacking my Tao field. I took another few minutes to surveil the battlefield and gained a key piece of information.

What I thought was a chaotic jumble was a carefully divided battlefield. There were three tiers for lack of a better word. The areas furthest from the tree were filled with relatively weak creatures. It was hard to tell but since they weren't triggering my danger sense they weren't anything special. The middle tier was stronger than that and was probably closer to Romulus and Amahle in power. This one had around half the amount of monsters.

Lastly, there was the group in the shadow of the tree itself. They were around my strength and better. There were only three creatures there, one was another lion-dog creature, one was a massive version of the monkeys, and the last bigger version of the reptiles. The ones that had just attacked me. It was clear that this group was the ones fighting for the fruit. While everyone else searched for benefits among the scraps. "I guess that means I have to head toward the big boy stage."

I chuckled to myself and thought about how I should approach it. My first impulse was to open Apportation and just skip the journey but if I do that I might not be able to open it during the battle. I thought it about for another second before I shrugged and started jogging. Going straight through the battlefield would give me a bit of extra energy so why not do it?

Even with my killing intent, it was hard to influence the overall course of the battle. I couldn't even tell if the beasts were intelligent enough to recognize the danger I posed. Unfortunately, my progress through the battlefield was slow. It was like the closer I got to the next tier the more beasts wanted to stop me.

I was forced to pull out a sword and just start cutting them down as to save my energy. It took me nearly an hour to reach the second tier. Only for the second tier to go much the same way. Only this time I was forced to activate Psychic Aegis and imbue it with the Strand of Adamance. On top of that, I was forced to activate Psychic Blast on near repeat. Monkeys, lizards, lions, and a variety of other creatures died by the boatload. Just to slow me down.

My mental energy started to run low before I was halfway across the tier. I debated whether or not I should activate Realm of Consciousness or go at it with my hands and blade. The decision was taken out of my hands when a scream of danger forced me to push Psychic Aegis to its limit. A blast of compressed air slammed into me with the force of a freight train. I was forced nearly a foot into the ground and Psychic Aegis practically exploded.

I spit out a broken tooth and glared at the massive lion dog that had attacked me. It didn't take a genius to tell that the beast had some insight into the wind or the gale or something similar. The beast turned his attention back to the rest of the third-tier warriors. An act that sparked a fury inside me. It was dismissing me. As if I wasn't worth the effort or the time it would take to finish me.

I gritted my teeth and activated Apportation. The time for playing games was over. I stepped through the portal. When it opened I was hit with a scream of danger. I barely had enough time for the portal to close before my hairy fist shot toward my skull. I blocked with my hands only for it to feel like I had just tried to stop Superman with my palms. I felt at least one bone crack and I was forced to send a surge of spiritual energy into my feet to stop from flying away.

Once I could feel my arms again I pushed energy into the sigil for Realm of Consciousness. I imbued the spell with the Tao of Lucidity just in case these things were mentally stronger than the others. Grey mists billowed out from me in all directions. The mental energy infusion felt like someone had thrown a glass of cold water into my mind.

I leaped back from the monkey leader and took stock of the situation. All four of us were within my domain which that they would slowly get weaker. There was no need for me to push myself to end this quickly. I conjured three blades of psychic energy and shot one at each target. The monkey must have had some kind of danger sense because it jumped out of the way before the attack had fully reached him. The other two didn't fair anywhere near as well.

The massive lizard took the blade just below the chin. While the lion dog took it in the leg. Both beasts took the attacks better than I wanted but there was no need to worry. This time I activated Psychic Blast in its beam form and fired it. My target was the Lion dog who tossed its head back and unleashed a deafening roar. The air around us whipped up into a frenzy before forming a barrier around it. A barrier that was just strong enough to stop my attack.

I considered holding onto see which of us would run out of energy first but the other participants weren't okay with just standing on the sidelines. The monkey slammed both fists into the ground. After which a scream of mortal peril forced me to retreat. Less than a second later the ground exploded and a burst of noxious green air flowed out of the fresh crater.

\

I had to circulate the Tao of Adamance to fight the rising wave of panic that started to spread through me. The monkey had somehow summoned or conjured a cloud of poison. Everywhere the poison the pass things started to die. From the grass to the trees and everything in between.

I was just about to open Apportation again when an idea came to me. Instead of leaving I pushed more energy into Realm of Consciousness and activated Psionic Rain. The second spell was imbued with the Strand of Lucidity. My target was the massive lizard. It was by far the slowest of the trio and if I could keep it confused long enough just maybe the poison would kill it or at least weaken it enough for me to do the rest. The sphere of psychic energy shattered and a rain of blades fell on the beast as the cloud of poison moved forward.

I laughed when the lizard attempted to move forward only to stumble. I had no way of knowing how long the confusion effect would last but I didn't need it to do too much. Just enough for me to focus- My thoughts were interrupted by a scream of danger and less than a second later another blast of wind. I spun around a tree just as the attack destroyed where I just stood. "How the fuck does that bastard know where I am?"

I scanned the area around me and swore. Our battle had destroyed the fucking mist. I could barely sense the lion dog's location, the monkey was MIA which left the lizard. I flinched when I caught sight of the lizard. It had been consumed by the poison and was clearly on death's door. I summoned another blade and put the poor thing out of its misery.

I turned my attention to the line and gathered the spiritual energy to unleash another Psychic Blast. Just as I was about to unleash my attack the ground began to rumble. I scanned the area for any signs of the monkey as An icy chill went down my spine. I turned and prepared to run. Before I could take a step the voice of the System filled my head while a prompt appeared in front of me. Both of them say the same thing.

Time until the Divine Fruit has ripened. 00:00:10

There was an eerie calm as the tree split open revealing a small hollow with two fruits. Each one was about the size of an apple and was a dark golden color. Just staring at it made every part of my body scream out with desire. Every other thought faded, nothing mattered more than getting those fruits. The timer hit zero and all hell broke loose.