Reborn with Steve Stand-Chapter 765: Essence Tree

WHAT THE F—!!!"

Upon seeing the mini-map, Fang Mo let out a shout of surprise.

As mentioned before, the mini-map had an underground view, which was mainly to help players navigate while mining, showing the surrounding environment from a top-down perspective. The areas that had been excavated appeared transparent, while unexplored regions remained in darkness. Typically, when a player pulled up the mini-map, they could see the structure of the mines they had dug out.

However, when Fang Mo opened the mini-map this time, all he could see was pitch-black darkness.

Keep in mind that the mini-map covered a pretty large area. Fang Mo had previously used it in the *One Punch Man* world to search for people underground in the Monster Association. But now, it was as if everything had been swallowed by the void—completely black.

This meant…

That damn tree had essentially glitched and trapped him inside, and it was absurdly huge.

Yes, Fang Mo was pretty sure he was stuck inside the tree. He felt intense pressure squeezing his body from all sides. If it had been anyone else, they'd probably have been crushed into pulp by now.

"This freaking tree..."

Fang Mo frowned at the thought.

However, he quickly activated his dimensional authority, causing his body to become intangible. He casually picked a direction and flew forward.

After flying for a bit, Fang Mo finally managed to escape the tree's bark.

Once free, Fang Mo turned around to get a look at the tree.

"What... the... hell!"

As soon as he saw the massive tree wall behind him, he was completely dumbfounded. "Holy crap, does this tree eat like a thousand Senju Hashiramas for breakfast or something?"

Yes, it was a wall of wood.

Fang Mo couldn't even see the tree itself.

All he could make out was an endless expanse of wood, stretching as far as the eye could see. It was like a colossal wall that had simply appeared out of nowhere, standing tall and mighty. Fang Mo looked up at the sky, but he couldn't see the tree's crown. It extended so high that it vanished into the clouds.

"...Whew."

Fang Mo took a deep breath and used his dimensional powers to teleport far away.

After several consecutive teleportations, he finally managed to witness the full majesty of the Sacred Rubber Tree.

The moment Fang Mo saw the tree, only one phrase popped into his head: "World Tree." There were no other words that could accurately describe just how grand and awe-inspiring it was. It wasn't just a tree; it was more like a pillar connecting the heavens and the earth, something so vast it could almost be considered a small world in itself.

And to clarify, this was just the trunk.

The cross-section alone was large enough to build a modern city on.

Not to mention the tree's crown and roots. As for its height… it looked like it could easily breach the atmosphere and touch the vacuum of space.

Luckily, this was Fang Mo's White Lands dimension, where planetary constraints didn't apply, so the tree could grow without any restrictions. Otherwise, its leaves would've frozen, and its roots would've been scorched by the mantle. There was no way a tree like this could exist in reality.

"Well then."

Even Fang Mo couldn't help but facepalm at this point. He knew the Sacred Rubber Tree was ridiculously overpowered—something that could crash a server. But since reality didn't have server issues, he figured it was safe to plant it.

He just hadn't expected it to become even more powerful when brought into reality.

While it hadn't caused any major problems, the tree's sheer size still shocked and surprised him.

However, he quickly refocused on the task at hand. With a thought, the seed in his palm split open with a soft crack, and a tender sprout emerged.

Having already tested his life energy several times, Fang Mo was now quite proficient in controlling it. Before the sprout could grow into a full tree, he narrowed his eyes and forced it to produce a bud. The bud bloomed into a violet-red rose.

After completing the growth process, Fang Mo turned his attention to the towering Sacred Rubber Tree before him.

The Arcane Ring glowed with a vibrant green light, and the Sacred Rubber Tree began to change. The crown, which extended deep into the clouds, started to wither at a visible pace.

With a wave of his hand, Fang Mo summoned a blossom from the tree's crown.

It was a small cluster of yellow flowers, resembling the simple five-petaled forsythia blossoms you might see by the roadside. They were simple and unassuming, a stark contrast to the vibrant rose in his other hand.

"Hmm…"

Fang Mo looked at the sprout in his hand, then glanced up at the giant tree before him. He furrowed his brow thoughtfully. "This… feels like a kid driving a monster truck."

But he'd already come this far, so there was no turning back now. If this was a big ride, Fang Mo was going to lock the doors and floor it.

He pushed the two flowers together, forcefully hybridizing them.

Despite the massive size difference, the crossbreeding process went smoothly. Before long, the seed in Fang Mo's hand had successfully mutated into a new, conical-shaped brown seed.

"Alright, keep it going."

Inspecting the chestnut-like seed in his hand, Fang Mo nodded in satisfaction.

Afterward, he summoned Steve again.

After combining the Twilight Forest trees and the MineFactory Reloaded 2 tree, Fang Mo now turned his attention to the Botania mod… even though he hadn't unlocked it yet. However, during his Lucky Block spree, he had obtained a flower called the Endoflame.

In the game, this flower could consume food to generate mana.

While it wasn't particularly useful in the game, Fang Mo was interested in its core trait—the ability to generate mana by eating. With a thought, Steve placed the flower on the ground.

It was a small, pale-yellow bloom.

Although it was called a flower, it had a hidden mouth inside its petals.

A sticky, honey-like substance dripped from its maw, making it look like some bizarre, carnivorous plant from a weird sci-fi horror movie.

"Uh…"

Fang Mo blinked in confusion.

It wasn't that he was reminded of some of the bizarre horror art his little partner had shown him. It was just… this Endoflame didn't seem to have a stamen, only a mouth. So how was he supposed to pollinate it?

He tried growing a flower from the seed in his hand and tentatively brushed the Endoflame against it.

As expected, the Endoflame sensed food and immediately snapped at the flower.

"Damn!"

Fang Mo yanked the flower back just in time, narrowly avoiding the Endoflame's bite.

"You dumb thing, why are you attacking your own kind?" Fang Mo was tempted to spit at the plant but held back. Instead, he pulled out a piece of rotten flesh and stuffed it into the flower's mouth. "Remember, plants should eat zombies…"

"…"

The Endoflame didn't seem to mind and devoured the flesh.

After eating, the flower's mouth closed, and a fuzzy stamen emerged from the center.

Without missing a beat, Fang Mo grabbed the flower and mashed it together with his hybrid blossom.

Soon, the pollination was complete, and the seed in Fang Mo's hand evolved again, this time taking on a strange, oval shape with intricate patterns.

"Man, plants sure are impressive—eating and mating with the same part..."

Fang Mo gave the Endoflame an exasperated look before tossing it aside. His little partner's tastes clearly differed from his—he had no interest in such strange creatures.

However, after all these crossbreeding experiments, Fang Mo had finally produced what could be considered the ultimate seed.

It now carried the traits of the Thorn King, the four divine Twilight trees, the Sacred Rubber Tree, and the Endoflame.

Given its hybrid nature, there was no doubt that this seed was incredibly powerful.

But Fang Mo wasn't fully satisfied yet. After closing his eyes and thinking for a moment, he set his sights on some new targets.

For example, he still had a bunch of plant-based bosses from the Sky Beast raid, the magic beans from the Twilight Forest that could grow giant bean stalks, and the creatures from the Grimoire of Gaia mod—tree spirits, dryads, mandrakes… All of these were potential candidates for more hybridization.

To be honest, Fang Mo was only missing a certain *Douluo Dalu* book. Otherwise, he would've grabbed the Blue Silver Emperor and given the God King a few more siblings to play with.

But that was getting a bit off-topic.

With a clear plan in mind, the rest of the hybridization process went smoothly. After all, this was Fang Mo's personal dimension, where no one could defy his will. The creatures he captured had no chance of resisting.

As for the mobs from various mods? Well, in the presence of Fang Mo, their creator, they gladly volunteered for the process…

Even though Fang Mo still wanted to push the seed's power further, he couldn't come up with any more ideas. He'd already used everything he had. If he wanted to continue enhancing it, he might as well try enchanting the seed or reinforcing it with Tinkers' tools.

But Fang Mo wasn't breeding plants to fight zombies.

He was creating a weapon.

Since this was going to be a top-tier weapon, it would naturally be fully enchanted and reinforced. There was no need to stack enchantments on the seed—it would be overkill.

In fact, it might be better to fertilize it with Essence Berries.

Essence Berries could strengthen living beings, and since plants were technically living things, there was no reason it wouldn't work on them. Plus, Essence Berries tasted like crap… making them perfect fertilizer.

"Holy crap, I'm a genius."

Feeling like his brain was firing on all cylinders, Fang Mo chuckled to himself.

He'd always thought of Essence Berries as something only he could eat, but weapons were an extension of one's power, so why couldn't he feed them Essence Berries?

Obviously, weapons themselves couldn't eat.

But the creatures sealed inside them could.

Take Surtur, for example—he was always complaining that his meals were bland. But if Fang Mo fed him a bunch of Essence Berries, Surtur's strength would increase… and by extension, so would the power of Laevatein.

Surtur certainly wouldn't get bored anymore. After all, who wouldn't love getting stronger just by eating?

Fang Mo really was too kind.

With that thought, Fang Mo eagerly pulled out a bunch of Essence Berries, ready to test them on the seed.

But just as he started mashing the berries into juice, a new idea popped into his head as he stared at the glowing green grapes in his hand.

"Wait a minute…"

Fang Mo squinted at the luminescent Essence Berries in the bowl.

They were technically a type of fruit, weren't they?

Suddenly, it hit him—he had never actually brought the Essence Berry bush into reality. Since Essence Berries were a fruit, wouldn't the bushes be a type of shrub? And could they, too, be crossbred?

If he could somehow graft the properties of the Essence Berries into his ultimate plant… this thing would easily surpass the Ten Tails God Tree from *Naruto*.

Hell, it could even rival the Tree of Life from *Evangelion*.

Excitement surged through Fang Mo at the thought.

Without wasting any time, he quickly returned to the game world, had Steve harvest an Essence Berry bush, and brought it back.

"Hoo…"

Taking a deep breath, Fang Mo had Steve plant the bush in the ground.

With a soft *pop*, a small, yellow-green cluster of vines appeared on the ground.

Fang Mo observed the plant closely. It was made up of countless small, twisted branches that lacked any leaves, instead covered in tiny, sharp thorns. The branches were tangled together into a dense, bush-like shape.

"It really is…"

Seeing the bush, Fang Mo's excitement grew.

He instinctively activated the Arcane Ring, channeling life energy into the bush, attempting to make it bloom.

However, something strange happened. The bush seemed to reject the life energy, refusing to absorb it. The energy quickly dissipated from the branches and spread into the surrounding air.

"Hmm?"

Fang Mo frowned at the unexpected development.