Chapter 1142
Of the various dangers in a forest, one thing that wouldn’t be at the top of people’s lists was fruit. There were of course some that contained toxins that might not be processed properly, but Anton wasn’t thinking about that aspect of things. He was thinking about blunt force trauma. Or in this case Anton was considering puncture dangers as a head sized fruit with spines doubling its size crashed into the ground in front of him.
To actually harm a cultivator like him it would require more than gravity, but Anton almost had the feeling the tree had tried to kill him. There had been a surge of natural energy within it before the fruit rapidly descended. Even if it had hit it didn’t have any accompanying energy bolstering its killing power, but still.
Anton carefully picked it up. He was aware that there were occasionally materials that could puncture defensive energy, and thus handling with care was appropriate. But the fruit itself, while far sharper than any fruit had any right to be, was merely that. Rather sharp.
There were clear marks in the ground in front of Anton where it had fallen, more than two fingers deep. Plenty to kill passing creatures. Was it some sort of defense mechanism, or a ploy to kill an animal to provide nutrients?
Anton’s observation of the tree revealed sturdier spines along its trunk. It was quite tall, easily over twenty meters. He slowly reached out to touch its trunk… and it reacted. Bark rippled, realigning spines towards his hand, along with a surge of natural energy that would be sufficient to puncture the defenses of most creatures. That certainly indicated some form of awareness, and it might even be necessary to protect itself against particularly voracious creatures.
Anton pulled his hand back and walked off. He didn’t need to make the tree waste more energy trying to protect itself. He did take the fruit, of course. It was his now.
His senses picked through the structure of the fruit. Beneath the spines, it had quite a bit of edible flesh in the central sphere. Along with significant quantities of natural energy, Anton sensed mostly familiar edible compounds. Nothing that seemed dangerous to him, at least.
He cut it open as he began to walk along, keeping in mind the particular tree that had dropped the fruit. If it was the right season for the fruit, he might be able to observe more of its behavior. He hoped to catch a similar situation that had happened to him, and it seemed to have at least a few dozen similarly ripe fruit.
Beneath the tough skin of the fruit were many smaller sacs. Anton ate one the size of a small berry. It was sweet and juicy, with notes of citrus. That was all he consumed at first, to see if his body would react negatively. It shouldn’t, but he was confident in purging any problematic compounds, and it would be much easier if he only had a very little.