Starting Off Survival With A Small Treehouse

Chapter 4 - 4: The Tall Treehouse

As a man of action, Xu Xin didnʼt just sit around watching the treehouse grow. Instead, he remembered the few blue plants from before. He had only looked at the soil and hadnʼt paid attention to what those blue plants were for, so now was a good time to take a look.

There were a total of three blue plants. To be honest, if it werenʼt for his ability to identify items, he wouldnʼt have been able to tell the difference in their advanced nature.

[Large Red Berry (Blue): An edible fruit with a sweet and sour taste, it has the effect of improving eyesight; eating it grants two hours of night vision ability.]

[Superior Mushroom (Blue): An edible fungus with an extremely delicious taste; consuming it provides a permanent but very slight increase in intelligence.]

[Advanced White Poplar Tree (Blue): A higher-grade white poplar tree; cutting it down provides advanced wood.]

Three types of plants, each with different functions, gave Xu Xin some understanding of how this world categorized the functions of items.

The Large Red Berry is a renewable edible blue resource, and even if you pick the berries, the blue-quality bush remains, and after a while, the berries will grow back. So, its effect is temporary; eating one grants two hours of night vision ability.

The Superior Mushroom is also a blue edible resource, but unlike the Large Red Berry, it is not renewable. Unless you can find fertile soil to plant it in, even if you sow it again, the mushrooms that grow afterwards will generally not be of blue quality. Therefore, its effect is permanent, providing a very slight increase in intelligence.

The Advanced White Poplar Tree is a type of material resource, which is easy to understand, and it is also non-renewable. This is probably the rare resource in this world. There are white poplar trees growing in the surrounding ordinary soil as well, which are Medium White Poplar Trees (Green), still a level higher than the white poplar trees (White) Xu Xin saw initially.

Xu Xin did not rush to pick the berries; he already had 32 Large Red Berries in his hand, and he didnʼt know how long these berries could be preserved. It would be bad if they spoiled soon after picking.

As for the Superior Mushrooms, he picked them all. A whole patch of more than twenty mushrooms was of blue quality, and although each provides just a ”very slight” increase, more than twenty should have a noticeable effect. You can only plant one treehouse in a piece of soil, but you can grow more than twenty mushrooms, and they all mutated into blue quality together. It seems that the number of plants or fungi that can be planted in a piece of land depends on their type.

He didnʼt bother with the poplar tree; he doesnʼt have the ability to chop down poplar trees yet.

After collecting the blue-quality resources, Xu Xin took a tour of the green-quality resources. He had tasted the green-quality red berries and apples, and they didnʼt have any special functions. It appears that only qualities above blue have special functions.

After all, half of the soil is ordinary soil (Green), and green-quality resources are everywhere. Xu Xin looked around and, seeing there were too many things, didnʼt worry about them. He picked an apple and munched on it while heading back to the treehouse he had planted.

By now, most of the time had passed, and the small seed had grown into a towering tree.

”Is this... a banyan tree?” Xu Xin exclaimed as he watched the lush, unbelievably large banyan tree in front of him.

The saying ”a single tree makes a forest” is often used for banyan trees because of the massive area their canopy can cover. In Xu Xinʼs original world, the canopy of a single banyan tree that is over a hundred years old can cover an area of thousands of square meters, truly making a forest from one tree.

At this moment, the treehouse hadnʼt finished growing completely, but the banyan treeʼs canopy was already very large. Although not as expansive as the legendary old banyan trees, it could still cover an area of over a hundred square meters.

Gradually, the canopy became very dense, and sunlight could no longer pass through it. The entire canopy at this moment was like a gigantic opaque seaweed ball. Xu Xin knew that his treehouse was about to be fully grown.

In Xu Xinʼs sight, the treehouse glowed a faint purple.

[Tall Treehouse (Purple): A treehouse formed from the growth of a banyan tree, an advanced treehouse, naturally possessing a heritage unmatched by any other treehouse. Those who acquire such a treehouse are either incredibly lucky or somewhat extraordinary. Which one are you?]

Iʼm somewhat extraordinary.

Xu Xin calmly withdrew his item identification ability, after all, his vision being filled with dazzling colors was simply visual pollution.

By planting a seemingly indistinguishable treehouse seed in blue-quality [Fertile Soil], it sprouted into a purple-quality treehouse. This must be the uniqueness of the treehouse seeds, allowing them to perfectly utilize the soil to grow into the highest-grade treehouse the soil can support.

Hence, planting a treehouse seed in barren soil (White) should yield a green-quality [Short Small Treehouse], while planting it in ordinary soil (Green) should result in a blue-quality [Small Treehouse].

From the description, it seems like only the [Tall Treehouse] he acquired is grown from a banyan tree.

[Treehouse growth complete, ready for habitation.]

The dense canopy completely blocked out the sunlight, not allowing a single ray to pass through. From the outside, this was just an awe-inspiring giant banyan tree, and one could not tell it was actually a treehouse.

The entire banyan tree was about twenty meters tall, equivalent to the height of a seven-story building. Even the lowest part of the canopy was about ten meters above the ground, equivalent to the height of a four-story buildingʼs windows.

How would you get up to that height...?

Xu Xin glanced at the banyan treeʼs aerial roots hanging down like willow branches. Could it be, one has to climb up using these?

But his body doesnʼt have such capabilities...

Curiously, Xu Xin reached out to grab one of the aerial roots. A familiar feeling surged through his body, as if this giant banyan tree was part of his own body.

This marvelous feeling excited Xu Xin, and instinctively, he manipulated the aerial roots to wrap around his waist, lifting him easily upwards.

”Woohoo!” The ascent wasnʼt slow, and Xu Xin quickly left the ground, being pulled up directly into the air ten meters high.

Just as his head was about to hit the dense bottom of the canopy, a hole suddenly opened in the canopy, allowing Xu Xin to enter inside the treehouse.

”This...this is too thrilling!” Standing inside the treehouse, Xu Xin still felt a bit shaken, thinking he was about to crash headfirst into that dense canopy just moments ago.

After calming down a bit, Xu Xin began to survey his surroundings.

The interior of the treehouse was completely different from what he had envisioned. He had expected the inside to be a space covered by dense banyan leaves, yet it was not.

The floors and walls were made of wooden planks with ring patterns, with an area similar to the canopyʼs coverage, over a hundred square meters. The entire treehouse interior was empty. Xu Xin was standing in the center of the space, his foot on a round pattern, which seemed to be the entrance of the treehouse.

Thanks to a few opened windows, the space was bright. Out of curiosity, Xu Xin walked to a window and noticed that although the exterior was enveloped by dense banyan leaves, he seemed to have some kind of x-ray vision, allowing him to see outside.

Reflecting on the scene before he came up, this was likely a case of being able to see outside from inside but not being able to see inside from outside.

This floor was about three meters high, and Xu Xin also noticed a staircase on one side. It seemed like this treehouse had more than one level.