Infinite Chimera Creation

And indeed, it was true. All life in this forest, except for those two bizarre Gastrea, was controlled by the ancient tree, or rather… replaced. This was the ability the ancient tree had developed: [Mental Substitution]. As long as a being was within its mental power's range and had a lower mental power than it, its original personality would be replaced by its thoughts, or rather, its personality, thus becoming [Gura].

After an unknown amount of time, the purple-eyed and plasma-powered Gastrea opened their eyes and began to move. At the same time, several enormous Gastrea emerged from the jungle.

Having lived in this world for four years, Shichiya had long been accustomed to this bizarre way of eating. Without hesitation, he pounced on a Gastrea and began to tear at it. The Gastrea being torn apart did not resist, allowing Shichiya to rip open its throat.

Qi Ye was used to it, but Bai Ye, as a transmigrator, was still somewhat unaccustomed to it.

"Ugh, this is so troublesome. Just thinking about how this Gastrea's mindset has been replaced by Gura makes me unable to do it. I feel guilty about killing Gura."

Bai Ye shook his head in frustration, but the other party involved, Gu Luo, remained incredibly calm. After the ancient tree bark writhed, a wrinkled human face emerged, emitting a hoarse voice.

"Guro, who controls this body, came to you only after he determined that being eaten by Baiye would save a lot of time. Baiye, you can put aside your concerns and eat directly."

However, years of living as a wild beast had not erased the human aspects of Bai Ye's habits. Frustrated, he slammed his paw into a nearby rock, shattering it, and roared...

"Never mind, Guluo, release the Gastrea from your control. I'll kill him then, just to train my hand-to-hand combat skills."

"As you wish."

After a moment of silence, Guro withdrew his control over the Gastrea in front of Bai Ye.

After Guro released control, the Gastrea's previously dazed eyes immediately flashed with blood-red light. After quickly surveying its surroundings, it reached out a claw towards Bai Ye. Bai Ye let out a low roar and, without using any of his abilities, pounced directly on the Gastrea.

Having finished his food, Qiye instantly transformed into plasma, then reverted to his original form, thus removing the blood from his body and mouth. He then turned to look at Baiye, who had killed the Gastrea with a single claw, and tilted his head.

"As expected, Bai Ye is a very strange guy."

Gu Luo lowered a branch and patted Qi Ye's head, speaking in a hoarse but gentle voice.

"After all, everyone has their own obsessions. Although I don't agree with Bai Ye's obsessions, I don't dislike them either, and I'm even a little moved by them."

Seven Nights blinked, pondered Guro's words for a long time, and finally came to a conclusion: "Guro is also a very strange guy."

Guro laughed a few times, and was about to say something more when he suddenly stopped. At the same time, dozens of Gastrea of ​​various shapes rushed out from the depths of the jungle, pouncing into the sky without warning, and then instantly turning into corpses, crashing to the ground at an even faster speed.

Shocked by this change, Bai Ye and Qi Ye looked up at the sky, their pupils contracted instantly, and they stopped their attack.

A pale white rift appeared out of nowhere in the sky, as if a huge wound had been torn open. A young man dressed in a white divine robe sat expressionlessly with his legs crossed on the rift.

[This is it! I've been waiting by Guro's side for four years, waiting for this!! Yuan Yuan is coming to subdue Guro!!]

Gazing at the cold-faced young man in the sky, Bai Ye roared with excitement in his heart. That's right, he could have left this forest long ago, but because Yuan Yuan's only appearance before the new generation in the original work was when he subdued Gu Luo, he had stayed by Gu Luo's side and refused to leave in order to see Yuan Yuan.

Bai Ye was stunned, as were Qi Ye and Gu Luo. In their memories, it was this young man who had taken them into the sky, given them the essence of life, and then left them to fend for themselves.

"Over the past four years, you have evolved the best and developed the essence of life the fastest."

As if he hadn't seen Bai Ye and Qi Ye at all, Yuan Yuan turned his emotionless gaze to Gu Luo and spoke in a cold voice.

Hearing Yuan Yuan's words, Bai Ye, who was filled with excitement, suddenly froze, feeling a chill run down her spine. [You? Not you guys? All my hard work developing my abilities is still inferior to Gu Luo's? Still not good enough for Yuan Yuan? What to do, what to do, what to do!! If I can't be chosen by Yuan Yuan, then I'm doomed!! I don't want to die with those abandoned ones, I don't want to!!]

Suddenly, Bai Ye's body trembled as he felt a cold gaze fall upon him. He inwardly cried out in alarm, realizing that his emotions must have been too intense, arousing the suspicion of the new generation's founder.

[Damn it, if Yuan Yuan finds out I'm a time traveler, he'll definitely dissect me. And if he reads my memories and discovers he's actually a character from a comic book, he might go berserk and destroy the world! Damn it, I wasn't calm enough; I've created such a global crisis!]

Roaring in his heart, Bai Ye dared not hesitate for a moment. He suddenly prostrated himself on the ground, feigning the appearance of a fanatical believer, and shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for bestowing upon us the essence of life, allowing us to be reborn!!"

Now that things have come to this, I can only pretend to be a fanatical admirer of Yuan Yuan. If I'm still discovered, I can only apologize and let the world be my scapegoat.

In an instant, dozens of scenarios of "Yuan Yuan, the Great Demon King, destroying the world" flashed through Bai Ye's mind.

P.S., thanks to [matanore] for the donation, and thanks to [Masked Hero Dark Law] for the monthly pass. By the way, this is an extra chapter! I'm very diligent, don't say I'm lazy, I'm just clumsy.

Chapter Thirty-One: The King of Masochism?

Feeling the cold gaze falling on him, Bai Ye lowered his head, not daring to look at Yuan Yuan to see if he showed any suspicion, afraid that if he looked up, the other party would see his unease.

However, to Bai Ye's relief, the cold gaze only lingered on him for a moment before disappearing. Then, that cold voice, which had left a deep impression on him with just a few words, rang out again.

"As I just said, in the past four years, you are the most outstanding individual in the entire planet in terms of the development of the essence of life."

Realizing that Yuan Yuan had once again shifted his attention to Gu Luo, Bai Ye finally relaxed completely.

“I never hesitate to reward outstanding individuals. Now you can choose one of these items as your prize.”

As he spoke, Yuan Yuan tossed a black notebook to Gu Luo at his feet.

Guro extended a tentacle-like branch and accurately caught the falling notebook, then used an even thinner twig to open it. Although Guro still had some doubts, he did not doubt Yuan Yuan, who had given him the life essence. Therefore, when Yuan Yuan said he would give him a reward and let him choose, he opened the notebook without considering the possibility of a trap.

When he opened the notebook, Guro originally planned to control a small animal like a bird to help him read the contents. After all, his true form was an ancient tree, and although he could accurately catch the notebook with his mental power, he was powerless to read it.

However, Guro discovered that the moment he opened the notebook, characters resembling writhing, twisting snakes appeared directly in his mental world. Through controlling humans who had once entered the forest, Guro had learned several human languages, but he had never encountered these snake-like, even moving, characters before.

Even more strangely, even though he had never been exposed to this script before, Gu Luo understood its meaning the moment he "saw" it, which made him feel even more awe and longing for Yuan Yuan.

After opening the notebook, Guro fell into a daze, even his usually active mental field became sluggish. Seeing Guro's reaction, Bai Ye knew that he must have been captivated by what was displayed in the notebook.

In the original work, Gura reacted similarly, which makes sense. If one didn't know beforehand, anyone seeing such wondrous writing and content would be speechless with astonishment.

While trying to persuade Shichiya, who noticed something was wrong with Guro and wanted to wake him up, Byakuya recalled what Guro had seen in the original story.

[A colossal giant tortoise, as large as a continent, whose body can spontaneously form a protective barrier, completely shielding it from all observation methods. It can be used as a dwelling place far removed from human conflicts.]

[The Golden Beetle is a magical creature that allows control of all its offspring by controlling the mother beetle. The offspring can emit light similar to sunlight and intense heat for extended periods, making them effective for both offense and defense. Later, it was obtained by the Holy Emperor, who used the offspring to excavate a vast underground space and to act as a sun, providing humanity with a mere space to survive.]

[A Primal Beast Egg is a magical beast egg that can hatch any animal through the holder's imagination. According to the notebook, even legendary dragons can be hatched.]

[And, most importantly, the thing that caused Gu Luo's evaluation of Yuan Yuan to surge: the Assimilation Thorn. A thorn that parasitizes the soul, it assimilates into the host's mental power when the host is calm, having no negative effects on the host. It can also significantly increase the host's mental power and can be controlled by the host to attack the opponent's soul.]

However, once the host becomes emotionally agitated, the Assimilation Thorns will materialize and tear apart the host's body, attacking everything around it and inflicting unavoidable, terrifying pain based on the soul. Furthermore, the host will experience extreme pain while parasitizing, and if the pain becomes unbearable, their soul will be shattered.

Now, Guluo should have already decided which thing will propel him to new heights.

As if in agreement with Bai Ye's guess, Gu Luo once again uttered a dry sound.

"My lord, I have made my choice. Please grant me the Thorn of Assimilation."

Gu Luo's voice was dry and calm, but Yuan Yuan couldn't help but be surprised when he heard his choice. The Assimilation Thorn was an extremely strange thing he had created by mixing the blood of several powerful beings he had collected, as well as the blood of some bizarre mutants that had appeared in his experiments.

In Yuan Yuan's speculation, if this thorn could develop the most basic intelligence and control its own body, it would certainly be no less powerful than any other life form. However, unfortunately, because its way of survival and its way of birth were too special, even Yuan Yuan had not found a way to make it develop intelligence.

Because the parasitic process of this thorn is extremely painful, Yuan Yuan specifically noted "extremely dangerous" in his notebook. Unexpectedly, the little guy he favored actually chose this one.

Although Yuan Yuan did not agree with Gu Luo's choice, he did not say anything more, nor did he ask Gu Luo again if he was sure about choosing this thing. He simply threw out a small seed.

"If you want to use it, just use your mental power to break its seed coat."

As soon as Yuan Yuan finished speaking, Gu Luo decisively smashed the seed coat of the Assimilation Thorn, activating something that even Yuan Yuan himself was unwilling to use.

In an instant, the tiny thorns, following the bridge constructed by spiritual power, burrowed into Gu Luo's soul and began to multiply wildly.

In an instant, the giant tree that was Guro trembled violently, palm-sized leaves fell wildly, and countless thorny brambles pierced through Guro's thick trunk amidst flying wood chips, waving wildly in the air.

Although Guro did not make any sound, the creatures within his mental field seemed to hear a continuous, enormous roar, like the dying howl of a giant beast.

Guro would howl and roar loudly. Yuan Yuan was not surprised because he knew that the pain caused by the parasitic vine was something that no life could resist. This was because the degree of pain was not fixed, but was always maintained at about twice the limit that the parasitized person could bear. After the parasitized person adapted to the current level of pain, the pain would increase again, reaching twice the new limit.

If the parasitized individual cannot bear the pain and chooses to give up, their soul will be torn apart. Only by enduring the parasitic period can they survive. Among nearly ten thousand experimental subjects in the laboratory, only three individuals were successful, and two of them have already become idiots.

Yuan Yuan wasn't surprised by Gu Luo's wails; what surprised him was the strange sense of pleasure hidden within them. Yuan Yuan didn't know if Gu Luo was a masochist, but he knew that masochists could absolutely experience pleasure from such extreme pain; otherwise, there wouldn't be so many successful cases of parasitism.

However, as time went on, the sense of exhilaration in Guro's roar became more and more obvious, which made Yuan Yuan waver.

Could it be that the masochists I dated before weren't submissive enough?

P.S., thanks to 【皮皮虾笑呵呵】 for the monthly pass. And, I'm just weakly asking for donations and monthly passes. [Anyway, I'm practically invisible; no matter what I say, hardly anyone pays attention to me.]

Chapter Thirty-Two: The Truth

It was clear that Yuan Yuan wasn't the only one who could hear the joy in Gu Luo's voice; Qi Ye and Bai Ye also noticed it. As the ancient tree's body grew increasingly broken, but its voice became more and more joyful, both of them couldn't help but look bewildered.

Although Bai Ye had seen this part in the comic, the comic was silent, so when he saw it, he didn't feel much. At most, he just muttered, "This is really masochistic," and turned the page.

But now, hearing Guro's increasingly high-pitched and excited voice, as if he were about to climax, Bai Ye couldn't help but want to cover his face. Even if he wasn't there, even just watching this super masochistic behavior was incredibly embarrassing.

A few minutes later, just as Yuan Yuan estimated that the parasitism was about to end, Gu Luo finally let out a high-pitched, joyful roar, as if he had reached his peak. Then all the thorns stopped moving instantly, and the ancient tree fell into complete silence, without any further movement, and even the life force had completely dissipated.

Although they witnessed Guluo's death, the audience members present couldn't feel heavy-hearted, or even... serious.

[What the hell?! That was awesome?! I actually died from that awesome feeling?! Seriously, why is dying so comically funny?!]

Looking at the ancient tree in front of him, which had lost all signs of life, Qi Ye roared with excitement in his heart. He was so unaware that part of his body had been plasmaized.

Yuan Yuan's expression was also quite interesting. Although he had already foreseen Gu Luo's death when Gu Luo chose the Thorns of Assimilation, he had predicted that Gu Luo would not be able to withstand the pain and would die from having his soul torn apart by the thorns, rather than dying from "pleasure".

What kind of death is "dying from pleasure"? The most outstanding individual in the past four years died from... pleasure just because it was too pleasurable?

Although Bai Ye knew the truth, seeing this scene before him, he couldn't help but think, "This is so satisfying, isn't it?"

Taking a deep breath to suppress the strange feeling rising in his heart, Yuan Yuan was just about to retrieve the seed of the Assimilation Thorn when he realized that something was wrong.

In the laboratory, countless experimental subjects had died under the Assimilation Thorns, and Yuan Yuan was already familiar with the characteristics of this parasitic plant. Logically speaking, when the soul of the parasitized person was torn apart, this plant, which was rooted in the soul of the parasitized person, would die because it would not have a suitable environment to survive. At the same time as its death, all the thorny branches would turn into pure spiritual energy and dissipate, leaving only one to three seeds.

But what Yuan Yuan saw before him now was a dilapidated ancient tree and... countless thick thorns.

So, Guro isn't dead? But the ancient tree truly shows no signs of life.

Yuan Yuan was secretly puzzled and began to consider the reason for this situation. Just as Yuan Yuan was thinking, the thorns that had been still began to move again, and quickly formed an enormous thorn ball.

As the thorn ball fully took shape, Yuan Yuan had already figured out the answer. A slight smile played on his lips as he softly said,

"Congratulations on successfully getting rid of your previously poor physical condition."

Yes, this bizarre situation is a result of Guluo's efforts to rid himself of his massive, useless, and cumbersome ancient tree body. The moment the thorns parasitized his soul, Guluo began using his ability [Mental Substitution], creating a personality named [Guluo] within the thorns. Simultaneously, through the connection between the thorns and his own soul, he transferred all necessary memories into the thorns.

Now, within the Assimilation Thorn, which Yuan Yuan described as "once intelligence is generated, it is no less than any other creature with authority," lies the intelligent personality named Guro.

"Thank you for your blessing, Lord Yuan Yuan."

Accompanied by a gentle, no longer harsh voice, the thorn ball slowly cracked open, and a very handsome man dressed in a pure black robe slowly walked out.

Staring at Gu Luo, Yuan Yuan raised his eyebrows with considerable interest.

“In my previous experiments, if the host died, the Assimilating Thorn would also be forced to die because it had no soil to grow in. But now the ancient tree’s soul has dissipated, yet you, as the Assimilating Thorn, are still alive. Why is that?”

Gu Luo was taken aback, a look of surprise on his face. After thinking for a moment, he hesitated and said...

"I don't know the answer to your question either. I think it might be because the original Assimilation Thorn had no soul, so it had to rely on the souls of other life forms to survive. But now, because of my ability, the originally soulless thorn has unexpectedly gained a soul, so it no longer needs to rely on the souls of other life forms."

Yuan Yuan nodded, offering no comment on Gu Luo's conjecture, and instead gave the order directly.

"Come back to the lab with me in a bit, let's take a good look, maybe we can find something useful."