The Martial Unity

Chapter 3222: Hive Flora Intelligence

Rui took great interest in dissecting the flora network of the dark elves. His powerful senses combed through the flora that he saw around him, eager to understand its secrets. The first thing he noted was the fact that, although genetically modified, the vegetation was not artificially created.

These lifeforms were organically reproduced by the trees and plants before them.

He could tell that their DNA had been greatly modified to suit the needs of the dark elves, however. In his Enlightenment of the Tree of Life, they stood out as their branch extended especially further than any of the surrounding branches.

They had been hyper-evolved, presumably through the genetic modification of the DNA of the flora. What especially stood out to him was the fact that, despite having been genetically modified, they were still very much within the Tree of Life, even if strangely placed.

However, what drew his attention the most was the fact that each of the trees and plants around him only appeared to be separate lifeforms.

In reality, as the Elder Tree had alluded to, they were actually one lifeform.

He could sense it in the roots of the flora around him.

The roots of all plants and trees around him merged with each other, rather than merely connecting.

They had merged into one heterogeneous lifeform.

”This...” Rui’s eyes lit up with shock. ”How can this be?”

It reminded him of that one forest in the Central Highlands that the Martial Sages of the Blood Cult faced, a singular entity that was constituted by the forest as a whole.

However, that was something that had happened in the Central Highlands of the Beast Domain, where all manner of esoteric matter allowed for all kinds of exotic outcomes. The elves, on the other hand, seemed to have achieved a similar outcome with just their biotechnology and ordinary conventional matter alone.

”Incredible...!”

It spoke to just how advanced their biotechnology was.

Perhaps all flora on the Genora Continent was a hive entity that could function as one singular being, like the Elder Tree had postulated.

If that was the case, then the sheer scale of this forest would exceed even Jormungandr!

It would mean that if the elves mobilized one hundred percent of their power, they would essentially reach a class of combat that could likely only be regarded as Transcendent. Especially since the quality of their technology largely compensated for the absence of esoteric technology.

Of course, Rui was cognizant of the fact that doing so was largely self-destructive. For it would lead to the uprooting of the entire forest if all of it were mobilized for combat. Even if they emerged victorious from such a battle, they would be extremely weakened afterward and entirely vulnerable.

Thus, it was likely that they could never fully utilize every ounce of power they had.

Still, even a fraction of their full power was more than anything that he alone could hope to deal with his own power.

It made the elves effectively invulnerable within Genora, but it caused them to be much weaker the moment they set foot out of it. With that in mind, it was rather brave of them to come all the way to the Panama Continent right after it had been unveiled after the Unfolding.

”But it’s paying off.”

Now, they had the opportunity to influence the development path of human civilization and get them to adopt a more pro-nature stance and integrate with nature, thereby spreading the domain of nature.

Still, he could imagine just how isolated the elves must feel if this was the kind of nature that they needed to be surrounded by in order to make use of their power. He much preferred the Martial Path, which was effective virtually everywhere one went.

This shortcoming also gave the Panama Continent some leeway and leverage. The dark elves would not be willing to break friendship with a continent that was compatible with their path. This would make them more amenable to being more generous with their deals with human civilization.

His attention returned to the root network beneath the ground as he studied it in more detail.

He could sense an immense flux of information through the roots in the form of chemical signals, as opposed to electrical impulses in the human brain. Trees and plants store their energy in the form of chemical energy, allowing them to preserve a large amount of energy in relatively benign forms that wouldn’t draw attention.

Regardless, the flux of energy and chemical signals that spread across the entire flora network reminded him of a brain.

His eyes lit up with amazement as he realized that it was quite likely that the entire flora hive network was sentient and intelligent.

If that was the case, then it meant that the elves essentially controlled a forest that was not just omnipresent on the continent, but also a form of artificial super-intelligence. He couldn’t even fathom the sheer amount of cognition that such a large brain had at its disposal.

The Elder Tree had informed that the Mothers of Nature were part of this network, allowing them to harness its intelligence, information, and surveillance. If that was the case, it likely meant that he was being watched by a council of elves right at that very moment that could access the data collected by the flora around him.

It made him feel very self-conscious.

Still, the fact that the elves had such a powerful entity as their path spoke to their incredible defensive and home-court power. It was no wonder they had the largest continent and had managed to defend it for eons from outsiders who had undoubtedly knocked on their and and had attempted to take their land from them.

It was likely this feature that allowed them to overcome any attempt to take over their continent. He couldn’t imagine how strong they were in combat with such a massive forest at their disposal and such a massive network of information and cognition at their disposal.