CHAPTER 217: CHAPTER 217: COMPREHENDING THE WOOD ELEMENT LAW, TRAPPED IN THE FOREST

Johnnie pulled his thoughts back and continued his pursuit of Xavier.

Rustle, rustle...

At that moment, the trees all around began to shift, trapping him in a tight circle.

"Courting death!" Johnnie snarled in annoyance, grasping his Void Sword and slashing directly at the nearest massive tree.

Boom!

The tree shattered, felled by a single strike, and dropped a Dryad-Pearl.

Before he could react, the surrounding trees shifted once more, and Xavier’s direction was completely lost to him.

Johnnie was helpless and could only continue attacking the surrounding trees.

Boom! Boom!

Tree after tree was blasted apart by his assault, dropping a large number of Dryad-Pearls.

But the surrounding forest seemed endless—no matter how many trees he destroyed, new ones gathered to take their place, making any escape impossible.

Frustrated, Johnnie simply gave up on attacking and began collecting the scattered Dryad-Pearls around him.

With so many Dryad-Pearls, he’d be able to comprehend the Wood-Element Law, and his strength would increase considerably.

"Maiev, can you find a way out of here?" he asked in his heart.

Very soon, Maiev’s voice sounded in his mind: "No, Master. This is probably a powerful Domain, something like a self-contained spatial field. And the being who created this Domain is much stronger than I am."

"Stronger than you?" Johnnie was a bit surprised and felt a twinge of worry.

Maiev continued, "But Master, you don’t need to worry too much. It seems like this being is injured and can only control these trees. It probably can’t attack you directly."

Johnnie relaxed a bit, but he still couldn’t afford to be trapped here. He had to find a way out.

He’d already been delayed long enough. By now, the World Suppression on Universe Continent was likely gone and the Divines would descend. If they moved against the Montemar Empire, Azure Dragon and the others wouldn’t be able to hold them off.

"Hmm? Who’s there?" Johnnie’s brow furrowed as he looked toward the depths of the woods and shouted angrily.

Boom!

Wood chips exploded as a Minotaur with a giant axe burst forth.

It was the Bull Demon.

"Human, it’s me. I came to help you." the Bull Demon said, visibly relieved to see Johnnie unharmed.

"You can get out of here?" Johnnie asked in surprise.

"Just retrace my steps, that’s all." the Bull Demon replied, but when he turned to look behind him, he froze.

The path he’d cut through the trees was gone, replaced by the same dense forest as before.

He scratched his head, looking embarrassed. "Looks like that’s not going to work after all."

Johnnie was speechless—this guy really didn’t seem too bright.

He glanced down at the Dryad-stone in his hand. Clearly, the unknown Divine powerhouse behind all this was a master of wood magic.

Maybe mastering the Wood-Element Law was the key to escaping.

"By the way, what’s your name?" Johnnie looked over at the Bull Demon, realizing he didn’t even know the guy’s name.

"Benz. Bull Demon Benz." Benz emphasized the ’Bull Demon’ part deliberately.

It was clear he was still annoyed that Johnnie had mistaken him for just some Minotaur earlier.

Johnnie didn’t mind and said, "Benz, stand guard for me."

He needed to refine the Dryad-stone. These trees wouldn’t attack him on their own, but there was no guarantee something dangerous wouldn’t happen.

"Alright." Benz nodded, hefting his giant axe and standing in front of Johnnie, scanning the area with a serious look.

He seemed a bit slow and awkward, but somehow he gave off a dependable vibe.

Johnnie stopped worrying and began refining the Dryad-stone.

[You refine the Dryad-stone. Wood-Element comprehension +1%. Current Wood-Element comprehension: 42%.]

...

Prompt messages flickered as Johnnie’s Wood-Element comprehension rose rapidly.

[You refine the Dryad-stone. Wood-Element comprehension +0.5%...]

As his Wood Elemental Gift increased, Johnnie had to use more Dryad-stones each time.

Fortunately, he had enough Dryad-stones to easily comprehend the Wood-Element Law.

[You refine the Dryad-stone. Wood-Element comprehension +0.01%.]

[Current Wood-Element comprehension: 100%. You have comprehended the Wood-Element Law. Current level: 1%.]

A stream of pure Wood-Element Law surged into Johnnie’s body.

He opened his eyes. After refining over a thousand Dryad-stones, he had finally comprehended 1% of the Wood-Element Law.

He still had a large number of Dryad-stones in his hand, but after comprehending the Wood Element Law, he couldn’t refine them any further.

"Human, how do you feel?" Benz noticed movement behind him and looked at Johnnie expectantly as he woke up.

Johnnie didn’t answer right away. He carefully sensed his surroundings—there was nothing but trees, filled with powerful Life Force and the power of the Wood Element Law. He still couldn’t find a way out.

"No luck." he shook his head, a bit disappointed.

Benz looked dejected and said helplessly, "Looks like we really might be trapped here. Still, it’s not so bad—at least there aren’t any of those evil Mechanical Race around."

He glanced around, and the disappointment left his face.

Johnnie chuckled. He actually had another idea.

They were trapped here by these trees, but no matter how strong the Divine behind them was, the number of trees couldn’t be infinite. He didn’t believe that if he destroyed every single tree here, he still wouldn’t be able to get out.

But before that, he wanted to refine the Energy Cores in his inventory and boost his strength, so he’d feel more confident.

Johnnie put away the remaining Dryad-stones and looked to Benz. "Benz, stand guard for me again."

"Sure." Benz nodded, eyeing the disappearing Dryad-stones and swallowing hard.

Johnnie noticed his reaction, pulled out a few more Dryad-stones, and asked, "You want some?"

Benz nodded a bit sheepishly.

Johnnie didn’t say much else. With a thought, he took out a huge pile of Dryad-stones—no less than 1,888 of them. Refining all of these would allow someone to comprehend the Wood Element Law directly.

He just wasn’t sure if Benz could actually refine them.

Lifeforms native to Universe Continent couldn’t refine these items directly and could only carry them to slowly comprehend their power.

Benz was from another race, so maybe he could refine them directly.

"They’re all yours." Johnnie said generously. He still had plenty of Dryad-stones in his inventory.

Besides, whenever he destroyed a tree here, another Dryad-stone would drop. There must be at least a million in this place.

Benz swallowed again, his big bull eyes going wide. "Sir, from now on, Benz is sticking with you!"

Johnnie just smiled and said, "You don’t need to stand guard the whole time. These trees probably won’t attack us on their own."

"Alright." Benz replied, taking the Spiritual Stones eagerly and starting to refine them without delay.

He can refine them directly?

Johnnie was a bit surprised. It seemed the restriction of Universe Continent only applied to its native lifeforms. Players, Demons, and outsiders could use the items here freely.

Wasn’t that a little unfair to the natives of Universe Continent?

Johnnie was puzzled, but he didn’t dwell on it. He summoned The Red Carp to stand guard and began refining the Energy Cores.

Even if the trees weren’t attacking, he wasn’t about to let his guard down.

[Ding, refining Energy Core. Four basic attributes +10.]

Prompt messages kept flashing by, and Johnnie’s strength soared at an incredible rate.

After comprehending the Mechanical Law, it seemed there was no longer any limit to how many Energy Cores he could refine.

Soon, he had refined all the Energy Cores in his inventory, pushing his four basic attributes past one million. His strength had taken another huge leap.

Johnnie opened his eyes, only to see Benz and The Red Carp glaring at each other, both on high alert.

He asked in confusion, "You two aren’t about to fight, are you?"

The area was a mess, with obvious signs of battle—not ones he’d made himself.

"Sir!" Benz breathed a sigh of relief and quickly said, "This girl just popped up out of nowhere, and her power is kind of freaky."

The Red Carp frowned, clearly annoyed. "Master, where’d you pick up this big oaf? If I didn’t know he meant no harm, I’d have chopped him into pieces already."

"Wait a second." Johnnie interrupted her, asking with some confusion, "The Red Carp, are you actually stronger than Benz?"

He had witnessed Benz’s strength firsthand—Benz had crushed those Mechanical Race Battle Mechas with ease.

But The Red Carp was the true form of the Dragon Patterned Sword. Johnnie hadn’t upgraded the Dragon Patterned Sword much lately, so her strength was probably around stage 4, which shouldn’t be enough to beat Benz.

The Red Carp nodded, looking excited. "Master, I’ve refined the Dragon Pearl. My strength is back at its peak. I can trigger Thunder Punishment at any time and break through to Divine."

"What?" Johnnie blurted out in shock.

He hadn’t expected that just one Dragon Pearl could give The Red Carp such a massive boost.

Still, it made sense—the Mechanical Celestial Dragon had been a Divine powerhouse before.

If The Red Carp could survive the heavenly tribulation and become Divine, his subordinate force would leap to a whole new level.

But there was no rush. This whole space was strange—better to wait until they got out before making a breakthrough.

Johnnie looked around and said, "Let’s find a way out of here."

Benz asked anxiously, "Sir, did you figure out how to escape?"

"No, but destroying these trees will do the trick." Johnnie spread his Demon Wings and rose into the air.

Benz hurriedly warned, "Sir, it won’t work. I tried it before. You can’t fly higher than these trees."

Johnnie ignored him, gathering a massive Sword Intent around himself.

Buzz...

A low hum filled the air as Sword Intent surged, instantly morphing into thousands of flying swords—at least ten thousand of them. Under Johnnie’s control, they moved like extensions of his own arms, blotting out the sky as they surged toward the surrounding trees.

"Holy crap!" Benz yelped as the swords whistled overhead, instinctively shrinking his neck.

Bang! Bang!

The crashing never stopped. Damage numbers flashed everywhere as the trees around them were blasted to pieces, turning into piles of wood chips and dropping Dryad-Pearls everywhere.

With Johnnie’s Lucky Master class active, every giant tree he killed would definitely drop a Dryad-Pearl.

"This is insane..." Benz swallowed hard, looking utterly stunned.

The Red Carp was also deeply shaken. She’d thought that after refining the Dragon Pearl and hitting her peak, even if she wasn’t as strong as Johnnie, at least she’d be able to put up a fight.

But now it was obvious—she’d been way too optimistic.

"Ugh, why does the gap between me and Master just keep getting bigger?" she sighed, sounding completely crushed.

Wherever the flying swords passed, all the trees were wiped out. But in no time, more trees gathered, once again surrounding Johnnie and the others in a tight circle.

"Hmph, I want to see just how many trees you can conjure up!" Johnnie said coldly, continuing to control the swarm of flying swords and launching another wild assault, with Dryad-Pearls scattering all around.

Bang! Bang!

Wood shavings flew everywhere, but soon even the endless flying swords vanished—Johnnie had burned through all his Mana Points.

His Mana points had already exceeded ten million, but even so, he could only last for twenty minutes.