Thomas knelt beside it, his fingers trembling as he checked the branches. The tree was intact. The soil was damp. And the fruits—the glowing, Qi-rich berries he had harvested after the battle—were still clinging to the wood like rubies.
"These fruits..."
Thomas stared at the harvest. He had originally planned to consume them himself the moment he woke up, using them to heal his battered body and push his power toward the C-grade threshold. But now, he looked at the 98% integrity loss of the ship.
He looked at the broken masts and the gaping holes in the hull that sighed with the loneliness of a thousand years. He felt the ship's hunger—a deep, hollow ache that mirrored his own ambition.
"If I feed these fruits to the ship... what happens?"
It was the ultimate gamble. These fruits were his direct path to personal power, the only thing keeping him safe in a world of high-tier predators.
