The entire lower space had transformed into a tree realm.

Every tree that grew there possessed an extremely high amount of HP.

In other words, the lower space had now become the Treant King’s home field!

John could barely move an inch within it.

"Boy, within my tree realm, no one can defeat me!

Become my nourishment! hahahah!"

Nearly ten thousand treants let out strange, mocking laughter.

Seeing this, John’s gaze darkened.

"Looks like I’ve been too nice."

A staff of death once again appeared in his right hand.

Dragonfire and the light of death began to gather at the same time.

Then they rapidly fused together.

"Burn!"

Whoosh!

In the air, a massive amount of fire element carrying the aura of death swiftly spread out.

In an instant, the entire tree realm was ignited.

Damage numbers began rising above every treant’s head.

[-600K!]

[-600K!]

[-600K!]

The terrifying burn damage instantly emptied the HP bars of those treants.

The Treant King was horrified.

It simply could not understand why the damage from these flames was so high.

It tried to use [Springtide Renewal] to revive the treants from death.

But John had specifically enhanced the flames with a layer of death light.

The Treant King’s skill had no effect whatsoever.

As the final treant withered and died, the Treant King suffered a heavy blow.

Its HP instantly dropped to one-third.

John’s assassin figure flashed above its head once more, stabbing down several times in rapid succession.

[-1M!]

[-1M!]

[-1M!]

...

Crash!

The final slash cleaved the Treant King directly in half.

It did not even have time to scream before turning into a large section of deadwood and collapsing to the ground.

Standing on the Treant King’s corpse, John sneered.

"You lived for so long, and that’s all you had?"

The next moment, a notification rang beside John’s ear.

[You have slain Treant King lv.60. EXP +10,000,000, gold coins +100,000, Fame +100,000!]

[You have plundered SS-rank talent: Verdant Sanctuary!]

[You have obtained S-rank set: Treant King Set!]

[You have completed Hidden Quest: Codex of Priest!]

[Congratulations, you have obtained Codex of Priest!]

... 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

"Another Codex of Classes is in my hands."

Listening to the notifications, the corners of John’s lips lifted slightly.

He first checked the SS-rank talent he had obtained.

[Verdant Sanctuary]

[Effect]: Releases a natural barrier with a range of 500 × 500.

Within the natural barrier, enemies’ movement speed is reduced by 50%, while allies’ movement speed is increased by 50%.

Enemies’ recovery ability is reduced by 50%, while allies’ recovery ability is increased by 50%.

...

After reading it, John was extremely satisfied.

This was perfect. He happened to be lacking a talent that could enhance allies while restricting enemies.

John used his modification system and directly changed the range to 50,000 × 50,000!

All the values that restricted enemies and enhanced allies were changed to 80%!

In the future, if his allies ever fell into a disadvantage on the battlefield, he could simply release this natural barrier.

The situation would instantly be reversed.

"But before that, I should use the Codex of Priest first. Only then can I maximize its value."

John then took out the Codex of Priest.

[Codex of Priest]

[Effect]: After use, unlocks the Priest class.

Increases the effects of all Priest-class skills and equipment by 100%.

...

John once again changed the amplification to 200%.

Then he used it directly.

[You have unlocked the Priest class!]

Hearing the notification in his mind, John nodded slightly.

"Right, I seem to have obtained another equipment set this time."

He quickly opened the Treant King Set he had obtained after killing the Treant King and checked its attributes.

[Treant King Set]

[Attribute]: Defense +100,000

[Effect]: After equipping, your own healing effects increase by 50%, healing effects on allies increase by 100%, and you gain one instant revival chance.

Revival cooldown: once every 48 hours.

...

"This set is pretty powerful too."

John once again used the system modification points.

He directly changed his own healing effect increase to 100%, and the healing effect increase on allies to 200%.

As for the death cooldown, he changed it to one instant revival every 12 hours.

With this warrior set, together with the Priest talent of the natural barrier, John could now instantly transform into a top-tier Priest!

But before John could even feel happy, the entire World Tree suddenly began shaking violently.

His expression changed slightly.

"What’s going on?"

Just as John became alert, a notification sounded in his mind.

[Notice: Zone 5 ruins have been unlocked. All players in the zone, please proceed to explore.]

[The ruins are located at the World Tree. Coordinates...]

John froze.

He looked at the constantly shaking World Tree in disbelief.

"This place is actually the ruins of Zone 5?"

Previously, he had conquered one set of ruins in Zone 4, Dragonkin Isle.

After returning, he had also tried searching for the ruins of Zone 5.

However, he had never managed to trigger the ruins quest.

He never expected that, by some strange combination of circumstances, he had arrived at the ruins ahead of time.

"No wonder I felt like the EXP and gold coins from killing these monsters were especially high."

John suddenly understood, but soon, his brows furrowed again.

"But I’ve already cleared out the entire lower space. What can the other players even gain after coming here?"

Just then, another notification rang out.

[Because the lower space of the World Tree has been cleared, the middle space is now opening!]

John was stunned.

Immediately afterward, he heard a rumbling sound coming from above his head.

John looked up.

He saw the originally dim sky rapidly split open.

The tree stump beneath his feet, which led straight to the top, began growing once again.

It quickly connected to the crack above.

One short figure after another appeared first.

Looking closely, they were all dwarven warriors.

John’s gaze changed.

He looked more carefully.

Behind the dwarven warriors, there were also massive giant warriors.

There were actually two different races living in the middle space?

At that moment, another notification rang beside his ear.

[Attention: The death of the Treant King has greatly enraged the giants and dwarves of the middle space!

They have decided to topple the World Tree, overturn the ley lines of Zone 5, and punish the human main cities!]

[Zone-wide Quest issued: Kill the Giant King and the Dwarf King!]

[Quest Objective]: Kill the Giant King and the Dwarf King. Stop them from toppling the World Tree.

[Quest Reward]: Control authority over the middle and lower spaces of the World Tree, 100,000,000 EXP, 10,000,000 gold coins, 10,000,000 Fame.

[Quest Penalty]: After the World Tree collapses, all main cities in Zone 5 will become inaccessible ruins for one year!

[Quest Description]: The premature death of the Treant King has disturbed the peaceful slumber of the dwarves and giants.

They are furious and have decided to punish the human race.

As a member of the human race, you have a duty to stop these madmen!

...

"Topple the World Tree?"

John looked at the endless tide of dwarven warriors and giant warriors surging down.

For a moment, even he was stunned.

"What kind of logic is there in destroying your own ruins? These two races are really insane!"

Looking at the army of dwarves and giants rushing forward like a flood, John gritted his teeth.

"Looks like I’ll have to hold them off first!"