Chapter 211: Upgrading Treehouse and Treehouse Core

Treehouse Core (Gold)

Type: Territory Authority Core

Status: Stable

Level: 4

Upgradeable: Yes

Level Up Requirement: Territory Core ×8

Upgrade Requirement:

• Treehouse Core Level ≥ 10

• 500 Plant Essence

• Treehouse Upgrade Required

Description: Due to unknown reasons, the original Territory Core mutated into a Treehouse Core. It is the evolved authority core of the territory, responsible for controlling territory buffs, plant bindings, structural stability, and system integration.

Seeing this, Vikram first inserted the 8 Territory Cores into it.

Soon, the Treehouse Core started glowing brightly. When the glow finally died down, it didn’t show many visible changes on the surface.

However, the area range had increased, and the shared backpack slots had increased from 100 to 150.

Vikram, without caring much about the minor changes, inserted another 16 Territory Cores. The Treehouse Core glowed once again and leveled up, increasing the backpack slots to 200 and further expanding the area range.

He now had only 6 Territory Cores left, while the next level up required 32.

Vikram looked at the upgraded Treehouse Core with satisfaction. The improvements were noticeable, especially the expanded range and the new Territory Vitality Link. Although the next upgrade would require a large amount of resources, he didn’t care about it currently.

Treehouse Core (Gold)

Type: Territory Authority Core

Status: Stable

Level: 6

Upgradeable: Yes

Level Up Requirement: Territory Core ×32

Upgrade Requirement:

• Treehouse Core Level ≥ 10

• 500 Plant Essence

• Treehouse Upgrade Required

Description: Due to unknown reasons, the original Territory Core mutated into a Treehouse Core. It is the evolved authority core of the territory, responsible for controlling territory buffs, plant bindings, structural stability, and system integration.

Territory Area Boost:

• Range: 100 × 101 × 100

• Creature stamina recovery +45% within territory

• Building durability +45% within territory

Daily Maintenance Requirement: 50 Plant Essence

Features:

• Multi-person Shelter Warehouse: Shared storage space increased to 200 slots. All authorized members can now access it from anywhere within the territory. Items can be stored and retrieved more efficiently.

• Territory Vitality Link: The core can now share a small portion of its life energy with all plants and authorized members inside the territory, providing minor passive healing and stamina recovery over time.

• Early Warning Pollen: The Treehouse Core can release special pollen that spreads across the territory, giving early alerts about approaching threats.

Warning: Failure to supply maintenance energy may result in instability. Severe instability may cause collapse and disappearance.

Role: Central authority structure that governs the territory and maintains the stability of all bound plants and systems.

Following that he also upgraded the Treehouse to Level 6.

The moment the upgrade was completed, a powerful wave of green energy erupted from the Treehouse Core. The massive tree trembled slightly as its roots began to spread rapidly underground.

Thick, powerful roots extended in all directions, connecting deeply with the Warmheart Ember Moss, the Lumen Reed Seeds, and the defensive Spikevine network.

The underground root system became even more intricate and expansive. The Warmheart Ember Moss glowed brighter as it synchronized with the Treehouse, Vikram could now regulate the temperature across a much wider area of Territory 1 with just a thought.

The Lumen Reed Seeds, now fully powered by the Treehouse, began emitting a soft, steady glow, illuminating the territory more efficiently.

Meanwhile, the Spikevines grew thicker and sharper, their hardened tips glistening as they reinforced the outer defensive perimeter.

Vikram stood at the base of the towering tree, looking up with a pleased expression. The changes were visible and tangible.

Tall Treehouse (Gold)

Type: Special Plant Territory Structure

Grade: Gold

Status: Healthy

Level: 6

Upgradeable: Yes

Daily Plant Essence Generation: +300

Level-Up Requirement

• Daily Plant Essence Production 3500

• Treehouse Core Level Up

Structural Upgrade Requirement (Major Evolution)

• Treehouse Level 10

• Plant Essence × 10,000

• Territory Plant Count ≥ 100

Description: A highly mutated Banyan-Core Territorial Structure that has evolved far beyond its original biological limitations. It now serves as the central nervous system, command hub, and life-anchor of the entire territory.

The Treehouse is no longer merely a shelter, it is a semi-sentient plant fortress, capable of autonomous defense, environmental regulation, and large-scale plant coordination.

Territory Effects : (Effective Range: approx. 100 × 101 × 100 area via Treehouse Core Root Network)

• Plant Growth Acceleration: +30%. Growth speed increases further as Treehouse level rises.

• Mutation Enhancement: Higher probability for plants to undergo beneficial evolution.

• Environmental Concealment: Territory aura distorts visual perception and suppresses energy signatures from distant observation.

• Rainfall Dispersion Canopy: Dense upper foliage reduces impact of storms, acid rain, and snowfall accumulation.

• Soil Stabilization Root Web: Deep root network reinforces terrain structure, preventing erosion and sink collapse.

Integrated Defense & Support Systems:

• Torrent Vine Turrets: Organic gun-like plant weapons now grow in the four directions of the third floor. Automatically generate 500 bio-energy bullets periodically. Detect hostile intent and lock onto suspicious intruders within range. Capable of rapid burst suppression fire with increased accuracy inside territory influence. Fully autonomous.

• Spikevine Network: Hardened Spikevines spread across the outer perimeter, automatically restraining and piercing intruders with sharp spikes, causing continuous bleeding damage.

• The Lightfly Vine has merged fully with the Treehouse core. Continuous internal illumination, no fuel or resource required. The host can mentally adjust brightness and lighting zones. Retains original Lightfly functions such as minor energy attraction and night visibility enhancement. The Treehouse now possesses permanent bio-luminescent lighting.

• Warmheart Ember Moss : Fully integrated with the Treehouse Core. The Host can now mentally regulate the temperature of the entire Territory 1 area, ranging from 0°C to +50°C. It prevents freezing, heat damage, and provides stable environmental comfort across a large zone.

• Iron-Heart Command Vines. All outer hanging vines have undergone density evolution. Vine hardness comparable to forged iron. Can be mentally controlled by the Host for grabbing, lifting objects, and binding enemies. Acting as auxiliary combat limbs.

• Aquaheart Root Network: Integrated subterranean purification plant that connects to underground water veins, capable of detecting and linking water sources, purifying contaminated groundwater, producing 11 liters of clean water daily, and distributes water across the entire territory, maintaining hydration balance, boosting plant vitality, and maintaining a root network connected to a mountain pond, ensuring long-term water security.

• Lumen Reed Network: Street-light type plants powered and controlled directly by the Treehouse. The Host can mentally adjust brightness, lighting zones, and coverage. Provides clear, energy, efficient illumination throughout the territory 1 while retaining minor energy attraction and night visibility enhancement.

System Evaluation: You are now slightly more advanced than village monkeys. Congratulations.

Except for System evaluation, everything was good. Now his half of territory 1 was just protected by the Treehouse Core range.

After upgrading his Treehouse and Treehouse Core Vikram chose to lie on the sofa and check the recent activity in the chat channel.

The moment he opened the channel, Vikram noticed a piece of news that made his heart sink.

[Current active population in the Wasteland World: 2 billion.]

"Only 2 billion left?" Vikram, who hadn’t paid attention to the population for some time, was truly surprised.

The changes caused by the black fog seemed dangerous this time, but the danger seemed to be mostly to the zombies outside.

For him it was not even a danger, but for others it was a dangerous situation.

Frowning, he checked the messages sent by the Survivors in the chat.

The top message was sent by a Survivor who looked quite young.

[Brothers, help me see what’s wrong with my arm. Was it bitten by some bug? Why does it look like this?]

After that was an accompanying picture, showing a purplish-black arm. Upon closer inspection, one could even notice some ulceration on it.

[Damn, buddy, that’s terrifying. You must have been bitten by a snake, right?]

[It looks like a cobra too, so you’re beyond saving.]

A survivor who seemed to know a lot about snakes jumped out to comment, even pronouncing a death sentence on the other party.

[Impossible, I definitely wasn’t bitten by a snake. I didn’t even have a wound before; the wound on my hand only slowly started to rot later.]

[Heh heh, your flesh is all black inside. Even if it’s not a cobra, if you don’t amputate, you probably won’t keep your little life ~]

The Survivor who was refuted wasn’t angry but gloated.

[Brother upstairs who’s poisoned, have you never considered that this is the effect of the disaster’s poison?]

At this moment, a survivor with the ID Lakshya Verma suddenly interjected into their conversation and asked.

Vikram, who had been watching from behind the screen, naturally noticed this familiar ID.

This person was the owner of his small group.

"I usually don’t see him in the group, but I didn’t expect him to be quite active in the chat channel," Vikram thought to himself.

However, he only sighed and didn’t speak to acknowledge the other party.

Because Lakshya Verma looked like he was about to say some important news, interrupting him now would mean he wouldn’t get to hear it for free.

[Big brother, what do you know? Please tell me quickly, this thing on my hand is really too painful.]

The poisoned survivor, after Lakshya Verma finished speaking, was silent for a moment, seemingly confirming the source of the toxicity, and pleaded.

It seemed Lakshya Verma fell for his plea and immediately replied, "[Before your arm turned purple, you first had itching all over your body, and occasionally muscle spasms, right?]"

[Yes, yes, yes, exactly, brother! So that means this poison of mine is caused by the black fog, right?]

[Is there any way to cure it? As long as you can cure this poison, big brother, you’ll be my real dad. Whatever you want me to do, I’ll do it, I promise not to shirk.]

Seeing these words, which perfectly matched his own symptoms, this Survivor clutched at them like a drowning man grasping a straw, fawning madly.

However, Lakshya Verma’s response was destined to disappoint him.

[It’s normal for the black fog’s toxicity to enter the body; everyone has some in their body now, more or less.]

[Generally speaking, avoiding too much contact with the black fog can slowly lead to recovery, but for you...] Lakshya Verma stopped halfway through his sentence.

[Brother, just tell me directly. I’m not sensitive and can handle it.]

[Heh heh, for your type, where ulcerated wounds have appeared, it’s already beyond saving. As the brother before said, you can only amputate to save your life.]

As soon as these words were spoken, that Survivor immediately fell silent, and even after more than ten minutes, his figure never reappeared in the chat channel.

Seeing this, Vikram also sullenly closed the chat.

At the same time, he also realized one thing: although the black fog’s toxicity seemed to have little impact.

According to Lakshya Verma, this thing could subtly affect the body.

He was fine in the territory; with Storm Mage Sprout present here, nothing can happen.

But going outside later, he absolutely couldn’t be so reckless anymore.

"Fortunately, my body hasn’t shown any problems yet."

Vikram scanned himself and found that he didn’t have any toxicity in his body, along with Sophia, Divya and Anjali.

It was also the result of the Disinfection Room.

"Right, the system even has a way to eradicate zombie viruses, and I also have Healy and Lightly, so what’s a little poison like this?" Smiling, Vikram, lying on the sofa, naturally rested his head on Divya’s lap.

"Beep—beep—beep, warning, biological invasion detected near the territory! Biological invasion detected near the territory!"

The harsh alarm blared throughout the territory; such a sound could only mean one thing: a creature was within 100 meters of the territory.

Vikram, who was comfortably enjoying a lap pillow just a second ago, immediately sprang up from the sofa upon hearing the sound.

He didn’t have many Plant Essence left, and he had originally planned to rest for a few days to accumulate more Plant Essence.

He didn’t expect an uninvited guest so soon after settling down.

"It’s not those people you mentioned coming to harass us again, is it?" Vikram asked helplessly.