A huge thank you to xBlitzAssassin, Mylifeisbruh, James_Longino, jhernande2057, Krakenguard33, Tyler_Mulcare_5606, JentzschMob808, Sparkz2303, Maria_Jesus_674, Toby_Morris_3701, Carlos_Tagle, and Robert_Curran for the Golden Tickets! Your support truly means a lot and keeps me motivated to continue writing and improving the story.

(((((#-#)))))

Hearing the platform announcement, Vikram didn’t think of anything, except to reach home as soon as fast.

—

When he reached his shelter, everything was the same as before, he entered inside.

When he entered inside she saw Divya, Anjali and Sophia were woken up.

Anjali, who was the most timid, huddled on the sofa. Seeing Vikram appear, she immediately pulled him next to her and hugged him.

Trembling, she spoke, "Vikram, did... Did you hear that just now? It sounded like lightning struck outside our house."

"If this lightning strikes directly on our territory’s mountain, won’t we be electrocuted?"

This time, Anjali genuinely didn’t seem to be faking it. She, who was usually the most talkative, could barely speak coherently.

Vikram’s arm, which she was holding, became tighter and tighter.

"Go, go, go, what nonsense are you talking about?" Vikram wasn’t worried about being struck by lightning.

Let alone whether the lightning would strike inside, even if it did, it was unlikely anything serious would happen.

"Then... What do we do now? Do we just go back to sleep?" Divya, sitting on Vikram’s left, rubbed her arm, her expression a bit unnatural as she spoke. Although she tried her best not to be as cowardly as Anjali, Vikram could still see that she was putting on a brave face.

"Yes, tell us Vikram, what should we do?" Sophia was also asking about.

But they seemed like they didn’t see that except for Vikram, there was also one more person.

Seeing that the three of them were ignoring Luna, he tried to greet them, "First, you guys say hello to Luna."

"Hello," Divya, Anjali and Sophia greeted her.

"Hello," Luna greeted them back.

"You guys talk with each other, while I am going to upgrade the Treehouse," Vikram said, and went towards the Treehouse.

He didn’t know how much this Treehouse will upgrade, or evolve, but from the time he got the Treehouse Core, he was so curious to upgrade it.

Even without Vikram doing anything, the Treehouse Core automatically appeared from outside of his storage space.

And entered inside the Treehouse, following that a light screen appears around the Treehouse.

The third-floor Treehouse trembled violently as massive amounts of Plant Essence surged into the Treehouse Core.

At first, only faint cracking sounds echoed throughout the structure.

Then the entire Treehouse began to grow.

The trunk expanded upward at a visible speed. Thick roots burst deeper into the ground while countless smaller roots spread throughout the Territory like living veins.

The wooden walls started splitting apart.

Not from damage, but because the Treehouse was shedding its old structure.

Large layers of bark peeled away before new darker bark rapidly regenerated beneath it. The new bark was several times thicker and denser, with rough overlapping patterns resembling natural armor plating.

The old third-floor support pillars swelled in size until they became massive biological columns. Veins filled with glowing green Plant Essence appeared beneath parts of the bark like energy channels.

The Treehouse groaned deeply.

Branches expanded outward in all directions as the canopy widened. Leaves mutated into darker, tougher forms while hanging vines thickened rapidly.

Some vines became as thick as a human waist.

Others hardened completely, their surfaces turning dark metallic green as Iron-Heart mutations spread through them.

The third floor itself began changing.

The ceiling cracked apart as massive new layers of wood rapidly grew upward above it.

Entire new levels formed organically from the living trunk itself.

Wooden platforms expanded naturally while roots intertwined together to create walls, pathways, stairways, and support structures without any manual construction.

Torrent Vine Turrets growing on the third floor also mutated during the upgrade.

The turret roots enlarged, their outer shells becoming thicker and more stable. Their firing vines split into multiple smaller targeting branches, improving aiming precision.

Nearby plants began swaying toward the Treehouse instinctively as if responding to a superior organism.

The root network expanded throughout nearly the entire Territory, connecting plants together more deeply than before.

Deep underground, enormous roots spread outward from the Treehouse Core like countless giant serpents.

The soil continuously bulged and cracked apart.

Root after root drilled deep underground before rapidly branching throughout the entirety of Territory 1.

Within minutes, the underground root network had expanded across nearly the whole Territory.

Every major plant connected to the Treehouse began reacting.

The hanging vines trembled violently, the Spikevine Network moved instinctively.

Then something unexpected happened.

Across different areas of the Territory, the Vine Sniper Towers suddenly began shaking violently.

Vikram immediately looked toward them. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

The towers themselves showed no signs of damage, but the ground beneath them started splitting apart.

Massive roots erupted upward before wrapping themselves around the base of every Vine Sniper Tower.

The roots did not attack them. Instead, they were merging with them.

Dark green root veins spread across the outer surfaces of the towers while countless smaller roots connected directly into their structures.

The Vine Sniper Towers slowly stabilized afterward. But now they felt completely different.

Vikram could vaguely sense it.

The towers were no longer independent defensive structures.

They had become part of the Treehouse itself.

Before Vikram could fully process what was happening, another violent tremor spread throughout the Territory.

BOOOOM!!!

The Territory 1 Gate suddenly began shaking heavily.

The giant wooden gate released deep cracking noises as roots rapidly spread beneath it.

The surrounding earth split apart while thick roots emerged from underground and wrapped themselves around the foundation of the gate.

The wooden walls connected to the gate began mutating as well.

Their surfaces thickened.

Dark bark-like patterns spread across them while root veins fused into the structure itself.

The entire gate slowly became connected to the Treehouse Root Network.

Vikram’s expression changed slightly.

Even the Territory Gate was being absorbed into the Treehouse influence.

The entire Territory was becoming unified.

RUMBLE!!!

The ground near the residential shelter violently split apart.

Vikram’s eyes widened instantly.

The shelter where they usually rested slowly began sinking underground.

Massive roots emerged beneath it like giant hands supporting the structure from below.

The earth continued opening while the entire shelter descended deeper underground.

"What?!"

Vikram immediately rushed forward instinctively.

But the pressure released by the evolving Treehouse became increasingly stronger.

The surrounding roots twisted violently while enormous amounts of Plant Essence surged throughout the Territory.

He could not approach at all.

The shelter continued sinking lower and lower underground.

Then the earth slowly closed again.

Everything became silent.

It was as if the shelter had never existed there in the first place.

Vikram’s face changed completely. His wives were still inside. For a brief moment, panic flashed across his expression.

He immediately tried rushing toward the area again, but thick roots suddenly erupted nearby as the Treehouse continued evolving.

The entire Territory was still unstable. The evolution had not completed yet.

No matter how anxious he felt, he could not interfere right now.

He could only watch as more changes continuously spread throughout Territory 1 while the gigantic Treehouse evolved further into something far beyond its original form.

When the Treehouse evolution finally completed, the violent trembling throughout Territory 1 slowly came to a stop.

The gigantic six-floor Treehouse stood silently in the center of the Territory like an ancient world-tree.

For a few moments, everything became completely quiet.

Then suddenly, Vikram felt a strange connection appear inside his mind.

His eyes widened slightly. He could somehow see the entire Territory.

It was as if invisible cameras had appeared all around Territory 1, allowing him to observe every area from above.

The feeling was extremely strange.

With only a thought, his vision shifted instantly.

And when he saw the current appearance of Territory 1, even Vikram became shocked.

The entire Territory had completely transformed.

Three sides of Territory 1 were already surrounded by mountains previously, but now even those mountains had become connected to the Treehouse influence.

Gigantic roots spread throughout the mountain walls while dense moss and vines covered large portions of the rocky surfaces.

As for the gate side, the land itself had risen.

A gigantic wall-like structure covered in roots, vines, and dark green moss had formed naturally around the Territory Gate until its height became nearly equal to the surrounding mountains.

It now looked like a natural biological fortress wall.

The concealment effect around the gate had also become far stronger.

Dense moss and strange energy distortions covered the outer surroundings.

Unless someone belonged to the Territory or was directly guided inside, outsiders would find it extremely difficult to even notice the entrance properly.

However, Vikram quickly noticed a problem. The Treehouse had become far too enormous.

Even with the concealment effects, hiding the gigantic Treehouse itself had become nearly impossible from long distances.

After shifting his vision inside the Territory, Vikram noticed even more shocking changes.

Most of the previous structures had vanished completely.

Except for the Treehouse standing in the center, almost everything else had been reorganized.

Large numbers of fruit trees had appeared throughout the Territory.

Different types of mutated fruit-bearing plants now grew naturally across many areas.

Some carried glowing fruits. Others released faint energy fluctuations.

The entire Territory looked far more alive than before.

Meanwhile, the Lumen Reed plants remained spread throughout the Territory like biological streetlights.

A clean open pathway had naturally formed from the Territory Gate directly toward the central Treehouse.

The path was surrounded by glowing reeds, roots, and organized plant growth, making it look almost like a sacred road leading toward the giant Treehouse.

Then Vikram suddenly noticed something else.

Out of the fifty Demonvine Seeds he previously possessed, thirty had vanished completely.

At the same time, the two additional Vine Sniper Towers, from his five, which he had previously obtained had also fully grown.

Together with the original towers, there were four gigantic Vine Sniper Towers near the Territory Gate.

But they no longer looked like ordinary towers. Their appearances had changed drastically.

The towers had become unbelievably tall, even surpassing the surrounding mountains in height.

Dark vines wrapped around their gigantic bodies while massive root systems connected them directly underground to the Treehouse Core.

Each tower looked like a colossal living plant skyscraper.

If someone climbed to the top of one of them, they could easily observe Territory 2 and even the distant surrounding regions far beyond it.

The towers themselves now felt more like giant biological watchtowers than defensive plants.

Vikram then noticed another major change.

Around many different locations throughout the Territory, small one-floor Treehouses had appeared naturally.

Each one possessed different symbols carved into their bark walls.

Some carried flame-like patterns.

Others had water, wind, earth, lightning, light, or strange plant-like symbols.

However, there were also five small Treehouses without any elemental symbol at all.

Those Treehouses looked much simpler, but the energy around them felt unusually stable.

Finally, Vikram shifted his vision toward the center of the Territory.

And there stood the evolved Treehouse.

Compared to everything else around it, the gigantic Treehouse looked overwhelmingly massive.

It was now the thickest, tallest, and most dominant structure in the entire Territory.

Even the mountains surrounding Territory 1 seemed small beside it.

Its enormous canopy spread across the sky like a living forest roof while gigantic roots covered the surrounding land.

If someone stood on the highest point of the Treehouse, even the nearby mountains would appear insignificant beneath them.

At the same time, Vikram noticed that the defensive Torrent Vine Turrets had also changed.

Their numbers had increased significantly. And instead of remaining on the third floor, all of them had shifted upward and were now positioned around the sixth floor of the Treehouse.

From that height, the gigantic turrets could overlook almost the entire Territory like biological fortress cannons guarding his territory.

He also soon discovered that the residential shelter had not disappeared.

Instead, it had been shifted underground.

And the only way to access it now was through the main Treehouse itself.