I became a god by treasure hunting after arriving 500 years early

Miss Conch's pretty brows furrowed involuntarily when she heard the four words "Chaos Essence Stone."

"Chaos Essence Stone?"

"It seems I've seen these words somewhere but, for the life of me, I can't recall where."

"You've heard of it? How could that be... The data traded over from the Shu Mi Dam Civilization didn't include this thing." Lu Yuan sighed, "I really want to nurture it to a mythical level, I wonder if it has that potential."

"According to what the mirror demon said, it seems impossible."

"Mythical level, it has to be a magic treasure... But what exactly is a magic treasure?"

Miss Conch rubbed her eyes, lost in deep thought and even used some Divine Skills related to memory management.

Finally, amid a sea of memories, she found the relevant information.

Her face lit up with a radiant smile: "I remember now! The Ascension Ceremony!"

"What?"

"Listen to me, the Green Grass Civilization put a lot of effort into planning the Ascension Ceremony; they wanted to create an omnipotent deity, so naturally, they divided it into several plans."

The girl floated back up to the big tree and spoke through telepathy: "One of the backup plans was the 'Chaos Essence Stone.' Legend has it that this meteor from Outer Heaven is incredibly mystical and can form mind-generated products according to environmental changes."

"If it stays in the sea, it will form a mineral with a Water Attribute; if it's in a volcano, a Fire Attribute; in the forest, the end product will mostly contain Earth and Life Attributes. In short, it's very special and can become almost any type of material."

Lu Yuan pondered thoughtfully; this was almost identical to the information he had identified.

"So the Green Grass scientists once proposed, could an omnipotent deity be created using the Chaos Essence Stone?"

Lu Yuan was startled: "Really... Is that even possible? I mean, isn't your Great Elder a demon? Such a plan has no chance of success, which is why the Great Elder vetoed it..."

"No, I think that was the Great Elder's original plan," Miss Conch's eyes flashed with a faint blue light as she observed the stone, "but because the Green Grass People could never find the Chaos Essence Stone..."

"Or rather, they might have found the Chaos Essence Stone, but it wasn't big enough or of high enough quality. The Chaos Essence Stone might need to grow for 1-2 epochs to evolve into something of higher quality."

"In the end, with disaster looming, they had to settle for second best and focused their plans on an Ability user with Mind Control."

Lu Yuan understood her implication, and his heart started "thumping" wildly.

Well, he didn't have a heart right now, but his tone certainly became more urgent.

This... This is incredible!

"So what you're saying is, this thing has more potential than an Ability user with Mind Control? The Great Elder's initial plan was to take over the Chaos Essence Stone, not you, Miss Conch?"

"Hmm... This is just speculation on my part. There's a record of this in the files, don't believe me, check for yourself."

"It can really become a deity? In our generation?" Lu Yuan found the idea absurd, "If we nurture it properly, will we be relying on this thing in the future?"

The girl giggled behind her hand: "Not likely, first you need to infuse a lot of Divine Skills. Mr. Lu, will you be infusing your own abilities into it or stripping the abilities from someone else?"

"Secondly, it requires an immense amount of souls! It needs a soul on the scale of the Green Grass Civilization to develop intelligence."

"It's not easy to give life and spiritual intelligence to a stone."

"And a third point, although this stone is large and of satisfactory quality, it has already absorbed a significant amount of Fire Attribute energy. The difficulty of converting it into a Life Attribute is extremely high; you need to invest a massive amount of energy." Her voice lowered as she clung to the big tree, "Mr. Lu, you might not be able to afford it."

"So, it was just a thought; you might as well turn it into a material... Fire Attribute material of the Immortal Level is pretty good, a freebie."

Lu Yuan couldn't help but feel frustrated. Material of the Immortal Level was great, but how could it compare to even a hair of a man-made deity?

A man-made deity is the true "Mythical Level!"

Otherwise, no matter how much you nurture it, even if you nurture it to the 10th Epoch, it remains at the "Immortal Level" because the highest grade of material is just Immortal.

Yet even the Gear Civilization thought that nurturing something to the Immortal Level was enough to start using it.

This thought stirred the Greedy Demon God within him...

But the difficulty of this task was clearly immense, to mimic the Green Grass Civilization's plan, and Humans didn't have the means.

Moreover, if there really were a man-made God towering over him, Lu Yuan actually wasn't so keen on the idea, and Human Civilization obviously wouldn't be either.

Then, a bold idea started to take root in Lu Yuan's mind.

"Maybe... I should do it myself?"

"You... how would you do it? Reincarnate in that stone and become Wukong?" Miss Conch was stunned by his notion.

"Why not?"

The girl thought for a long while, frowning: "It seems... It might actually be possible."

Because the Tree of Life is purely of Life Attribute, frantically charging the Chaos Essence Stone with energy before it matures could indeed hold the possibility of reforming it again.

And the Life Fruit also had the function of reincarnation. If he could transform a Chaos Essence Stone into a Life Fruit, couldn't he truly achieve "doing it himself"?

Even better, Lu Yuan's own reincarnation wouldn't need to spend a huge amount of Spirit Essence.

Because this stone already possessed a massive amount of energy, it just lacked a soul. With Lu Yuan already having a soul, why would he need to go through all that effort?

"The Tree of Life is my advantage, an advantage that even the Green Grass Civilization and the Gear Civilization don't have. If I tweak this stone a bit, maybe I could use it?"

Ambition grew in Lu Yuan's heart.

"But, but… if you become a stone, what am I supposed to do?" Miss Conch was anxious and irate.

"What do you mean, what are you supposed to do? I'm not going to abandon you."

"No, but if you turn into a stone… wouldn't I be… left as a widow?" Miss Conch's face turned red with urgency, her little fists clenched tightly.

"Ah?" Lu Yuan was taken aback, "That does seem to be the case…"

He suddenly realized, "Wait, that stony body is just like a combat-ready corporeal form, similar to the Tree of Life! I can still use a human body, can't I? Don't worry at all, I absolutely won't let you…"

Miss Conch realized the problem halfway through his words, jumped down from the tree, and, flushed with embarrassment, thought about throwing herself into the river: "I haven't achieved Soul Full yet! You… you can't take advantage of me!"

But in the next second, the Tree of Life launched an attack!

Green vines wrapped around her ankles and neck, pulling her straight into the hollow of the tree…

"Why run away, my dear?"

Even as just a tree, Lu Yuan still let out an evil and unrestrained smile.

He felt so wicked, like the Greedy Demon God, wanting the best of everything, even relishing the finest screams from a girl.

Just then, Old Wolf actually emerged from the Sky Pit, a rare occurrence, and upon seeing Miss Conch being bound, it too let out an evil howl.

"Old Wolf, save me!"

What disaster, what does it have to do with me, Old Wolf? It's more fun to play with her!

…

The joyful times are always brief, and after teasing the girl, Lu Yuan started the real work in a good mood.

He had to turn this "Chaos Essence Stone" into a Life Fruit, whether he could actually do it was still in question!

"These Mind Control things, they don't have so many rules and regulations. Just follow the inspiration in your heart to do it, and the chances of success are great."

"Just like with the Green Grass Civilization, their Ascension Ceremony was also a one-time thing, right? If the Great Elder wasn't a 'Demon,' he might have actually succeeded."

Miss Conch was indeed learned, she had simulated many Divine Skills, including "Prediction" and others, and with reference to the Green Grass civilization's literature, she guided Lu Yuan's direction.

Lu Yuan took out a Life Fruit and gently stimulated it.

Instantly, the fruit transformed into a pure mass of Life Energy, dripping onto the top of the stone like a water drop.

The Chaos Essence Stone was truly a rare divine object in the world, accepting anything that came its way, and after absorbing this wave of energy, it even started to grow a pattern of small green leaves on its surface.

[Chaos Essence Stone·Yang: Absorbed a massive amount of Yang attribute energy, and a very small amount of Life Energy.]

The stone vibrated slightly, as if some strange reaction was happening inside.

"I don't know if this reaction is good or bad," Lu Yuan was a bit nervous; a fail-safe "Immortal" treasure, if he screwed it up, the loss would be too great.

"You can't rush it," Miss Conch whispered, "The Life Attribute and the original Fire Attribute have to blend slowly, and this will take a long time."

"And the Life Fruit has the function of reincarnation in its own right, this stone is also slowly transforming into the likeness of a Life Fruit. The premise is that you keep investing." Experience tales at My Virtual Library Empire

Lu Yuan nodded and suddenly realized that this thing was yet another big spender, needing to devour a Life Fruit every few days!

The Life Fruits he had accumulated by now were a mere twenty or so.

Once depleted, he must force the Tree of Life to engage in Fertilization again, another big expense.

"What if I use up all the savings from these years?"

"Then... I'll just bail you out with the secret funds from the Opium poppy tree... It's been pretending to be weak all these years, but it actually has saved quite a bit."

"Useless, needing to rely on your wife's nest-egg." The girl stood with hands on hips, rolling her eyes.

Lu Yuan was remorseful: "I'll repay it double in the future."

Afterward, Miss Conch fell asleep in the hollow of the tree; she was truly exhausted from busying herself all night, plus strategizing for Lu Yuan, calculating for several hours, she was spent.

Old Lu pondered for a moment, then used several vines to drag the Giant Cauldron to the treetop and hide it within the canopy.

In any case, apart from a few Worm Kings, no one else generally came to the Tree of Life, and it wouldn't be discovered by others.

…