In the tranquil dimension, there was a thick and sturdy tree over a hundred meters tall. However, the strange thing was, this tree had not taken root in the soil but was floating in the air.

The twisting and crisscrossing root system formed a web which fiercely gripped the air, silently extended throughout the empty space. The tremendous tangle of roots spread out eagerly, spearing through the earth, the rivers, and the air. It was a puzzling sight.

"Rumble."

The branches of the tree suddenly swayed fiercely, following which a giant face appeared on the trunk, wearing a grave expression as it mumbled to itself, "Discovered so quickly? It's only been a mere ten years' time! D*mn it, someone is flying toward the dimension. I must not let him leave or the position of this dimension won't be a secret anymore!"

This tree was equipped with consciousness. From the looks of it, it must be from the Tree Tribe civilization, one of the many civilizations in the Void Zone. They were known as the Tree Folk.

The Tree Tribe consisted of one Mother Tree. Nearly all the Tree Folks had split from this Mother Tree. The entire Tree Tribe had in fact, gradually evolved from this one Mother Tree.

The Mother Tree was equivalent to the Arcane Wizards of the Spell Caster civilization. This Mother Tree's special ability was its incredible defensive powers. Even two Arcane Wizards might not necessarily be able to injure the Mother Tree.

Therefore, among the many foreign civilizations, the Tree Tribe could be considered a relatively powerful one, similar to the Giant Tribe.

This gigantic tree was one such Tree Folk, having taken root in this dimension and harnessing the dimension's Origin Power. The Spell Caster civilization named a dimension's Origin Power as its Elemental Origin, but in fact, there was a common term for it – the Dimension Core.

This referred to the core of the dimension, which was extremely important to any tribe or civilization. This was also the fundamental cause of conflict over dimensions between the various tribes and civilizations who were fighting over the Dimension Core.

The Tree Folk shivered all over. Nine Tree Folks immediately appeared in mid-air. They were lush green all over, and verdant branches sprouted from their heads.

Creating nine Tree Saplings was the limit of this Tree Folk. Moreover, each of these Saplings possessed relatively formidable strength, able to compare to rather powerful Great Wizards.

"My children, go forth and help me kill that foreign intruder!"

The colossal tree spoke in a deep voice.

The nine Tree Saplings nodded respectfully, after which they quickly flew toward the exterior of the dimension, ready to stop the intruder in his path.

…

The Aurora Ship was very fast. As Merlin cautiously approached the dimension, he did not sense any imprint on it.

"I'll go in for a look. If it really is a deserted dimension, I'll still have to be careful of the gods!"

Although Merlin was very tempted, he still appeared careful. In the open territory, if he was not careful, he would not last long.

"Swish."

Merlin entered in a single step, and flew into the dimension.

"Phew…" Merlin exhaled deeply as his Mind Power began to silently inspect this dimension.

"I can't believe this… There are no traces of a god's force! What pure Elements. This is definitely an Inceptive Dimension!"

An incredulous look crossed Merlin's face and his heart immediately leaped with joy. An Inceptive Dimension, as the name suggested, referred to a dimension that was born not long ago.

A dimension like this usually had not even given birth to intelligent life, and thus was naturally unable to produce any gods. However, it was not a dead and lifeless dimension. Conversely, it was bursting with life, and its Elemental Origin was abundant too.

An Inceptive Dimension like this could only be encountered through sheer luck. Countless Spell Casters and foreign tribes had dreamed of finding a dimension like this because an Inceptive Dimension typically meant that its Elemental Origin could be easily mastered, and one did not even have to deal with any gods.

"I've picked up a dimension…"

This thought now flashed across Merlin's mind. Finding an Inceptive Dimension was equivalent to acquiring an entire dimension without having to spend any effort.

"A brand-new Inceptive Dimension – I can take control of its Elemental Origin then…"

Just as Merlin was planning how to control this Inceptive Dimension, nine green sparks appeared in the distance, racing through the sky.

"Swish swish swish."

The nine sparks directly stopped at a distance not too far from Merlin, and revealed themselves. They turned out to be from a tribe that was green all over, appearing very bizarre.

"A foreign tribe?"

Merlin received a nasty surprise. At first, he thought this was a masterless dimension, but now it looked like another tribe had come before him. Based on their appearance, it was the Tree Tribe which was a troublesome opponent.

When Merlin was in the Rainbow Dimension, he had made sufficient preparations. He had specifically researched a few of the stronger foreign civilizations, one of which was the Tree Tribe civilization.

Therefore, when he saw these nine figures, he immediately recognized them as the Tree Tribe.

"Inescapable Net!"

The nine members of the Tree Tribe gave Merlin no chance to even speak, and instantly formed into a huge circle, enclosing Merlin in the middle. Thereafter, the legs of these nine Tree Folks instantly transformed into a complicated tangle of roots that grew like a tightly woven net as it was cast at Merlin. It practically sealed off the entire area.

The specialty of the Tree Tribe was their defense and binding. Once the Mother Tree of the Tree Tribe revealed its true form, turning into a massive skyscraping tree of unparalleled size, not even two Arcane Wizards would be able to overcome it.

This mystical ability of the Mother Tree was naturally inherited by the Tree Tribe. These nine Tree Folks were at best ordinary Tree Tribe members comparable to Great Wizards. Once they had joined forces and tried to seal and bind Merlin, they could become on par with a peak Great Wizard in an instant.

This was the terrifying thing about the Tree Tribe!

"Darkness Eye, summon Darkness Demon Spirit!"

Without the slightest hesitation, Merlin's hand flickered with beams of crimson light. Darkness descended, and a furious bellow pierced the air. The Darkness Demon Spirit, with its imposing body, stepped out from the darkness, its body gleaming with a blood-red glow. Its hands gripped the system of roots which was woven like a net and tore it apart viciously.

"Rip."

Countless roots were ripped to pieces as if a huge hole was forcibly torn in the giant net. Nonetheless, before Merlin could even rejoice, countless roots stretched out once more, mending the gap created by the Darkness Demon Spirit.

The Darkness Demon Spirit roared in rage once more, its giant hands madly grasping and tearing at the roots. However, the roots seemed to be endless, growing incessantly. They were able to easily patch up any hole. In the end, these roots had even gradually wound around the Darkness Demon Spirit.

The strength-type Darkness Demon Spirit was not effective at all against these Tree Folk, and was even restrained by them!

"Humph, fire!"

Ferocious flames abruptly exploded around Merlin. These were no mere flames but flames fused with Wind-type, Thunder-type, and Ice-type spells.

"Boom!"

The spell fusion exploded in an instant. The endless flames, in particular, spread along the roots and began to burn the Tree Folks. These nine Tree Folks who had the upper hand were now cast into chaos. Incapable of maintaining their binding, they fell apart in all directions.

These Tree Folks were trying to escape. Since Merlin had gained the upper hand, of course, he would not let them flee. He had prepared to wipe out all of these Tree Folks in a blow, then take over this dimension.

Even if he was incapable of creating a Maxim for now, mastering a dimension and its Elemental Origin would bring unimaginable benefits to Merlin's understanding of the Elements' Essence, his spell fusion, the growth of his Mind Power, and so on.

Thus, Merlin immediately gave chase.

"Whoosh."

Just as Merlin was speeding after them, he saw that the nine Tree Folks had quickly flown into a gigantic tree which was floating in mid-air, vanishing without a trace.

Merlin's expression gradually turned somber. He perceived an extraordinary force from this gigantic tree.

"Spell Caster, you shouldn't have come here. This dimension belongs to me, the great Tree Folk, Alcra!"

Following that, this colossal tree that had taken root in thin air began to tremble and sway violently as if space itself was quaking. Thereafter, the great tree glimmered with a green light, and turned into a well-built man with emerald skin.

There was a trace of apprehension in the haughty gaze the Tree Folk Alcra cast at Merlin. Previously, he had split apart nine Saplings which were a match for peak Great Wizards but they were unable to defeat the Spell Caster before him now. This Spell Caster's strength must at least be on par with a peak Great Wizard or even stronger.

However, Alcra was confident that he could defeat Merlin. He had been in this Inceptive Dimension for ten years, and had grown by leaps and bounds. His level of power was essentially that of a preeminent Great Wizard.

"The nine Tree Folks earlier were all your Saplings?"

Merlin's face shifted slightly. He knew generally about the unique abilities of the Tree Folk. They were able to grow out Saplings. Nine Saplings meant a Ninth-level Spell Caster.

His opponent was a Tree Folk that was equivalent to a Ninth-level Spell Caster but his Saplings were able to match against peak Great Wizards. He must be like Merlin, a being who was quite a freak.

"Of course, I'm a second-generation Tree Folk directly produced by the great Mother Tree with boundless potential. I'm something that the average Tree Folks cannot compare to. I wish no more than to be an upper rank Tree Folk. With this Inceptive Dimension, I'll be able to slowly absorb the dimension's Origin in a hundred years. Then I'll have a high chance of becoming an upper rank Tree Folk of the second generation."

The Tree Folk Alcra spoke, his eyes shining with pride.

Merlin could not help but feel somewhat bitter. Initially, he had thought he was lucky but did not expect to bump into a second-generation Tree Folk.

Merlin had some understanding of the Tree Tribe. The Tree Tribe was able to split into more Tree Folks as a way of reproducing but the more removed a generation was from the Mother Tree, the more inferior their strength and potential would be. If a Tree Folk was directly born from the Mother Tree, their potential would be enormous, and it was possible they could become a new Mother Tree.

It was just like the Dora Demon Tribe from the Bloodshed Universe. Dora Demons who possessed the Royal Demon blood obviously had greater strength than the rest. Alcra belonged to the second-generation Tree Folk. In terms of bloodline, he possessed pure and direct blood, along with endless potential.

It was not surprising that even before becoming an upper rank Tree Folk, he could erupt with the might of the most preeminent Great Wizard.

"Whiz."

Without warning, Merlin had boarded the Aurora Ship as soon as he can, frantically retreating. He had come here to locate the Saitu Dimension, and had no wish to cause extraneous trouble by becoming locked in a battle to the death with a Tree Folk who excelled at defense, comparable to a preeminent Great Wizard.

Therefore, he chose to leave, and would not fight with this Tree Folk over the Inceptive Dimension!

However, this was merely Merlin's own wishful thinking. The Tree Folk Alcra would not allow Merlin to leave. His great hand sprawled into countless thick roots that rapidly sealed off an area of a hundred miles. The space was practically turned into an enormous cage, and Merlin was trapped within.

"Spell Caster, you're trying to escape and summon companions who are even stronger? I'm afraid you won't get the chance…"

The Tree Folk Alcra spoke in a pitying tone as if the Spell Caster before him had already become nutrients for his roots.