Rui found it particularly stupid that the lava golem even bothered trying to eat him in the first place.
'The power of the Martial Heart is not something he could harness even if he ate me.' Rui tutted. 'It is vast reserves of biochemical potential energy that can only be harnessed with human metabolism and the Martial Path. You're not going to be able to harness it just by eating Martial Artists.'
It was what separated Martial Artists from monsters and beasts. The source of the power of the former did not come from their mass or volume. The source of their power was the various untapped potentials that every living being possessed, a potential that only humans had the sophistication of mind to unlock.
It was why Martial Artists could fight beasts and monsters that were astronomically larger than them and still come away victorious as Rui had. Martial Artists had too many advantages over too many unwieldy beasts. Most of the continent was part of the human domain, and only the core and the central sections of the continent were part of the Beast Domain along with many secondary patches and streaks here and there.
Rui heaved a sigh before forging on forward through the ashy lava territory. One thing he realized he was wrong about was the assumption that a single lava golem was responsible for all of this.
Apparently, he was wrong. The entire region was filled with lava golems.
'Tsk, I can't afford to get into a battle with every single one of them.' Rui tutted. 'For now, I'll avoid using the Martial Heart and use the lesser Phantomind Void technique to avoid garnering attention.'
He quickly activated the technique, misdirecting the golems away from him as he briskly crossed the entirety of the lava forest. One thing that surprised him was that the vegetation grew to become more and more dense and alive as he passed through this territory.
Trees, shrubs, and even grass started to form again in the lava-laden land. Rui's face flashed with surprise as he studied the trees that not only seemed to survive despite the lava but also actively seemed to revel in it.
His eyes widened with shock as he saw streaks and small streams of lava flowing up the barks and the wood of the trees all the way from the roots.
'The trees are consuming the lava!'
He hadn't heard of any flora that was capable of absorbing lava as a part of the nutrients it needed to sustain its existence. But at this point, he was used to being surprised by the fantasies of this world.
However, if there were species of flora that required lava to survive, then Rui could understand how these trees could flourish in an environment like the lava domain of the Great Forest of Hypnonarak.
The most annoying part of these otherwise incredible species of flora was that they still consumed mental energy. Rui groaned as he felt the tug on his mind, weakening him minutely with every passing second and minute. As expected, although the Hypnomaster seemed to prefer the diversity of life, the theme of the forest had not yet changed.
Only someone strong and powerful in mind could possibly survive the sheer amount of mental energy drained throughout the journey to the center, a curse that only grew more powerful as time passed.
'However, it makes sense,' Rui realized. 'The golems do not have organic electrical phenomenon sustained by biochemical metabolism. They too would be drained had they possessed such a biology.'
The longer he traveled the more he came across a rich and biodiverse ecosystem that was centered around the abundant lava and magma that the lava golems regularly generated and spewed out. Rui couldn't make much progress in understanding the biophysics and biochemistry of such vegetation.
The lava-laden biodiversity was a sight to see. Every flora lifeform was lava-stridden across their trunks, stems, branches, and leaves. It appeared that these lifeforms no longer relied on solar energy seeing as he couldn't spot any chlorophyll. Instead, they were largely black to contain as much head as could be harnessed.
He could sense small reservoirs of gathered lava within each of them, being used to heat up a variety of different substances and chemical reactions with their heat. It suggested that the principle was to employ lava as a source of heat rather than directly as fuel.
Perhaps it could generate biochemical energy from great sources of heat. Rui could imagine an endothermic reaction that required a lot of heat to produce a chemical product similar to the human ATP, the molecule responsible for all human energy, that could generate energy in a similar manner.
He had a sinking suspicion he was on the right train. Unfortunately, his background in biochemistry and organic chemistry was woefully shallow. Although his enhanced mind allowed him perfect recall of all the knowledge he had ever known in his previous life, he had never delved into the field all that much.
Regardless, he had no doubt that the strange and magical materials and substances of this world undoubtedly allowed for such a thing to be possible in the first place. He was relatively certain that such lifeforms would have been impossible back on Earth.
Regardless, as fascinating as all of this was for his mind, it was not very amusing to his body that could not consume lava and magma to survive. He wouldn't be able to eat a single thing within this domain to fill up his stomach.
'Not good.' He had already used his Martial Heart twice, and the expended energy would need to be fully restored.
His body would immediately begin the process of restoring the Martial Heart from his conventional stamina if needed, thus not having a source of food after using the Martial Heart extensively was not a good idea.
He picked up the pace, bursting through the lava forest at speeds that far exceeded that of even sound, weaving through trees, and rocks, at top speed, uncaring for the lava that harmlessly splashed on his attire and flesh.
