After a few minutes of confrontation in this forest area, Maximilian, Minos, and the rest of their group were once again exhausted.
But this time, they wouldn't make the same mistake as before. They wouldn't split up again, and as soon as one part of the group started meditating, the other would stay in the area and watch for strange signs.
Just in case, Maximilian and Minos decided not to meditate simultaneously.
Since Minos could fully recover in less time, he was the first to meditate. At the same time, the level 100 guy stayed with the other half of the group to observe the area.
Maximillian took the opportunity to examine the corpse of the level 100 creature that had attacked them.
'This body really looks like a piece of spiritual root...' Maximillian looked curiously at the corpse, wondering if every planet, like the Spiritual World, had such creatures and if there was any possibility that the roots of his world could become aggressive like such a creature.
But he wouldn't get any answers to the many questions that would arise in his mind. He would only become more and more curious about this strange world, as well as enchanted by the local reality.
However, he would gradually realize the immense value of the creature his group had killed after much effort.
'This corpse contains an amount of energy equivalent to 25% of what I have in my best condition.' He thought with a smile as he explored the inside of the large root. 'If that's the case, this could be useful for feeding our entire group!'
If such a corpse had enough energy to be equivalent to such a large piece of a living God's cultivation, it could make a big difference to the Spiritual World natives there!
He looked at one of Minos' robots and thought such a creature might be his ideal first guinea pig.
"You." He pointed as he caught the eye of one of the level 97 robots standing guard. "What do you want?" The robot looked at Maximillian but obeyed the man as it left its position and approached this God.
Minos' orders to the three remaining robots of this group were clear. They were to help the group whenever possible and to take orders from the team members as long as those orders didn't go against Emperor Stuart's interests.
In particular, even without Minos' orders, these robots naturally respected Maximilian since this man was at level 100 and could destroy them with a single blow.
Maximilian got right to the point. "Can you consume part of the body of the creature we killed and tell me how its remains can affect spiritual humans?"
The robot looked at the huge corpse and thought for a moment. "It is possible. I can certainly tell if this creature could be consumed by beings from the Mechanic Empire, as I know their anatomy very well. But even though I haven't studied the humans of the Spiritual World very much, I have more than a 70% chance of accurately analyzing what you just asked me."
"That's good enough." Maximilian cut off a piece of the root, about the size of a watermelon, and gave it to the robot. "Consume this and summarize the results for the group later. If you conclude that it can be consumed, assign the remaining doctors and alchemists to refine this root and suggest that the group choose a spiritual human guinea pig."
The robot looked at the piece of root in his hand and didn't hesitate to accept it, heeding Maximilian's words and immediately starting to consume the resource.
Robots didn't eat or drink. But they did have an artificial stomach, which was basically used to process unique consumable resources and convert them into energy for their essence.
As soon as it devoured this piece of root, the robot began processing the laws and energy contained in this root, a process that would take a few hours from start to finish. In the middle of this process, Maximilian would begin his meditation, while Minos would replace him as the group's main observer.
...
An hour after the death of the level 100 root, Minos and Ruth stood side by side, observing the corpse of the creature they had defeated earlier while some of their group were still meditating.
Most of them needed less than an hour in this place to regain their full strength, so most of the 30 or so survivors had already fully recovered.
Only Maximilian and about 13 others were meditating, these being the people who had stood guard at the beginning of the group's second recovery.
As some of these 13 individuals neared the end of their recoveries, Minos said to Ruth. "What do you think? Maximilian wants to increase the power of the group members with this thing... But in the Spiritual World, it's never been a good idea to increase the powers of cultivators artificially."
"Yes, I have my doubts, too," Ruth said. "But this is a new world. Let's see what the robot discovers and then continue with the tests. If we can become stronger without losing our spiritual stability, why not? We're in enough trouble to use more hasty methods."
Minos clenched his fists at the thought. "True. We can't act as usual. Apart from the war, we're in a place with unknown and powerful creatures. The next enemy might be our last!"
"But I think we'll be able to use its body to our advantage without a problem," Ruth said as she looked at Minos thoughtfully. "Haven't you noticed the differences in your body and soul after cultivating in this place only twice?"
Minos became more serious after he realized what Ruth had in mind. "Yes. The feeling I had while meditating was like using some kind of resource to recover faster. However, I didn't consume anything, and my foundation didn't destabilize as you would expect after using external resources."
"I think cultivating in this world is even better than what you told me about cultivating under the Tree of Life on Elves Island," Ruth said as she pointed to the corpse in front of them. "But if it's like that just by cultivating the free energy in the sky, what will it be like when we consume this body?
It seems like it's more powerful than one Divine Medicine when we look at its entire body. But even small parts of it should be more powerful than Saint Medicines," She said.
"We'll see about that later." Minos looked in the direction of the robot, who was still meditating.
But he agreed with Ruth. Cultivating in this world was very different from what they were used to in the Spiritual World!
If he could stay there for another three years, he was sure he could reach level 93 without using outside resources!
That was less than 40% of the time it would take him to make the same breakthrough in the Spiritual World!