After waiting a bit longer for the anti-gravity car to arrive, Zhang Xiaoman, who had been somewhat anxious, now gradually calmed down.
After all, he had been waiting for so many days, a few more minutes didn’t make much difference.
Next, with the car in place, Zhang Xiaoman also took to the skies.
The unique panoramic mode opened up, immediately immersing him in the scenic beauty.
He had certainly seen this lake before, not just once. However, no matter how many times he beheld it, the first impression it always gave him was the same—that it was vast.
The area of Seven-star Lake was so vast that it couldn’t merely be described as a normal lake.
In Hua Xia Country, the largest Blue Sea Lake was just over 4,000 square kilometers, but this Seven-star Lake was more than twice that size!
Okay, 9,000-plus square kilometers might still leave some people without a clear concept of size. In comparison, Qionghua City, where Zhang Xiaoman lived, had an area of just over 6,000 square kilometers—only two-thirds of the lake.
That is to say, this was actually a supercolossal lake larger than a city.
The island that Zhang Xiaoman and the others had previously been on was merely the smallest and the one closest to the shore. Deeper in, six more islands were hidden amidst the mists.
This was why he referred to it as Seven-Star Lake—above it, there was also a row of horizontally aligned Seven Star Islands.
Now, the place Zhang Xiaoman had chosen was the central location amongst the Seven Star Islands.
The anti-gravity car descended in height, heading for the largest island in the centre of the map.
Mist shrouded Seven-star Lake, and only when he came close did he truly see what it looked like there.
This place was different from the island he had seen before; there were no ruins or relics on it. Instead, like most of the environment on Rebirth Island, it was overgrown with many strange plants whose names he could not recall.
Zhang Xiaoman circled at low altitude for a while, then found a relatively open area in the middle and flew straight there with the car.
After getting off the car and taking a deep breath, Zhang Xiaoman felt that this place was not bad. It had a central location, ample space, and in the short term, it was unlikely anyone would come—suitable, indeed, for setting up the Star Network.
He arrived at the central area of the clearing, opened the Gang Store, lightly tapped on the Star Network Host, and confirmed the purchase prompt, successfully buying this long-anticipated core item.
As his action was completed, the space before him twisted, and a small, tear-shaped object, flickering with a greenish glow, fell out.
This tear-shaped object was only the size of a thumb and was adorned with some simple patterns. As soon as it appeared, it seemed to drift towards the ground with an even speed, as if uncontrolled.
This scene clearly exceeded Zhang Xiaoman’s expectations. In his mind, he had imagined that a huge metallic object would be summoned out of thin air and then slammed hard into the ground.
"But what exactly is this? Is the Star Network Host really only this big?"
As he spoke, he leaned in to take a closer look at the tear-shaped object. By this time, it had floated to about a meter above the ground.
Just then, with Zhang Xiaoman’s gaze fixed upon it, an interface suddenly appeared before his eyes—it was the System’s attribute panel.
——Bearing the seed of the Star Network, please wait patiently for it to grow and sprout.
"It’s indeed the Star Network, but what’s the meaning of this ’seed’? Could it be that the Star Network Host actually needs to be grown?"
Zhang Xiaoman was full of confusion, feeling that things were somewhat beyond his understanding.
While he was deep in thought, the small green seed had already reached the ground and then burrowed into the soil effortlessly.
"Uh... so it’s been planted?"
Zhang Xiaoman looked at the spot before him, still somewhat in a daze. According to normal logic, this should mean the setup was successful, right? But why was there still no reaction?
Could it really be necessary to water it so it could sprout?
After waiting a while longer and seeing no feedback, Zhang Xiaoman began to grow restless.
"Come on, what’s going on? The Star Network Host is a seed. Surely, it doesn’t actually expect me to wait for it to slowly germinate? And if it does need to germinate, how long is that going to take?"
Hope it’s not like the Dragon Egg.
Just as Zhang Xiaoman was wrestling with whether to water the seed, he suddenly noticed a subtle disturbance in the earth before him; the soil seemed to tremble lightly.
The next second, a small sprout burrowed out from the ground and gradually unfurled, then astonishingly began to grow at a rate visible to the naked eye.
In just a few blinks, the small sprout had reached a length of ten centimeters and, before Zhang Xiaoman’s shocked gaze, rapidly developed into a sapling about a meter tall.
The growth of the sapling accelerated, as if its progress was being fast-forwarded in a documentary; it shot up, and in a short while, its height had surpassed 5 meters, with its trunk’s girth expanding continuously.
"Is it really so exaggerated..."
His face full of surprise, Zhang Xiaoman quickly stepped back several paces, then glanced at the anti-gravity car parked to one side. After a moment’s consideration, he got into the vehicle and lifted it into midair.
He then began to feel somewhat grateful for this action.
The tree below grew even faster, quickly occupying the spot where he had just parked his car.
Even now, while suspended in the air, he unavoidably had to increase the distance again to avoid being hit by it.
Twenty meters... Fifty meters... One hundred meters... Two hundred meters!
The tree continued to grow until it was about two hundred meters tall and its ground coverage was immensely substantial, with lush branches and verdant leaves.
Zhang Xiaoman waited a good while longer and, seeing that it wasn’t growing any further, slowly approached it with the car.
"Now I understand why the System previously warned me that the Star Network Host couldn’t be moved..."
He landed the car on one of the tree’s strong branches and exited the vehicle.
With the tree being so massive, its branches were likewise incredibly thick; standing a person or parking a car on them was as easy as playing.
PS: Thank you to Brother Yiguan for the 100-point reward!