Half an hour later, a brand-new Phantom Willow had grown again inside the cultivation space.
Ron wasted no time transplanting it into the flower shop. Then he exited the dimensional plane and grabbed one of the new willow branches.
A vast white world unfolded before him once more. A cluster of green light circled him a few times before sinking into his head.
After gaining authority over this Illusory Spirit World, Ron quickly realized—
This one had absolutely no connection to the previous world.
"Tch…" He rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming on.
He even tried tying the branches of the two Phantom Willows together, hand in hand—but nothing happened.
So… there really was no way to connect them?
Ron felt troubled, then wondered if he was being too greedy.
Just the Illusory Spirit World alone was already ridiculously overpowered—it could recreate anything he had ever seen.
With his imagination, even if he couldn't replicate the full map of something like SAO, he could piece together enough to create a fully immersive, otherworld-style battle-and-leveling game.
Thinking that way, he felt a bit better.
He had always complained that this world lacked the internet—and therefore lacked his favorite games and anime.
But now, with Mimic Grass and the Recording System, producing anime was no longer an issue.
And as for online games—those could now be created within the Illusory Spirit World.
If true networking wasn't possible… then he'd just have to settle for a local network.
Though imagining a group of people gathered around a willow tree playing esports… was honestly kind of ridiculous.
At that thought, Ron grew eager to start making some games.
Maybe he could first try "Illusory-izing" card games like Element Cards or Legendary Kill?
But just as he was thinking that—
A new possibility suddenly struck him!
Emerald Cypress!
More specifically, it's parasitic wood!
This plant wasn't a normal tree. When grown on its own, it was just a tiny parasitic organism.
It had to attach itself to another tree to survive.
During the parasitic process, it would absorb nutrients from the host while also feeding it in return—triggering a second growth phase.
However, this parasitic wood was extremely picky.
So far, among all the plants Ron had tried, only the Puppet Tree and the Divine Tree had been "chosen."
Even towering trees like Spice Pine, which could reach dozens of meters, were ignored.
As for small plants like Nether Orchid, it's completely out of the question.
Whether the Phantom Willow would be accepted… that depended on luck.
Instead of creating games, Ron returned to the dimensional plane. He transplanted a Phantom Willow back into the cultivation space, then grew a parasitic wood.
He placed it into the fifteen-square-meter premium cultivation area where the Phantom Willow stood.
The moment it landed—
The parasitic wood acted like a lovestruck man, eagerly pushing aside layers of willow branches with its roots.
At first glance, it looked like a groom lifting a bride's veil.
Once it opened a circular gap among the branches, it didn't hesitate—its roots shot straight into the Phantom Willow's trunk, merging with it.
The entire tree trembled, as if stimulated.
Since this "union" would take quite a while to complete, Ron decisively accelerated time within the cultivation space.
Soon, the Phantom Willow began to change.
Its branches, once only as thick as a thumb, gradually thickened—until they were as wide as a person's forearm.
Their length increased dramatically as well. Not only did they hang to the ground, some even burrowed into the soil like roots and emerged elsewhere—
Like writhing pythons.
Ron estimated that some of these twisted branches were over a hundred meters long.
This greatly expanded the Phantom Willow's coverage.
But to Ron, that alone wasn't very useful.
No matter how long the branches grew, they couldn't stretch from the City of Chaos all the way to the Royal Capital.
Even the elves' Tree of Life only covered an area equivalent to three or four royal cities.
A single tree's reach was ultimately limited.
What mattered was whether this second growth had given the Phantom Willow the ability he needed.
After transplanting the evolved Phantom Willow back into the flower shop, Ron stepped out of the dimensional plane and grasped one of its thick branches—just barely able to wrap his hand around it.
He didn't enter the Illusory Spirit World right away.
Instead, he cut off a branch and tested it.
Still no response.
Even a severed branch couldn't grant access.
He tried making the two Phantom Willows "shake hands" again—no change.
So he brought the unevolved Phantom Willow into the dimensional plane, used parasitic wood on it as well, and completed its second growth before bringing it back out.
Now—
Two fully evolved Phantom Willows.
When their branches connected again—
At last, something changed!
When Ron entered the Illusory Spirit World, he discovered that the two separate worlds had merged into one!
Holding authority over both, he could clearly sense the fusion.
This meant that although a single Phantom Willow couldn't cover vast distances—
Multiple Phantom Willows could link together, forming a true network.
A real internet.
Though… it would take quite a bit of time and effort.
To cover a large area, he'd need to plant a sufficient number of Phantom Willows.
There was also another issue—
The cylindrical glass environments required to sustain Phantom Willows could only be provided inside system-recognized flower shops.
In a normal environment, this world simply couldn't meet the Phantom Willow's nutritional needs.
Fortunately, opening flower shops wasn't very expensive.
If he didn't enable storage transmission permissions, he only needed to pay for the shop itself.
After system modification, each "flower shop" could essentially become an internet café in disguise.
After confirming the Phantom Willow's new abilities, a grand blueprint began to form in Ron's mind.
Once he spread Phantom Willows across the entire Human Empire—
At that point, even if he wasn't the emperor, who could threaten him?
With the arrival of an information age, the Illusory Spirit World in his hands would become the ultimate weapon.
Control the flow of information—
And suddenly, he'd become the mastermind behind the scenes.
Ron grinned to himself, lost in his imagination.
Then suddenly—
A message entered his spiritual perception.
It wasn't in any language he recognized, yet he understood it instantly:
"Hello."
The Phantom Willow… was speaking to him.