Global Lords: My Territory Heart Is a World Tree

With their help, the laboratory’s research expanded beyond simply dissecting Eye Demons to map out their internal anatomy.

There was also a breakthrough in the research on the Eye Demon’s ability to grant attributes to its host.

This was primarily due to the Eye Demon’s special mimicry ability, which allowed it to become a complete part of its host. Once it had merged with the host, its own attributes were naturally shared.

However, due to some unknown rule, this method of attribute stacking could only raise the host’s attributes by a single rank.

If the host was a hero-rank being and the Eye Demon was not, the Eye Demon could devour and replace matter within the host’s body to temporarily elevate itself to the hero rank. Furthermore, the longer it remained as a parasite, the more likely the Eye Demon could truly advance to become a hero.

This was the most convenient and common way for an Eye Demon to advance to the hero rank.

However, this method would damage the host’s potential, preventing them from ever advancing in rank again.

Of course, the Eye Demon couldn’t care less.

Once they understood why Eye Demons could grant attributes to their hosts, the territory ceased further investigation. Continuing the research would mean studying how to perfectly integrate one living being into another.

Setting aside the sheer difficulty of such a task, what would be the point even if they succeeded?

It would merely stack the attributes of two creatures while sacrificing the skills of one. The combined combat effectiveness would likely decrease, making it a venture where the losses far outweighed the gains.

Besides, the territory’s new denizens—the newborn Symbiotic Little Elves and Symbiotic Eye Demons—already accomplished the goal of stacking attributes onto another resident.

They only needed to form a symbiotic bond with other residents to stack their attributes onto their partners. With sufficient numbers, they could provide every resident with extra attributes, significantly boosting the territory’s overall combat strength.

Their low levels and insufficient attributes were also not a concern. After bonding with a target, they could grow alongside their host.

Moreover, this shared growth didn’t require extra experience points. A single source of experience was enough for both symbiotic life forms to advance together—an absolute godsend. (Both parties share an experience bar and are not subject to any experience penalty.)

To increase the population of Symbiotic Little Elves and Symbiotic Eye Demons as much as possible, Lin Kong gave Emma and Yadi different assignments.

Emma was to cultivate in the laboratory, well-fed and well-cared-for, absorbing Spiritual Energy to prepare for gestation.

Yadi, on the other hand, became a recruiter.

Her daily task was to go to the Natural Essence Manufacturing Plant and persuade the Eye Demons that were awakening from their parasitic state, ready to hatch.

She would explain the power of the territory and persuade them to pledge their allegiance. (After evolving, they were freed from the control of their original Eye Demon Lord and could choose their affiliation anew. They could either return to the Eye Demon Lord, pledge allegiance to their current territory, or choose to belong to no faction, in which case the competition organizers would eject them from the event.)

Inevitably, some Eye Demons would refuse to listen. When that happened, a nearby Death Devourer would have no choice but to demonstrate its unique talent: turning an Eye Demon to ash.

At that point, between the Death Devourer’s intimidation and Yadi’s persuasion, the majority of the remaining Eye Demons would choose to become members of Lin Yu’s territory.

For the small number of Eye Demons unwilling to submit, as long as they didn’t harm their Little Elf or Slime hosts, Yadi would spare them. She would let them choose to become free agents (no Eye Demon ever chose to return to their original lord, who would just absorb them as raw material), allowing them to be teleported out of the competition and back to their home world.

As for those who refused to abandon the energy within their hosts and insisted on harming the Little Elves or Slimes, they either ended up as ash, became a cautionary tale for the next batch of Eye Demons, or were relegated to the isolation lab as research material.