TREE OF A/

2023 SPAIzzER

TREE OF A/ - ONE

I�m Matt, and I died in a bus accident on my way home from work when the bus I was in was T - boned by a runaway speeding truck.

- You died, aged thirty - four years. Death on impact, - an old man said nonchalantly. He reminded me of Santa Claus, a little bit anyway - it was the mustache and beard.

- Oh, I did? - I was in a plain white space. It reminded me of the scene where one of those actors played a god, so I looked at him and asked, - Are you God, and do I stand before the pearly gates? -

He looked thoughtful for a moment before he answered, - You could say that. I am one of the many gods. My name is Mozart, and I�m an administrator of the soul recycling and transmission system. -

Mozart? What a name. I don�t recall Mozart having a beard, though.

- Uh, soul recycling? Wait, that sounds like reincarnation. -

- Yes. Very much like all those isekai stories you�ve been reading. -

Oh! That�s a good way to explain it. At that moment, I thought I�d hit the lottery, and remembering all the other reincarnation stories I read, I couldn�t help but feel a little excited. Would I get to build a harem? I would like a harem. That would be quite a nice change from my single - ass self. Little did I know I was gonna be really disappointed.

- Oh, nice. So what am I to be reincarnated as? What special powers do I get? -

Mozart shrugged.

- Roll this. - A big disc appeared with weird characters on it. It resembled a giant Wheel of Fortune, complete with different colors for each slice, but I couldn�t make out what each of the weird characters meant. Mozart noticed my confusion, but he wasn�t interested in elaborating further.

- What is this? -

- This is the Race wheel. The result of your roll will tell you what you get to be in your next life. You could be a mosquito, a dragon, or even a minor deity. -

- Hmm, why not a human? That�s how it normally is for isekai stories. -

- You didn�t qualify. - He glanced at something and frowned. - Humanoids are a special category. -

- What do you mean? - There were six billion. no, seven billion of us on Earth!

- Based on the kind of life you led, you don�t qualify to be reincarnated as a humanoid. -

- But why? I could be a deity, right? Isn�t that better than being a humanoid? Then why is being human so hard? -

- That�s just how the rules are, and I won�t reveal more. Arguing with me won�t change things. Roll the wheel. You will be reincarnated based on the results. -

I still couldn�t comprehend what the words on the wheel were, so I looked at Mozart. More accurately, I stared at him. - Seriously? Is this a trick? -

He looked annoyed. - Just roll the wheel. Or you can choose to be at the very bottom of the pyramid: a mosquito. That�s permissible. Or a small wall lizard or gecko. The kind that everyone kills daily. -

- Fuck that. I�ll roll the wheel. - Isekai wall lizard didn�t exactly sound appealing.

Just as I was about to roll the wheel, I stared at him again. I did recall dying in a bus accident on my way home, and there were quite a few others on the bus. Was I being singled out here?

- Erm. how are the other guys in the bus? - I recalled there were quite a few teenagers there. It�s a route that passed by a mall, and it was late, so they were probably on their way home after an outing.

- Dead. They are going to be reincarnated as well. After you. -

- Oh. So do they need to roll the wheel as well? -

- Nope. They will be reincarnated as humans or elves. -

Hey, I am being singled out! That�s quite unfair! - What? How come? -

- They�ve gotten special clearance from the gods that oversee the worlds you will soon go to. They have been selected to fight the invaders as heroes, so they will start with extra perks and privileges. -

- How about me? - I want to be a hero, too!

- The gods didn�t want you. You�re too old, and you just happened to get on the same bus as the kids. - Mozart looked really annoyed. - Roll. The. Wheel. -

Wait. I am collateral damage? That�s ageism!

- Why them? Why do they get to be champions? -

- Because they are young, courageous, good - hearted, and have a desire to do good. Not yet tainted by the evils of society. Quite unlike you. -

- Wait. So they chose kids? -

- That�s the criteria the gods wanted, so that�s what they get. - He gave me the kind of glare that made me feel like shit.

- Damn. - I gave up and rolled the wheel. There wasn�t much of a choice. The man wasn�t buying my attempts to get some leeway.

The strange wheel spun and stopped at a random word I didn�t understand.

Wait. The word transformed.

Tree.

I could read it. somehow.

- What? - Hey, this is not going the way I thought it would. I am supposed to get superpowers and get reincarnated. This isn�t how I envisioned my reincarnation to be.

- A tree? -

- Oh, yeah, trees have souls, too. I forgot about that option. - Mozart seemed rather casual about it. - Trees are not bad, actually. Huge potential. -

Before I could ask anything else, Mozart interrupted me.

- All right, off you go as a tree! Goodbye! -

Woosh!

It was pitch black, and it remained so for quite some time.

I mean, it started, right? Is there a menu? A timer? An interface?

Then I saw it. A clock.

YEAR 1, MONTH 0

You are Level 1 - Normal Tree.

Skills possessed.

Hibernate , Germinate - Produce fruits or seeds , Autopilot .

There was a floating menu commonly found in computer games right before me. Hell yeah. I have skills, and I am level one. Despite these humble beginnings, I thought, Hey, maybe it won�t be so bad. A tree can get to do awesome shit, too!

Let�s get to it! So I waited. I mean, was it supposed to be black and dark like this all this time?

Nothing happened, and I wondered whether maybe this dark space was some kind of loading screen. But then the time kept ticking, and a good two hours later, I was still in darkness. Nothing.

I didn�t feel a damn thing. No sensation, no vision, and no sound, either.

It was still dark. Was I supposed to do something? I tried to open my eyes but couldn�t see. No, more like, what were my eyes? Did I even have eyes?

I kept waiting. I didn�t feel tired physically, but I did feel mentally exhausted.

Time moved.

The clock just kept ticking, and nothing freaking happened.

Darkness.

Black.

Black.

Black.

Frustrated, I tried using my skills. I eventually discovered I could think of what skill I wanted to activate. And so Germinate � Produce Fruit !

A pop - up appeared. Not the right season.�

What was the season, then? That very thought triggered a change in the interface, and next to the clock, a seasonal calendar or indicator appeared. It moved slowly, with a small needle - shaped indicator pointing at winter.�

Curious of my other skills, I mentally selected Autopilot , and another pop - up appeared.

Autopilot engaged. Time - acceleration activated. Autopilot will automatically activate skills. Autopilot activated Hibernate .

I fell into a sleep - like state.

When I woke up, a good four months had passed on the clock. Yet the darkness remained.

At least the season menu said spring.�

Autopilot has activated Produce Fruit .

Nothing happened. It was still darkness to me.

With Autopilot active, time passed quickly. At first, I thought I misunderstood the clock, but it soon became obvious that a second was actually equal to an hour, which was really convenient because there was absolutely nothing to do. I watched the time pass by quite quickly.

A year went by.

Then another year passed.

And another year.

Was it going to be like this forever? Was this the life of a tree? Why couldn�t I even feel my own roots or branches?

YEAR 4

In the fourth year, a string of notifications appeared. It instantly kicked me out of autopilot.

Amber Lee has died. You received a fragment.

Samanta Chandran has died. You received a fragment.

Peter Varoufakis has died. You received a fragment.

Hyuna Park has died. You received a fragment.

Reed Constance has died. You received a fragment.

Shah Rasul has died. You received a fragment.

Mai has died. You received a fragment.

Lee Kang Ho has died. You received a fragment.

Shane Andrew Fillon has died. You received a fragment.

Pink Fung has died. You received a fragment.

The Demon King Asmodai has been defeated.

Oh, wow. At first, I didn�t recognize these names, but when the demon king�s notification popped up, that was when I realized the kids had won.

Yet, nothing happened.

Still darkness. I thought something would happen. Perhaps I�d see a prompt that told me our mission was complete, and we would move on to the next reincarnation, but nothing changed. I thought that might be the trigger for me to escape my darkness, that perhaps I was a prisoner cursed by the demon king, but there was absolutely nothing.

Time passed, and a few years later, more notifications appeared. Similar to the others, they just said, Saita Maru, Mark Antoinete , Kim Possibru, and Samanta Charleston died. I received a fragment with each.

What are these fragments?

YEAR 15

Demon King Astaroth has appeared.

Frankly, I thought I should panic, but trapped in darkness, there was absolutely nothing I could do. A string of notifications popped up a few months later. Azares Fox, Sarah Cole, Pamela Seis, Lucy Braveheart, Winston Chow, and Roald Strump all died. Cumulatively, I now had a total of twenty fragments.

It seemed to suggest they had been defeated by this latest demon king. Why else would they die?

YEAR 16

The Gods have summoned twenty new heroes!

Oh, God. More kids? I mean, they had to be kids, right? Also, twenty? Wasn�t that huge overkill?

YEAR 18

Two years after the new batch of kids was summoned, the Demon King Astaroth was defeated, but another eleven kids died. So now, I had these thirty - one fragments - with their names - sitting in my menu. For a bunch of heroes, they sure didn�t last very long against demons. Or were the demon kings just so powerful? And two years!

The demon king could�ve destroyed a huge number of things in two years.

I got the feeling this was a circle that never ended. Demon kings appeared, and the gods summoned heroes from Earth to fight them. So, over the next ten years, another five died, and their deaths seemed to be spread out, suggesting either they somehow fought and died, or someone or something else killed them.

YEAR 30

Another demon king appeared, Demon King Dantalion, and a short while later, another four heroes died. I received another four fragments, which then brought my total to forty.

At this point, it felt like a statistic. A year later, right on schedule, the gods summoned another fifteen heroes.

Sometime later, Demon King Dantalion was defeated, and of the fifteen summoned heroes, ten of them died. I received ten fragments, and this brought my total to fifty. Fifty fragments were quite a lot to track, so my menu and interface automatically changed such that the fragments now had their own dedicated screen.

After that, nothing much happened for about ten years. Later, Year 42 on the clock, another demon appeared, the Demon King Ezekiel. Amazingly, the surviving five heroes managed to kill the Demon King Ezekiel with only one of the five dying.

They continued this streak even after ten years when Demon King Furfur appeared. Amazingly, the four heroes slayed the demon king within a few months of its appearance.

YEAR 52

I was jolted out of the darkness, out of my Autopilot , by an oddity. There was someone there. He shone like a lighthouse in a sea of darkness.

- Hello. - It was a young boy. He was a small, petite child, probably no older than ten. He approached me, and I saw the features of his face. I was surprised I could see him.

- Hi. - I was eager to talk, so I responded. Somehow, I was able to talk, and I wasn�t sure how I managed it. It was like sending a telepathic message, and I was sure I couldn�t do that before today.

- Oh my God, did you just talk? - he shouted and then ran in circles for a while. - Wait, everyone will think I am crazy if I tell them a tree can talk. Oh, wait! Of course, a tree spirit could talk. But wait, I need to keep this to myself. -

I didn�t reply to that.

- Erm. oh, yes. Do you have a name, O tree spirit? I am Indra, a young druid in training. -

At that point, I wondered whether he saw me as a tree or as a person, but he referred to me as a tree spirit. - My name is Matt. Hello, Indra. - He seemed quite happy. - May I ask how you are able to see me? -

- I have a unique skill. It is called Soul Communion . -

- Sounds really special. - It was actually more special than he gave it credit for, because it also enabled me to respond to him telepathically.

- Yes, it�s quite cool! It allows me to see and talk to ghosts and spirits! - He beamed. - I notice them whenever I walk around, and they speak to me. -

- Your skill is amazing. -

- It is! And this is the first time I have spotted a tree spirit! It�s late, but I�ll come back. - He nodded. - Let me just memorize this place so I can find you again. -

- Sure, please come back. It is nice to talk to someone. - I waved with one of my branches.

- Okay. - With that, Indra left. It was strange to see a human - shaped, faintly glowing thing. That was the beginning of our relationship as friends. Indra would later come by every week, and we would talk at length, mostly about his training as a druid.

- Hey, this might sound quite weird, but, uh. can I ask for a favor? - he asked after a few months of knowing each other. At that point, I was really quite eager to please my only friend.

- Hmm? -

- Would you mind granting me a magical familiar contract? -

- What does that do? How does that work? -

- I will be able to summon a familiar to aid me in combat, usually in exchange for some of my mana. -

- I would love to, but I don�t think I can do too much. I am not sure if I have any combat powers, either. - All I had now was the power to make seeds and fruits.

- It�s okay, nobody I know has a tree familiar. I think it could be quite cool. -

- Very well, then. -

Indra mumbled something, and that was when I had a pop - up.

Indra has requested to enter into a familiar contract. Do you accept?

A menu to click yes or no appeared, and I mentally chose yes.

Indra smiled. - Yay! I have a tree familiar. This is so awesome. I bet nobody else has a nature - aspect familiar. -

Little did I know then that I may have sent him to his death.

Later that week, he returned and sat next to me. - My teachers took a look at my tree familiar form, and now I might be going away for a long time. It seems the druid council wants to see more of my tree familiar abilities as they are rare. Of course, they also asked me to lead them to you, but I said I couldn�t find you again. -

- Oh. Good luck, then. Is it that special? - Huh, why did he hide my presence?

- Yes. It is quite different from the kinds of regular magical familiars I usually see. It has mostly defensive and healing skills. Familiars have a few variants. There are those summoned by way of a magical contract or those granted by nature�s aspects. -

- That�s very interesting. You used my skills? -

- Yeah, I did. I used them a lot! -

Hmm. I didn�t even realize he used my skills. It seemed like once I agreed to the familiar contract, I didn�t really need to do anything. Of course, I wondered why my familiar was even useful and wondered what my tree familiar�s skills would look like.

Pop

A menu appeared.

Tree Familiar

Ironbark Skin , Healing Fruit , Lesser Natural Healing Boost .

My familiar contract skills were quite different from my own, or maybe the familiar form had its own skill tree? Could I get them eventually?

- It is to be my first time away from home. -

- Are you scared? -

- Yes, but I think it is also an adventure! My mom tells me not to worry, though. I will be going with the town�s lead druid to the capital. -

- Sounds like fun. Spend more time with your parents before you go, okay? You never know when you will see them again. - Since the day I died, the people I missed the most were my parents, followed by my friends.

- You�re right. I should spend more time with my family. I should go. - Indra nodded.

- Bye. Good luck with your trip. Stay safe. -

Unfortunately, that was the last time I ever saw Indra.

YEAR 55

Indra Sinahalia has died. Some of the experience acquired through use of the familiar form has been transferred back to you. You gained thirteen levels. A fragment of Indra�s skills was transferred to you in accordance with the familiar contract. You have obtained unique skill: Spirit Vision .

You received the skill Limited Telepathic Communication .

You are now level 14.

You gained the skills Healing Fruits and Seeds , Inspect .

Oh, dear. My young friend died, and now, as the effects of the skill were applied, for the first time in forever, I could see.

It wasn�t the kind of sight that humans had. I was able to see the spirits of people if they were nearby, and the pitch - black background was replaced with faint outlines. It was as if I was looking at things through an inverted outline on Photoshop.

But I wasn�t picky. I could see, and it was how I came to the realization I was in some kind of park, or perhaps someone�s garden.

And there were people.

They were a distance away, but every now and then, they would pass. From a distance, they were all blurry blobs, kind of like a wisp, but once they were closer, the details improved. It was kind of like short - sightedness but for spirits.

I attempted to communicate, but most of the time there was nothing. It felt like they thought they were being disturbed by ghosts and fled for their lives. I was disappointed at how the people around me refused to communicate.

Sadly, very few people actually walked near enough for me to communicate with them. It seemed that I was placed quite deep in the park or garden, so everyone seemed so far away. At my present level, they pretty much needed to be next to me to hear anything.

So, nothing happened for quite some time. again.

YEAR 56

Another battle happened. There were lots of people in the distance fighting creatures. (They appeared as rough, moving shadows.) The battle seemed intense, and many of the spirits were extinguished, the battle spilling over into the park as well.

One of the human fighters stood next to me, so I got excited and took the chance to communicate. Maybe he needed help, and I could get him to agree to a familiar contract.

- Ugh, damned demons. - he said.

- Do you need some help? - I asked and noticed his breathing was ragged and he was likely wounded.

- Huh? - He looked around, one hand still clutching his wounds. He then looked at the tree. - Talking tree? -

- You need help? - I repeated.

- Ah, yes. -

Healing Fruit .

This was the skill to create a small fruit that gave some healing effect. A fruit appeared and dangled right next to him. He plucked it off my little vine.

Familiar Contract .

The battle raged around me, and I figured they didn�t have much time. He needed to rush back, and the familiar contract was probably the quickest way I could offer help.

- Oh. - He accepted and munched down on the fruit. His breathing quickly improved, and he nodded. - Thanks. I should go and help the rest of my team. Damned demons. -

I didn�t see that guy again after that, and ten days later, I got a notification.

Semara Falk has died. You gained 1 level. You are now level 15.

Was this the fate of life as a tree, to watch everyone else die around me? Little did I know then it would be very much so.

The soulless monsters, or demons as he called them, appeared every now and then after that day, and the people repeatedly tried to fight them off. Some days there were monsters everywhere, even around me. Thankfully, they didn�t indiscriminately destroy everything, so they didn�t attack me. I wondered what would happen if they did. Perhaps I would die.

The humans would come back and chase them away. This lasted for months as the battles ebbed and flowed, and then, eventually, the humans won.

A lull.

Then someone approached a few days later.

- Is this the tree? - He sounded unsure, and he looked like he referred to a piece of paper.

Hmm. - Yes? - I responded telepathically.

- Ah. It is! I am Starric, Semara�s teammate. Before he died, he asked me to properly thank you for your help. Thanks to the power of your familiar, he was quite the hero. -

- I see. - Hero?

- Well, not a hero - hero but, yeah, a small hero. He didn�t have much, but he asked me to bury his trusty sword next to you. -

Starric dug a hole and then placed the sword inside.

- Would you like a familiar? - I asked while he dug the small hole.

- It is okay. I can�t. My religion forbids me. -

Ah, damn it. Religion.

After he left, a few days later, a spirit appeared beside me.

- Hi. - It was that Semara guy, but he was a ghost.

- Huh? Why are you here? - I asked.

- Oh, I am just a part of Semara embedded in the sword. The real me died and passed on. -

I didn�t understand.

- It�s complicated, but the sword has been by my side since my youth - the past thirty years - and so a fragment of me is in it. -

- Oh. -

- So how long will you be here? -

- Maybe a few more months. I will eventually fade away with time. -

- And how do you know all this? Like. how do you even know about your original soul? -

- Oh, I - I just kind of know, I guess. It�s like I get a message about it. The leveling system and all that. -

- Ah. -

With this copy of Semara next to me, we talked. A lot. Semara was a lot more knowledgeable about the world than Indra, so he had more to share. That was how I learned about the world I was in.

This world had many gods and religions, and magic was commonplace. Demons and monsters appeared frequently, and some speculated it was due to the proximity to the world of demons. Due to stellar movements and astronomical forces, the barrier that protected the world occasionally weakened, and that resulted in stronger demons entering the world. Which led to the periodic entrance of demon kings.

Different religions, strangely, had different ways of answering why the demon kings came.

I found this strange because they could ask the heroes who met the gods, or even ask the gods directly. Perhaps there was a lot of confusion about why it happened.

Gods of the world responded to the demons by summoning heroes from another world. The heroes rose to defeat the demons and usually they succeeded, though it was at great cost. The world today had a few remaining heroes, and those had since fallen out with each other and now fought to be the most powerful ruler in the world.

Six months passed a little easier with Semara around as I eagerly consumed his knowledge, but the good times didn�t last very long, and Semara faded away. I was alone, again.

YEAR 57, MONTH 1

On the first day of the year, a young elf kneeled before me.

- Oh, tree, I, Salada Stoppu of the elvish tribe, humbly request for the blessing of the tree spirit. -

How did this random elf know of my existence? And his name is Salad?

- How did you learn of me? -

- Oh. erm. - He seemed a little embarrassed. - You have been listed in the register of benign lesser spirits by the local council, following reports by the army to the town council. -

I am in a register of the town council as a lesser spirit. I felt like a botanical garden exhibit.

- Fine. Familiar contract? -

This time, recalling Semara�s spirit accompanied me for six months, I added a condition.

- You must leave an item with a strong personal connection to yourself with me, and upon your death, your weapon should be buried near me. -

He nodded and buried a small wooden chain next to my roots. - This is a small chain I made when I was a child. Is this fine? -

- Yes. - Frankly, I didn�t know exactly what the criteria were to recreate Semara�s case, but I agreed. And then I offered him the familiar contract. Maybe I would gain a skill, too, since this was a game - like world.

He bowed and then left, happy.

I sighed and went back into Autopilot mode. I wonder how long they�ll live.

YEAR 57, MONTH 8

Another elf came to find me. He was a boy by the name of Croissanta Fillings, and I offered him the same deal I offered Salada - the familiar contract - and he buried a small metal ring. Happy, he then walked away.

I wondered how long I would have to live as a tree.

A pop - up appeared.

Trees are eternal if they don�t get killed.

No shit.

YEAR 57, MONTH 11

I gained a level! Level 16

But nobody died. Strange.

YEAR 57, MONTH 12

Somebody visited. He didn�t respond to me, but he seemed to be trimming some of my branches. Since I didn�t feel any damage or pain, I allowed him to continue. He collected the trimmed branches, picked up leaves, and left once he was done.

YEAR 58, MONTH 1

I had gained a level! Level 17 With the level, I acquired a skill called Self - Visualization . Despite the skill�s title seeming to mean something else, it just meant I was now able to look at myself.

That was the first time I could see all my branches and roots. I was actually pretty big, about the size of a small house. Being able to see myself, thinking I recognized leaves from the trees in my past life that could be used to brew teas, I wondered if the guy who trimmed my branches and collected my leaves was doing that with them.

Maybe that was why I was gaining levels?

YEAR 58, MONTH 2

Another elf, Corna Corrola, came and asked for a familiar. As it turned out, some elves had a thing for tree spirits. So typical of elves. Tree - huggers.

Anyway, I agreed and gave her the usual terms, but I also made a special request that she come back every six months and tell me what was happening in the world.

YEAR 58, MONTH 6

I gained another level, but nothing in particular happened. Level 18 . I supposed that was a good thing. I kept wondering why I gained random levels. Maybe it was just a tree thing.

YEAR 58, MONTH 7

A human had come and asked for my blessing to heal his child from a disease it suffered.

- I am not sure whether I can, - I replied, - but I can try. Bring them to me. -

They returned with a small baby, probably around eight months old. He looked really sick as his spirit appeared extremely faint, flickering. I created a magical healing fruit with all the nutrients I could gather.

The man fed it to his child. The child still looked sick, and then they left, the man looking sad.

Three days later, he came back with the child. The child�s spirit looked better. It turned out that the child had actually been suffering from a very bad fever, and my fruit had helped. The father was grateful as I�d been his last hope.

From what I had been told, due to the war against the demons, there were no healers left. Most of them died some time ago, and those who survived now served in what was left of the army of this country.

You gained a level. You are now level 19.

The man returned a few days later again with poop. Cow poop. He mixed it into the dirt. Fertilizer? Yet I felt nothing. I thanked my lucky stars I lacked the ability to smell. Though, since I was a tree, I presumed the poop would smell like. food?

YEAR 58, MONTH 12

Winter. Due to the seasons, the system restricted me from creating fruits. A different man begged for help, and he pleaded for his wife, but I couldn�t, no matter how much I wanted to. I told him winter was the time when I couldn�t create fruit.

So I told him to hang in there and return when spring came.

YEAR 59, MONTH 1

The man returned and cursed me. I guessed from his behavior that his wife didn�t make it, so I didn�t respond to his curses. Yet, after the exchange, I gained a level and a skill.

Level 20

Minor Winter Resistance � Grants ability to create fruit during winter.

Yeah, that man would hate me if he ever found out.

YEAR 59, MONTH 2

A young lady dropped by and begged me to protect her husband. He would be going to war soon, to defend the country from a demonic rift that had appeared. Her voice cracked like she wanted to cry, but I was a tree so, in my mind, I could only empathize and explain I wasn�t a god. I didn�t have the power to provide blessings. I was just a tree that happened to live here.

- Is there really nothing you can do? - she asked.

- Does he want a familiar? -

She paused and thought for a moment. - I�ll ask him. -

The next day, a young man came, along with the young lady. - Is this the tree you�ve been visiting? - He glanced up and shrugged. - Doesn�t look very impressive. -

- Please, Andy, a familiar might protect you. -

He shook his head. - Do you have no confidence in me? -

- It�s not that, but if something can give you a bit more protection, will you not take it? -

Andy sighed and approached me. - This is so weird, talking to a tree, but hey, if you can hear me, may I get a familiar? Just so that my wife feels safer? -

I wondered whether having a familiar would offer any protection, as they might overestimate their own abilities and end up taking more risks, but I offered a familiar contract anyway. The wife buried a small pendant in exchange.

- Oh, wow. There really is a spirit here. -

- Just take it, Andy. Don�t be stubborn. Think about whatever would happen if you died. -

- Yes, yes. - He accepted, and the couple left.

YEAR 59, MONTH 3

The man with the sick wife returned with something in his hand.

Oh, no. An ax.

He scolded and shouted for a while and started to swing his ax. However, I didn�t feel any pain, and I realized that my trunk was really, really hard and tough. After some time, he gave up, cursed, and left. Through his curses, I learned that the town was named Moton.

I wondered how that other guy managed to even trim my branches.

YEAR 59, MONTH 9

A bad month, really. The month started with three deaths as the three elves all died within days of each other.

Corna Corolla has died.

Salada Stoppu has died.

Croissonta Fillings has died.

I gained fifteen levels after the three elves died. I was now level thirty - five, and I also transformed from a Normal Tree to a Spiritual Tree . My skills were mostly healing and defensive, but I also gained a skill called Tree Rebirth . I wondered what it did.

YEAR 59, MONTH 10

Death came to the town of Moton.

Monsters. They attacked the town every day, and as much as I wanted to help, nobody got near enough for me to grant a familiar contract. They fled, and in all that chaos, they were not about to listen to a random voice. Hell, they probably wouldn�t even notice me.

Battles raged in the distance as the defenders lost to the demons. On the last day of the month, a notification sprang up.

Arsene Emir has died. You gained a fragment.

Oh. One of the heroes fell.